Life stateside.

Sorry, for those who read, that I haven't been around in a while. Immediately after returning (and by immediately, I mean less than 24 hours after hopping off the plane) to the South, I had soccer matches to referee. Then, afterward, a week-long tournament to keep me busy. And I'm glad for it, because having that instantaneous activity to occupy me probably helped quite a bit. I got to see friends I hadn't laid eyes on in a year while running my butt off chasing after a soccer ball. Loads of fun.

However, now that's over and I'm faced with an expanse of "summer vacation" laid out before me. Hopefully something that will help keep me somewhat entertained, and not depressed and listless with the sadness of feeling torn from this past year I've loved so much, is recounting all I've glossed over the past year! Namely, my vacations. I feel like I've been quite faithful with my blogging but not so much that I've missed out on the pleasures of life in Montpellier, so now comes the time to catch up. I can chat to you about Christmas markets, Bavarian food, crawling on the Great Pyramids at Giza, and the hilarious commentaries of Moroccan men, to give a few tidbits...

But I'll leave starting that to the next post. At the moment, I'll start a list. Perhaps one of many. I'm not sure. Let's start with the shortest one, things I've missed about the States, even if only marginally so.

Cheap/free laundry! Those who have followed from the beginning know that I almost religiously did my laundry by hand, for nearly ten months, because a single wash at the cheap student laundromat, besides having huge waits, cost the equivalent of 3.50 (give or take). Ouch. Also, yes, I know. I'm a cheapo.

Microwaves! Throw ovens into this list as well, because contrary to student residences in the U.S., French studios are equipped with stovetops, not microwaves. Clearly they are less afraid of their university students burning their buildings to the ground than American schools are. Granted, I loved having two burners (two?! oh no, but that's such a fire hazard!) in my dorm and lived happily with the myriad of things I could cook, but there were times that I really really wanted a quick munchie late at night and could neither run to the store for it nor pop it in the microwave. I was forced to cook, which in retrospect would probably help a lot of Americans manage their diets? This could be solved if living in France for an extended period of time, in which case I'd probably just buy one.

Having a gym! French universities are just that - universities. They are there to educate, not to disguise themselves as trendy, all-inclusive student resorts. Hence, no student "recreation center" or gym. Yes, they do exist, but me not being willing to buy a membership (which can cost), I had to get creative in my workouts. I will say, though, it was fun looking around and seeing what I could do to build up strength without all the fancy machinery. That being said, I'll surely be enjoying my last year of "free" gym membership while at the University of Alabama.

Soccer fields with grass. A bizarre thing to miss, and you get used to not having them around, but don't go to a city in France and expect to find yourself a nice green pitch within 15 kilometers. What you'll find instead is either dirt or asphalt; soon enough, you'll get used to it, and forget what it's like to have people sliding at you trying to snap your ankle in half with the underside of their cleats. :)

TV! Yes, I did miss having a television to watch, guilty as charged. No matter how busy you keep yourself (and believe me, I did!), there are going to be times when you want to just sit down and turn off your brain for a while in front of the tube. Eventually I adapted to the quiet, and I refrained from complaining about it for the most part, but the internet connection in my dorm was generally fairly terrible. Youtube or any video was typically out of the question except for those times when most people are out enjoying the day. I heard that 3 am speeds were pretty good, though...

So, that was about it, really. Maybe you can tell from the writing, but none of these things really detracted from my stay in France. I didn't miss my car, as me and my bike were two  peas in a pod, American food and restaurants were a long-distant memory, and I didn't really care if nobody around me spoke English or sucked up excessively to me in the name of customer service. I still can't bring myself to calculate sales tax or tip in anything to buy (it's been two weeks now; this could become a problem), I want to hear French when I listen in on others' conversations, and I'm constantly reminded about how darn far apart everything is around here.

But hey, I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually...though I'm not sure how long it will take my poor little heart to stop bleeding every time I walk through the bread department in Wal-Mart. Saaadddd...until next time!

Time to say goodbye...

Well, guys, this is it. I depart in one hour for the airport, to take my flight out of Montpellier and back home. I haven't been around much lately because, well, as you can imagine I've been trying to enjoy my last few days in Montpellier after coming back from England (which was great, by the way - will share eventually!) as much as possible. I got back the 8th and today, the 11th, was my departure, and I haven't slept more than four hours during any night since. In fact, I'm writing this at 6 o' clock in the morning after staying up all night,

....and that's where I stopped my post before realizing that I still had to mop my floor before leaving an hour and a half later. So, while this goodbye to Montpellier post isn't actually in Montpellier, per se, the sentiment remains. I'm now back in south Alabama, after a long trip and some entertaining soccer matches. But that's for another time.


My last few days in Montpellier, after arriving home from England, were incredibly full. See, I got back late afternoon of the 8th and, as you saw above, left early early on the 11th. So there was lots and lots to do in the meantime. That day I got back, I had pre-planned a last night of salsa dancing with my wonderful dance group friends, a couple hours after arriving home. Once the party started winding down near 3 am, me and a couple -other- great friends (who I also met through our common love for dance) grabbed a group together and went to a friend of theirs' apartment for late-night cards, music, and drinks. Ended up riding my dear bike home sometime around 5h30 and crawling into bed before setting my alarm for 9, given all the "business" I had to attend to the next day.


That business was: closing my bank account, arranging course credit transfer, meeting with my agent de menage for what needed to be cleaned and how in my studio before check out, and last-minute shopping for items I wanted to bring home. Closing my bank account felt more sad than I expected it to, like a big ripping away of a legitimate link to French life. Same with doing the état des lieux with the cleaning lady, as my room got progressively emptier and more plain. The shopping was...well, actually kind of fun, deciding what wonderful French goodies (read: FOOD) I wanted to bring home with me. I ended up with an amusing assortment, including a bottle of wine, two beers, saucisson sèche, several varieties of tea, chocolate, cookies, mayonnaise (French mayonnaise is better: trust me!!), kebab sauce, and perhaps one or two other things that pressured my already quite full suitcases. I also bought some pastries, but those were just for me! Guilty.

Then after that, I spent the following night-the 9th- in a similar state of non-sleep. More meeting up with various Montpellierain friends for our last goodbyes, continually reminding me with each meeting that this meeting or the other will be the last time I see this person for a long time. But I kept away the blues for the most part, focusing instead on enjoying myself. Had crêpes and cidre for dinner/dessert, then went for a walk through town with a friend to feel less guilty. Over these last few days I proceeded to randomly run into just about everybody I know, giving me a chance to say goodbye in person to people I hadn't otherwise thought! It was crazy, but just goes to show how on beautiful summer days/nights in Montpellier, everybody's out and about.

I wish I had my camera available to post pictures, but while enjoying the sunset over the top of the Corum (one of Montpellier's performance halls/opera houses that also happens to have great views of the centre of town), ran into some more friends! And though I had been planning on biking home to change, I ended up just staying out, once again, all night. At the Esplanade in the centre of town there was the coolest gathering going on of at least 30 people, with their own instruments, doing traditional French dance. These were mostly young people, awesomely, very welcome to people watching and even making clumsy attempts to participate, so throughout the night I/we tried our hands at some super entertaining circle/group dances, mazurkas, and waltzes. As the night went on, the people I was with shifted: the friends I was with before went home, and other friends out on the town joined in, and we ended up staying out yet again quite late (this time, only until 4 am!) Even better, I got to say goodbye to a friend going home for the summer that I hadn't expected to be able to. The atmosphere of the night was great, just a bunch of people outdoors playing music, dancing, and hanging out under the yellowish-orange lights that give a warm glow to everything. You could just taste the happiness.

My final day at Montpellier was spent in a similar fashion, up early once again as I had so much to do, and so little time! My wonderful Moroccan friend made me a delicious tajine lunch, I later on ate Nutella and banana gaufre (waffle - French street food) not caring the least bit about our waistlines with a girlfriend, took care of assorted business, and wished I didn't have to leave this awesome place for good. At the end of the day, I just sat and talked with two friends from the day previous about leaving. It was happy, but sad. I got home after 10 pm to attempt to clean, but got sidetracked by saying an extended goodbye to my wonderful Erasmus friends at Vert Bois. Altogether, the last couple days in Montpellier could not have passed more perfectly. I was worried beforehand that I wouldn't wrap up my time here well for whatever reason, but as it turns out I didn't need to. At the end, all that was left to do was go back to my studio at around midnight and, as you know, stay up all night finishing that stuff I'd been procrastinating.

I think that's all for now; I'm off with my mom soon to buy a new cell phone. I seem to have notoriously long-lived electronics; my current one that's about to retire I got in December of 2006. And it's still kicking. I'm gonna miss it, actually...

There will be a new post soon, for anybody still reading! So with that, until next time! bisous.

1 week? can it be....?

Tomorrow is June 4th. I leave Montpellier for good June 11th. It's official: J-7. The final countdown.

I don't really know what to think. I'm having a hard time accepting that this part of my life is so very near to being over. I'd prefer to spend my retrospective reflections for after I get home and continue to "entertain" you with what's actually happening here, but I will say one thing that could probably cover at least a bit of how calling this time a "study abroad experience" doesn't quite cut it. I've had to remind several of my Montpellierain friends that once I leave this summer, I won't be coming back at the end of it...for example, unprompted while several of us were out on the town one night, a friend asked if I was coming back in the fall. I responded negatively. Caught that flash of disappointment before the other nimbly returned to the conversation. You know what? That really sucks. Knowing that they care enough to miss me, and unlike other friends who are in the same study abroad boat, they'll still have each other when I'm gone, and their lives will move forward. I'll be the only one separated.

Whoof. Better stop before I go on too long. Besides, why talk about sad things when you can talk about...

...FLAMMEKUECHE! (gesundheit?)

No, I didn't just sneeze. Flammekueche, besides being more than a little tricky to spell and pronounce, is also a French dish. More specifically, it's Alsatian - from the Alsace region up near Germany - and is delicious! It's a thin stretched dough covered with white cheese, lardons, onions, crème fraîche, and perhaps things like mushrooms as well. And it's deeeeeelicious! Basically, a friend and I went out to a real sit-down restaurant just because we could. The weather the past couple days has been grey and on-and-off rainy, so it was an excellent day to spend an afternoon. Conversation, trying not to slip and slide on the wet ground while trying to find the restaurant, and....

Fondant au chocolat! (melty chocolat cake, sitting in a bath of crème anglaise with real whipped cream on the side!)

Okay, sorry for the torture. I'll stop now! I guess I decided that if I couldn't go out for a run in this weather, I might as well do even more damage to my referee training and go the whole hog without feeling a single ounce of guilt. (I won't mention how many times I've eaten kebab in the last week...nor crêpes/gaufres, for that matter...)

Besides that, I've been spending a lot of time just trying to enjoy the city and life as much as I can. When I'm not spending time with friends or training or cleaning (ok ok, or eating), I tend to take lots of long bike rides or walks to my favorite spots or on the never-ending discovery of new places in this crazy wonderful town.

The playing field specifically reserved for players of boules, the favorite game of old French men :) In the shadow of the aqueduct!

A typical apéro in a plaza in the old center, on the church steps. Wonderful meeting place!

Life, despite the ominous looming of my departure, is good. Tomorrow, I'm actually leaving Montpellier for a bit - I get to visit one of my best friends from elementary school, in England! She moved back after 6th grade, and we've kept in touch, and I feel super lucky to get the opportunity to see her again. You know this is important if you can tear me away from my town for any amount of time this close to when I'm going home!

I think it'll be great, and probably a little surprising to be surrounded by English again, and in the coolest of accents! Well, I think the French accent while speaking English definitely wins my heart for cuteness, but I'd love to see what people in Essex (where she lives - not too far from London!) think of my nowhere, generic North American Female accent. Who knows? Maybe one day I'll be able to imitate that French accent and fool people into thinking I'm French. I think I may make that a personal goal of mine, actually. Hmm...

Anyways, until next time, toodle-oo! It's off to England!

J-12

jour moins 12 - day minus twelve - Yes, I`ve finally reached the two week mark. I`ll have to think about that later - too much to do, people to see for my last few times, my favorite places in Montpellier, etc...all I can say is that while I`m looking forward to seeing friends and family back home, I want more time.

So how am I spending my last weeks in France?

Life is hard.

Last weekend, the weekend before my exams, I decided to throw a little caution to the wind and go on a canoe trip! We spent two days canoeing and a night of camping in the Gorges de l'Hérault, a stunning stretch of the river Hérault with cliffs, rapids, and beautiful scenery! Sure, I had to make up for it with a couple long, long nights of studying for my exams the next week, but I have to say: totally worth it!

Ready for liftoff!

It was very well spent, and I came back with aching arms (but feeling pretty buff all the same!). The time was passed between trying to help my newbie canoers navigate, especially the rapids, which were actually quite difficult for beginners, taking stops along the way to swim and sun, and getting into races/water wars. It was awesome, despite this one...uh...capsizing incident.

Yeah, life is really hard!

On the left - our noble steed.

But about those exams...victory! I studied really hard - hours, upon more hours - and it paid off! I went into those exams Wednesday and Thursday and showed them who's boss. They definitely weren't easy, but the studying paid off and I feel like I did really well.

In any case, now I'm free!! I've been out, to the beach, eating kebab and treating myself to pastries and such...watched the Barcelona final and was overjoyed to see them win!!

And now, it's time to go out and enjoy the beautiful weather! In between my training for Regionals, anyway. I'm getting quite tan here with all the time I'm spending outside! Until next time!

Photos!

Because I'm currently quite caught up studying, here are a couple photos (without much explanation) of random things in and around Montpellier, to show I'm still alive until I can get a real post up!

The Viaduc de Millau - Record-breaking bridge!

Place Albert Premier - a crowd is gathering on a lazy afternoon to listen to a reggae performance. I stop too.

Place de la Comédie, capoeira demonstration. If I have to be honest, I find it kind of silly...

My very first salade niçoise. Success!

My name, in Arabic, in the sand on the beaches of Rabat. Not from Montpellier, but more of a promise that I'll eventually describe my vacations in Italy and Morocco. Until next time!

The "final" countdown!

Alright! I'm in the home stretch. The exams at the French language institute went well, I'd say, and freedom is just around the corner! Except for those two beastly exams coming up, that is. (hence yet another slightly bad pun in the title). I have one on Wednesday and one Thursday, which wouldn't be so bad normally. After all, if I do nothing but study, I'd be pretty much guaranteed to get by without a problem - but is doing nothing but studying really how I want to spend some of my last few weeks here?

So, I'm trying to strike a balance. Squeezing studying in between errands, laundry, cooking, and so on. As previously stated, I'm constantly conscious of time running out despite my best attempts to slow it down, so I've been keeping pretty busy in spite of my desk space looking something like this!

Clockwise, from top left: geologic time chart, schema of lymphoid organs, physiology notebook, physiology packet, and geology notes underneath it all.

But that's slightly boring, so here's ore interesting stuff! This week has been a pretty fun one - on Monday, we had our last salsa/merengue course of the the semester (*sniff*), and I got a little sad when our instructor (and friend) talked about getting back together next year. A few of the girls I've met in this group have become such wonderful friends, and it definitely momentarily dampened my mood to think about there not being a next year for me- at least not here, anyway. But we danced, chatted, and here is most of us (with a few missing minus exams, and a couple camera-shy dudes =P):

Fiesta!

Of course, this isn't the last time we have/will see each other. On Wednesday, to celebrate the last of my French exams, I went out with Cécile to a salsa party/course, in which I had a partner who was about as coordinated as a rock but otherwise had lots of fun and ran into other friends that I hadn't seen since vacations, even though I had to wake up the next morning for...

hiking! Yahoo! A fellow exchange student from Alabama asked me if I had any information about hiking the Pic St Loup, the mountain just to the north of Montpellier. Given that I had recently finished that geology field day all over them there hills, I am actually surprisingly well informed on the geography and many of the small towns in the area - even better, I had a map! After asking if they'd mind one more person on their expedition (they didn't!), I went to the office of tourism to confirm my findings. As it turned out, the guy I talked to was an avid hiker and informed me of a place not too far off that he likes even better. It's the Ravin des Arcs (translated like it sounds, the Ravine of the Arches), a hike of equal distance, difficulty, and just as pictoresque as the Pic St Loup - with the added benefit of being pretty much deserted as so few people know about it, AND home to caves and natural swimming holes!!

Massive natural stone arch! Also right below, swimming hole filled with tons of little fishies :)

 The hike in total, minus our time spent frolicking and eating our lunches, was around 3 1/2 hours (I had a bizarre mix of scraps from my kitchen, making a tuna-mozzarella-tomato-cucumber-lettuce sammich, with a carrot and a peach on the side - not half bad!), and definitely was not a hike for the faint of heart...or small children. When they're talking ravine, they mean ravine! So to get to the point you saw above, you have to go up to the top of the ravine, then descend (steep!) to get down to the riverbed, then of course when you're done, continue back on up the other side. Half hike, half climb, all awesome! As it turns out this hike is part of one of France's many Grand Randonnées - great hikes - number 60, in fact! We were all careful, of course, wanting to get down to our happy little baignade in one piece. We had to remind ourselves to stop and look around every so often when we realized we'd been doing a lot of looking at our feet. Thankfully, though the trail could be treacherous, it was helpfully marked with what I called Mr. Rouge Blanche - a.k.a., our trail markers!

Bottom right - Yes! Top left! NO. It was like a nonstop game of Where's Waldo!

Something I also found kinda cool, when we hadn't seen our helpful red and white markers in a bit, I noticed a conspicuous pile of rocks on the ground with another, smaller pile to one side and got quite excited. Nerdy as it may be, I learned about cairns as trail markers from...yes, a computer game. Nobody else really knew what it was, and though we proceeded to start in the wrong direction (before quickly correcting ourselvses) beyond it, I was still quite excited to have some of that random knowledge I possess be applicable.

Not my picture, but that's an example!

Eventually we ran into a small group of hikers having lunch in the river - well, where it once was, anyway. Massive riverbed, completely dried out. It was quite incredible and a little bizarre to see, standing in the bottom of a river where if, there were water at that very moment, you'd have a severely reduced life expectancy.

Give you the idea. Note the black water line on the right side of the photo!

I believe that annual heavy rains (perhaps in fall) can fill it back up again, but we had fun crawling around, while noting that we felt like we should be in Jurassic Park or see a neanderthal around a corner. I got a little worried that there would be nothing left for us to swim in, as the other hikers told us something about there being nearly no water left...mildly apprehensive that I'd led our exposition to a swimless day, we continued on - and, though the first picture spoils it, hit paydirt!

Getting used to the chilly water before taking the plunge in the deeper water behind :)

Yes, found them ^^ Nestled at the bottom of the ravines, steep rock faces all around, with the sun hitting at just the right spot to make the cold water worth plunging into, with dozens of little fishies nibbling our toes (that was how, in the world of Marisa logic, we decided that the water was safe to swim in. Abundant aquatic life = passable!). Passed one heck of a fun afternoon, then dried off like lizards on the rocks above and took a short nap before continuing our hike and heading back into the little and terribly adorable town of St. Martin de Londres, where we hopped a regional bus home, pooped and pleased.

St. Martin's public water fountain

And wouldn't you know it, I was already booked to go out that night with the ladies for one of their birthday celebrations (couldn't miss that!), so I grabbed some munchies, water, and cleaned up for a night of fun. This time we went just a bit out of Montpellier to the town of Lattes (in the direction of the beach), where a lot of the BIG clubs are located. Coconuts is a reggaeton/zouk/hip hop ish club, and tafter being here more than once it hit me that I don't really know how to dance to American rap music anymore (did I ever?). Going home will be a bit deflating, I imagine.

Ok, well that's all for now! To continue with the outdoorsy theme, guess what I'm doing this weekend? A two-day canoe/camping trip!! I can't wait! Until next time, get out there and enjoy whatever weather you're having!

Bye bye vacations...hello, exams!

Hello! Anybody miss me? For any of you who follow, sorry for the extended absence! Got back from vacations Sunday of last week, spent the first couple days loafing around/recovering, then before I knew it, 'poof,' here comes exam time. Now, since I'm the motivated little one among the folks I know (I must enjoy pain), my exams are actually spread over a period of not one, not two, but three weeks, and that's if you exclude my physiology lab final the week before vacations. Here's the lowdown (some of which has already passed:

Week 1 (that was last week): Civilisation, Phonétique, Français des sciences, and Histoire de la langue française finals.
Week 2: Expression orale, compréhension orale, expression écrite, compréhension écrite, grammaire, and...wait no, I think that's it.
Week 3. (In freak out red because of the scariness): Histoire de la Terre, and Physiologie animale. The two monsters. They and their massive volumes of material are staring me in the face with that look schoolyard bullies get which might translate into words as "heh heh heh, we're gonna have some fun with you..." accompanied by menacingly rubbing their hands together or cracking their knuckles. You get the idea.

Okay, drama finished. I think if I apply myself, like I used to way back in the day when all my classes were science-based and therefore required intense studying, then I should do alright. It helps that it makes little difference whether I make an A plus, a B, C, or whatever unless my grad schools really care. And honestly, I think a geologic history of the earth and the physiology of the vertebrate/human system in a language you're still learning is enough to have them give me a little break, right?

Right. And now that I've had this experience - and really, despite the extra work it's given me, I'm intensely glad I did - I'd better be sure to keep an eye on any potential elitism that may emerge. I mean really, if I'm within earshot of anybody boo-hooing about how hard their political science course is (equivalently, insert just about any liberal arts course within reason here), or even about freshman bio, I'll...

...well, honestly, I'll probably not say anything, but walk away with a slightly smug, self-satisfied grin on my face. Let me elaborate - for starters, in addition to my car and good internet connection, I left multiple choice-type questions far behind in the good old US of A. If you come here for the hard sciences, don't get your hopes up. Instead, expect a few questions and a LOT of blank space. Not even a little blank space, either (though I did have to do some fossil species identification once)- no, on the exams I've seen there have mostly been the extended-answer type of question, which will involve not only being able to reproduce knowledge learned in the course but elaborate and expound upon it. And if you have a language handicap, what, you think you're special? The most you can get is to write something to the effect of how french is not your maternal language, and they'll be a little more forgiving on you for errors of grammar or expression (not of correctness - pity!). So though this has gotten easier as the semester has gone on, you may be able to imagine the fun I had. The flow chart goes something like this: understand what the professor is saying--> figure out what's important and write that down-->but don't forget to listen to and understand everything the professor is saying while you're writing-->develop your own bizarre french shorthand to speed up your writing and be able to keep up-->actually comprehend what the heck you wrote one week later-->study and research any terms or concepts you don't know (sometimes, no matter how good you are in the language, you'll just be out of luck here - though I will never again forget what the spleen is in French! The professor caught me dictionary hunting and stopped to ask if I needed help. I was slightly ashamed.)-->fully comprehend any and all processes and be able to reproduce them on exam day, in this language.

So, there you go. I have to say, I have definitely stretched my mind quite a bit while I've been here, and I can definitely feel good about where it's left me. I had a good laugh one day when I was reviewing "plaquettes" and couldn't remember what they were...in English. I actually had to look it up. I was slightly ashamed. (They're platelets, by the way!) And don't even get me started on the geology course; I doubt I could explain that to you properly in English since I've now only ever learned it in French.

I'm finished now. Sorry, I'd expect you would have preferred to hear about my vacations (which were absolutely astonishing and beyond anything I could have dreamed, for the record!), but all I gave you was this extended geek rant. Ah, well. Some things never change. If I don't have time to properly talk about my vacations soon, rest assured I will continue this blog when I come home at least for a month or two to recount all the stuff I didn't tell you about! (the rest of Barcelona, Germany, Paris, Lyon, Egypt, Sicily, Rome, Morocco, etc....) I will make one last note, before I go:

I have less than a month left in Montpellier. This thought almost continually torments me. Until next time, as I try to keep it together, here's a pretty picture!

ohmyohmyohmy!

I can't believe it! Actually happening! After months of dreaming, doubting, and trying crazily to put it all together, Spring Break (uh, part 2?) is on its way!! I depart tomorrow after my physiology exam that I spent all weekend studying for, in the middle of crazily trying to finish that report I mentioned earlier. I even found time to pack, clean, and go out one last time with my dance friends to let off some steam!

So, itinerary? Wanna know? Yeah!! Tomorrow afternoon I depart for Nice, then take the 5 am train to.....Rome! Yes, I know a wonderful gal from Alabama who just happens to be studying there this semester, and she welcomed me to come visit! Italy, me? Incredible! I'm so glad I'm getting the opportunity to visit, it's seriously just next door - which kind of feels crazy to say, considering that back home all that can be considered "next door" is Georgia and Mississippi...So, I'll spend three days there seeing the sights, walking like a demon to work off all the food I'll likely be eating, then on the 30th I'll be heading to Pisa for the day. Why Pisa of all places? Well, it happens to have an oh-so-convenient airport with seven-euro flights to....

Morocco!!!!

Yes, I've been dreaming about this since I've gotten here - at first, I was kind of sad because I thought it wouldn't work out - my local friends were either going home to see family or not leaving town or working, and my other international friends had made plans for other places. But finally, a few weeks ago a friend from back home managed to get the money together and come along on this dream vacation of ours! She's probably the ost perfect travel buddy I can imagine, adventurous but still laid-back, responsible but not anal-retentive or prone to freaking out over little things.

So, as of today, the two of us said 'see you later,' because the next time we'll see each other? In the Maghreb! Yes, the two of us are flying in from different airports to the infamous, glorious city of Fès! I'm sure it will finally sink in once I get past customs, or something. But who knows?

Anyway, after that, our itinerary is Fès - Rabat - Chefchaouen - Tanger, where we'll take our flight back to Marseille on May 8th after what's surely going to be one amazing eight days! This is quite a big step here - traveling around Western Europe is one thing, but I get the feeling that this will be an entirely different league. And I'm ecstatic to see what it brings!

And before I go, I've been wanting to show all you folks at home why, in spite of the extra work it's given me, that I feel like it is so totally worth it to take the extra classes I have. Remember that huge lab report I was complaining about? Well, it's not so much of a 'lab' as it is a field report. That's right, everybody in our course is divided into small groups of under 20 people, and since it's a History of the Earth course, what better way to get to know it hands-on than by getting out in the field? Playing treasure hunt, wearing Indy hats?

Look, Marisa's really bad attempt at fossil finding!

Ha ha, so while it's not quite that glamorous, it was definitely super fun and educational. Off went on the bus at 8h00 Saturday morning (nnghhhh), driving north into the real meat of the region. And let me say, I can't possibly describe to you in any sensible manner just how cool of a trip this was. Basically what we did was hop off the bus at our northernmost point for the day, and progressively work our way south - traveling through time as we did so, from the most ancient early Paleozoic periods to as recent as 30 million years ago.

I will never look at rocks the same way again!

Okay, yes, as silly as that caption sounds, it's entirely true. What you see above is, in French, called an affleurement - and the amount of information you can gain from them is astounding. Our professor,

Off the beaten path, overlooking the hills around to get the 'big picture'

shown above, is truly an astounding gentleman. So knowledgeable, and the way he conveys that to students makes you really want to pay attention and, yes, learn all this stuff about rocks. When you learn about how those hills in the distance, despite being at the same elevation, are actually millions upon millions of years older, and then why, it all starts to kind of sink in. Suddenly you find yourself picturing what this place must have looked like 200 million years ago, and just how astounding a place this planet really is. These massive things, grand mountains, are pushed up from below as easy (though not quite as quickly) as you might fold a blanket.

I promise it makes sense.

Right underneath your feet, the earth is squishing itself together slowly but surely - and every earthquake, while it is a tragedy for us who are mercy to its whims, are as natural and expected as the progression of time itself. So, despite how much we like to think we've got life and the universe all under control as the human race, Earth just sits there as does as it well pleases. The continents move apart, come back together, and hey, when we go a bit farther south we find out that where we're standing was once completely underwater - all by examining these affleurements, taking samples, etc...it was a bit over my head at times and the vocabulary definitely got tough, but I swear this professor is the nicest gentleman you can imagine. He seemed to appreciate that despite the natural lack of this technical vocabulary I'd have as someone who neither spoke this as a first language nor has taken a geology class, I was motivated and wanted to learn. He answered any questions I had, which was good, since this wasn't just a show-and-tell day. We had to do our own waypoint-finding, draw our own conclusions, determine what was important information and what was superfluous. In spite of the difficulty, still quite possibly the best "lab" I've ever seen.

Using my carte topo as a place mat as we stop for a leisurely, hour-long lunch. The French do it right!

Prime pic nic spot, middle of nowhere and on the bank of the river.

Alas, all good things must end...back to work!

Last stop of the day, sneaking in a sniff of the flowers.

Got home that day at around 17h30, tired, pleasantly tanned, and quite happy with life. So, in spite of all my complaining, was it worth it? oh yeah. Besides that, Easter Sunday was lovely - got together with some friends and had a biiiiig brunch, complete with hard-boiled egg cracking to see who wins, crêpes, baguette and cheese, nutella, fruit salad, saucisson, and just about anything else we could throw into the pile! Definitely a wonderful way to break up the week end of studying:

But for now, I've gotta run. Sleep is needed before the exam tomorrow! Until next time, guys, two weeks from now!

Alors on danse!!

This post is going to be dedicated to...yes, you guessed it. Dance! Intermittently it seems to have popped up multiple times on my blog, whether talking about club-hopping, latin nights, or salsa class. Needless to say, there is not a shortage of opportunities in this town to really get your groove on - no matter what genre of groove you may enjoy.

For those who don't know me well, I may not seem like the dancing type. After all, I admit to coming across rather reserved, mostly composed and chill and generally fairly earnest. I have noticed a fun phenomenon as a result of this; people who meet me in everyday life, whether in class, through mutual acquaintances, or whatever, don't seem to pin me as a danseuse. But when I get out on the dance floor - well, I get a real kick out of surprising people, who generally get the where did that come from look on their faces and ask me where I "learned how to dance like that?" In this case, I'm speaking mostly about dancing in pairs - salsa, bachata, merengue, kuduro - although I definitely don't mind letting loose in the clubs either!

And where did I get this from? To tell you the truth, not entirely sure. I only learned the absolute bases in any dance course I took back in Tuscaloosa, back at that beginning social dance course that appears to have started it all. After that, I did a lot of watching...better female dancers, Dancing with the Stars (yeah, yeah, I liked that show way back when!), youtube videos...and trying to imitate what seemed to make them good. I think that's something I seemed to do easily, and part of what I now know makes you a pleasure to dance with - following well. Takes time to develop, and you definitely step on a lot of toes along the way (and maybe even make somebody bleed...), but eventually you can get there.

So, point? Well, Montpellier, besides all its other wonders, is seriously like one big playground for me in comparison to the relative dryness that is Tuscaloosa. It'll be tough going back to that! For example, for the past month a group of people from my salsa course, led by the instructor, had been practicing a choreographed group salsa routine for the past month in preparation for a big day of dance at the university. The whole day involved introductions to various genres of dance, culminating in the evening with a big event - a recital, if you will - showcasing all kinds of dance talent, to a full crowd! Off the top of my head I remember a classical ballet scene between the white and black swan from the Lac des Cygnes, danse oriental (belly dance), danced Egyptian style, and by a male!, a group of marvelous tahitian dancers, kuduro, contemporary, hip hop, and an amazing couples dance that's Angolan in origin that I can't remember the name of but all I know was that it was smokin' - and the female was blindfolded for half of it!



Oh, and of course there was us - the atélier de salsa (salsa workshop), a group of about 10 of us who volunteered from the larger weekly class to work on this performance with our instructor! The group contained everybody from the truest beginners who had just joined that semester, to pretty seasoned dancers who know what's up, and everybody in between! Though mostly French, there were a couple internationals sprinkled in as well. And let me say, we really did bond as a group, and doing this has made me some wonderful friends. Our collective nerves on the day of the performance transformed afterwards into ecstasy when we realized we'd actually done it! We were so giddy that the lot of us went out, all dressed up in our matching attire and high heels (for the ladies) to the latin dance night at Cargo. The lot of us showing up like that definitely caught attention, and though I'm a modest person, we definitely earned ourselves some fans that night! And I pretty much killed my feet dancing in those heels of mine for hours on end, but I was having so much fun that they only really started feeling it at the very end on the way home, so good luck there.

Look at us go! (I'm the white skirt on your right) This video is of the performance itself: being one of the more reasonably experienced dancers, I picked up the role of the cavalier for this one - so now, anybody who wants to learn back home, I can teach! Needless to say, well worth all the rehearsal time and running back and forth between my classes - so rewarding, and we're planning a reprisal tomorrow at another latin bar in town!

Us in action, this time out in the field!

Now I can move on to another dance related topic, this time of a more posh nature - I went to the ballet! Thanks to some lady friends informing me last minute, we put on our pretty dresses and went to go see Boléro - a one-act ballet, about an hour and a half long and like nothing I could have imagined. The introduction was done by a man singing in Algerien Berber, and the costumes and musical background reflected that. About a man going off to war and never coming home, it was emotional, passionate, and so so colorful - though I don't pretend to be savvy enough to really follow the story, it was magnificent - an absolute treat, and well worth the weeknight outing!

Photo taker said be silly - something I do well, and subsequently look like a goofball in photos like these!

 Even better, immediately after the ballet, the same company (Russian, from Moscow) put on a célébration de danse - and if the ballet before was excellent, this was astonishing! Scenes from the Nutcracker (I wanted to squeal, I go nuts to the music from that ballet); the death of the swan from Swan Lake; a traditional Russian winter's dance with flowing robes and voiles; a ukranian men's dance that you had to clap along to and made everybody in the audience cheer and laugh; dark pieces that left everyone silent as a stone; everything you could want and more. Got home somewhere around midnight, the lot of us completely giddy and flabbergasted. It's too bad there weren't more students who came, I felt like the entirely elderly population must have come out to join us! It was nice to be amongst mixed age groups, again though.

Boléro, singer in the middle

Ballerinas twirling out for their encore at the end of the show!

 And since I'm quite pooped here, I'm going to call it a night a little abruptly to this public love session to dance. You don't want to know the level of work I've got to do this weekend - a huge scientific field report in geology, a lab final in physiology, on top of final preparations to depart for Rome and Morocco - all on top of spending time with the people in this town I've come to love! A little stressful and sleep-deprived, but otherwise happy. Until next time, if anybody still reads this! (hi, mom!)

Beach bum?

 Since my last post, things have made quite a turn around! It doesn't hurt that these past two weeks have been absolutely filled with the most glorious weather imaginable - mid 20's celsius up to maximum of 30 one particularly warm Friday, so much sunshine you just can't take it anymore, and a general feeling of premature summer ease and relaxation that seems to be floating around the air about as tangibly as the smell of crêpe and kebab when walking past some of my favorite quick order places.

So, what exactly have I been up to? Well, this past weekend, I went to the beach. Not once, not twice, but three times in five days. Whoop de doo, you're saying, right? After all, I live near the beach, don't I? Well, here's the astonishing part - central Montpellier is 10 km from the coast, and Vert-Bois (my residence) is another 5/6 to the north. Why is this important? Well, I went to the beach each of these times by bike! And after an interesting experience that I'll recount later, I came back from my third and final beach trip and did some calculations - I biked a grand total of 90 km (that's more than 50 miles) in these few days. I had no idea I had it in me! I ended up too exhausted to move for the next day or two, dragging my self to salsa rehearsal and trying to put up a good performace.

Friday afternoon after my physiology course, in which I'm currently learning about all the complex wonders of the endocrine system, I tell myself this: "hey, nice weather we're having! You deserve a break from "real" training (running and more running), why don't you take a nice relaxing bike ride around town before you need to be at the train station? Well, that nice and easy bike ride ended up leading me somewhere totally different than I envisioned, and so when I found myself on the south side of town I though hey, what the heck, off to the beach! So away I went. In a brilliant move of city planning, Montpellier has a dedicated bike road - removed from the highway - that runs directly along the river, all the way until it spits you out at the Mediterranean Sea. And let me tell you, it's glorious.

A picture, so you don't have to just take my word for it :)

Stopped to make a friend!

So, I enjoy myself for the entire 30 minutes I could spend on the beach (bike ride of an hour from centre of town) until I have to get back to town like greased lightning - another group of students from the same exchange program in Chambéry (where we went skiing, remember?) were coming to visit for the weekend, and a few of us agreed to greet them at the train station. So I, being late, pratically flew back and got there in time, a little scruffy but on time!

The students from Chambéry came with us on our regional trip the next day, in which we visited the Viaduc de Millau, officially the tallest bridge in the world! It was lovely.

Seriously. Behemoth. And still beautiful.

Surrounding view.

We also visited a pleasant medieval town called La Couvertoirade, which I'll pass over for now, and the town of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon in which, yes, you guessed it!, the famously moldy Roquefort cheese is made. Now, let me say one thing here. The French take their cheese SERIOUSLY. Like, you think it's a joke when people call American cheese plastic, but it's true. Even though I will say time and time again how I really don't enjoy Roquefort (it's potent stuff), at the end of our tour of the caves de Roquefort (yes, you read correctly: cheese cave. This cheese sits and develops in these caves for months and months) when we were offered several samples, I tried. Although I'll stick to less potent cheese without colonies of penicillin fungus inside, thanks, I still was savvy enough to notice that this is good cheese. Very good. Sure, the caves smelled kind of like old feet, but it was overall a very informative tour - and we got to learn just why these caves, and only these caves (with a couple others nearby), are right for making this cheese. Has to do with the constant air currents that run through these particular rock formations, etc etc.

Qui a coupé le fromage?

Moving on to Sunday. The other exchange students were being taken to the beach in the morning (by bus). Seeing as how there are very few buses and I preferred to sleep in and come on my own a little later by the gorgeous bike path, I planned to meet the group around noon. As it turns out, they had decided to go to the beach at Carnon, not Palavas (the beach I went to Friday), which is actually 15 km from the centre ville - which was really no problem, I got to enjoy myself some more by the river and the awesome salt lakes that greet you just when you're starting to get reeeeally close.

So, I manage to be a good little navigator and find them on the sand fairly easily. I, being warm, set my towel down and go for an obligatory hop in the water. I was brave enough to get all the way in (really really cold), but didn't stay for more than a few minutes because my feet were getting numb. So out again I go. No sooner do I plop my behind down on my towel before I notice that there's an air of stress about. Our program coordinator's on the phone, with a girl who - as it turns out - had been missing since yesterday night when the kids went out. So, as soon as the phone is hung up, our coordinator (who is wonderful and sweet and definitely didn't deserve having to deal with this) looks at me with that look on her face. You know the one - the one where someone's about to ask you a favor. How did I arrive? By bike, I respond. Is there a seat on the back? Well, there's a small kind of rack that you can sit on in a pinch, but my tires are a little under pumped. I'm still uninformed on the "missing" portion of this, and why everyone's suddenly looking at me.

Well, the situation: it's after 12h30. The next bus to Montpellier departs at 13h30. The following bus will not be here until two-odd hours later. The problem with that? That's when these kids' train leaves. Apparently, the missing girl wanted to come catch everybody at the beach, took a different bus, and ended up staying on the bus until La Grande Motte - which is way off to the east. Now, it's time to play Fun With Maps!

I should be a cartographer.

Point A, my dorm in Montpellier, is off-screen. Also 16 kilometres away. Point B, Palavas, is where I went on Friday. C is Carnon, where the group is, and 5 km farther east. La Grande Motte is off the map to the right.

So, it appears to be up to me here. I ask what the girl looks like and where she is (they'd finally managed to establish phone contact with her, so that's good), put my shorts back on that wet behind of mine, and get back on the bike to hunt her down. Point D is where I found her, walking on the road parallel to the beach in our direction - which she had been doing for the past hour, she told me, visibly upset. Now, by the time I found her it was already past 1 pm. 4 km is about 2.5 miles. A brisk walk is 4 mph. Conclusion? Walking wasn't going to cut it. Had to calm her down (lost in a strange city, walking alone with nothing but her phone for over an hour, with the threat of being stranded and missing her train? Yeah, stressful.) and convince her to get on the back of my bike so I could ride her back. Halfway there the road got too narrow for it to be safe (riding with a shaky person on the back ain't easy, let me tell you) so we have to abandon that. Five minutes of walking later, receive an increasingly panicked call from our coordinator saying that the bus leaves in 10 minutes and everyone else has already left the beach to try and hold the bus. I hang up, calmly explain the situation to our poor stressed girl, and finally get her on my bike with me running alongside to direct her. After all that, we make it back to the beach and they run off to catch the bus, leaving me alone to take a much needed nap on the sand. All in a day's work, I suppose.

I don't think there was much point to this story, except that I added another 8 km to my day...and that if I hadn't shown up when I did, I'd hate to see how this day would have ended. Also, perhaps I'm too nice for my own good since I seem to find myself in these sorts of scenarios more frequently than I probably should. Despite the fact that my parents seem to find me generally incompetent, on the whole I'm not too bad at taking care of business when the need arises - or maybe I'm just better at taking care of others than I am of myself. Ha, who knows?

So that was a lot of writing. Uh, conclusions? Finished up the weekend at the beach and got my legs all nice and burnt on the ride back, in which there was a beastly wind blowing against me the entire way. It was torture, but I did it. Oh, and managed to recover my energy enough to go back to the beach (this time, with another friend! Together! On bikes!) on Tuesday, with picnic of sammiches and gummy worms. So, like I said, total = 90 kilometers. I'm trying to decide if this qualifies me as a beach bum or a beast.

Heading home under the beautiful evening sun. Also, when did my arms get so buff?

Until next time, when I talk about...the ballet!

The pursuit of happyness.

No pictures, today. Just writing. (sorry!) But it's needed.

It's now April. I'm entering my eighth month here. I sometimes take a step outside myself and can scarcely believe I actually did this. Just looking where I am now in relation to this same point a year ago...every so often I have to remind myself that yes, it's true.

One of my favorite movies is the title of this post. The Pursuit of Happyness, purposely misspelled. Evidently it's not like this particular story reflects my own life or anyone else's exactly. The thing that makes it so compelling and why I constantly return to it to give me some much-needed perspective on life is because of his determination- and how he feels so relatable. Take your own problems, self-doubts, and challenges and at least for me they transcend this medium until you feel like you very well could be watching yourself on the screen; your highs and lows, the feelings like nothing's going your way but you keep going because you can't stop. Because, really, all anybody wants to do is the best with what they've been given - no matter what that is - and overcome, bit by bit, clawing ahead one hand after another, to find whatever happy is for you. So before advancing from this unexplained episode of philosophizing, I'll just take a moment to say that Will Smith rocks.

Some people go abroad to further their career opportunities. Others go to learn a language, experience a new culture, escape their own, get the opportunity to travel...or any combination of the above. Me, I think I've pretty much figured the principal reason out. I'm a pretty simple person. All I want out of life is to be happy. And to try my best to do what it takes to achieve that. Coming to France, though perhaps a bit unusual and certainly something that won't give me anything concrete to show for being here, seemed to be the right thing to do at this point in life. I'll probably reflect more on this at a later date, but for the moment at least this fact is established. Happiness.

Naturally, one can't expect to be one hundred percent happy and giddy the entire time here, and doing that would set you up for some big disappointment. That being said, these past couple weeks have been a bit of a roller coaster ride, finally culminating in one of those moments when you get to learn through experience (argh. who else hates that word.) one of those nasty little Facts of Life. It sucks, a lot, but to steal a quote from somebody who escapes me, sometimes you've got to remember that failure is an event, not a person. So there you go. I feel like I've done a good job so far keeping negativity out of these blog posts, and now it's time to move on. Can't keep a soldier down for long.

Besides that, life is more or less as usual. Planning a vacation to Italy/Morocco/who knows where? in late April, so that's cool! Also, the weather here is nothing short. of. amazing. Focusing on studying is so hard it isn't funny. Every day I want to go out for a bike ride, a jog, or just lay on the grass and do nothing. Or take said bike and go downtown on a whim with friends on a Friday, and gratuitously buy two pairs of sandals from one of the cheap shoe stores in town. So I feel entirely ready for summer, perhaps a couple months too early, which may not be the best idea since exams at the fac des sciences are looming right before vacation. Until next time, wish me luck (and concentration)!

Le ski alpin - what did I get myself into??

Hello, everybody! I've gotten behind on blog posting again, though at least I feel good about keeping it up for this long and doing so regularly - for anyone out there who might read this. Life in Montpellier is going on much as usual, really. The weather is wonderfully sunny and in the low 70's during the day, with a fairly consistent nice breeze going on. It's officially beach weather, and concentrating on work can get mildly difficult...it's good that the weather is so nice, though, because I'm attempting to work my way out of a small funk - not something that merits explaining here, but sometimes life just rolls like that, doesn't it? Overall, it has been a pleasant week though. I succeeded in making chocolate truffles once again (this time with cognac, though I messed up on some of the ganache- tragedy!) and invited some ladies over to my humble abode for a dinner/dessert shindig. On the menu, the never-fails-to-please pasta carbonara; sliced baguette toasted in garlic, olive oil, and dipped in the oil and pepper; a most delicious salad, and of course the truffles for dessert! Yum yum...it seems that this meal was more Italian than "French," but that leaves more room to expand upon the next dinner party, doesn't it?

Beyond that, classes are classes (physiologie has an insane amount of information to absorb), stayed out all night last Saturday, profiting from French friends/acquaintances with cars, and I'm starting back up on the real running schedule. La vie se déroule.

Now, moving on to more exciting updates, I learned to ski!!! Yes, two weekends ago our exchange program offered us the option of a weekend du ski in a collaboration with the other group in Chambéry, a small city located in a valley nestled between the Alps. I was a little hesitant as I didn't know any of the participants very well, but then I realized how silly that was after tramping all over the place and meeting new folks - people are essentially the same no matter where they're from, I've always maintained, and this weekend ended up being SO SO fun to boot.

Let me start by saying that despite being from Canada and having gone back to visit at least a dozen times in my life - I have never skied before. Ever. I looked like a total joke in my borrowed ski pants that I actually had to use a ponytail holder to tighten or have them around my ankles the entire time, but I was extremely grateful for that because wet jeans on the slope would not have gone well!

The infamous massive ski pants. Also, my mini-skis (for the real beginners!)

As it turns out, apparently I must be a proper Canadian after all because I'm actually somewhat good at this skiing thing. Not a clue where it came from, since I even needed help putting on my ski boots, but once I got those skis on I watched one of the more experienced guys run down the first little hill of about 100 feet to get to the chair lifts to have the idea; I said "what the heck"; and down I went - I didn't even fall! And I stopped - properly! Words could not express my bewilderment and surprise at finding out it was way easier than I'd always heard it would be.

Well, that's not entirely true...the two other true beginners were what I'd imagine to be a more typical beginner, flopping around and falling on their behinds (don't worry, my time for that came) while attempting to get down that hill. I'd have to say that they're more brave than I am, because although we broke off soon after, they stuck with it and improved immensely. And when you're soaking wet and would move faster walking with skis in hand than with them on your feet, continuing until you get it is some kinda testament to your determination!

With some strange logic that I don't quite understand, in mounting the chair lift you had to start at a blue slope (light intermediate?) to get to the green slopes below (beginner), so after a successful mount and dismount on the lift in which it was snowing and cloudy enough to not be able to see more than one chair ahead, I joined the ladies who had done this a few times before, said my prayers and a good "here goes nothing," and actually did it! (with a few expletives thrown in for good taste when it got frightening) I tended to force myself into an amusing but not entirely graceless fall on the behind, skis going every which way, when I got a little out of control, rather than risk an awful face plant or broken ski, both of which happened to others in the group. I soon figured out that white-out conditions and wet, hard snow are pretty much the worst for learning the ropes, so I'm surprised I managed somewhat competently...how would it have been on a clear day, I wonder? Honestly, my more colorful phrases shouted into the wind and to the others came when we're looking at what might be a slope, might be a dead drop, but you honestly can't tell how steep it is or what you're getting into because it's seriously that white out there!

Me, skiing in nothing but a cardigan. Because I am hard core.

Stayed on the blue slopes all day with wonderful patient friends, and two of us even took the highest peak as our very last run of the day! Amusingly enough I did the most falling on that last run, when my legs were too fatigued to respond as I wanted them to. So, with my scarf a complete icicle and my little body quite worn out, we ended the day ready to rejoin the group dinner - a fully paid Savoyard (of the Savoie region) dinner at a wonderful restaurant, including fondue, tartiflette (which I'd had in Lyon while couch surfing), and...say it ain't so....raclette!!! Yeah, so I was happy as a clam, ate myself silly, and topped it off with a tarte aux myrtilles. Didn't gain a pound either, and woke up the next day in our budget but nice hotel with arms of steel and feeling slightly achy. On a side note, our shower was awesome - the shower head lit up in red, green, purple, and blue when you change the water temperature, and I was so so tempted to turn off the main lights and have a one person disco dance party - but alas, have to be respectful of others, so only in my dreams!

Raclette. So gooooood.

Enjoying my fondue, refusing to take off my toque because ski hair = not pretty.

Tensions run high when the last piece of bread's on the line.

The next part of this is going to be super condensed, as I'm quite tired here myself. The next day we went to Bourges du Lac for a picnic and to soak up the sun around this lovely lovely lake, then later on in the day went for a walk around the town. Relaxing way to end the weekend after an action-packed day o' ski.

Ok, ok, I'll say it...Roll Tide. (for those uninformed, my home university's mascot is the elephant)

Final thoughts? Glad I decided to give this a shot, and thanks to the generosity of our program this trip was sooooo economical. I feel like I got away with highway robbery and got to discover a hidden talent/penchant for a potentially dangerous winter sport. Came back home sore but in one piece: until next time, don't be afraid to try something new!!