Oh, France...you so crazy.

 Well, hello there! The first week of the second semester is officially finished. As previously mentioned, I'm taking a combination of courses at l'Université de Montpellier 3 (aka Paul-Valéry) and l'Université de Montpellier 2. The first is the arts/social sciences campus; the other is the hard sciences/technologies. I went in with the assumption that, no matter how prepared I came in, trying to arrange my classes to fit just right would be confusing and probably a little all over the place.

Let's just say that "all over the place" is one way to describe it. I didn't actually have trouble getting to these three classes in time thanks to my bike, in spite of a couple 15-minute windows and having to wake up before dawn (read: still dark when I'm goin' for a ride, here) to get to some courses bright and early at 8 a.m. Thank goodness I'm not going to have to do this more than once a week once I iron out my schedule, because I'm no longer used to waking up before the birds...that was last summer, thanks.

Getting back on track, why was my week all over the place? Well, Monday went ok for the most part. Tuesday after my UM3 classes finished for the day (having started this day at 8, of course), I went to my 3-hour lab from 4:45 to7:45. For starters, the schedule online didn't actually say what building or room the lab was in on campus, but not to worry, Sherlock Holmes Younanian figured it out and got to class five minutes early...

...to find the lab teacher, and me her only student. Nobody else came! Whaaaa? I feel like I missed some huge biology department memo (which in all likelihood could have happened), but the poor enseignante was just as clueless as I was. So, we chatted for a bit, scratched our respective heads, and went our separate ways - me glad to have a little extra free time for no good reason (which was used to send e-mails, doing a lot of that lately).

Next day, I have a class at 8 a.m., right? (This is Wednesday now.) This time, reverse the situation! 100 students in an amphitheatre, but no professor! Once more, with feeling: Whaaaa? The assembly of groggy students lah-dee-dah'd around for a little under half and hour before calling it quits. Me?- back home, back to bed until my 11:30 course.

But wait, there's more! (You didn't think it was over, did you? Silly goose.) No problems on Thursday, but on Friday I went to what I thought was my lecture course for introductory animal physiology. I know I'm in the correct lecture hall; I see the girl in front of me with "Physiologie" scribbled on her paper, cool. I'm good.

The professor arrives and we proceed to learn all about Immunologie for the next hour and a half. Once again, not a clue what's going on! But I did learn some fancy new science vocabulary, so not a total loss I s'pose. I won't go into obsessive, boring detail over all this, but apparently two different hours for the same course can have different content - and the class I guess I should have gone to was actually fifteen minutes after this physio/immuno/whatever course ended. So, after figuring all this out, I realize that waltzing into class half an hour late would not be a quick way to endear myself to the professor, so I hang around campus and eat a typical French salad for lunch (lettuce, tomato, tuna, rice. Not bad. Not bad at all) until her class ends so I can go talk to her. Blah, blah, so I'm kinda still scratching my head on the way home (not literally, as doing this on a bike would be quite hazardous to one's health).

Worry not, I'm not pissed about any of this, to tell you the truth. A little disappointed? Sure, yeah; science makes me happy, and I'd love to get all this figured out so I can actually register for real at this here school of mine. But, alas, France be kinda crazy, so you either shrug, accept it, and go eat a tuna salad or you can freak out and whine. I choose option A (with an orange Fanta, in case you care to know) and hope, that in spite of this lingering pressure I feel floating around me from the various academic offices I work with here and back home, that tout va s'arranger.

Note: this means, in the literal sense, that everything will arrange itself, or less literally, that it'll all work out. However, sitting on one's behind and hoping that you don't have to do any work for this s'arrang-ing to occur probably isn't setting oneself up for success.

Other news? Well, I went out on Friday night dancing with the ladies, slept in today, did a massive grocery shopping trip (lettuce for 0,42 centimes! Oh happy day!), and now feel like I'm having quite possibly the lamest Saturday night in history in spite of having a guest over for dinner. Why is that, you ask?

This guest is a cat. We had dinner. And dessert (he seems to like a little puff pastry in addition to his milk - weird). He is now sleeping on my bed, where he's been for the past few hours. Essentially, this little dude is the cité universitaire's wandering freeloader who stands outside the building waiting for you to let him into the building - and into your studio, to chill for awhile. After a satisfactory flea-check the first time we met a couple months ago, I decided he was welcome. I think he's pretty indiscriminate in his choice of company, but it's still nice to have a visitor - even of the furry persuasion. So, for now, I'm just listening to music, saying hello to all of you, and trying not to feel super lame. But hey, look at me - I've got a guy staying the night! Oooh, scandalous.

 Yeah, I know. Super mature. Also, cat just moved after about two hours snoozing on the bed. He's now on my lap. awwwwwww. Until next time, guys; here's a couple pictures from Malta:

 No matter where you are on the island you're never more than an hour from views like this:

 25-meter drop behind me. I'm so cool.

Dusk. The end of another day, and the last stop on our cruise vacation...

Systems normal!

Okay, everybody, more vacation pictures are going to have to wait! For those of you not following along on facebook, our next cruise stops included two FABULOUS days in Egypt, another on the gorgeous island of Malta, and afterward that trip was over we hightailed it from Barcelona directly to Paris where we spent 4 fabulous days roaming the city and trodding all over the Louvre. It was fabulous, more on that later (when this later is I'll leave in the air). Something small to report...

I'M 21!!! Yeah, I had my 21st birthday (January 17th, for those of you not in the know) in Montpellier! Totally meaningless in significance to the US, but who cares! It fell at just the right time to ensure that old friends were back from their respective breaks, and that the city has officially come back to life. My mother left the day before (the 16th), and while I was sad to see her go, I was beyond giddy and ecstatic to see my friends again and start the approach back to normal life, as it has been the past 4 months or so. As full of cheese as it may sound, this really does feel like home now - as much as for the people as the location.

I couldn't have spent a happier birthday. It was nothing huge, really. I invited a couple lady friends over to enjoy some good bottles of wine (yippee!) and have some girl talk as we tried on clothes and makeup, and one of these lovely girls volunteered her services to make dinner. Beef burritos and chips with salsa, cheese, and guacamole...with wine? Oh, yeah! This was followed by me providing dessert, the exceptionally high-class fare of sliced apples with Nutella to dip.

A few hours and a couple outfits later, dressed to kill and sufficiently make-upped, out we went for a night on the town, joined by a couple other friends! Danced our behinds off, and I generally felt pretty darn good all day/night. That, combined with all the birthday wishes from back home (people haven't forgotten about me!!) and from other friends we ran into on the tram and in town made for one happy birthday. I feel like quite the lucky girl. It wasn't the big, stereotypical go wild 21st birthday bash, but then again that's not really me, is it? No hijinks or trouble, just good tunes, good friends, and good times. Can't ask for much more than that.

So, now that the party's over (aww, say it ain't so!) after the first Latin night of the semester on Tuesday and another night of fun on Wednesday, I'm finally getting a breather and looking forward to just starting classes again. I feel like such a little go-getter, having arranged to take my integrated biology courses over at the science campus, talking to various people and getting all the right papers to make it work. The nerd in me felt right at home in the research wing of the biology department when I went to meet with an advisor; nothing like good ol' science (beakers, 'scopes, and that slightly sterile smell) to lighten the mood!

Okay, geek moment over. Moving on, classes start next week - finally! The French are quite lah-dee-dah when it comes to schedules and stuff, so it's pretty much just going to whichever schedule I want and signing up for real after. Right now I'm looking at Histoire de la Terre, Bases de la physiologie animale, and Developpement des organismes to which I've forgotten the rest of the title (involving embryology and such). I'm not taking all of them, though. I'll haunt the classes the first couple weeks until I see which I'd prefer and how they may work with my schedule at UM3.

In other news, I've bought a new bike and even got an impressive, intimidating metal chain straight out of an action movie as a free gift from a stranger who helped me break the old one after someone apparently tried to force it but failed (seriously)! Once again, French people for the win. You've just got to have a little cultural savoir faire and be in the right situation, I s'pose!

And last but not least, I'm going to try my hand tomorrow at making homemade chocolate truffles. Until next time, here's to hoping my kitchen doesn't turn into a war zone!

And, hey look - me on a camel, with some triangular things in the background.

Στην Ελλάδα!

I'm on a roll here! There's just no stopping me. Two posts, one day? It's madness! I'm not sure if anybody actually cares about where I went on vacation, but this may be more for me as some kind of virtual diary that I'll share with whoever cares to read. In that case, if you're still with me, let's continue.

Later in our trip, our ship makes its way to the lovely country of Greece. One day in Athens, the next in Rhodes. It was a little rainy from time to time, but we had the good luck to miss the worst of it and beat the crowds to the Parthenon. My family absolutely adores Greek and Mediterranean cuisine in addition to our own Armenian/Lebanese fare, so my mom and I had ourselves a culinary ball in addition to enjoying all there was to see. In addition to the history, monuments, and architecture, there were orange trees everywhere loaded down with fruit, which was lovely not quite enough to distract you from the current sad economic state in the country. There was an abundance of stray animals, which makes sense that pets are most definitely a luxury - and if you're choosing between feeding yourself or your animals, chances are that Kitty will probably do alright on his own. Seeing these cities that have been around for thousands of years, you realize that if they can make it through wars and the numerous other assorted woes that have come around during their existence, they'll come out of this too.So, umbrellas and cameras in hand, here are some snapshots of Greece!

 One of the temples to be found at the acropolis.

Hey, it's the Parthenon! (restoration in progress)

Strolling the historic district, working up an appetite!

 

 The entrance to Rhodes' medieval old town- right on the water!

 The Street of Knights. Didn't see any, pity.

Medieval cannon balls? You tell me!

 You find the nicest things down random side streets, even if your mother does think you're nuts :)

We had company for lunch. Quite polite guests, they were.

All in all, quite the voyage, and we managed not to get too wet. I did buy myself a pashmina (scarf), and a small ceramic vase with Artemis, my favorite Greek goddess on it. Until next time, a day at sea and then Egypt!

Lucy, I'm hooooome!

Whew! What a break! Montpellier, how I've missed you! It's been a whirlwind trip/s, but it sure is good to be home. These holidays have definitely been some to remember. At this point, I (and my mother!) feel like we've just finished a real-life version of Where in the World is Carmen San Diego...don't know if anybody else remembers that old computer game, but these past few weeks have been quite an adventure - and full of memories! As I mentioned, Christmas in southwest France with the Naudins was perfect and so memorable, offering me the chance to share in the holidays with a wonderful family and enjoy the Noel French-style!

And so, to continue where my last post left off, my mother and I arrived December 28th in Barcelona, to spend the day before hopping on the boat the next. Our luggage was way too heavy, and we pretty much killed ourselves navigating the train station, metro, and streets of Barcelona on our way to the hostel. But that was all good, because after we arrived and rested our weary backs, it was time for me to show her a bit of the town! It was oddly satisfying to be able to show these places that I'd been to before, enjoying the weather and acting like a little tour guide (I didn't say a good one!). For some reason, that made me feel grown-up to be the one leading the way for once! We went to the beach, ate paella, and had ourselves some mighty fine sangria...and returned to the hostel pooped beyond belief, turning in early.

The next day, we made our way to the boat (with a taxi this time; no way were we lugging our bags another mile) and away we went, for what I can only describe as 12 days of paradise. I had an absolute blast, danced my behind off due to the massive Latin American crowd on the boat, got to work out in a real gym (!!), enjoy hot tubbing and cooking in a sauna, eat delicious food every day, go rock climbing, and party like a fiend on New Year's Eve (and perhaps a couple other nights as well, haha.) I couldn't possibly describe it all, but there are of course certain highlights worth mentioning!

 Not a highlight. But what's a good blog post without a dose of silly?

New Year's Eve. December 21st was our first port of call, Palermo, Sicily. The city was gorgeous, the weather sublime after that annoying cold spell we'd been having, and mom and I explored the city on our own. We went a little out of the way and found some amazing Sicilian pizza that was folded over kinda like a calzone but not really, a giant pig in a blanket but soooo much tastier, tiramisu-flavored gelato, and of course cappuccino. Tips from friends led us to a super cool street market that could give any bargain queen a heart attack, and eventually we found our way back to the boat later in the evening to take a quick nap and prepare for our night of festivities. (I took many naps this vacation , by the way: it was glorious!) I'll apologize in advance for the minimal photos, but it'd be near impossible to do these locations sufficient justice so I'll try my best! I'm already a busy girl, and I've barely been back 2 days! I'll have to direct you to my facebook for the true photo tour, but here's one particularly nice one:

View of Palermo at sunset. =)

So, sufficiently recharged after our power naps and dinner, it was time for the party to start! All the party animals (which was probably a good three fourths of the ship) were out on the main deck, dancing up a storm, getting blown about by the wind but still having a great time. Free champagne was in abundance, passed around in fancy glasses, and there were lots of grapes. I was told that eating 12 grapes at New Year's is a popular tradition in Brazil and other spanish-speaking countries, so we decided to be fancy and put some in our glasses ^_^

Bringing in the new year in style!

But by far the best part of the night (besides partying till the wee hours with my new friends after mom went to bed) was the countdown! The captain of the ship timed our travel just right so that we'd pass through the Strait of Messine between Sicily and Italy just at the new year. There were fireworks! But not only were there fireworks, but true to their feisty fashion, every year the Italians and Sicilans put up their dukes and attempt to outdo the other. So, with the familiar tune of "Auld Lang Syne" ringing in the background, we found our place on deck to watch this spectacular display. It was breathtaking, and not because of the chill in the air. All I can say is, what a way to start the year! Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come.

Until next time, happy new year!