Madelyn's Blog

(I think on my last few posts I got off on my day count…anyway, I checked and I have, in fact, been here for 26 days.)

Today was a relaxing day. I ate at a quaint little French restaurant without a menu. You paid a flat rate and the chef served you several courses of delicious authentic French food of his choosing. There was an onion/potato/briscuit soup, a couscous/tomato dish, pork with some kind of bean, cheese and bread, and fruit for desert. Everything was wonderful and the restaurant was filled with old French men (a sign of authentic French cuisine…not the watered-down touristy version.) I found out today that Pau has another, smaller chateau on a hill overlooking the whole city. It’s surrounded by an enormous park / nature reserve and there is a small vineyard on the hillside next to it. I was originally planning to go on the USAC excursion to the Pyrenees today, but decided not to in order to avoid hiking for 3 hours in the rain without proper hiking or rain gear. I would have liked to have seen the mountains, but I didn’t want to ruin the experience by being unprepared and miserable. My family is gone for the night, but this time I was prepared with sandwich supplies. It doesn’t hold a candle to the 4-course dinners I’m used to here, but I think I can handle it for one night. I miss cooking, and I miss my Gemignanis Italian Restaurant food at work. I can’t believe I’m leaving France in 10 days, the time has absolutely flown by and I really didn’t believe that it was going to. I think about how much I’ve learned, though, and it seems like I hardly spoke any French at all when I got here compared to how much I know now.

All in all it’s been a great month but I can’t wait to get home. I’m not usually very fond of being away from home for more than a day or two, but being with a family here has made it so much easier.

A demain