Salut tout le monde!


Joyeuses Pacques! I hope your Easter was wonderful. This weekend has been very fun and exciting and I celebrated my first holiday away from my family, and in France.


On Saturday, Ludmila and I went to the Comedie in Montpellier and met up with some friends, Milena, Julie, and Carla, for lunch, shopping and a movie. Ludmila was so excited to try a new American restaurant called "Bagel House." It was opened by a California native and when I walked in, there was baseball on the tv! We ate super good bagel sandwiches filled with all sorts of things and then did a little shopping. After a while, we went and saw the Hunger Games. I had already seen it, but this time it was in French. And I completely understood every single thing! This is such an accomplishment for me! I am starting to feel semi-fluent now, and I can't wait until I can understand everything all the time.

Julie and Milena while we got drinks before the movie

After the movie, Ludmila and I took the tram home and got ready to go to a basketball game. It is really surprising just how much I actually miss sports! Olivier, Ludmila and I went walked to the stadium, which is just around the corner, in the main square of our tiny town, Lattes. The Lattes Girls Basketball team is super good and was playing for first place. Unfortunately, they were missing a few key players and ended up losing.

The tram is a super efficient way to travel throughout the city and a new line just opened up in Lattes! No more bus for me :) 

Ludmila and Olivier at the game! I have noticed that the French do not like to smile for pictures…Almost no one smiles, but don't worry they are not super depressed people or anything. I don't really understand...

Sunday! Easter time! I woke up, and it was such a different feel from my home in California. Normally, my sister and brother are up at the crack of dawn and wake everyone up to go find the hidden eggs. When I woke up, Emma was the only one up and when I said, "Joyeuses Pacques" she looked at my weirdly and then remembered that I celebrate! Emma and I decided to go to church and see how the few Catholics in Lattes celebrate. I was surprised by how many people were actually there! There was a lot of singing and a lot of prayer. We got an offering and tried to follow along with the songs, although we were completely lost. Overall, it was a good experience!


After church, we came home and enjoyed a huge seafood lunch! I tried les escargot de mer, as well as les crevettes, les couteaux, et les crevettes grise. My favorites were les couteaux! I also liked les escargot de mer aussi :)

Les escargot de mer 

My favorite, les couteaux

Les crevettes

Les crevettes grise

My amazing French family

About to try my first snail!

Yum

Our Easter Cake

After our seafood, we enjoyed an Easter cake together! And then Emma, Ludmila and I dyed Easter eggs. Everyone was very interested in this, because dying Easter eggs is "absolument inconnu" in France. When I first brought it up, my family looked at me like I was crazy, but they all were excited and willing to try a new experience. I am so glad Hayley sent me an egg dying kit as my family really enjoyed dying the eggs…and it brought more of an "Eastery" feeling to my day. Earlier, my mom sent me pictures of my little siblings dying Easter eggs. They made one for me, Ludmila, and Emma…so in return we made some Mitch, Grant and Holly.

Sisterly love on Easter

My sisters!

Grant's egg

Our collection

Easter in...

Fra...

…nce!

Mitch's egg

Holly's egg

After dying eggs, Nathalie and Uncle Xavier surprised us with an egg hunt in the yard. Ludmila, Emma, and I ran all over and collected chocolate eggs and bunnies. We found just about a million and then went in the house to divide and eat our chocolate!!

She is always dancing!! :)

After this, Olivier's cousins came over for a little bit and showed us their new baby, Hector. He was soooo cute!! I learned that they had studied in the US for a little bit during college and so we talked about the States for a while. I really liked Olivier's cousins and I think we are going to see them again sometime over Spring Break. Speaking of which, officially starts today! Tomorrow we are off to Lyon for two days and then to Puy for another day! I am looking forward to traveling more in France and getting to know this beautiful country better.


I hope your weekend was well! Bisous