full-o-fun.

this weekend was full-o-fun, and now i'm getting back into the weekly grind. friday, i decided to visit a fellow assistant, diana, i had met at orientation back in october for a fête she was throwing in loudeac. now loudeac is not your average french town, rather, it's your average french village. no worries. after several trains & a bus (only buses go to & from the gare there), i arrived at the party safe & sound. not only did i get the chance to meet a bunch of her french friends, but it was great to mingle & drink & dance & just be merry in general. lots of red wine, lots of great conversation, lots of pasta, lots of dance music. it was a pretty fabulous night & great to get out of little ol' lannion for a bit.

the next day, since one of diana's friends lives in plouaret, they offered to give me a ride back to lannion, and despite not being in the best of forme the next day, we ended up having a croque monsieur lunch after virginie showed us around her place. tired, but still standing, i came back to the apartment, where it already smelled deliciously of saskia's birthday dinner, and attempted to discreetly make a birthday cake (and buttercream frosting, without a mixer, mind you), throw up some balloons, make myself presentable, & take a quick cat nap before the next party started. guests arrived as i was coming out of my hangover-&-lack-of-sleep induced coma, and we sat down for a lovely meal prepared by the birthday girl. a hearty potato & leek with meat soup with baguette & fresh tomatoes with olive oil & oregano, mousse au chocolat, & "bowle", a traditional german punch made with slightly sparkling white wine & peaches that you could stab with tiny forks. yum. last, was my pink angelfood cake (who wants white cake when they can have pink cake? i only tried to liven it up a little) with the pale yellow buttercream. the verdict? not half bad, despite the fact that we're seriously lacking in the kitchen appliances & appropriate pans department. the night continued with drinking & game playing & present opening & the like.


the fête d'anniversaire.

jacqueline had a friend visit for the weekend, claire, so she was there, nicolas, fleur, jo & her boyfriend joe, and all of the roommates (catherine, jac, & the birthday girl saskia) were in attendance. we ended up playing a couple rounds of guess-the-person-who's-on-the-stickynote-on-your-forehead game, which i'm sure has a proper name that i just don't know. this ended up being a pretty fun time for most, a few frustrations, but well received overall. a round or two of l.c.r. (left right center, a dice game, for those of you who don't know), and the usual busting-out to the b.s.b., and our night was complete.


virginie, catherine, diana, & saskia at the coast.

yesterday, virginie was taking diana to see the coast & offered to take me along (and some roommates too!) the weather was decently warm, though windy, and the girls' company was good (since usually, i go by myself). virginie shared the legend of saint guirec, where if a girl puts a needle in the statue's nose & it sticks, she'll be married within a year, with the others who hadn't yet heard it.


diana, looking for a needle in her pocket to stick in saint guirec's nose. just kidding.

she pointed out some more of the figures in the rocks, some of which i hadn't yet picked out, so that was pretty fun too. i explained that i swear that every time i go back to ploumanac'h, i see new things in the rocks, and that it's probably just the breton air making me crazy, petit à petit. we shared a pretty interesting vocabulary lesson in the car on the ride home, and i said farewell with a biz. à la prochaine!