Pants [The weekend I try to speak French like it's English.]

Oh my word. I want to tell you about the super sweet weekend I just had. Maybe the best weekend I've had yet while being in France. I'm currently trying to remember a better weekend in my life. I'm sure there's one, but it's late, and I can't think of it.

Saturday morning, I went to the grocery store to get items for a picnic. These items included [but are not limited to] bread, water, apples, generic pringles [original kind - I was too short to reach the sour cream and onion, and no one was around to ask for help], and some banana chewy candy things. I then returned to my apartment, threw clothes in a bag, and walked about 12 minutes to the meeting spot.

The meeting spot isn't secretive at all. It's where two tram lines meet; there's a little street behind line 2. Josias parked his car along this street and was waiting for Stephanie and I. I arrived with my backpack full of random stuff [clothes, toiletries, Bible, etc] and my bag of picnic things.

Let me preface the rest of this story by saying that I was not planning on going anywhere this weekend. At Agape Wednesday, Josias mentioned a weekend hiking trip at his house in Les Cevennes [mountains north of Montpellier], but I hadn't heard about this yet, as Josias didn't have my e-mail address. I'd thought briefly about going but kind of forgot about it Friday night. I decided to go on a whim as I've only been out of Montpellier 3 times since I got here in early January. For a total of 5 days. I needed a break before project starts.

So Stephanie was late to the meeting place. But that was easily forgiven, as she was making us a cake. Josias and I talked a little - we don't know each other too well, and he doesn't speak any English [though he seems to know tons of English vocab. I'm suspicious.].

An hour and a half of driving found us in Valleraugue, a little village in the mountains where Josias' parents live. But they weren't there - they were in Sete. It was so cute and cozy; I loved it right away.














It was raining when we arrived, so we had our picnic on the enclosed terrace. It was lovely. Lots of talking, laughing, and eating. And drinking tea. Good stuff.

It quit raining, so we got in the car and drove a little ways a mini-parking lot near the start of trail. We got out and started hiking. Oh my. It was uphill for hours. I'm not exaggerating. We hiked for about 6 hours. The first 2.5 were purely uphill. It was intense. And since I only have converse, flip-flops, flats, and cowboy boots in France, I was wearing borrowed boots. Borrowed boots work but not for 6 hours.

So after lots of sweat, a weird pain in my left hip, a few breaks, lots of pictures, and crazy laughter, our hike was over. Oh and sweet, sweet views.















So during this hike, things may have been said. Okay, in all honestly, we talked the whole 6 hours. But I mean things that didn't quite work. Because I spoke French all weekend. Which was good. Great for me, actually, as I have my final oral exam tomorrow morning. But with so many things said, something embarrassing is bound to come out of my mouth.

For example, I had to jump from a rock to the ground below. As I did this, I said, "Il faut trouver un espace solid pour l'atterrissage." Basically, this means, "I need to find a solid space for the landing." "Landing" as in what planes do after a flight. Yeah, that's the word I use.

Later, we were taking a break, and I mentioned I was tired. Stephanie told me that when she's fatigued, she pretends orks are chasing her. So Josias proceeded to tell me that one was behind me. After a few me, I spouted off, "Fine, he can just eat me." Well, I thought that's what I said. I was told by Stephanie and Josias that I said, "Fine, he can just eat YOU." We had a good laugh. Stupid pronouns.

So we got back to Josias' parents house [though we did get rained on during our hike], and he made us dinner while we listened to some sweet worship music. After eating some great cheese, drinking some good wine, and telling lots of stories, we all went to bed. I was asleep in an instant. The silence of the country was amazing after months with the noise of the city.

I woke up before my alarm went off and read some 2 Kings. It was okay - I'm at the part where all the kings are dumb and bad. We got ready, had breakfast together, then went on a tour of Valleraugue. It was so cute, and Josias explained everything to us. He's a history major. Ph. D, I think?


















We then loaded up in the car and headed to the national park near the village. I got a little car sick [no puke; just weird stomach feeling, you know?], but once we arrived at the summit of Mont Aigoual, it was totally worth. There was actually this sweet weather station there in a fake castle. Not fake as in dumb looking. Just not medieval apparently. Apparently, it's one of the windiest, snowiest, rainiest places in France. And the view blew my mind.
















After having a picnic, we walked around the meteorological museum a little, then headed back to Josias'. We talked more. Ate cake. And he played his bagpipe for us. No big deal :)

So I'm home now. In my apartment, that is. Not in the States. It feels good to be back. I'm well rested and ready to tackle this week of exams. Wish me luck.

Love.