Riquiqui

This week has been very relaxed, and filled with new French experiences. I have discovered my new favorite French word, riquiqui. Don't worry about what it means. I love it for the sounds alone. It has replaced concombre which I also liked due to its sound only.

Last Sunday was Elsa's birthday, and Tuesday night she had some friends over to celebrate. I tried a few interesting, but delicious appetizers, and also came to the realization that my professors must be speaking incredibly slow French to us in class. I was a little bit in awe about how few words I could understand from their rapid speech. However, it was kind of fun to guess what they were saying solely based off of their facial expressions and body language. I spoke a little English and Spanish, and very timidly some French. I will say it is always a confidence boost when you say something and people actually understand you. I was really glad I got to meet more French people, especially such friendly ones, and it motivates me to work hard to improve my French so that maybe at the end of the semester I will be able to understand it spoken at a normal pace.

I have been eating a lot of Kabobs lately, which are not of French origin, but the restaurants are everywhere. They are cheap and delectable. Especially now that I have been introduced to Samurai sauce. I really hope Louisville or Bowling Green has something to offer in the way of Kabobs, because they have become my replacement burrito while in France.

Moving on through the week, Thursday the University hosted a dinner of traditional Normandy food for students and their host-families. I accidentally left the house without my host family, because I thought I was meeting them there....Oops! The food was unsurprisingly delicious. I ate quiche, teurgoule, apple tartes, cheese, etc. Hurrah for Normandy!

Friday we got chinese. They served my dumplings in this cute little basket, so I am basically officially in love with that restaurant. Afterwards we went to the movies to see Gangster Squad. We were supposed to be going to one in English with French subtitles, but that was apparently a lie. Besides the names of American cities, the entire movie was in French. It actually turned out to be a lot of fun though. The movie is action packed, so even my friend Jessica, who started French this semester, could follow the story. It was a really great movie from what I could understand in French, so I can't imagine how good it would be in English where I would understand more of the dialogue.

Then on Saturday, we went to the World War II museum. It is really interesting and with our student IDs we got in for only 5 euro. We spent several hours there going through the museum, and then getting some coffee in the café. We went to our friend Grace's apartment for a raclette dinner which is basically the greatest way to eat meat, cheese and potatoes ever. You put the cheese underneath the burner to melt it, and then put all sorts of sliced meet to cook on top of it, like ham and salami. It's serve yourself, and awesome.

Today we got crepes at the crêperie where I think we are officially regulars since we have gone the past three weekends. I always order something different, and it is always delicious. I had a cheese and sausage one today with a side salad, and café au lait. Later, I played more card games with Marine and had another lesson in French pronunciation, concentrating on making that noise that sounds like you're hocking a loogie :) Then we went upstairs to watch the Bachelor in France (I can't believe Livia got to stay,) and to eat dinner.

Street in Caen on the way to the crêperie.

Tomorrow it is back to class, and hopefully the grocery!