Eric's Visit

OK, OK, I know I'm way behind on this and have been putting it off... but here's finally an update!

2 weeks ago Eric came to visit, and I can't even begin to explain what a fabulous time we had. He got here on Saturday night and I was able to keep him awake until midnight. He slept in until 1:30 on Sunday, but luckily that seemed to be all he needed to get rid of the jet lag. We spent the day Sunday just hanging out in Aix, and when my friends all got back from their weekend excursion that night we went out to O'Sullivans, which has become our favorite pub.

On Monday Eric, Kerri, Clare and I went to Arles, where they have a lot of old Roman ruins. It was a bit of a rainy day, so we didn't walk around too much, but we really enjoyed seeing the old theater and ampitheatre, where they were gearing up for the Easter bull fights.

Tuesday I had class in the morning, but we spent the rest of the afternoon just hanging around Aix. I think Eric really enjoyed just getting to see what I do with my friends and the town that I'm staying in. That night we went out with most of the people in my program to celebrate Eric's last night in Aix, and we had a really amazing time.

Wednesday we caught the train to Geneva, where we were hoping to meet up with Eric's friends John and Josh who are studying in Lausanne. We still hadn't heard from them when we got there, so we spent the night just hanging out in Geneva, and taking it easy. That night at midnight Eric got a call from his friends saying Eric should meet them at the airport at 6:00 the next morning where they were picking up their other friend, Paolo. Eric let them know that that wasn't going to happen, and we'd try to contact them in the morning.

On Thursday we were afraid we weren't going to hear from Eric's friends, but they called around noon so we hopped on a train to Lausanne and were there by 1:00. Eric was so happy to see his friends. We spent the day just hanging out with them. I have to admit, with so many girls in my program, I had forgotten what hanging out with boys was like! They were pretty funny and random. At one point, Eric's friend Paolo was riding his skateboard next to the water by Lake Geneva, and he hit a pebble and the board went right into the lake. I thought that was the end of that board, but Eric and Josh kept telling him he shouldn't give up and that he should try to go in after it. Really I think they just wanted to see him jump into the lake. But he did! Paolo stripped down to his boxers and then jumped in, and he got his skateboard! I was in absolute shock. It was very funny! That night Eric's buddies really wanted him to stay the night, so I went back to Geneva and Eric spent the night in Lausanne with his friends.

On Friday Eric and his friends all came out to Geneva and we spent the day hanging out in a very cool park. Again... forgot what boys are like! When I'm walking through the park with a group of friends and see a big pile of sticks, I barely notice and keep going. When the boys were walking through the park and saw a big pile of sticks they thought, "Hey! Let's hit each other with these!" And that was the beginning of a giant stick sword fight. It was very amusing and I had a lot of fun seeing all of the ridiculous things that Eric and his friends do. Eric's friends all headed back to Laussane around 8:00 and at 10:00 Clare and Kerri got into town. We all went out for a drink, and Eric was happy he got to see them one last time.

On Saturday morning I had to get up and take Eric to the airport, which I really did not want to do. We were having so much fun and we both felt like the week had gone by way too fast. But I had to say goodbye, and I'm so glad we had such a wonderful time. I spent the rest of the day in Geneva with Kerri and Clare, and that afternoon we caught a train to Lyon. When we got to Lyon we had a little bit of an adventure finding our hostel. What I thought would be a 20 minute walk from the train station was actually an hour and a half walk, but we made it and then had a delicious pizza dinner.

Sunday was a lot of site seeing in Lyon. We went up the hill to the Fourviere church, but we weren't able to go in because it was Palm Sunday and there was a big catholic ceremony happening on the steps. It was actually very cool to get to see that. From there we headed down the hill and went to the Lyon Miniatures Museum, except it wasn't just a miniatures museum, it also had a huge collection of movie paraphenalia. It was very cool, and right up my alley. I of course thought of Sarah and Aunt Debra a lot while we were looking at the miniatures. They would have loved it. And while we were there we saw the guy that made them all walking around the museum. There was a part where we got to look into his giant workshop, and Sarah, Aunt Debra, you guys would have just died! It was huge! From the museum walked to get lunch and had a traditional Lyonnais dish called quenelle. It was very delicious. Because our legs were very tired at this point, we decided to do a bus tour of the city, which was nice. It took us to the Art Museum, where we got to see paintings from some of the artists that we've been talking about in our Art History class. We decided to take it easy for the rest of the day since we were a little warn out, but that night we went to a very cool restaurant and had a delicious dinner.

On Monday we only had a little bit of time before our train back to Aix, so we walked around another garden and then caught our train. I swear, Europeans know how to do gardens! The train ride back was nice, and when we got back to Aix we just took it easy for the night.

This week of school has just flown by. We had tests in 4 out of 5 of our classes, so I've been pretty busy with school, which is the first time since I've been here. I haven't even had time to think about the fact that Sarah is coming, but she gets here today!!! I'm SO excited! Only 8 more hours! Kerri and I are going to go to the market and get some things to prepare for her arrival. I really can't wait. Time for another great week, and then Mom gets here and we go to Italy! In the words of my dear friend Kerri, "This doesn't suck!"