Already finished one jar of Nutella.

It's hard to believe I've already been here twelve days! Here's a rundown of what I've been up to.
- Musee Fabre, the major local art museum. I saw some Monet and Matisse!
- Eating lots of crepes. I even had a ratatouille crepe! Can you get any more French?
- Beachin' it at Palavas. And Angie and Bob, I did see boobies on my last trip. Nothing to get too excited about though.
- Montpellier's version of Fridays after Five called Les Estivales. So much amazing food and wine and fun street performances.
- I ordered my first sandwich on a baguette at a sandwicherie. The people here are much nicer than I expected them to be. If I attempt to speak French to them, they'll either talk back to me really slowly, or just reply in English. Less work for me!
- Exploring France's oldest botanical garden (1593), the Jardin des Plantes.
- Visiting a medieval fortress city, Aigues-Mortes. The foundation apparently dates back to 102 BC! That's crazy. I walked around the top of the entire thing. It took about an hour and a half.

Next up this week, the Tour de France is coming through on Tuesday! I don't think many of you know about my Lance Armstrong obsession, but I haven't been this excited about something in a long time (I mean, since Foxfields). I just hope I get to actually see the time trial instead of getting caught in the gigantic mosh pit of dirty French people that I'm sure it will be. Suzie (our student chaperone here) told us about a White Party that her friend is having on Thursday night at a private beach, so we might get to go to that! I mean, it's probably the closest I will ever get to partying with Diddy and Jay-Z in St. Tropez.

And the biggest news of all, the two other exchange students are here! Beatriz is a 19-year-old medical student from Zaragoza, Spain, and Bulat is a 19-year-old medical student from Kazan, Russia. So, as you can see, I'm hanging out with two teenagers. They always look to me to make plans for the activities of the day/night, so even in France, I'm the social chair.

They've been pretty hilarious so far and done their fair share of dissing the U.S. and A. For example, Beatriz just can't seem to understand why we have four years of college, and Bulat doesn't get why we make such a big deal out of getting our white coats. Bulat has also used the phrase "the republic" a few times (referring to Russia), and I lose it every time. They both get fired up talking about stereotypes of their countries, which has led to me making a lot of Russian jokes in a Borat voice and pretending to be a bull. Bulat carries a backpack with him everywhere, and on his first trip to the grocery store, he bought a can of peas, apple juice, and POTATOES (did you read that, Sunny?!). He's also been sunburnt for three days because he didn't put on any sunscreen when we went to the beach (even though I told him he should), because he's from Russia and has never gone to a beach! We had wine night at my apartment last night, and one glass in, Bulat declared, "I VILL BE VERY DRUNK TONIGHT!" English words I have taught him include cork, tan, and slippery. Ok, I'll stop with the Bulat stories now.

Here are Bulat and Beatriz! In typical Russian style, Bulat doesn't smile in any pictures, even though he has a big, goofy grin on his face AT ALL OTHER TIMES.

Beatriz and me at the Jardin des Plantes. I'm teaching them to do poses besides the standard "stand in front of whatever you're taking a picture of."

Me inside one of the Aigues-Mortes ramparts that looks out onto a canal.


Ok, time for one more chocolate croissant and bed. Bonne nuit!