a quiet weekend and some planning

This weekend as a whole has been pretty low key. On Friday we celebrated the birthday of Nick, a fellow UNH student who has been here since October. We all went over to Elsa's house where we made dinner (burritos) and had fun. On Saturday, Michelle's host family was away, so we all went over to her house, made pasta and then watched Zombieland.

Sunday followed in the pattern of quiet relaxation for the most part, except for when I spent a bit of the morning looking for an open Pharmacy (by law each city is required to have one emergency Pharmacy open on Sundays) and then spent time waiting in line to buy the French equivalent of Advil (neurofen for anyone that's interested).

I then went for a walk with my host father and Pascal, the Swiss exchange student who is staying with my host family for two weeks, at Lac Kir an artificial lake on the edge of Dijon. It was very lovely and I can imagine it being even more so in the spring when everything is in bloom and all of the trees are filled with leaves. I was quite happy to see my first French mallards! I can't say why but for some reason mallards (of any nationality) always make me happy. When I first went to Switzerland I was pleased (perhaps a little too much) to see them in another country, and it follows in France.

The trail, which follows an old river, to Lac Kir

There were also some swans, but after being bitten by one at age 8, the only capacity in which I like them is in relation to the ballet (which I adore).

The weekend did give me (and the others) some time to work on planning trips. We have a two week long break in April in which we plan to visit the Netherlands, Austria (Vienna to be specific), Italy and potentially Prague. Initially we hoped to visit Ireland but we're on a tight budget and finding inexpensive trains and planes has been a little difficult.

Tonight is my dinner with my host family and I've already been told that tonight's menu will be escargots! It's quite exciting and I'll be sure to post pictures of it as well as my opinion on them.

Lastly, on a note related to photography, I wrote here in my first post that I wanted to take one photo every day as a way to record my time in France, but also as a way of consciously working to improve my photography. I have posted at least one photo for every day, but will not post one for this past Saturday. I did take some photos but I didn't like any of them. While not every photo I have posted has been one I absolutely loved, I have made a conscious effort to post photos that I was at the very least satisfied with. Not every day and photo can be the best, and I will still take a photo ever day, but from time to time there might not be any posted photos of the day.