"tu viens visiter mon tipi?"

... the cute saying on my cute agenda. "school diary". who knows what that's supposed to mean. two weeks after la rentrée, the first day of class, the back-to-school fervor has calmed down somewhat. i know where and what my classes are, where to find the least disgusting bathrooms on campus, and which coffee machines put chocolate in the cappucino. the semester feels like it's really started, and i'm beginning to ease back into a studious mindset.
i finally realized my dream of having a 4 day weekend. every week. that is, no class on monday or friday. imagine: i can sleep in as late as i want on a friday after salsa dancing at the cotton club, then leisurely get up, make coffee, read mérimée (or hugo, or sarmiento, or whatever else i have for class or pleasure), then go run my errands without worrying about long waits. (in fact, that's what i did today)! or, i could take an early tgv to paris on a friday and come back late monday (what i plan to do in october or november to see friends and go to the paris banlieues tango festival). it's so good to have options.
i do have a lot of reading, and some small assignments for my classes... méthodologie is 4 hours a week of grammar, vocab, and french pedagogy (with other americans who i know from préstage); beginning arabic is an hour a week of class, with an hour of listening lab work every other week; latin american literature (survey of post-colonialism up through the avant gardes and modernists) and post-independence literature and history of mexico make 3 hours a week of spanish fun; and the mythology of hell and the devil plus a section on the birth of the modern myth of the grand inquisitor makes for 3 hours of french literature. so far i like all of my professors, books, and prospecti (and there happens to be at least one other american in each of my integrated classes).
in other news, i've started taking an argentine tango class once a week, have been salsa dancing at least twice a week, and am planning a trip to palermo, sicily, for a tango festival the first weekend in november. i ran into a friend of isabelle's the other day and had a coffee with him before dinner (he studies, teaches, choreographs modern dance), and wound up attempting, with uncertain success, to explain contra dancing to him. i do miss contra, and mountain waltzing.
however, i'm starting to really love this city, as i get to know the back roads, little cafés, and people on the street. i have moments when i really feel like i'm speaking french, and not just putting the words together. i do a little dance when people ask, "wait, you're not french?" or even, "so where are you from? the US? really??"
there are other moments when i can't for the life of me find the word i want, or when i butcher the syntax like a big italian meat monger.
oh well.
i'm going to see my first live opera on sunday afternoon! the magic flute, for like 4 euros.
i'm so excited!! i just wish i had opera glasses... or a monacle.. and long gloves...
sigh.

le musée fabre: nicest restrooms in montpellier

this afternoon entailed a program-paid visit to the visiting impressionist exhibit at the musée fabre, located off the esplanade in montpellier. the exhibit celebrates the relationship between french and american artists, philanthropists, museums, and public that contributed to the movement, and contains masterpieces by monet, manet, renoir, degas, pissarro, caillebotte, cassatt, sisley, and morisot. there were too many americans to my liking (and i cannot abide being rushed, slowed, or spoken to in a museum) so i broke away from my tour group and took my time going through the exhibit. the works that i found most captivating were degas' Petite danseuse de quatorze ans and Renard mort; renoir's La rêveuse and Coco écrivant; and cassatt's Caresse maternelle. once we have our student id cards, we can get in free to the permanent collection any time.
in other news, our excursion to carcassonne last sunday was a disaster. the city itself is interesting, as a study in restoration techniques (look up Viollet-le-Duc) and artisan biscuits, but it's full of tourists. also, it was bloody hot when we were there, and most of us very nearly perished while watching the jousting knights and mangy squires. the real adventure began when we left to return to montpellier. the bus i was on was leaking oil, so we had to stop to refill the tank. of course they neglected to tell us what was going on, so we sat in the furnace of the bus waiting indefiniately, and then found the door to be locked when we decided to get off. we got back on the road, only to stop again. the other bus went on home, and we got back in our death mobile to go a few kilometers to wait for a rescue bus to pick us up. in all, what should have been a 2 hour trip took more than 4. hopefully the excursion to avignon tomorrow will go more smoothly...