hello. yes it’s been a while.
i’ve had five hours of class a day so i haven’t really had much to add. my prof is hilarious though. he likes to go through the etymological roots of every french word. greek latin. whatever it happens to be. we’ve learned some french slang. that seems to me to be very complicated. they reverse syllables. so femme would be meuf. it’s really weird. it’s called verlan like l’envers backwards. yes. weird. apparently in a part of paris called les halles there lived a buncha butchers and they all spoke some weird slang language that no one else could understand.
i’m learning a lot more history and strange facts than grammar. which is nice 
so today we went on a little excursion to francois mauriac’s summer house. it was beautiful. surrounded by vineyards and very rustic. oh and he’s a writer that i’ve never heard of. there was actually an exhibition of modern art in his barn. really beautiful pieces carved out of wood. the artist was even there
and the cutest little garden. with every fruit tree imaginable (including jessica’s fave the fig) and lots of tomatoes. we ate a few figs because no one else was.
then onto the vineyard. welcomed by a rotund older man who was the owner. he toured us around, explaining to us the process of winemaking. i could understand a little bit, but there are so many specialized words that some of it just slipped right through. he was also an exotic bird connoisseur. had all sorts of strange birds wandering around his backyard. giant swans, weird black turkey swans with red beaks. and peacocks of course.
he let us taste the sweetest wine i’ve ever tasted. it was dégouttant (disgusting). i had to gulp it down in order to finish it. and then all of us passed out on the bus ride home.
no toulouse this weekend unfortunately, but hopefully some good flea markets and a bike (!) in the city.
