As I said last week I came back from Milan with the sudden realisation that we said we were going to do so much that we just haven’t done, so trying to rectify that we have been planning things left right and centre! I will first mention that during the day (except the Ascension (Thursday) I have been in work and working on my reports and doing the last few experiments, but who cares about that!

We had been invited over to Fanny’s Tuesday night so after work (nipping home briefly to put our summer clothes on) we all got in her car and she took us back to hers for dinner. She apologised for not making a big effort but she had made a quiche and a cake which is more than a lot of people in Britain would do! The wine was promptly opened- starting with some sparkly, of course- and we spent the evening just chatting, and of course gossiping!

The following night we were planning on going to see Star Trek but we could only go if we saw the dubbed version- dubbed films are never good- so we gave up on that and after a lot of to and fro-ing on Facebook Rob eventually told us that we were having an impromptu BBQ chez them. We got together some nibbles and went over for about seven; another glorious evening was laid out in front of us, sitting on throws on the grass basking in the sun drinking wine. Rob had his rugby ball and by the end of the evening we were all playing catch (the five Anglophones, Anna and Anne (the German girls))- which was much funnier than it sounds. We were all fairly ‘merry’ by this point…

We had to leave eventually- didn’t want to have a hang over for our Thursday morning jog, we got up at 8.30 despite the bank holiday (I love France, 4 bank holiday’s in one month!), we had to leave for Philippe’s at 11.30, that is Rachel’s ‘chef de stage’ or supervisor. He had invited us over for lunch, I imagined it would be a small affair but how wrong I was! He had taken on the vegetarian challenge with determination and come up with an amazing 5 course meal! We started with the obligatory aperitif- crément d’Alsace and nibbles at 12.30, then moved on to orange and vegetable samosas with soufflé for a starter with some white wine. This was followed by a cumin quiche (delicious) and curcuma quiche with salad, then of course cheese with a nice Bordeaux (also obligatory), dessert was a café gourmand but not only were there macarons (and 7 types of espresso to choose from) there was ice cream, waffle, biscuits, sorbet, melted chocolate… I was in heaven! It was about four in the afternoon by the time we had stuffed all that and Philippe suggested a walk in the park, it was a lovely day and the park was beautiful. It felt very French and it was nice to experience that before we left.

What I also noticed was the fact that we all spoke French the entire time and it didn’t bother me on iota, there was nothing I didn’t understand despite topics ranging from Chemistry (very little) to politics and on to music! I think I can say my French has most definitely improved!

We had to rush home at six however to be on time for Rob and Sarah coming over to start watching Lord of the Rings- the extended version! The original plan was to spend a weekend watching them back to back but our weekends seem to be disappearing! It was easy though to just sit back and watch. We carried in on Friday night but won’t be finishing until next week!

Still in my hyper organisational phase, and thanks to Rachel’s weather watching, we decided Sunday would be perfect for our picnic at the zoo and so Saturday Rachel, Andrew and I got everything we would need for the perfect British picnic. Now the French may know how to do bank holiday banquets but give the British a picnic to plan and there’s no stopping us. We prepared salad, pasta salad, tomato salad, fruit salad, we took bread and cheese and crisps and wine and settled ourselves on a picnic bench for the foreseeable future. By the time we went into the zoo it was four in the afternoon, but also the hottest it had been all day (it must have been edging up to 28 Celsius.) I was pleased that everyone had a great time at the zoo, Andrew loved the red pandas, and the baby Tapir was just adorable, the baby Gibbon had grown a bit and was trying to run about. It was fantastic.

So, not wanting to disappoint I’m already planning next week, trying to fit in everything, we have the DELF French exam (not looking forward to that) but are also going out to a Japanese restaurant and finishing Lord of the Rings. No plans for the weekend yet but I’m sure that will change!

There’s only three weeks left, I don’t know how to fit it all in! I don’t want this to end!