Lazy Weekend

Not a whole lot to update today. Friday I stayed inside for most of the day since I still wasn't feeling great. I just ventured out briefly to go to Monoprix to get a few groceries, and then made my way to the chocolatier in Passage Pommayrie, as I knew chocolate would make me feel better... it did :) Antoinne went back to Paris for the weekend, and Leslie told me that she and Guillaume were going away for the weekend and they left around 5 p.m. The door opened again at 9:30, and Leslie, Guy and Guy's daughter walked in. Apparently they decided they wanted dinner before heading out for the weekend. This place seems more and more like a hotel every day with people coming and going all the time, but it really doesn't bother me. As long as I have my own set of keys, I'm good to go.

Saturday I walked around to see if I could get lost. I couldn't. Ivan wasn't kidding when he said this city is a lot smaller than it seems at first. I took the tram to Atlantis, which is sort of like Nantes' version of Easton. It has an IKEA, so I spent about an hour wandering the room displays there, and then walked around the rest of the mall. I don't get too excited about French fashion (sorry Margot and Sophie), but it's interesting to see the different types of clothes they have here. I almost stopped in a creperie, but I'm trying my best not to go out to eat unless it's with friends. More fun to eat in groups anyway. It's also helping me save money in these first few weeks, as I have a feeling I'm going to be spending quite a bit more on going out once school starts and I get to know more people.

When I got back into the center of town, I took a trip to the main park to read for a while. I found a copy of "To Kill a Mockingbird" when I was at the Madrid hostel, so I'm re-reading it. It's much more enjoyable now than it was when I had to read it in high school. Later, I ran into several more groups dressed up in costumes. I tried to ask one girl exactly what they were doing, but she spoke too quickly for me to understand her explanation. Apparently this group's theme was chickens.



There was also a band going through town, and they were quite good. It was just percussion instruments, but it had a great beat. I listened to them for about 5 minutes, then continued on my way home.



I've been watching a lot of American TV online, and I'm ashamed to say that I'm all caught up on "The Hills," as MTV is the only channel that would let me watch the shows from outside the USA. Luckily, Elias found another site that streams other channels shows to Europe, so I'm also caught up on Entourage and Project Runway. Thanks Elias! As usual, today (Sunday) is dead in Nantes. I was going to go to the farmers'/flea market this morning, but slept in too long and missed it. C'est la vie. I decided to see if I could actually understand anything on French TV, and was thrilled when I heard the theme song to "Happy Days" on one of the channels. It was dubbed in French, but I was able to follow along pretty well. After that, I watched American Gladiators, also dubbed in French, but still entertaining.

Tomorrow's my last day of freedom before classes start, and I'm definitely looking forward to getting to know my classmates. I'm even more excited for this weekend, though, when I head to Munich for Oktoberfest with about 10 of my MBA classmates. It's going to be a crazy weekend, but so much fun. Just have to get through orientation week at school first!