As discussed before, I feel like I have been very busy - I have a lot to balance: learning french, doing research, socializing with the other people in my program, getting settled in my living area and studying for the GRE.
Just to summarize a few notable experiences,
Yesterday, I went with two other people on a "pasta-venture." My goal was to get a pan, pasta, and some toppings. We took the train and bus to a very large supermarket (called a hypermarche/). Carrefour is basically the French Walmart. It was a lot of fun to go around and see the all of the different food sections. There was a huge cheese section, a fish section, etc. Another cool area was the french book area. There were a lot of children's books. I spent about 15 minutes reading Winnie the Pooh (or Winnie l'Ourson). It was fun to read but I did not recognize some of the grammar structures. It was 10 euros so I didn't buy it but I do have fond memories of Winnie the Pooh from when I was younger! Another fun feature of the store is that they had moving walkways to go upstairs so you could take your shopping cart. The surrounding shopping center had these as well.
When I went to the checkout, apparently I almost bought a 50 euro pot. I also didn't weigh my bananas. So I was able to use my french to say no thanks. Apparently I misread the label for the pot and it actually cost 20 euros only if I bought 50 vignettes whatever that means. I was able to get another pot.
Another thing that I have been doing is that I have been trying different French cheeses. I have always eaten a lot of cheese and so it has been fun to explore different kinds. At my lunch, I have been getting a little cheese with each meal. I also bought some cheese from the store. So far, I have had Camembert, Brie, and Roquefort. The last cheese there is one of the moldy cheeses that is supposed to be quite strong but I thought it was tasty. Tomorrow, I hope to try Munster. I also bought "mimolette jeune". It looks like cheddar but I haven't tasted it yet. I hope to continue to try different french cheeses.
Tonight, I was successful in using my pot to cook pasta and I put some cheese on it (emmental). After looking this up, it is just what we refer to as Swiss cheese. I also got two other pasta sauces. One is a tomato sauce with Ricotta, and another is tomato sauce "basquaise" I just chose it randomly when I was there. Apparently it is a sauce with tomatoes and hot peppers. All in all, I am looking forward to making more pasta!
I have been trying to spend less money lately in general so I think that I will be doing well now that I am settled. For breakfast, I have a few cereal bars (they were quite cheap at that store), for lunch, it is subsidized so that is cheap, and dinner will be cheap with the pasta. I will go out occasionally but not everyday like I was doing at the start of the trip.
Also I am not sure if I have talked about the lunch at work. So basically, around 12, the whole lab moseys over to the lunch area. There is typically a long line so we talk a bit. When you are in line, you pick up a tray and put various dishes on your plate. A typical lunch for me includes: a hot plate with a meat and rice or pasta, a small salad, some fruit, a dessert (I have gotten a variety of things such as fruit with pudding or a piece of pie), some cheese, and a roll or two of bread. I enjoy lunch very much and the food is subsidized for students so that all costs around 2.50 euros! It is cool how balanced the meals are here. You have a lot of small plates instead of just one large dish of food.
So thats about that. I haven't been sleeping too well so I should be getting to bed now. Yesterday, I stayed up late doing some GRE studying since I haven't been keeping up with my studying goals. I really felt it at work so I hope to get at least 7 hours of sleep tonight.
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