Awwww shoot!

Hey everyone!
Once again, sorry it's taken me so long to get back here. This past week has been ridiiiiiiiiic and I am now processing it.

1) I GOT A GUITAR
bleep yeah!
I went to this place outside the walls with super friendly French guys (who, by the way, told me that I speak well in French) and they sold me a second-hand guitar for only 70 euros. Amazing. It is an acoustic/electric but the electric part is broken which is, I'm assuming, why the guitar was sold to the store. Add a capo and a case to that and my total was around 100 - just what I got from my peeps for my bday for guitar-purchasing! So freaking sweet. I have played "You Took me by Surprise," "Both Hands," and "Stay" multiple times for people since I got the guitar. I am so so so happy with it. Oh AND my friend, Silvia, asked a local restaurant/open mike guy if I could play at his place sometime... he's booked through January but after that, I'm good to go! Of course I still consider busking like I did in New York but, just like in New York, I'm too scared, so I won't do that. But I could definitely use the euros!

2) I bought a bike!
Went to Decathalon, a giant sports good store like Dunham's, which is prob like 7 km away. Maybe more. Anyway, they were having a second-hand bike sale all week and I found a beautiful racing bike for only 45 euros. Yay aGAIN. Too bad I couldn't put the bike on the bus on the way back so I had to ride it home. Actually that was awesome because I was tailing the bus the entire way and it felt hella good to ride a bike again. And to get some exercise. Because walking to get a baguette every day isn't really workin' out for me.
On Sunday I took a long bike ride with a few assistants away from Avignon and into the French countryside. It was beautiful and peaceful and I definitely had to pause and take a moment as I thought what I always think here: "I can't believe I'm here, that I'm doing this, that my life is like this." It's always surprising and always amazing.

3) I leave for vacation tomorrow at 5:00 am! yes, that's right - my train for Tours leaves the Avignon Centre station at 5:06. It's quarter to 1 right now and I'm going to wake up just before four so... I should go to bed. But I just had tea and I have a lot to think about so I'm pretty wired right now. I am going to Tours for Tuesday and Wednesday and then I will arrive in Paris on Thursday! Holy crow I am so so so excited. It's my first major trip outside of Avignon (besides Marseille which was for orientation so it kinda doesn't count even though it was fun and cool... anything associated with orientation/Monique Lheman/French bureaucratic incompetence is NOT cool...) and I am ready to see more of France. I'm also ready to see my peeps who left on vacay before me - Nicole, Darija, Emily, and Amy are already in Tours and I'm kinda itchin' to see 'em. Definitely am.

4) We got paid! With real money! Like, it was in my bank account! But not it's not really there b/c I paid rent, I paid Micaela, and I did a lil' shopping. But still! I got paid! And I finally went to the CAF office (gives you $$ help with lodging) to get started on that whole process and they gave me all the papers so maybe I'll get mya ct together some day so I'll get money back in January. When I get back from vacation I gotta remember to go to the cell phone store and the CAF place again.

5) Avignon is amazing. Avignon at night is amazing. Avignon with all my peeps is amazing. I love Italian coffee, baguettes at any time of day, the 'petit gout,' running into assistants from Germany or El Salvador on the street, drinkin' a beer with my French teacher, walking around the walls, picnics on Le Rhone, bike rides in the countryside, guitar singalongs with Anglophones and Francophones, dancing and singing at karaoke, chocolate after every meal (yes, even breakfast, sometimes), awkward times with my landlady, fighting with the bank (more on that later, I'm sure), pasta pasta pasta, Dano, Celine Dion in French on the radio, and everything. I love it all. I love that now I love tomato and mozzarella, that I love salad with balsamic vinaigrette, and that the tofu here is amazing. I love that I turned on the radio last night and I heard amazing French church music that made me miss home and made me listen to French. I love that there's an old guy who walks around minstrel-like with his guitar on sunny afternoons in Place Pie serenading/bugging the people sitting at the cafe. I love that I can have five days of vacation and be non-stop busy, non-stop involved with everyone here. There is always someone to talk to, always someone to cook with, always more to learn about everyone. I love conversations in three languages. I love the little bubble (bulle) that's been created here in Avignon. It sounds cheesy, and it probably is, but it's just freaking fantastic.

So I have to go to bed. Must be up in 3 hours. Bueno nolta! (I'm going to try to learn a few Italian phrases for y'all).

I'm hungry.