Day 18: Pau, France

The top story from today is again, extreme pain in every single muscle in my body.  Here is a brief summary of things on me that hurt:

• left ankle
• right heel
• both lower calf/Achilles areas
• right hamstring 
• both hip flexors
• my bottom ribs on the back half on the right
• laterals on both sides
• right pectoral
• left bicep
• my entire back
• parts of my back still feel like massive contusions
• my neck

Bear in mind that this list is incomplete, and only highlights the worst regions.

Besides that, today was a thrill.  I woke up earlier than normal, and met at the university at 9 h 00.  Feel bad for me.  I took a really fun test that made it apparent that I speak very little French.  I suspect on Tuesday, when cources commence, I will be learning the alphabet and the days of the week.

This is the main administration building on campus.  I like the design.  It is a segment of a circle, with the chord of the full circle represented by the brick wall that runs through the building.

The wall at the other end.

After the test............wait for it.............wait for it.............I went to Lauras dorm room.  If you don't know what we were working on, I hate you for not religiously reading this blog.  Today, it was a French poem from the middle ages.  Turns out they used different words back then.  For lunch we went to a cafe near campus.  I got a croque monsieur, which, it turns out, I don't like.  She got a panini with three fromages on it.  We switched.

Class was boring and felt slow because today was like my Friday.  Anyway, after class, I went home, and went for a very short(20 min) run.  This helped a lot in loosening some muscles and relieving some soreness.  I then practiced for just over an hour.  I am getting better really, really slowly.  It is very frustrating.  I don't think my breakthrough is going to happen...

For dinner, I went into town to Chez Maman for crepes.  Delicious, again.  This was by far my best dining experience so far.  It was just very nice to relax and have a nice meal.  For desert, I got an orange crepe and a cafe.  It was all very good.