Memory is a way
of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never
want to lose. ~From the TV show The Wonder Years
Today is the last day I will spend in Montpellier and,
considering everyone I know here is gone, I have a lot of time to reflect on my
trip (and also to pack). Not to my surprise, I’ve realized that I have so many
wonderful memories from this summer and I’ve also learned a great deal—about
Evolutionary Medicine as well as about myself. Since it’s been a very, very
long time since I’ve blogged, I have a lot to catch up on, so I plan to
overview the last half of my trip by recounting my favorite memories. I should
have plenty of time to catch up because I am totally alone for a day and half
more—Camille, Hugo, and Fred are on vacation, Marion’s grandfather passed away
so she has to travel to northern France for the funeral, Claire left for
Argentina yesterday morning, and Peter is currently in the hospital awaiting
tests and surgery. Which leaves me to blog, pack, and get my last share of
Montpellier. I haven’t got much motivation to go out and about alone today, but
I have plans to do so tomorrow, and I can’t pack any more until my clothes are
done drying, so it looks like I am left to blog.
The last I wrote, I had just returned from Vienna/Paris. I
never really caught up on what I did during my time in Paris. So here goes:
Friday I woke up very early to tell Josephine goodbye since she was leaving for
another trip. Since Thierry and Caroline were both working, I went to Adeline’s
apartment to eat lunch with her and her younger brother whose name I cannot
spell, but it’s something like Orrelian. He is about 12 or 13 and Adeline is
teaching him English, so he was very, very excited to try out everything he had
learned so far. He was extremely good at speaking English, and he also picked
up on new words that I taught him very quickly. It was impressive.
After lunch we went to Louvre. I had absolutely no idea of
how huge it was. I had spent a lot of time outside of it the last time I was in
Paris, but I had never ventured inside. WOW!! I would have needed three days to
see just the things I found interesting. I did manage to see the Mona Lisa (I
think the crowd around the painting was actually more impressive than the
painting itself, but nonetheless, it was neat to see something so famous), the
Consecration of Napoleon (which was more interesting after receiving a nice
history from Adeline and Orrelian), and the Hammurabi Code. We spent as much
time there as Adeline’s attention span and my aching feet would allow which
turned out to be only about three or four hours.
Friday night I went to a dinner party with Thierry and
Caroline. Talk about deju vu….Thierry and I took a cab to meet Caroline at the
apartment which was just near the Champs Elysees—which is exactly what we did
and where we went during my last night in Paris two years ago. It was very
nearly just as magical as the first time J
The dinner was wonderful, and Louis (the doctor) and his wife—my favorite
couple of the Starons’ were there which was great. It was quite the mixing pot
of nationalities. Besides me—the American—Louis’ wife is Brazilian and Sylvia
(the lady hosting the party) is dating an Italian guy, and of course, the rest
were French. Dinner was huge, filling, and delicious and the company was
extremely enjoyable—even if I didn’t understand a lot of what was being said. I
do know that the topics ranged from French politics, to food, to “Which type of
Gladiator would you have been?”, to vacation spots, to poetry, and then some!!!
As always, I fell even more in love with Paris.
Saturday, (after a wonderful breakfast of coffee and a
croissant) Thierry and Caroline took me to the city/castle at Chantilly. The
car ride was just as great as the visit. Caroline told me about the Bruce
Springsteen concert that she and Thierry went to last month—and then about the
first Bruce Springsteen concert she went to over 25 years ago. Thierry told me
about seeing the Rolling Stones for the first time in ’73 when he was 17. And
they both talked about The Who concert that they went to just recently. Amazing
how much it reminded me of talking to my mom and dad about the same bands.
We arrived at the castle around 11:00 and there were very,
very few people there, so we enjoyed a nice, cool walk through the peaceful,
pretty garden. The garden had a small labyrinth, a café set in a little cluster
of old cottage-type buildings, and cute bridges crossing over little rivers
where large fish, ducks and swans were swimming. The castle was built as a
hunting castle for royal families, so much of the interior contained paintings
of game and hunts, wooden furniture, and dim lighting. There was also a small
cathedral attached to the castle. Down a small lane just a half mile from the
castle were the stables where the horses had been kept. Past the stables was
the quaint town of Chantilly. We walked into town to have. I had a beer with
Thierry and had duck confit for lunch….it was delectable! Sometimes I feel like
I act more like I’m 40 than 21, but I really, really enjoyed lunch with the
Starons. After lunch, we went back to the stables where we saw a horse show—it
was definitely geared toward children, but it was neat to see all of the talented
horses performing. Following the show, we walked through the stables and a
small horse racing museum, ate an ice cream, and watched a short presentation
on how to train horses before heading home around 5:30.
The ride home was quiet and peaceful. No matter what country
I’m in, I love car rides. There is something about sitting in the backseat,
looking out the window and listening to music that I find so relaxing. I never
want to arrive at the destination; I just want to sit there thinking and taking
in the scenery all day. I love it.
We had a nice dinner out in the garden and sat around
talking for at least 2 hours. Again, it was a thoroughly enjoyable—and very
memorable—evening. I was sad to finally go to bed because I knew it was my last
night in the comfortable bed, and the comfortable house, with the comfortable
company that I always found in the Starons. But I managed to fall asleep
convincing myself that I will be back again soon…fingers crossed! The Starons
are like a second family for me and I really don’t think I’ll ever be able to
repay them for all they have done for me. I’m certain that my first trip to
France would not have been anywhere near as memorable or wonderful if it had
not been for the Starons taking me in and making me feel so at home. I love,
love, love them.
Sunday I had breakfast with Caroline and Thierry before
Thierry took me to the airport/train station to get my train. I had planned on
taking the metro to the train station, but they insisted on taking me, so I
didn’t protest...nor did I want to. We had quite a time trying to find the
place to drop me for the train and for a second I thought I would be too late
by the time we found it and I would just have to spend another day with the
Starons, but (un)fortunately, we found the drop-off point with about 10 or so
minutes to spare. And again, I was homesick on the ride back to Montpellier.
I was looking forward to a nice peaceful ride back, but some
rough, nasty woman sat down in the seat across from me with her three young
daughters and toddler son. She was so rough with them (especially the one,
adorable little girl) that I eventually had to just put my headphones in and
close my eyes. It makes me sick when people treat their children so terribly. I
wish there was something I could have done, but considering I can’t really
speak French, there was not a whole lot I could do. Others around saw it too,
but pretended not to see. It still makes me feel a bit guilty for not saying
anything. She never flat out hit any of the kids, but she was so, so
unnecessarily rough. Ugh. It was a bad experience, and I was glad to finally be
off of the train in Montpellier. Back in Montpellier, I was reminded of how
slowly everything moves on Sundays. Since most businesses are closed on
Sundays, not many people are out, and because of that, transportation moves
much more slowly. I had to wait ten minutes for the tram (which is relatively
long for France transportation) and since I had a decent amount of luggage to
haul, I waited for the bus at the tram station instead of going to the tram
station I usually go to and then walking (up a gigantic hill). Turns out buses
run close to never on Sundays, so I ended up waiting over an hour for that.
Ugh! When I finally arrived back home, I was greeted with a warm welcome, a
piece of bread pudding, and a cup of tea from Claire and Peter J That evening I went
with them to another free outdoor jazz concert. I didn’t like this one as much
as the first concert, but it was still very entertaining and I really enjoyed
spending time with Peter and Claire again.
From then on, things have been happening faster and faster
and time definitely hasn’t been slowing down. Here are the things that I
remember most vividly:
·
The lab dinner. Fred took Marion, Camille, Hugo
and I to a really nice restaurant to celebrate all of the good things that have
happened this summer (I came, Fred received a big grant, Hugo started his PhD,
and Fred had a paper accepted, plus more things that I can’t remember).
Fortunately it was on the company card, so we could really enjoy the best food
and wine. We started with a plate of tapas…many of which I had never tasted
before, so that was interesting. For dinner, I had a spread of duck meats
cooked different ways—yes, it included fois gras, which, much to my dismay is
absolutely delicious. Everything on the plate was scrumptious (I’m still not
positive what all of it was, but I do know that I would every single bit of it
again without a doubt). Our dinner lasted through a glass of beer and two
bottles of wine, or in other words, about 4 hours!! I loved every second. It
isn’t often that lab groups get on this well, I’m sure of it. And I’m so happy
that my first real experience as part of lab group was with Fred and his team
because they are all so friendly, fun, and…as we like to say, just a little
crazy.
·
The evening at the beach. Camille, Hugo and I
worked extra hard one day so that we could get off early to go to the beach. We
met Thomas (Camille’s boyfriend) and his friend at Camille’s apartment and then
took Thomas’ car to the beach. Unfortunately right when we arrived it became
overcast and a little chilly (contrary to the usual hot, sunny evenings here),
but the water felt great! We swam for a while and then enjoyed a very large
picnic on the beach. Everyone had brought something and we ended up with
cantaloupe, pasta salad, oriental quinoa salad, ham and cheese sandwiches, a
homemade apricot pie (from Camille), (storebought) macarons (from me), radler,
and two bottles of rose. Subtract the traces of sand, and the dinner was really
yummy! Afterwards, Camille, Hugo and I walked along the coast talking, taking
pictures, and collecting sea shells. I’m pretty sure this will be my favorite memory
from my entire trip.
·
Les Estivales (the wine festival). Hugo,
Camille, and I met in the city center around 5 to look around the festival.
Unfortunately, Camille had to catch a train at 7 to go to her parents’ for the
weekend and the tasting didn’t start until 6:30, so she couldn’t do the tasting
with us. But, we did manage to enjoy a crepe and see all of the stands selling
jewelry, olive oil, soaps, decorations and a bunch of other random stuff. After
Camille left, two of Hugo’s friends came and we got tickets for the tasting.
There were at least 30 different stands of representatives from various
vineyards in southern France selling their wines. For five euro, we received a
keepsake wine bottle and three free tastings. There isn’t much more to say about
the wine except that each one I tried was pretty much spectacular. I stuck to
the whites and the roses and they were all so soft and smooth. I’m no wine
expert, but I’d say French wine is pretty fantastic. All of the esplanade was
lined with stands selling either wine, food (any kind you could think
of—burgers, oysters, “Latin American”, crepes, pastries, hot dogs, cheeses), or
some of the goods I mentioned earlier. Where there wasn’t a stand, there was a
person with a wine glass. It was really a fun experience. Although I wish I
would have had a chance to go back again on another Friday, it’s probably
better that I didn’t because it was really difficult not to spend all of my
money on the jewelry, the food, and the wine.
·
The day I went to the beach by myself. Since
Camille was out of town, I had no one to go with me to the beach, so I decided
to go alone. Beach trips are not nearly
as enjoyable alone. In addition, the trip there and back is really not
enjoyable alone. I was by no means miserable, I can’t complain about basking in
the sun with the sound of the ocean in my ears and nothing on my mind, but I
was also not ecstatic. The water felt great, but since I didn’t want to leave
my things unattended for too long, I couldn’t stay in too long. After a couple
hours I was starting to burn, I had sand EVERYWHERE, and I was hungry so I went
home.
·
The day Camille left. That day sucked. I went to
the pastry shop before work to get some éclairs to have with our morning
coffee. We were the only two in the office and Camille finished early so she
went home for lunch. I couldn’t do any serious work that day because I needed
to print some papers and I couldn’t connect my computer to the printer, so I
met Camille at her apartment and spent some time with her and Thomas before
they left. We exchanged all of the important contact information, so we should
definitely be able to keep in touch, but even so, it was my first goodbye in
Montpellier and it was definitely the most un-enjoyable. As I said at the
beginning, I hate goodbyes, see-ya-laters, until-next-times, and all related
phrases. I just hope that one in the near future we’ll get to see each other
again.
·
The day Fred left. That day sucked too. He had
been in and out of the office for the past week or so, so I hadn’t really seen
him often, but he came in last Friday just to tell me bye. I gave him the gift
from me and my family that I had brought from home (a fancy wine bottle stopper
with the letter “T” for his last name, Thomas, and a really beautiful picture of
the sun setting over Saint Louis—where I claim to be from since I grew up so
close to it). The gifts turned out to be really good picks because he loves
art/photography—he actually sells his art on the side—and he loves wine even
more!! He told me that I am welcome back whenever I would like to come. He also
made sure I knew that with his new grant, he will have funding for me in the
case that I want to do another summer research project…or, more importantly,
come back for my PhD!!!! Good news!!!
·
My weekend with Marion. I spent this past
weekend with Marion in the region of Camargue where she lives. We were busy,
busy, busy!! Friday after work, we went on a tour of the salt marshes near the
medieval town of Aigues-Mortes and after we walked around the city which is
completely surrounded by a huge medieval wall and cars aren’t even allowed
inside, so everyone living there parks outside of the city. It’s a fairly small
village, but there were plenty of pretty houses, pubs and restaurants. We had a
beer at this little pub that had hundreds of beers from all over the world. I
had a local beer that is brewed in Nice, it was a dark stout with a hint of raspberry
and it was really delicious. After that we went to a really fancy restaurant
where I had fois gras for an appetizer, a steak from local bull (cooked much
less than I am used to, but that is the French way), and a really delicious
white chocolate tart for dessert. The food was absolutely perfect and certainly
worth the fairly high price we paid for it.
Saturday we went to the HUGE market in
Arles where I bought a ton of seasoned olives, locally made nougat, some
cheese, and some fresh bread. The whole market was about a km long and ran on
each side of two different strips of road. There was so much to choose from and
everything looked and smelled delicious, but I practiced restraint and tried to
only buy things that I really, really wanted to try. It was rainy and overcast
(but still hot) for the majority of the day, but we still saw a great deal of
stuff. It actually reminded me a lot of the first day I spent with Marion in
Montpellier when we walked around the city in the rain for hours. And, like the
first time we were together (when Marion had just been left by her boyfriend),
there was a bit of a morose mood hanging over the day because that morning
Marion had found out that her grandfather, to whom she was extremely close, had
passed away L
The poor girl cannot catch a break. But she said she was happy to have me
around to distract her and that since at the moment there was nothing she could
do as far as making funeral arrangements, it was nice to be out with me. I felt
terrible, but I did my best to be a good distraction.
We saw the old Roman arena and theatre in
the town, as well as the yellow pub that had been painted by Van Gogh. During
one particularly heavy moment of rain, we took cover in a beautiful courtyard
of the library that Van Gogh had also painted. It was beautiful!! While we were
passing time waiting to meet some friends of Marion’s for dinner, we visited an
old abbey near the town of Arles, Montmajour Abbey. It was absolutely beautiful
(and at least ten degrees cooler inside). There was an exhibit of modern art
which was….for lack of any other work, interesting. We climbed a flight of 125
spiraling stairs inside the abbey to get to the roof where we had a spectacular
view of all of the countryside and villages surrounding the area. There were vast
pastures with gorgeous white grazing horses, deep blue silhouettes of mountains
on the horizons, and bright fields of yellow sunflowers. Outside of the chapel
down the road we could see the holes in a concrete slab that had been built as
personal graves by the monks throughout their lives…..a little morbid if you
ask me. Around 7 we met Marion’s friends at a tapas bar in Arles for some
mojitos and a bunch of tapas. I’m really not sure what most of them were, but I
know that one of the dishes was shark, and the majority of them were very
tasty.
Sunday we slept in rather late and spent a
lot of time lounging around her “hobbit house” before going to Avignon. That
city is beautiful! It’s a pretty wealthy area, so it was very well kept. We
visited the Pope’s Palace there where a number of popes had lived in the past.
There was another exhibit of “contemporary art” which was both interesting and
more than a little disturbing. Although some of it was still pretty….or at
least, impressive. On the way home, we stopped in two more little villages. The
last one was in the middle of some small mountains called the “Tiny Alps”. It
was a medieval town that had literally been built into the side of a mountain
and it was AMAZING, and adorable, and beautiful, and impressive, and I was in
love with it. I told Marion that I’m pretty sure my honeymoon (fingers crossed
I have one someday) will take place in southern France because everything is
gorgeous. And this village was so quaint, quiet, and peaceful but still so
interesting. There was a museum/castle that we could have visited, but by that
point we had had our fair share of castles and museums. So we just wandered
around and adored the beautiful scenery all around.
Sunday night we had dinner at Marion’s
house and spend the evening talking about life, love, work, relationships, and
all of the typical “girl night” talk. It was really nice to get to know Marion
so well…even if it was the day before we had to say goodbye. It was a fantastic
weekend though, I enjoyed every moment spent seeing beautiful villages,
castles, and countryside, talking with Marion and eating wonderful food. I
couldn’t have asked for a better last weekend in France. It was perfect.
·
Monday was a bit stressful because I’ve started
the analysis/significance part of my research and I have to use a new
statistical software that is nearly impossible for me to understand. Marion has
been working with me on it for probably two weeks now and although I know much
more than I did starting out (which was literally nothing), I have a long way
to go with it. I’m also at the point that I need to start writing the abstract
and introduction for the paper on my research. Though it’s exciting to have
this opportunity, it is a very daunting task and considering it is my first
paper, I’ve hardly any idea where to start or what to write. So, it seems I
will have my work cut out for me when I return to Louisville. Fortunately
Marion is very patient and understanding when I get irritated with the software
and the analysis. She has given me so much great advice and assistance with all
of it which is really something she did not have to do at all, so I’m really,
really appreciative for her. Which made saying goodbye all the more difficult.
I think I’ve talked enough about goodbyes for you to know that I hate them.
There isn’t much more to say on that.
Though I have very vivid memories from my last three days
here (Monday until today) that I want to share, I think I’ll leave off here for
now. I plan to finish this blog either while waiting for my taxi to arrive at
the house in a few hours or after I return home. For now, I think that’s enough
to prove that my last couple weeks here have been filled with wonderful memories
that I don’t plan to ever forget.
We do not
remember days; we remember moments. ~Cesare Pavese, The Burning Brand
