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Joan called Rouge to ask exactly how she was supposed to navigate the train station around the time that I was up Febrezing the futon and packing up my things. She had the same relative confusion that I did- her train was posted, but the voie wasn't. Rouge told her to hang around and get something to eat, then the track would be posted a little closer to the departure time. Nico, Rouge and I had our breakfast (another bowl of cereal), then we hung out in the living room for a while before Nico drove me back to the gare... he jokingly scolded me for leaving and made it sound like I didn't want to come to Toulouse at all in the first place. I told Nico au revoir and I said à bientôt to Rouge. I'll see Nico again at some point in my life. It sounds like Rouge is hell bent on having him visit us in California next summer, and we have a bet going on regarding what amusement park we take him to (and who pays for his ticket) based around Nico kicking his smoking habit once he runs out of the packets of tobacco he's already purchased (note: a lot of people in France roll their own cigarettes, Nico's one of them). Nico hates roller coasters, so if he successfully quits smoking, Rouge and I will split Nico's ticket to Disneyland. If he fails to quit, Rouge will take Nico to Six Flags: Magic Mountain, and he has to ride every single roller coaster in the park with her...
This train ride was not as pleasant as the last one. I was placed on a sleeper train, but in a very bizarre manner. The cars had six beds a piece, so six people could be placed in each car. My "place" was the bed on the top left... which was covered in suitcases when I entered the car. The two middle beds weren't in a usable position, and four people were sitting on the two bottom beds on either side of the car. Because we were on a "daytime" train, we were expected to basically stare at the same people for... seven hours, in my case. Incredibly awkward. One of the people in my car helped me put the carry on I had up above me. I spent the better part of the trip reading Les enfants terribles or trying to sleep.
I got to Paris Austerlitz about 10 minutes before I thought I was supposed to, and I texted Sheila right away. Madame had left for the weekend (fourth weekend in a row), and she said she missed me. We had to head off to the theatre to catch the opera about an hour after I got home, and I hadn't had anything to eat, so I made myself some toast with cheese, then we headed out. The opera was surprisingly good! We were in the nosebleeds, but I was able to hear and see everything, and I could understand everything (not just because it was being sung in French). They used a lot of animation instead of a piece of painted scenery at the back of the stage, so that was really cool. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Sheila said it was one of her favorite pieces so far, if not her favorite.
We headed home after that, and we went back to Pancake Square for dinner. I really wanted to have a galette du sarrasin for dinner, but just in case, I asked the waiter if the batter had any white flour in it, and unfortunately for me, the batter was about 80% buckwheat, 20% wheat flour, so I couldn't have it. I had a rice salad instead since Mme. De Lapisse doesn't like them and won't make them. It wasn't bad, but it definitely wasn't a galette du sarrasin...
I got a chance to Facetime my mom after dinner and talk to her about Thanksgiving, among other things. That's always nice. She was very interested in what all I did in Toulouse, and where exactly it was in France. I'm hoping there'll be a giant vacation planned at some point, and I get to come along as a tour guide... Come on, family, pull through for me! France is better than Hawaii!!!
Sheila and I got up at 11:30 on Sunday, and we had our usual breakfast. It was cold outside, but the sun was out. We decided that we wanted to go for a walk to get some fresh air to take a break from our homework... well... Sheila was taking a break from her homework. I hadn't started any of mine by the time we actually left the house. We walked around a small garden that's near our building that we never knew existed, but it'd be a nice place to eat lunch if it wasn't so cold out... We walked back to the Porte Maillot area since we got a little lost once we came out of the garden, then we walked over to Porte de Champerret (ligne 3, right before our normal metro stop of Louise Michel) since we were hungry for lunch by that time, and we knew that MacDo would be open despite the fact that it was Sunday. I used the bornes to order my meal, so I gave Sheila the bun off of my Royal Bacon (I felt like changing up my usual order this time... and I felt like trying to get a little extra protein somehow). After our late lunch, we headed back home. Madame came home about an hour after we did, so I gave her the small package of violet/chocolate almonds, and she seemed very pleased with them. She made us dinner early since she was going out to have dinner with one of her daughters tonight. We had galettes du sarrasin with egg, cheese, and turkey tonight. It was a nice change from the ham, but like I said the last time we had this, I'm starting to get tired of it...
I still haven't started in on any of my homework for this weekend. I don't necessarily have any due this week (past memorizing some lines for Féraponte for my Wednesday theatre class, and a worksheet for Atelier d'Écriture), but I wanted to get some work done on my costume project. I've been thinking about it a lot recently. Since I've caught up on all of this... looks like I don't have anymore excuses, now do I?
Mon unique espérance est dans mon désespoir. -Racine. Bajazet