Biarritz 2

I woke up late today, because I had been drinking and writing the night before, as had been my plan. After a leisurely shower, I headed out, and ended up deciding to have lunch at the Indian restaurant by the hotel. It was all right, though the curry was quite buttery. The annoying thing (and this happens a lot here) is that nothing is ever bundled together, but you have to order everything separately. Thus, a restaurant that, at first, seemed relatively (for France) inexpensive ends up becoming rather expensive, as I had to order not only the curry but some rice. Had I had my druthers, there'd have been bread, too, but I'm not made of money.

Anyway, following that, I spent another day wandering around the town. I started out walking uphill toward the cliffs that I was on yesterday, exploring street by street. I stopped in a beautiful little church and looked around, and it was quite eerie and beautiful because I was completely alone within. Following that, I headed around through the village, examining all the streets and looking for little shops or things I would like. Really, though, it's mostly various food shops and restaurants, and there wasn't too much to pique my interest. All of the restaurants here are so expensive! It's irritating to have to constantly pay so much for dinner, but I clearly have no other means of eating here. Besides, I guess it is vacation; I know my dad would encourage me to have good dinners.

After the exploration, I ended up back on the grande plage in front of the casino, and I think I ended up standing there for at least a half hour, just watching the (pretty choppy) waves come in as these guys surfed over them. It's probably in the fifties or something over here, so I couldn't believe they were surfing, but I was also extremely jealous. It's irritating me to be right on the ocean and yet incapable of swimming in it, and I really want to get out there. Also, the surfing seemed kind of fun, too, though I would clearly be way too much of a klutz for it.

Anyway, following a return to my hotel room, I then headed out to dinner at a little restaurant called Clos Basque. There, I had one of the more delicious meals I've ever had. It was a steak, perfectly cooked and melting like butter in my mouth, with this mustard sauce and these perfectly spiced fries that were soaked in the sauce and meat juice. It was mind-blowing, and, at 15 euro (with my wine) was, comparatively, about what I've paid everywhere else despite the restaurant seeming pretty nice. I would go there more, if I have good clothes. I may have to turn my attention toward that...

Anyway, following that, I took in the classic 12 Angry Men at the town theater, where I was the only one in the audience. That, too, was pretty cool; it was like a private screening. Highly enjoyable, and surprisingly cheap, at 4 euro for a student ticket. All in all, this is turning out to be a delightful vacation.

Anyway, a final note on my French minor: Even my advisor makes it sound like she won't be able to do anything for me, so it's looking like I'm SOL. Even by counting one of these Civ. courses toward the minor (which would necessitate taking another art course, which is another hornet's nest I don't want to get into), I would still need to take three more courses to get the minor, and, at this point, I kind of just don't see the point. I'll still talk to the lady, to see if there's anything I'm overlooking or anything like that, but it's looking probable at this point that I will just drop it, which is supremely irritating because it means the loss of a lot of work that was really painful to do. But I guess it made me better at French, theoretically. I mean, I could understand pretty much all of this French sex talk show that was on tonight with Jean de Berg. Did I mention today was amazing?