Beach Bonfire!!

This weekend has been amazing! On Thursday night we went to O’Carolans for quiz night, as usual, and this time Elodie joined us. We lost, as usual, but oh well. Afterwards I had Elodie taste some more American delicacies. Kate had given us a bottle of ranch and peanut butter, so I wanted Elodie to try it out. We bought some fries for her to try in the ranch, which she loved! Then we had her try the peanut butter (which she’s already tasted once or twice) with an apple, and she loved that too. I always knew she was American at heart… The ranch made me the proudest though, not gonna lie.

Then Friday night rolls around and Bhav, Christina and I hop on a train to Frontignan ( a little beach town next to Sete). That’s where Jean, Elodie’s boyfriend, and his family have a beach condo. It’s a cute little apartment that sits directly on the beach. Elodie made us a French dish that they eat up in the mountains. I don’t remember what it’s called, but it was really good, nice and hardy soul food, if you will. It was made with a bunch of potatoes, onions (I’m going to insert here that it took me like 10 tries to spell onion right, with the spell check on…don’t ask), lardons (bacon chunks), and some weird French cheese that’s all melted together into goodness. After which she melted up some chocolate for some fondue action, always a favorite. And to top off our eating for the night, the girls and I brought smore stuff as a surprise for them to try.

Jean and his brother built us a fire on the beach, 10 feet from the water!, and we started making the American camping favorite. Needless to say they weren’t exactly the same, because France doesn’t sell graham crackers and their marshmallows are kinda off. But we did the best we could with sweet cracker substitutes, and the chocolate was of course excellent. Jean and his brother loved the smores. I think they’re going to spread it to all of France. Elodie wasn’t as keen on them, but I think it was because the marshmallows here taste kinda funny. They’re definitely made out of something different because you can hold them directly in the flames and they don’t catch on fire. So yeah…that was sooo much fun. I of course had to speak French way more than usual, which was rough, but it was a blast. We finished off the night by watching Hitch, dubbed in French, which isn’t quite the same without Will Smith’s real voice.

We woke up the next morning, or afternoon I guess I should say, and ate breakfast outside overlooking the sea. It was a beautiful morning. Jean spent the afternoon fishing (he only caught one), and the rest of us laid out and relaxed and looked for shells. Elodie was kind enough to correct my Art history paper (which definitely needed work on grammar) so I’m not too worried about turning it in now. It was such a relaxing day. I don’t think I’ve been that relaxed all semester (and this semester hasn’t really been stressful). I’m also glad I got to see Elodie again. It’s been so long now that we don’t have classes (speaking of classes, rumor has it school will start back on Monday which is bad news, because now we have to take exams without first learning what’s on them…yikes). I miss her already, and I haven’t even left yet…