Lots of laughs

Lately I've just been hanging out in France. I've been doing a lot of painting, a lot of listening and trying to understand french, a lot of gelato eating, and I traveled to Nice for the weekend. Here are some things I would like to share with you.

Things that made me scream and then become embarrassed:
-One day we were leaving school and it started raining, we were talking to the very nice janitor and then it thundered and I screamed.
-I was running around a corner at the top of the Chateau in Nice and there was a pigeon hiding in a small nook on the mountain. It jumped (flew) out at me and hit me and the guy next to me. I screamed and so did that guy, although I think he only did because I did.
-I was walking past a clown/balloon making guy wearing a sequins blazer... I smiled at him, and then once he was out of my vision, he jumped out at me, stabbed me with his balloon sword, and made a really loud squeaking noise. I screamed. He laughed... and so did everyone in the area.
-Lynn and I were wandering around Nice taking pictures, we heard a horn and turned and saw that we were standing right on the tram tracks... obviously I screamed.

Things that made me laugh A LOT:
-Macaroon making with no measuring utensils or a working oven... microwave mush isn't as good as a macaroon.
-My host mom was tipsy from one glass of wine and told me I was too pretty to be single.
-My teacher, Alan looked at my painting and said “Aubrey, you are a wild thing aren’t you?”
-My host mom told her son if he walked as far as I do everyday he would look more like George Clooney.
-I was standing with my friends, and people kept stepping in the fountain by accident and freaking out! too funny!
-The french word for waffle is gaufre and Lynn has been wanting one for a long time. Every time she says it I think of gofers. We finally went to the stand last night and I couldn't take it. I was just laughing about the thought of buying a gofer. The nice man at the stand thought I was laughing at him, and then he finally asked me why I was laughing... I then tried to explain to him what a gofer was (in french). It involved strange faces and noises. He finally understood and started laughing too... then he pretended to cover a gofer in chocolate and sell it to me. I nearly died laughing. We are friends now, although we successfully exchanged zero actual words.
-An old man on boardwalk that Lynn and I met... we will call him Elu. He was some sort of singer/mime/comedian/grandpa. He was very friendly and we talked to him for about an hour and a half.
-The lady who kept trying to direct us to the beach when that was not where we wanted to go... she was complete with hand motions.

Things that weren’t so funny at the time, but are now:
-Lynn and I almost missed our train to Nice.
-When Lynn passed out after dinner in Nice (don’t worry she is fine now).
-When our bus driver started going the wrong way.

Other things I did or learned:
-Laughing obnoxiously on the train can lead to new friends
-It is difficult to rent French bikes
-How to work the bus/tram system in Nice
-Don’t assume people don’t speak English when you are talking about potentially embarrassing things on the train
-People in Nice are extremely nice... haha no pun intended
-People know you are American when you know all the words to Outkast songs and sing them loudly
-Painting in the landscape is extremely fun, but the time constraint is stressful
-Lots of color theory
-Eating hot crepes in the sun is a bad idea
-I paint differently in France
-Christophe Mae is my new favorite french musician
-I‘m really lucky to be here, and have made some great friends

Next thing on the to do list... run through all the fountains in Aix :-)

p.s. this blog is reminding me of the book of lists created by room 214 and friends.

...list to come... strange pick up attempts.