CASTLE!!!!

I woke up earlier today to finish up some postcards and walk to the post office (it is only open for 3 hours in the morning). I also wanted to send a box to myself of some presents and stuff so that I have less to carry around Europe. I got everything together and headed for the post office in the center of town. Luckily Camille's family lives very close so it was only like 3 or 4 blocks away. I got everything send (it wasn't cheep, but actually not too expensive). Then I left the post office and went to the ATM but it wasn't working, so I'll just hit up the one by the train station when I get there. Such a cute little town.

I got back and ate some breakfast then looked at train tickets online. I am trying to figure out whether to leave Sunday or Monday because Camille's friends invited me to hang out with all of them on Sunday which sounds really fun, but then that only leaves 4 and a half days to hang with Julien if I don't leave till Monday.

Then we had a very nice French lunch (yes I'm going to talk about food again, it just wouldn't be France if I didn't), we had pasta with a creamy ham sauce, some dried meat with cheese and oil on it, a tomato salad and bread (of course). It was very delicious and it was just Denis, Martine, Ninor and I. I talked with Denis and Martine (Camille's parents) about higher education in the US and higher education in France. It was very interesting, how similar and different they are. (I'm a fan of the free University part, can we have that) They told me about how only the public schools are called Universities, and the private schools have another name. Also that Universities are free for students, but the private schools you must pay for. They also said some of the Universities are better than the private schools. Very interesting.

After that we chilled for a bit before going to a CASTLE!!! My first castle!!! It was very exciting. It wasn't too far away, so we hoped in the car and made our way there. They said it was a kid thing, that's why they thought it was a good idea, because Ninor would enjoy it. They were explaining to me how this castle was a very typical French castle. I had to explain to them that I had never been to a castle before because we don't have castles in the US and this is the first time I've been to Europe. The tour was all in French so I didn't understand most of it because it is vocabulary I am unfamiliar with, so I just looked around and read the plaques. (I could understand the plaques) The little kid inside my felt like a princess, or Robin Hood, or like I was in some fairy tale as we walked through the castle and climbed the tower. In one room they had some of Napoleon Bonaparte's stuff, including his hat. (That's right, I saw Napoleon's hat!) The tour was a bit long for not being able to understand, but all the stuff we saw was really cool. Guns and artifacts that the man who lived in the castle owned. It was pretty sweet.

After the castle we went back to the house. I went upstairs for a bit and did some computer stuff. Then I came down and socialized. We had a drink before dinner, (I had Kir) and we all chatted about stuff. Camille's cousin came to join us for dinner, so he was there too. We all talked till dinner was ready. Then we sat down to eat. The meal was some Moroccan thing that had large pieces of meat with some vegetables that was all cooked in this sauce and served with couscous. It was kinda weird. Then we had some bread and cheese (can't go without it). And some strange but really yummy tiny plum and egg cake thing that Martine made. After dessert they took coffee (I skipped tea this time) and we sat and chatted some more. I talked to the younger of her two older brothers, Corenthin, he was really nice. And hsi English wasn't too bad. He hopes to come to the States soon and I told him if he came near San Francisco I would show him around. He seemed very excited by this idea so hopefully he will come to visit.

After dinner I showered, then came up to bed. Camille's family and friends are so nice it will be hard to leave here.