FIELD NOTE 5.21 - Carded.

The legal age to buy alcohol in any grocery stores is 18. And yet even so I was carded today in E. Leclerc as I was buying 2 bottles of wine for a little get-together Darryl and I are hosting tomorrow night.
I didn't really know how to feel about being asked to produce an i.d. so I just decided to view the entire thing as a "cultural experience" - a label I have been giving to a lot of things lately when it seems easier to move on rather than to ponder.
So I handed her my Virginia's driver's license and had it handed back to me a few seconds later. It wasn't until I was walking out the store that I realized I'd given her was in English, a slight faux pas on my part. So I guess it was a true cultural experience after all!

FIELD NOTE 5.20 - Returns.

Le fait accompli. I have successfully returned my coat to Zara and with only a single twinge of regret upon doing so.
Although even that passed quickly as my thoughts began translating the cost of the cost in euro to the cost in dollars of my reading list after I return to Virginia.
So I guess one will feed the other as I begin the process of translating my life back from euro to dollars. It is a process. But until that is done, no more impulse purchases. And if I should ever become weak in that, I will remind myself of the books I want and how they will last so much longer than fabric.

FIELD NOTE 5.19 - New mantra.

After dinner Darryl and I were invited to a quaint little wine bar in Bouffay with Emma and Iain - both friends of Sharon's that I've been introduced to but never given the opportunity to get to really talk to.
So it was that we ended up walking into the bar while the rest of the dinner party diners went their own separate ways without our really noticing. We sat down and the bartender came over to take our orders and practice his English with us - a fun experience all around. Not really knowing what to get, I just fell into that age-old trick of listening to others place their order and choosing one of those.
I ended up with a glass of 2007 syrah in front of me, a very sweet and berry-flavored wine, which I'm pretty sure is now my new favorite of all time. Two glasses of that and 3 hours later and the bartender was telling us that it was last call. We drank some more before heading out into the night and parting ways.
It is a great sadness to realize that there have always been such wonderful people here in Nantes but that I was never really given the chance to truly get to know them - I try to steer clear of the word "regret" when this thought comes to mind. I tell myself there is no need for that word, no time for that word. So much so that it has become a mantra: no regret, no regret, no regret.

FIELD NOTE 5.18 - The last supper.

Realizing our time together is quickly drawing to a close, we all decided to go out to dinner. Ziming organized for a little café which normally closes its doors around 5h00 to open itself specially for our party.
It was a nice party and everyone enjoyed themselves, but still there was a slight hesitancy lingering over the table brought about by all the things we couldn't say: words like "end," "summer," and "future."

FIELD NOTE 5.17 - Impulse purchase.

I didn't exactly need the 100 euro Zara military-style blazer but it called to me. I was only after looking at it for almost an hour this morning that I realized that while I am completely in love with it, I'm not in love with it 100 euro.
And so today I am to make my way down to Zara to return the jacket. I've told myself no more impulse purchases from here on out, but we all know how that goes...

FIELD NOTE 5.16 - Late should be no surprise.

After being here since January, you would think that I'd have become used to the idea of the French running on their own time system. Not so.
For every exam we were told to be in the room 30 minutes early for roll call and instructions. Being late to this could possibly make us unable to take the test when it was administered.
This threat is really nothing new here. I have heard variations of it throughout the semester in different classes and always it is the same - people disobey but are still allowed to complete the test/assignment. But this time seemed different in that there were always mass groups of people clustered around the ampitheatres where the tests are administered.
So yesterday afternoon we were all there again at precisely 13h30 to begin the roll call for our oral comprehension exam only to find out that the testing group using the room before us had yet to finish. We ushered ourselves into an unoccupied amiptheatre and waited. Forty-five minutes later we were allowed to begin our own exam. So much for punctuality.

FIELD NOTE 5.15 - Syrah.

My hands are made heavy by the 2 glasses of syrah I drank tonight in the company of friends. It was a good day and this is a sign of a life well-lived.