le 1er juillet
This is it! The chronicle of the end of my first French year. June hit the ground running: on the 1st I had a picnic with Bertille and Cécile and then ran to the train station to meet Dennis in Montpellier.
le 1er juin
This is it! The beginning of the end of my first French year. I kissed the Mirail goodbye once and for all, and now I am embarking on JUNE and some seriously exciting voyages. This month is gonna be like a giant joy-propelled rocket flinging me homeward. And if this month is a rocket, today I lit the fuse: picnicked with my two musketeers and then rushed off to the train station and Montpellier to meet DENNIS!

Getting goofy before we even open the wine...

     I definitely recommend having noontime picnics in parks with good friends and good wine. I do not recommend having them when you have places to be (like on trains), though. Your warm sense of sluggish well-being will curdle when, almost irrevocably too late, you lurch pack-laden down and up the stairs of a train station.
le 2 juin
When I got to Montpellier, they tried to tell me that Dennis' train did not exist. They really thought that there was no train from Brussels coming in. I pushed past the SNCF employees, all convinced that their little clipboards had all of the answers, and made it up to the platform, where Dennis' train was discharging a big cloud of passengers. Finally there was Dennis, taller and older-looking than I remembered, tugging a little clattery wheeled contraption with a dented cardboard box bungeed to it. One thing I love about Dennis: the way our eyes meet and we both understand what the other is thinking and just laugh. We had one of those moments - over the wheely-clattery thing (a bread machine for Hianta's parents), seeing each other again, being in France, everything. Then we set off.

Porch, dining room, ivy patch, and perfect place to juggle!


Pedaling beachward.


The beach at Maguelone.


Fancy gymnastic tricks!

le 3 juin
Today Sophie's boyfriend took us out in his boat. We set out from the grungiest put-in I've ever seen (although I haven't seen many) and wove our water-skiing way to a nude beach not far from Maguelone. It was great! We played in the water, walked along it, picnicked, and said hey to the nudists playing fetch with their dogs. Afterwards we got cleaned up and then got organized for a big cook-out. It was Dennis' first encounter with the French duck. He just went from being vegetarian yesterday to having three kinds of meat tonight! We laughed pretty well about that one.

Boat!


Hianta and Sophie.


Pimpin' it on the Mediterranean.


Madcap nude beach picnic!

     Today was a magical first. First nude beach, first time watching a french man waterski, first time eating a kiri, first crab tickler, first armpit sunburn (even though Sophie shot me up à la Sin City with sunscreen that matched my swimsuit). Second boat ride on the mediterranean, second soirée grillade. Third day of Kat and Dennis' Eurotacular Adventure!
le 4 juin
We went to Aigues-Mortes today - finally! It was tacky-touristy, sweat-everything-out hot, but we had a good time. Julie accompanied us and then Karim arrived with Noé, so it was a full, fun house.

Hianta + Julie at Aigues-Mortes.


Noé, cutest and best-trained four year old to photograph.


Honeysuckle in French is "goat-leaf."


Goageous flowah, Joolie.

le 8 juin
The past three days we've been in Barcelona. Our plan? NO PLAN! Just wandering, sight-seeing, chilling out, wonder, and hilarity.