Rocquefort rends-moi forte!

It's cold again! It warmed for about two days- enough for me to wear my shorter coat instead of my long one- and here we are, back to the frosty ground, mud, and no hope of snow. It's still beautiful, even though the new girls haven't had a day to see how crisply the mountains are defined against the sky when the day is clear and blue. Soon enough, j'espere. I hope. Anyway, we're still waiting on UT for a response as to my group. I spoke with my professor again and he offered to give me extra work if I feel the class is getting too easy. I liked that idea- it means I can go at my own pace, and the professor will like the fact that Im asking for work. I don't know. I was a little bored yesterday, but today was better. So Ive met another member of the family, Benedicte. "Benie" as she is called. Im sure I horribly butchered the spelling of her name. She is 27 and enceinte- pregnant. She's come to stay for a few days- from Toulouse. She looks just like Isabelle, her mother, and they have the same mannerisms. She's very nice but speaks at the speed of sound, I swear. So that's always fun- and it means at dinner there's always something special. Last night was a pomme tartine- apple pie with a homemade crust, etc. It was delicieux and made up for the fact that the main course was BEANS. Don't get me started. I can only imagine how my face looked when they asked me for seconds, and then thirds on the beans. Benie has done charity work in Africa- how cool is that? Im also distressed because Vero came home crying yesterday, and I wanted to help, but what can you do? Im not quite a member of the family, and I felt uncomfortable bursting in her room wanting to help, and I didnt know if it was a physical ailment or emotional, though I did hear Isabelle mention stress quite a few times, which wouldnt surprise me at all considering the pressure they put these BAC students under. But at home, if it had been Kaitlin, Hayley, or India, I wouldve rushed in or tried to do something nice. Now Im kinda left silent because what can you do? Especially in another language. Suffice it to say, no West Wing was watched last night, but I saw her this morning and asked her how she was feeling and she said much better. Which surprises me, because she ate the beans, too. Ha. What else. I think Im going to hazard another trip to the cinema today. We have a crepe fete (crepe party- it's some holiday) on Thursday- and also one of the girls in our group finds out if she's accepted to the medical school she wants- so we're definitely going to be celebrating. Or drowning sorrows in crepes and wine. For her, of course. Sunday I didn't do much because there is nothing to do in France on Sunday. Literally, everything closes. Except the Quick. Odd, because Benie asked me yesterday, one of the first things, she said "Do you miss hamburgers?" ha. And I wanted to scream yes, but Ive made a personal resolution to not visit MacDo or Quick while Im here. Who wants hamburgers when youre in FRANCE? But then it got me thinking of my lovely hamburger frenzy before I came here....but anyway. Suffice it to say, I took an extra big slice of Camembert and remained content. Oh and apparently, Rocquefort cheese to the French is like spinach (epinards) to Popeye. So they told me themselves. Note my subject line. Not much else to report, sadly. This weekend should be fun and I may go skiing. So I say for the third weekend in a row. I may go skiing. Toute a l'heure, Chelsea