grenoble

presently i am sitting in the flat of rachel's french gentleman-friend jean-sebastian after a totally lovely dinner of wine, bread, the freshest tomatoes i've had in ages, goats cheese with the aforementioned and his lovely, arty friends, with whom laughs and exchanges were happily achieved, language barrier and all. in fact i even tried the organically made chorizo from the pig farm of this guy adrian's father, which was not anything close to vegetables and indeed delicious (though i assure it hasn't caused permanent abandon, only momentary lapse). j-s and gang are art students here in town at the famous and influential beaux-arts school, one that i spent much of my architecture class learning about - they study something like performance art, though in a fun and clever and not pretentious way. everyone just got all silly and dressed up, in wigs and vintage (they are terribly fashionable and quite beautiful in that effortless sort of way that artists often possess) to go to a karoake bar - with my increasingly exhausted state i opted out (the wine certainly hasn't helped my sleepiness).
grenoble is really lovely - a little cafe&shop-filled town situated in a small bowl-like valley among some omni-present majestic mountains; sort of gives the sensation of being in the palm of a hand that will never let you stray too far. rachel and i tomorrow part ways with this merry band to train it to montpellier, which is supposed to be great and may even allow a jaunt to see the mediterranean. it is warm and fresh-feeling here; rachel got a farmer's burn today and i wore flip-flops (though i have been breaking in my mountain shoes as well). at present i am off to a queen-sized bed that has been for free offered to me entirely by j-s's flatmate - my world is without complaint. off to dream, a bientot-