hot

it has been hot in nice recently - well, really the whole time we've been here, but especially this week. it doesn't cool down much at night and there isn't air conditioning in our apartment, and no fans to move the air, so i've been doing what i did at duke in august - sleep in as little clothing as possible on top of my sheets. blanket? on the floor. i will be happy to get back to the air conditioning in atlanta, even though i'm sure it will be even hotter there. today in nice the high is 30 degrees C, and i have learned how to convert C to F! 30 divided by 5 is 6, times 9 is 54, plus 32 is 86. so the high today is 86 degrees F. i know you are impressed, and glad that the years of education are paying off.

yesterday one of our students flew back to atlanta, 3 days early (as referenced in the previous post). this student claimed that the other girls on the trip hated her, that they didn't want to hang out with her, that they were deliberately mean to her, etc. this may all be true (though i don't think it is, from my observations), but can't you get over that for the last 3 days of the trip? the answer, in her mind, was no. so she's gone home early, which seems to be the best thing for her and i guess for us, as well.

other than that situation, the girls are WONDERFUL - ordering in french at restaurants, wanting to go to museums in addition to going to the beach or shopping, loving the food and the families they are staying with. it has really been a pleasure to be here with them.

today we are going to saint jean cap ferrat, a little town about 45 minutes by bus from here, that supposedly has a beach, a zoo, museums. tonight there is a free music festival in nice, and i'm going to go with patricia, the girl who is also staying with madame kurzenne. i have no idea what the music will be like, but i'll report back.

in other news, this weekend i watched a marathon of "les simpson" of tv. it was dubbed into french - all except for homer's "d'oh!" and bart's "aye carumba!" hilarious.