Pretending to be French

We have internet again. It's actually better than before, though I think this was an unintended effect and perhaps the head people don't even know about it. But right now, I'm in the study, using fast wireless. There aren't supposed to be computers in the study. There isn't supposed to be internet in the study. And there certainly isn't supposed to be wireless internet anywhere except for one room downstairs.

I'm not telling.

I've decided to go home a bit early, on Dec. 6th instead of the 20th. Have I mentioned this already? Basically, I really and truly realized that I don't like travelling. So I won't. I'll go home instead.

My French roommate's parents came to Dublin this past weekend. Initially the plan was that I was supposed to meet them when they came to visit the residence on Sunday afternoon, but I actually ended up spending the entire day downtown with them. Saturday night was when we changed our clocks (a week before North America, right?), and some cell phones automatically reset, while others don't. Mine, for instance, didn't; and so the 8:30am alarm went off at what was actually 7:30. The one day of the year when you get a free hour of sleep, blown. Oh well. I'm a grad student, and I make my own schedule. Boo yah.

My roommate had reset her phone, however, and then it reset itself, resulting in her waking up actually 2 hours late. So we ended up going downtown to Mass together, at St Mary's Pro Cathedral. The music was the Mass by Vittoria, sung by the "gentlemen of the Palestrina choir" (the boys being on midterm break). It was perfect - so much like a recording it was almost disappointing. Almost. And, interestingly, the Mass was a novus ordo in Latin! It turned out great for my roommie's parents, who not only prefer Latin, but were having a hard time understanding the English being spoken during the readings and homily (I was too, in fact, due to mumbling, unfamiliar accents, and awkward microphones). Her parents actually spoke much better English than I had expected, so we were able to have a quite bilingual day out. They reassured me that my French was very good, but they were just being polite, I'm sure. I was able to make myself understood, but it seemed like the more I tried to speak, the less able I was to remember basic vocab and grammar. Guh.

After Mass we went to the National Gallery to see the art. Like everything in Dublin, it was nice, and small, which meant that it was possible to see pretty much everything and not be exhausted by the end. We had lunch in the cafe there, which is basically a glassed-over courtyard, and then headed back to the residence to show them around and have tea with the director. I totally crashed that tea party. Whatever, I cleaned up afterwards.

All in all, her parents are just too cute. I hope I'm able to stay in touch with my roommate after we aren't roommates anymore - maybe one day I will have occasion to visit the south of France, even! But for now, I will head to bed. I have another long day of reading primary source material tomorrow.

Guh.