Birthday party!

I'm getting ready to walk to the train station, but I have a little time to kill, so I thought I'd quickly post some pictures from my birthday party last night! My friends all came to celebrate since I'll be gone on my actual birthday - it was lots of fun, they were great. The girls and our friends Eve, Flor, and Juan all came with a ton of balloons, streamers, noise-makers, and food.

It was the first (and presumably only) time that I had "Happy Birthday" sung to me in four different languages - though when they sang it in Spanish, they sang about three different versions since we had Spanish-speakers from Spain, Mexico, and Argentina. Apparently there are a bunch of different versions of the birthday song! First they sang in English, then French, then the first Spanish version, and then they just kept adding versions, until finally Cathi sang it in German (mostly by herself since German is pretty much unpronounceable).

These are my birthday cards - they were super elaborate and very funny! Marina added logos from some of the government agencies we had to go to a dozen times. They also all got me a scarf, earrings that look like chocolate bars, and a framed photo collage of pictures of us in Perigueux.

I think this was before all the birthday song singing started. Azahara made cheesecake - it was pretty delicious!

Sitting around my little table and snacking/chatting. Also, here's evidence that my apartment is much brighter and happier than it was when I first moved in. I kept my Christmas lights up and I have lots of posters up - in addition to all my colorful scarves hanging. I still don't have any emotional attachment to this apartment - but at least it's not a depressing place to come back to anymore.

Picture with the girls. From left to right: Eve, Marina, Cathi, me, Daniela, and Azahara.

It was a good night! We had a lot of fun. We finished by drinking mate ("mah-tay") a tea-like beverage that they drink in Argentina. I've definitely gotten to experience a lot of different cultural things while I've been here - it's cool!

Tonight in Bordeaux, Katie and I are staying with a girl who went to UVA. We should be in Milan around noon tomorrow, and then we'll have pretty much a day and a half to see the city. Also, Lake Como is only an hour from Milan. At first Katie and I were thinking that since we don't have a ton of time, we should just focus on Milan - but if Lake Como is so close....Maybe we'll discuss on the train to Bordeaux!

That's all - gotta go make some last minute checks to make sure I'm prepared!