the BIG birthday weekend

ok so i'm a little late with this blog, but i've been busy.
to start. i cant believe im finally 21, and honestly it probably wont truly sink in until i get home because it just doesnt have the same stigma (or whatever the heck the word is) here.

the weekend started at chloes house doing hw because we both knew if the hw didnt get done first, it might not get done at all. look at us being all responsible and stuff!
but once we had finished, we headed to the circus! thats right, the circus. my host mom mentioned it was in town, so chloe and i decided to check it out. it turned out it was a lot further from perrache than we had intended, so we ended up walking about 4 tram stops unintentionally. when we finally found the big tent, we managed to walk the wrong way around the enclosure before finally figuring out a way to get in. it was actually pretty good, though smaller than i had anticipated (probably due to the fact that i dont think ive ever been to a circus before and therefore picture cirque du soleil on tv). we ended up leaving when the clowns came out because, lets be real, clowns are creepy. plusss. we wanted to get to patricks for dinner and chocolate! and we were already behind schedule.
a couple circus pictures:

on the way to patricks, chloe and i had to get on the less convenient bus because it was going to come a lot faster than the preferable one. only problem was, we managed to completely miss our stop which meant patrick had to come rescue us. hey, its not our fault he lives ridiculously far away.
patricks for dinner and chocolate was delicious. he had made macaroons and souffle and some other cake thing.

plus, the company was delightful :)

i made it home just after midnight and decided to post a facebook status about being 21. when i woke up in the morning, i found that people from home did not accept this because a few felt the need to point out that it wasn't my birthday yet in california. fineeee guys. ;)

in the morning i headed downstairs for breakfast. my host parents seemed surprised by the fact that i appeared at about 9:30. i feel like they forgot for a second that i dont sleep in super late like marc-philippe does when he's home haha. but they greeted me, each gave me a bisous, and told me bon anniversaire. they also gave me two macarons which i though was really sweet. and then my host dad asked me if would like some whisky since i was now 21. my host mom and i kind of looked at each other like what in the world is going on right now. i declined as my host mom and i both pointed out it was morning hahaha (i might point out right now that my host parents dont even drink that much.. though some familys have wine every night.. thats not how it is here, so i thought it was especially funny).

most of the family came over for lunch since i share my birthday with my host sister's husband.
when louis saw me he turned away from me. whaaat? its my birthday! i guess it just wasnt our day. that baby usually loves me :/
lunch was delicious followed by chocolate cake and a raspberry tarte. two of course because guillaume and i each needed one to blow out candles :) unfortunately the one for good luck was missing though. butttt happy birthday was sung first in french and then in english which made me super happy. i thought it was really cute to hear everybody sing in english :)
my host mom then gave me a bracelet and necklace and i finally got a picture with both of my host parents!

after lunch i probably had a whole half hour to myself to get stuff together and skype with my grandparents before heading out for the evening.
i met up with chloe and we ran some errands.. like getting food for dinner.. before finally heading to her house to get ready and eat.
giulia showed up to join us for our awesome pasta dinner and provided a very tasty salad.
and patrick and samina came over for cake afterwards.. a cake that patrick actually provided. once again it was candle time, and once again i felt it was missing one.. but i guess its not everybody's tradition.
(i would put a picture here, but i think it was on someone else's camera).
we ended up going to a couple bars and finally ended up at mi barrio. i was supposed to meet up with a couple other friends, but that kind of fell apart.
i did have a lot of fun though.
by the time we got back to chloes place around 3, i was completely exhausted and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

we had brunch the next morning which consisted of potatoes with peppers and it was quite good. then chloe and i got a little tiny nap in before we headed to the park to meet up with people again. it was super warm out and a couple people went to get ice cream they had to eat it quickly before it melted all over them!

i have to say though, it was a pretty good birthday weekend :)