Another day in Nice

Today was an eventful day. It started off with a literature exam, analysing the character of Charles Bovary in Gustave Flaubert's madame Bovary, in relation to the character Rodolphe. I have read Madame Bovary two times in English and two times in French. the scoreboard is even, and as to not create any more imbalances in my life, I will not protest if life does not throw Madame Bovary at me again.

I met with the wedding planner, Elodie, at the Radisson hotel on the Promenade des anglais. She gave me the run down about what we are supposed to do in front of the camera. The hardest part is pretending that i am not being filmed. It reminds of the time i studied the 'Hawthorne effect' in high school. We never are as natural with someone watching us (or pretending to watch us ) as we are left unobserved. Celine, the interviewer, will be following us throughout the entire wedding process and finally the day of the wedding (if all works out as planned). Today the three of us visited a hair salon in Nice, proposing to do the hair for the wedding. I showed her a couple of pictures of wedding hair styles i like and another stack of those that i am not too fond of. Immediately she sat me down in the hair chair and with in seconds she was creating a new hairstyle for me, just for fun. My hair was incredible, and represented everything that i wanted but couldn't verbally describe. She said that after 25 years of working with hair she better be good. I can tell you i have been to quite a few hair stylists that have probably been working for 25 years and still manage to give layers that look like mullets. My last haircut is a testimonial to this fact.

After the hairstylist, we met with a photographer named Roberto. He looks like your typical french guy with wavy hair and very gestural. He talks a lot, and was even offering advice about the four different kinds of chair situation at the reception sight. He does really good work, his attention to detail is notable. I will have to talk to Philippe about my discoveries tonight.

Last night I prepared the tiramisu for dessert and bought lamb shoulder for dinner. I am having a difficult time tearing the meat from the bone, and after listening to an emission on TED.com about the weekday vegetarian, i am feeling insanely guilty and perhaps even murderous? It is true that meat in the quantities we consume it is no good for the earth, amongst other things. Last night, Philippe and i were watching a national geographic TV show about lizards. At the end the scientist talked about how even the climate change has destroyed their dry and arid habitats, making it more difficult for the survival of various lizard species. ; (. I guess since i already bought the shoulder of lamb, i will continue with tonight's birthday dish for Olivier.