Bon Anniversaire!

Dimanche, 8 décembre.

I've been 21 years old for a week now and I've got to say, it doesn't seem very different. I do feel a little more tired than I did at 20 -- but that might have to do more with my stressful week and less with my ever-increasing age. But compared to my friends in the States, whose 21st birthdays mark the biggest coming-of-age moment of all (the ability to legally purchase alcohol), mine didn't seem to have a whole lot of significance. Turning 21 overseas is definitely not the big deal that it is in America: as the drinking age in France, like in most of the world, is eighteen, they don't have quite the same underage drinking culture as we do. Still, after a little bit of explanation about the legal drinking age in the States, everyone seems to understand the need to fêter.

I celebrated la veille de mon anniversaire (my birthday eve) on Saturday evening with a couple of friends, including Molly's friend Amy, who was visiting from Florida! We spent an hour or so in Barberousse, a pirate-themed bar in Montpellier with great decorations and better punch planteur. (Like a rum punch? I'm not really sure. It's fruity and doesn't taste like alcohol, so I like it.)

As everyone had to go home for dinner, we left around seven while the bar was still pretty empty. But it was fun to be there early and have the place to ourselves for a little while! (Besides, during happy hour, the punch planteur is much cheaper.)

I walked back to my house pretty early, which gave me plenty of time to watch a movie online (To Catch a Thief -- what a classic) before counting down to my birthday! It was funny to see which friends remembered the time difference and sent me birthday messages at midnight -- even though for them, it was only 6 pm on November 30th.

On Sunday morning after church (the first Sunday of Advent!), I walked around Montpellier for a few hours. It was nice to see the city so quiet after such a busy Saturday night. I stopped and ate a yummy croissant aux amandes on the steps of the Carré Sainte-Anne and took more than a few pictures of my phone.

All in all, it was a pretty nice birthday. I got spoiled with TONS of birthday treats from Mommy, via Molly. In my little package were all of my favorite treats: chocolate, Pim's cookies, stroopwafels, chocolate-covered gaufres, a bag of pfeffernüsse, stollen (YUM), a couple of Suchard chocolate truffles, and -- to top it all off - a jar of Nutella! (Although it was actually the least exciting part of the package, even that was actually a big treat for me, as I'm a cheapskate and usually just buy the discount store brand.)

I haven't finished ALL of my food yet and have been doing my best to share it with my friends ... but I've definitely made considerable progress on my own! (Cookies and chocolate-covered waffles count as a solid meal, right..?)

In addition to my bag of treats, I got a ton of lovely birthday cards from my family! You can't see all of them in this picture, but I was lucky enough to get birthday wishes from Nanny, Preshy & Boompa, Aunt Libby & Uncle Tony, Aunt Lorry & Uncle Allan, Mommy and Daddy, and even my friend Marika. It worked out perfectly so that it seemed like a got a card each day leading up to my birthday ... I felt so loved!

And to top it all off, I even got wished a happy birthday by GOOGLE. (I'll admit, I was pretty psyched about this. Even if it is just because my search engine is connected to my Google+ account.)