An American in Provence

Back in study mode, though I'm wondering why the weekend when we decide to go away somewhere for my birthday it rained like crazy, and the weekend where we decide to stay home and work it is nice and sunny.
On Wednesday we went to an impromptu poker party hosted by a PhD student at Alain's lab.

When I was regularly going up to Strasbourg one week per month, the guys got in the habit of holding poker nights. Alain bought a kit full of chips, from 1 to 100 value.

Alain informed me that I had to be home by 7 on Wednesday night. I complied, and we walked over to his colleague's apartment, bringing a bottle of wine and the poker chips.
There was a total of 8 players, mainly students and researchers from his lab. They amazingly managed to talk about something other than the diffusion of atoms during poker playing. Seven pizzas were bought, several bottles of beer were drunk, and many rounds of poker were played. We played the version where each person has two cards, then five cards are progressively put on the table. It was fun. I won a grand total of one hand, with a straight. At least, I think that is what it was, five cards in a row, from 2 to 7, but of different suits.

We begged out at about 11 pm and returned home.
this weekend, lots of loads of laundry, plus I am planning on doing two of the practice tests for my exam in March- it is arriving quickly.
Alain's grandparents want us to come visit them, so we will probably stop by for tea. And answer the inevitable question, "No Pepe, I'm not pregnant."

Leaving you with a new singer I just discovered, Ben Howard "The Fear".