First Day in Aix

So it’s about 3:15pm and I’m sitting in my room in Aix. We don’t have anywhere to be until 7pm and I don’t have the password to the wireless network here, so I’m writing this blog in a word document…and it may be long seeing as I have so much time. (Technically, I could walk downstairs and get the internet password because my room is in the same building as the Vanderbilt-in-France Center. However, all the faculty members and tutors are sitting down there waiting to welcome new students, and they all speak French enthusiastically and quickly, so I’ll wait until we have to go down there at 7pm…yes, I’m chickening out, but I’ve already spoken a fair amount of French today.)

I guess with this time I have to spare I can go into some more detail about my day so far and some other little things from last week that I didn’t have time to write about because I was so busy traveling with Lindsey (and then Wouter at the end of the week). Ok so this morning I got up bright and early (well, early for me), checked out of the hostel in Nice (Villa St. Exupery), and then went to the bus station. Lindsey and Wouter were so sweet and came with me to the bus station to see me off. So yeah, then there was the 2.5 hour bus ride from Nice to Aix-en-Provence with a few random stops on the way. I fell asleep at the beginning, but woke up halfway through and got to see how beautiful the area between Nice and Aix is. Everything is so, so green, with just a few houses here and there throughout the countryside…I loved it! And it made me get all excited about being in Aix. So then the bus arrived in Aix at the bus station, and I stood around for a while, not really knowing what to do. It should have been obvious, considering there was a giant sign that said “TAXI”. However, I was still confused for some reason. Anyway after about 20 minutes of wandering around aimlessly, I saw that big sign and took a taxi to the VIF Center (15 Rue Cardinale…write me!). On the way there, we went through the very center of town and there were so many people walking around, eating, shopping, etc. It’s so pretty here and there are a lot of big trees even though the area itself is very developed. I really like it!

So yeah, I made it to the VIF Center and went upstairs to where some of the other students were sitting with the faculty and the tutors. One of the tutors explained stuff to me (in very rapidly spoken French) and then I was given the key to my apartment, which happens to be in the same building as the Center…lucky me! I went up there with Alix, the French student who lives there, but then she left to go out of town for the weekend. So I went back downstairs just as my roommate Kimberly was arriving. So she and I went up to our room and settled in a bit, and then went walking around Aix and stopped at Casino (French grocery store) to get some food. She’s really nice and so now we’re just waiting to meet our two other roommates who will be living in the room next to ours. The four of us share a bathroom and a kitchen (which happens to have a washing machine in it!) with Alix, the French student. And the apartment is so big! I’m shocked, but in a good way, so I’ll have to take pictures to show you.

Oh and this is a very random side note, but I’m listening to this playlist that Martha and I made one night in April and The Decemberists are playing, which reminds me of their song called “My Mother was a Chinese Trapeze Artist”. If I had internet access right now, I’d be able to copy and paste the first few lines in here, but the basic gist is that Aix-en-Provence is mentioned within the first few lines of the song. Very cool.

And now back to this post. Well now I’ve lost my train of thought. I guess I’ve pretty much talked about what I’ve done so far today. So here’s an idea of what I’ll be doing throughout the next 8 weeks:

5/22 (today): dinner with the tutors at 7pm

5/23 (tomorrow): taking a tour of Aix with the tutors at 4pm

5/24: going to the beach at Cassis from 11am to 7pm

5/25: orientation from 10am to 5pm; dinner with the professors

5/26: first day of classes and first dinner with our pseudo-host families

5/27: our first excursion (Le Luberon) trip from 9:30am to 7pm

5/28, 5/29: classes

6/1, 6/2: classes

6/3: hiking Saint Victor Mountain from 9am to 4pm

6/4, 6/5: classes

6/8: classes; excursion (I think this is the wine one, but I’m not sure)

6/9: classes

6/10: excursion to Nice from 8am to 7pm

6/11, 6/12: classes

6/15, 6/16: classes

6/17: excursion to Marseilles (departing at 8:30am)

6/18, 6/19: classes

6/20 – 6/27: culture week in Paris

6/29, 6/30: classes; dinner with pseudo-host families

7/1: excursion to the Picasso/Cezanne exhibit at 11am; party at the Center at 7:30pm

7/2, 7/3: classes

7/6, 7/7: classes; dinner with pseudo-host families

7/8: excursion to Avignon from 9am to 6pm

7/9, 7/10: classes

7/13, 7/14: classes

7/15: reading day

7/16: exams

7/17: excursion to Porquerolles from 8am to 7pm; farewell dinner with professors

7/18: go home!

Ok well we have internet now (yes, I was brave and went downstairs) and one of our other roommates has arrived, so I’m going to post this and then write again sometime later!