Obviously when I wrote my most recent post (about a month ago), I was missing Aix a lot and as a result, my post took on kind of a sad perspective. But now that I have a reason to reflect again (Paideia), I want to look at my summer in a different way. I was thinking last night about how I changed and grew while I was in France. I remember the first day I got there--I was a total wreck. My suitcase was ripped, I was confused about how to get from the Marseille airport to the Marseille train station, and when I finally got to the train station, I felt completely lost. I was sitting in a cafe at the train station waiting for my friend Lindsey to meet me and the one, overwhelming thought on my mind was: I don't think I can do this. I really wanted to be in France and I was so excited to be there, but I wasn't sure that I'd be able to survive the summer. And yeah, that sounds a bit melodramatic, but I was scared. Spending a week in Nice with Lindsey quickly took away that fear, and before I knew it, I had adjusted to what I thought "life in France" was, and was on a bus for Aix, to start my program. However, life there was definitely different, and I realized it would take a while to get adjusted. There was the fact that we had French roommates, French program directors, French professors, French host parents. Basically, we had to be ready to speak French at any time, which was definitely a challenge.
I think what I struggled most with was speaking French with my host parents. I was pretty shy around them for the most part and they would always tease me, so I guess I was convinced that they didn't like me. But at the end of the summer, at our last family dinner, our host mom, Madame Bach, pulled out a little book and asked each of us to write something in it. She does this with every semester's students, so it's kind of a tradition for her. While I was writing in it, I was so afraid that I would make some colossal grammar mistake or use a word in the wrong context. The next day, I arrived earlier than the other students, and so Madame Bach pulled me aside and said that she was so impressed with and excited by what I had written in her book. That definitely made me feel better and I finally did feel as though my French skills had improved throughout the summer: in the classroom, at host family dinners, and out in Aix.
So I guess I want the focus of this post to be the fact that I was totally capable of not only surviving the summer, but doing way more than surviving. I had so much fun, learned so much, and grew as a person. I am definitely a lot more independent now, and I'm not so afraid of "challenges" anymore. Now that I've seen myself overcome my challenges in France, I feel so much more confident about each challenge I face here in the U.S. I definitely miss Aix, but I can always look back on it as an experience that really enabled me to grow...and it was just a lot of fun too! And I can always go back for vacation--after all, I do have a standing dinner reservation Chez Bach. :)
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Closing This Blog Out (Part 2)
So now I should write about the last 2 weeks of the program. But honestly, the last 2 weeks were a blur while I was there and are even more of a blur now. I knew that time was slipping away so I was trying to soak up as much as I could in the little time that I had left. We had one last official excursion to Avignon and Pont du Gard, and we had our last week of classes. We had our last weekend in Aix, which included a Franglais Party, and we had Bastille Day. We had finals and we had a day-trip to Porquerolles (which happened to be on my 21st birthday). It all went by so fast and before I knew it, I was packing and walking to the bus station at 4am.
Our last night in Aix was so strange. We decided to go to Auberge Hugo and drink wine together, to end the summer the way we had started it. We sat around the table just talking and drinking and it all felt so bittersweet. We had just experienced an amazing 2 months together, and now it was time to say goodbye. For me, it was really hard. Being one of the few non-Vanderbilt students, I knew that my goodbyes really were goodbyes. I didn't have any see-you-in-August's. As challenging as some of my experiences were, I suddenly wanted to go back and relive all of them. I wasn't at all ready to leave.
And now sitting here, writing this, I'm feeling very nostalgic. I do miss a lot of things about living in France and my experiences there did change me. I was definitely an independent person before going to France, but being there made me incredibly independent. I walked through Aix by myself, had no problem entertaining myself on weekends when my roommates went out of town, and I even rode the metro in Paris by myself at night. So one thing is for sure: I became very independent and very self-reliant. I can see that in myself now, being back in Georgetown. I have no problem eating by myself or spending time by myself; in fact, I enjoy it. Something I really miss about France is the wonderful sense of anonymity I felt there. Just walking down the street...you know no one and no one knows you. There's something so nice about that. Being back at Southwestern is very, very different. Everyone knows you and you know everyone. It makes me feel as though I have really outgrown Southwestern.
I think I grew up a lot in France. My priorities changed and although I wasn't good friends with everyone in my program, I liked the majority of the people I surrounded myself with while I was there. Even though a lot of my friends there were younger than I was, they were far more mature than people my age here at Southwestern. I don't want this to turn into a rant/vent session, but I'm seeing that I grew up a lot in France and now I'm back in an environment that has the potential to stunt my growth and really, anyone's growth.
Anyway, back to the subject at hand. There are times when I know that I wouldn't last a year if I went to France for that long, but there are also times when I wish I had the opportunity to try it. If my priorities earlier in college had been different, maybe I would have gone for a year instead of just for the summer. But there's no point in wondering. I know that the experience I had is one that I will never have again, and I'm just really hoping that the memories I have will stay fresh and vivid in my mind. I also hope that one day I can return to Aix and retrace all my steps, reliving summer 2009.
This post seems to wrap things up, but I think of France and this past summer frequently, so I can't say that this will be the last post. I'll probably end up back on here every so often to reminisce and think of France. Right now, I'm listening to a song on repeat that I listened to on my computer a whole gosh darn lot while I was in Aix. Sitting here, listening to this song is kind of overwhelming. I don't see myself in my apartment in Georgetown--I see myself in my apartment in Aix, sitting at my desk, with my roommate Kim sitting next to me at her desk. There's warm air coming through the window to the right and the fan on Kim's desk is rotating, bringing short bursts of relief. It's funny how a song can transport you to a different place. I never want to forget anything about being in France. I want to remember every single moment--the good and the bad--because they all combined to create one unique experience.
I want to remember all the people in my program.
I want to remember the heat.
I want to remember walking to family dinner.
I want to remember my host parents and our conversations at the dinner table.
I want to remember all the weekly excursions.
I want to remember exploring Aix.
I want to remember sleeping with the windows open, hearing all the noises in the streets.
I want to remember late night conversations.
I want to remember all the nights of wine drinking at Auberge Hugo.
I just want to remember everything.
Aix me manque.
Our last night in Aix was so strange. We decided to go to Auberge Hugo and drink wine together, to end the summer the way we had started it. We sat around the table just talking and drinking and it all felt so bittersweet. We had just experienced an amazing 2 months together, and now it was time to say goodbye. For me, it was really hard. Being one of the few non-Vanderbilt students, I knew that my goodbyes really were goodbyes. I didn't have any see-you-in-August's. As challenging as some of my experiences were, I suddenly wanted to go back and relive all of them. I wasn't at all ready to leave.
And now sitting here, writing this, I'm feeling very nostalgic. I do miss a lot of things about living in France and my experiences there did change me. I was definitely an independent person before going to France, but being there made me incredibly independent. I walked through Aix by myself, had no problem entertaining myself on weekends when my roommates went out of town, and I even rode the metro in Paris by myself at night. So one thing is for sure: I became very independent and very self-reliant. I can see that in myself now, being back in Georgetown. I have no problem eating by myself or spending time by myself; in fact, I enjoy it. Something I really miss about France is the wonderful sense of anonymity I felt there. Just walking down the street...you know no one and no one knows you. There's something so nice about that. Being back at Southwestern is very, very different. Everyone knows you and you know everyone. It makes me feel as though I have really outgrown Southwestern.
I think I grew up a lot in France. My priorities changed and although I wasn't good friends with everyone in my program, I liked the majority of the people I surrounded myself with while I was there. Even though a lot of my friends there were younger than I was, they were far more mature than people my age here at Southwestern. I don't want this to turn into a rant/vent session, but I'm seeing that I grew up a lot in France and now I'm back in an environment that has the potential to stunt my growth and really, anyone's growth.
Anyway, back to the subject at hand. There are times when I know that I wouldn't last a year if I went to France for that long, but there are also times when I wish I had the opportunity to try it. If my priorities earlier in college had been different, maybe I would have gone for a year instead of just for the summer. But there's no point in wondering. I know that the experience I had is one that I will never have again, and I'm just really hoping that the memories I have will stay fresh and vivid in my mind. I also hope that one day I can return to Aix and retrace all my steps, reliving summer 2009.
This post seems to wrap things up, but I think of France and this past summer frequently, so I can't say that this will be the last post. I'll probably end up back on here every so often to reminisce and think of France. Right now, I'm listening to a song on repeat that I listened to on my computer a whole gosh darn lot while I was in Aix. Sitting here, listening to this song is kind of overwhelming. I don't see myself in my apartment in Georgetown--I see myself in my apartment in Aix, sitting at my desk, with my roommate Kim sitting next to me at her desk. There's warm air coming through the window to the right and the fan on Kim's desk is rotating, bringing short bursts of relief. It's funny how a song can transport you to a different place. I never want to forget anything about being in France. I want to remember every single moment--the good and the bad--because they all combined to create one unique experience.
I want to remember all the people in my program.
I want to remember the heat.
I want to remember walking to family dinner.
I want to remember my host parents and our conversations at the dinner table.
I want to remember all the weekly excursions.
I want to remember exploring Aix.
I want to remember sleeping with the windows open, hearing all the noises in the streets.
I want to remember late night conversations.
I want to remember all the nights of wine drinking at Auberge Hugo.
I just want to remember everything.
Aix me manque.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Closing This Blog Out (Part 1)
Ok so it's August and I'm back in Georgetown, Texas for my senior year at Southwestern University. And I have some major catching up to do with this blog. Basically, I didn't write at all during the last three weeks of study abroad because they flew by so quickly. Then when I got home, I was busy seeing family and friends and dealing with the GRE. And before I knew it, the summer was over and I was in my car, driving back to Georgetown. Now I'm sitting here in my apartment. It's the night before classes start, but I have no classes on Mondays or Fridays, so I've got a bit of time on my hands before things get really crazy. So it seems as though it's now or never to wrap up this blog, which is something that I really want to do even if no one ever ends up seeing this last post.
So, let's see. The last time I wrote an actual post was when I got back from Paris. This makes me wish I had kept up with this blog, but oh well...here's my attempt to record all the happenings of my last three weeks in Aix.
Basically, our last three weeks meant two more weeks of class, one week of final preparations and finals, and three more excursions. Our first Wednesday back, they wanted to go easy on us, so our excursion was to the Musee Granet, a museum in Aix with an exhibit of Picasso and Cezanne works. Basically, the exhibit showed Cezanne's influence on Picasso and the parallelism between their works. And the museum was right next door to the VIF Center! The exhibit was great, and our "excursion" was done by about noon, so we had the rest of the day free. I had a paper to be writing, but of course, I spent time in Aix instead of working on my paper. I ate lunch at my favorite sandwich place (PAUL) and just spent the day relaxing. That night, we went out to see the new Woody Allen movie, "Whatever Works", and it was fun to see it with French subtitles.
(It is now September and I am still working on this post...)
The next day, my Mom arrived in France! She flew into Marseille and then took the train to Aix. After I got out of class, I went to her hotel (Hotel le Roi Rene...very nice) and then took her to dinner at le Patacrepe (chain crepe restaurant in Aix and Marseille...very yummy). I should have worked on my paper after that, but of course, I didn't. The next morning, I had my one class that met on Fridays, and then my Mom and I were picked up by her friend Helene, who lives in Uzes, a very small town in the south of France. We started the drive to Uzes, but made a stop on the way in a town called Les Baux de Provence. It was so beautiful. It was a town up on a hill, so we parked and then walked into the town. We ate lunch and then just explored. After that, we drove about ten minutes to a place called Cathedrale d'Images, which is basically a very large cave with an art exhibit inside. The current exhibit is one of Picasso, and I really recommend it. You walk around inside this large, dark, cold cave listening to wonderful music and looking at moving images of Picasso's works reflected onto the cave walls. It was quite the experience. After leaving Cathedrale d'Images, we finished the drive to Helene's house in Uzes. When we arrived, we found there Helene's husband Ernest, her son Danny and his wife Pascal, their children, and one of Pascal's friends and her children. We all spent the afternoon and early evening swimming in the pool and laying around in hammocks and then we ate dinner together outside. (All of our meals that weekend were eaten outside and it was great!)
The next day, I slept in super late (oops) and missed breakfast. We spent the afternoon hanging out in and by the pool, but then it started to rain so we sat inside just chatting. Around 5pm, the weather was looking a bit better, so some of us went in search of an apricot orchard that Helene had once visited. The car ride was so hilarious--it was such a ridiculous wild goose chase, trying to find this apricot orchard. We finally found it after many attempts and had just 15 minutes to pick our apricots before the end of the day at the orchard. Just at that moment it started raining. So we were hurrying around in the rain and the mud, picking apricots, eating some, saving some, laughing, and just having a good time. It was such a fun afternoon. That night we had an apricot pie after dinner and spent plenty of time talking. I believe there were about 14 people at the dinner table that night--it was great.
The next day, I slept in again (oops oops), and then worked on getting a train ticket from Avignon back to Aix. Then, Helene, my Mom, and Chloe (Helene's granddaughter who is about my age) drove me to Avignon. I got on the TGV and was back in Aix within 20 minutes!
So that covers things up to July 5th. My next post will hopefully cover the last two weeks of the program, my last two weeks in Aix. And then I can reflect, Paideia style. :)
So, let's see. The last time I wrote an actual post was when I got back from Paris. This makes me wish I had kept up with this blog, but oh well...here's my attempt to record all the happenings of my last three weeks in Aix.
Basically, our last three weeks meant two more weeks of class, one week of final preparations and finals, and three more excursions. Our first Wednesday back, they wanted to go easy on us, so our excursion was to the Musee Granet, a museum in Aix with an exhibit of Picasso and Cezanne works. Basically, the exhibit showed Cezanne's influence on Picasso and the parallelism between their works. And the museum was right next door to the VIF Center! The exhibit was great, and our "excursion" was done by about noon, so we had the rest of the day free. I had a paper to be writing, but of course, I spent time in Aix instead of working on my paper. I ate lunch at my favorite sandwich place (PAUL) and just spent the day relaxing. That night, we went out to see the new Woody Allen movie, "Whatever Works", and it was fun to see it with French subtitles.
(It is now September and I am still working on this post...)
The next day, my Mom arrived in France! She flew into Marseille and then took the train to Aix. After I got out of class, I went to her hotel (Hotel le Roi Rene...very nice) and then took her to dinner at le Patacrepe (chain crepe restaurant in Aix and Marseille...very yummy). I should have worked on my paper after that, but of course, I didn't. The next morning, I had my one class that met on Fridays, and then my Mom and I were picked up by her friend Helene, who lives in Uzes, a very small town in the south of France. We started the drive to Uzes, but made a stop on the way in a town called Les Baux de Provence. It was so beautiful. It was a town up on a hill, so we parked and then walked into the town. We ate lunch and then just explored. After that, we drove about ten minutes to a place called Cathedrale d'Images, which is basically a very large cave with an art exhibit inside. The current exhibit is one of Picasso, and I really recommend it. You walk around inside this large, dark, cold cave listening to wonderful music and looking at moving images of Picasso's works reflected onto the cave walls. It was quite the experience. After leaving Cathedrale d'Images, we finished the drive to Helene's house in Uzes. When we arrived, we found there Helene's husband Ernest, her son Danny and his wife Pascal, their children, and one of Pascal's friends and her children. We all spent the afternoon and early evening swimming in the pool and laying around in hammocks and then we ate dinner together outside. (All of our meals that weekend were eaten outside and it was great!)
The next day, I slept in super late (oops) and missed breakfast. We spent the afternoon hanging out in and by the pool, but then it started to rain so we sat inside just chatting. Around 5pm, the weather was looking a bit better, so some of us went in search of an apricot orchard that Helene had once visited. The car ride was so hilarious--it was such a ridiculous wild goose chase, trying to find this apricot orchard. We finally found it after many attempts and had just 15 minutes to pick our apricots before the end of the day at the orchard. Just at that moment it started raining. So we were hurrying around in the rain and the mud, picking apricots, eating some, saving some, laughing, and just having a good time. It was such a fun afternoon. That night we had an apricot pie after dinner and spent plenty of time talking. I believe there were about 14 people at the dinner table that night--it was great.
The next day, I slept in again (oops oops), and then worked on getting a train ticket from Avignon back to Aix. Then, Helene, my Mom, and Chloe (Helene's granddaughter who is about my age) drove me to Avignon. I got on the TGV and was back in Aix within 20 minutes!
So that covers things up to July 5th. My next post will hopefully cover the last two weeks of the program, my last two weeks in Aix. And then I can reflect, Paideia style. :)
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Check this out...
Real post coming soon, but for now, check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH5RqegErp8
It's not that great, but it does show a lot of the pictures I've taken this summer!
It's not that great, but it does show a lot of the pictures I've taken this summer!
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Week in Paris
So I haven't written on in here for a while because we were in Paris for a week and I didn't bring my computer. But we got back last night and now I have so much to say about what we did in Paris!
Sat June 20--We took the TGV from Aix to Paris, which took about 3 hours. Then we checked into our hostel, which was surprisingly nice. It's called MIJE (Maisons Internationales de Jeunesse et Etudiantes) and it's located in the Marais area of Paris. Our metro stop was Saint Paul on line 1, for those of you who might know the metro system pretty well. Anyway, then we just spent the day walking around Paris, and went to dinner that night with the whole group. The dinner was paid for by VIF and it was really good! We tried to go out together as a group that night, but keeping track of about 22 people in Paris is pretty difficult, so we ended up splitting up into smaller groups and just bar-hopping. It was pretty fun.
Sun June 21--We got up early in the morning and walked around for about 4 hours. We walked past the Louvre, the Tuileries, the Champs Elysees, and also went up to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. We ate lunch near the Musee d'Orsay, and then met up at Pont Neuf for the afternoon activity, a boat tour (bateau mouche) on the Seine. We saw a lot of cool places on the boat tour that we later visited throughout the week. I don't remember what we did afterwards, although my camera will probably remind me. But that night was La Fete de la Musique, and it was definitely a very crazy night...
Mon June 22--We went to the Louvre in the morning and it was the most disorganized thing I've ever done. Needless to say, I wish I had gone by myself instead of with the group because the lady acting as our tour guide was no good at all. Oh well, I'm sure I'll be back in Paris sometime soon. Afterwards, we ate lunch and then a few of us went to the Eiffel Tower. We waited in line for over an hour and then found out that the top floor had closed due to overcrowding, so we left. We ate dinner at the hostel, and then went to the Luxembourg Gardens, which were so beautiful and the best part of the day.
Tues June 23--We had the morning free, so a few of us went to Les Invalides (where Napoleon's tomb is) and then over to the National Opera, which is very beautiful inside. We ate lunch on the steps of the Opera, and then headed over to the Musee d'Orsay for our organized activity of the day. We had the same tour guide, so once again, it was incredibly disorganized. I ended up getting lost from the group during the tour, which was probably good because that meant I got to see the works of art that I really wanted to see (Degas!) instead of looking at paintings that the tour guide likes. That night, I went to dinner with my Dad and brother in the Montparnasse area, and we ate crepes! Actually, I ate a lot of crepes during the week in Paris because there are crepe stands everywhere and a nutella crepe sounds good at any time of day regardless of where you are or what you're doing.
Wed June 24--This was our full free day, so a few of us went to Versailles. We toured the palace and the gardens, and went to look at Marie Antoinette's area, where she had a house built of pink marble...of course, I loved it! I definitely want to go back because I didn't get to see her Temple of Love where she held parties, and I do want to see that! When we got back to Paris, some of us went up to the top of the Montparnasse Tower, which is supposed to be the best view of Paris because you can see the Eiffel Tower and you don't have to see the Montparnasse Tower itself (it's pretty ugly). And it was a really good view! After that, we had dinner at the hostel, and we also went out that night, as we did almost every single night in Paris since we didn't have any classes.
Thurs June 25--Our organized activity for the day was to see Notre Dame and Sainte Chapelle in the morning, and I thought both were very beautiful. Overall, I liked Notre Dame better, but the second floor of Sainte Chapelle had so many beautiful stain glass windows. Of course I took a bunch of pictures, but I haven't even uploaded them to my computer yet, so they're definitely not on the internet, just as none of my pictures from this summer are. Oh well, I'll get around to it eventually. That afternoon, a few of us went to the Catacombs, which I thought were really scary! I figure it's one of those places in Paris that you go to just once, so the next time I'm there, I think I'll be skipping out on that experience. Afterwards, we did a little bit of shopping since Soldes (the giant sales in France) started on Wednesday. Then we had dinner at the hostel, and went out for a bit.
Fri June 26--A friend and I tried to go to the Edith Piaf museum on Friday morning, but when we got there, there was a sign saying that visits are by appointment only, and that appointments can only be made on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. I've never been to a museum before that works that way, and I was really disappointed because I had been looking forward to going to the Edith Piaf museum all week. Well, just one more reason to go back to Paris very soon. Since we had time left over, we went to the Champs Elysees to buy gifts for people and ate lunch there at a cute little deli. Then we went to Montmartre to meet up with the group to tour the area of Montmartre and see Sacre Coeur. After doing so, a few of us split off from the group and went to Les Deux Moulins, the cafe where the film Amelie takes place. We drank coffee there and took a few pictures there--it was really fun. We then went back to the hostel to get ready for our last night in Paris. Kim, Daniela, Caroline, Lindsey, and I got dressed up and went out to dinner in the Marais, near our hostel. The five of us had been hanging out all week long and decided that we should go out to dinner on our last night instead of eating at the hostel. Our dinner was very good and pretty well priced for Paris. Then we went back to the hostel to meet up with some other kids in our program, and then we headed out to this club called Rex. It was kind of expensive to get in, but it was well worth it. Apparently, the DJ there that night is pretty well known, so there were so many people there. We danced for several hours and then went back to the hostel.
Sat June 27--For our last morning in Paris, I decided just to walk around by myself. It was nice and relaxing and then I met up with the group for lunch. We then got on the metro and went to Gare de Lyon to get on our train. Three hours later we were back in Aix!
Now I have less than 3 weeks here in Aix and so much left to do! I'm sure it's going to fly by, and I will definitely write on here again soon! A tout a l'heure!
Sat June 20--We took the TGV from Aix to Paris, which took about 3 hours. Then we checked into our hostel, which was surprisingly nice. It's called MIJE (Maisons Internationales de Jeunesse et Etudiantes) and it's located in the Marais area of Paris. Our metro stop was Saint Paul on line 1, for those of you who might know the metro system pretty well. Anyway, then we just spent the day walking around Paris, and went to dinner that night with the whole group. The dinner was paid for by VIF and it was really good! We tried to go out together as a group that night, but keeping track of about 22 people in Paris is pretty difficult, so we ended up splitting up into smaller groups and just bar-hopping. It was pretty fun.
Sun June 21--We got up early in the morning and walked around for about 4 hours. We walked past the Louvre, the Tuileries, the Champs Elysees, and also went up to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. We ate lunch near the Musee d'Orsay, and then met up at Pont Neuf for the afternoon activity, a boat tour (bateau mouche) on the Seine. We saw a lot of cool places on the boat tour that we later visited throughout the week. I don't remember what we did afterwards, although my camera will probably remind me. But that night was La Fete de la Musique, and it was definitely a very crazy night...
Mon June 22--We went to the Louvre in the morning and it was the most disorganized thing I've ever done. Needless to say, I wish I had gone by myself instead of with the group because the lady acting as our tour guide was no good at all. Oh well, I'm sure I'll be back in Paris sometime soon. Afterwards, we ate lunch and then a few of us went to the Eiffel Tower. We waited in line for over an hour and then found out that the top floor had closed due to overcrowding, so we left. We ate dinner at the hostel, and then went to the Luxembourg Gardens, which were so beautiful and the best part of the day.
Tues June 23--We had the morning free, so a few of us went to Les Invalides (where Napoleon's tomb is) and then over to the National Opera, which is very beautiful inside. We ate lunch on the steps of the Opera, and then headed over to the Musee d'Orsay for our organized activity of the day. We had the same tour guide, so once again, it was incredibly disorganized. I ended up getting lost from the group during the tour, which was probably good because that meant I got to see the works of art that I really wanted to see (Degas!) instead of looking at paintings that the tour guide likes. That night, I went to dinner with my Dad and brother in the Montparnasse area, and we ate crepes! Actually, I ate a lot of crepes during the week in Paris because there are crepe stands everywhere and a nutella crepe sounds good at any time of day regardless of where you are or what you're doing.
Wed June 24--This was our full free day, so a few of us went to Versailles. We toured the palace and the gardens, and went to look at Marie Antoinette's area, where she had a house built of pink marble...of course, I loved it! I definitely want to go back because I didn't get to see her Temple of Love where she held parties, and I do want to see that! When we got back to Paris, some of us went up to the top of the Montparnasse Tower, which is supposed to be the best view of Paris because you can see the Eiffel Tower and you don't have to see the Montparnasse Tower itself (it's pretty ugly). And it was a really good view! After that, we had dinner at the hostel, and we also went out that night, as we did almost every single night in Paris since we didn't have any classes.
Thurs June 25--Our organized activity for the day was to see Notre Dame and Sainte Chapelle in the morning, and I thought both were very beautiful. Overall, I liked Notre Dame better, but the second floor of Sainte Chapelle had so many beautiful stain glass windows. Of course I took a bunch of pictures, but I haven't even uploaded them to my computer yet, so they're definitely not on the internet, just as none of my pictures from this summer are. Oh well, I'll get around to it eventually. That afternoon, a few of us went to the Catacombs, which I thought were really scary! I figure it's one of those places in Paris that you go to just once, so the next time I'm there, I think I'll be skipping out on that experience. Afterwards, we did a little bit of shopping since Soldes (the giant sales in France) started on Wednesday. Then we had dinner at the hostel, and went out for a bit.
Fri June 26--A friend and I tried to go to the Edith Piaf museum on Friday morning, but when we got there, there was a sign saying that visits are by appointment only, and that appointments can only be made on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. I've never been to a museum before that works that way, and I was really disappointed because I had been looking forward to going to the Edith Piaf museum all week. Well, just one more reason to go back to Paris very soon. Since we had time left over, we went to the Champs Elysees to buy gifts for people and ate lunch there at a cute little deli. Then we went to Montmartre to meet up with the group to tour the area of Montmartre and see Sacre Coeur. After doing so, a few of us split off from the group and went to Les Deux Moulins, the cafe where the film Amelie takes place. We drank coffee there and took a few pictures there--it was really fun. We then went back to the hostel to get ready for our last night in Paris. Kim, Daniela, Caroline, Lindsey, and I got dressed up and went out to dinner in the Marais, near our hostel. The five of us had been hanging out all week long and decided that we should go out to dinner on our last night instead of eating at the hostel. Our dinner was very good and pretty well priced for Paris. Then we went back to the hostel to meet up with some other kids in our program, and then we headed out to this club called Rex. It was kind of expensive to get in, but it was well worth it. Apparently, the DJ there that night is pretty well known, so there were so many people there. We danced for several hours and then went back to the hostel.
Sat June 27--For our last morning in Paris, I decided just to walk around by myself. It was nice and relaxing and then I met up with the group for lunch. We then got on the metro and went to Gare de Lyon to get on our train. Three hours later we were back in Aix!
Now I have less than 3 weeks here in Aix and so much left to do! I'm sure it's going to fly by, and I will definitely write on here again soon! A tout a l'heure!
Saturday, June 13, 2009
End of the First Month
I haven't written on here in a while, so I probably should. Also, I've now been in France for a month (and in Aix for 3 weeks), so it seems as though a post is necessary.
Nothing too out of the ordinary has been going on. Since I last wrote (last Wednesday when we climbed Mont Sainte Victoire), I've had two written tests, an oral test, written a paper, and done two presentations. So clearly, there's a lot of work to do around here. And I've been going to family dinners on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays as usual. I think the only out-of-the-ordinary events have been a wine-tasting this past Monday, trip to Nice on Wednesday, and a visit from my Dad and brother, who have since left for their cycling tour.
This weekend, I'm just relaxing here in Aix and attempting to write another paper. This coming week is going to be packed. We're going to Marseilles on Wednesday, I have two tests on Thursday, and the paper due on Friday. Then we're leaving for Paris on Saturday, and we'll be there for a week. Thankfully we won't have classes at all during our week in Paris, but we will have mandatory activities each day. I'm sure I'll have a lot more to write about as soon as we get to Paris because right now all I do is go to class, go to family dinner, and hang out with the other students in my program. But I'm sure I'll write on here while I'm in Paris and also when I get back. And when I get back, there will only be 3 weeks left in the program!
And now just for some things I've been thinking about...
Things I miss about the U.S.:
1) free restrooms
2) friendly strangers
3) the state of Texas itself and Mexican food
Things I will miss about France:
1) walking everywhere
2) French food
3) the beauty of the south of France (Aix-en-Provence, Nice, Antibes, Cannes, Grasse, Villefranche, Cap d'Ail, Gordes, etc.) and the fact that all of it is just a train ride away from where you are while you're here
A bientot!
Nothing too out of the ordinary has been going on. Since I last wrote (last Wednesday when we climbed Mont Sainte Victoire), I've had two written tests, an oral test, written a paper, and done two presentations. So clearly, there's a lot of work to do around here. And I've been going to family dinners on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays as usual. I think the only out-of-the-ordinary events have been a wine-tasting this past Monday, trip to Nice on Wednesday, and a visit from my Dad and brother, who have since left for their cycling tour.
This weekend, I'm just relaxing here in Aix and attempting to write another paper. This coming week is going to be packed. We're going to Marseilles on Wednesday, I have two tests on Thursday, and the paper due on Friday. Then we're leaving for Paris on Saturday, and we'll be there for a week. Thankfully we won't have classes at all during our week in Paris, but we will have mandatory activities each day. I'm sure I'll have a lot more to write about as soon as we get to Paris because right now all I do is go to class, go to family dinner, and hang out with the other students in my program. But I'm sure I'll write on here while I'm in Paris and also when I get back. And when I get back, there will only be 3 weeks left in the program!
And now just for some things I've been thinking about...
Things I miss about the U.S.:
1) free restrooms
2) friendly strangers
3) the state of Texas itself and Mexican food
Things I will miss about France:
1) walking everywhere
2) French food
3) the beauty of the south of France (Aix-en-Provence, Nice, Antibes, Cannes, Grasse, Villefranche, Cap d'Ail, Gordes, etc.) and the fact that all of it is just a train ride away from where you are while you're here
A bientot!
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
I survived Mont Sainte Victoire! (and other events of the past few days)
So I just realized that I haven't done a post during the month of June yet! Granted it's only the 3rd day of June, but I do need to give some updates. And also, I have a test to study for and a paper to write, so what better time to blog than now?
For a recap on the weekend, Kim came to Aix on Thursday and stayed through Tuesday morning, and my roommates (and others from my program) were gone from Friday to Sunday (Barcelona). Kim and I stayed in Aix for the most part, but on Sunday we decided to go to Marseilles just to check it out. When we got there, it was raining. But we had planned to go to a museum, so we weren't too disappointed. However, when we got to the museum, we found that it was closed because of strike. Once again, the strikes here in France got in my way! But we went to a candy shop and bought a few things, and by the time we got outside, it had stopped raining. So we walked around Marseilles, but it wasn't as pretty as we had expected it to be. Maybe my opinion will change when I go there on excursion in 2 weeks with my program.
So other than that, I think I'm finally settling into a routine here, with orientation behind us and this being the first full week of classes. Monday and Tuesday of this week were pretty typical days: wake up, shower/get ready, do some work and eat lunch before class, go to class, go to family dinner, hang out and do homework, go to sleep.
Then today we went on our regular Wednesday excursion. Today's was hiking Mont Sainte Victoire, a mountain famously painted by Cezanne on multiple occasions. This hike was incredibly difficult. We all definitely struggled at some point (either going up or coming back down), but we did it! Basically we climbed over 3,000 feet! I did take some photos, but not many because I was too busy focusing on not falling. The climb up took about 3 hours and going back down took about 2 hours. All in all, today was very tiring. Now I need to get going on schoolwork. Tomorrow in my conversation class, I have a written exam and an oral exam, and on Friday, I have a 5-page paper due in my literature class about Daudet and Les lettres de mon moulin.
Clearly I should be working on that stuff, so this is it for now. A tout a l'heure!
For a recap on the weekend, Kim came to Aix on Thursday and stayed through Tuesday morning, and my roommates (and others from my program) were gone from Friday to Sunday (Barcelona). Kim and I stayed in Aix for the most part, but on Sunday we decided to go to Marseilles just to check it out. When we got there, it was raining. But we had planned to go to a museum, so we weren't too disappointed. However, when we got to the museum, we found that it was closed because of strike. Once again, the strikes here in France got in my way! But we went to a candy shop and bought a few things, and by the time we got outside, it had stopped raining. So we walked around Marseilles, but it wasn't as pretty as we had expected it to be. Maybe my opinion will change when I go there on excursion in 2 weeks with my program.
So other than that, I think I'm finally settling into a routine here, with orientation behind us and this being the first full week of classes. Monday and Tuesday of this week were pretty typical days: wake up, shower/get ready, do some work and eat lunch before class, go to class, go to family dinner, hang out and do homework, go to sleep.
Then today we went on our regular Wednesday excursion. Today's was hiking Mont Sainte Victoire, a mountain famously painted by Cezanne on multiple occasions. This hike was incredibly difficult. We all definitely struggled at some point (either going up or coming back down), but we did it! Basically we climbed over 3,000 feet! I did take some photos, but not many because I was too busy focusing on not falling. The climb up took about 3 hours and going back down took about 2 hours. All in all, today was very tiring. Now I need to get going on schoolwork. Tomorrow in my conversation class, I have a written exam and an oral exam, and on Friday, I have a 5-page paper due in my literature class about Daudet and Les lettres de mon moulin.
Clearly I should be working on that stuff, so this is it for now. A tout a l'heure!
Saturday, May 30, 2009
First Full Week in Aix
Ok so it's Saturday morning and Kim (Radzicki) and I are just sitting around in my apartment. She came in from Sevilla for the weekend, and almost everyone from my program left yesterday for Barcelona. I'm glad that I'm spending this weekend here though, in Aix. And I'm glad that Kim is here! It's so, so nice to see a friendly face and to catch up with her because I haven't seen her since January!
So here's a recap on what's been going on around here. Tuesday was the first day of classes. I had my 1-hr Excursion class (that we have every Tuesday to prep us for our Wednesday excursion) and I had my 2-hr Conversation class. I'm not really sure what to say about my Conversation class. Yes, we do converse, but I haven't really decided yet whether or not I like the structure of this class. Also, it's definitely not a blow-off class. I will need to stay organized to keep up with the workload in this class.
Then on Wednesday, we met bright and early at 9:30am for our excursion to Le Luberon. We visited Silvacane, Gordes, and Roussillon. In Silvacane, we went to an abbey and took a tour there. The guy who gave us the tour spoke entirely in French and I was impressed by the amount of the tour that I actually understood! Although, I definitely did not understand all of it. I did take some really great pictures though! Then we got back on the bus and headed for Gordes. Gordes was such a small and beautiful town! We ate lunch at a crepe restaurant and then just walked around. The town is up really, really high on a hill so I got some great pictures just looking out at everything below. Overall, we didn't have much time to spend in Gordes because it was just supposed to be our lunch destination. So then we went to Roussillon, which is an entirely orange-ish/red-ish town. We hiked around there and I can't wait to show off my pictures. There's a story that explains why the land in Roussillon has a red-ish hue. Basically, this man found out that his wife was cheating on him, so he invited her lover on a hunting trip. While on the trip, the husband killed his wife's lover and took out his heart. He returned to Roussillon, cooked the heart, and served it to his wife as dinner. She said it was the best meal she had ever eaten, and he said something to the effect of, "Good, because you just ate your lover's heart, and now I'm going to kill you." So she went running to the balcony of their home and threw herself off. She landed on the rocks of Roussillon, and her blood went everywhere, creating the red rocks that you see in Roussillon. When you see pictures, it'll make a lot more sense. Anyway, those were our three destinations for Wednesday.
On Thursday, I went to my literature class for the first time, and then to conversation class. The literature class is called Literature of Provence, and oh goodness, there is going to be so much reading and writing. But I'm excited about this class even though I think it's going to be a bit much for me because it already kind of overwhelms me. We're reading works by all the people you would expect (Daudet, Giono, Pagnol, etc.), and we have intense writing assignments pretty often throughout the next 7 weeks. Then on Friday, I just had my literature class. Everyone left for Barcelona, and Kim and I started taking over Aix.
So things that I should write about on here that have nothing to do with class: host family dinners and the post office. We eat dinner with our host families Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, and we started with Tuesday of this week. Even though I was with 5 other people from my program, I was totally overwhelmed. The host parents speak French with a Provencal accent, and I could still understand them, but it was definitely different. And for some reason, this new experience of eating dinner in someone's home whom I've never met before just really freaked me out. I did contribute to conversation a bit at first, but then I withdrew. The host parents then told me that I needed to speak at every meal, which just made me feel more uncomfortable, so I completely withdrew for the rest of the meal. I was so glad to get out of there.
Things were better on Thursday though. I had to walk there by myself because I'm the only person living in my building who is assigned to this host family. I got there before anyone else and sat down to talk with the host mom. Then there was a bit of a misunderstanding. Basically, I told her that my friend was in town, and honestly, I was excited that I was conversing more than I had on Tuesday! But she totally misunderstood and thought I said that my Mom was in town. This led to me just going along with that because I couldn't talk my way out of it. I guess it's funny, but I'm kind of worried about going back to dinner now because the host mom is definitely going to ask me questions about my awesome weekend with my Mom. Oops?
Ok and the post office. I went to the Aix-en-Provence Post Office on Tuesday to mail some stuff, and there was a sign on the door explaining that they were on strike and to try again the next day. Unfortunately, I couldn't try again the next day because we had our excursion trip, but I went back to the post office on Thursday, and it was open! I guess this is just an example of the fact that there is always some strike going on somewhere in France. At least now I'm used to it...and I know how to use those machines to buy your postage. Although, I am wondering if I bought the correct postage...I guess I'll find out sooner or later.
So that is my first week in a nutshell. Kim is here until Tuesday morning, so we have plenty more time to hang out and catch up, which is exciting! I can't believe I've only been here for 2 weeks. I feel as though it's been way longer, and I feel as though I've been away from home for several months...interesting. I guess the time will start to fly soon because so many things are coming up. My Dad and brother are coming to visit soon, and my Mom will be here in July. And I looked at the calendar, and after this first week that we've just completed, we have 3 weeks in Aix, 1 week in Paris, and then 3 weeks in Aix. And then there are the weekly excursions to look forward to. Anyway...A bientot!
So here's a recap on what's been going on around here. Tuesday was the first day of classes. I had my 1-hr Excursion class (that we have every Tuesday to prep us for our Wednesday excursion) and I had my 2-hr Conversation class. I'm not really sure what to say about my Conversation class. Yes, we do converse, but I haven't really decided yet whether or not I like the structure of this class. Also, it's definitely not a blow-off class. I will need to stay organized to keep up with the workload in this class.
Then on Wednesday, we met bright and early at 9:30am for our excursion to Le Luberon. We visited Silvacane, Gordes, and Roussillon. In Silvacane, we went to an abbey and took a tour there. The guy who gave us the tour spoke entirely in French and I was impressed by the amount of the tour that I actually understood! Although, I definitely did not understand all of it. I did take some really great pictures though! Then we got back on the bus and headed for Gordes. Gordes was such a small and beautiful town! We ate lunch at a crepe restaurant and then just walked around. The town is up really, really high on a hill so I got some great pictures just looking out at everything below. Overall, we didn't have much time to spend in Gordes because it was just supposed to be our lunch destination. So then we went to Roussillon, which is an entirely orange-ish/red-ish town. We hiked around there and I can't wait to show off my pictures. There's a story that explains why the land in Roussillon has a red-ish hue. Basically, this man found out that his wife was cheating on him, so he invited her lover on a hunting trip. While on the trip, the husband killed his wife's lover and took out his heart. He returned to Roussillon, cooked the heart, and served it to his wife as dinner. She said it was the best meal she had ever eaten, and he said something to the effect of, "Good, because you just ate your lover's heart, and now I'm going to kill you." So she went running to the balcony of their home and threw herself off. She landed on the rocks of Roussillon, and her blood went everywhere, creating the red rocks that you see in Roussillon. When you see pictures, it'll make a lot more sense. Anyway, those were our three destinations for Wednesday.
On Thursday, I went to my literature class for the first time, and then to conversation class. The literature class is called Literature of Provence, and oh goodness, there is going to be so much reading and writing. But I'm excited about this class even though I think it's going to be a bit much for me because it already kind of overwhelms me. We're reading works by all the people you would expect (Daudet, Giono, Pagnol, etc.), and we have intense writing assignments pretty often throughout the next 7 weeks. Then on Friday, I just had my literature class. Everyone left for Barcelona, and Kim and I started taking over Aix.
So things that I should write about on here that have nothing to do with class: host family dinners and the post office. We eat dinner with our host families Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, and we started with Tuesday of this week. Even though I was with 5 other people from my program, I was totally overwhelmed. The host parents speak French with a Provencal accent, and I could still understand them, but it was definitely different. And for some reason, this new experience of eating dinner in someone's home whom I've never met before just really freaked me out. I did contribute to conversation a bit at first, but then I withdrew. The host parents then told me that I needed to speak at every meal, which just made me feel more uncomfortable, so I completely withdrew for the rest of the meal. I was so glad to get out of there.
Things were better on Thursday though. I had to walk there by myself because I'm the only person living in my building who is assigned to this host family. I got there before anyone else and sat down to talk with the host mom. Then there was a bit of a misunderstanding. Basically, I told her that my friend was in town, and honestly, I was excited that I was conversing more than I had on Tuesday! But she totally misunderstood and thought I said that my Mom was in town. This led to me just going along with that because I couldn't talk my way out of it. I guess it's funny, but I'm kind of worried about going back to dinner now because the host mom is definitely going to ask me questions about my awesome weekend with my Mom. Oops?
Ok and the post office. I went to the Aix-en-Provence Post Office on Tuesday to mail some stuff, and there was a sign on the door explaining that they were on strike and to try again the next day. Unfortunately, I couldn't try again the next day because we had our excursion trip, but I went back to the post office on Thursday, and it was open! I guess this is just an example of the fact that there is always some strike going on somewhere in France. At least now I'm used to it...and I know how to use those machines to buy your postage. Although, I am wondering if I bought the correct postage...I guess I'll find out sooner or later.
So that is my first week in a nutshell. Kim is here until Tuesday morning, so we have plenty more time to hang out and catch up, which is exciting! I can't believe I've only been here for 2 weeks. I feel as though it's been way longer, and I feel as though I've been away from home for several months...interesting. I guess the time will start to fly soon because so many things are coming up. My Dad and brother are coming to visit soon, and my Mom will be here in July. And I looked at the calendar, and after this first week that we've just completed, we have 3 weeks in Aix, 1 week in Paris, and then 3 weeks in Aix. And then there are the weekly excursions to look forward to. Anyway...A bientot!
Monday, May 25, 2009
Orientation
Ok so today was Orientation, but it was all pretty basic and it didn't take the full 7 hours that was allotted for it. We were reminded of basic rules to follow in our apartments, especially for those of us who are sharing our apartments with French students. And we signed up for classes. I have Advanced Conversation from 3:30 to 5:30 on Mondays and Thursdays and from 3:00 to 5:00 on Tuesdays. And I have Literature of Provence from 1:30 to 3:30 on Mondays and Thursdays and from 10:30 to 12:30 on Fridays. Everyone also has an additional class on Tuesdays from 1:00 to 2:00 in which we'll be given information about culture and excursions. So basically, that means I will not be able to communicate with any Houstonians (or other central timers) from 6:30am to 10:30am on Mondays and Thursdays, or from 6:00am to 10am on Tuesdays. And I don't think I need to say this, but I also won't be able to communicate between 3:30am and 5:30am on Fridays.
So tomorrow is the first day of classes and our first dinner with our pseudo-host families. My pseudo-host family is the Bach family, and I'm sure I'll be writing about that experience later. Other than Orientation and a casual dinner with the tutors and professors, all I did today was go grocery shopping with my roommate Kim at Monoprix (kind of like a French Walmart). I got enough food to last me a while, and I got hairspray, which was expensive even though I bought the store brand! Oh well. All in all, I didn't have to spend too much and I got a good amount of food for what I paid. It's time for our group to stop eating out with the tutors and start cooking in our apartments...we'll see how that goes!
So tomorrow, I don't have class until 1pm, so I'm planning on going out in Aix to find stamps/a post office before I have class, and cooking myself lunch. A tout a l'heure!
So tomorrow is the first day of classes and our first dinner with our pseudo-host families. My pseudo-host family is the Bach family, and I'm sure I'll be writing about that experience later. Other than Orientation and a casual dinner with the tutors and professors, all I did today was go grocery shopping with my roommate Kim at Monoprix (kind of like a French Walmart). I got enough food to last me a while, and I got hairspray, which was expensive even though I bought the store brand! Oh well. All in all, I didn't have to spend too much and I got a good amount of food for what I paid. It's time for our group to stop eating out with the tutors and start cooking in our apartments...we'll see how that goes!
So tomorrow, I don't have class until 1pm, so I'm planning on going out in Aix to find stamps/a post office before I have class, and cooking myself lunch. A tout a l'heure!
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Intro to Aix...and Cassis!
Ok, so as of my last post, I had just moved into my apartment here in Aix-en-Provence. Now I've been here for about 3 days, so it's time for me to catch you up on what I've been doing! If you've read the post below, you've seen the basic schedule of what I've been doing, but here are some more details for your reading pleasure.
On Friday night, we all met at the VIF Center at 7pm to go to dinner. This was the first piece of evidence that Kim, PJ, Matt, and I are very lucky to be living at 15 rue Cardinale. Although we live on the very top floor and have to climb up this narrow winding staircase, we also live 2 floors above the VIF Center, so we can literally just run down there right before meeting times. Anyway, we all walked to this restaurant called Jacquou le Croquant, and that's when things got ridiculous. The menu was ridiculously long, and most of us decided to order off of the fixed price menu. When we tried to place our orders, the waitress got confused because our group was so large. We ended up having to write down our orders, but it still took about 2 hours before our salads came. Anyway, it was hilarious--there were so many mishaps, and so it became the perfect first night for all of us to be hanging out and getting to know each other. And 4 hours after we first started out for dinner, we were leaving the restaurant and heading back to our respective apartments.
The next day (Saturday) we got to sleep in because we didn't have to be at the center until 4pm. So we slept in, showered, and grabbed sandwiches at Pain Parasol, this little place a few blocks from where we live. Then we headed back to 15 rue Cardinale and began the walking tour. The first stop ended up being SFR, a French phone company, but I already had the French sim card that my Dad got for me, so I just hung out with some of the people who also already had their phone situation figured out. We were on the Cours Mirabeau (the main street in Aix) and these men and women were doing some sort of traditional French bachelor and bachelorette party. It was really funny. This guy was dressed up as a female nurse and another guy was wearing a diaper. One of the women was dressed as a doll and asking for "bisous" (kisses) because she needed 600 kilos of kisses or something. So the guys from our program kissed her on the cheek and then stepped on the scale--it was definitely something I'd never seen before.
Anyway, the rest of the walking tour is kind of a blur. It was incredibly hot outside and I was kind of just walking around like a zombie. I do remember that they showed us a discount grocery store, and some clubs, restaurants, and markets. Then we had about 30 minutes before we were supposed to meet at the center to go to dinner. We went to this restaurant called Le Patacrepe, and we ate crepes! I had one with comte (a kind of cheese) and it was so, so good! I wish I had had room to eat a dessert crepe, but I'll just have to wait until next time. After that, the people who live in the apartment on Rue Victor Hugo invited us to come over. So we went back to our place for a bit, and then went to the Victor Hugo apartment for some wine. Then we went out, and what is said is right: Aix definitely has a vibrant night life. We went to a few bars, but a few of us really wanted to go dancing, so we went looking for a club that was recommended. However, we couldn't get in because the boys were wearing shorts. It was funny because the bouncer told them, "Oh, the beach is that way" and pointed away from the club. So we ended up leaving and a few of us went home and the others went back to the Victor Hugo apartment.
Then this morning (Sunday), we all got up and walked to Hotel Christophe, the meeting point for excursions. Then we got on the bus and headed for Cassis. I took a lot of pictures, which I of course have not put on the internet yet (soon, I promise). Basically, we went on a boat tour and saw Les Calanques and then we went to the beach. And I ate cassis ice cream, bien sur! Then we got on the bus and came back to Aix. Then the usual: shower time, sit around talking, go get dinner. And now I'm writing this!
Tomorrow (Monday) is an all-day orientation and dinner with our professors! And then Tuesday is the first day of classes, which should be interesting. A bientot!
On Friday night, we all met at the VIF Center at 7pm to go to dinner. This was the first piece of evidence that Kim, PJ, Matt, and I are very lucky to be living at 15 rue Cardinale. Although we live on the very top floor and have to climb up this narrow winding staircase, we also live 2 floors above the VIF Center, so we can literally just run down there right before meeting times. Anyway, we all walked to this restaurant called Jacquou le Croquant, and that's when things got ridiculous. The menu was ridiculously long, and most of us decided to order off of the fixed price menu. When we tried to place our orders, the waitress got confused because our group was so large. We ended up having to write down our orders, but it still took about 2 hours before our salads came. Anyway, it was hilarious--there were so many mishaps, and so it became the perfect first night for all of us to be hanging out and getting to know each other. And 4 hours after we first started out for dinner, we were leaving the restaurant and heading back to our respective apartments.
The next day (Saturday) we got to sleep in because we didn't have to be at the center until 4pm. So we slept in, showered, and grabbed sandwiches at Pain Parasol, this little place a few blocks from where we live. Then we headed back to 15 rue Cardinale and began the walking tour. The first stop ended up being SFR, a French phone company, but I already had the French sim card that my Dad got for me, so I just hung out with some of the people who also already had their phone situation figured out. We were on the Cours Mirabeau (the main street in Aix) and these men and women were doing some sort of traditional French bachelor and bachelorette party. It was really funny. This guy was dressed up as a female nurse and another guy was wearing a diaper. One of the women was dressed as a doll and asking for "bisous" (kisses) because she needed 600 kilos of kisses or something. So the guys from our program kissed her on the cheek and then stepped on the scale--it was definitely something I'd never seen before.
Anyway, the rest of the walking tour is kind of a blur. It was incredibly hot outside and I was kind of just walking around like a zombie. I do remember that they showed us a discount grocery store, and some clubs, restaurants, and markets. Then we had about 30 minutes before we were supposed to meet at the center to go to dinner. We went to this restaurant called Le Patacrepe, and we ate crepes! I had one with comte (a kind of cheese) and it was so, so good! I wish I had had room to eat a dessert crepe, but I'll just have to wait until next time. After that, the people who live in the apartment on Rue Victor Hugo invited us to come over. So we went back to our place for a bit, and then went to the Victor Hugo apartment for some wine. Then we went out, and what is said is right: Aix definitely has a vibrant night life. We went to a few bars, but a few of us really wanted to go dancing, so we went looking for a club that was recommended. However, we couldn't get in because the boys were wearing shorts. It was funny because the bouncer told them, "Oh, the beach is that way" and pointed away from the club. So we ended up leaving and a few of us went home and the others went back to the Victor Hugo apartment.
Then this morning (Sunday), we all got up and walked to Hotel Christophe, the meeting point for excursions. Then we got on the bus and headed for Cassis. I took a lot of pictures, which I of course have not put on the internet yet (soon, I promise). Basically, we went on a boat tour and saw Les Calanques and then we went to the beach. And I ate cassis ice cream, bien sur! Then we got on the bus and came back to Aix. Then the usual: shower time, sit around talking, go get dinner. And now I'm writing this!
Tomorrow (Monday) is an all-day orientation and dinner with our professors! And then Tuesday is the first day of classes, which should be interesting. A bientot!
Friday, May 22, 2009
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
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
So yeah, I made it to the
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
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
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
6/18, 6/19: classes
6/20 – 6/27: culture week in
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
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!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Cap d'Ail, Villefranche, et Monaco
Ok so it's about 11:35pm here, which makes this my last night in Nice, after an amazing week of traveling around the south of France. I haven't packed yet and my bus leaves in the morning, so I'll keep this short.
On Wednesday, Lindsey and I went beach-hopping. We took the train east and went first to Cap d'Ail (one stop before Monaco), which was the most beautiful place I've seen yet. The town is very small and quiet, there are huge villas that go up into the mountains, and the beach was perfect--secluded and peaceful. When you see pictures, you might not understand...so you should go there! Then we traveled back in the direction of Nice and stopped at Villefranche. This beach was also beautiful, but louder and more crowded, and we decided nothing could top Cap d'Ail. Still, I recommend going to both of these beaches, along with the several others we visited during our week o' fun.
Today (Thursday), we went to Monaco, and it happened to be the first day of the Grand Prix. It was pretty crowded and pretty warm, but we walked around a lot and I took a lot of pictures (surprise, surprise). Not sure what to say about Monaco, other than the fact that there are a lot of expensive cars there and I overheard someone saying that it's the size of Central Park in NYC (about 500 acres). Apparently when you're in Monaco, a lot of what you see is actually a town in France called Beau Soleil. So Monaco is very small and very opulent. But it was beautiful just as was every place we've visited this week. You'll see that in the pictures.
Oh and I got a suitcase today...woohoo! I went to a French mall for the first time and I went to Carrefour (like a French Walmart) for the first time! And inside the mall, across from Carrefour, was a store called Texas. It was pretty ridiculous. The clothes that the mannequins were wearing did not at all resemble what we wear in Texas. So yes, good times during my first French mall experience.
And tomorrow I'm off to Aix-en-Provence for the start of my study abroad program. I'm definitely grateful for this week (and grateful for the hostel experience...which I may write about at some point) that I've had to help me adjust to life in France and prepare me for what is ahead over the next 8 weeks! And now it's time to pack and sleep for a few hours...
On Wednesday, Lindsey and I went beach-hopping. We took the train east and went first to Cap d'Ail (one stop before Monaco), which was the most beautiful place I've seen yet. The town is very small and quiet, there are huge villas that go up into the mountains, and the beach was perfect--secluded and peaceful. When you see pictures, you might not understand...so you should go there! Then we traveled back in the direction of Nice and stopped at Villefranche. This beach was also beautiful, but louder and more crowded, and we decided nothing could top Cap d'Ail. Still, I recommend going to both of these beaches, along with the several others we visited during our week o' fun.
Today (Thursday), we went to Monaco, and it happened to be the first day of the Grand Prix. It was pretty crowded and pretty warm, but we walked around a lot and I took a lot of pictures (surprise, surprise). Not sure what to say about Monaco, other than the fact that there are a lot of expensive cars there and I overheard someone saying that it's the size of Central Park in NYC (about 500 acres). Apparently when you're in Monaco, a lot of what you see is actually a town in France called Beau Soleil. So Monaco is very small and very opulent. But it was beautiful just as was every place we've visited this week. You'll see that in the pictures.
Oh and I got a suitcase today...woohoo! I went to a French mall for the first time and I went to Carrefour (like a French Walmart) for the first time! And inside the mall, across from Carrefour, was a store called Texas. It was pretty ridiculous. The clothes that the mannequins were wearing did not at all resemble what we wear in Texas. So yes, good times during my first French mall experience.
And tomorrow I'm off to Aix-en-Provence for the start of my study abroad program. I'm definitely grateful for this week (and grateful for the hostel experience...which I may write about at some point) that I've had to help me adjust to life in France and prepare me for what is ahead over the next 8 weeks! And now it's time to pack and sleep for a few hours...
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Nice, Antibes, Cannes, et Grasse
Ok so I tried to post this yesterday, but the internet went down. Oh and today we went to Cap d'Ail and Villefranche, but I'll be writing about that later. So here is yesterday's post about Nice, Antibes, Cannes, and Grasse:
So I've just consumed a great deal of sugar, and I'm now going to try to sum up what Lindsey and I have been doing for the past 3 days. Sunday, we walked around Nice. Our hostel is really nice, but it's located pretty far from the beach (about a 35 minute walk), so we decided to take our time and just wander around, knowing that we'd end up at the beach at some point. This would be the perfect point to give you a link to my pictures (because I've taken about 200 so far), but my internet here at the hostel is kind of weird, so you may just have to wait on pictures until Friday, when I get to my room in Aix.
Anyway, you'll have a better idea of how beautiful the walk was from our hostel down to the beach when you see the pictures. But yeah, Lindsey and I spent some time laying out on the beach and definitely should have used more sunscreen. We are paying for it now, but don't worry, we've learned our lesson. But being at the beach here in Nice was so cool. Women of all sizes are so confident in their bodies--they have no problem being topless while laying out, walking on the beach, and swimming in the water. I don't even really know how to describe it, but it was kind of liberating, and I wasn't even the one who was topless. I just suddenly felt more confident, which is cool because I've always thought that French women are so attractive, partially because of their natural confidence. Anyway, after the beach, we went to this restaurant and ate cassis sorbet (my favorite!!!), and then we headed to this lookout point and took a lot more pictures. By the way, I'm looking through my pictures right now while I'm writing this, and I'm just in awe at the beauty here. I can't wait to show pictures to anyone who's reading this right now.
So then on Monday, we went to
By the way, the Cannes Film Festival is going on right now. Yes, be jealous. I was in
Today, we went to Grasse, the perfume capital and our first noncoastal town. It was very pretty in a way that was different from the beauty of Nice,
Tomorrow we're going to do some random stuff around Nice (including purchasing a new suitcase) and then head to Cap d'Ail in the afternoon for some relaxing beach time. And the plan for Thursday is to go to
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Suitcase Drama! (Houston to Paris to Marseilles to Nice)
Ok so right now, it's about 11:10pm (or should I say 23h10) and Lindsey and I are sitting on my bed (the top bunk) at our hostel, Villa St. Exupery (http://www.vsaint.com/). I've showered and brushed my teeth for the first time in two days, so I guess now is a good time for me to rant and rave about Friday/Saturday, the superday of travel.
Friday morning, Colin took me to the airport and I ended up sitting in the middle seat of the middle row on my Houston to Paris flight. I didn't actually have a seating assignment, and when I asked for one, they told me to come back later. When I came back later, I ended up with awesome 42F. But it was really ok. We had the little screens on the backs of the seats in front of us, so I watched Sex and the City, Friends, and a movie. And at one point, the guy to the left of me started talking to me. I think he could tell I was really nervous/anxious/upset/everything, and although I kind of wanted to try to sleep, he was being really nice and made me feel better for the time we were talking. He was on his way to Turkey, and he told me he was nervous. That made me feel so much better because if a 35-year old man is scared about traveling, then it must be ok for me to be scared too! So he and I talked until about 5am Paris time, and then I kind of attempted to sleep, but failed. So, I just decided to watch another movie. I mean, there's nothing like watching Match Point (for the 50 millionth time) at 6am...right? So yeah, that's the Houston to Paris flight in a nutshell. Oh and Air France's food was pretty good...yeah.
Then when we arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport, we took this bus to the other side of the airport...then I had to (almost) run to get to my terminal, and waited forever in the line for security. I just barely made it to my gate on time, but then they delayed my flight by about 30 minutes. But we eventually got on the plane, and I slept for about 45 minutes, I think. We landed in Marseilles and I went to find my suitcase...which was ripped. So this is when I began pulling my suitcase and looking behind me every few steps to make sure nothing was falling out (which I did for the rest of the day...all over Marseilles airport, Marseilles train station, and Nice). I bought a bus ticket to get to the Marseilles train station, was thoroughly confused and stressed out by this seemingly simple process, and finally made it to Phileas Cafe, the spot I was supposed to meet Lindsey. Then we bought tickets for Nice, ate lunch, and took the train to Nice. We then took a really really nice taxi to our hostel, Villa St. Exupery, and checked in. We went walking around, bought some groceries, and came back to St. Exupery to eat.
Then, I fully unzipped my suitcase to get stuff out to take a shower and aslkjdfklasjkldlkjajk stuff was all wet. Apparently my hairspray exploded and got a red shirt wet...which bled onto a bunch of white stuff and turned it all pink. So Lindsey and I have been trying to get the stains out, and sadly, I had to throw away the card that my Mom put in my suitcase because it was soaked and sticky and runny...but I did read it first, and I really wish I could have kept it. So that suitcase, ripped and drenched in hairspray, is definitely done! I need to buy a new suitcase before I leave Nice so that I'll have a way to transport all my stuff to Aix on Friday. Oh and I need to get a really intense stain fighter too. All in all, things are ok so far though, and where we're staying is really cool.
So I guess what I've learned so far is:
1) Don't try to put too much in one suitcase.
2) Don't pack hairspray in a suitcase that is way too full.
3) The fact that my suitcase made it here at all is probably more important than losing a few items of clothing because of bad stains.
I'm just so glad I'm here with Lindsey right now. Seeing her friendly face at the train station in Marseilles made everything better, and I think it'll be good to be here in France for a week before my program starts. Tomorrow (Sunday) we're off to the beaches of Nice and I have no clue what we'll be doing Monday through Thursday. Then, Friday morning, I'll be taking the 10am bus from Nice to Aix (theoretically...plans may change, but this is the tentative plan). And that will be the start of my program!
So yeah, this was my first post. If you're reading this, there's a very good chance that I miss you a lot and would love to get a facebook message or email from you!
Friday morning, Colin took me to the airport and I ended up sitting in the middle seat of the middle row on my Houston to Paris flight. I didn't actually have a seating assignment, and when I asked for one, they told me to come back later. When I came back later, I ended up with awesome 42F. But it was really ok. We had the little screens on the backs of the seats in front of us, so I watched Sex and the City, Friends, and a movie. And at one point, the guy to the left of me started talking to me. I think he could tell I was really nervous/anxious/upset/everything, and although I kind of wanted to try to sleep, he was being really nice and made me feel better for the time we were talking. He was on his way to Turkey, and he told me he was nervous. That made me feel so much better because if a 35-year old man is scared about traveling, then it must be ok for me to be scared too! So he and I talked until about 5am Paris time, and then I kind of attempted to sleep, but failed. So, I just decided to watch another movie. I mean, there's nothing like watching Match Point (for the 50 millionth time) at 6am...right? So yeah, that's the Houston to Paris flight in a nutshell. Oh and Air France's food was pretty good...yeah.
Then when we arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport, we took this bus to the other side of the airport...then I had to (almost) run to get to my terminal, and waited forever in the line for security. I just barely made it to my gate on time, but then they delayed my flight by about 30 minutes. But we eventually got on the plane, and I slept for about 45 minutes, I think. We landed in Marseilles and I went to find my suitcase...which was ripped. So this is when I began pulling my suitcase and looking behind me every few steps to make sure nothing was falling out (which I did for the rest of the day...all over Marseilles airport, Marseilles train station, and Nice). I bought a bus ticket to get to the Marseilles train station, was thoroughly confused and stressed out by this seemingly simple process, and finally made it to Phileas Cafe, the spot I was supposed to meet Lindsey. Then we bought tickets for Nice, ate lunch, and took the train to Nice. We then took a really really nice taxi to our hostel, Villa St. Exupery, and checked in. We went walking around, bought some groceries, and came back to St. Exupery to eat.
Then, I fully unzipped my suitcase to get stuff out to take a shower and aslkjdfklasjkldlkjajk stuff was all wet. Apparently my hairspray exploded and got a red shirt wet...which bled onto a bunch of white stuff and turned it all pink. So Lindsey and I have been trying to get the stains out, and sadly, I had to throw away the card that my Mom put in my suitcase because it was soaked and sticky and runny...but I did read it first, and I really wish I could have kept it. So that suitcase, ripped and drenched in hairspray, is definitely done! I need to buy a new suitcase before I leave Nice so that I'll have a way to transport all my stuff to Aix on Friday. Oh and I need to get a really intense stain fighter too. All in all, things are ok so far though, and where we're staying is really cool.
So I guess what I've learned so far is:
1) Don't try to put too much in one suitcase.
2) Don't pack hairspray in a suitcase that is way too full.
3) The fact that my suitcase made it here at all is probably more important than losing a few items of clothing because of bad stains.
I'm just so glad I'm here with Lindsey right now. Seeing her friendly face at the train station in Marseilles made everything better, and I think it'll be good to be here in France for a week before my program starts. Tomorrow (Sunday) we're off to the beaches of Nice and I have no clue what we'll be doing Monday through Thursday. Then, Friday morning, I'll be taking the 10am bus from Nice to Aix (theoretically...plans may change, but this is the tentative plan). And that will be the start of my program!
So yeah, this was my first post. If you're reading this, there's a very good chance that I miss you a lot and would love to get a facebook message or email from you!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
