Whew! First of all, I'm very sorry for not having updated in the last month or so. At first, I was very busy, then not very busy and I felt like an update would have been a little boring, then I got too busy again! Now, I'm procrastinating. Which is always great for blog productivity!
A month ago, the program took a field trip to see Roman/Greek/Gallic ruins, which were very cool. I'll post pictures. Then we went to Arles, where van Gogh (which is pronounced by the French as "van goh-g") painted many of his masterpieces. Arles is also home to many other cool vestiges of Roman history--there is a Coliseum, a theatre, and other cool places to visit. Then we finished the day with another trip to the Pont du Gard, which is one of my favorite places we've visited; it has water, trails, nature, beauty, and it's quiet. You don't know how much I miss silence here sometimes.
Last week, I took a trip home to see my family, and it was a great time. Not much to report--most of it was personal time and therefore not very interesting to the public. My flights to and from the US went smoothly, despite hearing about a shooting in the Frankfort airport that had happened only a couple days before I got there.
I had a midterm yesterday, and it went okay. It was one of those tests that I felt like I had studied for, but then I realized how much I had missed about a half hour before class started, so I had to cram. Not the best feeling, but I've definitely done worse.
This weekend marks the beginning of a ca-razy semester for me. I suppose I should say that last weekend did because I was traveling, but it didn't feel like it counted because I went home. Traveling schedule for the semester (at least, what I have planned so far):
March 13: Skiing day in the Alps!
March 17-19: Dusseldorf, Germany
March 24-27: Strasbourg, France
April 6-10: Istanbul, Turkey
April 14-17: Paris
April 21-27: London and Oxford, England
then hopefully May 15-21: Corsica!
sometime in June: Rome with my parents!
Tomorrow starts the beginning of Lent, which will finish while I am in England, so we'll see how the Brits celebrate Easter!
Showing posts with label aix. Show all posts
Showing posts with label aix. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
(300) Days of Sunshine
Unlike you poor folk at home, the past couple of days here have been remarkably warm and beautiful. No snow, no rain, and hardly any clouds. The temperature has been in the fifties, and the sun has been dazzlingly bright. Ever since the drizzling, freezing rain we had last week, I feel like Provence has been making a serious effort to show us those supposed 300 days of sunshine we have here each year.
I just finished cleaning my apartment to an old-time jazzy swing mix with my windows thrown wide open. The current temperature here is a clear 60 degrees (Farenheit, of course--it's 15 degrees Celsius). Today is only Friday, but it feels like Saturday because I don't have school on Fridays--or Thursdays, for that matter.
I celebrated the traditional French holiday of La Chandaleur on Wednesday night with some of my friends. Tradition states that we all make crepes together, everyone taking a turn flipping the crepe in the pan with their right hand while holding a coin in the other hand. If you flip the crepe successfully, you'll have a year of good luck! It seemed a lot harder than it actually was, but I didn't exactly get the crepe all the way flipped. It was more of a flop than a flip, but I'm not too worried about my luck for the next year anyway. Oops, I hope I didn't just jinx that.
After crepes, we all played Spoons together, which I then lost--but it's okay! I'm still undefeated in Euchre (in France), so I'm not completely disheartened when it comes to cards.
Sunday is the Superbowl, and I'm going to be watching that with my friends here, although I really don't know if I can root for either team. I'm surrounded by Wisconsinites, so of course they keep rubbing it in that Green Bay is finally in the Superbowl again, which doesn't exactly encourage my sympathies for their team, but I refuse to root for the Steelers. I think I might just cheer any time anything bad happens for either team. We'll see.
We've got a theater outing tonight with the program, so we'll all be getting snazzy for that, tomorrow I'm touring an absinthe factory with some of my friends, and next Saturday we have a day trip to Arles--I'm keeping busy, don't worry!
I just finished cleaning my apartment to an old-time jazzy swing mix with my windows thrown wide open. The current temperature here is a clear 60 degrees (Farenheit, of course--it's 15 degrees Celsius). Today is only Friday, but it feels like Saturday because I don't have school on Fridays--or Thursdays, for that matter.
I celebrated the traditional French holiday of La Chandaleur on Wednesday night with some of my friends. Tradition states that we all make crepes together, everyone taking a turn flipping the crepe in the pan with their right hand while holding a coin in the other hand. If you flip the crepe successfully, you'll have a year of good luck! It seemed a lot harder than it actually was, but I didn't exactly get the crepe all the way flipped. It was more of a flop than a flip, but I'm not too worried about my luck for the next year anyway. Oops, I hope I didn't just jinx that.
After crepes, we all played Spoons together, which I then lost--but it's okay! I'm still undefeated in Euchre (in France), so I'm not completely disheartened when it comes to cards.
Sunday is the Superbowl, and I'm going to be watching that with my friends here, although I really don't know if I can root for either team. I'm surrounded by Wisconsinites, so of course they keep rubbing it in that Green Bay is finally in the Superbowl again, which doesn't exactly encourage my sympathies for their team, but I refuse to root for the Steelers. I think I might just cheer any time anything bad happens for either team. We'll see.
We've got a theater outing tonight with the program, so we'll all be getting snazzy for that, tomorrow I'm touring an absinthe factory with some of my friends, and next Saturday we have a day trip to Arles--I'm keeping busy, don't worry!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Escaping to the Alps
I decided early on that this semester would be full of traveling and seeing Europe. And now, here I am, having been back in France a full two weeks now, and I've already left Aix twice!
Last weekend, a few of my friends and I decided that we would be going skiing this past weekend (the 22nd and 23rd) and that to do so, we would need to be wearing appropriate winter clothing. Which none of us had. So off we went to Marseille to a thrift store that was selling full ski suits (that looked like they were from the 80s) for only 10€! In American money, that's like $12-13. So, it was a really good deal! I got boots, gloves, and a full (absolutely ridiculous-looking) snowsuit all for under 20€. You'll see the pictures and understand. If anyone in the pictures doesn't look like a marker box exploded on them, they were lucky enough to have their French families loan them ski clothes. Needless to say, we looked amazing.
Having completely outfitted ourselves in a vibrant array of colors, our little family proceeded to plan meals and buy groceries and necessities for the weekend. Having spent the majority of Thursday buying food, most of us spent Friday actually getting ourselves packed and ready to go for the weekend. Our bus left at about 6:30pm on Friday and was scheduled to arrive at the ski station at about 10.
We got to the ski station a little after 10, and by then we were all starving because we hadn't really had dinner yet. We had planned to have sausage and potatoes for dinner that night, so we got to work on that as soon as we could and scarfed that food down while we watched a movie in one of our cozy apartments. (There were 8 of us, so they split us up into two groups.)
The next morning when we all woke up at about 8, we ate breakfast and then headed over to the ski rental place to get our snowboards and skis. Only three of us had
ever skied or snowboarded before, so the majority of us were beginners. We all headed over to the bunny hill to figure out how to handle ourselves. And I made it down without falling! So I hopped back on the ski lift (which was a sort of weird pole system with mini seats on the end that kind of looked like plungers. You put the pole between your legs and it pulled you to the top of the hill while you stood on your skis.) Anyway, halfway up the hill, I was enjoying the ease of the ski lift when all of a sudden, I was falling and I couldn't move my legs in the direction I wanted. My only focus was not losing my grip on the pole that was slipping out of my hand. Finally, after being dragged on my knees without any control, I decided that I should just let go and figure out what went wrong. So I let go of the pole--and promptly faceplanted. I rolled out of the way of my laughing friends who were coming up the lift behind me only to see that the reason I had fallen so suddenly was because one of my skis had popped off of my foot. So I didn't fall at all while I was going down the bunny slope--just up.
Anyway, most of us decided to move on to the next level hill once we'd gotten the gist of the bunny hill down, so we headed over to the other lift and hopped on. But what we thought was a little hill turned out to have a curve in it that you couldn't see from the bottom--the hill was at least twice as high as we had originally thought. But I did well on my first try; I only fell four times on that descent! By the end of the first day, I only managed to get down that hill once without falling, and the rest of the group hadn't had much luck either. We were all exhausted by the time the slopes closed at 4:30, so we went inside, took turns showering, and started cooking dinner.
The next day was much better. I figured out how to get down the intermediate hill without falling, so I decided to step it up a notch and went up the mountain on the
real ski lift with Alexa, Kevin, and Josh (the three snowboarders). It turns out that I should never assume I know how tall a slope is just because I can only see so far up. The mountain was, well, a mountain. I was terrified. I had a camera in my pocket, but I was too scared to let go of the ski lift to take pictures. We made it up to the first stop on the mountain trails and got off. Quick side note: French people are all ridiculously good at skiing. What seemed terrifying and dangerous to me was only a beginner level for them. Anyway, we all made it up the mountain and off the ski lift without incident, and then we started our descent. If I had thought the second hill was scary, that was nothing compared to the mountain. There were so many times when I would be approaching a hill/curve with only a cliff on the other side that I would just fall in order to stop myself instead of risking getting killed. The very last hill on the mountain was actually probably steeper than the others, but it was also less scary because I knew that once I got to the bottom of it, I was done. To give you an idea of how steep it was, I couldn't see the bottom from where I was at the top of it. The only way I knew where to go was by watching where the person's head in front of me had disappeared. So I started down the hill, braking the entire way to avoid hurting myself, but I couldn't keep it up forever, so I just tucked into the speed skiing pose--and it was awesome! I was flying down that hill!! The only scary part was that the snow wasn't very powdery, and I was going so fast that any time there was a slight bump, I was worried I would lose control and go crashing into the packed snow. But we all made it down the mountain safely--and I've decided I love skiing. Basically, winter and I should spend some more time together because we get along really well.
On the way home from the trip, the sun started setting on the mountains, and we made it to this beautiful area with a really big lake. It was probably the most beautiful area I have ever seen in my life. You'll have to see the pictures I took from the bus. They should be uploaded soon.
Edit: Pictures are FINALLY available!
Last weekend, a few of my friends and I decided that we would be going skiing this past weekend (the 22nd and 23rd) and that to do so, we would need to be wearing appropriate winter clothing. Which none of us had. So off we went to Marseille to a thrift store that was selling full ski suits (that looked like they were from the 80s) for only 10€! In American money, that's like $12-13. So, it was a really good deal! I got boots, gloves, and a full (absolutely ridiculous-looking) snowsuit all for under 20€. You'll see the pictures and understand. If anyone in the pictures doesn't look like a marker box exploded on them, they were lucky enough to have their French families loan them ski clothes. Needless to say, we looked amazing.Having completely outfitted ourselves in a vibrant array of colors, our little family proceeded to plan meals and buy groceries and necessities for the weekend. Having spent the majority of Thursday buying food, most of us spent Friday actually getting ourselves packed and ready to go for the weekend. Our bus left at about 6:30pm on Friday and was scheduled to arrive at the ski station at about 10.
We got to the ski station a little after 10, and by then we were all starving because we hadn't really had dinner yet. We had planned to have sausage and potatoes for dinner that night, so we got to work on that as soon as we could and scarfed that food down while we watched a movie in one of our cozy apartments. (There were 8 of us, so they split us up into two groups.)
The next morning when we all woke up at about 8, we ate breakfast and then headed over to the ski rental place to get our snowboards and skis. Only three of us had
ever skied or snowboarded before, so the majority of us were beginners. We all headed over to the bunny hill to figure out how to handle ourselves. And I made it down without falling! So I hopped back on the ski lift (which was a sort of weird pole system with mini seats on the end that kind of looked like plungers. You put the pole between your legs and it pulled you to the top of the hill while you stood on your skis.) Anyway, halfway up the hill, I was enjoying the ease of the ski lift when all of a sudden, I was falling and I couldn't move my legs in the direction I wanted. My only focus was not losing my grip on the pole that was slipping out of my hand. Finally, after being dragged on my knees without any control, I decided that I should just let go and figure out what went wrong. So I let go of the pole--and promptly faceplanted. I rolled out of the way of my laughing friends who were coming up the lift behind me only to see that the reason I had fallen so suddenly was because one of my skis had popped off of my foot. So I didn't fall at all while I was going down the bunny slope--just up.
Anyway, most of us decided to move on to the next level hill once we'd gotten the gist of the bunny hill down, so we headed over to the other lift and hopped on. But what we thought was a little hill turned out to have a curve in it that you couldn't see from the bottom--the hill was at least twice as high as we had originally thought. But I did well on my first try; I only fell four times on that descent! By the end of the first day, I only managed to get down that hill once without falling, and the rest of the group hadn't had much luck either. We were all exhausted by the time the slopes closed at 4:30, so we went inside, took turns showering, and started cooking dinner.The next day was much better. I figured out how to get down the intermediate hill without falling, so I decided to step it up a notch and went up the mountain on the
real ski lift with Alexa, Kevin, and Josh (the three snowboarders). It turns out that I should never assume I know how tall a slope is just because I can only see so far up. The mountain was, well, a mountain. I was terrified. I had a camera in my pocket, but I was too scared to let go of the ski lift to take pictures. We made it up to the first stop on the mountain trails and got off. Quick side note: French people are all ridiculously good at skiing. What seemed terrifying and dangerous to me was only a beginner level for them. Anyway, we all made it up the mountain and off the ski lift without incident, and then we started our descent. If I had thought the second hill was scary, that was nothing compared to the mountain. There were so many times when I would be approaching a hill/curve with only a cliff on the other side that I would just fall in order to stop myself instead of risking getting killed. The very last hill on the mountain was actually probably steeper than the others, but it was also less scary because I knew that once I got to the bottom of it, I was done. To give you an idea of how steep it was, I couldn't see the bottom from where I was at the top of it. The only way I knew where to go was by watching where the person's head in front of me had disappeared. So I started down the hill, braking the entire way to avoid hurting myself, but I couldn't keep it up forever, so I just tucked into the speed skiing pose--and it was awesome! I was flying down that hill!! The only scary part was that the snow wasn't very powdery, and I was going so fast that any time there was a slight bump, I was worried I would lose control and go crashing into the packed snow. But we all made it down the mountain safely--and I've decided I love skiing. Basically, winter and I should spend some more time together because we get along really well.On the way home from the trip, the sun started setting on the mountains, and we made it to this beautiful area with a really big lake. It was probably the most beautiful area I have ever seen in my life. You'll have to see the pictures I took from the bus. They should be uploaded soon.
Edit: Pictures are FINALLY available!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Back in France!
Hello, everyone! I'm back in France after having spent probably one of the loveliest Christmas breaks ever at home. My cousin got married--and I got to be there as a bridesmaid (!!!), I got my haircut for the first time in a year, and now I'm back in my beloved France speaking French and making travel plans. (I'll get to that in a bit.)
My two exams were last week, and they went fairly well. I'm not sure when I'll actually find out how I did, but I feel fairly confident I won't fail them. Not only have exams finished, but new classes already started, too. I'm already done with my first week because I only have class Monday-Wednesday, so I'm hoping my schedule will facilitate weekend traveling.
I'm really excited for this semester because I really like all of my classes so far. Last semester, all of my classes followed the exact same format: three-hour lectures once a week. And when I say "lecture", I mean lecture. It was all dictation of our notes without pausing for questions. However! This semester, I have three classes that seem like they will be more interactive. I learn best in an interactive environment, so I'm excited to actually get to speak up in the classroom. (I know, I sound like a nerd. Get used to it.)
Anyway! This weekend, I'm going skiing in the Alps! I'm going with seven of my friends from the program to a little village called Pelvoux that has a population of about 454. I'm so excited! We're leaving tomorrow (Friday) night and coming back Sunday night, so we should have about two days to spend in the snow! I'm not even sure how much I want to go skiing--I've never done it before, so I have a feeling I'll just end up sledding to avoid getting hurt and embarrassed, but my friends and I all have plans to build forts and make snow angels and have a snowball fight. It's going to be great!!
My two exams were last week, and they went fairly well. I'm not sure when I'll actually find out how I did, but I feel fairly confident I won't fail them. Not only have exams finished, but new classes already started, too. I'm already done with my first week because I only have class Monday-Wednesday, so I'm hoping my schedule will facilitate weekend traveling.
I'm really excited for this semester because I really like all of my classes so far. Last semester, all of my classes followed the exact same format: three-hour lectures once a week. And when I say "lecture", I mean lecture. It was all dictation of our notes without pausing for questions. However! This semester, I have three classes that seem like they will be more interactive. I learn best in an interactive environment, so I'm excited to actually get to speak up in the classroom. (I know, I sound like a nerd. Get used to it.)
Anyway! This weekend, I'm going skiing in the Alps! I'm going with seven of my friends from the program to a little village called Pelvoux that has a population of about 454. I'm so excited! We're leaving tomorrow (Friday) night and coming back Sunday night, so we should have about two days to spend in the snow! I'm not even sure how much I want to go skiing--I've never done it before, so I have a feeling I'll just end up sledding to avoid getting hurt and embarrassed, but my friends and I all have plans to build forts and make snow angels and have a snowball fight. It's going to be great!!
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Christmastime in France
Aix is getting to be pretty beautiful. My roommate and I have been busy decorating our apartment whilst listening to our favorite Christmas songs. After a day-long field trip to our local IKEA and Carrefour (France's Walmart), we found a small fiber-optic Christmas tree and a strand of lights. We set that up in our apartment, and after adding some red and gold ornaments to the tree, our apartment is feeling pretty Christmasey.
To get to the stores, we have to take a half-hour bus trip to small town outside of Aix called Vitrolles. The bus to and from Vitrolles only runs every so often, so as I was getting off of the bus, I asked our bus driver if he had a copy of the schedule so we would know when we could get back to Aix after going to IKEA. After getting off the bus, the driver immediately called me back and told me to call my friends back as well. He told us he had a 20-minute break between dropping us off and needing to leave again, so he decided to take us to IKEA--for free! We chatted with him on the way there, and he joked and told us how he loves to laugh, unlike those Parisians. They're much too serious.
Anyway! I'm also getting ready to head home in two days. Actually, my flight is leaving in exactly 48 hours. I can't wait! In between now and then, I have one class this morning and a final exam tomorrow morning, so I'll be keeping busy trying to get all of my packing and Christmas shopping finished by then.
This past Saturday, I was actually able to take a last-minute field trip to Les Baux-de-Provence, which is this beautiful little castle village that sits in the Alpilles (the little Alps). The castle is now only ruins, but the village has a really rich history, and it's got some great views. While there, we were able to visit this amazing photo gallery that's not exactly a photo gallery. It's called La Cathédrale d'Images, and it's basically this huge underground cavern that has images and videos projected on to all of its walls. But there are more than four walls--it's enormous, and I don't think you could really understand until you see the videos.
Actually, I had been looking for this place for a long time. I had seen pictures of it, and I knew it was in Provence somewhere, but I had no idea where, and I didn't know what it was called, so I didn't really have a way of finding out. Luckily for me, I happened to be dragged to it by the people who drove us! It was everything I had hoped it would be. I'm uploading the pictures I took right now, so I'll get the link posted on the right as soon as I can. I'm also working on a video compilation of the streets of Aix, but I'm having issues with that, so that might not be posted until I get home. I may spend my time flying home working on that project. I'm flying Marseille > Paris > Atlanta > home!
Well, to everyone at home, à bientôt!
Edit: The pictures are now available!
To get to the stores, we have to take a half-hour bus trip to small town outside of Aix called Vitrolles. The bus to and from Vitrolles only runs every so often, so as I was getting off of the bus, I asked our bus driver if he had a copy of the schedule so we would know when we could get back to Aix after going to IKEA. After getting off the bus, the driver immediately called me back and told me to call my friends back as well. He told us he had a 20-minute break between dropping us off and needing to leave again, so he decided to take us to IKEA--for free! We chatted with him on the way there, and he joked and told us how he loves to laugh, unlike those Parisians. They're much too serious.
Anyway! I'm also getting ready to head home in two days. Actually, my flight is leaving in exactly 48 hours. I can't wait! In between now and then, I have one class this morning and a final exam tomorrow morning, so I'll be keeping busy trying to get all of my packing and Christmas shopping finished by then.
This past Saturday, I was actually able to take a last-minute field trip to Les Baux-de-Provence, which is this beautiful little castle village that sits in the Alpilles (the little Alps). The castle is now only ruins, but the village has a really rich history, and it's got some great views. While there, we were able to visit this amazing photo gallery that's not exactly a photo gallery. It's called La Cathédrale d'Images, and it's basically this huge underground cavern that has images and videos projected on to all of its walls. But there are more than four walls--it's enormous, and I don't think you could really understand until you see the videos.
Actually, I had been looking for this place for a long time. I had seen pictures of it, and I knew it was in Provence somewhere, but I had no idea where, and I didn't know what it was called, so I didn't really have a way of finding out. Luckily for me, I happened to be dragged to it by the people who drove us! It was everything I had hoped it would be. I'm uploading the pictures I took right now, so I'll get the link posted on the right as soon as I can. I'm also working on a video compilation of the streets of Aix, but I'm having issues with that, so that might not be posted until I get home. I may spend my time flying home working on that project. I'm flying Marseille > Paris > Atlanta > home!
Well, to everyone at home, à bientôt!
Edit: The pictures are now available!
Sunday, November 28, 2010
All of my favorite things
I love my life. Seriously, it's not even fair how many good things have happened to me--not only in the past year, but in my entire life. And I've got another one to add to the list: I'm coming home for Christmas--and my cousin's wedding! For a long time I thought that the only possible way for me to go to Kelly's wedding would be to come home for the weekend between my two finals weeks here. Not so! God loves me: I will be home for a solid two weeks. I can't wait!
Okay, so that's pretty awesome, but I'm also going to tell you about how I spent my favorite holiday whilst abroad (Thanksgiving, in case you didn't know). It was a pretty normal day: I woke up, got ready for the day, and then headed over to my friend Bri's apartment to have a baking/studying day. We made a pumpkin pie, but--alas--the evaporated milk I had bought was not evaporated milk. Instead, it was extra thick cream. We made do my halving it with normal milk, and then acting like nothing had happened. It turned out pretty well! It tastes a little different than my usual pumpkin pies, but it could have definitely been worse.
Then I headed over to theater class, which I love, laughed a lot, and then walked home in the pouring rain without a single umbrella among my class. It was fun. I changed really quickly, and walked with my neighbors to the restaurant where our program was going to have a Thanksgiving meal. It took forever to find due to a recent name change, but we found it eventually and ended up having an amazing meal. The turkey was delicious, and the stuffing was the best I've ever had. The cranberry sauce was more like warmed pie filling, but it was good nonetheless. The downer was the mashed potatoes: they were definitely instant, which I don't understand in a refined French restaurant. But oh well.
I saw Harry Potter in French on Wednesday, and it was really, really good! Then Friday, I celebrated my birthday with some of my friends by going bowling and then karaokeing afterward. Bowling was... interesting. Definitely the smallest bowling alley I've ever been in, and half of the balls make a thunk-thunk-thunk sound as they "rolled" down the lane, but we all made it out alive in the end.
Then Saturday, I went with my friends to Marseille to see another professional soccer game, and while we were waiting for the bus, it started snowing!! Which is my favorite thing, and it's only supposed to do that once a year here. But so far, the weather has pretty much mimicked the weather in Indiana, so I'm not sure how much I should believe. Anyway, it made me really happy, and then when we got to Marseille, we went to Starbucks to warm ourselves up. Then after we all got soaked during the game, I came back and watched a Disney movie--another thing I'm convinced I will never outgrow.
I just can't believe how lucky I am. So thanks to everyone in my life for being in my life. You're all great!
Oh! And today, I'm 21!
Okay, so that's pretty awesome, but I'm also going to tell you about how I spent my favorite holiday whilst abroad (Thanksgiving, in case you didn't know). It was a pretty normal day: I woke up, got ready for the day, and then headed over to my friend Bri's apartment to have a baking/studying day. We made a pumpkin pie, but--alas--the evaporated milk I had bought was not evaporated milk. Instead, it was extra thick cream. We made do my halving it with normal milk, and then acting like nothing had happened. It turned out pretty well! It tastes a little different than my usual pumpkin pies, but it could have definitely been worse.
Then I headed over to theater class, which I love, laughed a lot, and then walked home in the pouring rain without a single umbrella among my class. It was fun. I changed really quickly, and walked with my neighbors to the restaurant where our program was going to have a Thanksgiving meal. It took forever to find due to a recent name change, but we found it eventually and ended up having an amazing meal. The turkey was delicious, and the stuffing was the best I've ever had. The cranberry sauce was more like warmed pie filling, but it was good nonetheless. The downer was the mashed potatoes: they were definitely instant, which I don't understand in a refined French restaurant. But oh well.
I saw Harry Potter in French on Wednesday, and it was really, really good! Then Friday, I celebrated my birthday with some of my friends by going bowling and then karaokeing afterward. Bowling was... interesting. Definitely the smallest bowling alley I've ever been in, and half of the balls make a thunk-thunk-thunk sound as they "rolled" down the lane, but we all made it out alive in the end.
Then Saturday, I went with my friends to Marseille to see another professional soccer game, and while we were waiting for the bus, it started snowing!! Which is my favorite thing, and it's only supposed to do that once a year here. But so far, the weather has pretty much mimicked the weather in Indiana, so I'm not sure how much I should believe. Anyway, it made me really happy, and then when we got to Marseille, we went to Starbucks to warm ourselves up. Then after we all got soaked during the game, I came back and watched a Disney movie--another thing I'm convinced I will never outgrow.
I just can't believe how lucky I am. So thanks to everyone in my life for being in my life. You're all great!
Oh! And today, I'm 21!
Sunday, November 14, 2010
The End of the Busiest Week Ever
My Colts are coming on in five minutes, so I have to make this quick.
This week has been by far the busiest I have been since arriving in the country. I had something to do every night this week, what with the theater on Tuesday, my French language partner exchange on Wednesday night, then my family dinner on Thursday night. I couldn't understand why I felt so exhausted by the time Friday rolled around until I stopped to look at everything I had done during the week.
School should be settling down again this week. I'm done with all of my midterms now. I only have a project due next week, but I don't feel like that will be quite as stressful as my tests were.
I've got some big milestones coming up in my life:
-Over 1000 views to my blog (just passed this, actually)
-Three months in France
-The Harry Potter movie is coming out
-My 21st birthday
-The beginning of my first Christmas season in France
So obviously I'm very excited about all of this, and I will definitely try to take more pictures of everyday life here.
Also, MAJOR UPDATE: I FOUND CANNED PUMPKIN. So I WILL have pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. I'm happy!!
This week has been by far the busiest I have been since arriving in the country. I had something to do every night this week, what with the theater on Tuesday, my French language partner exchange on Wednesday night, then my family dinner on Thursday night. I couldn't understand why I felt so exhausted by the time Friday rolled around until I stopped to look at everything I had done during the week.
School should be settling down again this week. I'm done with all of my midterms now. I only have a project due next week, but I don't feel like that will be quite as stressful as my tests were.
I've got some big milestones coming up in my life:
-Over 1000 views to my blog (just passed this, actually)
-Three months in France
-The Harry Potter movie is coming out
-My 21st birthday
-The beginning of my first Christmas season in France
So obviously I'm very excited about all of this, and I will definitely try to take more pictures of everyday life here.
Also, MAJOR UPDATE: I FOUND CANNED PUMPKIN. So I WILL have pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. I'm happy!!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
French Theatre
Last night, I saw my first-ever French play in a real French theater. The play was fantastic and the theater was gorgeous! Unfortunately, I did not have the foresight to bring my camera, so I didn't get any pictures, but a couple of my classmates did, so I'll have to steal pictures from them. It was really neat; the theater was really old--like older-than-the-United States old. It wasn't huge, but it was gorgeous. (I know I keep saying gorgeous, but the only other word I can think of to describe it is "lovely", and that's a little too demure for this theater. So gorgeous it is.) It had the old-fashioned painted ceiling with cherubs and angels, and in the middle of the ceiling was a humongous chandelier.
The actual theater was pretty small. I think there were probably about 400 seats in total, but I couldn't really see the lower level from where I was sitting. There were four levels of balconies. The first balcony was pretty much how you would expect it, with about a third of the seats of the lower level. The other three balconies were box-seats only, and it looked like it would have been pretty fun to watch from up there.
The play was great! It was called La Serva Amorosa, and I was surprised by how much of it I was able to understand. It was written in the 1700s and it was originally a Venetian play. I think the fact that it's a translation helped my comprehension a lot because it put the dialogue in more modern-day terms instead of the more archaic (but lovely) and fast-paced verse. I laughed the entire time during the play, save the first ten minutes, so I definitely enjoyed it. Every character had funny lines, and the best part was that I was able to understand them!
But in other news, tomorrow is the anniversary of the Armistice of World War I. When I was walking to school today, I was a little surprised to see tanks and helicopters parked in Parc Jourdan, but then I realized what tomorrow is. Since it's a national holiday, we're supposed to have the day off. For me, however, my day is even busier than it usually would be. I have a program class in the afternoon, and then I'm having dinner with my French family right after that.
I also met a French-American girl in one of my classes today. She was born in the US, but moved to France about nine years ago, so she speaks perfect French and English. Not fair. But she's really nice, and she told me where I can find canned pumpkin here!!! So that's going on the agenda for this weekend.
The actual theater was pretty small. I think there were probably about 400 seats in total, but I couldn't really see the lower level from where I was sitting. There were four levels of balconies. The first balcony was pretty much how you would expect it, with about a third of the seats of the lower level. The other three balconies were box-seats only, and it looked like it would have been pretty fun to watch from up there.
The play was great! It was called La Serva Amorosa, and I was surprised by how much of it I was able to understand. It was written in the 1700s and it was originally a Venetian play. I think the fact that it's a translation helped my comprehension a lot because it put the dialogue in more modern-day terms instead of the more archaic (but lovely) and fast-paced verse. I laughed the entire time during the play, save the first ten minutes, so I definitely enjoyed it. Every character had funny lines, and the best part was that I was able to understand them!
But in other news, tomorrow is the anniversary of the Armistice of World War I. When I was walking to school today, I was a little surprised to see tanks and helicopters parked in Parc Jourdan, but then I realized what tomorrow is. Since it's a national holiday, we're supposed to have the day off. For me, however, my day is even busier than it usually would be. I have a program class in the afternoon, and then I'm having dinner with my French family right after that.
I also met a French-American girl in one of my classes today. She was born in the US, but moved to France about nine years ago, so she speaks perfect French and English. Not fair. But she's really nice, and she told me where I can find canned pumpkin here!!! So that's going on the agenda for this weekend.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
The French Lifestyle: Buying Groceries
I've made a lot of adjustments to my life since moving here. And because I like cooking, one of the biggest changes for me has been buying groceries. I've never really explained how that works here. At home, I would always go to one of the supermarkets near my house. There were two that were within three minutes' driving distance, and I almost never went anywhere else.
Here, shopping is a little different. The big department store here, Monoprix, also has a supermarket in its basement. But usually, I just do my shopping at our local little Vival, a marché. A marché is basically a mini-supermarket. It has all the necessities like bread, milk, eggs, cheese, and (for the French) wine, with a few extras thrown in. Basically, it's like shopping the food section at Walgreens, but with fruits and some vegetables thrown in too.
However, the cheapest option is to go to a real supermarket. Everything is usually at least 50 cents--or centimes--cheaper. But the closest supermarket is at least a 10-minute walk away through winding little French streets. It may not sound like much, but it makes loading up on groceries a little more difficult when you have to carry them all home, usually with the bags cutting off the circulation to one of your limbs. However, the absolute cheapest option is to go to a hypermarché (of which there is only one in Aix), which is an even bigger store than a supermarché. The French version of Kroger is called Casino (not the best choice of names, in my opinion. I like to feel like I'm not gambling everytime I give them my credit card.) and it has three different store sizes:
Petit Casino
Casino supermarché
Casino hypermarché
Another option is the outdoor markets. You can find an amazing array of local food there: fruits, vegetables, honey, homemade sausages, breads, and the biggest variety of mushrooms I have ever seen in my life. Some of these markets also include locally-made clothing and locally-grown flowers. I'll have to remember to take pictures the next time I go.
As far as the availability of wine goes, you might find it interesting to note that it is easy to find a bottle of wine for about a euro. When it goes on sale, you can get it for even cheaper. The cheapest I have ever seen it is about 87 centimes. A bottle of water here costs just under 2 euro. So literally, wine is cheaper than water.
Who wants to come visit?
Here, shopping is a little different. The big department store here, Monoprix, also has a supermarket in its basement. But usually, I just do my shopping at our local little Vival, a marché. A marché is basically a mini-supermarket. It has all the necessities like bread, milk, eggs, cheese, and (for the French) wine, with a few extras thrown in. Basically, it's like shopping the food section at Walgreens, but with fruits and some vegetables thrown in too.
However, the cheapest option is to go to a real supermarket. Everything is usually at least 50 cents--or centimes--cheaper. But the closest supermarket is at least a 10-minute walk away through winding little French streets. It may not sound like much, but it makes loading up on groceries a little more difficult when you have to carry them all home, usually with the bags cutting off the circulation to one of your limbs. However, the absolute cheapest option is to go to a hypermarché (of which there is only one in Aix), which is an even bigger store than a supermarché. The French version of Kroger is called Casino (not the best choice of names, in my opinion. I like to feel like I'm not gambling everytime I give them my credit card.) and it has three different store sizes:
Petit Casino
Casino supermarché
Casino hypermarché
Another option is the outdoor markets. You can find an amazing array of local food there: fruits, vegetables, honey, homemade sausages, breads, and the biggest variety of mushrooms I have ever seen in my life. Some of these markets also include locally-made clothing and locally-grown flowers. I'll have to remember to take pictures the next time I go.
As far as the availability of wine goes, you might find it interesting to note that it is easy to find a bottle of wine for about a euro. When it goes on sale, you can get it for even cheaper. The cheapest I have ever seen it is about 87 centimes. A bottle of water here costs just under 2 euro. So literally, wine is cheaper than water.
Who wants to come visit?
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
The Grève Situation
(Grève = Strike)
So. As some of you may know, there have been some pretty serious strikes in France lately. I know I talked about them the first day they happened here. If you thought that that was the end of it--basically, you were wrong. Things have definitely intensified.
Oil workers have gone on strike now, which means that there is a shortage of fuel throughout the country. Which means that buses won't be able to run, and that people can't drive anywhere. Furthermore, the train workers are striking. So... nobody can go anywhere in the country.
Basically, the whole country is in an uproar because the government is changing the age when full retirement benefits kick in. Instead of it being 60 (the lowest in all of Europe), the government is changing it to 62 to save some money for the tons of other government benefits everyone gets here. In case you were wondering, 62 would still be the lowest in all of Europe.
Until today, I hadn't been affected by the strike at all. It was a little disappointing, actually. Everyone else had at least one dramatic story to tell, and I had to sit on the sidelines and listen. Actually, my story really isn't all that dramatic. I had thought that my midterm for one of my classes was this Saturday, so I opted out of a free excursion to Avignon and Les Baux de Provence, which I really wanted to see. But anyway. Lyndsy and I went to class today, and our TA told us that due to the strikes, he won't be able to make it on Saturday, so we won't have to come either. So it turns out that I didn't even need to miss the excursion. (Sad face.) But another little exciting bit of news: parts of the school were blockaded today as part of the student grève. Tables and chairs were stacked against all the entrance doors to the school and at the access points to the stairs into the main hall of the school. I got a picture on my friend's camera, which I will hopefully be able to share with you all soon!
In any case, please pray that the strikes don't escalate too much. There has been talk that only violence gets the attention of government officials, but I'm hoping nothing too terrible will happen.
I would also like to point out that I have added new pictures on the right side of the page. I have been doing this pretty regularly, but I haven't mentioned it in my updates. Check them out!
So. As some of you may know, there have been some pretty serious strikes in France lately. I know I talked about them the first day they happened here. If you thought that that was the end of it--basically, you were wrong. Things have definitely intensified.Oil workers have gone on strike now, which means that there is a shortage of fuel throughout the country. Which means that buses won't be able to run, and that people can't drive anywhere. Furthermore, the train workers are striking. So... nobody can go anywhere in the country.
Basically, the whole country is in an uproar because the government is changing the age when full retirement benefits kick in. Instead of it being 60 (the lowest in all of Europe), the government is changing it to 62 to save some money for the tons of other government benefits everyone gets here. In case you were wondering, 62 would still be the lowest in all of Europe.
Until today, I hadn't been affected by the strike at all. It was a little disappointing, actually. Everyone else had at least one dramatic story to tell, and I had to sit on the sidelines and listen. Actually, my story really isn't all that dramatic. I had thought that my midterm for one of my classes was this Saturday, so I opted out of a free excursion to Avignon and Les Baux de Provence, which I really wanted to see. But anyway. Lyndsy and I went to class today, and our TA told us that due to the strikes, he won't be able to make it on Saturday, so we won't have to come either. So it turns out that I didn't even need to miss the excursion. (Sad face.) But another little exciting bit of news: parts of the school were blockaded today as part of the student grève. Tables and chairs were stacked against all the entrance doors to the school and at the access points to the stairs into the main hall of the school. I got a picture on my friend's camera, which I will hopefully be able to share with you all soon!
In any case, please pray that the strikes don't escalate too much. There has been talk that only violence gets the attention of government officials, but I'm hoping nothing too terrible will happen.
I would also like to point out that I have added new pictures on the right side of the page. I have been doing this pretty regularly, but I haven't mentioned it in my updates. Check them out!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Enjoying Being Alive
Every Tuesday night, my parish hosts this huge gathering of students (and "young professionals") for dinner called La Cave/The Cave. There is Mass beforehand for the Catholics, but everybody else can just show up at 8 for the meal. The meals consist of three courses: appetizer, main course, and dessert, and it's only 3,50€ for everything. Anyone can come, and it's a really, really great way to meet new people. This is the third week that I've gone (out of a possible three weeks, so I'm on a roll!), and I've loved it every time. They claim that there is a rule that forbids you to sit near anyone from your own country, but I don't think many people adhere to it.
The first week I met two other American girls who are really nice. One of them is from Minnesota and the other is from Colorado. They're both at the American school that's right across from the cathedral here, so I really only see them on Tuesday nights, but it's still really nice to meet other people!
Last week was interesting. I sat at a table with all French people (and one girl who has dual citizenship in the US and France), so I had to speak French the entire time. It was a little disheartening because everyone was speaking so quickly that I couldn't follow the entire conversation, so it was a little hard to contribute. Our table ended up "winning" the job of doing dishes after the meal. Doing dishes for a three-course meal for sixty people is not exactly what I would call fun. It took a long time to wash, rinse, dry, and put away all those dishes, so I didn't get home until about 11:30.
This week was really fun! I sat with one of the girls that I met the first week, and we talked with two guys she had already met last week. It was awesome! They were so funny--I actually left tonight with cheeks that hurt from so much laughing. They ended up inviting themselves over so that I can cook for them at some point, so we'll see if that happens.
But anyway. I had a really awesome day today, so I want to share it with you. Not because it was anything particularly special, just because I enjoyed life. I woke up without my alarm at about 8:30 and got up right away. I decided right off the bat that I felt like being productive today, so I started my book (Mon Faust by Paul Valéry) for my literature class this afternoon, and I got 50 pages into it, literally laughing out loud the entire way. Faust is supposed to be a depressing story about the damnation of a hopeless human soul, but this version is so witty that I can't help but enjoy it. That sounds terrible, I know.
So I went to class today and made friends with two other English-speakers: a girl from Austria and another girl from England. I was actually feeling so confident in my French abilities today that I signed up for a presentation next week over this same book. And then on my walk home from school, I listened to some really upbeat music, and I was in such a good mood that I'm pretty sure I had a few people stop and stare at me because I was practically skipping down the street.
Tomorrow is going to be a really busy day. I have class in the morning from 8:30-11:30, another class at 2 until 5, and then I have dinner with my French family starting at 6:30 until about 10. I'm going to have no free time!
The first week I met two other American girls who are really nice. One of them is from Minnesota and the other is from Colorado. They're both at the American school that's right across from the cathedral here, so I really only see them on Tuesday nights, but it's still really nice to meet other people!
Last week was interesting. I sat at a table with all French people (and one girl who has dual citizenship in the US and France), so I had to speak French the entire time. It was a little disheartening because everyone was speaking so quickly that I couldn't follow the entire conversation, so it was a little hard to contribute. Our table ended up "winning" the job of doing dishes after the meal. Doing dishes for a three-course meal for sixty people is not exactly what I would call fun. It took a long time to wash, rinse, dry, and put away all those dishes, so I didn't get home until about 11:30.
This week was really fun! I sat with one of the girls that I met the first week, and we talked with two guys she had already met last week. It was awesome! They were so funny--I actually left tonight with cheeks that hurt from so much laughing. They ended up inviting themselves over so that I can cook for them at some point, so we'll see if that happens.
But anyway. I had a really awesome day today, so I want to share it with you. Not because it was anything particularly special, just because I enjoyed life. I woke up without my alarm at about 8:30 and got up right away. I decided right off the bat that I felt like being productive today, so I started my book (Mon Faust by Paul Valéry) for my literature class this afternoon, and I got 50 pages into it, literally laughing out loud the entire way. Faust is supposed to be a depressing story about the damnation of a hopeless human soul, but this version is so witty that I can't help but enjoy it. That sounds terrible, I know.
So I went to class today and made friends with two other English-speakers: a girl from Austria and another girl from England. I was actually feeling so confident in my French abilities today that I signed up for a presentation next week over this same book. And then on my walk home from school, I listened to some really upbeat music, and I was in such a good mood that I'm pretty sure I had a few people stop and stare at me because I was practically skipping down the street.
Tomorrow is going to be a really busy day. I have class in the morning from 8:30-11:30, another class at 2 until 5, and then I have dinner with my French family starting at 6:30 until about 10. I'm going to have no free time!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Mountains and Monaco
Again--I've been busy! I feel like I sort of bumble my way through the week without updating here, and then I remember all of the good stories all at once on the weekends. So prepare yourselves. This is going to take a while.
I went to classes on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at the university (or the fac, short for faculté), and everything went pretty normally. On Wednesday morning, I went to hang out with my French friend at her apartment. I got there and was a little lost because there were four different apartments that were marked with the exact same number as hers. So I called her to find out which one was the right one, and it turned out that none of them were hers. Plus, she'd forgotten that we'd made plans for Wednesday instead of Thursday. We got it all sorted out, and she ended up driving us to McDonald's because we were running out of time to eat before our classes started that day. I know--shame! I don't even like McDonald's in the US!
Thursday was a little bit more interesting. One of my American friends here just got coffee sent to her from the US. We have all been missing our usual non-espresso cups of coffee, so we decided to get up and make ourselves a real American-style breakfast: scrambled eggs with peppers, potatoes, and zucchini, with Old Crown coffee. It was amazing--and probably the best breakfast I've had since I've been in France. After we ate, we spent most of our morning just exploring Aix. I thought I'd pretty much gotten to know the city by now, but it turns out it's a lot bigger than I thought it was. So it was fun visiting places I'd never been before!
Thursday night we went to our theatre class, and a bunch of us went out to eat together to celebrate the birthday of one of the American girls here. We ended up going back to her apartment for chocolate cake with sprinkles! It was delicious.
Friday was a little slower, which was really nice. I had dinner with my French family again, and that was really fun! It was only me, the mom, and the two boys, but the three of them ended up spending a long time trying to say the word "rollerblading", which is really hard for the French, apparently. The family gave me two French DVDs for me to watch this week. I'm really comfortable being around them because their family dynamic is really similar to what I'm used to. It makes it really easy to get along with them. I came back to the apartment and ended up spending the night alone in my apartment--and it was wonderful.
Saturday, I went with a few of the girls from our program to climb what is known as Cezanne's mountain: Sainte-Victoire. I have wanted to climb it since I first saw it a month ago, and I finally got the opportunity, so I didn't want to miss it. We left from downtown Aix at about 11:15 and actually started climbing just after noon. We reached the summit at about 4:00 after we stopped and ate lunch. It was absolutely amazing. I've climbed mountains before with my high school youth group in West Virginia, but that was nothing compared to this. We were so high yesterday. It was absolutely incredible.
When we were at the top, the wind was whipping around us. I wasn't sure if it was because we were so high up or because of the Mistral, but there wasn't any wind in Aix, so I'm assuming it was because of our altitude. Awesome! (Actually, it was a little scary because we kept seeing people's hats getting ripped off their heads, so we knew the wind was pretty strong, and there wasn't really that much room to stand at the very top.)
We made it back to Aix at about 6:30 after waiting for the bus to pick us up for about 45 minutes. While we waited, we made friends with a French family that had just climbed the mountain too. Saturday night I was exhausted and a little sunburned, so I went to bed semi-early before our big day today.
Today we went to Monaco and Nice! We met at the bus at about 8:30 and finally got on the road at about 9. The group was actually so big that we took two buses, but I wasn't aware of that fact until we were nearly back tonight. We got to Monaco at about 11, unloaded, and got to the Palace just in time to see the changing of the guard! It was actually pretty anticlimactic, especially because it was hard to see, but it's also not very exciting. Oh, well. At least now I can say that I've seen it! After that, I went with one of my friends to find the casino because I'd been practicing how to play craps online just so that I could play it once in Monte Carlo. It was really disappointing to find out that there is a 10€ cover charge to get in to the table room. So instead Bri and I played the slot machines--which are incredibly difficult to understand for how popular they are. Basically, our gambling was more like us putting our money in the machine and slapping random buttons until we ran out of money. And apparently this was a common experience among the Americans.
One thing that stood out while we were in Monaco was how clean everything was. It was really funny because my friend and I agreed that if it wasn't an independent state from France, it would be the stereotypical French city. And then we realized that it really is the stereotypical French city anyway because it claims to be independent but it relies on others to protect it. Funny, huh?
Another thing that really affected our day was the wind. Oh my goodness! The wind was insane! At one point, we ended up making a video about the near-hurricane conditions. Fortunately for us, the rain didn't actually start until we were on the bus on our way home.
On the way back, we ended up making an hour-long pit stop in Nice at a parfumerie, or in English, a perfume factory called Fragonard. It smelled really, really good! We got a tour of the factory, and then we got to sample their best-selling scents. Their candles smelled soooo good, and I'm a sucker for candles. I didn't have enough cash on me at the time to buy anything, though. Which was probably a good thing.
Wednesday, we have to go to Marseille to get a medical examination for our carte de séjour, and I'm very excited because there is a Starbucks in Marseille, which (hopefully) means that I'll be able to have my Pumpkin Spice Latte soon!!! You really have no idea what that would mean to me. It's bad enough that there aren't any pumpkins here for decorations and pies, but no Pumpkin Spice Lattes would be absolutely unbearable.
I went to classes on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at the university (or the fac, short for faculté), and everything went pretty normally. On Wednesday morning, I went to hang out with my French friend at her apartment. I got there and was a little lost because there were four different apartments that were marked with the exact same number as hers. So I called her to find out which one was the right one, and it turned out that none of them were hers. Plus, she'd forgotten that we'd made plans for Wednesday instead of Thursday. We got it all sorted out, and she ended up driving us to McDonald's because we were running out of time to eat before our classes started that day. I know--shame! I don't even like McDonald's in the US!
Thursday was a little bit more interesting. One of my American friends here just got coffee sent to her from the US. We have all been missing our usual non-espresso cups of coffee, so we decided to get up and make ourselves a real American-style breakfast: scrambled eggs with peppers, potatoes, and zucchini, with Old Crown coffee. It was amazing--and probably the best breakfast I've had since I've been in France. After we ate, we spent most of our morning just exploring Aix. I thought I'd pretty much gotten to know the city by now, but it turns out it's a lot bigger than I thought it was. So it was fun visiting places I'd never been before!
Thursday night we went to our theatre class, and a bunch of us went out to eat together to celebrate the birthday of one of the American girls here. We ended up going back to her apartment for chocolate cake with sprinkles! It was delicious.
Friday was a little slower, which was really nice. I had dinner with my French family again, and that was really fun! It was only me, the mom, and the two boys, but the three of them ended up spending a long time trying to say the word "rollerblading", which is really hard for the French, apparently. The family gave me two French DVDs for me to watch this week. I'm really comfortable being around them because their family dynamic is really similar to what I'm used to. It makes it really easy to get along with them. I came back to the apartment and ended up spending the night alone in my apartment--and it was wonderful.Saturday, I went with a few of the girls from our program to climb what is known as Cezanne's mountain: Sainte-Victoire. I have wanted to climb it since I first saw it a month ago, and I finally got the opportunity, so I didn't want to miss it. We left from downtown Aix at about 11:15 and actually started climbing just after noon. We reached the summit at about 4:00 after we stopped and ate lunch. It was absolutely amazing. I've climbed mountains before with my high school youth group in West Virginia, but that was nothing compared to this. We were so high yesterday. It was absolutely incredible.
When we were at the top, the wind was whipping around us. I wasn't sure if it was because we were so high up or because of the Mistral, but there wasn't any wind in Aix, so I'm assuming it was because of our altitude. Awesome! (Actually, it was a little scary because we kept seeing people's hats getting ripped off their heads, so we knew the wind was pretty strong, and there wasn't really that much room to stand at the very top.)
We made it back to Aix at about 6:30 after waiting for the bus to pick us up for about 45 minutes. While we waited, we made friends with a French family that had just climbed the mountain too. Saturday night I was exhausted and a little sunburned, so I went to bed semi-early before our big day today.
Today we went to Monaco and Nice! We met at the bus at about 8:30 and finally got on the road at about 9. The group was actually so big that we took two buses, but I wasn't aware of that fact until we were nearly back tonight. We got to Monaco at about 11, unloaded, and got to the Palace just in time to see the changing of the guard! It was actually pretty anticlimactic, especially because it was hard to see, but it's also not very exciting. Oh, well. At least now I can say that I've seen it! After that, I went with one of my friends to find the casino because I'd been practicing how to play craps online just so that I could play it once in Monte Carlo. It was really disappointing to find out that there is a 10€ cover charge to get in to the table room. So instead Bri and I played the slot machines--which are incredibly difficult to understand for how popular they are. Basically, our gambling was more like us putting our money in the machine and slapping random buttons until we ran out of money. And apparently this was a common experience among the Americans.
One thing that stood out while we were in Monaco was how clean everything was. It was really funny because my friend and I agreed that if it wasn't an independent state from France, it would be the stereotypical French city. And then we realized that it really is the stereotypical French city anyway because it claims to be independent but it relies on others to protect it. Funny, huh?
Another thing that really affected our day was the wind. Oh my goodness! The wind was insane! At one point, we ended up making a video about the near-hurricane conditions. Fortunately for us, the rain didn't actually start until we were on the bus on our way home.
On the way back, we ended up making an hour-long pit stop in Nice at a parfumerie, or in English, a perfume factory called Fragonard. It smelled really, really good! We got a tour of the factory, and then we got to sample their best-selling scents. Their candles smelled soooo good, and I'm a sucker for candles. I didn't have enough cash on me at the time to buy anything, though. Which was probably a good thing.
Wednesday, we have to go to Marseille to get a medical examination for our carte de séjour, and I'm very excited because there is a Starbucks in Marseille, which (hopefully) means that I'll be able to have my Pumpkin Spice Latte soon!!! You really have no idea what that would mean to me. It's bad enough that there aren't any pumpkins here for decorations and pies, but no Pumpkin Spice Lattes would be absolutely unbearable.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Nimes and Pont du Gard
Today was a beautiful day.
The program paid for us to go on an excursion to Nimes, which is a really neat little city about an hour and a half away from Aix. It has a bunch of old Roman ruins in it, including a real-life coliseum where real gladiators fought and died. It was pretty neat. We also visited the "biggest, prettiest, and best-preserved aqueduct in the world" today, the Pont du Gard. Pretty awesome.
I have to say, it was really nice to get out of Aix. I mean, as thrilled as I am to be in France doing the things I am doing, we've started to realize that our options as far as activities go are pretty limited here. So getting out and about in foreign surroundings did us all some good, and it was really nice to see clean city streets that aren't overcrowded with people everywhere (in Nimes). We've also come to realize that everything is really crowded here.
First, we went to the Jardin de la Fontaine, a big park in the middle of Nimes. It has a bunch of fountains and statues and a few Roman ruins.
Next, we took a little hike up to a tower
at the top of the park, La Tour Magne. I think we were told that it's the highest point in the department (sort of like a French county), and it's definitely the highest point in the city. And we got to go to the top of the tower where there is an awesome panoramic view of the city!
After the tower, I got lunch with a couple of my friends while everybody else went on the the coliseum. I got some sort of steak that was accompanied with two sides (salad, fries, rice, or vegetables). I ended up going with the fries and salad, and I was really happy with what I got. While we were still eating, every single other student from our program somehow ended up walking down the street where we were eating, and at least five of the other students sat down at our restaurant, saw what I had on my plate, and proceeded to all order the exact same thing as me. All five of them.
After lunch, we headed over to the coliseum, where we walked around for a little bit. It was really, really cool because you could go just about anywhere you wanted to. Actually, the arena is still used today for all sorts of things. In May, there are bull fights, and I think there are even recreations of gladiator battles at another time in the year. The pictures don't really do it justice, so I tried to take a lot of videos throughout the day. You can find those over on the right side of the page under the "Nimes Photos" link.
Pont du Gard was next--and I LOVED it! It was awesome,
not necessarily because of the aqueduct, but because of the trails we could hike, the super clear river water, and the gorgeous, perfect weather. But everything was definitely enhanced by the presence of the aqueduct. (And actually, I'm having a really hard time choosing which pictures to post directly on the blog and which ones to leave for the link on the right because I feel like they're all so good!) After hiking for about an hour with a couple of girls from the program, we decided to go cool our feet off in the river water. After rolling up our jeans, we waded in. The water was a little chilly at first, but we got used to it surprisingly quickly! We just stood there for a while, enjoying the moment, occasionally skipping rocks across the water. It was really lovely--and my favorite part about the whole day.
I feel like I could have stayed there all day. It would be the perfect place to bring a picnic and just enjoy being outdoors--real outdoors, without the noise of a city 20 feet away. One of the best parts about the day really was the silence. If you get a chance, listen to the videos in the photo album I posted for today; the only noises are natural ones. It was a really nice change of pace for us, and I'm really hoping to go back soon with some of the other program students!
The program paid for us to go on an excursion to Nimes, which is a really neat little city about an hour and a half away from Aix. It has a bunch of old Roman ruins in it, including a real-life coliseum where real gladiators fought and died. It was pretty neat. We also visited the "biggest, prettiest, and best-preserved aqueduct in the world" today, the Pont du Gard. Pretty awesome.
I have to say, it was really nice to get out of Aix. I mean, as thrilled as I am to be in France doing the things I am doing, we've started to realize that our options as far as activities go are pretty limited here. So getting out and about in foreign surroundings did us all some good, and it was really nice to see clean city streets that aren't overcrowded with people everywhere (in Nimes). We've also come to realize that everything is really crowded here.
First, we went to the Jardin de la Fontaine, a big park in the middle of Nimes. It has a bunch of fountains and statues and a few Roman ruins. Next, we took a little hike up to a tower
at the top of the park, La Tour Magne. I think we were told that it's the highest point in the department (sort of like a French county), and it's definitely the highest point in the city. And we got to go to the top of the tower where there is an awesome panoramic view of the city!After the tower, I got lunch with a couple of my friends while everybody else went on the the coliseum. I got some sort of steak that was accompanied with two sides (salad, fries, rice, or vegetables). I ended up going with the fries and salad, and I was really happy with what I got. While we were still eating, every single other student from our program somehow ended up walking down the street where we were eating, and at least five of the other students sat down at our restaurant, saw what I had on my plate, and proceeded to all order the exact same thing as me. All five of them.
After lunch, we headed over to the coliseum, where we walked around for a little bit. It was really, really cool because you could go just about anywhere you wanted to. Actually, the arena is still used today for all sorts of things. In May, there are bull fights, and I think there are even recreations of gladiator battles at another time in the year. The pictures don't really do it justice, so I tried to take a lot of videos throughout the day. You can find those over on the right side of the page under the "Nimes Photos" link.
Pont du Gard was next--and I LOVED it! It was awesome,
not necessarily because of the aqueduct, but because of the trails we could hike, the super clear river water, and the gorgeous, perfect weather. But everything was definitely enhanced by the presence of the aqueduct. (And actually, I'm having a really hard time choosing which pictures to post directly on the blog and which ones to leave for the link on the right because I feel like they're all so good!) After hiking for about an hour with a couple of girls from the program, we decided to go cool our feet off in the river water. After rolling up our jeans, we waded in. The water was a little chilly at first, but we got used to it surprisingly quickly! We just stood there for a while, enjoying the moment, occasionally skipping rocks across the water. It was really lovely--and my favorite part about the whole day.I feel like I could have stayed there all day. It would be the perfect place to bring a picnic and just enjoy being outdoors--real outdoors, without the noise of a city 20 feet away. One of the best parts about the day really was the silence. If you get a chance, listen to the videos in the photo album I posted for today; the only noises are natural ones. It was a really nice change of pace for us, and I'm really hoping to go back soon with some of the other program students!
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Today=Fantastico
No, that's not French. I'm pretty sure it's Spanish? But it could also be Italian... I'm not really up on my other Romance languages, although I would really love it if I were.
Anyway! The last couple days have been not-so-great. I "attrapéd the rhume" as one of my peers so neatly put it. For those of you non-franglophones, that's a really grammatically--maybe just linguistically--terrible way of saying that I got the flu. I woke up yesterday with a terrible headache, a sore throat, and a fever. I'd been feeling a little sick the two previous days, but I thought I could fight it off with water, which I then proceeded to not drink. Good decision, apparently.
So I spent all day lying in bed trying to make myself feel better. I had class at 1pm yesterday, so I got up and showered and went to that, practically slept through the first half of class because I was so incoherent, left early, came home and slept some more, finally had some soup, slept a little more, and then a wonderful friend made me a nice healthy dinner and tea. I was supposed to have my second dinner with the French family, but because I was sick, we decided to reschedule for tomorrow night if they're free.
I woke up this morning feeling better--not 100%--but without a voice. After a couple cups of tea, I finally could talk and walk without losing my balance (having fevers makes me a little dizzy), and I went to go meet my French friend for coffee. She's really nice, and she hates English, so I can only speak French with her, which is really good practice for me! Apparently we're in two of the same classes without knowing it, so I'm going to be seeing a lot of her this semester. She showed me some of the ins and outs of the university--like the super cheap cafeteria that's on a different campus--and I showed her how to get to Parc Jourdan from the university.
I got a care package from my family today! Unfortunately, I had to pay a tax of 47€ in order to receive it, but it came nonetheless! I'm so happy to have my apron with me, and my Colts jersey (I have a friend here who is an avid Packers fan and won't let me forget that he's the "true fan" because he brought his jersey and I didn't, so obviously I had to fix that situation), my lotions, and good-smelling fall scents!!
Tonight, I've got my awesome theater class, and hopefully I'll have a nice, slow night so my body can fully recuperate.
I realize how boring this blog looks at first glance--I'll try to post more pictures soon! Several of my latest videos have not been the best. Last week I tried to get a video of our theater where the class is held and instead I got a video of me falling down the stairs and everyone laughing at me. So... we'll try for a better one this time.
Anyway! The last couple days have been not-so-great. I "attrapéd the rhume" as one of my peers so neatly put it. For those of you non-franglophones, that's a really grammatically--maybe just linguistically--terrible way of saying that I got the flu. I woke up yesterday with a terrible headache, a sore throat, and a fever. I'd been feeling a little sick the two previous days, but I thought I could fight it off with water, which I then proceeded to not drink. Good decision, apparently.
So I spent all day lying in bed trying to make myself feel better. I had class at 1pm yesterday, so I got up and showered and went to that, practically slept through the first half of class because I was so incoherent, left early, came home and slept some more, finally had some soup, slept a little more, and then a wonderful friend made me a nice healthy dinner and tea. I was supposed to have my second dinner with the French family, but because I was sick, we decided to reschedule for tomorrow night if they're free.
I woke up this morning feeling better--not 100%--but without a voice. After a couple cups of tea, I finally could talk and walk without losing my balance (having fevers makes me a little dizzy), and I went to go meet my French friend for coffee. She's really nice, and she hates English, so I can only speak French with her, which is really good practice for me! Apparently we're in two of the same classes without knowing it, so I'm going to be seeing a lot of her this semester. She showed me some of the ins and outs of the university--like the super cheap cafeteria that's on a different campus--and I showed her how to get to Parc Jourdan from the university.
I got a care package from my family today! Unfortunately, I had to pay a tax of 47€ in order to receive it, but it came nonetheless! I'm so happy to have my apron with me, and my Colts jersey (I have a friend here who is an avid Packers fan and won't let me forget that he's the "true fan" because he brought his jersey and I didn't, so obviously I had to fix that situation), my lotions, and good-smelling fall scents!!
Tonight, I've got my awesome theater class, and hopefully I'll have a nice, slow night so my body can fully recuperate.
I realize how boring this blog looks at first glance--I'll try to post more pictures soon! Several of my latest videos have not been the best. Last week I tried to get a video of our theater where the class is held and instead I got a video of me falling down the stairs and everyone laughing at me. So... we'll try for a better one this time.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Tuesday. Wednesday. Monday.
Today has been one of those days. I have spent all day thinking it was either tomorrow or the day after that, which is weird because I'm living in what I was considering the past. Yeah, it's been one of those days, too.
I had lexicology class this morning, and I'm still feeling really good about the class. Whenever our professor asks a question and I don't know the answer, none of the other kids in the class know either, so I know I'm not behind. Tomorrow I have class in the afternoon, and it's my literature class. I got the books for that class today, so I think I might try to get a head start on the reading tomorrow morning! I've been feeling productive lately.
Tonight, we had a couple of our neighbors over (program kids), and I cooked my spicy sausage sauce (say that 10 times fast) with penne pasta. The sauce was extra spicy tonight, and it sort of burned on the way down, but in a good way. After dinner, I made crepes! Real, Frenchie, French crepes! In a French kitchen, with French ingredients, and French utensils! It was so French! As per accidental tradition, the first crepe I made was terrible, but I got the hang of it really quickly and the rest of them all turned out really well! We had chantilly (whipped cream), Nutella, and des bananes (if you can't figure that one out, you don't deserve to know)!
In other news, my Colts won yesterday against the Broncos! Any day when the Colts win is followed by a fantastic day--at least on my part. I have been so happy that I've been able to watch the games here. It's not very French of me, but I've sort of realized I'm going to have to embrace my Americanism at some point because my accent is not going to go away. Even if I have been told it's a very good accent. Several times. By French people.
Okay! Enough of that! I've added new photos of our most recent trip to Marseille, so check out the link to those on the right side of the page.
I had lexicology class this morning, and I'm still feeling really good about the class. Whenever our professor asks a question and I don't know the answer, none of the other kids in the class know either, so I know I'm not behind. Tomorrow I have class in the afternoon, and it's my literature class. I got the books for that class today, so I think I might try to get a head start on the reading tomorrow morning! I've been feeling productive lately.
Tonight, we had a couple of our neighbors over (program kids), and I cooked my spicy sausage sauce (say that 10 times fast) with penne pasta. The sauce was extra spicy tonight, and it sort of burned on the way down, but in a good way. After dinner, I made crepes! Real, Frenchie, French crepes! In a French kitchen, with French ingredients, and French utensils! It was so French! As per accidental tradition, the first crepe I made was terrible, but I got the hang of it really quickly and the rest of them all turned out really well! We had chantilly (whipped cream), Nutella, and des bananes (if you can't figure that one out, you don't deserve to know)!
In other news, my Colts won yesterday against the Broncos! Any day when the Colts win is followed by a fantastic day--at least on my part. I have been so happy that I've been able to watch the games here. It's not very French of me, but I've sort of realized I'm going to have to embrace my Americanism at some point because my accent is not going to go away. Even if I have been told it's a very good accent. Several times. By French people.
Okay! Enough of that! I've added new photos of our most recent trip to Marseille, so check out the link to those on the right side of the page.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
A long update
Well! I have been busy! Because this update is going to be so long, I'm going to have little headers with the different sections in case you don't care too much about one subject.
School
We started real university classes on Monday, and (shockingly) I think they're going pretty well so far! My first class is a second-year lexicology class, which is basically an application of linguistics skills, and I'm well-versed in that department. I feel like I'm where I would usually be in a class in the States, which sort of makes me feel like I'm not challenging myself enough because everyone only ever talked about how horribly difficult our classes would be for us.
I'm also taking a comparative literature class that discusses the way translation has affected the meanings of works and how characters have evolved over time in their different representations. We're focusing on Faust and Macbeth, but we're reading everything in French, which should be interesting! Those are the two school classes I'm most excited about, but I'm also taking a Languages of the World class with a million first-year university students. The class size is too big for me to like it, and I feel like I've already learned all the material in another class I took in the States, except it was in English before. The funny thing is that most of the terms are so technical that they end up being the same thing in French but with an accent. For example, Indo-European languages are "les langues Indo-Européennes". So I'm hoping that class will be an easy A.
My other classes consist of a Modern and Contemporary African History class, a theatre course offered by the program, and a University Methodolody class offered by the program. I think I might end up dropping the African History course because it is a four-hour class for third-year French History majors. I've never taken a history class before in college, so I don't feel like I'm sufficiently prepared to take an advanced history course, especially in French. But we'll see!
I really like the theater course. It's a course designed to help us with our oral French, but it's really fun because we end up doing a lot of improvisation involving acting and being ridiculous--two things I rather enjoy doing anyway!
Meeting Real French People!
On Thursday of this week, some of my friends in the program hosted a dinner party/potluck at their apartment. All in all, there were at least twelve people who ate and several more who came later in the evening. The girls in the apartment have a French roommate (named Violette), and she invited several of her friends to come to the party too, so I got to meet real French people who are my age for the first time! At one point in the evening, we learned that one of the French girls (Sonia) had studied in England for a year. I was coaxed into speaking in my English accent to see if she could understand me better without the American accent. It turned out that Sonia could understand me fine either way, but another girl could only understand me when I spoke in the accent. So for the rest of the night if I spoke in English at all, I had to speak with an English accent so that everyone could understand the conversation.
On Friday night, I had my first dinner with my French exchange family. The way the dinner was to go was explained to me as, "You will speak to the children in English for an hour and a half before dinner, and then during dinner, they will correct your French." Which made me feel really confident in my French abilities. The organization for it happened really quickly; Thursday night I was told I might meet the family on Friday night if they called me back on Friday, and then early Friday afternoon, I heard back from the mom in the family and we got everything set up for that night. I really like the family. The kids are ages 16 (girl), 15 (boy), and 13 (boy). It was nice to be in the middle of a family setting again. I mean, the program kids all joke around about how we're a huge family at this point--and it's true, it's what it feels like--but I miss the real thing. It was nice to be among bickering siblings again--and I really do mean that wholeheartedly.
Marseille
Yesterday, I went with a few of the program kids to Marseille to see a professional football game here--or as we Americans are prone to say, soccer. We were able to find tickets to the game for only 30€, and train tickets are also pretty cheap to Marseille. The game was fantastic! Marseille won 2-1 versus Sochaux, so everyone was happy. The Mistral was playing games with the temperature here again, so we were all sort of freezing, but it was like we were at home again watching an American football game. We were all pretty happy with the results of the night. After the game, we went out to eat and I got Marseille's specialty: bouillabaisse! It was okay, not amazing but not terrible either. I'm happy I got it at least once, anyway. The bouillabaisse was followed by profiteroles and coffee, and it seemed like a pretty great French night overall.
School
We started real university classes on Monday, and (shockingly) I think they're going pretty well so far! My first class is a second-year lexicology class, which is basically an application of linguistics skills, and I'm well-versed in that department. I feel like I'm where I would usually be in a class in the States, which sort of makes me feel like I'm not challenging myself enough because everyone only ever talked about how horribly difficult our classes would be for us.
I'm also taking a comparative literature class that discusses the way translation has affected the meanings of works and how characters have evolved over time in their different representations. We're focusing on Faust and Macbeth, but we're reading everything in French, which should be interesting! Those are the two school classes I'm most excited about, but I'm also taking a Languages of the World class with a million first-year university students. The class size is too big for me to like it, and I feel like I've already learned all the material in another class I took in the States, except it was in English before. The funny thing is that most of the terms are so technical that they end up being the same thing in French but with an accent. For example, Indo-European languages are "les langues Indo-Européennes". So I'm hoping that class will be an easy A.
My other classes consist of a Modern and Contemporary African History class, a theatre course offered by the program, and a University Methodolody class offered by the program. I think I might end up dropping the African History course because it is a four-hour class for third-year French History majors. I've never taken a history class before in college, so I don't feel like I'm sufficiently prepared to take an advanced history course, especially in French. But we'll see!
I really like the theater course. It's a course designed to help us with our oral French, but it's really fun because we end up doing a lot of improvisation involving acting and being ridiculous--two things I rather enjoy doing anyway!
Meeting Real French People!
On Thursday of this week, some of my friends in the program hosted a dinner party/potluck at their apartment. All in all, there were at least twelve people who ate and several more who came later in the evening. The girls in the apartment have a French roommate (named Violette), and she invited several of her friends to come to the party too, so I got to meet real French people who are my age for the first time! At one point in the evening, we learned that one of the French girls (Sonia) had studied in England for a year. I was coaxed into speaking in my English accent to see if she could understand me better without the American accent. It turned out that Sonia could understand me fine either way, but another girl could only understand me when I spoke in the accent. So for the rest of the night if I spoke in English at all, I had to speak with an English accent so that everyone could understand the conversation.
On Friday night, I had my first dinner with my French exchange family. The way the dinner was to go was explained to me as, "You will speak to the children in English for an hour and a half before dinner, and then during dinner, they will correct your French." Which made me feel really confident in my French abilities. The organization for it happened really quickly; Thursday night I was told I might meet the family on Friday night if they called me back on Friday, and then early Friday afternoon, I heard back from the mom in the family and we got everything set up for that night. I really like the family. The kids are ages 16 (girl), 15 (boy), and 13 (boy). It was nice to be in the middle of a family setting again. I mean, the program kids all joke around about how we're a huge family at this point--and it's true, it's what it feels like--but I miss the real thing. It was nice to be among bickering siblings again--and I really do mean that wholeheartedly.
Marseille
Yesterday, I went with a few of the program kids to Marseille to see a professional football game here--or as we Americans are prone to say, soccer. We were able to find tickets to the game for only 30€, and train tickets are also pretty cheap to Marseille. The game was fantastic! Marseille won 2-1 versus Sochaux, so everyone was happy. The Mistral was playing games with the temperature here again, so we were all sort of freezing, but it was like we were at home again watching an American football game. We were all pretty happy with the results of the night. After the game, we went out to eat and I got Marseille's specialty: bouillabaisse! It was okay, not amazing but not terrible either. I'm happy I got it at least once, anyway. The bouillabaisse was followed by profiteroles and coffee, and it seemed like a pretty great French night overall.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Commencement
It ends and begins.
I have been so emotional lately. We had our last day of orientation class today, and I almost cried so. many. times. It was slightly ridiculous. I watched Finding Neverland last night with one of my friends, and that was not a good idea. It is impossible to watch that movie without crying at least once--for any normal person. For me, it's somewhere between three and four times. (Christy, I blame you!) So that got my tear ducts all revved up and ready for today.
So today in class we watched a French film about family and how it's great even with its ups and downs. And obviously that's another great idea considering that I've been getting homesick lately. No tears from me at all. (Said the liar.) Leaving class today was actually really bittersweet because I've gotten really fond of our professors but I'm also really excited about starting real classes on Monday.
I don't think I've ever explained about the wonderful cafeteria at the school. The man in charge--the chef, if you will--is amazing. Every day during our coffee breaks (they are an essential part of the French lifestyle), we would all walk into the cafeteria to get our coffee and he would give us special deals after first bursting out in laughter and shouting, "Vive les Américains!" Some days he would bring us pain au chocolat--amazing pain au chocolat, mind you--and he would always greet us with some sort of compliment, trivia question, or joke. Once he had us name four American presidents before we could get our coffee. (Just FYI, France has only had six presidents so far, including Sarkozy. So it was a little easier for Americans than it would have been for the French.) Today, for our last day, he surprised us with a huge array of drinks, pastries, and fruit. It was so nice! And so French!
Aside from all that, I had a sort of revelation earlier today about what exactly makes life here so incredible. Life here really isn't all that different from life in the United States, but everyone here expects life to be amazing, so it is. Every time we do something, it's somehow transformed into an experience instead of just a task we have to get done. Life is so much better when you live every day as if it were extraordinary!
I have been so emotional lately. We had our last day of orientation class today, and I almost cried so. many. times. It was slightly ridiculous. I watched Finding Neverland last night with one of my friends, and that was not a good idea. It is impossible to watch that movie without crying at least once--for any normal person. For me, it's somewhere between three and four times. (Christy, I blame you!) So that got my tear ducts all revved up and ready for today.
So today in class we watched a French film about family and how it's great even with its ups and downs. And obviously that's another great idea considering that I've been getting homesick lately. No tears from me at all. (Said the liar.) Leaving class today was actually really bittersweet because I've gotten really fond of our professors but I'm also really excited about starting real classes on Monday.
I don't think I've ever explained about the wonderful cafeteria at the school. The man in charge--the chef, if you will--is amazing. Every day during our coffee breaks (they are an essential part of the French lifestyle), we would all walk into the cafeteria to get our coffee and he would give us special deals after first bursting out in laughter and shouting, "Vive les Américains!" Some days he would bring us pain au chocolat--amazing pain au chocolat, mind you--and he would always greet us with some sort of compliment, trivia question, or joke. Once he had us name four American presidents before we could get our coffee. (Just FYI, France has only had six presidents so far, including Sarkozy. So it was a little easier for Americans than it would have been for the French.) Today, for our last day, he surprised us with a huge array of drinks, pastries, and fruit. It was so nice! And so French!
Aside from all that, I had a sort of revelation earlier today about what exactly makes life here so incredible. Life here really isn't all that different from life in the United States, but everyone here expects life to be amazing, so it is. Every time we do something, it's somehow transformed into an experience instead of just a task we have to get done. Life is so much better when you live every day as if it were extraordinary!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
The past week in review
This week has been very busy, and most of it has been due to our scholastic endeavors here. We all studied really hard this weekend for a test we thought we had on Monday over grammar. It turned out not to be a test on grammar, but instead was a large essay, which is something you can't really study for. We're finishing up our orientation classes this week before our real university classes start on Monday, so this week has been filled with tests. Today, for example, we had our huge history test, an oral comprehension test, and an essay. Our history test consisted of two and a half blank pages of printer paper which we needed to fill with a timeline of all of our knowledge of French history, the names of 15 presidents of countries that are frequently discussed in world news, and an "article" discussing the strengths and weaknesses of France.
I'm pretty sure I aced the first two sections of the history test because I studied like I was crazy, despite other people telling me there was no way we needed to know all of that stuff. Hmph.
To study for the test yesterday, I went with one of my friends to the park here in Aix called Parc Jourdain. It was really nice to go someplace besides the apartment to just sit and relax for a few hours. It was also really nice to be able to sit on grass and under trees again. I brought a blanket from my apartment to the park, and we just laid on the ground for a while listening to my jazz music and watching the cloudless sky.
Today's weather is acting a little more like what I expected from fall here. The sky is a little overcast, but there are still patches of sunlight, and it's supposed to rain tomorrow and Saturday here. I was planning on going to Cassis with a few friends this weekend, but with the weather turning colder, I decided I would just rather stay here and get some good cleaning in.
Tonight, I'm trying a new recipe with some pork chops I got from our local discount store: Orange-Topped Chops. I'm really excited!
I'm pretty sure I aced the first two sections of the history test because I studied like I was crazy, despite other people telling me there was no way we needed to know all of that stuff. Hmph.
To study for the test yesterday, I went with one of my friends to the park here in Aix called Parc Jourdain. It was really nice to go someplace besides the apartment to just sit and relax for a few hours. It was also really nice to be able to sit on grass and under trees again. I brought a blanket from my apartment to the park, and we just laid on the ground for a while listening to my jazz music and watching the cloudless sky.
Today's weather is acting a little more like what I expected from fall here. The sky is a little overcast, but there are still patches of sunlight, and it's supposed to rain tomorrow and Saturday here. I was planning on going to Cassis with a few friends this weekend, but with the weather turning colder, I decided I would just rather stay here and get some good cleaning in.
Tonight, I'm trying a new recipe with some pork chops I got from our local discount store: Orange-Topped Chops. I'm really excited!
Friday, September 3, 2010
INTERNET
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that is how happy I am to have found internet in a location that is both convenient and free! I think I may even devote this entire entry to a sonnet I'm going to write about counting the ways I love thee. I mean, the internet.
Or maybe not. (I know, you're all extremely relieved. But really. I'm so happy to have found internet.)
Oh! And FYI, if you haven't seen them yet, I wrote two entries below this one that I just added as well that detail my last two days lost at sea, so you can get in some good reading--not to be conceited or anything.
Well, we just finished our first test for our cours intensif, and it wasn't bad. Simple, straightforward, in short, exactly my cup of tea. I think things are finally settling down here. I have to go buy another bus pass today, but other than that, I think we only have a few minor housekeeping details to care of, like buying spices and meat, etc.
I'm kind of starving right now, but I honestly feel like my need to communicate with the world supersedes my need to eat. Also, did you know it's spelled "supersedes"? I totally thought it was "supercedes". Anyway. (By the way, if you haven't noticed, this is how my mind works--jumping around spasmatically--and it takes super-concentration to get a clear thought completed when I write.)
I'm going to go eat now.
Or maybe not. (I know, you're all extremely relieved. But really. I'm so happy to have found internet.)
Oh! And FYI, if you haven't seen them yet, I wrote two entries below this one that I just added as well that detail my last two days lost at sea, so you can get in some good reading--not to be conceited or anything.
Well, we just finished our first test for our cours intensif, and it wasn't bad. Simple, straightforward, in short, exactly my cup of tea. I think things are finally settling down here. I have to go buy another bus pass today, but other than that, I think we only have a few minor housekeeping details to care of, like buying spices and meat, etc.
I'm kind of starving right now, but I honestly feel like my need to communicate with the world supersedes my need to eat. Also, did you know it's spelled "supersedes"? I totally thought it was "supercedes". Anyway. (By the way, if you haven't noticed, this is how my mind works--jumping around spasmatically--and it takes super-concentration to get a clear thought completed when I write.)
I'm going to go eat now.
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