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 happiness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label happiness. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
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!!
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Barcelona
Where to begin? This weekend was amazing from start to finish. So I suppose I should start at the beginning.
Saturday October 30, 2010
Our bus left at about 6am on Saturday morning, and the drive there was supposed to take about 6-7 hours. We drove along the Mediterranean for a while, and we got to see a lot of charming cities situated on the coast. It was really surprising how much the landscape differed from France to Spain once we crossed the border. It was very mountainey in Spain--and gorgeous!
So we got to Barcelona at about noon, and we headed over to our hostel, which was right up Les Ramblas, one of the main roads in Barcelona. It took a
little bit to get everyone from our group situated, but we finally got everyone settled in. From there, Bri and I went to grab some lunch and see some of the city. She had bought a Barcelona guide book, so we ended up doing a lot of walking to see the main sights. Luck seemed to be against us because we kept getting to the churches only to find out they were closed. Not everything went wrong, though. The weather was gorgeous, and we found the main market in the city almost right away: La Boqueria!
The market was awesome. It was huge, for one thing. And for another, I bought some delicious chocolate candies. And you know that makes me happy. So we walked around for a while, getting a feel for the city. At some point, we were looking for a map, and an English man asked us if we were trying to find tickets for the soccer game that night. Bri and I looked at each other and asked how much the tickets were. We were really, really tempted (that's a huge understatement) to buy them and go, but we decided they were too expensive.
Anyway! That night we decided to eat real Spanish food, so we ended up getting Paella, Sangria, and Tappas. From there, we decided to take the metro to check out the city's Magic Fountains, which are these fountains that have a choreographed light and music show every night from 7 to 9 pm. Again, luck was against us, because we got there only to find out that the fountains are currently under construction. Bummer! We ended up just sitting by the empty fountains and enjoying the great view of the city while a Spanish guitarist serenaded us. (There is a video of that I'll be putting up.) We took the metro back to near our hotel and decided to walk along
the boardwalk at night, just to see what it was like. It was gorgeous. We sat on the docks and listened to the water and the night for a while. It was a really nice and relaxing. From there we headed back to the hostel to sleep in our dorm bunk beds.
Sunday October 31, 2010
Because we wanted to get a headstart on seeing the city on Sunday, we decided to wake up early. Except we didn't know how early we had actually gotten up. Apparently, Europe has daylight savings time too, and it was this weekend. So we ate breakfast at the hostel--definitely not the best thing I've ever eaten. Then we headed out to see the sights again after a short pitstop to get some Starbucks while we could. We went to the churches again to see if they were open. One of them wasn't, so we went to the cathedral instead to find out what times Mass were for the day. A really nice little Spanish lady helped me, and we decided to come back later that night for one of the evening Masses.
We headed to the beach after that, which was beautiful! According to National Geographic, it's supposed to
be one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. It was completely redone for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, and they've kept it up ever since. Bri and I rolled up our jeans so we could get our feet wet, but we ended up getting our jeans completely soaked anyway because the waves kept coming in bigger than we expected.
The rest of the day was a little slower. We went to Mass at the Cathedral in Catalan, and then we just walked around the city for a while enjoying all the Halloween costumes. We found out this weekend that Halloween is a lot bigger in Spain than it is in France. The costumes were really, really good! We actually ended up getting a Spanish specialty on La Rambla that night: churros and chocolate. It was so good!
Monday November 1, 2010
We woke up extra early on Monday to get to La Sagrada Familia before it opened. We ended up getting there right at 9 o'clock, so we still had a pretty substantial line, but it wasn't terrible. The church is so beautiful on the inside! We had already seen the outside of the church the day before with our group, but we hadn't gone in yet. The inside was absolutely incredible. The church has been under construction since 1882, and it's still not scheduled to be finished for another 30 years. The inside of the church is designed to have a foresty feel to it, and it definitely does. It's surprising how much light is in the church--everything is really brightly lit with natural light. Even the stained glass windows have a brighter feel to them than normal church windows. I really liked it, but I had to leave a little early to get to Mass for All Saints Day in the smaller chapel of the church.
After I got done with Mass, we hustled over to the aquarium. We were told that it is "the biggest aquarium in the world". That information is incorrect. We paid a hefty entrance fee, which we thought was worth it for the biggest aquarium in the world, but we were a little disappointed. We got to see a lot of cool fish--lots of sharks, and there was an underwater tunnel we got to go through, but that was about it in the aquarium. So after that, we took it slow, bought some Cuban cigars as gifts for people Bri knows, and got on the bus to come home.
I'll be getting pictures posted soon; they're actually uploading right now!
Edit: Photos are now available on the right!
Saturday October 30, 2010
Our bus left at about 6am on Saturday morning, and the drive there was supposed to take about 6-7 hours. We drove along the Mediterranean for a while, and we got to see a lot of charming cities situated on the coast. It was really surprising how much the landscape differed from France to Spain once we crossed the border. It was very mountainey in Spain--and gorgeous!
So we got to Barcelona at about noon, and we headed over to our hostel, which was right up Les Ramblas, one of the main roads in Barcelona. It took a
little bit to get everyone from our group situated, but we finally got everyone settled in. From there, Bri and I went to grab some lunch and see some of the city. She had bought a Barcelona guide book, so we ended up doing a lot of walking to see the main sights. Luck seemed to be against us because we kept getting to the churches only to find out they were closed. Not everything went wrong, though. The weather was gorgeous, and we found the main market in the city almost right away: La Boqueria!The market was awesome. It was huge, for one thing. And for another, I bought some delicious chocolate candies. And you know that makes me happy. So we walked around for a while, getting a feel for the city. At some point, we were looking for a map, and an English man asked us if we were trying to find tickets for the soccer game that night. Bri and I looked at each other and asked how much the tickets were. We were really, really tempted (that's a huge understatement) to buy them and go, but we decided they were too expensive.
Anyway! That night we decided to eat real Spanish food, so we ended up getting Paella, Sangria, and Tappas. From there, we decided to take the metro to check out the city's Magic Fountains, which are these fountains that have a choreographed light and music show every night from 7 to 9 pm. Again, luck was against us, because we got there only to find out that the fountains are currently under construction. Bummer! We ended up just sitting by the empty fountains and enjoying the great view of the city while a Spanish guitarist serenaded us. (There is a video of that I'll be putting up.) We took the metro back to near our hotel and decided to walk along
the boardwalk at night, just to see what it was like. It was gorgeous. We sat on the docks and listened to the water and the night for a while. It was a really nice and relaxing. From there we headed back to the hostel to sleep in our dorm bunk beds.Sunday October 31, 2010
Because we wanted to get a headstart on seeing the city on Sunday, we decided to wake up early. Except we didn't know how early we had actually gotten up. Apparently, Europe has daylight savings time too, and it was this weekend. So we ate breakfast at the hostel--definitely not the best thing I've ever eaten. Then we headed out to see the sights again after a short pitstop to get some Starbucks while we could. We went to the churches again to see if they were open. One of them wasn't, so we went to the cathedral instead to find out what times Mass were for the day. A really nice little Spanish lady helped me, and we decided to come back later that night for one of the evening Masses.
We headed to the beach after that, which was beautiful! According to National Geographic, it's supposed to
be one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. It was completely redone for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, and they've kept it up ever since. Bri and I rolled up our jeans so we could get our feet wet, but we ended up getting our jeans completely soaked anyway because the waves kept coming in bigger than we expected.The rest of the day was a little slower. We went to Mass at the Cathedral in Catalan, and then we just walked around the city for a while enjoying all the Halloween costumes. We found out this weekend that Halloween is a lot bigger in Spain than it is in France. The costumes were really, really good! We actually ended up getting a Spanish specialty on La Rambla that night: churros and chocolate. It was so good!
Monday November 1, 2010
We woke up extra early on Monday to get to La Sagrada Familia before it opened. We ended up getting there right at 9 o'clock, so we still had a pretty substantial line, but it wasn't terrible. The church is so beautiful on the inside! We had already seen the outside of the church the day before with our group, but we hadn't gone in yet. The inside was absolutely incredible. The church has been under construction since 1882, and it's still not scheduled to be finished for another 30 years. The inside of the church is designed to have a foresty feel to it, and it definitely does. It's surprising how much light is in the church--everything is really brightly lit with natural light. Even the stained glass windows have a brighter feel to them than normal church windows. I really liked it, but I had to leave a little early to get to Mass for All Saints Day in the smaller chapel of the church.
After I got done with Mass, we hustled over to the aquarium. We were told that it is "the biggest aquarium in the world". That information is incorrect. We paid a hefty entrance fee, which we thought was worth it for the biggest aquarium in the world, but we were a little disappointed. We got to see a lot of cool fish--lots of sharks, and there was an underwater tunnel we got to go through, but that was about it in the aquarium. So after that, we took it slow, bought some Cuban cigars as gifts for people Bri knows, and got on the bus to come home.
I'll be getting pictures posted soon; they're actually uploading right now!
Edit: Photos are now available on the right!
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!
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Optimism
Today was a good day!
In case you haven't noticed, I really miss having fall surround me. It's so odd here because I have to really search for the things that are almost obnoxious in the United States because they are so evident. Like Halloween--the candy, the costumes, the excitement. And pumpkins, and Pumpkin Spice Lattes, and pumpkin pie and the trees changing colors. I can't really find any of that here.
So my consolation has been apples, which are apparently a very universal thing. You can do so much with apples! I've never appreciated them so much before now. First, I love apple cider. My mom can make a killer wassail at Christmastime, and I kind of used her recipe to modify the cider here--because the only type of cider I have been able to find is alcoholic cider, which gives it a sort of weird aftertaste from what I'm used to. So I've been heating it up and adding oranges, cinnamon, and nutmeg to it--and voilà! A wonderfully fall-y drink without a weird aftertaste. (I think it also helps that I've been heating it a little longer so it cooks some of the alcohol out.)
Anyway, today a few friends and I went to our outdoor market to buy apples because I really wanted to make apple dumplings. So we bought eight Golden Delicious apples--huge Golden Delicious apples--and went on our merry way back to my friend's apartment because she has an oven. We started peeling and cutting the apples, and it turned out that we had bought way too many, even for eight apple dumplings. So we made eight apple dumplings and an apple tart.
The dumplings turned out really, really well! I always love it when people say that something I make (or help make) is the best thing they've eaten in France so far, which has actually happened quite a few times. But the dumplings were really good. It also helped that we just happened to have vanilla ice cream or milk to eat with them.
It was just a really nice, relaxing day. I absolutely love cooking and baking, and it especially made me happy because everybody kept saying how it finally felt like fall. If anything, that made me happiest. So while the dumplings and the pie/tart baked, we played euchre--which was also really nice because I play euchre a lot with my family and it made it seem like I was at home for a little while. And while all this was happening, my friend Lyndsy came over and made Pumpkin Spice Lattes for us all. It was basically perfect.
In case you haven't noticed, I really miss having fall surround me. It's so odd here because I have to really search for the things that are almost obnoxious in the United States because they are so evident. Like Halloween--the candy, the costumes, the excitement. And pumpkins, and Pumpkin Spice Lattes, and pumpkin pie and the trees changing colors. I can't really find any of that here.
So my consolation has been apples, which are apparently a very universal thing. You can do so much with apples! I've never appreciated them so much before now. First, I love apple cider. My mom can make a killer wassail at Christmastime, and I kind of used her recipe to modify the cider here--because the only type of cider I have been able to find is alcoholic cider, which gives it a sort of weird aftertaste from what I'm used to. So I've been heating it up and adding oranges, cinnamon, and nutmeg to it--and voilà! A wonderfully fall-y drink without a weird aftertaste. (I think it also helps that I've been heating it a little longer so it cooks some of the alcohol out.)
Anyway, today a few friends and I went to our outdoor market to buy apples because I really wanted to make apple dumplings. So we bought eight Golden Delicious apples--huge Golden Delicious apples--and went on our merry way back to my friend's apartment because she has an oven. We started peeling and cutting the apples, and it turned out that we had bought way too many, even for eight apple dumplings. So we made eight apple dumplings and an apple tart.
The dumplings turned out really, really well! I always love it when people say that something I make (or help make) is the best thing they've eaten in France so far, which has actually happened quite a few times. But the dumplings were really good. It also helped that we just happened to have vanilla ice cream or milk to eat with them.
It was just a really nice, relaxing day. I absolutely love cooking and baking, and it especially made me happy because everybody kept saying how it finally felt like fall. If anything, that made me happiest. So while the dumplings and the pie/tart baked, we played euchre--which was also really nice because I play euchre a lot with my family and it made it seem like I was at home for a little while. And while all this was happening, my friend Lyndsy came over and made Pumpkin Spice Lattes for us all. It was basically perfect.
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.
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!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
France: Our Secret Time Machine/Simplicity of Life
The longer I'm here, the more I realize just how lucky how I am. Sometimes I'll wake up in the morning, and I'll just think to myself, "You live in the South of France." I just can't get over how great this all is.
I don't know if I can even convey the extent of my happiness here. Every time I have finished a meal with my friends, we all have just agreed that "We're so happy."
I happen to have quite a large collection of Miles Davis jazz, and we've taken to listening to it during our meals, which have also been candlelit (see left). We're still poor college students, so it's not like our meals are super fancy, but they've all been really delicious and relaxing, which I think sums up life in France in general. The picture on the left is at our neighbors' apartment, which is not as well-furnished as ours is, so they've taken to empty wine bottles for candle holders.
Yesterday afternoon, bunch of program students and I went out to find somewhere were we could play soccer. Our program office distributed a bunch of supplies that were left for us by previous students, and one of my friends got a soccer ball, but the only problem is that he ball is a little flat (or maybe really flat). But it was good enough for us to play with yesterday. We found a soccer court to play on yesterday--just like a basketball court, paved and everything, except with soccer goals instead of hoops. Not the best, but it did the job, and I remembered how much I love soccer. Which is a lot.
The French don't really have the concept of exercising like Americans do. Gyms are really hard to come by, and the only forms of exercise that we've seen so far have been walking (everywhere) and dancing.
Today, there is sort of community club fair on the Cours Mirabeau, which is the main street in Aix. Every club or student group or sports club is supposed to have a booth set up so that we can walk around and pick up leaflets at any place that interests us. I think the ratio of salsa dancing clubs to any other club is about 30:1. It's insane. The only other type of activity that was easy to find is martial arts. It was a little disappointing because a lot of us students had had our hearts set on playing sports with other students our age, and the only place I found that plays sports is a basketball league for girls. Anything involving a lot of hand-eye coordination is not really my thing, which basically leaves soccer in the mix. Which is too bad because we didn't find a single place that plays soccer.
In other news, I should be starting to have weekly dinners with a family either this week or next week, so I'll keep you all updated on that situation too.
I don't know if I can even convey the extent of my happiness here. Every time I have finished a meal with my friends, we all have just agreed that "We're so happy."
I happen to have quite a large collection of Miles Davis jazz, and we've taken to listening to it during our meals, which have also been candlelit (see left). We're still poor college students, so it's not like our meals are super fancy, but they've all been really delicious and relaxing, which I think sums up life in France in general. The picture on the left is at our neighbors' apartment, which is not as well-furnished as ours is, so they've taken to empty wine bottles for candle holders.Yesterday afternoon, bunch of program students and I went out to find somewhere were we could play soccer. Our program office distributed a bunch of supplies that were left for us by previous students, and one of my friends got a soccer ball, but the only problem is that he ball is a little flat (or maybe really flat). But it was good enough for us to play with yesterday. We found a soccer court to play on yesterday--just like a basketball court, paved and everything, except with soccer goals instead of hoops. Not the best, but it did the job, and I remembered how much I love soccer. Which is a lot.
The French don't really have the concept of exercising like Americans do. Gyms are really hard to come by, and the only forms of exercise that we've seen so far have been walking (everywhere) and dancing.
Today, there is sort of community club fair on the Cours Mirabeau, which is the main street in Aix. Every club or student group or sports club is supposed to have a booth set up so that we can walk around and pick up leaflets at any place that interests us. I think the ratio of salsa dancing clubs to any other club is about 30:1. It's insane. The only other type of activity that was easy to find is martial arts. It was a little disappointing because a lot of us students had had our hearts set on playing sports with other students our age, and the only place I found that plays sports is a basketball league for girls. Anything involving a lot of hand-eye coordination is not really my thing, which basically leaves soccer in the mix. Which is too bad because we didn't find a single place that plays soccer.
In other news, I should be starting to have weekly dinners with a family either this week or next week, so I'll keep you all updated on that situation too.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Finalement... Internet in my apartment
You should all be very, very proud of me. I successfully installed our internet by following instructions in French--and by myself, I might add. So we now have internet in our apartment! It's also sort of extra special because we're the first program kids to have internet in our apartment because everybody else either went to the internet/phone store after we did, or they asked for a person to come out and install it for them. Well, not me. I can do it myself!
In other news, the program had us start looking at classes for our schedules because we can start scheduling classes next week. The only problem is, it's the most difficult thing I've ever done in my life. French schools, apparently, only have a student body because it's free. Because nobody in their right mind would knowingly pay to have to go through the entire school website just to find a single class that they want to take.
Okay. Let me back up and explain a little.
So. This is me having an open mind. Ahem. French schools are not set up the same way American ones are. Schooling is free in France, so long as you go to a public school. Universities are included in this until you get to the Grands Ecoles, which are sort of like the French Ivy League. The schools aren't organized as an overall school--that's just for the classrooms--but are instead organized according to department. That all sounds reasonable so far, right? I agree. However. (You knew it was coming, don't be surprised.) The departments act as individual entities when it comes to scheduling. So to find a class list (if you're lucky enough to have it in a complete list), you have to go to each individual department's webpage. But as each department is its own entity, there is no rule as to when the class lists are updated or where the classes will be found on the department website.
Can you understand why I'm getting frustrated? Oh, America. You do so many organizational things right.
So far, I've found the Linguistics deparment's website and class list--for last year.
I'm not a happy camper right now.
---
I'm updating this as I'm preparing for what is to be my third dinner party in my apartment here in Aix. It's so great! There are going to be seven of us total. It was going to be eight, but someone dropped out on us at the last minute. The menu: Salt & Pepper Chicken with a Mexican Rice/Bean sauce, the necessary baguette and Camembert (cheese, for those non-gourmands out there, but oh-so delicious cheese), Pain au Chocolat, and two different varieties of wine. I'm getting so excited, especially because I'm coming to appreciate how well our apartment is placed in the city.
Oh! And for those of you who haven't seen, I posted two links (so far) to my pictures of St. Tropez and Marseille. More to come of other adventures in France!
In other news, the program had us start looking at classes for our schedules because we can start scheduling classes next week. The only problem is, it's the most difficult thing I've ever done in my life. French schools, apparently, only have a student body because it's free. Because nobody in their right mind would knowingly pay to have to go through the entire school website just to find a single class that they want to take.
Okay. Let me back up and explain a little.
So. This is me having an open mind. Ahem. French schools are not set up the same way American ones are. Schooling is free in France, so long as you go to a public school. Universities are included in this until you get to the Grands Ecoles, which are sort of like the French Ivy League. The schools aren't organized as an overall school--that's just for the classrooms--but are instead organized according to department. That all sounds reasonable so far, right? I agree. However. (You knew it was coming, don't be surprised.) The departments act as individual entities when it comes to scheduling. So to find a class list (if you're lucky enough to have it in a complete list), you have to go to each individual department's webpage. But as each department is its own entity, there is no rule as to when the class lists are updated or where the classes will be found on the department website.
Can you understand why I'm getting frustrated? Oh, America. You do so many organizational things right.
So far, I've found the Linguistics deparment's website and class list--for last year.
I'm not a happy camper right now.
---
I'm updating this as I'm preparing for what is to be my third dinner party in my apartment here in Aix. It's so great! There are going to be seven of us total. It was going to be eight, but someone dropped out on us at the last minute. The menu: Salt & Pepper Chicken with a Mexican Rice/Bean sauce, the necessary baguette and Camembert (cheese, for those non-gourmands out there, but oh-so delicious cheese), Pain au Chocolat, and two different varieties of wine. I'm getting so excited, especially because I'm coming to appreciate how well our apartment is placed in the city.
Oh! And for those of you who haven't seen, I posted two links (so far) to my pictures of St. Tropez and Marseille. More to come of other adventures in France!
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