This is going to be a history of my life in France for the next six months. All the fun experiences, travels, new foods, learning, craziness, and headaches (hopefully not too many of those) will be noted here for all to read. And hopefully it will not only help me remember what may be one of the best 6 months of my life, it will inspire someone else to jump out into the world on their own.
Yesterday a few of us decided to check out Marseille. Megan, Brae, Jasper, Jordi (an international student from Mexico), Jerrica, Margo (an American student from California), and I met at around 9:30 to catch a bus at 10 to Marseille. The bus trip only took about 20-25 minutes and when we got there, we headed straight for Le Vieux Port.
As we were walking in Marseille, it was kind of spitting cold rain. At Le Vieux Port (or the old harbor/port), there was a fish market which was really cool. All of these fishermen and women from the area go out early in the morning and then come and show their goods for others to buy. It seemed very medieval to me but it was awesome that it’s still very much a part of modern-day life to me.
Fish Market
Fish Market
A Fisherman whacking away at a fish for his customers (he was covered in blood and while it was a gruesome sight, it was also kind of fascinating)
A Fisherman and Boat in Le Vieux Port
A Grumpy-looking old Fisherman with Fish and Eels
Le Vieux Port
After seeing the fish market, we walked around for a little while trying to find somewhere to sit and get something warm to drink. At this point it had started to rain a bit harder and was getting increasingly colder. Finally everyone decided to try and find this falafel place. I don’t much like falafel and I had brought my own lunch so I decided to do something that will probably make my mother faint. I broke off from the group. :) I had wanted to see the Basilique de Notre Dame de la Garde (or the basilica of our mother of the guard) and since it was such a crappy day, no one wanted to go because the view would be pretty bad due to fog and rain. So I waited for the bus and headed up the hill towards the basilica.
Once I got up there the wind was whipping so fast that I almost lost my beret and balance a few times. But I finally got up to the top and went into the basilica. Every time I walk into a new cathedral, chapel, abbey, basilica, etc, I get this exciting feeling about what I’m going to see. As I make my way there, I think of all of the people who have ever come to worship there and what they thought of their place of worship. I think of who built it and why they chose to represent certain things in the art, paintings, and mosaics. And every time I try to think of how I felt in the last cathedral. Every time a feeling of awe and amazement floods over me. No matter if I’ve seen pictures or heard rumors of how awesome/not awesome a place is. I walk in and bam!, I’m just in awe.
ND de la Garde
The Altar of ND de la Garde
Breathtaking Mosaics :)
More breathtaking Mosaics
ND de la Garde
ND de la Garde
Beautiful Mosaics behind the altar (you can see the ship represented prominently)
ND de la Garde
At the basilica the art and decoration is very centered on the sea, ships, and the port. There were ships in the mosaics, ship sterns decorating the pillars, garlands of ships and planes, and sailor memorabilia decorating the walls. Never before had I seen a place of worship so decorated in something that had little to do with Catholicism. Don’t get me wrong, there were the prerequisite artworks depicting biblical stories but there were an equal number of mosaics depicting the sea, sailors, and ships. In my opinion it was amazing. I always think that Catholicism (and religion in general) is too one-sided. It represents one way of thinking about God and the bible; but here was a congregation that had taken its view of Catholicism and shown it for the world to see. Their worldview, focusing heavily on the sea and how it’s affected their lives, could be seen very clearly in their praise and worship of God and it was really quite inspiring.
After seeing the basilica and the crypt, I headed back down to Le Vieux Port. I texted the group saying that I was back and they instructed me to meet them at Shop Square in Marseille. Almost a half an hour later, I found Shop Square and texted them to see where they were. They responded that they were no longer there and had moved on to another place. So after asking at least 4 different people and looking at my map, I found where they were. Apparently they hadn’t worried about me or my whereabouts. And while I realize that I am not an infant and would have been perfectly capable finding my way back to Aix if I could not find them, that’s not exactly the point. When I’m in a group of people, I make sure that everyone in the group is together and safe. Which seems, at least to me, to be a stretch for some people. It just boggles my mind sometimes how very little others think about the people around them. Even if they know them.
Anyway the place at which I met up with them was L’Abbaye de Saint Victor. And wow was it truly amazing. Again all these thoughts about its past, the people who walked by it, the people who worshiped there, etc, flooded my mind. And when I walked through the door, it was beautiful. A medieval abbey built in the 5th and 6th centuries, it was rebuilt in the 12th century. As I looked around at the stones, I wondered who worked to put them there, who had walked past them in the last few hundred years, who had seen this place as home? To me, cathedrals and abbeys and other places of worship hold so much history and insight into life, love, happiness, strength, and peace. And the abbey of Saint Victor was definitely one of the highlights of my trip. :)
L'Abbaye de Saint Victor
The altar of the Abbey (breathtaking, isn't it?)
After the abbey, Megan, Jerrica and I decided to head back to Aix. It was just too cold and rainy to really enjoy much more of Marseille. After taking the bus from Marseille to Aix, we were walking back to our dorms when all of a sudden Megan stepped in a huge puddle. Jerrica and I could not stop laughing. It seems that after an exhausting day of walking in the rain, even the smallest things are quite funny. As it began to rain harder, we noticed that Megan had some kind of foam on her cloth boots. She quickly wiped it off thinking it was something from the puddle, but a few minutes later it was back. As Jerrica and I died laughing, Megan explained that she thought her foot was creating foam.
Le Liquide Lessive :)
But we later realized that it was because she had accidentally spilt laundry detergent on her boots and when it mixed with the rainwater, it foamed up her shoe. :) All in all it was a great ending to an equally great day.
This week has flown by just like all of the others and I fear that it will soon be May. :( Not that I don’t want to go home but I truly do love France and all of the amazing people here. I have friends from so many places all over the globe and they all have amazing stories to tell. And I hope that when I come home, I’ll be fluent in French. If not, I just may have to stay. :)
Monday was a resting day from our ski weekend. I can’t explain to you the amount of pain I was in but I used Monday to recover. A few advil and a lot of sleep can go a long way. :) Tuesday I had class but it was uneventful. Wednesday I had class from 2-8 PM and then decided that I wanted to stay in. On Thursday I had class and then met up with a group of people to have dinner. Jasper made a delicious soup and afterward, we all went to a bar in town. The bar turned out to be ridiculously expensive so I just got a strawberry water (some of the prices for alcoholic drinks were 8 euros and up). Friday night we all got together again and this time Jasper made tacos. Which were absolutely delicious and that’s saying a lot because I don’t normally like mexican food. :) Brae brought over playing cards, a regular deck and Phase 10, so that we could have a game night. But, it turns out, only Brae and I knew how to play Phase 10. So our game ended up being almost 4 hours long and we just gave up because no one was winning. I also found out that no one in our group knows how to play euchre. :( Which made me extremely sad because I love playing cards, especially games like euchre, club euchre, two-hand euchre, and oh hell. And since everyone was struggling to understand Phase 10, I think euchre might be beyond their means. :( After game night, we all headed back to our dorms to get some rest because on Saturday we decided we wanted to check out Marseille.
So I (again) have not been in the mood and/or have not had time to blog this week. I feel like keeping up this blog is going to be one of the greatest struggles I face here in France. Which, after saying it like that, doesn’t sound too bad. :) Remembering to write down my life is going to be the hardest thing? Yes please. :)
Last weekend was literally amazing! For our Week-end Ski à Praloup, we left on Friday night and came back Sunday night. We were all supposed to meet at 6 at La Rotunde, in front of the statue of Paul Cezanne. After meeting there we stood around and waited for our bus for about 20-30 minutes. Then we got on the bus and waited about a half hour to find out that we had to wait for another bus before we could head to Praloup because somehow, this bus had some of our luggage (still not clear on how that happened). Finally, around 8:30 or 9, we started on our way through the French countryside to the ski resort.
On the bus there were mainly just college students. One such group was a group of French fraternity boys and they sure did make the bus ride interesting at the very least. About ten minutes into our trip, they handed out songbooks to everyone which had classic French drinking songs in them. And thus began (for them) the drunken sing along time. I will not recount here what the songs were about; needless to say, they were not very polite. They also handed around laffy taffy for the bus and at one point, even blew up a blow up doll and passed her around (by that I mean they just passed her from one guy to another, nothing inappropriate happened). Also on our ride to Praloup, we stopped at a highway rest stop so that anyone who wanted to could pee. Megan, Michelle, Brae, Jerrica, and I all had to go so we got in line and waited. A French lady came up to us and asked if we had toilet paper (because there apparently was none in the restroom) and kindly gave us some because we didn’t have any. Unbeknownst to any of us (until we got into the restrooms of course), the “toilets” were actually just holes in the floor. Apparently this is very common at all French highway rest stops. And while we all braved the elements and survived, never again will I (or I think any of them) stop to use the restroom along the highway.
Once we got to the resort at about 12:30 PM, it was a relief to get off the bus, partly because of the partying French boys but also because the bus had been driving through the winding mountain roads in a quick, darting way that gave me motion sickness. :( Anyway, we retrieved our bags from the bus and huddled in a group because it was so cold. We waited and waited for our room keys, just to find out that apparently we had arrived too late in the day and they had to wake up the concierge to get our keys. By the time we got our keys and headed to our rooms, we were all really tired, cold, and grumpy. But when I walked in to our lodgings, I got so very excited. :) It was amazing! We had a Murphy bed (on which Brae and I slept), a couch (on which Jerrica slept), a pull out (no one slept there), and bunk beds (where Megan and Michelle slept).
Our Lodge :)
Jerrica on our Balcony
The Murphy bed where Brae and I slept
Our Living Room and the couch where Jerrica slept
Jerrica in the Kitchen
Our Bathroom
We had a dining room table, a TV, a balcony, a towel warmer, and a full kitchen equipped with oven, stove, plates, bowls, glasses, silverware, refrigerator, dishwasher, etc. I guess I had expected the worst of the worst so having all of these things seemed like a luxury for me. On my excitement high, I unfortunately didn’t get to bed until about 2 AM.
The next morning my phone woke me around 8:30 because we were going skiing at ten. However I did not actually get up until about 9:15 but I still managed to get ready in time. By the time we got our skis, shoes, and poles and got up the mountain, it was about 11:45 or so. Megan and Sophie (one of our adult chaperones) taught me how to ski slowly by keeping my skis in a pizza shape (with the backs of my skis opened wide) and to cross the slope back and forth. On my first run down the easy slope at the top of the mountain, I panicked and fell twice (which still hurts by the way). After that I made a mental note to never fall again and I followed their advice diligently so as to not fall. After my second and third runs down the easy slope, I was feeling exhausted and battered. I let Sophie and Megan go do more exciting things because I could tell I was boring them. I managed my way to an outdoor cafe halfway up the mountain and got hot chocolate and fries. Which after everything I’d been through, tasted extremely delicious. :)
Sophie came back shortly after I was done and mentioned that a group of us were getting together at the base of the mountain to eat lunch. I followed her down the mountain but didn’t eat anything because I’d already had the fries. In our group of skiers were three Haitian guys (Moyley, Ben, and Stevens) and this was their first time skiing. So after lunch all four of us went to the very beginner hill at the base of the mountain and skiied together for awhile. At around 4 or 4:30 though, I was completely exhausted. I went off to find Jerrica and Brae (who decided not to ski at all during the weekend) at a cafe. Not long after I found them, Michelle, Simon (Michelle’s boyfriend), Megan, and Jasper showed up and we all hung out for awhile. We all decided on a whim to take a shot of tequila (my first shot of tequila) and it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it might be. :) Then we went and got groceries to make dinner together and headed back to our lodge.
Jasper, Brae, and Megan at the cafe
Thumbs up after the tequila shot! :)
Dinner was pasta with pesto sauce and tomato sauce, chicken, salad, and baguettes. While it was being made, we all took a shot of whiskey which was much much worse than the tequila by far. Dinner was delicious and afterward some of us went to the French fraternity party upstairs, while Jerrica, Jasper and I watched a movie called City of God. It was pretty violent and gory but the cinematography and plot were very interesting. After the movie I sank into a deep sleep.
Sunday morning we started out a little earlier. Megan and I got on the bus at 9:30 but it wasn’t until we got almost all the way to the slopes that I realized I had forgotten my ski card. So I rode the bus back and managed to run into Sophie. Once Sophie and I got back to the slopes, I was about to say goodbye when she asked what I wanted to do. She said that she was here to help us learn how to ski or do whatever our hearts desired, so she wanted to stick with me. We went down the very very beginner hill a few times and she filmed me. And then, bolstered in confidence by the easiness of the beginner hill, we headed up the mountain to try something a little harder. We went back to the easy slope I had skied on the first day and I skied the run confidently without falling. She filmed me a few times here and then we decided to ski down the entire mountain on a ski route that was a little harder. However after the first section of the route, I realized it was going to be way too hard for me so I headed back up the mountain to take the gondola down.
Beautiful views from on the Mountain
More beautiful views
Me in "une cabine" heading down the mountain
Me after skiing on the mountain :)
At around 1 or 1:30, I got down the mountain and met Jerrica and Brae for lunch. I had gnocchi carbonara and it was one of the most delicious things I’ve eaten here in France. :) I also had a vin chaud which is similar to mulled wine, however I did not find it tasty at all. We waited around for Megan and Jasper to be done skiing and then we went to return my skis, boots, and poles. Then we all decided to get postcards and/or souvenirs. I got postcards for loved ones back home and I also managed to find something I’d been wanting since Paris last spring. It’s a grocery list of sorts. It has a whole bunch of grocery items on it (in French) and if you need that specific item, you switch the arrow from red to white (or vice versa). I had been wanting one desperately since I first found them in Paris and now I’m so happy I finally have one! :)
My Grocery List Thing
The ones with white arrows are the things I need :)
After shopping for awhile, we all headed back to the room to clean up and pack. A few people decided to go swimming until they found out that you have to have swim caps to swim in public pools here in France. Interesting to me that they are totally fine with peeing in a hole but god forbid they not wear swim caps in a pool. :) At around 6:30 or so, we got on the bus to head back to Aix-en-Provence.
As we were winding through the small towns that dot the countryside, I started to listen to my ipod. Almost immediately I feel asleep. When I woke up, the next song that came on my ipod was Who I Am by Jessica Andrews. To give everyone an idea of what I was hearing, here’s the youtube video.
When I heard this song, which was one of my favorites a million years ago, I started to think of everyone back home that I love, especially my family. I thought of my Grandma Souder, my living grandparents, my mom, my dad. I thought of how I grew up in little ol’ Rushville, Indiana and yet, here I am in Aix-en-Provence, France. How did this happen? It made me wonder about all of the choices that led me here and how when I was listening to this song at the age of 13 and 14, I would someday hear it in France without even knowing it.
The next song that came on was BBMak’s song, Back Here. I have always loved this song even though it’s kind of corny (suits me perfectly). And when it came on, I started crying because it made me miss my girl. :( Feeling so emotional about missing my family plus missing her just made me tear up a bit. As I watched the lights of the French countryside, I thought of how I’d left her back home and how she must feel about that. The song also made me think of how serious I am about us and how much I do love her. I swore to myself that when I got home, I’d show her that every single day and never leave her again.
About an hour or so from Aix, Ben (one of the guys from Haiti) who was sitting next to me asked if he could read on my kindle. I said sure but that I only had books in English. He said that was fine and asked me to read the titles to him and explain what they were. He chose to read The Prince by Nicolas Machiavelli, and as he started reading, I thought again of how strange, fascinating and amazing my life is. A girl from a small town in Indiana, sitting next to a boy from Haiti, letting him reading The Prince on her Kindle, in France. :)
One month from today is my 21st birthday! :) While I’m not super excited to turn 21 (just because it’s not as exciting when you can drink alcohol before you turn 21...and also because I hate odd numbers), I think it’ll be fun to celebrate my birthday with all of my new friends. The ISEP students are all here (although Michelle Pietri is leaving this weekend because her study abroad term is over) and they consist of Megan, Rebekah, Jasper, Ben, Michelle G, Brae, and Michelle Pietri. My non-ISEP friends so far are Jeroen, Angela, Jan (who left to return to the Netherlands last weekend), Manon, and Frances. I haven’t made any really great French friends but it’s only my second week so there’s plenty of time for that. :)
I haven’t blogged at all these last few days but I haven’t really done much either. On Friday night I went out to the clubs and had a few too many drinks (never again, trust me it was awful), so I spent a major part of Saturday just resting up and trying not to feel sick. We were going to go to Marseille but we didn’t, mostly because I was feeling so awful. :( On Sunday we went out to check out some sales but didn’t find anything worth buying. Since I don’t have any class on Monday, we went to check out more sales...again, nothing to write home about. Tuesday I had two classes and then I invited a few people over for dinner. It turned into a huge party (which was great and I was really happy about) and I made pasta carbonara. It was my first time making pasta carbonara but everyone said it tasted great. :) I also had a cheese plate with sausage, bread, and grapes. And I finally bought a bottle of wine. Overall it was a great evening with really cool people. Around 10 or so, Megan and Jerrica and I decided to watch Inglorious Basterds. They left around midnight but I watched the rest of the movie by myself. It was a great movie with a great plot but the gore was a little too much for me. Not sure I love Quentin Tarantino as a director.
Yesterday I had 2 classes and then went back to my room until Rebekah was done with class. Then Rebekah, Jasper, Jerrica and I went to welcome the new ISEP student Brae to Aix-en-Provence. She’s super nice but she was tired so we only talked for an hour or so. Hopefully she will be able to get her bank account today so we can all receive our monthly stipend. :)
Now I’m sitting in my Media et Societe class and the professor is saying things that I don’t understand. Hopefully, by the end of this semester, my listening and speaking skills with be flawless. Jeroen said he knew someone who could privately tutor me for a fee so I may look into that. I’m very serious about wanting to be fluent when I return home and I just have to force myself into every possible situation in order to become fluent. The problem is just having the confidence to do so.
Tonight all of the ISEP students will be getting together to have a send-off party for Michelle P. She’ll be leaving this Sunday but a few of us are leaving this weekend for the ski trip, so we won’t be here to see her off. It should be a great party with great people and I can’t wait. :) Until next time...
Today was my second Friday in France and it was truly a great day. First I woke up early (around 7:45) to get ready and meet Megan at 9:00. We decided yesterday that we wanted to get up early and check out the soldes. Soldes are the French sales that last about a month. It's kind of like Black Friday but a month long! :) I wanted a leather jacket (so bad) and she wanted some French lingerie so we set out to shop. When we got to the store, it didn't open for another 20 minutes so we found a mini crepe stand and got nutella crepes. Best 2 euros I've ever spent!!! :) After our delicious breakfast, we headed back to the Soldes. Also, as an odd side note, on our way back to the Soldes, we saw a goat and two kittens in a wooden box (see photo below). Three people were kind of walking around it and keeping people from taking them. They kept saying we could pet them but there was a sign saying they weren't for sale. Megan and I had no idea what was going on and I still don't. Why are there goats and kittens in boxes in public being protected by random people??? You know you're in France when you're asking these kinds of questions. :)
We started out at a store called Zara which was way too expensive for my taste. Which really means that everything was more than 20 euros. But once we got to H&M, we found some amazing deals! I got a shirt (see photo below), a set of 7 bracelets, a pair of panties, and a hair clip for 10 euros!!! And I love my new French shirt! I can't wait to get a leather jacket and boots to wear with it. :)
After our shopping excursion, we headed back to Cuques. I wrote a few postcards and ate lunch before heading to class at 2. However when I got to my class, I found out that instead of being from 2-4 PM, it was from 1-3 PM. :( But another one of my friends, his name is Jeroen (pronounced your-roon), was late too so we sat together. I understood a lot of what the teacher was saying and it was a really interesting topic (the actions of international humanitarian groups), but it was so much easier sitting next to Jeroen because he understood 99% of it and took notes in English (even though he's Dutch)! So every time I didn't understand something, I just looked at his notes and followed along really well. :)
Jeroen and I wanted to take another class later in the day so we went to a brasserie (kind of like a cafe that has coffee, tea, hot chocolate, smoothies, juice, drinks, etc.) with two other students to pass the time between our classes (the next one started at 4 PM). But when we went back to IEP for the class, we found out it was actually from 5-7 PM. :( So we made the executive decision to just not take the class and head home. :)
On the way home we had this wonderful conversation about the differences between European and American ways of living. We talked about grocery stores, and eating habits, and health care, and l'art de vivre (the art of living), and everything in between. It was so interesting to see how many opinions we shared. And I feel that I've made a new, really good friend here in Aix. :)
GOAT IN A BOX!!! (you can't see the kittens from this angle)
My new French shirt! :)
Another picture of my new French shirt! :)
My new French purse! :)
Now I'm headed out to a party for Jan (another Dutchman). Sunday will be his last day in Aix-en-Provence so we are having a final send-off party for him. :) Somehow my life keeps getting busier and busier, mais c'est la vie!!!
One of the 3 leather jackets I thought about buying
A beautiful fountain in a square in Aix. In France. In the world. Okay I'm done. :)
Ah....a French sunset. C'est belle, non?
:) My cathedral at night
Another street with the beautiful colors of the sunset in the background
Since I haven't blogged for a few days (I know, I know), things are a little fuzzy but we'll start with yesterday. :) Yesterday morning I woke up early around 7:30 in order to get ready and get to the bank by 9. I talked to my wonderful girlfriend for about a half hour before I left my room to meet up with Megan and Jerrica. Jerrica is the new ISEP student who arrived on Tuesday. She's from Tennessee, is super nice, and managed to get the room right next to mine! :) Anyway we all headed to the bank and Jerrica and I got signed up for our French bank accounts at LCL. The highlight of this process was the little pug (yes as in dog) wandering around the bank. He/she was so cute and friendly. Leashless this cute little pug was just checking everything out while his/her owner did their bank business. Just one more reason why I love France! :)
Afer the bank I came back to my room for a short nap. I took 3 classes on Wednesday starting at 2 in the afternoon and finishing around 8. The first class was a class in english called the history of international relations. The class seemed really easy and straightforward until a few of the students said that the exam was so hard, some of them didn't pass. And since these people were (1) English-speaking and (2) really hard-working students, hearing this really freaked me out. What if I give 200% in all of my classes here and still fail? I mean I think I'll live if I happen to get a B or C but failing is just not an option for me. Yet apparently here it is definitely an ominous option. Which terrifies me.
The next class was La Civilisation de la France. This class is mostly composed of student presentations. And guess what? Here in about a month, I, in a group with another girl, will have to give a 70-minute presentation in French. Again, in case some of you might not have heard correctly, I and another girl will.give.a.70-minute.presentation.in.French. On the French school system. Which I literally know almost nothing about. In about a month. So needless to say, I'm freaking out about this a lot. Everytime I think about it, I get really stressed. Oh and also, this presentation will count for 70% of my grade. Again, what if I give 200% and fail?
After this class ended at 6, I was supposed to have another class from 6-8 PM but the professor never showed. Since the class was in English and about gender and politics, I will most likely attend it next week just to see how it is. But I'm not sure if I'll be able to fit it into my schedule. Only because I already have 2 courses taught in English and I don't think I should take a third. But we'll see. Since class was cancelled, I headed back to my room early and made a delicious dinner of pasta, tomato sauce, and bell peppers. I checked some things on the internet and settled in to go to sleep pretty early, which I needed.
This morning I woke up around 9:30 or so because Megan and I wanted to check out the sales at the local boutiques. We both really wanted to buy some French lingerie. We went to a few stores but nothing was cheap enough for my taste. I mean I really liked some of the lingerie but not enough to pay 30 euros (about $42) for it.
After searching until about 1:30, I headed over to the IEP for my class at 2. Again I had class from 2-8 today. I started with my Francais Langue Etrangere (French as a foreign language) class which is probably my most favorite class so far. It was mostly French grammar which I'm kind of good at but don't really remember. The professor was so nice though and she spoke so slowly. Everything I didn't understand, she wrote on the board so I could see it in writing. And it didn't occur to me until then but I am truly a great deal better at reading French rather than hearing it or speaking it. So this class is hopefully going to help me improve my grammar and overall French and I'm really looking forward to it. :)
The next class I wanted to take was L'Analyse Politique de la France (Political Analysis of France). When I got there however, something had been messed up with the scheduling so they had to reschedule it for a whole different time slot and I'm not entirely sure I want to take it still. It will still work in my schedule but the woman spoke so fast that I don't even know if I'll understand most of what she's saying. But I may go next week just to see what it's about at least. Since I didn't have class, I met up with Jerrica, Megan, Michelle, and Rebekah to look for leather jackets. Seriously everyone here wears them and I'd love to have one of my own. We went to this store called Pimkie and I tried on at least 5 jackets. I found one that was only 30 euros and that was the very cheapest. I almost bought it but I think I'm going to wait and see what prices are like in other stores in Aix and Marseille. Instead I bought a green leather purse that I love. :) However soon I will have to invest in a leather jacket and boots. Heading back to the IEP, I took a few pictures that I have posted at the top of the blog entry. They were beautiful things I saw as the sun was setting and I wanted everyone back home to see them. :)
Before I headed back to IEP for my class at 6, I went to my cathedral. I've decided to call it "my cathedral" because I love it so much and it seems fitting. I got to my cathedral about 10 minutes before it closed for the day and it was almost completely dark inside. While I was there I wrote down and little of how I was feeling. This is what I wrote:
"A cathedral cleanses my soul. I feel awe, purity, and peace here. The cold stone walls close in on me and purify every part of my body. Beauty, grandeur, immensity, strength, quiet. The cathedral will be the very same....with or without me. But it embraces me every time I visit. You know how when you lay down on a cold tile floor and it feels so refreshing, cool, and calming? I want to kneel down on the floor of my cathedral and feel the overwhelming power of its cold stone and strength. I would also feel the power of life and how insignificant my life truly is. But even as I feel insignificant, at the very same time I feel that my life and my activities matter. My life is worthy. As I come to this realization, this cool powerful wind rushes through me, around me, with me, cleansing and reenergizing my mind and body. Leaving my cathedral, I am new again."
My last class of the day was International Human Rights. Another class in English that I really enjoyed. We discussed the levels of human rights, the effectiveness of human rights laws, where human rights cases can be heard, and how states are involved in the human rights arena. It was all really interesting but by 6 PM at night, I'm pretty tired and hungry and kind of grumpy. So we'll see how that class goes. Rebekah and I headed back to Cuques after class and I made poached eggs with cheese and bell peppers. Now that I'm thoroughly exhausted, I think I'll head to bed. :)
Exposed Wall Fresco dating back to 500 AD...very very cool in real life
Angela and I at crepe night!
Manon and Megan at crepe night!
All of us!
My delicious nutella mousse, custard, and vanilla ice cream crepe!
Me with my delicious crepe! :)
Today was yet another long day in Aix-en-Provence. Starting out this morning at 8 AM, I showered and got ready (in a sleepy stupor) to meet Megan at 9. We didn’t end up meeting until about 9:30 or so but I think that’s going to be normal for us. :) We always seem to meet a little later than we’d planned. Anyway we went to the front office and finally got my attestation de logement. Then we headed to the bank to get my french bank account started. Surprisingly it was closed. On Monday morning. Go figure.
After the bank fiasco, we decided that we could go visit Mme Boniface so that I could finally meet her. Mme Boniface is the ISEP coordinator for Université Paul Cézanne. She’s British but studied abroad in Aix when she was in college and just stayed here. She’s such a super nice woman and she gave me more utensils for my room. Originally she had given me a duvet, a plate, a cup, a mug, a bowl, 2 spoons, a fork, a knife, toilet paper and a dish scrubber. Today she gave me a saucepan, a skillet, a tea strainer (yes!), an awesome kitchen knife, a cutting board, a colander, and a second set of sheets. Mme Boniface is such an awesome person that she even gave me an electric tea kettle!!! So I’ve been brewing tea in my room all day. :) Granted all of these things are hand-me-downs from past ISEP students but it’s just so nice to not have to buy these things. Searching for and buying these things would have caused me an expensive headache and right now I’m just so happy to have finally met Mme Boniface. :)
After our visit with Mme Boniface, we headed back to Cuques for lunch. Then around 12:30 we went to the gare routiere to get bus passes. I got a bus pass for the local buses in Aix-en-Provence and then I got a pass that will allow me to visit towns in Provence like Marseille, Cassis, La Ciotat, Arles and many more for just a euro! :) Which is a great price and will be invaluable because I can’t wait to visit all of these amazing places.
Right after getting our bus passes, I headed to the IEP building for a class. Here at the IEP, they have an interesting way of enrolling in classes. Students take whatever classes they want and they can drop or add any class. On February 7th, the student has to let the institute know what classes he or she has been taking since the beginning of the semester. So this class I was interested in was a class I could take but I didn’t have to. It was a class on Myths, Rites, and Representations and I wasn’t super invested in it but I wanted to check it out just in case. I found the room number online and headed to the room for the class to start at 2. The frenchwoman professor came in and all of the French students came in and she just started spewing the fastest French I’ve ever heard in my life. All of the students were furiously writing their notes and I just sat there numb. Completely dumbfounded. I could understand a few words but actual sentences or ideas? Forget about it. After almost two hours of this, a young man came in and asked where the Myths, Rites, and Representations class was and it was then that I realized I wasn’t even in the right class. All of that time I had been trying to understand this ridiculously fast French teacher and I didn’t even understand enough to know it was the wrong class. C’est la vie. :)
After the class fiasco, I went to the cathedral across the street from the IEP building and it was unexplainable. The church is called Cathédrale de Saint Sauveur and I fell in love with it the moment I walked inside. The oldest parts of the cathedral were built in 500 AD and you can just feel the history as you walk through it. I’m not sure yet what interests me about cathedrals but I just adore them. Maybe it’s the old stones that hold the secrets of the centuries, or the overwhelming feeling of calm and peace, or the beauty of a community’s love for what it believes in, but I can’t help but loving them. This one was especially small compared to others I’ve been in and it was also kind of a mish-mash of architecture but it was just beautiful. It brought me peace and serenity when I had completely made a mess of my day and I know it will be a safe haven during my time here in Aix.
Later today, after talking with Morgan for awhile, I went out to dinner with Angela, Megan, and Manon. We went to a crêperie in Aix called Le Patacrêpe for a girls night out. :) I got a potato, ham, and cheese crêpe and then for dessert, I got one with nutella mousse, custard, and vanilla ice cream. Both were to die for and I loved the company as well.
Now that I’m back in my room and tying up all the loose knots on my facebook pictures and blog, I’m getting so super sleepy. Which is really nice because I’ve only been experiencing that at 4 AM or so lately. Gonna head to bed soon because tomorrow is a new day and hopefully I’ll find the right classroom and the right classes. :) If not, I can always make a stop at my new favorite place in Aix. Who knows, I might just make a stop anyway. :)
