Our Last Week in Aix

This week is pretty sad since it is filled with all of the “last time that we will ____” events. We had all of the mandatory closing of the bank accounts, visiting the leasing office and the leasing office, and getting properly yanked around by the internet and electric companies, so that wasn’t so great, but at least everything is done and taken care of (and if it’s not, I’m leaving the country!). Wednesday Allie and I went to climb Mont Saint Victoire one more time. A big group of us went one of the first weekends in January, but we didn’t make it to the top. We had underestimated the time required to climb a mountain and had gotten severely lost, so we bailed. Allie and I went back and we made it to the top after only 2 hours rough climbing. It was gorgeous at the top and more of a symbolic victory that we made it up there. Honestly the climb down might have been harder, and I was completely exhausted by the time we made it back home that evening. We had our last dinner with our host ladies that night and invited both of them to come visit in the US and they said that we could come back to France and stay with them anytime. Honestly, these two ladies were a huge redeeming factor for my opinion of the French people.

Thursday the five of us (Chelsey, Leigh, Allie, Marley, and I) went to the Calanques in Cassis with some of our French friends: Thomas, Gary and Leondre. This ended up requiring more hiking than we expected, but after about 45 minutes when we made it to the edge of the cliffs and saw the crystal clear water coming out of the rocks below, it was well worth it. We spent the day swimming and tanning (since this won’t be nearly as easy in Cincinnati!) Allie and I accidentally wandered onto the nude part of the beach, but hey, it’s France. Unfortunately Chelsey really hurt her foot which made it pretty hard to climb back up the way that we came. We spent the night at the Woohoo for our last Trivia Night and actually did quite badly, but it was fun to see everyone. We had to say our first goodbyes to some of our friends that live here and that we won’t be seeing again while we’re here.

Today we had our last final, Anthropology of Provence, and it went fairly well. We were all just so tired of the French university system that we would have done anything to not have to take that test. We all finished pretty early and got out of there! The last time we have to be in the FAC! Tonight we’re having a big dinner with everyone in the program and then Allie and I have to say goodbye to the other girls since they’re leaving tomorrow on a two-week Euro trip.

Maybe we’ll have to get in a fountain tonight… we haven’t done it yet.

We Just Saw the Apocalypse!

This leg of the trip was a bit of a disappointment. We had planned on seeing the famous white and blue buildings that grace the postcards all over Greece, and yet those buildings are only to be found on one of the islands that is about 4 hours ferry ride from Athens. We didn’t make it out to any of the islands- Santorini is the most famous one and it was 75 euro round trip to go there; plus we couldn’t do it in a day and would have had to pay for a hotel for the night. We stayed in Athens, and although we all knew that the Greek economy recently went downhill (to put it politely), we were surprised by the overall poverty of the city. It wasn’t new poverty caused by the state of the economy, but the city is just generally poor. The areas around the main tourist attractions like Acropolis are quite nice, but very small. I didn’t feel like there was an entire street in Athens that was nice from beginning to end.

There is also a very odd ratio of men to women, and I’m guessing it’s about 4:1. This being said, we saw hardly any women the whole time that we were there, and the men are all middle aged, which was weird too. They have no problem being quite vulgar and saying whatever they want to you while you’re passing on the street whether it is daytime or nighttime. Our hotel actually ended up being in a pretty shady area (prostitutes on the street corner, you know), and we didn’t feel safe going out at night at all, so we were always back to the hotel by dark.

On the other hand, the food was really great and extremely cheap. We had gyros for lunch and dinner most days and you could get a gyro and a Coke for 3 euro! Such a steal. The baklava was to die for until we made the mistake of sitting down in the café to order some. The price quadruple and they feel no need to warn you of this, so between the four of us we accidentally spent 43 euro on cake in one sitting. Surprise.

The ruins were nice, but I had imagined them to be bigger. Somehow they look really huge in all the pictures, but in reality it’s a hill above the city with three stone buildings on top (and a million people taking pictures). We did go to the beach one day and it was very nice, we were just there too early. The official tourism season was starting the following week so a lot of the beaches were not open and there was hardly anyone on them. It was still very nice and you know I love a good beach!

I don’t regret going to Athens at all, but my word of advice would be that if you go to Greece, you should just go to the islands. Athens is nice, and perhaps worth a day trip, but not worth staying in and certainly not for four days.

Rome is burning

Next stop of the Spring Break adventure was in Rome. Marley met us there because she had already seen Venice, so now there were four of us. We flew into Rome on Easter, probably the most crowded and busiest day of the year in Rome, so we decided to stay in another camping place that was about 45 minutes outside of the city. It wasn't a bad choice- getting to the city was easy and cheap, it just took time, but we knew that going in. It was more of a minimal cabin than the one we had been in before, but we still had a bathroom in our room so it was acceptable (somehow, all bathrooms and rooming situations get compared to Malta, so this was still an upgrade).

Of course at the same time that we checked in, a group of about 300 thirteen-year old kids checked in at the same time. The walls were so thin that we could hear our neighbors next to us, the neighbors across the street, AND all the random people walking by outside. And being 13, it was still really entertaining for these kids to stay up all night doing absolutely nothing (note, this is also the age of ding-dong-ditching.... great). Somehow, us being so mature and all, we got into a ding-dong ditching competition with the neighbors. It was pretty interesting considering we didn't have doorbells, and there was a point when one of the little creeps actually tried to crawl in our window. We were playing cards and Marley yells out: "THERE IS A CHILD IN OUR WINDOW!!!!" We definitely didn't get a lot of sleep that night.

Rome itself was much more interesting than I thought. I knew there would be ruins, but I didn't realize there would be so many and that the city itself would have so much to offer. We spent one day on the beach (for good reasons, Rome is not famous for its beaches) and then two days in the city. We waited in line 2 1/2 hours to get into the Vatican, saw the Sistine Chapel (Marley missed it- she just thought we were in some random room), and then spent another 45 minutes waiting with huge tour groups of Asians to get into Saint Peter's Basilica.

We made wishes in the Trevi Fountain, saw the Parliament Building, the Colosseum, and the Spanish Steps. We actually saw a man propose to his girlfriend while at the Spanish steps in front of everyone that was there. She said yes and the whole crowd started clapping and cheering for them- literally hundreds of people- it was incredibly cute.

When we left Rome we were happy to get away from the crowds- everything had been a line, but we knew that on Easter weekend it was bound to be that way. I loved the city and we had a really great time. Definitely a good choice for the second leg of our trip.

The Beginning of the End

The semester is almost over! We just got back from our last trip in which we visited Venice, Rome, and Athens. Venice was absolutely fantastic. I have always had an image in mind that the Italians are really awesome people with great food and that Venice seems to be the epicenter of it all. Honestly, the city lived up to my expectations. It was so beautiful and clean- the water wasn't dirty (as I had heard might be the case) and the streets were clean as well. There are no cars in the city, of course, but there really are a million tourists. The most annoying ones are the people that come to Venice with baby strollers. What were they thinking? Did they not know that Venice is a city of small side streets and bridges? We probably walked up and down 2,000 steps a day... and with a stroller? That's just insane; not to mention the traffic jams that creates.

Gondola rides were ridiculously expensive: 125 euro for 45 minutes. So, we didn't take one. The food was very good and generally cheaper than I had expected. Shopping was pretty good too and there was lots to see (masks and the Venetian glass!).

I bought a print from a street painter just off of the Grand Canal who said he had been painting in Venice for 15 years and he thought it was the most beautiful city in the world; I won't dispute that.

All in all we only spent two days in Venice, which was a good amount of time but we could've stayed longer. We had a wonderful time and the people were generally very nice and helpful (not at all like the rumors we had heard about Italians hating Americans). I'll definitley be going back to Venice!!

A Weekend "in Aix"

We finally had a weekend without any big travel plans. So we skipped out on Friday and went to the beach in Marseille. The weather here has decided to skip spring temperatures and head straight for the upper-70s and 80 degree days. It's absolutely beautiful and I don't think I have seen a cloud in the sky for about a week. The beach in Marseille was really nice and we even got to play a little volleyball.

Saturday we actually attended the program trip. It's already paid for in our tuition for the semester, and this was the only program organized trip that we made it on (due to our other travel plans). We went to see a bunch of "perched" villages that are perched on hills. They're really beautiful and the towns look as if they are almost growing out of the rock. We saw Rousillon which is known for it's Ochre Footpath where the rock is orange and a gorge has been carved. We then saw Gordes, Brouillon, and the Abbeye de Senaque. The Abbeye is famous for the lavendar fields that are outside, but unfortunately it's not blooming this early in the season.

Today we went to the calanques in Cassis. The beach was rocky and incredibly beautiful. The waves were pretty rough where we were so we couldn't really swim. Oddly enough, rough waves and big rocks are a bad combination for swimming. It was still really beautiful. As warm as the days get, the water in the Mediterranean is still pretty cold. We went into the town of Cassis to get some ice cream and wander around for a little before heading back to Aix. Cassis is definitely a town I would love to spend some more time in- perhaps next weekend!

I just jumped off a mountain!

We arrived in Grenoble on Friday night and stayed in a hotel that was basically Malta part 2 (aka literally a one-star hotel that shouldn’t have had any stars at all). Instead of rugs for blankets, we had the slight upgrade to scratchy blanket haha. In the morning we got up and wandered the town which turned out to be much bigger than I had imagined, and actually really nice. We took a ride on the Télépherique-Bastille (a suspended cable car) that rode over the river and up to the top of the mountain just on the edge of the city. We had great views of the entire city and the Alps that surround it. There was snow on the mountain tops and it was a crystal clear day- couldn’t have asked for better!

In the afternoon we took a bus 45 minutes out of town to Saint-Helaire de Trouvet where we had made a reservation to do parapente (French word for paragliding). 75 euro later Allie and I were hooked up to a parachute, standing on the side of a cliff/hill with an instructor attached to us. Of course, all instruction was in French, so I was super nervous that I was going to do something wrong and then end up falling off this cliff and dragging the instructor with me. At some point he just said “run” and pointed to the side of the cliff. I just looked at him, shrugged my shoulders, and said ok! We ran and the wind caught in our parachute and lifted us up off the ground. The instructor circled us higher until we were just suspended in the air, pretty much sitting there and looking at the cities below us, the mountains all around us. After a while he let me steer and I drove in circles in the air. At one point he turned to me and said “tu aimes la sensation?” I said, yes! And before I knew what was going on, he was whipping us around in a circle, testing out my stomach for doing flips!

After the initial shock, I asked to do it again haha and then the third time that we did it we were practically flipping. I could honestly see the parachute below us; between us and the ground. It was so amazing (and terrifying at the same time!) but it was so exciting and I would definitely do it again. After landing in a field my body had so much adrenaline that I was just shaking and it took me probably 15 minutes to calm down haha. The sights were amazing and the sensation was like none other. We literally just ran off a cliff and parachuted down 700 meters (2300 feet) like it was no big deal!

I highly suggest parapente to anyone that has the opportunity, and if you can swing it, the Alps in the springtime is simply amazing. There is still snow on the mountains but the weather is in the 70s, perfectly sunny, and all the trees are blooming. Flowers and snowy mountains is such a beautiful combination.

Adventures of Marley and Me: Episode 2

We took another lovely flight through Paris Beauvais to make our way to Pisa. We stayed in a hostel there (our cheapest yet, without being completely illegitimate! Haha) that was actually pretty nice and had internet access. The designated creepy old person was in our room of course. I guess I have to explain that one a little bit… in hostels there is almost ALWAYS at least one person that is way too old to be staying in a hostel; most of the time they have been there for a really long time. In Madrid there was a lady that was in hiding while trying to sue the American government (this is the caliber of weird that we are talking about). So, in Pisa, the designated creepy old lady was in our room with her flannel nightgown, long string of pink beads, and hair cap that she slept in. We weren’t there long enough to get her story, but I’m sure it was a good one.

We took a day trip to Florence, and unfortunately got fined (only 5 euro each) on the train for not getting our tickets stamped, although there was nothing obvious to say that we needed to do such a thing. Once in Florence we ran into a group of four Americans that we had actually met on our flight and we decided to spend the day with them. We saw the duomo (the big famous churc) where we took our infamous jumping picture (and the others’ equivalent to a jumping picture: a pyramid photo, just to solidify our American-ness).

We saw the leather markets that were huge and amazingly cheap and then we wandered toward the river to see the Ponto Vecchio. It was a really beautiful day so we bought some boxed wine and classed it up on the riverside. Lunch was at an Italian restaurant called Zaza where we had some amazing pasta and really cheap and well priced house wine. Dinner, much later, was at a pizzeria that was fantastic even though the waiter tried to serve me a pizza I definitely didn’t order and was refusing to change the order until another waiter came to the rescue.

The next day my parents flew in to Pisa so Marley and I went to pick them up at the airport, grab the rental car, and drive the 2 hours through winding mountain roads to our Italian villa. It was extremely picturesque: stone walls, terra cotta tiled roof, pebble driveway that led up to the house through the olive grove in the front of the house. There was a pool and also a hot tub (where we spent plenty of time) and incredible surrounding panoramic views.

We ate dinner at a restaurant in the tiny town that was closest to us (not even really within walking distance, we had to drive). We were the only diners there and the lady didn’t speak any English. Generally we just pointed and she brought food. When we didn’t finish it all she took on the Mom Role and demanded that we must finish before she brought us dessert! She knew the couple that we were renting the villa from and then offered to deliver pizza all the way up to our house if we wanted her to!

When we took Marley back to the airport we stopped at the leaning tower of Pisa and took the necessary tacky tourist photos (yes I can hold this building up!) before heading back out into the country.

Pisa, Tuscany, and Florence especially were all really beautiful and the people were so friendly (and needless to say, the food was amazing!). I am so excited to go back to Italy at the end of April!

St. Patty's Day in Dublin!

The amazing and attentive students that we are, five of us decided to skip class for nearly a week and go to Dublin for St. Patrick’s Day. The bus, train, metro, bus, flight, bus combination was absolutely terrible, but by the time that we arrived in Dublin, we piled on all of the green clothing that we could find and headed out to the city for the parade. Being a little early, we made our way into our first pub where we found out that you cannot drink at all in the city before 12:30pm, so we sat and ate lunch and waited for the appropriate time to have our first drink in a city that was probably mostly wasted at this hour.

We made our way to the parade, which turned out to be super packed and you could not see a thing. People were jammed on the sidewalks, scaling statues and sides of buildings just to get a glimpse of what was going on. We decided that we were not going to be so crazy as to try to top anyone that was willing to stand on a little building ledge that was 8 feet off the ground, and headed into another pub to watch from there on the television. We then walked to our third pub, it is Dublin after all!

Everyone in the streets was completely decked out in tacky green outfits, with blow up hammers (to hit random strangers, of course!) and various St. Patty’s props. The one thing that was disappointing was that the river was not dyed green… perhaps that is only in Chicago, but I was almost certain that they would dye the river that runs through the city and atrocious shade of green!

The next day we went out to Howth, further north on the coast, to see some cliffs. We ate some fantastic, but expensive, fish and chips, and then saw some really great cliffs. The weather was appropriately cloudy and super windy, and slightly cold, but we loved every minute of it. We then headed back in to town to visit the Temple Bar area (highly suggest!).

Day three of the Dublin trip we took a train to the opposite coast of the country, Galway. Galway is famous for the claddagh ring, and we did a lot of shopping there. Prices were fantastic, perhaps because their economy tanked not that long ago, but especially compared to the south of France, you really just couldn’t beat it. We spent one night in Galway in a B&B which was adorable, and then headed back to Dublin to catch our flight home!

Flying back was a completely different experience. We flew from Dublin to Paris Beauvais, which apart from having the tiniest airport in the world (unofficially), is also the home to Paris Disneyworld. Shoot me. Our entire flight was full of kids and babies that were ecstatic to be going to Disney. Everyone was wearing Mickie Mouse ears and had on the sweatshirt of their favorite Disney princess. Of course, they proceeded to either scream, or cry, or puke the entire flight. When we landed we realized that we were in danger of missing our train back to Aix, so we ran through the airport, to the bus (1 hour 15 minute ride into real Paris) and then ran from the bus through the subway, and into the train station. Despite our efforts and jumping lines, we missed our train by 10 minutes and had to pay the extra to get on the next one home. Eventually, we made it back to Aix, but only after about 9 hours of travel hell. To anyone that is considering it, I would highly suggest against flying out of Paris Beauvais! It is really awful and not convenient by any means. The three euro bus, plus the fifty euro train, plus the fifteen euro bus, plus the two euro metro does not make the four euro Ryanair ticket out of Beauvais worth it!

And the Grand Finale.... MADRID!

I absolutely loved Madrid! Granted, we didn't see too much of the city in the daytime, but the nightlife is great, and the food is relatively cheap (but really, anything compared to the south of France is going to seem cheap).

We drank at a Sangria bar that only served authentic Spanish Sangria that had a little brandy in it- just enough to make it nice and warm and sweet. Plus, this Sangria only cost 10 euro per pitcher (not like that rip off in Barcelona!). We ate at a really great tapas bar, El Tigre, where you go up and order a beer for 3 euro and then they bring you all your food for free! Tapas is the Spanish cuisine that is kind of like eating a bunch of appetizers for your meal. They are all small finger-foods like a piece of baguette with sausage, ham, cheese, vegetables, Spanish tortilla, anything at all. And they are so good! So we all got a beer and the guy brought out about 8 plates full of tapas! It was definitely a good experience.

I just really enjoyed the culture of the city. Even though it is the capital, I felt like it was more authentic "Spanis" than Barcelona. Nothing felt staged, and the city felt safer than in Barcelona, although once we got back we heard about the kidnapping and death of a 6'5" American guy, so I guess the city is just as dangerous as any other big city.

Our hostel was really fun. It was the first one that we have stayed in where they really set it up for the common areas and so you meet people from all over the world. On Saturday night the kitchen (the main common area) had about 30 people in it. Everyone was cooking, or drinking, or just hanging out. We had Italians, Germans, Americans, Venezuelans, French, and Spanish all in one room. And between all of us, communication was not hard. It was a pretty funny night- some Spanish guy was cooking intense Spanish cuisine with his shirt off, the French guys were drinking rum mixed with brown sugar, the Americans were playing Euchre, and the Italians were walking around without shirts just to show how Italian they were. It was really fun and we all had a great time. I felt sorry for anyone that was actually trying to sleep in the hostel because it was impossible. We were all way too loud and there were just too many of us. But all in all it was a fantastic hostel for the environment and you couldn't get any closer to all the action in the city. We were right in the middle of it.

We went to one club in Madrid, Kapital, and it was really fun. A little Cancun-esque. Four floors with paid dancers on the stage and cool air shooting down in columns from the ceiling. It was really fun and the clubs don't close until... maybe 6am? I have no idea really, they seemed to just never close.

We met a ton of people and made a lot of friends that we are still in contact with and will possibly run into in our further travels in Europe! That would be crazy haha reunions already!

Not Going Back to Ibiza....

While Ibiza was beautiful, I have to say that it was incredibly disappointing. By most accounts, Ibiza is supposed to be the "Unidisputed Party Capital of the World". False. Perhaps in the summer, which I actually highly doubt, but this is certainly not the case in the winter. I understand that we went during off-season, but I honestly wonder if people move to the island for the summer and then move to mainland Spain for the other seasons. There was simply no one on the island!

The first day that we got there, it happened to be some random island holiday (only for the islands right there) and absolutely everything was shut down. We hardly saw anyone that first day, no stores were open, no restaurants were open, but we were content with the fact that our hotel balconies looked out onto a beach with beautiful views. The second day was not much better. We were hoping that the island would come to life, but it didn't. The siesta hours were impossible to figure out. I know that I joke that they don't actually work in France, but they really really don't work in Ibiza. Nothing would open until around noon, then they would close from 4pm to 8pm for siesta, then they might open again at 10pm for dinner. Super random schedule, and they were never held to these hours either. Everything on the island was overpriced and the food wasn't even that great (although we did have a really good breakfast one day).

So, we tried the beaches. It was cloudy. They were nice, but not particularly large, or private, or the nicest sand, or really anything that would make me describe them as all that stunning. Granted it was the beginning of March, so we let this slide.

Next, and last, on the list to try was the nightlife. Nothing was open that first night, so we were stuck hoping that our second night would be fantastic. We found the only club that is open in the winter, luckily it was near our hotel, but it turns out that they were actually closed too. They only open on Fridays and Saturdays (this was a Wednesday). Alright, option two, a bar. Nope. We tried to go into one that looked like it was at least open, and it turned out to be a gentleman's club. As soon as we walked in some lady came running up and was like no girls no girls! After that we just tanked and decided that partying in Ibiza does not exist at all in the off-season. It was a huge disappointment. I can't say how the parties are on the weekend, maybe they are ok, but I really don't see that much potential in the island.

It was one of the poorest islands I have ever seen. There were hardly any parts that were built up, and certainly no high-rise hotels or anything. The island was big enough to have a McDonalds, but at this point, who isn't? Even with an influx of tourists in the summer, the island cannot physically support that many people and I can see no way that they party harder or bigger than they do in Cancun. So in my book, this myth is BUSTED!

Barcelona!

Ok so we spent 8 days in Spain for our winter break and we just got back yesterday. We visited Barceolona, Ibiza, and Madrid and I figure I will break this up by city, so here it goes!

We took the night bus to Barcelona which was.... miserable. There was absolutely no chance of sleeping the entire ride because the bus driver drove like a madman. We took a "break" at a rest stop. It lasted an hour. It was just so miserable, and then we finally got into Barcelona and it was 5am, so there are people haggling us because they are just getting back from the bars and everyone is drunk and we're just four American girls with suitcases looking for our hostel. Luckily there was someone at the hostel to check us in, and the staff there ended up being very nice and the hostel itself was fantastic- definitely my favorite one so far.

Barcelona in general was kind of disappointing. I find the Gaudi and Dali architecture to be really weird and kind of creepy. The city was more modern than I thought it would be, and it didn't feel as Spanish as I had pictured in my mind. We ate dinner at a tapas bar (which is basically miniture size portions of things and you get a few of them) and got royally ripped off when we ordered sangria. I figured it would be cheap because we're in Spain, land of Sangria, but when we got the bill it was 38 euro. Such a joke. So it was annoying to continually get ripped off. I feel like we're past that stage now, but there are different scams in every country.

The markets in Barcelona are amazing. There is so much food (and I'm sure a lot of pickpockets too) and it's all very cheap. We bought a head of cauliflower for 1 euro. It was nice to eat a vegetable for once (don't tell my mom I said that!).

We also took a cable car ride up to the top of a mountain/hill that overlooked the whole city and that was very nice.

Marley's 21st birthday was while we were in Barcelona and we took her to a bar called Chupitos that does a lot of entertainment drinks. They have the Finding Nemo (they put an M&M in the shot in some whipped cream and you have to find it before you drink it), Harry Potter (lots of flaming involved), a Boy Scout (you roast a marshmallow on the countertop that they set on fire, put the marshmallow in your shot, then drink). We got to the end, and decided to go for a big one for her, so we got her the Viking. She was blindfolded while they put a viking hat on her and the bartender proceeded to beat her helmet with a club while she drank. It was absolutely hilarious, and people all over the bar were doing drinks like this, so it was a pretty crazy atmosphere. I put up an epic photo of Marley, just for your benefit haha.

All in all, Barcelona was cool, but I don't think I would go back unless I was with someone that knew the city very well and could show me the cool things that are away from touristy areas. And I certainly will not be taking the night bus again.

Winter Break!

We're leaving for a few hours for our winter break vacation in Spain! We will be in Barcelona, Ibiza, and Madrid. Hopefully the weather holds out because right now it is supposed to be 55-65 degrees and no rain all week, so I hope that's true! This would be the first trip where it doesn't rain on us.

Marley is turning 21 while we're in Barcelona, so that should be fun. We're all pretty excited about this trip and have fairly high expectations, so I hope that Spain lives up to it! You'll be hearing back from me in a week, and hopefully with only good stories!

Carnival in Nice

Halloween, meet the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Carnival is nothing compared to American 4th of July parades. It has a creepy factor that is akin to Halloween, and it is normal for everyone to dress up in costumes. Little boys were running around dressed as Buz Lightyear and Spiderman, while the little girls were dressed as Snow White and a series of mermaids and witches.

The city of Nice was not decorated, really. There were a few things here and there, mostly signs, that suggested that it was Carnival time, but I really expected the whole city to be dressed to the nines for the whole thing. Not so. Apparently Carnival itself is a parade, mixed in with some other fun games and events. The parade lasted about an hour and a half, which was much longer than I expected. There was a mixture of gigantic floats, all with moving parts and specific themes, dancers, men on stilts, people in costume, gigantic floating balloons, and other people to run around and shoot streamers at the crowd. It was complete chaos. The spectators are encouraged to buy silly string and confetti, and it is acceptable to throw it or spray it at anyone and everyone. Needless to say, we joined in. The people in the parade are not so happy when you spray them, but the little kids all over love that an “adult” would want to play with silly string with them.

In the States there are all these rules about how you cannot get close to the floats. There are fences, police and security officers, and blocked roads. None of that exists in Nice. We practically stood in the parade. You could touch the floats, you could run in around the people in the parade, or cross the street whenever you wanted. There were also a lot of things that would have been deemed inappropriate in the US, especially considering there are so many children. A lot of the floats that depict women show them topless, or entirely naked. The music that plays is certainly not a radio edit. Christina Aguilera’s “Lady Marmalade” played, with the section that asks, Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir? We’re in France; they can understand that. At least in the States, the majority of children won’t know what that means. American songs played that clearly had cuss words in them, and one man walked in the parade dressed as Tarzan, with a Jane doll that he held at interesting positions. By doll, yes, I mean a blow up doll. But, different culture, different expectations.

So many people participate, that it’s a wonder there is anyone to watch, but with the huge influx of tourists every weekend, I’m sure that they make a killing. Carnival continues for three weeks with different events held on different days. The parade will run every day of the three weekends, but this was the first weekend, so likely the best parade.

While we were there it rained nearly the whole time, which was a little disappointing, but the party continued on nonetheless. The city was trashed afterwards- confetti, silly string, all kinds of trash, and streamers all caked onto the roads, benches, floats, and people.

It was very good to see Nice, which I can only imagine is incredibly beautiful when the weather is good. It was beautiful yesterday, and it was raining and a little cold, so I would love to go back sometime when it is warmer and actually see the beaches. We ate the Niceoise specialty, Socca, which is kind of a crepe that is then roughly cut up. It’s not sweet, and it’s thicker than a crepe, kind of the consistency of something made out of cornmeal, and it doesn’t have much flavor, but with a little salt and pepper, I thought it was very good. Not sure how it became a specialty, but I’m sure that if you mixed something in with it, it would be fantastic.

OM Game

Saturday night we went to Marseille to witness our first European soccer (football) match. Prior to leaving, everyone had warned us that we should really go with a guy because people would harass us a lot, but we figured that a group of 7 girls would be able to protect themselves. While walking in town, we weren’t so much as harassed, but encouraged as OM fans. We got a lot of cheers (“Allez OM!”) and a lot of “I love you”s.

We made our way to the Official OM Gear store, and almost all of us bought jerseys (kids size, of course, so they were only 15 euro). We then went and ate stadium food outside the Velodrome and made our way in. Of course, you can’t enter the arena and then walk all the way around it, like in the States. You have to go to the correct entrance to begin with; otherwise you can’t get to your seats. Naturally, we were at the farthest point from our entrance, and had to walk probably the better part of a mile to go through the surrounding streets to get to the other side of the stadium.
Once inside, the atmosphere is amazing. The fans are incredibly dedicated with each end of the stadium having their own “cheer leader” on a loudspeaker. Sections cheer regardless of what the other sections are doing, and each also has their own music, so there is always a lot going on. Confetti rains down on the spectators and massive flags are waved throughout the entire game.

There was no national anthem, no club anthem; they just kind of started playing. There were about 100 fake injuries during the course of the game, and I have to say the acting was less than convincing, but if the player laid on the ground long enough (most likely while the play was continuing because the ref didn’t believe him) the medical crew would run out with the stretcher, everyone would begin to almost be concerned, and then he would pop up and sprint away. I’m not sure if OM was playing their sixth string, or what, but I have to say that they looked very sloppy and not very impressive on the field. People in the stands started making paper airplanes out of the magazines that they had been given at the door. So while the players were faking injuries on the fields, the stands were going crazy with paper airplanes, some of which even made their way all the way down on to the field.

OM ended up winning 2-0 against Saint Etienne. It was a very fun atmosphere, although maybe not the greatest game in the world. I would highly recommend seeing a soccer match in Europe where the sport means so much more than it does in the States.

Gearing Up For the Weekend

We're gearing up for a weekend in Aix! Tomorrow we are going to the morning market in town to buy OM soccer gear to wear to the game tomorrow night! The atmosphere at these games is supposed to be really great, and we're not going to a game that is against a huge rival, so it shouldn't get violent either (I know that's what my parents are worried about haha). We bought nosebleed tickets for 20 euros, so that's not bad at all.

I couldn't tell you who we're playing, but we met one of the players, Loic Remy, in a club here in Aix. Turns out he's pretty well-known and quite good, so it will be fun to see him on the field.

On Sunday we are going to Nice just for a day trip to see the beginnings of Carnival! I'm really excited for that, but I have to be honest and say that I really don't know what to expect, other than maybe a semi-creepy parade. They really have a tendency to take their costumes and traditional stories here to a level of scary that we would never do to kids in the US. Oh well, that's France for you. Pictures will be up after the weekend!

Paris for Valentine's Day!

We just got back last night from spending Valentine's Weekend in Paris! We saw so much: the Eiffel Tower at night (when it sparkles!), the Catacombs, Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur and Montmartre, Saint Chappelle, the Gallerie Lafayette, l'Arc de Triomphe (which we went to the top of), the Musee d'Orsay, and even a little bit of Parisian night life (which is ridiculously expensive).

A great weekend, but definitely a tiring one. We rode on nearly every metro line in the city, and probably walked up and down about 5,000 stairs. Shopping in Paris is impressive, but also incredibly expensive, as are the clubs (with a cover of 20 euros and the cheapest drink costing about 15 euros? I don't think so).

I think my favorite thing might have been going to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. It's a completely different view of the city than from the Eiffel Tower, and even though it was sprinking, it was beautiful.

We also had dinner one night in Montmartre at a piano bar, and that was really cool. My mom and I had visited Paris this past summer, and somehow we didn't realize that you have to go behind the Sacre Coeur to get to the district with all the artists, so this was completely new to me and really exciting. I didn't buy a painting, but I figure there is plenty of time for that.

We bought all the appropriate tourist things, and got ripped off as you are supposed to (of course, nothing is easy here, I don't know why this continues to shock me even after a month and a half). But as far as travelling, we had no problems this time! We took the TGV to Paris and it took about 3 hours, but the trains are very efficient and always on time, so that was great. Plus the Paris metro system is awesome, so it was really easy to get around town all weekend. We didn't even have a problem with the hostel! Someone was there to check us in, like they said they would be, and prices didn't change, there weren't any ants, and generally no surprises!

Maybe Paris was trying to make up for our bad travelling luck from the last trip...

Host Family Dinner

Alright, we are finally over our Malta shock. It was nice to come back to France and feel like it's home, but I do miss the nice people from Malta. French people just really aren't all that nice all the time, although that is a very broad generalization.

We had dinner with our host family last night! It's not so much a family as it is two ladies (and we might be adding a third). They are in their 60s I would guess, but still very young at heart and incredibly charming and funny. We're going to have a great time with them all semester. This was the first really French meal that we have had in France: appetizer and apperitifs followed by second appetizer, followed by meat/rice/potatoes course, followed by salad/cheese course, followed by dessert. The food was absolutely fantastic and we had a really fun time.

The first hour and a half we spend speaking English so that they could practice. English seems to be really hard for them, so it was a bit of a painful hour. We had to speak really slowly and I felt as if we were almost treating them as if they were stupid, but they said they had a really hard time understading our accent.

When we swithced to French for dinner, conversation flowed much more naturally and everyone had a really good time. Their names are Jo and Jos, which is kind of funny, and there was so much food. To start we had appertifs (martinis) with crab cakes and hummus and pita. Then followed an appetizer of some kind of vegetable skewers, then a course of veal, potatoes, and rice. After that we had salad and cheese platter course, and then ice cream with hot chocolate sauce and cookies for dessert! It was fantastic and so French! I think next time they are going to make rabbit.

The two ladies are just friends, and I believe that we will be eating at the other house next time. Although I have to say that I loved this house. Really big for the area, and decorated so cutely. I really should take a picture of us so I can put it up here! Next time!

Malta Continued

We went back to the hostel in the morning, and there was still no one there to check us in! We left a nasty note with our phone number on it so they could call us whenever they decided to come to work that day. In the meantime, we looked for another hostel, and found one completely by chance that only cost 5 euros per person each night. Naturally, this was a huge downgrade from the Intercontinental, but whatever. We really basically just needed a locker to put our stuff in.
That first day we took a double-decker bus tour around Malta. It was a hop-on, hop-off tour and it was so beautiful. The island is not big at all and we probably drove all over the whole thing. Gorgeous countryside, stunning beaches and cliffs; honestly, just an amazing island. We did a boat tour the second day, and that was more amazing views.
We were told by one of our tour guides that France is a beautiful country, ruined by the French. He couldn’t have been more correct when it came to how the people of the country acted. The people of Malta were so friendly and helpful, and just genuinely nice the whole time.
Saturday night we went out on the town and it was so much fun. Malta is like a little Cancun, and the people just rage every day (no joke, even on Sundays!). They have happy hours pretty much all hours of the day, and they’re always handing out little tokens for free drinks.
We bought a bottle of wine from a little store on the strip and asked if he would open it for us because we didn’t have a wine opener at the hostel. He said he would, but then the issue of whether or not it was legal to carry an open container of alcohol in the streets came up. While we’re debating, he just says “It’s ok. I give you black bag.” (Russian accent). That certainly ended all conversation. He intended for us to hide this alcohol under a black bag and just carry it back with us! While there are tons of cops in the street! This was just soooo funny and unforeseen that we just cracked up right there.
Then the last day in Malta we spent at the beach! It was warm enough to lay out even, and we took full advantage.
The island was beautiful and I could not have wished for more from a weekend vacation in February. I would love to go back to Malta someday and I hope that I can!

The Adventures of Getting to Malta

Where to begin… honestly this might end up being a series of posts. Plus, that way, I can put more pictures up, but if you want to see the rest of them, they’re on Facebook!
On the way there, the bus from Aix that we were going to take to the airport decided to not come. Seriously, we have the worst luck in the world when it comes to the buses here. So we waited until the last possible minute and then hopped in a cab that took us to the airport. From there, we were pretty much running through security, but we made it to our plane on time. This was our first Ryanair experience, and it’s really just like a bus that flies. There are no assigned seats, there are no beverages (well there are if you want to pay for them), the seats don’t recline; there are no radios in the armrest, etc. No frills basically, but when you’re getting flights for 30 euros, you can’t expect a ton of comfort.
Unfortunately, there was a group of about 30 15-year olds on our flight who proceeded to yell to each other across the aisles during the whole flight. Also, one of them had never been on a plane before and felt it was appropriate to scream. Not the most peaceful flight of my life. The girl in front of us kept turning around and yelling to someone in the back of the plane, “Ca va, Pierre?! Ca va?!” Yes, dammit, Pierre is ca va haha.
But we landed and we made it. That’s all I can ask for! We took a taxi to the city we were staying in, St. Juliens, and it turned out that our hostel was closed. When I booked it, I made a note that we would not be getting into town until about 11pm. Of course, when we show up, there is no one there, there is no note, there is no key, there is no phone number. So we creeped around the office for a while until we decided that there was no way we could stay there. We wandered to the Intercontinental Hotel because it was the biggest one we could see and we figured that they would at least be helpful and have some advice, even if they didn’t have a room for us. Luckily, they were super nice and we did end up booking a room there which was one of the greatest choices of the whole trip. Honestly, they had the best hotel staff I have ever seen. The hotel was beautiful and huge; we stayed on the 12th floor, and it only cost us 40 euros each for the night. So we spent a great night in the Intercontinental Hotel in Malta.
Alright, to be continued in the next post so I can put up more pictures haha.

Trivia Night

Ok so I know that I am going backward in time a little bit, but I didn’t tell you! We won Trivia Night at the Woohoo on Thursday! Every Thursday the Woohoo (a local bar here that is very friendly to foreign students) holds a trivia night. About 30-40 teams come to play each week and you can play with as few or as many people as you want. We (the American girls) have teamed up with a group of local Frenchies and are now a team of 12-18, depending on the week. Our name is "Les Boloss" which means The Jackasses haha. Apparently this has been their team name for years, so we figured se would just keep it going.

So we go to the Woohoo every Thursday and play. They ask about half and half American and French questions, so together we do quite well. And last week (this past Thursday) we actually won! Out of all the teams we came in first! The Frenchies had never won before on their own so this was really exciting. There is normally one giant group that plays every week and dominates everyone so it is often the case that you’re playing for second, but this week they weren’t there and we swept the tournament! So this is a picture of most of the members of our winning team. You can see the American girls in the front left and all of our French teammates towards the right! We’ll be back next Thursday to try to keep our title!

Snowpocalypse?

While it is apparently snowing and icing all over the United States in the storm of the century, the weather has turned really beautiful here in France. Temperatures are supposed to get up to 60 degrees by Friday with sunshine all week. Haha weird how that works out.

We're going to Malta on Friday! I hope the weather will be as good there as it is here, but there is a chance of rain. O well, it will be fun anyhow!

We're trying to finalize some big trips and get things booked here so that prices don't go up. Luckily, Europe has Ryanair and EasyJet to get us from place to place for really low prices. Some flights you can get for seven euros, I'm not even kidding. It's amazing.

And we're going to go to an OM (Olympique Marseille, the soccer team here) game in two weeks! Tickets in the nosebleeds are only 20 euros, so we're in! Plus, the atmosphere is supposed to be really great- you don't so much go for the game as you go for the fans.

I hope everyone is surviving this snow storm!

The Adventures of Marley and Me, Episode 1

We went to Avignon today! We woke up, decided to book it to the train station, and originally had the intent of going to Arles. The layover in Marseille was too long, so we just asked for her to check the price and time to get to Avignon. It was cheaper, and faster, so we took it! We hopped on the train (luckily after I bought some rainboots because it rained all day), and made it to our connection in Marseille. Of course, the train had a different name than on our ticket, and we couldn't understand the guy at the counter, so we were running to catch it. We found it and were hopping on until we realized that we had been assigned a car number, 18, and that we were in car 1. The trains don't connect all the way down, so we had to run to the other end of the longest passenger train I have ever seen haha before the train left. But we made it! We got to Avignon, took the bus to the city center, and spent the day wandering around and shopping. There is decenct shopping in Avignon, and one store that we found especially amazing.

We took a tour of the Palais du Papes, which used to be what Rome is today. We saw the Avignon Bridge, which is for some reason famous. We ate gelato at a really amazing little Italian place that also had 28 flavors of hot chocolate, and then before we caught our train back we had a beer at an Irish pub where we met a few really interesting guys who are in the French Foreign Legion.

The train back was easy, and it was definitely a good day trip. Yes, it rained the whole time, but c'est la vie! Totally worth it!

Weird, France

Ok, I think I might dedicate a fair number of these blogs to weird things that French people do/wear. Like this lady on her bicycle. For some reason, hair that is literally red was a good idea?

I also believe that I will be putting a fair number of pictures up here of people's dogs. The dogs here are extrememly we behaved- I have yet to see any dog bark or get in a fight or run away where it's not supposed to. The French also have a tendency of dressing their dogs, often in really really nice clothes too. Most of them are walking around outside with little jackets and hooded coats on, which is super cute, if not a little weird. But yesterday I saw a dog that was wearing a Burberry jacket! These animals are some of the most spoiled in the world! No, they don't carry them in their purses, but they buy them designer dog clothes and when the dog gets too cold they will carry them inside their jackets.

Children are also extremely well dressed here. I cannot tell you how many little fur coats I have seen running around. It's adorable, but incredibly expensive. Guess the dogs and the kids are the best treated people (if dogs are people) in this country!

C'est la vie

We wandered around town and ran errands today, and I ate frites for lunch from this little stand at the Cours Mirabeau. Family dinner is at our house tonight, and we’re making Mexican! Then afterwards, The Woohoo is throwing an “Erasmus Welcomes Americans” party that we’ll go to for a while. They’re having a happy hour just for international students.
We went to market this morning and then Monoprix (it’s kind of our Kroger here). We got a phone and a splitter for the outlet so that we can have internet and a land line phone that we can call to the US on for free (well, just the cost of our plan). Then we walked to the top of the theater here that gives you a really great view of the whole city of Aix and you can even see Ste Victoire in the distance. I love how much there is to discover in this city.
I’m starting homework this afternoon. I have to read the play Hernani by Victor Hugo for a class on Thursday. Obviously I’m procrastinating by writing this blog instead haha. Maybe I should start working on that…

Mt. Saint Victoire

We climbed Mt. Saint Victoire yesterday! More accurately, we tried to. We couldn’t read the bus schedule right, and so we missed the 10:15am bus and then came back for a bus that doesn’t run on Sundays, and then had to come back for a final bus two hours later. Once on the bus, it careened through these little twisty roads driving straight at oncoming traffic, but somehow we made it there alive!

The man at the desk at the bottom of the mountain was incredibly French and very unhelpful. He wouldn’t give us a map or explain a good way to get up the mountain, and kind of just pointed us in a general direction and ended up selling us a map for 5 euros. We started hiking and got lost on a trail that turned out to be for super advanced climbers fully equipped with rappelling and climbing gear. We only figured that out when the next green arrow pointed straight at a cliff wall and indicated up. Yea, right. So we ate lunch on a nice dangerous cliff haha but it was beautiful scenery.

The paths were marked with the smallest little dashes “strategically” placed on rocks, which basically guaranteed that you would not see them (and the trail we were taking was the green trail, so seeing those little green dashes on random rocks mixed in with all the brushes was pretty difficult). We got lost again, and eventually found the path that we had intended on being on, and that did not require any gear. Unfortunately, by the time we were in a place that could actually lead to the top of the mountain, about 4 hours had passed and we had to turn back in order to make it off the mountain before the sun set and we would be lost on the mountain for the night. We still made it pretty high up, and it was really beautiful. We got to pick rosemary on the mountainside that was growing wild everywhere.

There were people that were doing “paraplone” off the top. You jump off the mountain with a parachute on and pretty much hang-glide all the way down the mountain. We had already been looking into doing this, but now that we know they offer it at Mt. Saint Victoire so close to us, we’ll definitely be going back for it!

Of course, the bus that would take us back decided that since it’s Sunday they just were going to skip a stop, so we sat at the bus stop for an hour, and eventually called the bus depot who explained that the man had “forgotten” to come back out there. The next bus wasn’t coming for over two hours.

The man that works the desk offered to drive us to the nearest town where we could catch a bus that would come more frequently, and we gratefully accepted. Once he dropped us in this little town in the middle of nowhere, it turned out that there were no busses running to that town today (just because it was Sunday). We had to call a cab which took twenty minutes to come out to us, and charged us for driving out there. He brought us all the way back to our street in Aix, 25 euros later.

All in all, the mountain was a great time. I’m really glad that we went and we’ll definitely go back again and make it to the top. We now know where to catch the bus and to allow more time for climbing! As far as getting to the mountain, I would hope that the next time we go is a weekday and there will be a regular bus schedule haha. But, I’m going to bed happy and exhausted! Definitely a successful day.

Market Day

It's market day! The biggest markets are on Saturdays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, so today is a big one. There is a flower market in the square just around the corner from my apartment, and then a fruit, vegetable, and other foods market in the square just before that one. Then down the street and to the left you run into the big market that spills out of the square and into the streets. You can buy everything here. I bought a pair of nice boots today (20 euros!) that I'm really excited about.

The soldes are getting really good too. All of the stores are down to about 70% off and so it's just a steal everywhere you go. I bought two bags yesterday, one to carry goods from market, and one is a side purse that's good for travelling. Total, they were supposed to cost 70 euros, and I paid 19. Gotta love the soldes!

Our internet has been installed, but for some reason they say it won't work for 48 hours. Oh France, come on. But that means that tomorrow evening we will hopefully have internet in our house! That would be great, and so much easier. We will also have a phone from which we can call the US for free! Well, it's part of our plan so I guess it's not really free, but it won't cost anything extra from the cost of our plan, so that's great.

We're off for a little more "soldes-ing" and then out for the night!

So, these are the posters that are plastered all over our school haha. It's a little strange to walk down the halls with all these posters saying to vanquish capitalism. But, no one cares that we're American and a capitalist country, so I guess that's ok!

We bought 12-25 train passes today. They're called the douze-vingt cinq card and they cut the price of train tickets in half, so that's awesome because otherwise they are really expensive. We're about to book a train to Paris for Valentine's Day, and then we also need one to Paris in March when we're going to Dublin for St. Patrick's Day.

Last night we went to trivia night at a bar here called Woohoo. It was actually really fun and apparently the APA kids from last year went there all the time, so the people pretty much knew who we were and there was even an IU flag hanging from the rafters! That was fun, and they play beer pong there on Monday nights. It's really quite the little American hangout. There were a bunch of girls from Welsley that are doing the study abroad program in Aix as well as another group of Americans. It was probably 30% American in there last night! Yay! hahah

Malta!

Just booked a flight to Malta! And the best part is that it was 50 euros haha gotta love the cheap flights within Europe! So we will be in Malta for the first weekend in February. This is a picture of the city where we will be staying: St. Julien's. It's famous for it's beaches and obviously it's still winter and the off season, so obviously it's a lot cheaper to go there, but it should still be decently warm there! Malta is an island south of Sicily, and it's own country, which I did not know until I found a cheap flight going there haha.

We had two more classes today, both successful. Unfortunately very long, but it will be worth it when we don't have any classes on Mondays or Tuesdays! Yay! So come visit me in Europe! lol