Mount St. Victoire and my resourcefulness

Hello my dearest friends and family,

I am happy to report that yet again I am doing well and have survived another week in France without picking up a smoking addiction, getting hit by a crazed European driver, or eaten my weight in bread and cheese (although I have come dangerously close).  This week was somewhat eventful, just climbed a mountain in Southern France, that's all.  O and went to class, but that's not important at this point.

So we begin.  Last Sunday I went with a group of girls to Mount St. Victoire.  What an adventure that was.  We all met up on time, and dressed for the climb promptly a little before 11:15 when the bus was coming.  We were to catch a small bus at the Rotonde bus stop and take it all the way out to the south side of the mountain.  Well little did we understand that there is more than one bus stop at the Rotonde, and in the end missed the first bus.  No big deal we passed the time with delicious pastries from Gout de Pain (our new favorite bakery, I will post photos), and all met up again for the next bus an hour later.  HAHA! Here in France buses don't have the same weekday schedules are weekends, so we misread the map and the next bus wasn't for yet another hour.  Okay what to do since no stores are open on Sundays and cafes are kind of expensive to sit and sip on a 3 euro coke for an hour, so we went back to Gout de Pain.  Why not right?  Finally we catch the correct bus and head on our way to the mountain.  Fun side note, the bus driver let us ride for free!!  This bus driver was INSANE!! I felt like I was on a roller coaster at kings island.  It's one thing to drive like a madmen if you're just going down a straight highway in Indiana with cornfields on either side to buffer the crash in case you do veer off the rode.  But no this man was taking winding and looping turns up to the mountain at neck breaking speeds of 40 or 50 miles an hour.  Yes I understand he makes this route on a daily basis, but I DON'T!   Luckily we all survived the bus ride and found our way to the mountain lodge, bought a map and figured out where the start of the trail was.  We are maybe 5 minutes into the climb to the top (keep in mind the climb to the top based on the map is roughly 2 hours) we run into a herd of goats.  One of the top most bizarre experiences of my life.  They were just out roaming, eating grass, pooping everywhere.  Some had bells around their necks so we could still hear them for miles after we made our way through their pasture.  Lesson of the day:  always give a goat the right of way when crossing their path.  So the climb to the top of the mountain was marked by different colors of paint on rocks.  Each color stood for a different level of difficulty.  We chose easy, duh!  But we ended up scaling the side of the mountain and found a cliff to have lunch (yes I will post pictures).  After lunch the map instructed us to get out our rock climbing gear to rappel the mountain. Ha funny, so we turned around.  We ended up finding another path that took us past a mountain home of Cezanne and a horse trail.  We knew the sunsets around 5 or 5:30 and did not want to be hiking in the dark.  So in the end we did not make it to the top for fear of tumbling back down the mountain in the dark.  Yes this is a fast way to the bottom, but that is if you survive the 30 minute fall.  We make it back to the lodge to catch the bus home.  We wait. and wait. and after 45 minutes or so of waiting for this crazed bus driver to pick us up at the correctly assigned time based on the bus schedule I had with me, he apparently forgot to make his routine stop at the base of Mount St. Victoire.  So we make our way into the lodge, keep in mind we're cold and tired and hungry and desperate to get home.  The nice forest ranger working at the front desk offers to drive some girls to the next town to catch a train back into Aix.  Sure why not?! So 3 girls in the group go with him to catch the train.  He did not inform these girls that the train station is closed on Sundays at that time.  Whether he knew that or not, he left them stranded and they had to catch a taxi home.  The rest of the group waited around for the next bus, which came pretty much on time and almost ran us over, literally I saw my life flash before my eyes.  We were waiting in the little cove on the side of the rode behind the guard rail, and here comes mad man barreling down the hill and so we all wave our hands in the air and yell for him to see us to stop (it's pitch black at this point).  He comes barreling into this little cove between the guard rail and the rock wall we were sitting on and we all have to dive in different directions to get out of the way and not become Mount St. Victoire road kill.  He apologizes over and over and lets us ride home for free.  Can't complain if you got the trip for free.  Mount St. Victoire was breath taking and if you ever find yourself in southern France I highly recommend you make it a tourist stop.  The higher up the mountain the prettier and prettier the view gets.  You can see for miles and the air is so clear and fresh.  It was  definitely a good choice for a Sunday hike.

      

      

   

My time in France has taught me many things and how to be very resourceful.  As you know the euro is at an exchange right a little higher than the US dollar.  1 euro = $1.36 (give or take a penny or two and the time of day you check the exchange rate).  That being said it's obvious that things are more expensive when you calculate the price of something from euros to dollars.  My dear room mate (or as I call her in French slang ma coloc "my roomie") and I have found ways to cut unnecessary costs and still survive with the bare essentials.  This is what I'm getting at:  why pay for toilet paper when a public restroom has a whole role you can just take for free, why pay for ketchup and mustard and salt and pepper when the cafeterias has packets of these condiments sitting our for free, why buy hangers when a store is throwing out boxes of perfectly good shirt and pants hangers for free (this is a story I'll get into later).  You get the point, why buy something when it was already put out for public use.  So far we have not stolen but not borrowed, let's say discovered, 2 roles of toilet paper, a stack of napkins, several packets of ketchup, mustard, salad dressing, salt, pepper, and sugar, and then around 30 hangers.  So far so good and the money we would be spending on these essential items we are now putting that money towards Gout de Pain (our favorite bakery).

      

I made my first attempt at laundry this week.  O how I miss the convenience of doing laundry in the US.  Washer and dryer in your home, for you to use whenever and takes roughly an hour and a half to run a load through a complete wash and dry cycle.  HA! here in France they do have laundry mats, but the catch is the price you pay to wash and dry a load of laundry.  To wash one load of laundry, which is roughly half the size of a typical load of laundry in the US do to the size of the washing machine, you will pay 3,30 euro that is about $4.40.  Do dry your clothing you pay .70 euro so 95 cents to dry your clothing for 10 minutes at a time.  I did one load of laundry and spent 4,70 euro so $6.39.  Not happening every week.  And I didn't even get all my clothing cleaned at the laundry mat.  I then came home and hand washed shirts and socks in the bathroom sink and hung them up to dry for a day or two.  (Yes I have photos).

      

Class are so far so good and I still have little to no homework in comparison to classes in the US.  Cathy and I made the famous crouque monsieur sandwiches for dinner the other night.  Quite a success I must say.  It's basically a fancy hot ham and cheese.  See photo above.

Well dear friends and family that is all for this week, until next time stay gorgeous and keep warm.  Spring is coming, I promise.  

 

First week of classes

Well I am happy to say that I have survived my first week of classes in France.  The process was hellish to go through picking out classes, some I intend to take and some I will take if I'm forced to on the grounds that the classes I want to take are 1. full 2. can't understand the professor or 3. the subject matter puts me to sleep.  Monday (Day one) I went to a French history class that is offered by the APA (Academic Program of Aix).  The professor's name is Claude and he is wonderful.  The makes history interesting and on the first day asked all the students in the class what ares of French history we want to cover during the duration of the semester to make sure we'd actually enjoy and get something out of the class.  You are not going to find this from a US college class.  In the US it's either you like it or you don't, but he wants to cater the class to what we want to know most about French history.  He started out speaking slow to make sure we were all on the same page and understanding the objectives of the class.  This professor also offers an oral expression class on Thursday nights that has been highly recommended to me, so I might try that class out next week.  After the French history class I have an hour or two for lunch and then I have a semi linguistic class called Language, Culture and Societe.  My professor's name is Alain Giacomi and he is the typical old french man who shakes and just wants to be your sudo grandpa.  He loved having so many American students in the class, and during his lecture of french slang, argot and pigeons he asked the American students to teach the french students a word of American slang.  So we taught them the word "jank".  For those of you who do not have "jank" in your vernacular this word could be used to describe something that is broken, run or doesn't work properly.  The french students didn't understand what we were trying to express with this word so we gave them the sentence, "Le FAC (the university I am taking class from) is jank".  I will add photos to my blog so you too can better understand the meaning of this word and hopefully use it!  Tuesdays I don't have class till 2:00 or as the Europeans say 14h (they run their days on a 24 hour clock, which becomes very confusing for an american).  I have found the fastest way to calculate their clock into one I can understand is to subtract 12 from what ever time it is after 12:00.  So 19h- 12= 7:00 pm.  I'm probably making matters more complicated, but it has worked for me so far.  My class Tuesday is History of France during the industrial revolution.  My professor for this class speaks very quietly, so I will be sitting in the front row next class.  He seems to favor the foreign students so I will be using this to my advantage.  He has a rather large nose and during the entire class he kept touching his nose (like some kind of obsession or habit) and I thought he was picking his nose.  Nope just touching it, a lot.  I have no class on Wednesdays, so this will be a good time to catch up on homework or take short day trips to Marseille or other close coastal cities.  Mostly definitely the beach once the weather warms up.
             
            
Side note here:  the weather here is not as palmy and exotic as you may think.  We have had rather blustery weather and lots of wind.  The only good time to be warm is to stand in the sun (which is hard to find in a city of tall buildings) between the hours of 1 and 2 or 13h and 14h.  So you may think I'm just soaking up sun and relaxing on the Riviera while my Indiana friends and family are mustering through sleet and snow, but no you are wrong.  There is such thing as cold weather in southern France and I can tell you all about it.  Back to classes.  So Thursdays I start out my day with a APA program required methodology class that will help us with our writing.  The professor for this class is my favorite professor I have this semester.  He has a slight lazy eye so I can't tell who he's looking at and speaks very slow and spittle forms in the corners of his mouth when he gets excited.  He's very much the typical old french man you come to France and hope to meet.  He offered help with our other classes assignments in the event we are stuck on our essays and papers.  I can just tell  he genuinely wants to help out a group of American kids to improve our speaking and writing abilities. I have this class with other students who are in my program so it's nice to come to class and see a bunch of familiar faces.  For my second class of the day I have to take a city bus to another part of town to the anthropology building.  When I got on the bus I felt I was back at IU for some reason.  I guess just the coincidence of taking a 6 bus to get to campus at IU and taking the Aix city 6 bus to get to class.  My last class of the week is Anthropology of Provence.  I think this class will be very interesting if I can ever understand the professor.  He has a pretty thick southern french accent and for the first half of the class lectured almost word for word out of a text book.  The class is in a pretty big lecture hall which totally different compared to all my other classes that are in typical classrooms with desks and chairs.  Luckily the professor set up the microphone system so I could understand him a little better.  I will definitely be making friends with the other french students to get notes.   Get ready for it:  NO CLASS ON FRIDAY! This is the first time I have never had a Friday class, ever.  Let me tell you, it's pretty nice.  I like being at home in the earlier afternoon doing homework because there is a live band that plays in the place (open square area) just outside my window.  One more note about classes.  Classes in France and probably most of Europe are structured very differently from the US.  Class meets once a week for 3-4 hours.  The number of hours your meet equals the course credit, so I am taking 14 credits which means I sit in class for 14 hours each week.  In the US it is much more common for a class to meet twice a week or an hour and a half or 3 or 4 times and sometimes 5 times a week for about an hour or less.  Class in France doesn't assign weekly homework or have several tests and papers throughout the semester but rather one final test or if your lucky a midterm and maybe 1 or 2 assignments.  There is no class participation (which I like) and the professor just lectures at you for the full 3 hours.  You do get a small pose or break about half way through the class to stretch your legs and go buy some vending machine coffee.  The rapport between professors and students is very different here.  In the US students are expected to remain quiet during class and speak only to ask a question of the professor out of respect.  In France students will conduct long conversations at a normal voice level and the professor does nothing.  This makes it difficult for foreign students to hear the professor's lecture when there is a constant hum of conversation in the room, but it's an aspect of the french culture I will have to get used to.
Our apartment is working out very nicely now that we have heat and hot water.  Thank god I no longer have to bath out of a teapot (I think I already told that story but just in case I didn't) The first and second nights after we had moved in our hot water was not working and our landlord tried to fix it but he is by no means an electrician.  The first night Cathy and I washed each other's hair our of a tea pot we boiled on the stove and the second night we had just enough hot water for one shower so I got to take a sponge bath out of said tea pot.  Quite the experience but never again.  We are in a great location to all the markets.  We are also right next to the bars, literally a 2 minute walk from our favorite bars and dance clubs.  This is good and bad.  Good for the nights when we want to go out and have a good time, but bad for the nights when we want to get sleep and the rest of Aix wants to party.  C'est la vie!  I am a 20 minute walk from campus which may seem far but in reality it's not farther then I had to walk freshmen year from my dorm to most of my classes.
Weekly observations:
1.  Cheese in France rally is better.
2.  France loves PDA (public displays of affection)
3.  France works on it's own clock and allows for breaks in the day.  (Stores are open around 9 and close at 7 and take a 2 hour lunch [I'm not sure how they actually sell anything])
4.  Consumerism of America has gotten.  I had a bad moment today and went to the grocery to buy diet coke and a bag of potato chips and went to a chic fast food restaurant called Burgers and Chicken to get a cheeseburger and french fries.  (I have decided this can only happen occasionally otherwise I will never be a true french girl that lives of bread and wine)
5.  cell phone service sucks in France (I don't get cell phone service on the main street of town... hm...)

Well faithful followers I am off to climb mt. st. Victoire tomorrow so the next time you hear from I will have another week of class behind me and have climbed to the highest peaks of on of France's most famous mountains.

A day in Marseille

I haven't even been here for 2 full weeks and I can already tell I am not going to want to come home.  Sorry mom and dad but it's the truth.  The moving in process and getting acquainted with the city and people is beginning to set in and has made it easier to adjust to a completely different culture and way of life.  I have been here long enough to really pick out differences between the US and France.  Here I go to the grocery multiple times a week to buy only a meal or two worth of food, where as in the US I could go to the grocery once and buy enough food to last 2-3 weeks if not a full month.  The stereotype that all French people are rude and snobby is not true.  I'm sure all cities whether in Europe or America have their fair share of rude people, but I have not run into any problems with a French person being just down right rude to me because I am American.  Like I said in my last posting I miss grass.  Sounds crazy but all the streets and sidewalks are cobble stones or cement, there are tall buildings everywhere that were built in the 17th and 18th century (so lots of history) and people and cars everywhere.  Granted it is still winter and the flowers have not bloomed and the leaves are not out on the trees, but I will miss the vast spaces of grass on IU's campus.  One thing about the US that I do miss is the convenience of everything, which just goes to show how spoiled we can be sometimes.  At home I could just heat a frozen pizza or defrost some leftovers or just pick up dinner from a fast food joint, but those don't exactly exist here.  There are places like quick burger that try to make American food, but it just isn't a good substitute for the real thing.  In France I have to plan out my meals for each day go to the store to buy my ingredients most everyday and then come home to cook everything from scratch and try to eat the food I have made in a short amount of time because there are few preservatives and I have no means of tubber ware storage.  I am definitely a spoiled American.

This past week we had an intensive French acquisition course which counted for a grade and will transfer back to IU as 1 credit.  We were in class for 4 hours Monday-Friday.  We'd do grammar exercises and practice speaking and debating topics and then we'd go to a listening lab located in le FAC (where I'll be going to school).  The course was definetly helpful to see how classes during the semester might be conducted and having to sit in class for 4 hours at a time while your professor speaks to you in only French.  We do get a petit pose (small break) at the half way mark during the class to go buy coffee, use the restrooms, or just stretch and walk around.  We have also been in the dreaded process of signing up for classes, or should I say "signing up" for classes.  Apparently the way to French academic system works in comparison to the US is that in France or at least at the university I am attending, you pick out the classes you'd like to take and then just go to them.  It's once you go to class that the professor takes attendance to see who is in the class and then you are signed up for the semester.  In the US you have to meet with advisors and go through a long electronic process of trying to find classes that work day and time wise and then make sure there are still enough spots on the class list and then enroll and you're already on an attendance sheet for the semester.  I like the US process better, because there is so much uncertainty with the French system of whether you'll get into the class or it will be too full.  As of right now I will have class Monday- Thursday and have one class Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and then 2 classes on Thursday.  Each class is 3 hours which equals 3 credits and I hope to dear god that when I get back to IU I can present my case for each class well enough to get all my credits to transfer.  That will be another process.  Luckily all but one of my classes is in the same building which is within walking distance.  My other class is a bus ride away and on the complete other side of town from where I live.  Wish me luck! haha

This week was my lovely room mate, Cathy Chung's, 21st birthday and Natalie, my room mate from freshman year came to visit for her birthday and stayed for a couple days.  We celebrate the special day by going to bar and ordering her drinks at midnight and celebrate with other friends in the program.  Our stay with Natalie was very fun and very busy.  Cathy and I were still taking the intensive course in the morning and then had academic meetings in the afternoon and evening, but we still had time to catch up with Nat.  We made lots of home made french meals, like a spinach quiche and more stir fry and couscous and of course ate lots of bread and cheese.
                                                

Les soldes have started.  Les soldes (sales) is a Europe wide mega sale in which all the clothing and shoes and jewelry from the previous fall and I guess summer season goes on sale starting at 50% everything for a week or two and then drops down to 60% and then to 70%.  The stores are trying to get ride of inventory to bring in their new collections, which is good news for us poor college students trying to fit in as french students.  I have found some pretty good deals, and can't wait for the next mark down so everything is even cheaper.  Cathy and I have done so much shopping we now need to move to another city, like Marseille to shop, because we've basically already scoped everything out in Aix.

We took a trip to Marseille this past Saturday.  We left at 9h (9:00 am) and got back to Aix at 19h (7:00 pm).  Marseille was BEAUTIFUL!  I will attach pictures with this blog entry.  When we first got off the bus in Marseille I was very cold because Marseille is a costal city in France and a main fishing harbor.  Our tour guides Cecilia and Claude took us on a ferry ride to iles de frioul.  It was a small island with a fabulous view and lots of cliff climbing and exploring.  There is a small population of some very wealthy Marseille citizens who live on the island.  They have to take the ferry everyday to get to work or do any shopping.  We also past the chateau dif (sp?) where the movie the Count of Monte Cristo was filmed in part.  Once the sun came up and it was mid day the weather was perfect.  I didn't want to leave the little island we were exploring.  We took the ferry back into the mainland of Marseille and were given an hour for lunch.  We found a small cafe right off the port docks and were all so hungry we decided to stop here to get a quick bite of lunch.  An hour later we were served our lunch and were not able to go with the rest of the group to an art museum.  One of the tour guides stayed behind with us to finish eating and show us how to get to the museum.  The museum wasn't very impressive, but it made for a nice break in the quick pace of the day.  After the museum we took the bus to the highest point in Marseille where there is a catholic church.  The view was perfect and right at sunset over the ocean.  Cathy and I stopped into the church to listen to service for a while and took many pictures of the intricate architecture.  We were all so tired on the trip home and slept most of the way.
          

I found out yesterday that my mother is officially coming to visit me from Feb. 25th- March 6th.  I will now beginning making travel plans and plotting out all our stops for our European vacation.  This will be fun!

Well my faithful followers I end my blog entry here and thank you again for reading about my adventures in France.  Until next time stay beautiful America, but not as pretty as France.

Have I got a story for you.

I have arrived!!!!  Hello again (Bonjour encore).  I have so much to tell and well since this is the internet so much space to tell it in, but where to begin?  I left Tuesday January 4^th for 5 months in Aix-en-Provence, France.  I flew from Louisville to Philadelphia, where I met up with some IU friends to then fly to Frankfurt, Germany, a 7 hour flight, (where I could not for the life of me figure out how to use the pay phones [sorry mom and dad it took so long to tell you I’d arrived]).  The good part about the 7 hour flight from Philly to Frankfurt was the good selection of movies and music to entertain myself while strapped to a little seat in a packed plane for a very long time.  The final leg of the journey landed us in Marseille, France.  Marseille is a larger city than Aix-en-Provence and by the little glimpse I got of the city, very beautiful.  Once arriving we collected all of our luggage (thank god nothing was lost), and headed for the buses.  We had to travel by train, bus or taxi into Aix, and taxi being the easiest but most expensive we chose the bus.  The bus let us off on the south side of town (as we’d later find out), and keep in mind none of us were familiar with the city and had no clue where we were going.  Two of the girls were staying in the hotel reserved for a small group of students on the program, and my roommate Cathy and I had already signed a lease for an apartment.  We asked everyone we could find for directions or some clue as to where to go to find our logging, but no luck.  We finally stumbled upon the office of tourism, and with much luck our program director, Madame Feral, happened by the office of tourism and stopped us to show us where to go to find our logging.  Thank god for that woman.  She took Cathy and me to our apartment, which seemed to be on the other side of town going up winding streets and dodging cars and people and dogs while dragging our coffins (suit cases) behind us.  We finally arrived and remembered we live on the 4^th (le troisième étage).  We met our landlady and began the trek up the winding staircase to our apartment.  We were so soar and tired after all the traveling and jet lag and lugging 4 huge suitcases up 4 flights of stairs.  Our landlady had us sign the lease, showed us around the small apartment (I have included pictures), and then collected our rent and was on her way.  It wasn’t till later that night we’d find out she never tested the hot or the heat, but that will come later.  The apartment was set up into two separate quarters.  One with just a bed and the other with a bed/couch, study desk, and kitchen table; we knew this wouldn’t be a good set up so we spend roughly an hour or more rearranging the furniture in this rather tight apartment (again see pictures).  Once the transformation was complete we began the unpacking process.  As you’ll notice in the pictures there is only one closet in the entire apartment and two pull our drawers under one of the beds.  (Needless to say very little storage.)  After a long day of travel and plane food we were starving and set out in the town to forage for food.  My first French meal was a fancy grilled cheese sandwich from Pizza Capri that had goat cheese on it.  Different but not my cup of tea.  We then went to the grocery to get food for the next couple of meals and headed home for much needed sleep (at 7:00 pm).

        

        

Day 2

We went on a guided tour, by George, of the city in two small groups.  It was an interesting tour.  We saw the main parts of town and he pointed out good places to buy groceries and go shopping and neat attractions to come back and visit.  Our tour ended at le Fac, where I’ll be taking my classes.  I am about a 20 minute walk from campus, but it is through the main part of the town and a rather lovely walk.  We ate lunch as a giant group with all the program students at the University cafeteria.  The meals a pretty cheap (3 euro) and you get quite a lot of food for the price you pay.  I don’t plan to eat lunch here every day, but the days I don’t pack my lunch this cafeteria is a great alternative.  We met as a group in le Fac for a meeting to discuss upcoming events and the placement test we’d have the following day.  This kind of freaked me out.  We didn’t get much time to roam the campus grounds, but from the looks of it the building has a good amount of character.  There is graffiti on the walls and unisex bathrooms (with no toilet paper).  There are 4 sections of the school housed in one building and several floors in each section.  That will be fun to try to figure out on the first day of classes.  Later that day we met as a group to buy our cell phones.  I’d give you my number to call me and chat, but it would cost us both a lot of money so we’ll stick to the internet.  Because there are so many of us on the program it takes forever to get anything done, such as signing up 30 something students for cell phones.  We then went to eat at a restaurant called Boca Loca.  It’s a Mexican restaurant in France.  Yes I know.  Apparently the owner traveled to the US, tried Qudoba, and came back to Aix to open his own version of the Mexican restaurant, and they have free wifi, which is come in handy.  Much later that night we went out to a bar called la Manoir and Cathy and I shared a cider ale type drink.  The drinks here are much more expensive than they are back home, or at least at the bars in Bloomington.  The bar was pretty empty and we were all tired so we went home shortly after.  We also found out that a shot isn’t a full shot of hard liquor, but actually it’s maybe 1/3 liquor and ¾ tasting syrup.  After a long day we were ready for bed. 

  

Day 3

We got up on a school time schedule to head to the campus to take our placement/evaluation tests.  We had been told they would cover oral or speaking ability, reading comprehension, and writing and grammar.  The night before Cathy and I tried to review for this test, but found out there was really no need.  The oral section consisted of about 10 questions that asked scenarios such as, “When you watch French television you can understand what is being said”.  We then had to answer if we agree/disagree/or don’t know to this statement.  There was no actually conversing for this section, ha!  The reading comprehension and writing sections weren’t bad and covered topics of preserving resources and planet sustainability, in which we had to give our opinions on the matter.  Not long after the test they had posted the results of which group we had been split into, meaning we’d either have a class on Thursday or Friday with other students in the program (no French students).  I am in a group with my friend Jessica and I will have that class every Thursday for the first 11 weeks.  After another long meeting in le Fac we went to the bank to set up our bank accounts.  This again was a long and tedious process, but needed to be done.  My mother and I had done extensive research before coming to France to find the best means to get me the money I’d need throughout the semester.  A word for those students traveling in the future get an AAA travel card!  Some students on the program just brought American dollars to convert, but you lose money that way because the exchange process is very expensive.  Some brought travelers checks, but not many places will accept them and it’s hard to buy them in Euros while still in the states.  Some plan to just use a credit card, which works.  Some plan to have their parents wire money to their French bank accounts, which gets very expensive over time.  The AAA was by far the best choice I made.  My landlord has asked us to transfer our monthly rent into his bank account from ours and by having an AAA card and a French bank account that will be super easy. 

There were some items Cathy and I chose not to bring with us to France knowing we could just buy them while here.  We went to Monoprix (it’s like a target, there are 3 floors, the main floor is clothing and toiletries, the basement is groceries, and the top floor is everything else from bedding to school supplies to I think power tools?)  We bought a blow dryer and hair straightener, since we didn’t want to use our power converters and adaptors to use such appliances.  Granted I can’t use it back home, but it was worth the investment. 

That night we again went out to the bars again and met some nice Frenchmen (Phillip, Javier, Gerome, and Jean-Phillip) who gave us recommendations on what bars and dance clubs to go to.  It was fun to be with a lot of the girls in the program, and meet a lot of the girls from Michigan and Wisconsin.

I should explain here before I confuse anyone.  The study abroad program I am on consists of about 30 students from 3 different universities studying in Aix for the semester.  IU, Michigan, and Wisconsin-Madison.  There are students here in Aix that are on the year long program, but at this point in the trip we hadn’t met any of them yet.  We are all American or foreign students and might be in each other’s classes, but for the most part we are going to be maybe the only or one of a very few foreign students in our classes.  We’ve been told the professors and the university can be rather understanding to the fact that French is not our native language and we’re just here to learn from them.  We have been instructed to write « Je ne suis pas francophone » (I am not a native speaker) on the tops of our papers so the professors grading our papers know we’re foreign students, and hopefully grade us a little easier. 

Day 4

Cathy and I woke up to go to the open air markets for a little shopping with some of our friends.  I will include pictures of these markets.  There are 3 main markets in Aix one has only clothing, another has only food and the third has a lot of both.  We found the market that has a lot of both.  I am on top of my game and already bought Miss Sarah T her souvenir, and found a black wallet to put my food money in to keep my finances separated.  The markets have all kinds of products from cooking supplies to purses and shoes and clothing and men’s boxers (?), and scarves and jewelry and books and so much more.  The food markets have every kind of fruit and vegetable you can imagine which are all locally grown by farmers in the Aix and Marseille area.  There is all kinds of cheese and breads and some sweet pastry shops and candies stands, and places that sell homemade soaps and spices, and on and on.  There is also a flower market in town just two or so blocks from my apartment that sells all kinds of flowers in every color.  Les soldes begins Sunday.  Les soldes are sales in France that happen twice a year and every clothing shop in France puts whatever products they have in their shops on major sales that go through, I think, three mark downs.  So everything is first marked down to around 30 % off and then to 50 % off and finally around 70%.  This is the time to shop in France and I am here for the whole sale!!! 

Some of my friends have been spending the whole time living out of their suitcases in a hotel, and some have been fortunate to move out into apartments.  Two of my friends, Olivia and Marley moved into their apartment this day so Cathy and I stopped by to check out the place and use the free wifi they were getting.  The wifi wasn’t working so we went back to Boca Loca to use theirs.  At this point I had been able to find some places to use internet to email back home to mom and dad.  Right now Cathy and I are waiting for our internet modem to be installed to get wifi in our apartment and every once in a while we can pick up a signal to connect to the internet, but it’s not always reliable. 

Cathy and I made our first French dinner, which was actually pretty good given the fact that we had no measuring cups to make couscous.  I have included a picture of this.  We made sautéed vegetables with couscous, bread and 3 kinds of cheese, and red wine.

We again went out to the bars and met up with some students that are here on the year long program and they were able to show us the free dance clubs to get into and safe places to hang out in groups.  We all had so much fun dancing and making new friends with the other people in the program and didn’t get home till very late that night. 

 

Sorry this blog is sooooo long, but I have much to fill you in on and so much excitement to share.  As soon as I get reliable wifi set up in the apartment I will let you know and I’d love to skype with as many of you as possible! 

Here are some closing observations:  1. There is no grass in Aix, and I know very soon I will miss something as mundane as grass.  2.  French men are pushy. 3. The food and wine here really is better than any thing you’ll find in the U.S. but I do miss the convenience that the American food industry offers.

Love you all and catch you up soon!

The time has come

41 more hours till I board a plane in Louisville, KY and fly all the way to Aix-en-Provence, France.  (but I'm not counting)  This experience has been a long time coming and it is finally here.  For those of you who are following my blog, but maybe don't know the details, I'll quickly catch everyone up to speed.  I have been accepted by both Indiana University and the Provence University to study in southern France for the next 5 months.  All my classes will be taught in French, I will be living in an apartment with a very good friend of mine, Cathy Chung or as I like to call her catchung (long story), and I will be eating, breathing, and... taking in the French culture and way of life.  For those of you who are not geography experts and unfamiliar with the location of Aix I have included a map pointing out the city I will be living in.  Don't feel bad I had to look it up on a map too.  (The two red dots indicate Paris and Aix-en-Provence)

This has been a long (and stressful) process to get to this point and the funny thing is I haven't even left the country yet.  I would like to give a couple shout outs to family and friends that have helped me along the way.  First, my dear chauffer, Sarah Travis, who took me out for coffee to calm my nerves and then drove me to my interview.  Second, to Cathy, for agreeing to live with me in rather small spaces for the next 5 months.  Poor thing doesn't know what she's getting herself into.  Third, the "piss-poor" advising staff at IU for being a royal pain in not only my ass but every other person that had to come into contact with you.  You have taught me wisely (or not so wisely) how not to treat students and parents who are experiencing international travel and studying for the first time.  I thank you for your lack of support and effort because if it wasn't for you I wouldn't have pushed myself to learn the ins and outs of this process that you are being paid to "help" all of us with;  you've really made me grow up and I thank you (not!).  Fourth, I'd like to thank my Dad for taking off work and driving me all the way to Chicago, walking around in a blizzard just for deep dish pizza, and then circling Michigan Ave. for hours so I could get my studdent visa.  Literally if it wasn't for you I would not be going.  Lastly, I'd like to thank my mother, my sweet loving mother, who listened to me cry with joy the moment I found out I was accepted in to the program, and then cry again when I was frusterated with this process, and finally cry the moment I'd have to leave her for a couple of weeks knowing she'd worry like crazy till the next time I'd see her.  This has been a hard process on the both of us but sometimes I think more so on her.  So mom thank you for listening and giving me support and advice when I needed it the most, and for all your hard work and strength you have given me I think you deserve to fly out to France and spend a week with me.  Oh what luck that was your 50th birthday present!!
I can't go without mentioning my other dear friends and family, because without your silent prayers and keeping me in your thoughts who knows where I'd end up.  Thanks Grandma for your direct line with God and keeping me in your prayers.  Thanks Natalie and Alyssa and Sam and Emily and my Bloomington family to keep pushing me through.  Thank you to Chelsie and Danielle and Jamie and Ashley for the support system back home.  Thank you to the rest of my friends and family I didn't mention by name, you are appreciated for all you do.
Ok so now that I am off my Oscar podium and can conclude this Grammy winning speech... My coffin (extra large suitcase) and other suitcase equal to the size of a four year old child are packed all I need now is to get on that plane and fly far far away...
Until next time my faithful followers,
See ya in FRANCE!!