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.
