1 Week Later
- Al
- Jan 22, 2017
- 2 min read
HERE WE GO.
We've been French for an entire week!! Trust me, you wouldn't recognize us if we came back to the states because we are so foreign...and fabulous. But really, not much has changed, and Maddie and I are still in love with life and having adventures. And we've had plenty this week.
Let's start with Day 1. Well...it didn't go so well. I was weak from traveling and a previous stomach bug, and I got sick! J'ETAIS MALADE!! SO I stayed home and put my complete trust in Maddie and our housemate, Connor, to fill me in on IAU College, the people, the class, and the food.
------> Hey this is Maddie, what I learned the first day was to not make eye contact with French boys. And to not smile at strangers. And that I can order lunch- dejeuner (say day-jun-nay) like a pro! "Je voudrais un sandwhich s'il vous plaît!" Incredible. And that the French are just as obsessed as I am with chocolat.
Day 2 was very intimidating because after only a day, I felt like the people had already formed lasting bonds and I was trying to break through and say, "Bonjour, love me please, I'm adorable." But those thoughts quickly went away and I started to appreciate the new atmosphere and completely new surroundings.
All the streets are very narrow and surprisingly, drivable, so we are often in danger of being run over by small European cars. The town doesn't really seem to have a pattern, so it's easy to get lost and discover new shops and side streets. Lunch is an interesting endeavor because there are tons, and I mean TONS, of small, adorable cafés (boulangeries and patisseries) but very little space to stay and eat. And when it's cold, standing outside trying to eat a COLD baguette is the last thing we want to do.
After déjeuner, all the students took a bus outside Aix and explored a quaint, colorful town that spilled out to reveal Picasso's castle!
After appropriate oohing and aahing and the inevitable taking of pictures, we hopped back onto the bus and visited the most famous landscape in Aix----Montagne Saint Victoire.
(Damn!!^) Here, we learned that Aix en Provence is commonly referred to as Eggs in Provence because when dinosaurs roamed the mountain they left behind egg shells that are still visible today!! WOW OMG DINOSAURS
Okay, I'm going to leave you with this cliff and update you on the rest of the week on another day.
À bientot - Al and Mads a little bit
PS - the other cat's name is Arwen
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