Everyday Life

Friends,

NERD ALERT. I'm going to talk about my classes so if you're not interested or don't want to hear me gush about how great all my books are then feel free to stop reading.

I am taking four classes, two in English and two in French. My favorite would have to be French Civilization, even though the entire class is in French, I really enjoying straining and pushing my focus every second for that hour and a half. Last week we briefly cover some of France's history and culture by identifying clichés. Now we're digging into French politics, which I must admit I wasn't all that excited for but I realized it's the debating and lying part of politics that bothers me, not so much the systems themselves. Anyway, France has somewhere around 12 political parties with all different viewpoints and shades of gray. Their left party (gauche) is similar to the American Republican party in that they believe in big government and not a lot of change or taxes. BUT the left party is ALSO all for social progression and reform like gay marriage for example. They are also called the "socialist" party. Confusing. The opposite side (reminder: nothing is completely opposite), or the right party, is for the states and adores taxes but with social issues they are against change. The only thing everyone seems to agree on is abortion. Everyone is pretty much okay with it. STRANGE since that's a hot topic in the states. Once you understand the parties, during the election, France has somewhere between 10 and 22 candidates. Yup. Enough on that topic.

So the next class I have in French is Advanced French II. It's terrible. Right now we are reading articles in magazines or newspapers and then the whole class discusses and debates about them. This is all fine and dandy if your French speaking ability is great -- mine's not. The last time I took French was a year in and a half ago. It was a very hard class so yes, I know a lot and I've been taking French for a long time but because it's been so long I don't remember how to speak. The only thing I've got going for me is that my vocab is better than most people but I can't put a sentence together correctly...

Classic Literature is just what it sounds like. We read books like The Odyssey and Herman Melville's Billy Budd etc. and I have a crazy wack professor who wears glasses with one circle lens and one square. He spends most of the class going off on different stories about religion or philosophy. ZZzz

And lastly Creative Writing. It's not my forte. I like the professor a lot and so far, she has really explained writing in a way that I can understand what I need to do. That whole "doing" thing isn't quite polished yet. We write for twenty minutes and each class and we are starting to edit some of the drafts that we have created. Maybe by the end of the class I'll produce something that is worthy of sharing..yeah probably not! On the bright side, we have talked a lot about France itself and the people here in Aix and we're going to the THEATER to see The Wizard of Oz in March. That's how the professor won my heart.

Here are some pictures of my everyday life in Aix.

Happy 93rd Birthday to my Nana!

This is my room:

                       
                                                                                        The stuffed tomato dinner we had last night:
 My cute little terrace attached to my room

 Brick design in the middle of the road close to my school leading into downtown

The doorway on the far right leads to a staircase and to Salle Lynch where I have Creative Writing on Mondays and Wednesdays.

 The library from the doorway










 Another building where I have Classical Literature on Tuesdays and Thurdays (below)

 ^ This is the lounge/lobby of some of the professors offices

 The Institute for American Universities (right) This is the main building of the university on la rue de Bon Pasteur. I have both of my French classes in the main hall.







^ The French Political Science University next door to the American University.

 A small road (chemin) on my way home from school (left).

The Cathédrale Sainte Sauveur across from my university (right).

The avenue where I live ^

Monaco

Bonjour,

Already finished with my second week in France. This week I manged to book all of my trips for this semester and what a chunk out of my wallet that was! At least I have everything booked and ready to roll. For winter break I'll be in Florence and Barcelona then later in the semester Barcelona again, Seville and possibly Rome in the spring. I've got a lot to look forward to right now but there is still so much I wish to see.

Monaco was a dreamland. It reminded me of the land of Duloc from Shrek. The whole city was pristine and beautiful. The streets were clean and well kept, the buildings were made of stone or freshly painted peachy pink or cream. The city sprawled up along the mountain side and sloped down to the turquoise sea. Just look at the pictures, it was a beautiful day and 55 degrees F IN FEBRUARY!

Most of the money coming into Monaco comes from the casino Monte Carlo. We went into the casino and some people in the group gambled a little but not I. There were very few people in the Monte Carlo on this Saturday night because all the high rollers have private rooms, naturally.

Of course everything was so magnificent because Monaco is a principality with the most millionaires and billionaires in the entire world. It is technically not part of France so it has its own laws and such. It is a tax heaven (meaning no income tax) ruled over by Prince Albert II Grimaldi son of Rainier III and Grace Kelly. The Grimaldi family has ruled over Monaco since about the 1300's.

I can't wait to come back to Monaco in the spring and check out the beaches all the boats

 The shores of Monaco








The science museum

 One of the churchs

The royal palace at the rock

The left side of the palace

 The royal crest

 The Mediterranean









The village of Eze on our way home

Nice

Bonjour tout le monde,

 This weekend IAU and I traveled to Nice and Monaco, about 2 and a half hours away from Aix-en-Provence. There are about 100 kids in the program so we took two buses and definitely looked like tourist Americans but whatever, it's unavoidable sometimes.

Nice is a huge city (the fourth largest in France I think) on la Côte d'Azur. There are 1 million people in this city alone,  which is as many as the entire state of Maine. The entire sprawling city can be seen from the road that runs along the mountain side from Aix to Monaco. When we visited Nice on Saturday, it was a cloudy day and very windy but the sea was magnificent. It was turquoise blue and the beach was not soft sand but light gray, medium sized pebbles and stones. Once we had ventured off the promenade and past the old part of the city, Nice began to feel much like New York or really Miami. There were palm trees along all the main streets and large brand name shops everywhere. My friends and I spent the rest of the afternoon window shopping in some places like Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Galeries Layfayette, Longchamp and Zara.

If I had to pick a favorite experience in Nice, I would say the markets by the sea. They had everything Mediterranean and local like Socca (crepes made out of chickpeas). Fruits and olive always seem to be in season in for Nice and the incredible fish market.

 This is Mt. Sainte Victoire, or the mountain range actually. It is most famous for being painted by Paul Cézanne. I will be climbing the mountain in the spring months!

Part of the market in Nice, a woman selling all sorts of chestnuts, walnuts and local nuts. 

 One of the many olive stands in the market

Provence lavender and gifts.

The fresh oranges of Nice

Some sea side restaurants

 du pain (some breads)

The flower section of the market. My favorites are the yellow and orange roses

The beautiful Mediterranean Sea

An orange tree hanging out in the market plaza

Wine shop in Nice. Red wine and of course champagne are the specialties of the Provence region

A church in Nice and the fountain in the square outside the church

Le Palais de Justice (the court house of Nice)

 "Vin chaud" or hot wine that we had for lunch. Really good stuff on a chilly cloudy day. It tasted a bit like a hot cidre but instead of being appley tasting it was red wine and with a touch of lemon. Sorry that explanation was terrible but I just can't put this one into words.

The statue of Apollo at the Place Masséna. The horses signify him carrying the sun across the sky.

The ladies before the visiting the Monte Carlo Casino in Monaco

More to come on Monaco soon!

À tout à l'heure