our first break is here! i leave for prague this afternoon and will be there until thursday morning. then i'll be heading to toulouse, france for a few days, and returning to aix on sunday the 21st.
au revoir! (and however you say bye in czech!)
Thursday, February 11
Saturday, February 6
un jour de la vie francaise
i've been here in aix for two weeks now, and have settled into a somewhat normal routine. here's an idea of a normal day in france:
i wake up pretty early here, usually between 8 and 9 am. its weird though, i dont really mind. breakfast consists of cereal, bread with butter and honey, and green tea. then i walk to school and have class until 2 on mondays and wednesdays. (on tuesdays and thursdays i have my painting class, which goes until six).
we're on our own for lunch, and for the past two weeks i've spent a small fortune at restaurants getting sandwiches and pizza. my favorites include a piece of mushroom pizza (une portion de champignon) and sandwiches with fresh mozzerella. yesterday i went to the grocery store and from now on, i'll be making lunch at home to save some ca$h.
after class, i usually go to my school's library for internet, or sometimes go sit at a cafe. for my painting class, we have to keep an outside sketchbook for drawing what we see-- landscapes, buildings, people. i plan to go to cafes a lot more often for sketching.
madame serves dinner between 7:30 and 8:30. she always makes great food. every night we have bread with a different kind of cheese, wine, tons of fresh vegetables and cold salmon. the main entree varies, but is always delicious. (for example, last night we had a creamy soup with leeks and scallops. mmmh!) and for dessert, we have the french equivalent of pudding cups, except they're much better. dinner always ends with herbal tea and a piece of chocolate candy.
by the time dinner is over, its usually 10 or so. since i get up so early, i'm usually exhausted by this point so i'll do my homework, study some french, read some tintin (comic books en francais) and go to sleep.
this weekend i'm planning to make my nights a little more exciting. on thursday my school organized a rendez-vous with french and american students. we met some cool people and ended up going out with them on thursday night, and stacy and i are going to meet them to see a band tonight.
c'est la vie francaise!
i wake up pretty early here, usually between 8 and 9 am. its weird though, i dont really mind. breakfast consists of cereal, bread with butter and honey, and green tea. then i walk to school and have class until 2 on mondays and wednesdays. (on tuesdays and thursdays i have my painting class, which goes until six).
we're on our own for lunch, and for the past two weeks i've spent a small fortune at restaurants getting sandwiches and pizza. my favorites include a piece of mushroom pizza (une portion de champignon) and sandwiches with fresh mozzerella. yesterday i went to the grocery store and from now on, i'll be making lunch at home to save some ca$h.
after class, i usually go to my school's library for internet, or sometimes go sit at a cafe. for my painting class, we have to keep an outside sketchbook for drawing what we see-- landscapes, buildings, people. i plan to go to cafes a lot more often for sketching.
madame serves dinner between 7:30 and 8:30. she always makes great food. every night we have bread with a different kind of cheese, wine, tons of fresh vegetables and cold salmon. the main entree varies, but is always delicious. (for example, last night we had a creamy soup with leeks and scallops. mmmh!) and for dessert, we have the french equivalent of pudding cups, except they're much better. dinner always ends with herbal tea and a piece of chocolate candy.
by the time dinner is over, its usually 10 or so. since i get up so early, i'm usually exhausted by this point so i'll do my homework, study some french, read some tintin (comic books en francais) and go to sleep.
this weekend i'm planning to make my nights a little more exciting. on thursday my school organized a rendez-vous with french and american students. we met some cool people and ended up going out with them on thursday night, and stacy and i are going to meet them to see a band tonight.
c'est la vie francaise!
Monday, February 1
nice et cannes
i'm back from nice and cannes, finishing up some art history homework before class. the weekend was really great-- i liked nice a lot. the old part of the city is really beautiful, with the usual tiny winding streets and small shops. it reminded me a lot of aix. we visited a gaudy castle that some rich people built on a little street, which is now a museum. its so crowded you can barely step back far enough to see the front. there's a giant hill (with a waterfall) next to the city, which we climbed for an incredible view of nice and the mediterranean coast.
after nice, we went to a small village called eze (nice and eaaasy) and visited fragonard, a parfumerie. we toured the factory, where nearly everything is still done by hand. and we learned about "the nose," the person responsible for creating perfumes. noses can smell and identify over 3000 scents!
later that night we visited the monte carlo casino in monaco. it cost 10 euro just to get in, and since i'm not very interested in gambling we went to a cheaper casino next store. i got the smallest beer in the world for 7 euro.
we stayed in a hostel right on the coast, and it actually snowed on sunday morning, which is super rare for the area. we went to cannes on sunday, but since it was cold and snowy i ended up hanging out in cafes and restaurants with my friends instead of wandering around.
this week we'll be meeting our french language partners and choosing where to travel for winter break in two weeks!
the market in nice. we got the best strawberries i've ever had.
stacy and i in nice
the view from halfway up the hill
the monte carlo casino.. so gaudy!
after nice, we went to a small village called eze (nice and eaaasy) and visited fragonard, a parfumerie. we toured the factory, where nearly everything is still done by hand. and we learned about "the nose," the person responsible for creating perfumes. noses can smell and identify over 3000 scents!
later that night we visited the monte carlo casino in monaco. it cost 10 euro just to get in, and since i'm not very interested in gambling we went to a cheaper casino next store. i got the smallest beer in the world for 7 euro.
we stayed in a hostel right on the coast, and it actually snowed on sunday morning, which is super rare for the area. we went to cannes on sunday, but since it was cold and snowy i ended up hanging out in cafes and restaurants with my friends instead of wandering around.
this week we'll be meeting our french language partners and choosing where to travel for winter break in two weeks!
the market in nice. we got the best strawberries i've ever had.
stacy and i in nice
the view from halfway up the hill
the monte carlo casino.. so gaudy!
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