Starting with where I left off, most of the people from the program went to the engineering party a few Thursdays ago, the “American frat” themed one. We started out at a few of the girls’ apartment before trekking to the building, which I’m fairly certain was a school. It seems France has taken Australia’s idea of having a bar on campus one step further and hosts full-out parties, complete with coat check. We arrived at a reasonable time, around 1:00am, and the party was decent with a bit of good music, but I have to say the highlight for me was the chance to wear the new heels I bought. I got called Dorothy more than once, but these little heels are my new best friend.
Despite my three-hour class that starts at 9am on Friday morning, the weekend went well, though it was fairly quiet as most everyone recovered from Thursday night’s festivities. This suited me just fine, because I was able to rest before my Monday night adventure to Paris! I took the train from Aix to Paris where I finally settled into my hostel after walking from the train station and making not one, not two, but three wrong turns before arriving and checking in after midnight. Still, I was riding a high having navigated the Paris train system and streets (mostly) successfully on my own. I woke up in the morning and explored the area around my hostel before Ole and Leelou arrived and we began our mini tour of Paris. We began our walking tour and did this: the Panthéon, Notre Dame, coffee (because it was below freezing the entire time we were walking – there was feeling in my feet for maybe twenty minutes over the course of the day), the Louvre (where we met up with Max and his girlfriend), Jardin de Tuileries, la Place de la Concorde, the Champs Élysées, l’Arc de Triomphe, and coffee.
After this short rest, we hopped on the Métro to the Eiffel Tower. On the way, we happened to pass the Australian Embassy with their poster of Australia and the Australian flag perfectly placed in front of the Eiffel Tower. A beautiful summary of my year abroad! Once we had our fill of pictures with the Australia/France business, we went to the Eiffel Tower where we waited just a few minutes until the lights came on. If it was a breathtaking landmark in the day time, I don’t have words to explain what it looked like all lit up with the backdrop of the night sky. Unfortunately, my camera had died by this point, so I’ll have to get pictures of this lit up, sparkling business posted later.
The following day, Ole and I were back at the hostel for breakfast and some perusing the streets before finding Leelou to go to Montmartre! We first trekked up the hill to the highest point in Paris, the Sacré Coeur. No pictures were allowed inside, but it must be one of the most beautiful churches I’ve ever seen, and it’s enormous! We warmed our souls and our feet inside before going back down the hill to take the Métro to meet Max again and go to the Moulin Rouge! We were able to go inside the lobby, but the signs I saw for shows were all around 200 Euro, so over $250. Maybe someday, but for now it’s incredible to see the posters and make mental comparisons between the real Moulin Rouge and the Nicole Kidman/Ewan McGregor version. We made our way back toward the Sacré Coeur to see the Artists’ Square, where there were a few artists – though not as many as usual because of the cold – with their paintings all set up for purchase. What incredible work! Sketches and drawings, all different kinds of painting styles, and even a stand for caricatures.
Once we’d had our fill of the art and culture at Montmartre, we made our way to get coffee and regroup. As we sat, we figured out the distance we’d walked the previous day. About 10km in freezing weather. All of a sudden, I didn’t feel so bad for being so tired. We explored the area a bit more before making our way back to the Métro where Ole and I split off to see Les Invalides at the Eiffel Tower once more, this time from the Champs de Mars side, before I had to leave to catch my train home to Aix. All in all, a wonderful whirlwind trip of Paris. Next time, I’ll hopefully have the chance to take it a bit more slowly and go into some of the amazing places I was able to gawk at from the outside!
Once back in Aix, it was back to classes for Thursday and Friday, then Ole arrived here for the weekend. We had a quiet Friday making dinner, and Ole showed me a show, Dexpedition, which I think I’m obsessed with now – it’s basically two guys running around Europe finding the coolest parties and beaches. They had an episode in the French Riviera, which is where I am, and they explored Nice, St Tropez, and Monaco. Everywhere they’ve been, I want to add to my list of places to go while I’m here, because they seem to have an outrageous and fun time every episode as they make their way around the continent.
We woke up the next morning prepared to tackle Mont St Victoire! Ole and I met Roz, Michelle, and Kate to catch the bus up into the mountains and we set off to find a trail. It proved harder than we expected. Literally two hours after catching the bus and three false starts up what we thought were paths but weren’t, we found a real trail. Having gone through the one street town of Vauvenargues and asking directions, we set off on the trail Sentier des Plaideurs, which was luckily clearly marked (mostly…we still got lost once on the trail). It started out as a mild hike, though the trail was covered with snow and called for caution at about every step. We all had some close encounters with the flat, frozen ground, but the snow-capped scenery was so pristinely white and beautiful, the slipping and sliding was worth it.
Once through the valley, we began our ascent which started as a steady incline, but quickly became an arduous climb. I hadn’t worked out in so long that it was a real task, but after so long, we finally made it to the top! We’d been peaking at the view as we went up, taking breaks and such, but the view at the top put all of them to shame. From the peak we were on, we could see the higher mountains behind us (maybe we’ll upgrade to those by the end of the semester!), the range sprawling out on either side of us, the valley through which we trekked, as well as the range facing us from the opposite side of the valley. Though it’d been cloudy most of the way up, the sun came out to greet us as we sat eating our sandwiches on baguettes, passing around the bottle of wine that Roz was wise enough to bring along. I can’t say it gets much better than sipping and munching with friends on the top of a mountain in southern France.
Then we remembered that there was the steep perilous climb down. It had given us slippery fits on the way up, and it was even worse on the way down. Good grief. Working a whole different set of muscles on the way down, I still managed to tire out fairly quickly, which is a very bad thing when going precariously down a mountain covered in snow and ice. Highlight of the way down would have had to be the 90degree one or two foot step down where every last one of us slipped and had to grab the tree and swing around it in order to stop ourselves from tumbling down the mountain. That, or when I walked into a small branch face first (I was looking down and didn’t see it), and it surprised me so much that I didn’t have the time to warn Ole behind me before it whipped back and smacked him in the face. The same thing happened to Ole that happened to me with the being surprised, so it hit Roz – same thing happened – so then it hit Kate and then Michelle. Instead of hearing warnings about the branch, all we heard were the steady succession oh “oh”s and “ugh”s and “ow”s. I doubled over laughing, but luckily did not fall down the mountain. I believe it was about five or six hours after we initially met and around ten kilometers later, we were back on the bus and going back to Aix. What an incredible hike!
Once back in Aix, we dispersed and Ole and I chilled with coffee in front of more episodes of Dexpedition before Roz and Caitlin came back over for the night. We mustached it up as we hung around my apartment, and then left for WooHo, the international bar where we danced for a bit. Caitlin and I split off to go to the bathroom (because you have to go in pairs, of course), and we met a few Irish girls while waiting in line. We got talking and decided to all go to Le Scat, but unfortunately weren’t able to get in since it was so crowded. Instead, Ole, Roz, and I came back to my apartment where I made an omelet since we were twenty minutes too late to get a kebab. All in all, a wonderful night out!
Ole and I woke up on Sunday and Roz came over to spend a lazy morning chatting until it was time to walk Ole to the bus station to catch his train back to Paris before leaving for Australia. Best of luck this session, Ole, and thanks for coming to visit! Roz and I trekked back to mine and Caitlin came over again, and we spent the afternoon watching YouTube videos, mostly reaction videos of people being scared (check out Ellen Degeneres’ scare montage, or at least where she scares Taylor Swift – it’s hilarious). Then we watched a scary link my roommate from last year, Matthew, posted to me and taped our reaction for him. I’d tried watching the video once before, but I’d been too scared to finish it, but I found courage with a few companions. It was an awful, hilarious idea as it scared all of us out of our wits but it provided us with endless entertainment for the afternoon since we kept watching the video.
The week was fairly ordinary with my reading assignments piling up on me, but there were a few highlights worth mentioning. Roz and I finished planning our winter break trip to Italy! We will fly to Tripani in Siciliy, stay for the night then take the bus to Palermo where we’ll stay for a night. Then we’ll take a ferry to Naples where we’ll pick up the car we hired and drive to Rome where we’ll spend a few days, then on to Milan where we’ll wrap up our trip and fly home to Marseille. I am SO excited. Neither of us speaks a lick of Italian, nor have we ever driven in Europe, but we’re hoping for the best! Caitlin may even be getting in on the adventure, so I’m looking forward to the week off of school wandering around Italy!
I haven’t spoken much about classes, because there hasn’t been much to discuss. I have three-hour (and one four-hour) lectures that consist of the professor dictating while we copy down what he says. I have four mid-terms, one this week, and the rest just after the week break, which will be essays on one question pertaining to what we’ve discussed so far. Aside from Methodology, the course that’s required for the program, there are no weekly assignments, only reading, and my anthropology class doesn’t even have required reading. It’s a much different system, and I’m finding it increasingly difficult to not just put everything off, even though I know that just means more work for me at the end of the term when the weather will be even more beautiful and all I’ll want to do is go to the beach. I don’t know if it’s the school system or my American senioritis that’s followed me across the ocean, but I very much don’t feel like finishing the rest of my reading today! God knows there’s still plenty of it, though. It’s a good thing I do find the subjects I’m taking interesting, or I’d be afraid that my lack of motivation in my final semester would get the better of me!
The academic highlight so far has certainly been the Expression Orale class, where we more or less do improv, which is even more difficult in French but just as entertaining. Even bigger plus? There’s no work outside of class! Our instructor is so entertaining, too. “Qui est disponible?” is heard a dozen times a class, basically asking who is ready to go or who will volunteer. This week, we were to volunteer to go up against the rest of the class, acting as the president of France and field the most ridiculous questions from the class. I’m usually pretty intimidated by being in front of a group, but I’ve found this class to be really forgiving and fun to work with, and I’m glad because it’s such a great opportunity to speak. I volunteered to be president for a round, and my favorite questions were probably why I was destroying the Mona Lisa (I said there were conspiracy threats that Da Vinci enchanted it, or something along those lines) with the follow up of why I was also destroying the Eiffel Tower (similar threats were made, since this conspiracy group also thinks Gustave Eiffel was the reincarnation of Da Vinci), what my thoughts were on the zoo animals that escaped during a children’s festival/fieldtrip (we accidentally hired people from an animal freedom organization who set them free, and yes I was very sorry about the two children that died), and why I mandated that beer pong be taught in high schools (something about how embracing alternative educational methods so that it’s not taboo, I’m not sure how I went with that one). It was such a fun exercise, and everyone was pretty creative and did really well.
I had a number of wonderfully refreshing Skype dates since my last post, including BRoy, Matthew, Turner, Kathleen, Jenn (where we started planning her visit to come see me!), Celli, and Allie, so it’s been great staying in touch with everyone. Keep the Skype dates coming! Thanks to Jackie and BRoy for the letters, too; it's so exciting to get mail, but it's even more exciting to hear about your acceptances to grad school! Super happy for the good news for both of you!! Your response letters and my first letter to Shata are in the mail now.
I’ve made it away from the computer and spent the last few days hanging in the parks with some of the girls, just basking in the sunlight and wonderfully warm weather that’s finally come around. I’ve been taking my school books, but I confess I haven’t gotten much reading done this weekend. Carly, Caitlin, Allison, and Emily and a few of her international friends were over last night for movies which turned into just chatting and munching on delicious junk food, which was perfectly alright by me. This week, I’ll be buckling down to read everything so I can have a homework/worry-free week-long break, so I probably won’t be getting up to any shenanigans or adventures. Hopefully, I’ll continue working out, too. After the mountain, I’ve been running once, and am finding an online workout video for today. I was meant to go skiing today and was really looking forward to it, but I couldn’t get gear together in time and with all the reading I have to do, I opted not to go. Hopefully there will be another outing!
Hope you all are well and enjoying your February, wherever you may be! Love and miss you all :)
Here and there,
Kiley
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