Category: Ma Vie en France

Insert witty title here.

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I’m far too tired to think of something cute for this most recent post, so I’ll allow you readers to get creative with it and make up your own, on your own. Sorry! This week/end was very packed with excursions, outings and travellings all over the South of France – sounds tough, right? We arose at a whopping 9am to take a We-Are-American-Tourists-Bus to a couple of stops including, le Louberon et la Rouge Terre. In the Luberon, I found my perfect chateau (castle) if I decide to have a destination wedding – future husband, start paying attention now.

The gorgeous castle was closed to us on Saturday because of a police gathering, but that didn’t stop us from exploring the rest of the town. We tried wonderful pastries tht are specialties of the region – we’re very avid market researchers and thus made sure to try, not just the specialty cookie, but a chocolate croissant, too. We take this seriously.

AUCP Marseilles & Provence in la Luberon (and in front of my future place of marriage, bien sur).

After the Luberon, we made our way to a couple of other stops, including an adorably old town (not too hard to find) in the moutains where we had a great picnic and then continued on our sortie (outing) to a town where the ground is made of red clay! It was really like an Arizona meets South of France experience and tres cool.

On Sunday, a few of us made our way to the beach. Long story short, we missed our intended bus and ended up deciding spur of the moment to head to Marseilles even though, according to our host families, the beach “n’est pas jolie.” Not too sure what kind of beaches our host families are used to, but I travel for a longer time to hit up Jones or Rye for the day.

For 30 minutes and under 12Euros of travel cash, this seems pretty perfect et jolie to me! We even managed (quelle surprise) to make a few new friends (that we’ll obviously never see again). Needless to say, returning back to school on Monday was a bit difficult. But, I did come away from the weekend with, not only a greater appreciation for the region of Provence, but also a list of dates and places for where I want to travel for the rest of the semester. SO for any and all of you who are abroad, or who have the extra cash laying around to escape for any amount of time, check out this list and then contact me (Facebook, Skype, AIM, etc) and we can rendez-vous!

Sept 24-27 (this weekend): OKTOBERFEST.

Oct 1-3: Barcelona

Oct 8-10: Local touring – maybe Toulouse/Avignon on Sunday?

Oct 15-17: PARIS!

Oct 22-Nov: Vacances de Toussaint. In other words: time for visit the homeland. As of now the plan is to start in Milan and then go to Florence and end up in Rome (where the lovely Christina Houser will be awaiting me!)

Nov 5-7: Bordeaux

Nov 11/12-14: Amsterdam/Prague

Nov 19-21: Arles for Saturday with my art class

Nov 26-28: Dublin

Dec 3-5: Switzerland

Dec 10-12: ?????

Dec 18—-> My program ends here but I’ll be around for about a week. Anyone who wants to stay in Europe and travel around, let me know! I’m open for most anywhere.

Happy days to all. It’s just around lunch time for me right now so I’m going to go do something very French and grab some sushi with another fellow American. *Sigh* You can take the girl out of the states but she’s still gonna crave sushi. Isn’t that how the saying goes?

Pain, Fromage, Vin.

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Bread, Cheese, Wine. The new, French equivalent of GTL. I don’t hate it…But when I’m not PFV-ing, I’m usually here:

That’s my room – Anna and Beary front and center on the bed.

Every night I close my shutters and leave my windows open to the sounds of les motos and the breeze through the trees. Upon waking, the shutters are opened and in rush the rays. It’s definitely a great way to wake up in the morning, albeit it’s getting colder by the day!

My typical day continues here:

Le Centre Americain – home of American University Center Provence. This gorgeous house is my new campus. That is, if you consider a garden, 5 classroom house and a pond-complete with fish-a campus.

After classes – which don’t exist for me on Tuesdays as I am continuing my unofficial, but very well-liked, Tulane tradition of easy Tuesday/Thursdays – it’s probable that I’m on the Cours Mirabeau. This gorgeous stretch of cafes and shops is the center area of Aix. “All roads descend to the Cours Mirabeau,” was one of the first directional tips that my host-mother, Marie-Claire, gave to me and it’s rang true ever since. Longchamps, Les Deux Garcons (a favorite hangout for the famed painter Paul Cezanne) and my new second home, Monoprix, are just some of the things that can be found on the stretch!

Maybe not the best shot, but the street culminates in a huge fountain (typical Europe) and roundabout with lots of crazy French drivers and lots of scurrying pedestrians. The mossy mass in the middle is, yet again, a fountain. Quelle surprise!

And after that, I take a bus home and usually settle down for some homework and, more typically, my favorite French show: N’Oubliez Pas Les Paroles – the French edition of “Don’t Forget the Words.” It’s been a great way to learn some French songs – Michel Delpeche, anyone? – and I love when Marie-Claire sings along, which is 9/10 times. Needless to say, I’m loving my time here. Even the most average of days brings a new adventure and a new experience. I think that’s it on playing catch-up. Perfect timing too because I can hear that I’m missing some embarassed contestants who forgot the words. Yup – now Marie-Claire’s singing. A bientot!


Of course, can’t forget les bon-bons! My friend Christy and I made sure to make a pit stop in this heavenly place for a free taste of a strawberry cookie and a purchase of des calissones – a type of cookie that, as far as I know, is famous in Aix. Bon appetit? Don’t mind if I do!

Let’s get a little Retro

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WeeFee Stick obtained. And now to make up for lost time, a little flashback on the past few weeks before we push forward into the lavender fields and fountains of Provence.

I was lucky enough to spend a little under a week in Paris with the lovey Pange as my companion before taking the TGV – no longer just a vocab word in my French textbook – to Aix. Feeling no pressure, as we had had the fortune of visiting this gorgeous city once before, we took on the city with a mindset of leisure and enjoyment. And while I had papillons a flutter in my stomach from the time we set foot on the plane, Pange did her best to calm me. I think most of them have fluttered on, hopefully because space was getting tight, but with the way I’ve been eating tartines and cheese, that’s probably not the case. *Sigh*

I guess now’s as good a time as any, especially since I’m thinking about my time spent in Paris, to say that I’m so thankful, and I’ve talked about this a lot with one of my new friends here at AUCP, that I have the kind of relationship I do with my parents. I count myself as very blessed to be able to say, “Yeah, I had a great time with my Mom in Paris” and not add my usual sarcastic tone to the statement.

Taken from the Sienne, I obviously had to make a nod at the original Orleans, without which the New Orleans that I miss so much would not exist! Merci, France.

 

But bien sur (of course), we had lots of fun taking on The City of Lights. Cafes, the Musee D’Orsay, gypsies and boat rides on the Sienne – we did it all – and even managed to blow out a hair straighter in the process. (Stupide americaines.) It was an amazing way to spend some time before my program and ended up being a great idea because I got to get over my jet lag before starting at AUCP. Smart, Mommy!

And aside from sight seeing, a fellow Tulanian made a dinner time appearance. It was so amazing to rendez-vous with Sarah at an amazing little hotel cafe and have one of the most amazing meals I’ve ever had. Wow, I think I’m channeling the Bachelorette with all of those “amazing’s.” Do I hear Jimmy Kimmel counting?

Alright, I think that about makes up for my lack of posting about Paris. On to Provence! But not tonight. Class at 9AM means I should probably sleep a little bit…

More for Pange than anyone else – the flying buttresses are her favorite!

 

DQY TZO

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What I meant was: Day 2. As I sit here in the AUCP computer lab I find myself overcoming yet another obstacle – a different arrangement of letters on the keyboard. Aut§ — I mean Zut! M has replaced L, Q has replaced A and I am left very confused. So excuse any and all spelling errors in these few sentences that took me forever to write. While hip hop might have saved Lupe, the only hope for my Internet is an ever-so-hard-to-buy/find WiFi Stick (pronounced wee-fee, here in France). Thus, I remain disconnected for another day. Oh the difficulties of equivalent technology in Europe…

When I took the TGV here a little over a week ago, I was filled with apprehension, fear of the unknown and hundreds of questions piling up in my throat and stifled back down by a barrier of language. And so to quiet my mounting fears I did what any normal 20-yr old would do: asked a question and hoped for the next song on my iPod to provide the answer. The wonder of Shuffle… And so I asked with great sincerity: Will I be O.K.? The gods responded with the song “Keep It Together” by Guster. (I know some of you are judging my music taste right now.) I was cal,ed -albeit not by much- by the answer I received and I thought it made sense. I was, afterall, talking to my iPod. But in another way, I got the answer I was looking for: “Im singing a new song now” in a new place with a new language and new friends. So its true, I need to keep it together through these first few weeks of crazy keyboards and new words and foods. And for me, with my first day of classes in session, ”everything starts today.”

Bienvenue a Aix!

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Finally – my first post from Aix! (Applause.) For any of you who aren’t Blackberry addicted, and thus haven’t been able to BBM me during this past week, I have no internet in my host home so blogging, Skyping and other things of that nature n’existe plus pour moi.

But I finally cracked the Tumblr code and figured out how to blog from BBerry – wahoo! Let the blogging commence…

The first week has definitely been a whirlwind – of emotions, experiences and time zone changes but I’m slowly getting used to (and falling in love with) my new surroundings. My host mother, Marie-Claire, is so nice and its getting easier everyday to have actual conversations as opposed to her talking and me nodding, smiling, and adding an occasional “oui.” Thank goodness!

As for my program, there are 32 of us that make up the American University Center Provence (AUCP) class of Fall 2010. 30 girls, 2 boys. So its basically the Tulane Freshmen class ratio but on a smaller scale in France. Other than the lovely Audrey Bowes, I didn’t know anyone before coming to school on Day 1. And making friends in French was definitely an unexpected curveball that made getting to know people much harder than its ever been for me. But, somehow, we all made it work!

And now, after a week of orienting and french reviewing, my first real day of classes starts bright and early tomorrow at 9am (ew) and I’m taking a break from my first reading assignment to sit by my sun-filled window to squint at my -2 size font and write my first reflection on Aix. Things are just getting started and I am so excited to finally find a rhythm to my day, complete with classes in French, baguettes by the mouthful and afternoon after afternoon spent in the shade of a cafe awning with an espresso by my side and a sea full of new people to watch. (Yes, I drink espresso now, Dad!) Bienvenue a Aix, readers! There is definitely more to come!

Courage!

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I’ve been in Paris for a little under a week now and am slowly – I’m talking snail’s pace – gaining some confidence in my French. In the words of my program, “Courage!” This is a quick update, though. Once I get my pictures onto my computer, I’ll be able to post some pictures and anecdotes – of which, Pange and I have accrued a few. And so for you, readers, “Patience!”

Tomorow I leave Paris and meet my host family and ma nouvelle ville! Aix-en-Provence, j’arrive…

Comment vous dites “chow?”

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Today was a pretty successful day, which is good because my last day in the US should be a day of productivity, I guess. I’m 96% packed and can manage to eat the inside of bread, so I’m safe when it comes to les baguettes a Paris. Fewf! But the butterflies in my stomach are going crazy now. I wasn’t nervous when I left for college – it felt like it had been such a long time coming that I was ready to go as soon as they let me – so I’m not really sure if what I’m feeling is nerves or excitement. It’s probably both, although I’m finding it hard to find the excitement which is mixed in so well among the anxiety, questions and jitters that I’m experiencing.

I guess my main fear is communicating. Strange because anyone who knows me knows that I’m a compulsive networker who could talk to a wall (I try not to do this too often). But diagnosing the problem is step one to fixing it, right? My French is, to say the least, rusty after an entire summer off. I’ve heard of the magic of “once you’re there, it’ll all come back to you” so I’m hoping that I can wave my magic wand (of course, I have one) and create some space in my brain for a new language. Either way, I’ve got a crash course in francais coming at me straight away. First word I’ve got to look up: chow. Then I can at least tell my former NBC co-workers that lunchtime is the same in Aix as it is at NBC.

Chipmunk cheeks here!

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And, yes, I’m talking about my face. It’s been 4 days (of hell) since I got my wisdom teeth removed and while it didn’t hurt at all during, I really and truly felt mislead. Once that numbing gel and Novacaine wears off – DAMN – it hurts. I had a friend who called me a few hours after her surgery asking if I wanted to go out “tonight” and as I laid on my couch I began to wonder if she was a robot, because there is really no way that’s possible. Really, Aliza, that’s impossible. Needless to say, I’ve been groggily laying (drooling/sleeping) on my couch for the better part of my last week in the US and am -.5% closer to being packed for my next 5 month’s abroad. (I unpacked from my Hawaii trip -somehow- and now just have empty suitcases and misplaced socks.) Always the acheiver. But I consider this post some small step out of my kodeine induced and prolonged stupor – I mean, if I can string ABC’s together, outfits might be next. Maybe. Probably not. Delusions are good medicine, too.

But really, the packing has to start sometime. And this swelling has definitely added a new twist to my French accent. By that I mean, I kind of talk with a lisp now. As if I weren’t worried about the language barrier before…I’m just hoping I won’t have to perform my well-rehearsed French explanation of why my host family looks to be housing a small rodent instead of a student.

On the plus side, I finished “Lost” Season 6 which means that I finished the entire series in one summer. Before you applaud this amazing feat, I should say that – as Suzy can attest to – there were some hard times on this road to success. I chose Jack over dinner, Sawyer over Tasti D-Lite and even Kate (that two faced little -) over IsaShakes (which you know I love). But now that it’s over I guess I have to move on to a new obsession, something else to be unhealthily attached to…and before you say pain pills, my prescription runs out in a day. Damn it. Next best thing: Pretty Little Liars! C-Fed, I blame you for this…

Since when did Move-In Day become something I’m jealous of?

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With half of my friends going abroad, and half of my friends staying in New Orleans it’s easy to see why I would feel torn between France and it’s old colonial territory of Nouvelle Orleans – isn’t it? My feelings of regret for exploring the world are shared with many of my friends – some of whom have left and others of whom are still trying to fit just one more pair of shoes into an already about-to-explode suitcase. International Brat Syndrome, as we have termed it, is best characterized by feelings of self-pity, frequent visits to “MyTulane” and an almost constant repetition of the phrase: ‘do you know what it means, to miss New Orleans?’ on almost every social networking site known to the college population.

It’s clearly a testament to Tulane that I would feel pangs of jealousy even at the thought of moving stranger’s boxes up Monroe’s 12 floors, by foot, in 98 degree New Orleans heat, just to be side by side with my New Orleans crew. In fact, until now, Move-In Day has never sounded so good – and that’s saying something, considering last year I got a drawer full of free Tulane t-shirts.

The only word to describe this feeling – about to embark on a 5 month voyage into French society – is bittersweet. Someone once said that “where ever you go, there you are.” And there is validity to that. But I can’t help but think that while I may be only physically in one place, my heart can be in many. And while New York will always have a piece of it, New Orleans and Tulane have more than earned the piece of me that I’m leaving there this Fall. Still, I am more than excited to get to France and spend the next 5 amazing months of my Junior year as a resident of it’s countryside. I’m so excited that I feel like I am an embodiment of my packed-to-the-brim suitcase: about to burst at the seams but trying to fit just a little bit more in everyday.

(Our attempt to spell “TULANE” really fell apart at the “N”…)