6/3
Today was quite possible the most physically and emotionally exhausting day I’ve had since being here. A group of 5 of us decided to take the day to get out of the city and go climb Mount St. Victoire. This is the triangular-faced mountain that was Cezannes favorite subject to paint and it is both vast and beautiful. When the bus dropped us off we were on the dam at the reservoir in the valley juste a côté de la montagne. The water was so clear and blue I almost couldn’t believe it! Coming from the land of Lake Dirty Bird, this place was a dream and far in the distance we could see the cross at the top of the mountain— our destination.
Just before the bus dropped us off I’d gotten a text from Mom saying that Gran was fading quickly so after some quick tears we started up the hill. I was kind of the weakest link out of the group and wanted to linger some more rather than run up the hill, so I utilized my Girl Scout skills and followed up separate from the main pack. The more we climbed the harder it got and the more beautiful the view was so I had all the reasons in the world to stop and look around every couple of minutes. :) When we finally made it to the top, the winds were whipping around but the sun was shining brightly so we sat for a quick picnic of baguette, oranges, and cliff bar. In one direction I could see all of Aix and farther out the coast and Mediterranean Ocean, in another I could see the Alps topped with snow, and in another there were parachuters landing in an open field between olive groves. Beautiful.
From the top of the mountain my thoughts were for Gran and I could only think that soon she’ll be able to see them too and come with us to those high points in our lives. In her body she wasn’t able travel or see anymore, but now she can be a part of all of those things.
Coming down we decided to go a different way and came down the backside of the mountain and ended up in a petit village called Vauvenargues. When we got to the bus stop we learned that the bus wasn’t due for another couple of hours but as were thinking what we should do until then a soccer ball popped up over the retaining wall. We picked it up and went to return it to its owners down below and discovered a group of local firemen playing a kind of volleyball game where you could only use your feet. Allison, Emma, and Torey all went down and asked to play so we hung out with them talking and playing until the bus came. They offered us cokes and oranginas and told us that the big house we could see not too far away was Picasso’s house and that he was actually buried underneath it! Legit!
I didn’t play because by then my foot was acting up and Mom called me the news of Gran’s passing… So, I sat on a bench next to the house of Pablo Picasso and cried while watching the provençal sun set over the mountains. It kills me to be so far from my family right now, but as they told me Gran was proud of me for being here and she loved to paint and be in the mountains. Today I celebrated her life by climbing one of the most beloved mountain of Cezanne and Picasso and it was the best thing I could have done today.
I send my love to everyone at home and thanks for being the best family ever. I love you all!
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Friday, March 5, 2010
Le temps volant passe vitement
5/3
This week we turned into March, next weekend all the boyfriends are coming, the weekend après ça Brooke, Catherine and Alyssa and coming to visit, après ça MOM & DAD GET HERE, apres ca Recca Bector comes to France, and après ÇA, there are only a few weeks before I leave this beautiful place. Wow, time flies! This week has had me in a funk what with Granny being so ill… I’ve been feeling very far away and I don’t like that I can’t just hop a plane home if I need to. There have been a couple nights of restless sleep and feelings of helplessness but I keep reminding myself “Que sera, sera.” Whatever will be, will be.
I also am reminded how lucky I am to be surrounded with such amazing friends over here. I seriously have the best roommate anyone could ask for and I know that Allison and I will be close friends for a very long time. :) She’s been so sweet and supportive this week even when I’ve been holed up in the bathroom through the night talking to the fam on skype. Mind you, the walls are very thin... Our professor, Mr. Tissot even noticed I was looking tired and sad and lent some consoling words. The French are très francs (frank) when it comes to the stages of life and it was an interesting and surprisingly helpful perspective to hear.
Aside from Gran’s troubles, this week has been another thriller! :) We had our first real test so I had to exercise my brain and re-teach myself how to study of my own accord for more than 30 minutes. Lol. (Not that we don’t work, it’s just that most of it is done in class since they are each 4 hours long!) The exam was for translation class and we thought it was going to be over the excerpts we’d already done together so all of us were diligently trying to memorize all the idioms and figures of speech in those. We were successful in that, but when she passed out the exam it ended being from the same text but from a totally different passage. Oh dear. Needless to say, that was interesting! I was surprised though at how much of the meaning I was able to convey. It really showed me how much I’m learning and how much my language has already improved. I still have a long way to go before calling myself fluent, but I’m getting closer to being able to read a text once through and understand it’s meaning as I go… Not once I’ve gone back and looked up the definition of every word. Yay!
On the way back from class today I stopped for some pizza and I wanted to know if they had any with olives. I was able to formulate phrases in real time and had a legit back and forth little convo without missing a beat! SUCCESS! Usually when I try to go to those places they can tell I’m American and either give me the don’t-try-to-speak-French-because-you’re-going-to-butcher-it look whenever I try, or just point and grunt to avoid having to lower themselves to my level. Today however, I definitely got a look but I think (I hope!) that it was an I-know-you’re-foreign-because-of-your-accent-but-you’re-speaking-really-well-so-I’ll-speak-French-back-to-you kind of look! Awesome. :)
Last night Allison and I decided to have Diner Chez Nous: Take 2 and had an absolute blast! We thought it would be fun to make nutella banane crepes for dessert (très français!) so the theme was B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Banana) Bahaha! :) Sometime last week I’d been experimenting with cream sauces and managed a reeeeaaly nice vegetable cream soup so I did my best to recreate it on a large scale for the main course. We had about 16 friends over, Lydia brought a salad, the soup was totally delicious, Clifton brought a homemade Tart au Citron and Tory some flan, we had beaucoup de vin (rouge, blanche, rosé, brillants…), went through ~8-10 baguettes, and had a veritable crêpe flipping party!!! Haha :) I was in the kitchen the whole first half making the soup, but once we’d had the first two courses of dessert everyone jumped into the kitchen and started flippin' em’ like pros! So much fun! I really love having people over, it’s more fun for me than going out even I think. I just really enjoy having friends over, sharing a meal, talking, having some wine, and just enjoying everybody in a super low-key fashion. Seriously, this was such a FUN night :) After everyone cleared out I snapped a little and cleaned and vacuumed the entire apartment (I tend to fixate on things when my subconscious is stressing) and then we met up with some of the friends at O’Shannons. After that we went to Scat club with the Norwegian Contingent (Katja and Maria!) for some dancing and a live band. I needed to dance it out and at one point Allison pulled the slickest I-don’t-want-to-dance-with-you move I’ve ever witnessed! The guy gave a pouty face as they always do, but he couldn’t even complain because it was THAT smooth. Well played my friend! Haha :) We called it a night around 2AM before our 8AM class, but it was definitely worth the epic adventure! Whew!
Again, I’m not sure who reads these, but Dad is always telling me that my “public” is waiting… I’ll try to do little updates more often and I’ll get Rome&Florence posted at some point. That one’s going to take a while so you’ll just have to wait until I can finish it! Right then, over and out :)
Bisous
~B
This week we turned into March, next weekend all the boyfriends are coming, the weekend après ça Brooke, Catherine and Alyssa and coming to visit, après ça MOM & DAD GET HERE, apres ca Recca Bector comes to France, and après ÇA, there are only a few weeks before I leave this beautiful place. Wow, time flies! This week has had me in a funk what with Granny being so ill… I’ve been feeling very far away and I don’t like that I can’t just hop a plane home if I need to. There have been a couple nights of restless sleep and feelings of helplessness but I keep reminding myself “Que sera, sera.” Whatever will be, will be.
I also am reminded how lucky I am to be surrounded with such amazing friends over here. I seriously have the best roommate anyone could ask for and I know that Allison and I will be close friends for a very long time. :) She’s been so sweet and supportive this week even when I’ve been holed up in the bathroom through the night talking to the fam on skype. Mind you, the walls are very thin... Our professor, Mr. Tissot even noticed I was looking tired and sad and lent some consoling words. The French are très francs (frank) when it comes to the stages of life and it was an interesting and surprisingly helpful perspective to hear.
Aside from Gran’s troubles, this week has been another thriller! :) We had our first real test so I had to exercise my brain and re-teach myself how to study of my own accord for more than 30 minutes. Lol. (Not that we don’t work, it’s just that most of it is done in class since they are each 4 hours long!) The exam was for translation class and we thought it was going to be over the excerpts we’d already done together so all of us were diligently trying to memorize all the idioms and figures of speech in those. We were successful in that, but when she passed out the exam it ended being from the same text but from a totally different passage. Oh dear. Needless to say, that was interesting! I was surprised though at how much of the meaning I was able to convey. It really showed me how much I’m learning and how much my language has already improved. I still have a long way to go before calling myself fluent, but I’m getting closer to being able to read a text once through and understand it’s meaning as I go… Not once I’ve gone back and looked up the definition of every word. Yay!
On the way back from class today I stopped for some pizza and I wanted to know if they had any with olives. I was able to formulate phrases in real time and had a legit back and forth little convo without missing a beat! SUCCESS! Usually when I try to go to those places they can tell I’m American and either give me the don’t-try-to-speak-French-because-you’re-going-to-butcher-it look whenever I try, or just point and grunt to avoid having to lower themselves to my level. Today however, I definitely got a look but I think (I hope!) that it was an I-know-you’re-foreign-because-of-your-accent-but-you’re-speaking-really-well-so-I’ll-speak-French-back-to-you kind of look! Awesome. :)
Last night Allison and I decided to have Diner Chez Nous: Take 2 and had an absolute blast! We thought it would be fun to make nutella banane crepes for dessert (très français!) so the theme was B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Banana) Bahaha! :) Sometime last week I’d been experimenting with cream sauces and managed a reeeeaaly nice vegetable cream soup so I did my best to recreate it on a large scale for the main course. We had about 16 friends over, Lydia brought a salad, the soup was totally delicious, Clifton brought a homemade Tart au Citron and Tory some flan, we had beaucoup de vin (rouge, blanche, rosé, brillants…), went through ~8-10 baguettes, and had a veritable crêpe flipping party!!! Haha :) I was in the kitchen the whole first half making the soup, but once we’d had the first two courses of dessert everyone jumped into the kitchen and started flippin' em’ like pros! So much fun! I really love having people over, it’s more fun for me than going out even I think. I just really enjoy having friends over, sharing a meal, talking, having some wine, and just enjoying everybody in a super low-key fashion. Seriously, this was such a FUN night :) After everyone cleared out I snapped a little and cleaned and vacuumed the entire apartment (I tend to fixate on things when my subconscious is stressing) and then we met up with some of the friends at O’Shannons. After that we went to Scat club with the Norwegian Contingent (Katja and Maria!) for some dancing and a live band. I needed to dance it out and at one point Allison pulled the slickest I-don’t-want-to-dance-with-you move I’ve ever witnessed! The guy gave a pouty face as they always do, but he couldn’t even complain because it was THAT smooth. Well played my friend! Haha :) We called it a night around 2AM before our 8AM class, but it was definitely worth the epic adventure! Whew!
Again, I’m not sure who reads these, but Dad is always telling me that my “public” is waiting… I’ll try to do little updates more often and I’ll get Rome&Florence posted at some point. That one’s going to take a while so you’ll just have to wait until I can finish it! Right then, over and out :)
Bisous
~B
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Weekend in Barcelona!
Belated, but finally here! Hope the "public" enjoys!
6/2/10
Welcome to Barcelona!!!!
This whole trip was totally and completely spontaneous—I was sitting next to a girl from my program, Kim, in class on Tuesday and casually asked her what she had planned for the weekend. She told me she was going to Barcelona and so I replied, “Really? Can I come?” Haha :) Anyhow, a couple of days and a bus ticket later, I was headed to Spain!
We took an overnight bus that was really practical, but for some reason the thermostat was set sub-zero and we froooooze our little toes off! I don’t understand why they think it necessary to air condition a bus when it’s already cold outside, but aside from the need to defrost ourselves we made it to Barcelona in one piece without getting mugged or having anything stolen! Yaaay! Good Start!
Apres notre arivée on the way to the hostel I had my first taxi experience! Fun but made interesting because I learned how much REALLY don’t speak Spanish. I don’t speak French well… but I DON’T speak Spanish. Ooh.
The hostel was really great and much nicer than expected! Instead of normal key cards they gave us a “watch” to wear that you used like a proxy key. It was really clever and convenient I thought. The whole place was super clean and secure so if anyone is thinking of hitting up Barcelona any time soon, it was called HelloBCN and we booked through HostelWorld.com.
After getting settled we headed towards the main drag in town and into the Gothic District. The number of building with fantastic architecture here is unbelievable! It seemed like every corner turned warranted occasion for another gawking expression or picture snapped. We found a church with neat gargoyles along the top and we followed them around to where the entrance was and it was free to go in. Always good! What was really neat about this church was that it was open air—There were covered halls along the edges but the center was totally open to the sky and there was a natural area with all sorts of flora and fauna! There were palm trees and grass and bunnies, and ducks… and pigeons :/ lol! There were the obligatory religious sculptures in gated naves along the sides but they had some in the center too that were entirely covered in moss with sunshine pouring down on them. Mmmm :) I appreciated this church’s representation of God and His(Her) presence—very natural and available to all.
Three of the girls in our group were from places like LA and NYC and were moving really fast through the city, at least too quickly for my Midwestern sense of the word “stroll” so we decided to break into groups of 2 and 3. Elizabeth and I decided we would wonder towards Gaudi’s Casa Batllo and I must say a huge thank you to Miss Samantha Brown for educating me on the sites of Barcelona when I was sick in 8th grade. Her shows on travel channel were the best! Haha ☺ Casa Batllo is called the “House of Bones” because it’s front façade and central staircase looks like the bones of a sea creature. The whole house was modeled to look like you’re underwater and there isn’t a straight line in sight. Everything alludes to wave or some kind of sea creature and the swirls and curves and colors take your breath away! On the roof top, there is a room inside the scaled “back” of the monster who lives up there and in this room is the final tribute to the water theme. In the center of the room was a mirrored font that had a light shining over it and as the water bubbled out the center of the font, the pattern of the ripples was projected onto the walls of the cone-shaped room. Lovely ☺
All weekend the weather was beautiful but in this moment I resented the sun because the extra light coming through the door was ruining the affect. I tried multiple times to close it, but other tourist kept trickling in without enough time in between to really appreciate the whole thing… I finally got a short video of by holding the door shut, but then a guard yelled at me for disrupting traffic. :/ It was worth it!
After Casa Batllo we were famished and decided to find some lunch. What better than traditional Spanish tapas? Tapas are a small type of appetizer-like dish and you order several of them to make up your meal. It was nice because that way you got to sample a little bit of everything! To finish of our lunch we found some gelato and lounged by a fountain while basking in the glorious Spanish sun… then I saw a seagull eating a pigeon in the fountain. Moving on!
The rest of the day was spent wondering about getting lost and stumbling upon things to take pictures of. We were tentatively headed back towards the hostel, but kept being pulled towards the waterfront by fun and exciting things to see. ☺ There were tons of street performers dressed as monsters and nymphs, and fruit stands, and things as well as a street fair with craft and jewelry vendors. We ended up down at the water next to a huge Columbus memorial who’s representations of the Native Americans was questionable, but it was pretty to look at.
When we did get back to the hostel it was time for a nap before dinner and then we got ready to hit the town. We all went out in search of a traditional Spanish dinner of “paella,” which is a broth soaked rice dish with seafood and veggies, (Yum!) and some Sangria… Oh my goodness, so delicious! We found a great little place and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly before heading off in different directions. By this time I’d started having some issues with my foot (because clever old me decided to fall down the stairs before coming) and with all the heavy walking, it had gotten swollen and angry. Not ideal!
Anyhow, instead of going dancing I went with Elizabeth to an LOTR themed pub! Bahaha! :) There were waterfalls, and fairies, and trees, and gourd-shaped lamps. Cool! Over all it was a super chill place where the average age was 30, but neat to see nonetheless. I forgot to grab my camera that night so no pics of that. Oops!
For Day 2 our first stop was the Sagrada Familia Cathedral…. Oh. My. Goodness.
This is another one of Gaudi’s brainchildren and again the creativity and vision blew me away. The spires were topped with mosaiced piles of fruit that Chiquita Banana would have been proud of and the back facade was a dripping mishmash of detail that swirled together to create an effect unlike anything you’ve ever seen. While trying to find the entrance we saw people entering a door down below in one of the construction areas so we decided to check it out. What could it hurt? It turned out that this was a side chapel and Sunday mass was going on. Cool! I asked God to forgive me my trespass of this space during a worship time as I walked about freely with the other tourists snapping photos… I know, I know. Bad form. At least I wasn’t the only one and I had the courtesy to turn off my flash!
As we walked around, we learned that this was Gaudi’s “personal” chapel… because it is here that we found his tomb. Totally unplanned, but it was nice to be able to take a moment and pay homage to the man who left such an artistic legacy. I take my hat off to you sir.
When we emerged from the chapel we found our way to the tourist entrance and when we finally entered the sanctuary the hallelujah chorus sounded in a spray of colors! I speak figuratively of course, but as we entered we passed by a huge stained glass window that had the morning sun pouring through it and onto us! Wow. Wow. Wow.
That’s all I can say. As we’d found with most of Gaudi’s work, the detail-work extends to every last square inch of space. His designs were inspired by everything in nature so each feature from the columns to the lighting reflected the natural order of things. The columns, though they looked normal enough at their bases, branched off 1/3 of the way up and were modeled to look like tree trunks complete with the scarred junctions of fallen branches. The ceiling and walls were very angular in comparison and with the way the sun shone through, they looked like hills of blowing sand. After the sanctuary we went up one of the bell towers to see the city from up above. It was gorgeous and on our way down the clock surprisingly struck 11:00… Dear God, I thought the walls were going to come crumbling down! Seeing as we were in the bell tower, we felt the full affect of each one of the 11 chimes! Haha :)
What I didn’t realize before coming here is that Sagrada Familia is a work hardly close to being finished. Whenever I think of huge cathedrals I think a medieval efforts but this place is very much alive and growing! Come to find out, it’s not even ½ as tall as its planned to be upon completion and that is staggering to think of… it’s no small fry as is!
I feel privileged to have seen one of the world’s great works while it was still in it’s youth. It also seems fitting to me that it’s still growing… Gaudi would’ve liked to have it viewed that way I think.
Once we’d descended from cloud nine we headed towards Park Guel, the last hurrah of our Gaudi pilgrimage. We braved the subway and when we emerged we found that the signs to Park Guel as pointed up one of the biggest hills I’ve ever seen. We’re talking STEEP here people. So much so that some parts had escalators going up it. Yeah!
We started trekking and stopped half way at a delightful little café where I accidentally ordered a panini with sardines on it (wasn’t too bad!) and then continued up the hill to where we hoped to find famed Gaudi monumental area. The hike up the hill ended up being worth it because we got another bird’s eye view of the city, this time with the spires of Sagrada Familia in the mix, and we were far enough away from the city streets to appreciate some nature. Always something Ienjoy! :) As we wondered the trails and neared the monumental areas we started hearing guitars and trumpets and laughter… good signs! We emerged onto the plaza encircled by the famous curving bench to see many relaxed park goers basking in the sun being serenaded by the happy band at it’s center. The lead singer had a huge smile and literally hopped around as he sang. Cute!
We continued wondering down the hill and under the plaza was a columned pavilion area with a ceiling as brightly colored as the rest o Gaudi’s work :) We took a break from the sunshine down here and rested fro a bit while listening to a man who was playing classical Spanish guitar. Quite a different atmosphere than 20 feet overhead! We fought our way through the other tourists to get a pic with the famed iguana fountain and then trekked back down the hill in search of sand, surf, and gelato. :)
After our stroll on the boardwalk, (or my limp down… lol) we met the other girls and we all went to dinner before heading back to the bus station for our overnight trip back to Aix. I’m so glad I got the opportunity to go and I had a wonderful time! I have the pictures, the memories, and the gimp foot, and the exhaustion to show for it but it was worth everyminute! Haha :)
It’s hard to believe but when we return we’ve only got one more week in Aix before I head to Italy for winter break… what?!?!? Lol, I love my life and more to come when I’m back from my next adventure!
6/2/10
Welcome to Barcelona!!!!
This whole trip was totally and completely spontaneous—I was sitting next to a girl from my program, Kim, in class on Tuesday and casually asked her what she had planned for the weekend. She told me she was going to Barcelona and so I replied, “Really? Can I come?” Haha :) Anyhow, a couple of days and a bus ticket later, I was headed to Spain!
We took an overnight bus that was really practical, but for some reason the thermostat was set sub-zero and we froooooze our little toes off! I don’t understand why they think it necessary to air condition a bus when it’s already cold outside, but aside from the need to defrost ourselves we made it to Barcelona in one piece without getting mugged or having anything stolen! Yaaay! Good Start!
Apres notre arivée on the way to the hostel I had my first taxi experience! Fun but made interesting because I learned how much REALLY don’t speak Spanish. I don’t speak French well… but I DON’T speak Spanish. Ooh.
The hostel was really great and much nicer than expected! Instead of normal key cards they gave us a “watch” to wear that you used like a proxy key. It was really clever and convenient I thought. The whole place was super clean and secure so if anyone is thinking of hitting up Barcelona any time soon, it was called HelloBCN and we booked through HostelWorld.com.
After getting settled we headed towards the main drag in town and into the Gothic District. The number of building with fantastic architecture here is unbelievable! It seemed like every corner turned warranted occasion for another gawking expression or picture snapped. We found a church with neat gargoyles along the top and we followed them around to where the entrance was and it was free to go in. Always good! What was really neat about this church was that it was open air—There were covered halls along the edges but the center was totally open to the sky and there was a natural area with all sorts of flora and fauna! There were palm trees and grass and bunnies, and ducks… and pigeons :/ lol! There were the obligatory religious sculptures in gated naves along the sides but they had some in the center too that were entirely covered in moss with sunshine pouring down on them. Mmmm :) I appreciated this church’s representation of God and His(Her) presence—very natural and available to all.
Three of the girls in our group were from places like LA and NYC and were moving really fast through the city, at least too quickly for my Midwestern sense of the word “stroll” so we decided to break into groups of 2 and 3. Elizabeth and I decided we would wonder towards Gaudi’s Casa Batllo and I must say a huge thank you to Miss Samantha Brown for educating me on the sites of Barcelona when I was sick in 8th grade. Her shows on travel channel were the best! Haha ☺ Casa Batllo is called the “House of Bones” because it’s front façade and central staircase looks like the bones of a sea creature. The whole house was modeled to look like you’re underwater and there isn’t a straight line in sight. Everything alludes to wave or some kind of sea creature and the swirls and curves and colors take your breath away! On the roof top, there is a room inside the scaled “back” of the monster who lives up there and in this room is the final tribute to the water theme. In the center of the room was a mirrored font that had a light shining over it and as the water bubbled out the center of the font, the pattern of the ripples was projected onto the walls of the cone-shaped room. Lovely ☺
All weekend the weather was beautiful but in this moment I resented the sun because the extra light coming through the door was ruining the affect. I tried multiple times to close it, but other tourist kept trickling in without enough time in between to really appreciate the whole thing… I finally got a short video of by holding the door shut, but then a guard yelled at me for disrupting traffic. :/ It was worth it!
After Casa Batllo we were famished and decided to find some lunch. What better than traditional Spanish tapas? Tapas are a small type of appetizer-like dish and you order several of them to make up your meal. It was nice because that way you got to sample a little bit of everything! To finish of our lunch we found some gelato and lounged by a fountain while basking in the glorious Spanish sun… then I saw a seagull eating a pigeon in the fountain. Moving on!
The rest of the day was spent wondering about getting lost and stumbling upon things to take pictures of. We were tentatively headed back towards the hostel, but kept being pulled towards the waterfront by fun and exciting things to see. ☺ There were tons of street performers dressed as monsters and nymphs, and fruit stands, and things as well as a street fair with craft and jewelry vendors. We ended up down at the water next to a huge Columbus memorial who’s representations of the Native Americans was questionable, but it was pretty to look at.
When we did get back to the hostel it was time for a nap before dinner and then we got ready to hit the town. We all went out in search of a traditional Spanish dinner of “paella,” which is a broth soaked rice dish with seafood and veggies, (Yum!) and some Sangria… Oh my goodness, so delicious! We found a great little place and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly before heading off in different directions. By this time I’d started having some issues with my foot (because clever old me decided to fall down the stairs before coming) and with all the heavy walking, it had gotten swollen and angry. Not ideal!
Anyhow, instead of going dancing I went with Elizabeth to an LOTR themed pub! Bahaha! :) There were waterfalls, and fairies, and trees, and gourd-shaped lamps. Cool! Over all it was a super chill place where the average age was 30, but neat to see nonetheless. I forgot to grab my camera that night so no pics of that. Oops!
For Day 2 our first stop was the Sagrada Familia Cathedral…. Oh. My. Goodness.
This is another one of Gaudi’s brainchildren and again the creativity and vision blew me away. The spires were topped with mosaiced piles of fruit that Chiquita Banana would have been proud of and the back facade was a dripping mishmash of detail that swirled together to create an effect unlike anything you’ve ever seen. While trying to find the entrance we saw people entering a door down below in one of the construction areas so we decided to check it out. What could it hurt? It turned out that this was a side chapel and Sunday mass was going on. Cool! I asked God to forgive me my trespass of this space during a worship time as I walked about freely with the other tourists snapping photos… I know, I know. Bad form. At least I wasn’t the only one and I had the courtesy to turn off my flash!
As we walked around, we learned that this was Gaudi’s “personal” chapel… because it is here that we found his tomb. Totally unplanned, but it was nice to be able to take a moment and pay homage to the man who left such an artistic legacy. I take my hat off to you sir.
When we emerged from the chapel we found our way to the tourist entrance and when we finally entered the sanctuary the hallelujah chorus sounded in a spray of colors! I speak figuratively of course, but as we entered we passed by a huge stained glass window that had the morning sun pouring through it and onto us! Wow. Wow. Wow.
That’s all I can say. As we’d found with most of Gaudi’s work, the detail-work extends to every last square inch of space. His designs were inspired by everything in nature so each feature from the columns to the lighting reflected the natural order of things. The columns, though they looked normal enough at their bases, branched off 1/3 of the way up and were modeled to look like tree trunks complete with the scarred junctions of fallen branches. The ceiling and walls were very angular in comparison and with the way the sun shone through, they looked like hills of blowing sand. After the sanctuary we went up one of the bell towers to see the city from up above. It was gorgeous and on our way down the clock surprisingly struck 11:00… Dear God, I thought the walls were going to come crumbling down! Seeing as we were in the bell tower, we felt the full affect of each one of the 11 chimes! Haha :)
What I didn’t realize before coming here is that Sagrada Familia is a work hardly close to being finished. Whenever I think of huge cathedrals I think a medieval efforts but this place is very much alive and growing! Come to find out, it’s not even ½ as tall as its planned to be upon completion and that is staggering to think of… it’s no small fry as is!
I feel privileged to have seen one of the world’s great works while it was still in it’s youth. It also seems fitting to me that it’s still growing… Gaudi would’ve liked to have it viewed that way I think.
Once we’d descended from cloud nine we headed towards Park Guel, the last hurrah of our Gaudi pilgrimage. We braved the subway and when we emerged we found that the signs to Park Guel as pointed up one of the biggest hills I’ve ever seen. We’re talking STEEP here people. So much so that some parts had escalators going up it. Yeah!
We started trekking and stopped half way at a delightful little café where I accidentally ordered a panini with sardines on it (wasn’t too bad!) and then continued up the hill to where we hoped to find famed Gaudi monumental area. The hike up the hill ended up being worth it because we got another bird’s eye view of the city, this time with the spires of Sagrada Familia in the mix, and we were far enough away from the city streets to appreciate some nature. Always something Ienjoy! :) As we wondered the trails and neared the monumental areas we started hearing guitars and trumpets and laughter… good signs! We emerged onto the plaza encircled by the famous curving bench to see many relaxed park goers basking in the sun being serenaded by the happy band at it’s center. The lead singer had a huge smile and literally hopped around as he sang. Cute!
We continued wondering down the hill and under the plaza was a columned pavilion area with a ceiling as brightly colored as the rest o Gaudi’s work :) We took a break from the sunshine down here and rested fro a bit while listening to a man who was playing classical Spanish guitar. Quite a different atmosphere than 20 feet overhead! We fought our way through the other tourists to get a pic with the famed iguana fountain and then trekked back down the hill in search of sand, surf, and gelato. :)
After our stroll on the boardwalk, (or my limp down… lol) we met the other girls and we all went to dinner before heading back to the bus station for our overnight trip back to Aix. I’m so glad I got the opportunity to go and I had a wonderful time! I have the pictures, the memories, and the gimp foot, and the exhaustion to show for it but it was worth everyminute! Haha :)
It’s hard to believe but when we return we’ve only got one more week in Aix before I head to Italy for winter break… what?!?!? Lol, I love my life and more to come when I’m back from my next adventure!
Monday, February 22, 2010
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
To start, some comments on the internet:
-It’s GREAT because I can talk to all my family and friends and post pics and blogs!
-It’s HORRIBLE because I’m addicted to facebook and spend all my time stalking friends instead of writing in my journal! Oops. :P
Given the above statements, my posts covering the last week will be considerably less detailed…
Classes were supposed to start Monday but the level I placed into is a new group this semester so they were still working on our schedule. While everyone else was getting settled we were still waiting and although that may sound “lucky” we were bummed. We had gotten all dressed up and pretty for the first day of class and then it was all for nothing! Haha, we were also just kind of ready to jump in and get it all started. Anticipation, after all, is the most killer part. Anyhow, we went to the office mid afternoon to pick up our schedules and then hung out there talking with everyone until it was time to go to CEA Happy Hour at Café des Negociants. When I got there, Lydia found me with information on choir at the local music school and it worked out that we had time enough to drink a chocolat chaud and get to rehearsal! We ended up being a little bit late (of course) and had to do the awkward-stand-at-the-door-while-they-are-still-rehearsing-not-wanting-to-interrupt-but-you-still-are-because-everyone-is-gawking-at-you thing. Ooh. The awkwardness only got worse when we couldn’t exactly say what we were there and who had sent us… So we not only interrupted them, but also became the very intriguing international contingent deserving of funny comments and further interruption of rehearsal. O dear. We did eventually settle in with the soprano section and all the women were very kind and helped us catch on to the music quickly. This was kind of my first real immersion experience with native speakers and I think it went very well! We always managed some kind of Franglais definition for things and where Lydia and I lacked knowledge of the classic tunes, we made up by being the only classically trained people in the room. It is sooo nice to be able to sight-read music! Thanks to the people in my life who taught me these things, I appreciate it!
Tuesday started our first day of actual classes!!! YAY!!!
Ok, get this: my language profs name is Monsieur Pierre Tissot. Does that get any more French?!? He also looks exactly like William Shatner.He told us a story about how he used to fancy himself to resemble George Clooney but once a student piped up and corrected him and his life has been forever changed. Mr. Tissot has traveled the world and seems to know a little bit about everything. He also has a lot of experience with international students and that is comforting because for a long while we’ve been being warned that French professors could be very abrupt and brutally honest. I haven’t found Mr. Tissot to be brutal but he is definitely honest with us. After our first written homework he read mistakes made in our compositions aloud to the class and addressed the writers directly. That’s something that would never happen at home. Personal work is kept very secret secret, as are grades, so it was a bit of a shock to have individuals singled out in front of the class. Shock aside, I think it was beneficial because every mistake we made, we will be much less like to make again for fear of being called out on the same mistake. It also benefited the rest of the class to see the mistake made and corrected.
After language class (which was 4 hours long) we went to Traduction Francais-Anglais (Translation). This will be a really helpful class I think! We are learning how to say things so that all the implied meaning of phrases gets translated too… Its NOT so easy to do, but a very interesting study! It was especially fun because the first text we’ve been set to translating is an excerpt from Harry Potter ☺ LOVES it!
***Note: My roommate has started awarding me daily nerd points. I got one for being excited about HP and also later in the day for having a minor meltdown when I found out that there are flamingos in France. FRENCH flamingos. Can you belieeeve it? Haha
Here they are called “Flamants Roses.”
Between classes we had a bunch of the people in our level over to the apartment for the lunch break. Its nice that we live so close and we like having people over too, so everything works out perfectly!
Wednesday:
Had I actually written this on Wed. I would have been jumping out of my skin with excitement over being reconnected to the Borg (a.k.a getting internet at the apartment), but from where I sit now it is incredibly difficult to be SOOOO EXCIIIITED because I’ve been so busy surfing the web that I haven’t been keeping up with memories…
So, I was REALLY excited to have webs at the apartment and since I didn’t have class all day, I just sat in the apartment on the computer.
After grocery shopping later that day Allison and I met a neighbor in the stair well after and we ended up being invited to his place and befriending him. His name is Momo and he is a 30 year-old Moroccan man who has lived in Paris the last 20 years. He was recently divorced and has a 6 year old son in Paris… We had a fun night discussing language and life and Momo taught us a kind of French slang that is generally used to avoid people understanding what you’re talking about. Kind of sketchy, but our “verlens” names are Sonalli and Ttanybri! Bahaha! These are our new gangster names and often we refer to ourselves this way when joking. :) Momo is also a new resident of Aix in search of friends and things to keep the mind off of being lonesome, so we decided to invite him to our dinner party on Thursday. Long story short, we were apparently too friendly too quickly and (due to cultural differences in perception of open friendliness) Momo has unfortunately fallen in love with me. Ugh. He did leave me a nice note about how he thought I had the most beautiful “ices” (eyes) and that I was very “handsem,” but instead of being charming it just kind of makes me nervous every time I hear footsteps coming down from upstairs.
1/2/10
On Thursday we had more language class and then stylistic studies. Our professor read to us and though tat sounds kind of elementary, it was one of the coolest things I’ve heard so far—He picked a selection from a political work and read it like prose or poetry.It was absolutely beautiful! THAT is how French is supposed to be spoken. Passionately and with grace! Even though it was SUPER difficult to keep up, I think I’m going to be able to do this level 4 thing… Let’s hope!
As I’d said we had a dinner party tonight with some of our fellow apartment dwellers and despite the neighbor issues, it was a lovely evening! The meal was kind of a grand experiment but it ended up being absolutely delicious. And I DO say so myself! Haha. We had garlic-mashed potatoes, fresh green beans and eggplant sautéed in lemon butter herb sauce, gorgonzola tortellini with red meat sauce, a kings cake, fruit tarts, and of course French wine! It was really tasty and also really fun to have people over. 
We just spent the night talking and enjoying each others company and all kept saying how we felt so “big” like grown ups or something… Haha! I hope there will be more of these to come; I really enjoy entertaining and having people over. It was a good day today!
Friday:
Looong day. I had 7 hours of straight class today… wow that was exhausting! I think I’m really going to like school here, but there are definitely some things to get used to. I must remember to bring nibbles with me next week and work on extending my attention span! (the requisite 50 minutes at home just isn’t gonna cut it here!) Later we had Jenny over and we’ve started discussing plans for a trip to Italy over the February break! YAY! Sometimes I’m taken aback by how surreal my life seems right now.
“Oh yeeeaah, I just had some friends over to my apartment in France to drink some wine and discuss travel plans to Italy. Just Rome and Florence… no big, right?”
“Wrong…! HUGE DEAL!!!!”
Haha! I love being here and I am so thankful to have such awesome opportunities to do things like this. I LOVE FRANCE!
Saaturday a group of us decided to go to Marseille and it ended up being an awesome day! We had planned on taking a boat out to an Island to see Chateau d’If (Same as in Count of Monte-Cristo) but the Mistral was blowing so they weren’t sending boats out. Shucks. We ended up just walking around and taking advantage of the great shopping in Marseille. (SO much cheaper that Aix!) We had lots of fun running round and taking pictures and thoroughly enjoyed being able to play tourist for the day. In Aix we try to seem like we belong and not do dumb foreigner things, but leaving town has the effect of lifting a veil. When we leave Aix we just get to be excited Americans seeing the sights of Europe. :)
After our shopping adventures we decided we’d get a crepe before heading back to the bus but for some reason we couldn’t find a crepe place ANYWHERE! This seemed strange because they are literally on every corner in Aix. Eventually we asked someone where there was a creperie and had to walk 3 blocks to get there. We didn’t get it. This is France. Don’t they know that? Hahaha ☺
Sunday Allison went to Cannes with some French friends we’ve met so I decided I would take a walk before settling in to do some studying. It seems like every week I learn a little more about the tendencies of European men and I just don’t like them so far. I haven’t had any trouble with guys my own age but the older men here must think they are gifts from God or something because they tend to be very forward… While walking around, in broad daylight, there were a couple men who tried to chat me up as I walked by, another who followed me for half the Cours trying to tell my how beautiful I was, and another old guy who ran out of a bar and grabbed my arm trying to pull me in and buy me a drink. The last one I think was a bet because when I shook him off and went away his friends laughed at him…. Ewwwwww. I don’t understand it and I don’t say this to freak anyone out its just kind of something I’m trying to figure out how to deal with and not feel like I'm constantly being preyed upon. If anyone has insight, shoot me an email please!
We are now almost half way through the second week of class, I need to finalize my elective schedule, and then I'm off to Barcelona with some of the girls for the weekend! More to come after I get back from Spain!
XOXOX ~B
-It’s GREAT because I can talk to all my family and friends and post pics and blogs!
-It’s HORRIBLE because I’m addicted to facebook and spend all my time stalking friends instead of writing in my journal! Oops. :P
Given the above statements, my posts covering the last week will be considerably less detailed…
Classes were supposed to start Monday but the level I placed into is a new group this semester so they were still working on our schedule. While everyone else was getting settled we were still waiting and although that may sound “lucky” we were bummed. We had gotten all dressed up and pretty for the first day of class and then it was all for nothing! Haha, we were also just kind of ready to jump in and get it all started. Anticipation, after all, is the most killer part. Anyhow, we went to the office mid afternoon to pick up our schedules and then hung out there talking with everyone until it was time to go to CEA Happy Hour at Café des Negociants. When I got there, Lydia found me with information on choir at the local music school and it worked out that we had time enough to drink a chocolat chaud and get to rehearsal! We ended up being a little bit late (of course) and had to do the awkward-stand-at-the-door-while-they-are-still-rehearsing-not-wanting-to-interrupt-but-you-still-are-because-everyone-is-gawking-at-you thing. Ooh. The awkwardness only got worse when we couldn’t exactly say what we were there and who had sent us… So we not only interrupted them, but also became the very intriguing international contingent deserving of funny comments and further interruption of rehearsal. O dear. We did eventually settle in with the soprano section and all the women were very kind and helped us catch on to the music quickly. This was kind of my first real immersion experience with native speakers and I think it went very well! We always managed some kind of Franglais definition for things and where Lydia and I lacked knowledge of the classic tunes, we made up by being the only classically trained people in the room. It is sooo nice to be able to sight-read music! Thanks to the people in my life who taught me these things, I appreciate it!
Tuesday started our first day of actual classes!!! YAY!!!
Ok, get this: my language profs name is Monsieur Pierre Tissot. Does that get any more French?!? He also looks exactly like William Shatner.He told us a story about how he used to fancy himself to resemble George Clooney but once a student piped up and corrected him and his life has been forever changed. Mr. Tissot has traveled the world and seems to know a little bit about everything. He also has a lot of experience with international students and that is comforting because for a long while we’ve been being warned that French professors could be very abrupt and brutally honest. I haven’t found Mr. Tissot to be brutal but he is definitely honest with us. After our first written homework he read mistakes made in our compositions aloud to the class and addressed the writers directly. That’s something that would never happen at home. Personal work is kept very secret secret, as are grades, so it was a bit of a shock to have individuals singled out in front of the class. Shock aside, I think it was beneficial because every mistake we made, we will be much less like to make again for fear of being called out on the same mistake. It also benefited the rest of the class to see the mistake made and corrected.
After language class (which was 4 hours long) we went to Traduction Francais-Anglais (Translation). This will be a really helpful class I think! We are learning how to say things so that all the implied meaning of phrases gets translated too… Its NOT so easy to do, but a very interesting study! It was especially fun because the first text we’ve been set to translating is an excerpt from Harry Potter ☺ LOVES it!
***Note: My roommate has started awarding me daily nerd points. I got one for being excited about HP and also later in the day for having a minor meltdown when I found out that there are flamingos in France. FRENCH flamingos. Can you belieeeve it? Haha
Here they are called “Flamants Roses.”
Between classes we had a bunch of the people in our level over to the apartment for the lunch break. Its nice that we live so close and we like having people over too, so everything works out perfectly!
Wednesday:
Had I actually written this on Wed. I would have been jumping out of my skin with excitement over being reconnected to the Borg (a.k.a getting internet at the apartment), but from where I sit now it is incredibly difficult to be SOOOO EXCIIIITED because I’ve been so busy surfing the web that I haven’t been keeping up with memories…
So, I was REALLY excited to have webs at the apartment and since I didn’t have class all day, I just sat in the apartment on the computer.
After grocery shopping later that day Allison and I met a neighbor in the stair well after and we ended up being invited to his place and befriending him. His name is Momo and he is a 30 year-old Moroccan man who has lived in Paris the last 20 years. He was recently divorced and has a 6 year old son in Paris… We had a fun night discussing language and life and Momo taught us a kind of French slang that is generally used to avoid people understanding what you’re talking about. Kind of sketchy, but our “verlens” names are Sonalli and Ttanybri! Bahaha! These are our new gangster names and often we refer to ourselves this way when joking. :) Momo is also a new resident of Aix in search of friends and things to keep the mind off of being lonesome, so we decided to invite him to our dinner party on Thursday. Long story short, we were apparently too friendly too quickly and (due to cultural differences in perception of open friendliness) Momo has unfortunately fallen in love with me. Ugh. He did leave me a nice note about how he thought I had the most beautiful “ices” (eyes) and that I was very “handsem,” but instead of being charming it just kind of makes me nervous every time I hear footsteps coming down from upstairs.
1/2/10
On Thursday we had more language class and then stylistic studies. Our professor read to us and though tat sounds kind of elementary, it was one of the coolest things I’ve heard so far—He picked a selection from a political work and read it like prose or poetry.It was absolutely beautiful! THAT is how French is supposed to be spoken. Passionately and with grace! Even though it was SUPER difficult to keep up, I think I’m going to be able to do this level 4 thing… Let’s hope!
As I’d said we had a dinner party tonight with some of our fellow apartment dwellers and despite the neighbor issues, it was a lovely evening! The meal was kind of a grand experiment but it ended up being absolutely delicious. And I DO say so myself! Haha. We had garlic-mashed potatoes, fresh green beans and eggplant sautéed in lemon butter herb sauce, gorgonzola tortellini with red meat sauce, a kings cake, fruit tarts, and of course French wine! It was really tasty and also really fun to have people over. 
We just spent the night talking and enjoying each others company and all kept saying how we felt so “big” like grown ups or something… Haha! I hope there will be more of these to come; I really enjoy entertaining and having people over. It was a good day today!Friday:
Looong day. I had 7 hours of straight class today… wow that was exhausting! I think I’m really going to like school here, but there are definitely some things to get used to. I must remember to bring nibbles with me next week and work on extending my attention span! (the requisite 50 minutes at home just isn’t gonna cut it here!) Later we had Jenny over and we’ve started discussing plans for a trip to Italy over the February break! YAY! Sometimes I’m taken aback by how surreal my life seems right now.
Haha! I love being here and I am so thankful to have such awesome opportunities to do things like this. I LOVE FRANCE!
Saaturday a group of us decided to go to Marseille and it ended up being an awesome day! We had planned on taking a boat out to an Island to see Chateau d’If (Same as in Count of Monte-Cristo) but the Mistral was blowing so they weren’t sending boats out. Shucks. We ended up just walking around and taking advantage of the great shopping in Marseille. (SO much cheaper that Aix!) We had lots of fun running round and taking pictures and thoroughly enjoyed being able to play tourist for the day. In Aix we try to seem like we belong and not do dumb foreigner things, but leaving town has the effect of lifting a veil. When we leave Aix we just get to be excited Americans seeing the sights of Europe. :)
After our shopping adventures we decided we’d get a crepe before heading back to the bus but for some reason we couldn’t find a crepe place ANYWHERE! This seemed strange because they are literally on every corner in Aix. Eventually we asked someone where there was a creperie and had to walk 3 blocks to get there. We didn’t get it. This is France. Don’t they know that? Hahaha ☺Sunday Allison went to Cannes with some French friends we’ve met so I decided I would take a walk before settling in to do some studying. It seems like every week I learn a little more about the tendencies of European men and I just don’t like them so far. I haven’t had any trouble with guys my own age but the older men here must think they are gifts from God or something because they tend to be very forward… While walking around, in broad daylight, there were a couple men who tried to chat me up as I walked by, another who followed me for half the Cours trying to tell my how beautiful I was, and another old guy who ran out of a bar and grabbed my arm trying to pull me in and buy me a drink. The last one I think was a bet because when I shook him off and went away his friends laughed at him…. Ewwwwww. I don’t understand it and I don’t say this to freak anyone out its just kind of something I’m trying to figure out how to deal with and not feel like I'm constantly being preyed upon. If anyone has insight, shoot me an email please!
We are now almost half way through the second week of class, I need to finalize my elective schedule, and then I'm off to Barcelona with some of the girls for the weekend! More to come after I get back from Spain!
XOXOX ~B
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Every day Allison and I are getting more adventurous with our cooking. I am a bit fearful though that as I learn to cook with great fresh produce that we won’t know what to do when I return to the land of processed foods…
But anyhow, today was another long but lovely day! We CEAers went on another excursion with a tour company run by a man named Georges to Isle-su-la-Sorgue, Rousillon, and Gordes. Georges is a man full of regional knowledge and also has a great sense of humor to go along with his stories! On the bus Allison and I got to talking with some of the CEA year students who kindly answered some very pressing café etiquette questions. It can be very confusing when you don’t have the entire necessary vocab and since we stiiiill can’t understand the Aixois accent it becomes scary. Fast.
***Let it be known that one leaves money on the table at a café. There is usually no hand to hand transfer of money here and if they give you a little dish its all ok… don't worry, they just don't want to touch you! interesting. At the market however, hand-to-hand exchange is expected as is paying in exact change. We were told its even okay to hold out a hand of change money to let the marchand look through and pick which of the shiny pieces (s)he wants to take! Haha! The marchands get very excited when we do pay exactly especially because they can tell that we are not French and don't expect us to do it. This morning while buying things for dinner we paid exactly and the marchand gave us a big smile, and an even bigger hand gesture accompanied by him saying “Parfait!!!!” Awwwww.
24/1/10
Our first stop was in the picturesque town of Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. It’s a town surrounded by water ways both natural and man-made and the people of the town built tons of water wheels to harness the power of the water’s flow. Through the years they have all become covered in thick emerald green moss and are the perfect backdrop for a cute ph
We got there early Saturday morning and before we could fully enjoy the grand samedi marchet we had to find some coffee. The first place we saw was a café called La Romantica and we figured we’d give it a go. As soon as the four of us were inside the door, the waiter behind the bar threw his hands up in the air (similar to the way one does when yelling “Opa!”) and said very happily, “Bonjour, les filles!!!” only I heard “Jolies filles!!!” I decided to believe the first because that made me feel a bit more comfortable. Haha ☺ When we sat down the waiter came over and he went around the whole table and greeted us individually with Les Bises (French cheek kisses, my first ones! YAY!). Café au lait all around, s’il vous plait!
We sat for a while chatting and enjoying our coffees and at one point the waiter turned up the American Jazz on the radio and had a personal dance party behind the bar. Also, before leaving the waiter came over again offering each of us his little French kisses. Cute. ☺ This would never happen in Aix from what I gather… les Aixois sont un peu plus snob que les autres en provence! Shhhhh… don’t tell them! They know where I live!
After our café we went out into the marchet and had a fabulous time looking around. There was a vendor who had hand-made soaps in every flavor imaginable and I saw one in particular that was called “Lait de la Jupen”. I had no idea what it was so I asked the vendor and he said it was from a horse. A mother horse. A mare? Yes, a mare! It is mare’s milk! Ohhhhh! A little strange to think of milking a horse, but the resulting soap had a very pleasing smell. After this we wondered around town for a bit longer, it really is lovely, and then found some lunch before heading back to the bus.
Stop two was the town of Rousillon in the Luberon Mountains and similar to Oklahoma, it is famous for its red dirt!!! Cool! Georges, our trusty tour guide, told us the story of how the dirt turned red and it goes a little something like this:
Il était une fois (Once upon a time) there was a King called Seignor Rénaud d’Avignon whose land stretched throughout the Luberon. He was a very mean man who had no pity, sympathy, or care for his people. He was so mean that he ate children and also students who didn’t study their French! He had a wife whom he loved very much but she could not love him back because he was so mean to his people. She was a compassionate soul and found love in one of the men who worked for the Seignor. They were very much in love and tried to keep it secret from him, but the Seignor found out about their affair and he killed the other man! He ripped out his heart and had it cooked up for dinner then made his wife take the first bite before telling her what it was. When his wife understand that she had eaten the heart of her love, she ran out of the castle and launched herself off a nearby cliff, falling to her death. The blood shed in this act was what forever colored the hills of Rousillon red.
The cliffs here are gorgeous though very different from those at home. Oklaoma is more like paprika while Rousillon is more like saffron. The town is quaint with some really fun photo opportunities and seeing that it was Sunday there was hardly anything open, but we did find a café to huddle inside and keep away from the cold. Lovely.
After Rousillon we went to the hillside village of Gordes. WOW. It was recently voted Le Plus Baux (Most Beautiful) in all of France and I can see why! The village is built itno the hillside and looks like a fairy tale, there’s no other way to describe it! Again, everything was closed but it was nice to wonder around the slanted streets quietly. The cathedral was open so we looked in there, impressive as always, but I think that the most impressive thing about Gordes was its teenage inhabitants and their MAD biking skills. They had free reign of the pavement on their mountain bikes since there were next to no tourists and they were goin at it! Never would I ever have attempted to ride a bike in this town, too many ups and downs and crazy obstacles, but I guess having grown up with it these kids knew what was up! They would ZOOM down great big hills towards a dead end and screech their brakes, fishtailing around to miss the wall at the last second and then peddle away as if nothing extreme had just happened! Phew… they were cuttin’ it really close! We now know exactly where extreme bikers are born, Gordes.
It was a long day but we saw and did a lot of great things ☺ When we got home, Allison and I cooked up some pasta with meat sauce and some balsamic vinegar green beans, cracked open a bottle of wine and relaxed. We are getting better at this cooking thing but really it’s not that hard when we are here in the land of fresh food!
But anyhow, today was another long but lovely day! We CEAers went on another excursion with a tour company run by a man named Georges to Isle-su-la-Sorgue, Rousillon, and Gordes. Georges is a man full of regional knowledge and also has a great sense of humor to go along with his stories! On the bus Allison and I got to talking with some of the CEA year students who kindly answered some very pressing café etiquette questions. It can be very confusing when you don’t have the entire necessary vocab and since we stiiiill can’t understand the Aixois accent it becomes scary. Fast.
***Let it be known that one leaves money on the table at a café. There is usually no hand to hand transfer of money here and if they give you a little dish its all ok… don't worry, they just don't want to touch you! interesting. At the market however, hand-to-hand exchange is expected as is paying in exact change. We were told its even okay to hold out a hand of change money to let the marchand look through and pick which of the shiny pieces (s)he wants to take! Haha! The marchands get very excited when we do pay exactly especially because they can tell that we are not French and don't expect us to do it. This morning while buying things for dinner we paid exactly and the marchand gave us a big smile, and an even bigger hand gesture accompanied by him saying “Parfait!!!!” Awwwww.
24/1/10
Our first stop was in the picturesque town of Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. It’s a town surrounded by water ways both natural and man-made and the people of the town built tons of water wheels to harness the power of the water’s flow. Through the years they have all become covered in thick emerald green moss and are the perfect backdrop for a cute ph
We got there early Saturday morning and before we could fully enjoy the grand samedi marchet we had to find some coffee. The first place we saw was a café called La Romantica and we figured we’d give it a go. As soon as the four of us were inside the door, the waiter behind the bar threw his hands up in the air (similar to the way one does when yelling “Opa!”) and said very happily, “Bonjour, les filles!!!” only I heard “Jolies filles!!!” I decided to believe the first because that made me feel a bit more comfortable. Haha ☺ When we sat down the waiter came over and he went around the whole table and greeted us individually with Les Bises (French cheek kisses, my first ones! YAY!). Café au lait all around, s’il vous plait!
We sat for a while chatting and enjoying our coffees and at one point the waiter turned up the American Jazz on the radio and had a personal dance party behind the bar. Also, before leaving the waiter came over again offering each of us his little French kisses. Cute. ☺ This would never happen in Aix from what I gather… les Aixois sont un peu plus snob que les autres en provence! Shhhhh… don’t tell them! They know where I live!
After our café we went out into the marchet and had a fabulous time looking around. There was a vendor who had hand-made soaps in every flavor imaginable and I saw one in particular that was called “Lait de la Jupen”. I had no idea what it was so I asked the vendor and he said it was from a horse. A mother horse. A mare? Yes, a mare! It is mare’s milk! Ohhhhh! A little strange to think of milking a horse, but the resulting soap had a very pleasing smell. After this we wondered around town for a bit longer, it really is lovely, and then found some lunch before heading back to the bus.
Stop two was the town of Rousillon in the Luberon Mountains and similar to Oklahoma, it is famous for its red dirt!!! Cool! Georges, our trusty tour guide, told us the story of how the dirt turned red and it goes a little something like this:
Il était une fois (Once upon a time) there was a King called Seignor Rénaud d’Avignon whose land stretched throughout the Luberon. He was a very mean man who had no pity, sympathy, or care for his people. He was so mean that he ate children and also students who didn’t study their French! He had a wife whom he loved very much but she could not love him back because he was so mean to his people. She was a compassionate soul and found love in one of the men who worked for the Seignor. They were very much in love and tried to keep it secret from him, but the Seignor found out about their affair and he killed the other man! He ripped out his heart and had it cooked up for dinner then made his wife take the first bite before telling her what it was. When his wife understand that she had eaten the heart of her love, she ran out of the castle and launched herself off a nearby cliff, falling to her death. The blood shed in this act was what forever colored the hills of Rousillon red.
The cliffs here are gorgeous though very different from those at home. Oklaoma is more like paprika while Rousillon is more like saffron. The town is quaint with some really fun photo opportunities and seeing that it was Sunday there was hardly anything open, but we did find a café to huddle inside and keep away from the cold. Lovely.
After Rousillon we went to the hillside village of Gordes. WOW. It was recently voted Le Plus Baux (Most Beautiful) in all of France and I can see why! The village is built itno the hillside and looks like a fairy tale, there’s no other way to describe it! Again, everything was closed but it was nice to wonder around the slanted streets quietly. The cathedral was open so we looked in there, impressive as always, but I think that the most impressive thing about Gordes was its teenage inhabitants and their MAD biking skills. They had free reign of the pavement on their mountain bikes since there were next to no tourists and they were goin at it! Never would I ever have attempted to ride a bike in this town, too many ups and downs and crazy obstacles, but I guess having grown up with it these kids knew what was up! They would ZOOM down great big hills towards a dead end and screech their brakes, fishtailing around to miss the wall at the last second and then peddle away as if nothing extreme had just happened! Phew… they were cuttin’ it really close! We now know exactly where extreme bikers are born, Gordes.
It was a long day but we saw and did a lot of great things ☺ When we got home, Allison and I cooked up some pasta with meat sauce and some balsamic vinegar green beans, cracked open a bottle of wine and relaxed. We are getting better at this cooking thing but really it’s not that hard when we are here in the land of fresh food!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Allright.. Here it goes!!!
JE SUIS ICI, FOLKS!!! (I’m here!) There are so many things that have happened, so please forgive me if I flit around from topic to topic.
The First Looooooong Day(s):
International travel is definitely not for the weak at heart. Especially when doing it alone.
My travels were long but thankfully uneventful and I made it to Aix safely picking up friends along the way! Some highlights:
-The flight attendant on my first flight had the best announcer voice I’ve ever heard! He sounded like a smooth jazz radio host mixed with a beat poet. Awesome.
-At one point my iPod played Tangerine Speedo and I made a mental note to tell Rachel that the French girls say Zut no no no, Zut no no no, No no! Bahaha ☺
-Flying into Chicago, the city was surrounded by clouds and looked like it was a floating in the air… but still surrounded by water. I know that doesn’t make sense but follow me here… The whole skyline was backlit and I followed the sun and the city’s silhouette/reflection across the water as we flew into town. WOW!
-While grabbing lunch in Chicago I broke open Claire’s binder. It felt like she was there with me “shootin’ the shit” and I felt much better about being on my lonesome. ☺ Thanks for doing that Claire!
-I watched Up! dubbed in French on the plane to Bruxelles and understood pretty well!
-We were welcomed into Europe with a BEAUTIFUL Technicolor sunrise…. That’s the only way I can think to describe it. I couldn’t believe the colors; the clouds must have decided to have 80’s night at the disco-tech. (I later discovered that dance clubs here prefer 80’s/90’s American music, so perhaps this is not far off!) They were electrically bright and fabulous fabulous. This must’ve been a last offering of color since I wasn’t going to be seeing any colorful clothing for a while…lol ☺ Europeans are VERY into dark colors right now.
***Interesting side note: In American fashion we have to choose one dark color to center our outfit around. For example, one should not wear a black pant with navy socks and brown shoes. Faux Pas! Here in France however, the current trend is to make outfits combining every one of the darker colors. Blue, black, gray, and sometimes navy are mixed and matched to cover the whole body it strange proportion. The very occasional white undershirt, patterned boot, or red lipstick are acceptable but otherwise, it’s all drab.
***Oh! I’ve forgotten an important exception! If you are older than the age of 40 it is also acceptable to have either orange (not red… orange) or purple hair. ☺ You may also wear leather pants and shop in the same stores as young women. There isn’t really an age gap in the fashions btw 20 and 50 year olds besides the hair color and expensive jewelry.
-Bruxelles was terrifying! I think I felt this way due to a mix of jetlag, hunger, sleepiness, and being tired of being alone. Everything was in Dutch, which is indeed “freeky deeky,” there is no such thing as personal space, I was lost, and there weren’t even any sprouts… I was starting to get really tired and lonely but then I found some friends from my program and we were all headed towards the same flight to Marseille. Yay!
I made a journal entry saying something to the effect of “I’m feeling a bit discouraged but I know that is the nerves talking… I’m reading for Adventure to come along and kick Loneliness in the butt.” It did!
-All my flights were smooth as could have been asked for, and even our crazy bus driver from Marseille to Aix provided some comic relief! He fought with the woman who picked us up over directions for the entire trip into Aix, which luckily wasn’t too far. But, being that he was very French and very animated, we had a good time listening in. Zut Alors!
-The apartment I’m staying in is adorable and we are situated just down the street from the daily market and another 5 minutes from school. Everything is very chic and very French and I love it! We have a big 10-foot long Cezanne poster hanging that adds a nice splash of color to the otherwise very modern look. We have a nice little seating area and breakfast nook. The kitchen is open and has a bar attached to the sitting room. It’s been newly renovated so everything is nice and we are probably more comfortable than any starving college student should expect to be. ☺ Out our window we can watch the people pass by as they shop and I have admittedly been creeping on the neighbors in the building across from us trying to figure out the stories of their lives. So far I’ve got nothing other that knowing the inhabitants of some of the windowsills. Like for instance, the porcelain chicken that lives up to the right; I’m often jealous of her because she gets to see the sun rise.
First Full Day in Aix, Get ready for a History Lesson:
(btw’s, Aix is pronounced “ex” like the letter.)
Today started out in a rush. Becaaaaaaause, true to form, my alarm didn’t go off so roommate and I (her name is Allison and we’re getting on very well already!) woke up about 20 minutes AFTER we were supposed to have been at our CEA orientation. Shucks. (Accompanied by diagonally sweeping snap of the fingers) We rushed around flinging things out of our still unpacked “valises” (suitcases) and arrived at the office flustered but in enough time to participate. Phew. (Wipe metaphorical sweat from forehead) As orientations go it was very pleasant and kept our attention, but there was SO much information that I’ll have to go back and do some studying.
(I saw on facebook that Venita had commented on my status asking if I’d slept through my alarm first day like I did on the Eastern Europe trip in high school… Yes Venita, I sure did! Haha ☺ Always late, but always there.)
For Mom: Iwanted to let you know that we were lectured on appropriate behavior for going out and especially safety for when walking home. Vivienne (our trusty on-site director) went on for a good ten minutes talking to the girls and then to address the men in the room said only two words about French girls, “Good Luck.” Bahaha! That tickled me. French women are masters of ignoring men and apparently do only one thing when addressed, they dramatically flip their hair and look the other direction.
After orientation we had some free time and a group of us went to the Cours Maribau, its the main drag here (comparable to the Champs Elysees in Paris, Lindsey in Norman, North College in FoCo...) only cooler because its in France and more epic! We learned on a walking tour this afternoon that it’s built on a “4 x 4 x 4” plan, meaning that the whole rue is mathematically laid out in patterns of 4. There are 4 rows of 44 plane trees each 10 feet apart, making the trees within 40 feet of each other. Its 4 times as long as it is wide and the height of buildings reflect the width of the street. There are 4 fountains in the center (creating traffic circles) each 110 feet away from the next making the length of Cours Maribau 440 feet. You get the picture… neat, huh!?!
There are tons of cafes, banks, and shops lining the Cours Maribau. (I don’t recommend going to any of them because they are twice as expensive and the service is ½ as good. Bad in fact.) Most of the larger ones are in buildings that previously housed aristocrats, then later bankers and lawyers, and even Cezanne himself grew up here! The Rotonde, the largest of the 4 fountains, is at the East end and is very beautiful… also very inaccessible for taking pictures. Unless you want to get swiftly run over or cause every nearby Aixois to hate you, I’d advise taking a picture from the sidewalk across the car traffic. The fountain has statues representing Justice, Commerce, Agriculture, and the Arts. There is also an assortment of animals and some angels riding disgruntled looking swans. ☺
We’d heard in orientation about a well-liked creperie in a tunnel near le Rotonde called Crepes a GoGo and decided to check it out for lunch. All the choices, savory and sweet, were reasonably priced between 3.5-4 Euro so I got one with “champingon, oefs, et fromage.” (Mushrooms, eggs, and cheese) It was interesting to watch because everything going into the crepes was fresh and cooked right in front of you, nous sommes en France! Interestingly, the eggs are cracked on top of the already grilling crepe and scrambled and cooked right there! That struck me as strange, but it all worked out! These women were MASTERS of crepe making… If one of Cezanne’s paintings of Mt. St. Victoire was edible and I ate it, that’s how beautiful these things were. They were also huge enough to take home for another meal. Always good.
At the other end of Cours Maribeau stands the good Roi Rene. He was apparently the last king of Provence back in the day when it was still a country of its own. He’s holding a bunch of muscat grapes, a type that he introduced to Provence to encourage wine making in the region. We learned on the tour that the red and yellow striped flag that hangs everywhere that represents Provence was originally Catalonian. King Rene’s family was from Catalonia and after his death the flag continued to represent the region he ruled over.
I remember reading before coming here that one mustn’t be embarrassed to use their bad French because it only makes you better and the very act of being bad is part of playing the role of the amusing foreigner. That has become a personal montra to help me overcome feeling bad for butchering the French language, “I’m the musing foreigner, it’s all part of the experience, allllll part of the experience!!!!” I accept that its part of the experience, but I think I met a state-side week’s worth of awkward in just this one day here! The very simplest of things here are difficult such as asking the time, saying excuse me (That one I picked up quickly), let alone ordering food or checking out at the grocery. Eek! We bought milk today. In a non-refrigerated section. Weird. More to come later on first milk tasting experience… I also bought a cell phone today. I really tried to speak to him in French and he graciously tried to speak so I could understand buuuut we had to resort to some creative Frenglish. He did know some English so thank god for that, but it was difficult and I felt small and ignorant. “Je suis desole pour mon francais. C’est mal, je le sais. Pardon!”
I can’t text internationally but I can receive calls, so if anyone feels like paying international long distance give me a call!!!! Haha, I have no expectations of this, but really…. xoxo
On the walking tour we took this afternoon we went into the Cathedral St. Saveur. It’s a mash up of different styles that range from 4th to 17th century. I walked from the 4th to the 17th century in ~5 minutes. Can you belieeeeeve that? Wow. I tried to take pictures but, like it says in Ysabel, the light is really bad. I saw the chapel with the original columns built over the Roman forums(Where the man emerges from a grate) and the excavated site that shows the Roman road running underneath the church. The various other chapels and naves are impressive but because it is so dim the huge Renaissance paintings were difficult to appreciate.
Vieux Aix is a filled with these old beautiful houses that belonged to Aristocrats and religious leaders. Apparently back in the day if something on your doorstep projected into the public area (i.e. the street) you were of great prominence. Something like the foot of a column, stoop-like steps, or having an ornately carved large wooden door. I’ve seen some really impressive doors here; I can hardly believe how old they are! One place we visited was another aristocratic home where, on one of his tours about the country, King Louis the XIV had stayed. The door had a carved border of what looked to me to be artichokes. For this reason I’ve deemed it le Maison d’Artichokes. Je suis tres tres amusante ☺ The walls inside were painted using the early17th century style of “Trompe d’oeil” meaning “trick of the eye.” The figures are painted so that they look 3D and come out of the wall at you. They’re pretty convincing too. There was one with a little boy peeking out from behind the curtain, but the more impressive one was of a statue in a recess with his arm in a position that stuck out in front of him. The only reason I assumed it was painted was because of the sheen of light reflecting off the paint’s surface. Very nice work!
When Louis entered this place he was so impressed by the artist’s work that he invited him to be a court painter and now his work also resides in Versailles. Nice break for the guy.
We also learned today how to distinguish 17th vs 18th century wrought iron work. Wrought iron was another 17th century symbol of wealth and was all the rage round these parts. The17th century stuff has bands of metal holding together the various parts. Not until later did they figure out the techniques for welding the iron together, so the later 18th century ones don’t have any bands. Cool. That’s one thing I’ll know how to do!
20/1/10
Dear Provencal Food,
Thanks for being so awesome. I know we’ve only known each other for a short time, but I appreciate how fresh and flavorful you are.
Bisous, ~B
Dear Streets of Aix,
Thanks for having so much foot traffic and giving me a good bit of daily exercise. It helps me not feel bad about loving your French food so much. ☺
Kiss Kiss, ~B
20/1/10
Took our placement exams today… eek! The written section was 24, coutem’ tweeeeeenty-fooooooour, pages long!!! Ouch. There were a few times when I had to convince myself to keep going but we shall see… I feel like it went pretty well but ya never know. Knock on wood! I need to place in at least level 3 for my credits to transfer.
21/1/10
Today we had our first outing together! Everyone in CEA has really come together and we’ve made quick friends :) Gotta love the ones you’re with! Anyhow, today we went to Les Baux de Provence. Apparently this is one of the most visited sites in Provence but since its a weekday and they called a Mistral, we had the place all to ourselves. I’d never heard of it but I’m glad Vivienne had! Les Baux is west of Aix in a region called les Alpilles, they are lower mountains with gorgeous rock formations and throughout their valleys grow groves of olives, vineyards, and all sorts of other produce. We learned today that sadly the classic Provencal Lavander doesn’t come into full bloom until June, sad day. Now wee are all pulling for an early Spring so we might get to see the purple blossoms covering the country side. Is it possible to sell one’s soul to the ground hog?
The Chateau/Fortress at Les Baux is settled into one of the rock formations at the top of one of the bigger hills. While driving up to it you keep looking and looking for something that looks like a house but when you finally see it, you realize that is PART of the rock formation! They call these ‘troglodyte’ constructions because parts of them are literally carved out of the rock and the mountain becomes the chateau. Of course there are additions with dressed stone and all, but it’s all been made to blend in with the rock and the overall affect is breathtaking! Today was also our first experience with the famed Mistral winds. It was a cool experience wondering around a 500-year-old castle with legendary wind whistling through the corridors and silencing everything but the whisper of the past. We climbed up one of the watchtowers, high above the chateau, and the aged steps were what surprised me most. They were the originals, never repaired or altered for tourist use, so each step sagged deep into visible footprints showing it’s use and reminding you of all the people and history this place has seen.
The second part of our excursion was nothing less than a privilege barely experienced by the grace of good timing. In the nearby town of St. Remey lives a lovely old man in his 80’s by the name of Lolo. His house is just up the road from the Maison des Fous (Insane Asylum) where Van Gogh admitted himself after chopping his ear off. What’s really special about Lolo and his house though is that it has been in his family for the past 400 years, the deeds of which hold the Sun Kings seal! WOW! It too a troglodyte home and is thus carved directly into the hillside. In front of Lolo’s house he has a young grove of olives and in the middle is a very tall cut stone stand/platform/spire.... There is no word to describe it, but after asking some questions we learned that the entire area where we stood (quiet, peaceful, filled with lovely smells and carefully tended trees) had been solid stone quarried out by slaves 5-600 years ago. The big stone in the center reflects the level of the original stone and was gradually carved around as the ground deepened. It served as a perch for the slave driver who watched over the laborers. Not exactly a glamorous purpose, but impressive nonetheless! Here also was my first experience with the special provencal lighting. It was mid afternoon and then way the sun hit every leaf and blade of grass seemed to make the colors pop and the edges soften. I can see the inspiration that helped Cezanne and VanGogh come to paint the world as they did.
Lolo gave us a tour of his home and it looked to be straight out of a storybook! Stone tables and troughs, iron fixings, hand-made everything, quaint decoration, and especially animated old men sitting round in their caps, smoking cigarettes, and of course talking quietly with loud hand gestures. Lolo had a wall of pictures showing all his ancestors who’d lived in this house and also paintings and pictures of the property form over the past 4 centuries. (That still blows my mind…) All the while the property has been farmland so Lolo also has a big carved out garage where he has farm equipment, carriages, cars, and bicycles that cover all the stages of their existence.
After our tour, Lolo took us into a long room with a slanted stone roof that had a table set for 50. We all sat down next to the huge fireplace (that was big enough for multiple people to crawl inside if they were especially cold) and were treated to a long provencal meal prepared by Lolo and his friends. How nice of them, no? The table was set with modest dishes and plastic children’s cups, but also with never ending baskets of fresh bread and bottomless house rosee and red wines. (Which we drank out of our adorable cups! Haha) One of Lolo’s friends was a big ham and kept making funny jokes to pull attention towards himself. At one point he found a sign that said “Defender de Fumer” and posed for pictures while puffing clouds of cigarette smoke out of his mouth. One of the girls became his favorite and he kept coming up behind her and pulling bits of her hair our telling her stories. :)
At one point when he was putting a new bottle of wine down in front of me, I guess I said merci a little too animatedly and he then stopped everything, causing the room to go silent, and made a series of sounds and hand gestures that I’m pretty sure meant he thought I was a drunk… I didn’t really understand, nor was I drunk so I just looked confused and tried to play it off like he was crazy. I tried not show how embarrassed I felt for having all the attention put on me but who knows what was really going on anyway!
The meal was very traditional and took us about 3 hours since everything is served in courses. First we had some assorted pates. I did try them and I didn’t not like it, but its not something I’m dying to have again. After that they brought out what looked like ground beef steaks… wrong! It was an olive and egg omelet! Go figure! The olive is what gave it the grayish color and they had a very strong flavor too. (p.s. did you know that green and black olives aren’t different kinds of olives? They are from the same trees just picked at different times in their development! The green ones earlier and the black one once they’ve ripened!) We then had a vegetable ratatouille and some lamb with green beans. After dinner we went outside into the softening light and had a dessert of fresh tangerines while we walked around the olive grove.
What made this experience so very special is that Lolo is the last of his kind. He never married or had children, so once he dies the history of his family in this place will end. Lolo is a local celebrity in St. Remey and it is said that when he dies, the town will never be the same. Lolo has decided to leave the property to the town of St. Remey and it will likely become a tourist stop. I’m honored to have gotten to experience this while it is still the home of the man and while the spirit of his family is still alive there.
22/1/10
Today was a day for food. Allison had our first experience at the market and it went really well! Can I just say that French food is FANtastic? Every day we walk through the market and see every color of the rainbow, smell marrons gille (roasting chestnuts) and rotisserie chickens, see fresh sea food from Marseille and oh my god it is all soooooo goooooood! All the veggies and things are super cheap too, which makes me happy.
Oh! Oh! We got some cherry tomatoes and they are explosively delicious… I hate to say it, but they were 10 times better then any vine ripe tomato I’ve ever had in Oklahoma. Soooo wonderful. Tangy, Sweet, fresh, crunchy, soft, yuuuuuuuummmmm.
Moving on, we had our orientation scavenger hunt today too which was fun although exhausting. Aix isn’t that big, but we must have covered it on foot back and fort a couple times. Found a cute book store (that also carried groceries…?) and got some postcards on the cheap. Should be sending the first bunch out soon!
When we got back they had posted result from our placement exam! (Nervous nervous nervous, biting of fingernails…) I checked level 3’s list first and didn’t see my name :/ so I checked 2. Nothing, so I checked 1. Oh God… Nothing. Next, I checked 4 and there I was! I placed into level 4CC!!! Whoop whoooop! It’s kind of intimidating because all the people in there have been studying for a much longer time than I have but we’ll see how it goes! Yay!
Alright, there is more and this isn't up to date but i'll post when it's written!
Love everyone and hope you enjoy reading!
Bisous, ~B
The First Looooooong Day(s):
International travel is definitely not for the weak at heart. Especially when doing it alone.
My travels were long but thankfully uneventful and I made it to Aix safely picking up friends along the way! Some highlights:
-The flight attendant on my first flight had the best announcer voice I’ve ever heard! He sounded like a smooth jazz radio host mixed with a beat poet. Awesome.
-At one point my iPod played Tangerine Speedo and I made a mental note to tell Rachel that the French girls say Zut no no no, Zut no no no, No no! Bahaha ☺
-Flying into Chicago, the city was surrounded by clouds and looked like it was a floating in the air… but still surrounded by water. I know that doesn’t make sense but follow me here… The whole skyline was backlit and I followed the sun and the city’s silhouette/reflection across the water as we flew into town. WOW!
-While grabbing lunch in Chicago I broke open Claire’s binder. It felt like she was there with me “shootin’ the shit” and I felt much better about being on my lonesome. ☺ Thanks for doing that Claire!
-I watched Up! dubbed in French on the plane to Bruxelles and understood pretty well!
-We were welcomed into Europe with a BEAUTIFUL Technicolor sunrise…. That’s the only way I can think to describe it. I couldn’t believe the colors; the clouds must have decided to have 80’s night at the disco-tech. (I later discovered that dance clubs here prefer 80’s/90’s American music, so perhaps this is not far off!) They were electrically bright and fabulous fabulous. This must’ve been a last offering of color since I wasn’t going to be seeing any colorful clothing for a while…lol ☺ Europeans are VERY into dark colors right now.
***Interesting side note: In American fashion we have to choose one dark color to center our outfit around. For example, one should not wear a black pant with navy socks and brown shoes. Faux Pas! Here in France however, the current trend is to make outfits combining every one of the darker colors. Blue, black, gray, and sometimes navy are mixed and matched to cover the whole body it strange proportion. The very occasional white undershirt, patterned boot, or red lipstick are acceptable but otherwise, it’s all drab.
***Oh! I’ve forgotten an important exception! If you are older than the age of 40 it is also acceptable to have either orange (not red… orange) or purple hair. ☺ You may also wear leather pants and shop in the same stores as young women. There isn’t really an age gap in the fashions btw 20 and 50 year olds besides the hair color and expensive jewelry.
-Bruxelles was terrifying! I think I felt this way due to a mix of jetlag, hunger, sleepiness, and being tired of being alone. Everything was in Dutch, which is indeed “freeky deeky,” there is no such thing as personal space, I was lost, and there weren’t even any sprouts… I was starting to get really tired and lonely but then I found some friends from my program and we were all headed towards the same flight to Marseille. Yay!
I made a journal entry saying something to the effect of “I’m feeling a bit discouraged but I know that is the nerves talking… I’m reading for Adventure to come along and kick Loneliness in the butt.” It did!
-All my flights were smooth as could have been asked for, and even our crazy bus driver from Marseille to Aix provided some comic relief! He fought with the woman who picked us up over directions for the entire trip into Aix, which luckily wasn’t too far. But, being that he was very French and very animated, we had a good time listening in. Zut Alors!
-The apartment I’m staying in is adorable and we are situated just down the street from the daily market and another 5 minutes from school. Everything is very chic and very French and I love it! We have a big 10-foot long Cezanne poster hanging that adds a nice splash of color to the otherwise very modern look. We have a nice little seating area and breakfast nook. The kitchen is open and has a bar attached to the sitting room. It’s been newly renovated so everything is nice and we are probably more comfortable than any starving college student should expect to be. ☺ Out our window we can watch the people pass by as they shop and I have admittedly been creeping on the neighbors in the building across from us trying to figure out the stories of their lives. So far I’ve got nothing other that knowing the inhabitants of some of the windowsills. Like for instance, the porcelain chicken that lives up to the right; I’m often jealous of her because she gets to see the sun rise.
First Full Day in Aix, Get ready for a History Lesson:
(btw’s, Aix is pronounced “ex” like the letter.)
Today started out in a rush. Becaaaaaaause, true to form, my alarm didn’t go off so roommate and I (her name is Allison and we’re getting on very well already!) woke up about 20 minutes AFTER we were supposed to have been at our CEA orientation. Shucks. (Accompanied by diagonally sweeping snap of the fingers) We rushed around flinging things out of our still unpacked “valises” (suitcases) and arrived at the office flustered but in enough time to participate. Phew. (Wipe metaphorical sweat from forehead) As orientations go it was very pleasant and kept our attention, but there was SO much information that I’ll have to go back and do some studying.
(I saw on facebook that Venita had commented on my status asking if I’d slept through my alarm first day like I did on the Eastern Europe trip in high school… Yes Venita, I sure did! Haha ☺ Always late, but always there.)
For Mom: Iwanted to let you know that we were lectured on appropriate behavior for going out and especially safety for when walking home. Vivienne (our trusty on-site director) went on for a good ten minutes talking to the girls and then to address the men in the room said only two words about French girls, “Good Luck.” Bahaha! That tickled me. French women are masters of ignoring men and apparently do only one thing when addressed, they dramatically flip their hair and look the other direction.
After orientation we had some free time and a group of us went to the Cours Maribau, its the main drag here (comparable to the Champs Elysees in Paris, Lindsey in Norman, North College in FoCo...) only cooler because its in France and more epic! We learned on a walking tour this afternoon that it’s built on a “4 x 4 x 4” plan, meaning that the whole rue is mathematically laid out in patterns of 4. There are 4 rows of 44 plane trees each 10 feet apart, making the trees within 40 feet of each other. Its 4 times as long as it is wide and the height of buildings reflect the width of the street. There are 4 fountains in the center (creating traffic circles) each 110 feet away from the next making the length of Cours Maribau 440 feet. You get the picture… neat, huh!?!
There are tons of cafes, banks, and shops lining the Cours Maribau. (I don’t recommend going to any of them because they are twice as expensive and the service is ½ as good. Bad in fact.) Most of the larger ones are in buildings that previously housed aristocrats, then later bankers and lawyers, and even Cezanne himself grew up here! The Rotonde, the largest of the 4 fountains, is at the East end and is very beautiful… also very inaccessible for taking pictures. Unless you want to get swiftly run over or cause every nearby Aixois to hate you, I’d advise taking a picture from the sidewalk across the car traffic. The fountain has statues representing Justice, Commerce, Agriculture, and the Arts. There is also an assortment of animals and some angels riding disgruntled looking swans. ☺
We’d heard in orientation about a well-liked creperie in a tunnel near le Rotonde called Crepes a GoGo and decided to check it out for lunch. All the choices, savory and sweet, were reasonably priced between 3.5-4 Euro so I got one with “champingon, oefs, et fromage.” (Mushrooms, eggs, and cheese) It was interesting to watch because everything going into the crepes was fresh and cooked right in front of you, nous sommes en France! Interestingly, the eggs are cracked on top of the already grilling crepe and scrambled and cooked right there! That struck me as strange, but it all worked out! These women were MASTERS of crepe making… If one of Cezanne’s paintings of Mt. St. Victoire was edible and I ate it, that’s how beautiful these things were. They were also huge enough to take home for another meal. Always good.
At the other end of Cours Maribeau stands the good Roi Rene. He was apparently the last king of Provence back in the day when it was still a country of its own. He’s holding a bunch of muscat grapes, a type that he introduced to Provence to encourage wine making in the region. We learned on the tour that the red and yellow striped flag that hangs everywhere that represents Provence was originally Catalonian. King Rene’s family was from Catalonia and after his death the flag continued to represent the region he ruled over.
I remember reading before coming here that one mustn’t be embarrassed to use their bad French because it only makes you better and the very act of being bad is part of playing the role of the amusing foreigner. That has become a personal montra to help me overcome feeling bad for butchering the French language, “I’m the musing foreigner, it’s all part of the experience, allllll part of the experience!!!!” I accept that its part of the experience, but I think I met a state-side week’s worth of awkward in just this one day here! The very simplest of things here are difficult such as asking the time, saying excuse me (That one I picked up quickly), let alone ordering food or checking out at the grocery. Eek! We bought milk today. In a non-refrigerated section. Weird. More to come later on first milk tasting experience… I also bought a cell phone today. I really tried to speak to him in French and he graciously tried to speak so I could understand buuuut we had to resort to some creative Frenglish. He did know some English so thank god for that, but it was difficult and I felt small and ignorant. “Je suis desole pour mon francais. C’est mal, je le sais. Pardon!”
I can’t text internationally but I can receive calls, so if anyone feels like paying international long distance give me a call!!!! Haha, I have no expectations of this, but really…. xoxo
On the walking tour we took this afternoon we went into the Cathedral St. Saveur. It’s a mash up of different styles that range from 4th to 17th century. I walked from the 4th to the 17th century in ~5 minutes. Can you belieeeeeve that? Wow. I tried to take pictures but, like it says in Ysabel, the light is really bad. I saw the chapel with the original columns built over the Roman forums(Where the man emerges from a grate) and the excavated site that shows the Roman road running underneath the church. The various other chapels and naves are impressive but because it is so dim the huge Renaissance paintings were difficult to appreciate.
Vieux Aix is a filled with these old beautiful houses that belonged to Aristocrats and religious leaders. Apparently back in the day if something on your doorstep projected into the public area (i.e. the street) you were of great prominence. Something like the foot of a column, stoop-like steps, or having an ornately carved large wooden door. I’ve seen some really impressive doors here; I can hardly believe how old they are! One place we visited was another aristocratic home where, on one of his tours about the country, King Louis the XIV had stayed. The door had a carved border of what looked to me to be artichokes. For this reason I’ve deemed it le Maison d’Artichokes. Je suis tres tres amusante ☺ The walls inside were painted using the early17th century style of “Trompe d’oeil” meaning “trick of the eye.” The figures are painted so that they look 3D and come out of the wall at you. They’re pretty convincing too. There was one with a little boy peeking out from behind the curtain, but the more impressive one was of a statue in a recess with his arm in a position that stuck out in front of him. The only reason I assumed it was painted was because of the sheen of light reflecting off the paint’s surface. Very nice work!
When Louis entered this place he was so impressed by the artist’s work that he invited him to be a court painter and now his work also resides in Versailles. Nice break for the guy.
We also learned today how to distinguish 17th vs 18th century wrought iron work. Wrought iron was another 17th century symbol of wealth and was all the rage round these parts. The17th century stuff has bands of metal holding together the various parts. Not until later did they figure out the techniques for welding the iron together, so the later 18th century ones don’t have any bands. Cool. That’s one thing I’ll know how to do!
20/1/10
Dear Provencal Food,
Thanks for being so awesome. I know we’ve only known each other for a short time, but I appreciate how fresh and flavorful you are.
Bisous, ~B
Dear Streets of Aix,
Thanks for having so much foot traffic and giving me a good bit of daily exercise. It helps me not feel bad about loving your French food so much. ☺
Kiss Kiss, ~B
20/1/10
Took our placement exams today… eek! The written section was 24, coutem’ tweeeeeenty-fooooooour, pages long!!! Ouch. There were a few times when I had to convince myself to keep going but we shall see… I feel like it went pretty well but ya never know. Knock on wood! I need to place in at least level 3 for my credits to transfer.
21/1/10
Today we had our first outing together! Everyone in CEA has really come together and we’ve made quick friends :) Gotta love the ones you’re with! Anyhow, today we went to Les Baux de Provence. Apparently this is one of the most visited sites in Provence but since its a weekday and they called a Mistral, we had the place all to ourselves. I’d never heard of it but I’m glad Vivienne had! Les Baux is west of Aix in a region called les Alpilles, they are lower mountains with gorgeous rock formations and throughout their valleys grow groves of olives, vineyards, and all sorts of other produce. We learned today that sadly the classic Provencal Lavander doesn’t come into full bloom until June, sad day. Now wee are all pulling for an early Spring so we might get to see the purple blossoms covering the country side. Is it possible to sell one’s soul to the ground hog?
The Chateau/Fortress at Les Baux is settled into one of the rock formations at the top of one of the bigger hills. While driving up to it you keep looking and looking for something that looks like a house but when you finally see it, you realize that is PART of the rock formation! They call these ‘troglodyte’ constructions because parts of them are literally carved out of the rock and the mountain becomes the chateau. Of course there are additions with dressed stone and all, but it’s all been made to blend in with the rock and the overall affect is breathtaking! Today was also our first experience with the famed Mistral winds. It was a cool experience wondering around a 500-year-old castle with legendary wind whistling through the corridors and silencing everything but the whisper of the past. We climbed up one of the watchtowers, high above the chateau, and the aged steps were what surprised me most. They were the originals, never repaired or altered for tourist use, so each step sagged deep into visible footprints showing it’s use and reminding you of all the people and history this place has seen.
The second part of our excursion was nothing less than a privilege barely experienced by the grace of good timing. In the nearby town of St. Remey lives a lovely old man in his 80’s by the name of Lolo. His house is just up the road from the Maison des Fous (Insane Asylum) where Van Gogh admitted himself after chopping his ear off. What’s really special about Lolo and his house though is that it has been in his family for the past 400 years, the deeds of which hold the Sun Kings seal! WOW! It too a troglodyte home and is thus carved directly into the hillside. In front of Lolo’s house he has a young grove of olives and in the middle is a very tall cut stone stand/platform/spire.... There is no word to describe it, but after asking some questions we learned that the entire area where we stood (quiet, peaceful, filled with lovely smells and carefully tended trees) had been solid stone quarried out by slaves 5-600 years ago. The big stone in the center reflects the level of the original stone and was gradually carved around as the ground deepened. It served as a perch for the slave driver who watched over the laborers. Not exactly a glamorous purpose, but impressive nonetheless! Here also was my first experience with the special provencal lighting. It was mid afternoon and then way the sun hit every leaf and blade of grass seemed to make the colors pop and the edges soften. I can see the inspiration that helped Cezanne and VanGogh come to paint the world as they did.
Lolo gave us a tour of his home and it looked to be straight out of a storybook! Stone tables and troughs, iron fixings, hand-made everything, quaint decoration, and especially animated old men sitting round in their caps, smoking cigarettes, and of course talking quietly with loud hand gestures. Lolo had a wall of pictures showing all his ancestors who’d lived in this house and also paintings and pictures of the property form over the past 4 centuries. (That still blows my mind…) All the while the property has been farmland so Lolo also has a big carved out garage where he has farm equipment, carriages, cars, and bicycles that cover all the stages of their existence.
After our tour, Lolo took us into a long room with a slanted stone roof that had a table set for 50. We all sat down next to the huge fireplace (that was big enough for multiple people to crawl inside if they were especially cold) and were treated to a long provencal meal prepared by Lolo and his friends. How nice of them, no? The table was set with modest dishes and plastic children’s cups, but also with never ending baskets of fresh bread and bottomless house rosee and red wines. (Which we drank out of our adorable cups! Haha) One of Lolo’s friends was a big ham and kept making funny jokes to pull attention towards himself. At one point he found a sign that said “Defender de Fumer” and posed for pictures while puffing clouds of cigarette smoke out of his mouth. One of the girls became his favorite and he kept coming up behind her and pulling bits of her hair our telling her stories. :)
At one point when he was putting a new bottle of wine down in front of me, I guess I said merci a little too animatedly and he then stopped everything, causing the room to go silent, and made a series of sounds and hand gestures that I’m pretty sure meant he thought I was a drunk… I didn’t really understand, nor was I drunk so I just looked confused and tried to play it off like he was crazy. I tried not show how embarrassed I felt for having all the attention put on me but who knows what was really going on anyway!
The meal was very traditional and took us about 3 hours since everything is served in courses. First we had some assorted pates. I did try them and I didn’t not like it, but its not something I’m dying to have again. After that they brought out what looked like ground beef steaks… wrong! It was an olive and egg omelet! Go figure! The olive is what gave it the grayish color and they had a very strong flavor too. (p.s. did you know that green and black olives aren’t different kinds of olives? They are from the same trees just picked at different times in their development! The green ones earlier and the black one once they’ve ripened!) We then had a vegetable ratatouille and some lamb with green beans. After dinner we went outside into the softening light and had a dessert of fresh tangerines while we walked around the olive grove.
What made this experience so very special is that Lolo is the last of his kind. He never married or had children, so once he dies the history of his family in this place will end. Lolo is a local celebrity in St. Remey and it is said that when he dies, the town will never be the same. Lolo has decided to leave the property to the town of St. Remey and it will likely become a tourist stop. I’m honored to have gotten to experience this while it is still the home of the man and while the spirit of his family is still alive there.
22/1/10
Today was a day for food. Allison had our first experience at the market and it went really well! Can I just say that French food is FANtastic? Every day we walk through the market and see every color of the rainbow, smell marrons gille (roasting chestnuts) and rotisserie chickens, see fresh sea food from Marseille and oh my god it is all soooooo goooooood! All the veggies and things are super cheap too, which makes me happy.
Oh! Oh! We got some cherry tomatoes and they are explosively delicious… I hate to say it, but they were 10 times better then any vine ripe tomato I’ve ever had in Oklahoma. Soooo wonderful. Tangy, Sweet, fresh, crunchy, soft, yuuuuuuuummmmm.
Moving on, we had our orientation scavenger hunt today too which was fun although exhausting. Aix isn’t that big, but we must have covered it on foot back and fort a couple times. Found a cute book store (that also carried groceries…?) and got some postcards on the cheap. Should be sending the first bunch out soon!
When we got back they had posted result from our placement exam! (Nervous nervous nervous, biting of fingernails…) I checked level 3’s list first and didn’t see my name :/ so I checked 2. Nothing, so I checked 1. Oh God… Nothing. Next, I checked 4 and there I was! I placed into level 4CC!!! Whoop whoooop! It’s kind of intimidating because all the people in there have been studying for a much longer time than I have but we’ll see how it goes! Yay!
Alright, there is more and this isn't up to date but i'll post when it's written!
Love everyone and hope you enjoy reading!
Bisous, ~B
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