Dylan in Vail

This entire week has been a whirlwind, and this past weekend was no exception. On Thursday night, I had drinks and dessert crêpes at le Patacrêpe, which is the French IHOP in my opinion. I was with several CEA students: Jenny and Caitlin, who live in an apartment above the Place Augustine, and Adam, Caitlin's fiancé. Caitlin and Adam both attend Pitt, like me! They are both 20 and their wedding is July 31st. Also getting married is Jennifer, who is 20 years old but turning 21 before her wedding on June 26th. Both couples have been dating for 5 years. They all seem so young to be getting their own health insurance and living together, but most of all, planning their weddings from overseas! Its all so much, but they know what they want, they are in love, and so of course I wish them the best.

On Friday, there was a CEA scavenger hunt all over town. It was fun and took several hours. My partners were Clifton, Kevin, and Becca. This is a photo of New Aix with Mont Saint Victoire in the background, taken from the top of the Grand Théâtre de Provence. 

I found out after the scavenger hunt that I tested into niveau 5, which is the highest French language skill level - only three other students are in it. The classes have more freedom because they have no mandatory grammar class - these are basically classes a French university student would take. I was proud of myself for testing so well, however I did not pre-approve any of the classes in niveau 5 with my advisor at Pitt and the classes do not interest me as much as those in niveau 4. I will definitely drop down to level 4D, which offers more of the classes I want. For the first week there are no rigid class schedules. Instead, all students get a list of all classes offered and try to go to as many as possible. At the end of week 1, the teachers discuss whether or not they think we should change grammar levels. After 2 or 3 weeks of sampling classes we choose what classes we want to stay in.
__________________________________________


On Saturday I visited Marseille with Michelle and Kelly, two sisters from Minnesota who go to University of Wisconsin. Michelle, on the left, is a year student who has lots of useful advice. Kelly is younger, and just came to Aix for the spring semester. They both expect to travel a lot and Michelle wants to join the Peace Corps a year after our program ends. The arch behind us is the location where the bus from Aix drops you off - the archway is called the Porte d'Aix, or Porte Royale. It is a short distance from the main railway station, the Gare de Marseille Saint Charles. 

We walked down the Cours Belsunce to the boulevard Le Canebiere and over to the sunny Vieux Port to see the fresh fish market. Don't freak out, but all the eels and the octupus (on the left) in the picture below are ALIVE! Although most of the fish at the market were dead, some vendors chose to put just enough water in the bottom of the display trays to keep their catch alive, and when a customer chose one they killed it. Now that's fresh! The man who owned this stand lifted up the octopus to show the crowd that it was indeed living still, and some of the eels were moving around.

After that we went shopping for postcards, olive oil soap, and lunch. We sampled some cookies (biscuits) at La Cure Gormande and then we boarded a tourist tram up to the church of Notre Dame de la Guarde, which I believe is the highest point in the city. While we were waiting for the tram to depart, Michelle made the mistake of taking a photo of a mime who then began miming in no uncertain body language that he wanted a tip. When she didn't give him one, he spat at her! So French. The lesson to be learned here is that one should never photograph street performers without leaving a tip. 

I don't know how our tiny tram managed the steep incline up the hill to the church, but we somehow we arrived at the top. The view was amazing. The sun was out and the weather was cool; we couldn't have chosen a better day. Marseille is the second largest city in population in France, and is larger than Paris in size.

Below is a picture of the inside of Notre dame de la Guarde. It was colorful and ornate. There were miniature ships hanging from the ceiling and life preservers on the walls - a nod to the importance of shipping, which is the livelihood of the Marseillais. 

After the church we headed back to Aix. The bus to and from Marseille only takes 20 minutes and leaves from la Gare Routiere in Aix, only three blocks from my house! Yay, convenience. You can bet I'll be in Marseille whenever I have a free day on the weekends.