overdue updates

Bon soir, tout le monde - 

Its very late here but I wanted to blog a quick update! Classes have been wonderful all week. 

On Saturday I went back to Marseille with my friends Becca, Allison, Olivia, and Brittany. We went shopping on the rue Saint-Ferréol, discovering the Galeries Lafayette, Mango, and H&M. We found a small shop that serves crèpes and chose our favorite version - nutella banane! We strolled down to the Vieux Port and tried to visit Chateau d'If and the Frioule Islands but it was too windy for the boats to make the passage so trips were cancelled. 

Below is a photo of my friends and I at Dino e Lucca on the rue de Jeune Anacharsis. 

Below is the five of us at a restaurant. Olivia and Becca, on the left, live together in a homestay. Allison and Brittany, on the right, live in an apartment together, and I spend a lot of time there with them. This week they cooked dinner for 8 CEA students and we had a "king cake" from our favorite bakery, le Boulangerie Paul. Whoever picks the piece of cake with the tiny king baked inside is king for the night and has to bring the king cake for the next dinner.

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DJ, my roommate Katie's boyfriend, has become close friends with two French boys, Franck and Antonin. The girls and I went out with them twice last week. The great thing about our time together is that Franck and Antonin speak next to no English, so conversations between us are extended games of charades that require pooling our vocabularies to communicate. It's hilarious and very educational. This weekend, Katie and Lauren went on a trip with their program (IAU) to the Riviera. On Sunday, Allison and I went on a roadtrip with the three boys to Cannes to meet up with them for the day The drive from Aix to Cannes is an hour and a half - Allison and I were very surprised that the French boys wanted to listen to American music in the car! Below is a photo of, from left to right, Allison, ranck, Harmony, Antonin, me, DJ, and Katie. 

We ate lunch at a restaurant in Cannes  as my roommates and some other girls from their program told us stories about Nice and the casino in Monaco they checked out the night before. They said the beaches in Nice are all smooth rocks, not sand! After lunch, we went onto the beach with a bottle of red wine. It was warm enough for me to take off my jacket and scarf for half an hour and walk along the beach in just my dress, tights and boots!! Below is a picture of Allison and I, and another of my roommates and I. The Mediterranean is very calm, but apparently that's not unusual!

Allison is becoming one of my best friends on the program so far; we get along really well and she's up for anything. She is from Atlanta but attends school in Tuscaloosa (Roll Tide!). She's 20 and in all of my classes as well. She wants to be a French teacher. 

The riviera was beautiful, and I hope to go back again for a full weekend when its a bit warmer. Tonight I went to Allison and Brittany's apartment with our friend Jenny to plan a trip to Italy over Winter Break in mid-February. So much to look forward to!