Carnaval in Aix-en-Provence

Every April the city of Aix-en-Provence celebrates an elaborately planned carnival. The theme changes each year. Children in Halloween costumes (princesses are popular) line the street on the grand boulevard in the center of town to watch the parade. They spray silly string at the floats, bands, and people on stilts. In return, the crowd is showered with cannon-fulls of confetti.

Aix-en-Provence, or just Aix (pronounced "Ex") was my home for more than four months when I studied abroad with CEA in the spring of 2010. That year, I think the theme may have had something to do with comic books, or Pablo Picasso. You wouldn't be able to tell looking at the crazy floats. Jelly fish? Pigs with solar panels for wings? Giraffes and dancing skeletons? I never had a chance to post photos of this community event back in the day, but take a look now. Embrace the bewilderment.

Le Carnaval

April 25, 2010

 Vainess, Jenny, Brittany and me on the Cours Mirabeau

 I love that the nose was pierced...

From outrageous to truly bizarre... 

 Confetti blast residue

 We climbed into the Fontaine de la Rotunde to play in the water

The CEA kick line

Buying balloons and gelato

For fun pictures of this year's Carnaval click over to You Had Me At Bonjour.

Day Trip: Hiking Mont St. Victoire

Yes, I did it. I climbed Mont St. Victoire. The 18 km long, 5 km high mountain painted dozens of times by Paul Cézanne. And it was no easy task. I caught the bus near the Rotonde fountain in the center of Aix to the base of the mountain. My Norwegian friend Katja and I chose a moderate path, but we wasted no time losing our way and improvising a new trail! It took two hours non-stop to hike to the top, and an hour and a half to get back down. Here's some photos of my adventure:

Katja and I wishing we could jump in the water. Unfortunately it is solely for drinking :(

Choosing our path: we chose a mid-level one but got lost and ended up climbing the side of part of the mountain. Eventually we found a path but it was the difficult one; we were forced to take it to the top.  

When we finally got to the top, it was exhilarating, but my legs were starting to feel a bit tired. Katja told me not to worry, we use an entirely different set of muscles getting down the mountain. I wasn't exactly relieved to hear that. 

The blue lake in the back left corner of this picture is where we started from. The scenery made me feel like I was in the Lord of the Rings! I'm so proud of myself for agreeing to this hiking trip and completing the trail. Here's hoping that I won't be sore tomorrow! xo

a new [french] lifestyle

Bon Jour!

Tomorrow I leave for my ten day adventure in Italy with my girl friends, so I wanted to submit a quick update before I leave. It was freezing in Aix today, even though we're the only spot on the map in France without snow! It flurried today, but that's it. In the picture below, the fountain behind Allison and I is frozen! The water comes directly from warm natural springs, so sometimes when its cold, you can see hot fog rising off the water, but today it was actually frozen!

Below is Brittany, Allison, me and Becca escaping the cold and doing some homework at our favorite English cafe called Book and Bar. We're enjoying a cafe allongee (espresso with hot water) and un pain au chocolat, or pain choco for short. 

The other night, I went to my first "boite de nuit," or night club, for some dancing with my friends Kim, Ariana, and Maddie (below). Maddie (Boston), Kim (New York), Matt (New Hampshire) and and I are the only CEA semester students from the "northeastern" U.S., placing me in a minority I've never experienced. The majority of the students are from Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas, Alabama, California, and Colorado. 

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!

Cultural Adjustment: France

When you make mistakes, they are called les betises. Mistakes happen to everyone, especially in a new place and a new culture. Our on site coordinators from CEA are wonderful about preparing us to handle these situations. Here are several tips I learned today. First of all, it is a well known fact that the French take food and dining very seriously. We got a 30 minute lecture on etiquette for eating out or dining in, and on food. It was all "this is French" or "that is not done here." If you don't eat everything you are served and then wipe your plate clean with the bread provided, it is considered very rude. Putting your hands in your lap at the table is also rude because it is considered sneaky - hands are to be kept on the table. Salad is eaten after the main course, not before. 


My house mother is very frugal: We must turn out the light every time we leave a room, take 5 minute showers, and finish all food prepared to minimize garbage. Madame does not drink wine with her meals, which is not very French. But at the Happy Hour yesterday I did have a sip of pastis, which is the drink of Provence. I think it tastes like black licorice, therefore I don't like it. Another common drink is un kir, which is white wine with black currant liqueur (crème de cassis). If you replace the vin blanc with champagne, it becomes un kir royale. Maybe I'll have better luck there. 


I also learned that it makes one very identifiably American to speak loudly or smile at boys on the street. French girls only flip their hair and frown. I've been practicing this social restriction, but in America everyone smiles and even says hi to strangers! In France, "it is not done." Lots to adjust to.

La Ville d'Aix

Aujourd'hui je suis allée en ville; voilà une petite visite de la ville d'Aix:

This is the largest of the many rotondes. It is at the end of the Cours Mirabeau. The water in the fountains of Aix is perfectly drinkable; in fact, bikers sometimes stop beside them to refill their water bottles! Only if there is a sign that reads Eau Non Potable is the water not drinkable. My favorite fountains are those in the center of the Cours Mirabeau; they spout warm water and moss grows on the statues. Their source is the thermal springs. During the second World War les francaises did their laundry in them. 

View of the Cours Mirabeau, which is considered the second most beautiful promenade in France (the first being, bien sur, les Champs Elysees). It will look better when the trees bloom green and cast shade. In the spring, you will notice that on the right, in the shade, are all the banks, while on the left are cafes and restaurants in the sun.

Crepes a GoGo, where I ordered "le Fermière" cet après-midi, which was champignons, fromage, et oeufs (mushrooms, eggs, and cheese). I barely finished half because although the mushrooms were delicious, there was too much cheese. This creperie is actually located in a pedestrian tunnel that runs under the street. 

Les rues sont tout petits ici, barely large enough for a small European car. It's bizarre. If you look in the middle of the street you will see it is indented inwards. The immediately obvious reason for this is to channel rainwater into the drain. But everyone avoids walking in them because les chiens, dogs, are allowed to poop in them (51% of the French have pets) and it gets washed away. Gross. If you look at the building on the right, you will see a very typical color scheme for homes in the old city. Nearly all the walls are a yellow or peach shade, and the shutters, or volets, are blue.

Voila le Cathedral Saint-Sauveur. It is directly across from my University. (Interestingly, out of the 140,000 Aixois, 40,000 are students! I'm in good company.) It was built in the 5th century by the Romans, added onto in the 12th century, and again in the 17th/18th century. It has Roman, Baroque, and Gothic architecture. When the Romans built cities, they always had a main North-South oriented road and a main East-West one as well. This church is built on top of the East-West one at the center of Old Aix. 

The Hotel de Ville. People get married in this square every half hour in the summer. The three flags are, from gauche à droit, the flag of the European Union, the French flag (tricolor), and the flag of Provence. The colors of the last, you probably noticed, are similar to the Spanish flag. That's because the last king of Provence, Roi René, was also the Count of Barcelona. When René died in the 1400s, the rule of Provence passed to his nephew. This nephew died shortly after René, and Provence became part of France. 
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After Madame went out tonight, Juliette and I sat in the kitchen drinking coffee and talking. We switched back and forth between French and English. I learned a lot about her. She has two younger sisters who live in Nice with their father and step-mother. She has a sister who is about my age and is in her third year of medical school. She also has a sister who is 1 year old! And her dad is 60! He married a French woman who is 35 and she wanted a baby, alors... Juliette is bilingual in French and Spanish because her mother's family is Spanish. She is in French business graduate school, or Grand Ecole, studying management. After February, she will be working in a hotel in Monaco to learn hotel management. 


Cultural differences: When I mentioned that my younger sister is in a sorority, Juliette was shocked. I had to describe hazing so she could understand why a negative sorority stereotype exists - and to explain that my sisters sorority is nothing at all like that! She told me they do hazing in France too... But they don't have sororities, so I asked her where this happens, confused. She said they have "Integration Days" when you first come to les Grandes Ecoles, and many people are made to participate in silly or humiliating things, or drink a lot, to fit in. You can choose not to, as Juliette did, but it is not uncommon! Funny similarity :) Another awkward fact: I told you that the French sometimes use a slang called verlan, and today someone said to me jokingly, quoi de neuf, meuf? Meuf sounds like muff, so I was horrified. When I asked why meuf is a slang word for girl, Juliette told me that it is verlan for femme, meaning woman! It means what's up, or what's new, girl? In verlan, the first and second half of the word are switched, hence: les keufs are police ("f***" inside out - guess they don't aimer les policiers!) and pera for rap, or renoi for noire, or a black person. Strange! Anyways, it's 10:45 here so I have to call it a night. Gros bisou (big kiss).

Arrivée

Bon soir

I am safely in France! I have had a very long day but the French student also living here, Juliette from Nice, just got in and showed me how to connect to the internet. It's already 10pm here if you can believe it. I met my homestay mother this afternoon - she is very nice and says I have a good accent. I had to take a short nap and shower once I arrived so I missed seeing Aix during the day, but sunset was beautiful. Madame Raymonde drove me to a cafe across the street from the Cathedral Saint-Sauveur where I met many CEA students - I've made lots of friends already. Tomorrow is orientation and a walking tour of Aix, so I expect I'll get to know the other American students very quickly. I haven't taken too many photos yet, but here are several of Mme Raymonde's apartment:  

The kitchen where I share dinner with Madame. Tonight she made un potage, or hearty soup, for dinner, as she says she often does when it's cold out. I don't think its cold - it's about 50 degrees, but we are en Provence. Madame always plays classical music, and tonight she is attending un concert de la musique classique. There is a garbage chute on the far side of the sink, so we never take out trash.  In the mornings, coffee is made by boiling water and adding instant coffee powder to your cup. We have coffee, cereal, and baguette with Bonne Maman apricot preserves for breakfast.

The lonely toilette! All alone in it's little room. The sink and shower are in a separate room down the hall. I talked to a few of the other girls in homestays and apparently I'm lucky to have a shower curtain.

This is the view from our living/dining room. The second picture is a close up over the roof on the left, where I can see Mont Saint-Victoire on a clear day. There is a T.V. here where I watched the popular French soap opera Plus Belle La Vie - the actors talk very fast and the storyline is so convoluted that it's difficult to follow what's going on.

Now that you can picture me at home in Aix, I must go to bed. The quicker I can overcome the jet lag, the better. Bonne nuit!