Aix-en-Provence is absolutely beautiful and wonderful, even though it still doesn't feel real that I'm here. The rest of my time in Brussels was fine: I got to use my French to procure these delicacies.
It's okay to be jealous. I also got yogurt and a croissant, which was awesome because the yogurt came in a little glass jar and it was so cute! My camera was in the bottom of my carry-on, so I didn't take a picture, but I'm sure you can imagine. Adorable. And I read a lot of Pride & Prejudice (I need some English, okay?) before my flight to Marseille, which I remember primarily as a two-hour nap.
I woke up as we were circling over Marseille to land, and got my first look at the Mediterranean! I was caught up in how beautiful it was and how the color of the water changed closer to the horizon when the plane turned and I saw the Alps and literally my heart jumped. Even though the administrative region is called Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, living in America and going to visit someone in Florida made me think that the beach and the mountains are mutually exclusive. They are not. I hadn't realized I was going to have so many mountains, and they're so beautiful. There are all these little tan-colored houses with red roofs hiding up and down the mountainside. The effect is much rockier than the Blue Ridge Mountains, and the greens have more yellow and olive in them. I'll take pictures tomorrow.
Two people from IAU met me at the airport and called my host mother, Martine, to pick me up. While I was waiting I got to know Marguerite, who is a 'non-traditional' student in the program. She's in my archaeology class and very friendly. I also learned that my anticipated housemate cancelled for undisclosed reasons, so it is just me here. But that's okay. Martine is a little older than my parents, and has twin twenty year-olds, a boy and a girl. She also has a twenty-seven year-old daughter who lives in Paris. Her son lives at home, so I met him and his girlfriend and they're very nice, and the younger daughter is in an internship but is usually around on the weekends.
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| My room--view from the door |
Martine took me to a barbecue (that's even what she called it) at a friend's house, to which I agreed because I was more hungry than nervous. It ended up being really great though: there were maybe twelve people (and as many bottles of vin; I had some very nice rosé). They were grilling merguez, a kind of Arabic sausage; I also had a couscous salad, a kind of ratatouille-esque casserole with lots of tomates, and a lot of baguette. I counted three baguettes, nine wine bottles and ten packs of cigarettes on the table at one point. (I hate smoking, but we were outside and only a couple of people were smoking at a given time so it was okay.) Most importantly, everyone was really friendly. They asked me where I was from, they tried to talk to me in English (which was funny) and they kept trying to give me more food. At one point a salsa song came on and two of the couples got up to dance, while everyone else watched, which was nice and seemed very European to me. After ice cream for dessert, I was really too tired so Martine took me home and showed me around her house.
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| View from the bed (door is to the left) |
I unpacked, Skyped with Andrew and took another two-hour nap, when Martine woke me up for dinner. We had bruschetta, salad and more merguez. Dessert was fresh apricots from her garden--yum! After dinner, we watched the Sex and the City movie with French dubbing (so cross-cultural) and I facebook chatted with my mom.
My biggest challenge so far might be the shower. I even took a picture:
I know that this kind of setup is common in France, but I’m not entirely sure how I’m supposed to wash my hair with one hand while the other holds the faucet over my head, without soaking the entire bathroom since there are no curtains, and while staying warm because I am just sitting in an empty bathtub. I got clean, but I don’t know how I managed it.
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