A few of my favorite things

I think today was my favorite so far. My memory of the lavender smell is still so strong that I'm tempted to start there, but chronological order must prevail. Today was the second and last IAU-sponsored excursion, this time into the Southern Alps. The Sound of Music was stuck in my head all day, yes, but after reflecting on the lyrics tonight it was distinctly appropriate:

My heart wants to beat like the wings of the birds
that rise from the lake to the trees
My heart wants to sigh like a chime that flies
from a church on a breeze

First, the church on a breeze. We started at a little village called Vinon-sur-Verdon, where I got a coffee and pain au chocolat, and that was about as exciting as it got. Then we continued to Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, a village perché like those we visited in Luberon last week. Moustiers has two main attractions: its pottery, or faïence, and the Star of Bethlehem. According to le Wikipédia the current star is only 50 years old because the first one fell, whoops, but the original one was brought back by a Moustiers crusader to the Holy Land. It hangs over the city, but it's really very high up so you can't see it in any of my pictures. However, we hiked up the mountain to see the chapel and the view from below, which was incredible.

The chapel

Looking down on Moustiers

The walk was paved with very smooth cobblestones, which meant that those of us with very little traction on our shoes had a rough time. It was definitely worth it, though. Just in these two weeks I've had so many vues d'en haut, panoramic views from up on a mountain, but they are different every time. Today I was struck by the red roofs of the town and the rich green of the pine forests. In the distance we could see the lake... but I'll get to that.

All the shops closed around one p.m., I guess for a lunch break. It was sad, because I really wanted to investigate the faïence more closely. After we'd eaten, Cara and I raced around to find a place that was still open, but to no avail. So I got cherry ice cream instead. It was so good!

Some faïence

As we were leaving Moustiers, I wished for more time to explore the market and the pottery. However, I quickly forgot all about it when we arrived at the Lac de Sainte-Croix. We were delighted that the gorgeous turquoise water we'd seen from the top of Moustiers was the subsequent destination. It is a huge man-made lake in the Gorges du Verdon, an immense canyon through which the Verdon River runs. It reminded me of Goshen Pass and my beloved Maury River, but on a completely different scale. It was not even real.

Gorges du Verdon--looking down from the bridge

Our bus stopped on the bridge so we could take pictures, but of course everyone just wanted to get in the clear water. Today Kim, talking about her trip to the Dominican Republic, described the water there as "delicious"; that's exactly what this lake was like. We could rent paddleboats for 12 euros, so Cara, Kyle, Kim and I got one and went exploring!

There were these big cliffs that you could jump off, which Cara and Kyle got really into. I stayed with the boat, but once Kim had had her fill of jumping she guarded the boat and I swam for a little. It was so refreshing I can't even describe just look at the color oh my goodness water.

We explored pretty far down the river in our paddleboat, and were well rewarded for our efforts. 

Look, we found a waterfall! We didn't go chasing it, but it was really exciting. It was also pretty cold; I think the water come from high up in the mountains. (I would ace Geography 101. It's true.)

Our boat rental was only for an hour, so we spent the rest of the time swimming with the larger group and marvelling at how absolutely breath-takingly unrealistically incredibly beautiful this place is. The clear, turquoise water... the blue sky... the green garrigue... the gray rocks... Once again I must refer you to a picture instead of rambling incoherently.

Imagine the wings of the birds that rise from the lake to the trees

We were all sad to leave Lac de Sainte-Croix. The next and last stop was also rewarding, though: lavender country! We stopped at a particularly stunning field on the side of the road to take pictures. The scent was overwhelming, and the color is striking. It seems so funny to me that you can grow purple. (I would like to grow pink please.) It was also interesting how neat the rows of plants were. I hadn't expected that.

This stop was not much more than a photo shoot, complete with Photographer Kyle (who do you think is taking pictures of all these groups of girls, anyway?) trying to get Cara, Janette and me to gaze into the distance meaningfully. It would have been really pretty, except that I couldn't stop from smiling, which then made Kyle (and therefore everyone) laugh. Keeping a straight face is hard! However, Janette and I frolicked, which was pretty challenging with the rocks but a lot of fun. In keeping with the Sound of Music theme, I guess we tripped and fell over stones on our way. It was amazing to be completely surrounded by lavender. This is one of the main symbols of Provence, and with good reason. Lavender scent is calming, and it is strikingly pretty--two key characteristics of this part of the world.

I love being here so much.

Some French vocabulary

Even though I'm totally a local by now, getting used to a new city can be hard sometimes. There are certain things you have to keep in your tête at all times to avoid having people tell you the cost of your lunch in English, you know? So instead of a real post, here are some daily things I encounter and think about (choses quotidiennes).

amis/amies – friends! I have friends! And they’re awesome. I like them and they seem to like me so yay friends!!!

baguette – It’s everywhere. My host family has at least one full baguette out on the table at every meal, and then there’s this neat magic trick where the bread is almost all gone by the end. You think you’ve eaten enough, and you think you’re full, but then the cheese comes out and you need something to eat it with and the baguette is right there and let me tell you it is a lost cause.

cigale – cicada. They’re the symbol of Provence. Le chant des cigales is a sign of summer in Provence, because they rub their wings together to cool off in the heat. I always thought it was a mating ritual, like lightning bugs, but I guess not.

devoirs – homework. It’s real. Archaeology class, I'm looking at you.

fumer – to smoke. Everyone does it here! It was especially bad at the fête de la musique, since it was so crowded. So smelly...

glace – ice cream. Yum! The ice cream here is more like what we would consider gelato: more concentrated, and in a lot of specialty flavors. No Superman or birthday cake here, but they have every kind of fruit imaginable.

Katreen – me! This is how my host mom spells my name when she texts me and I think it’s cute.

marcher – to walk. According to Google Maps, I live a solid 1.2 miles from school. (For comparison, from my apartment in Lex to the quad is about half a mile. And THAT seems like it takes forever!)  It is literally uphill both ways, although the way back home has a bigger hill. On Sunday, I looked up a new way to go that seemed more direct, and was supposed to be four minutes shorter. It took me right up the side of a mountain. Not faster. I didn’t get lost, though, and walking over two miles a day has to be healthy. Right?

Gratuitous picture of Cassis to make this post prettier

pompiers – firefighters. They’re also everywhere, which is a little concerning. I think there are a lot of fires this time of year because it’s so dry and the wind is so strong. The siren is a lot different: it just goes up down, up down, but it changes based on where you are. When it comes toward you, it is in a completely different key than when it goes past you and is behind you. I tried to look it up online but I mostly found videos of fire trucks, which is cool? Swarsco would be able to explain this phenomenon, but I cannot.

portable – cell phone. Using a cell phone overseas is necessary but confusing. I converted my regular phone to international, even though I hope to never need to use it, and bought a simple pay-as-you-go phone here. I ran out of money on Saturday night and had to add more, which entailed going to several tabacs (like convenience stores) until I found one which sold my network, and buying a 10-euro calling card, and navigating a phone menu all by myself which was all in French. You could not press 2 for English. Oh you could not. But I did it! That’s something right?

sourire – to smile. Don’t do it. Apparently when you smile at someone it is an invitation to be more than friends. France and the W&L speaking tradition do not get along, and it’s really hard to break the habit of being nice to random strangers. Well, you’re still supposed to say Bonjour when you go into a store, even if it’s only to check out the prices and the only employee is talking to other people. It’s complicated.

toilettes – toilets. Not the same as a bathroom, salle de bains, where you would find your bathtub and weird shower thing. It’s not a particularly obscure fact, but in France they hide their toilets in little closets. In fact, that’s what they’re called: water closets, or W.C. for short.

voitures – cars. They will run you down. In America, there’s a clear separation between street and sidewalk; in Aix, il n’y en a pas. There isn’t even always a logic behind which way to go in which lane, or how the little green cross-the-street symbol works. At least, I haven’t figured it out yet. Usually when I’m going to cross the street I just wait until someone who looks French starts walking first. And I’m no safer on the sidewalks. The difference between the troittoir and the rue is nonexistent; on my walk to school, cars park right on the sidewalk, forcing me to go into the street and into danger. If I don’t return from this trip, it’s because I got run over by a car. (And motorcycles and Vespas are even worse!)

La Ciotat and Cassis

What a long weekend! Even though Sunday was relatively chill, I still could definitely use another day's worth of naptime. Saturday was so busy and wonderful. There's this program that plans excursions for students in Aix-en-Provence to go to various places around the region on the weekends, and a bunch of IAU people went on yesterday's trip to La Ciotat and Cassis. I hadn't been planning to go, since it was 25 euros, but I am now very glad that Cara and my host mom talked me into it. It was just breathtakingly beautiful. Le Luberon was charming and cultural and pretty, while the landscape around Cassis was stunning. (Pronunciation alert: you do say the "s" at the end of Cassis. It confused me a little, too.)

The port of La Ciotat

We started in La Ciotat, a port town where the Lumière brothers made the first movies of all time. We saw the oldest movie theater, the Eden, and walked around the streets. The town was a lot like Aix, with the winding streets and little shops, except for the port with all the sailboats. We bought lunch there and then took it on a picnic to Parc Mugel. (Janette and I had these incredible tuna sandwiches with tomatoes and hard-boiled eggs on baguette!) The park was really cool: we climbed up into the mountains and there were two incredible photo-op spots, where you could see the water and the cliffs (calanques). Since we were so high up, the view was incredible.

Parc Mugel... or maybe Hawaii?

The girls at the higher part of Parc Mugel: Margarita, me, Janette, Cara and Mel

We also went to the beach at Parc Mugel, but the water was freezing and we didn’t have a whole lot of time, so we just sat on the pebbles and tried to skip rocks. I got three skips, but nobody was looking when it happened. So sad.

Chemin des Crêtes, a near-death experience

On our way to Cassis, the bus took us up through the Chemin des Crêtes (I looked it up; it just means “Path of the Ridges,” as in mountain ridges, and it’s a name that can be used for multiple places). But it was crazy. First of all, our bus was just careening around these tight turns on the one-lane, two-way road with a wooden guard rail only at certain points, and we could see straight down into a kind of basin that was full of rocks and short-growing trees, all of which could, if provoked and teamed up with gravity, conspire to kill us. Oh what a thrill. But, like I’ve written before, the coexistence of mountains and beaches is stunning. I think some of these were the famous calanques, which are a kind of Mediterranean fjord. We went for a bit of a hike up there and took so many pictures! It took me forever, once I got home, to go through and figure out which ones to upload to Facebook. (What a dilemma, I know.) The hike was extra-exciting because it was the first time I really experienced the mistral, the northern wind that comes down the Rhône valley and is responsible for the dry weather in Provence. It is strong! In some pictures, my hair is blowing all over the place. But I’m not Elizabeth, so you won’t see any blog posts dedicated to my hair anytime soon. Anyway, the view was AMAZING. My descriptions won’t do it justice.

Kyle, Cara and me

Cassis and the beach are below

Then we were in Cassis, which is more beach-y than La Ciotat. There was a château up on the cliffs, but we stayed down at the beach. It was also FREEZING, so after getting about halfway in I decided to turn back and read my book, but everyone else stayed in for a while (I was proud of them). It was very relaxing; I even fell asleep at one point. When it was close to time to head back, we grabbed some ice cream before meeting the rest of the group.

The girls on the beach

We were all exhausted after such a busy day, but it was Clara’s birthday (she had gone to Marseille for the day with other awesome people), so we did go out that night. It was suprisingly cold, thanks to the mistral; I tried on three different outfits before I was warm enough to walk downtown. We had a huge group, and it was really great to get to know everyone better. Kyle kept making me go with him to meet random people at the bar, which was actually really fun. My tipsy French is very impressive, and I had a great conversation with some students from Madrid who were with the Erasmus program. (Commence bonding over L’Auberge Espagnole, which is about an Erasmus student in Barcelona and is coincidentally exactly what I imagine Cat’s semester there to have been like.) Kyle and I also got mistaken for Swedish students, which was probably the highlight of our lives. It was also cool how excited people got when I told them I live near New York.

By the fountain at the Place d'Hôtel de Ville: Kim, Cara, Janetta, Eliza, Clara (birthday girl!), Brooke, me and Mel.

Overall, it was a great first weekend in France. Sunday I slept in (hello, staying out until almost 3 am!) and got lunch in town with Cara, Kyle, Kevin, Liz and Mia. The boys, Liz and I then wandered around a little and ended up at the Parc Jourdain, where we saw people juggling and playing pétanque (Bocci ball) and sitting on the grass, smoking—basically, we saw people being really stereotypically French. Glorious. And then I came home for some down time, dinner, and a nice chat with my Daddy for Father’s day (fête des pères).