London in the rain

They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace
Christopher Robin went down with Alice
Alice is marrying one of the guard
"A soldier's life is terribly hard,"
Said Alice.

I went to Buckingham Palace on Saturday, and they were changing the guard shortly after we got there, but seeing and hearing everything in the rain with all the tourists around was terribly hard.

Buckingham Palace

It was so lovely to finally get to London! It seems that all my friends were there this year: Elizabeth, Danielle, Dane Davis, Josh... even Anna and Amanda visited from Edinburgh at one point, and John Grigsby is there right now. Having seen so many pictures on Facebook, I was definitely excited. I left Aix on Friday, took the navette bus to the Marseille airport, waited, checked in, went through security, waited and drank some rosé, went through passport control to my gate, waited, got on the plane and drank the rest of my rosé on my way to Gatwick. I flew Easyjet, so I didn't get to pick my seats; I ended up on the aisle both times. I like looking out the window, but I don't know how much I would have seen since the weather was quite gloomy. However, my rosé was delightful (seriously, it's nothing like what passes for rosé back in America) and I made good progress in Manon des Sources. I landed in Gatwick airport and, after a long line and a bit of an issue at passport control, I was officially in London!

In case you're ever traveling to the UK, you need a permanent address or point of contact for your time there before they will let you in.

But it was worth it (I finally got away with giving them Rachael's name and phone number), and then I was in London! Rach met me at the gate and we took the train to Redhill, where she lives. It's right by London, but is technically in Surrey. Little Whinging, where the Dursleys live in Harry Potter, is in Surrey. So basically I was right by Little Whinging; be jealous.

Privet Drive (not really)

I met Rachael at the most magical place on earth the summer of 2009. It was the year I was head of archery, and she was one of the British counselors who come every year to work with kids and experience American summer camp. She was so amazing at her job that they came up with an award to give her. Rach came back to camp last summer, but I was doing my Shepherd internship teaching English to refugees in Richmond, which was quite the experience. We'd stayed in touch, and when she heard I was coming to France she convinced me to fly to England for the long weekend. I'm glad I did!

Rach and me at camp in 2009!

This past year, Rachael has been working as a sort of dorm mom at a state boarding school in Redhill. School just let out, but she was still living there, so we had tons of space to hang out in the dorm. So yes, I spent the night in a real British boarding school. It was basically Hogwarts. It was out in the countryside, which was really pretty, but a decent enough walk in to town.

For dinner the first night, we got fish & chips from a place in town and hung out at the boarding school until it was time to go see HARRY POTTER! I'd already seen it, because apparently it came out in France before it came to England, which makes no sense. The movie theater was in Reigate, which was just a few train stops away--it was very small and brick and cute. The manager came in and gave two speeches about how it was the end of an era with the final movie. It was so good to see it again, and I cried at all the same points. Absolutely brilliant.

Saturday was the big sightseeing day. I'm not even sure where to start. We saw everything: Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, Kings Cross, Hyde Park, Trafalgar Square (one of my favorites), the London Eye and the Thames, St. Paul's, Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, London Bridge and the HMS Belfast. What a list! We also stopped for tea and a kind of delicious cake called chocolate tiffin.

Look at my cute umbrella!

The rain put a bit of a damper on the day and the wind bent my cute umbrella out of shape, but we took the Tube everywhere--yes, it really is as amazing as everyone says. I have some strong loyalty to the New York Subway system, but the Tube is very well done. Plus, it played host to three of the most memorable moments:

1. We overheard a teenager (unfortunately American) explaining what a majestic cow is like. He then went on to say: "Well, more people get attacked by sharks, but you're much more likely to survive a shark attack than you are a cow attack. Have you ever seen a survivor of a cow attack?"
2. We--or rather, Rach--helped a very nice older lady figure out which train to take to meet a friend. I'm pretty sure she was American, possibly from New England. And now she'll go home to America and say how nice everyone is, which is lovely.
3. I saw Clara, from IAU! She was headed to St. Paul's from the Tower of London, and Rach and I were heading the opposite way. This is the third time I have run into someone I know in a major international city. (I saw some church members in the Musée d'Orsay and a friend from camp on Fifth Avenue.)

The cloudy weather did make for some cool-looking pictures! Here are some of my favorites:

I'm very talented.

London was beautiful, even in the rain. Even though by the end of the day I'd seen so much and walked so much, I can't wait to go back for longer and really get to know it better. Even though it was packed with tourists and souvenir shops, and felt just like New York in that way, the politeness set London apart. All the signs say things like "please don't play your music too loudly through your headphones; it may disturb the other passengers." How pleasant!

Rachael and I both zoned out on the train back; we were absolutely shattered from the long day. We had a nice chill evening eating pizza at her place and watching a British sitcom called Outnumbered. It's about a family with brilliant, smart-aleck kids who are always proving the parents wrong. There's an episode where they go sightseeing in London, and they saw many of the same places that we'd seen earlier that day, so that was fun.

On Sunday we got "Sunday lunch" for, well, Sunday lunch. It's basically a Thanksgiving dinner, with a roast (I had turkey), gravy and all the vegetables you can imagine. Just looking at the picture again makes me hungry, even though I ate absolutely all of it and couldn't have gone back for seconds.

Yum! We had a little more time to kill after lunch so we wandered around the local mall. I learned that there's this pedicure treatment where fish bite the dead skin off your feet. Terrifying. Anyway, then Rach put me on the train to Gatwick. My time in Gatwick was again a lot of going through lines and waiting. I had two pots of tea and finished Manon des Sources. I wandered through the duty-free shops and ended up in a bookstore, where I found books by my French professor! Domnica Radulescu has published Train to Trieste and Black Sea Twilight, but more importantly she is an absolutely amazing professor. She wrote my recommendation for Aix, and has actually taught theater at IAU in past summers. I hadn't read her novels yet, although I knew about them, so I bought them for in-flight reading. I'm already about 3/4 of the way through Train to Trieste--I just devoured it on the flight, and it was beautiful. It is really fascinating to really know the author whose work you're reading. I've read my dad's book, Whose Kids Are They Anyway? Religion and Morality in America's Public Schools, which I highly recommend, but it isn't quite as poetic. Professor Radulescu's book is about a love affair and fleeing from the Communist dictatorship in Romania and re-making yourself in Chicago as a political refugee, and it's just incredible. There are so many moments in the book where I hear her voice coming through, and it's just really cool that I found something my professor wrote in an airport in London.

I found my second W&L connection once I was back in Aix: a poster advertising an exhibition of Cy Twombly's work! (He lived in Lexington, attended W&L and visited often.) And it was interesting: I had a strange, sweet sense of homecoming when I got back to Aix. Mia said she felt the same way. I couldn't help thinking, "Bonsoir, la Rotonde!" when I saw the famous fountain. Everything felt comfortable and peaceful, like coming home in the summer or getting back to Lexington for O-week. It's amazing how in five short weeks this has become home.

Aux armes, citoyens !

Allons enfants de la Patrie,
Le jour de gloire est arrivé !
Contre nous de la tyrannie,
L'étendard sanglant est levé,
L'étendard sanglant est levé.
Entendez-vous dans les campagnes
Mugir ces féroces soldats ?
Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras
Égorger vos fils et vos compagnes !

Aux armes, citoyens,
Formez vos bataillons,
Marchons, marchons !
Qu'un sang impur
Abreuve nos sillons !

Happy Bastille Day! France is great. They've been hanging the tricolor in the streets of Aix for the past week, which is very pretty. It's nice to be able to witness another country's patriotism. The French Revolution is one of my favorite historical periods, even though it was so bloody and complicated. It's just so interesting, and I love seeing the public memory of it. In my French Revolution seminar this past winter with Professor Horowitz, I wrote my final paper on the memory of the Revolution in nineteenth-century literature, and I loved it. Unlike a lot of the country, most of Provence was very pro-Revolution. The Marseillaise is named for the volunteers from Marseille, who sang it in the streets of Paris on their way to fight the Prussian and Austrian invaders during the Revolution. (My favorite version of the anthem is when they sing it in Rick's café in Casablanca: it's beautiful. It's much more violent than the Star-Spangled Banner or America the Beautiful, but it's also much more badass.) All the villages I've visited have a Cercle républicain where the Republicans--not in the American sense--would sit and drink on Sundays while the Catholic Royalists went to mass. And I've seen so many streets named things like Boulevard de la république or Rue de la fraternité. It's a much more subtle kind of patriotism than America usually has, but it's lovely.

La Rotonde, the central fountain in Aix.

American sentiment toward France is not always very nice, and as a French major I get uneducated complaints fairly often about how weak and ungrateful and snobby people think this beautiful country is. I have never understood the need to feel better about your own country by putting down others, but people seem to think it's fun. Anyway, the NY Times published this article by David McCullough today, on the relationship between America and France. It's worth a read, even though McCullough ignores the fact that "French fries" are actually Belgian frites discovered and misnamed by American soldiers stationed in Belgium during World War II. America and France do have different temperaments, and living here I realize that constantly. Spring term of freshman year, I took a history class on the turn of the century in Paris, Vienna and Berlin. I wrote my final paper on absinthe and it was glorious. In retrospect I'm not sure why this came up, but Professor Patch pointed out that America's national holiday celebrates the signing of the Declaration of Independence; France's, the storming of the Bastille. As anti-revolutionaries loved to point out in the coming decades, storming the Bastille technically accomplished very little, as there were only seven prisoners in the Bastille at the time. (The mobs were really after the ammunition stored there, so take that Edmund Burke!) The Tennis Court Oath on June 20 was much more akin to America signing Declaration of Independence--or maybe the Declaration of the Rights of Man on August 26. But the Bastille represented royal authority in the heart of Paris, and the fact that the people could attack it and get away with it was significant. It also established a tragic precedent for popular violence in the Revolution (although one could also argue that it was not the first instance of popular violence). Anyway, Professor Patch's point was that America's independence day is much more about the political moment, while France's is about the symbolic. It's interesting.

So these are my Reflections on the Revolution in France. So far today I've slept in and talked to Fowler, although I should get some work done. There are fireworks at some point tonight, and apparently a ball in the streets? How fun! Tomorrow is London and my second time seeing the last Harry Potter. (It was beautiful. Yes they changed things but overall it was faithful, it told the right story, it made me cry for all the right reasons and it was everything I had wanted.)

Sur le pont d'Avignon et sous le Pont du Gard

Oh how busy and glorious life has been! With each day it becomes harder to believe that I am leaving so soon. Provence is just wonderful. I've already started mentally planning my return trip with Andrew, Brother, Anne Marie and my parents. After all, they're going to need a translator!

Saturday started early: my archaeology class met at 8:45 to go to Arles, which is maybe an hour and a half away from Aix. Archaeology is taught in English and in French; I'm in the French class, but everyone went together. This meant I got to sit next to the lovely Janette, who is in the other section, on the bus! We started at the Museum of Antiquities, which had a lot of Gallo-Roman artifacts and some really great miniature reconstructions of Roman monuments. Arles was a significant city for the Romans. It had supported Caesar during his power struggle within the first Triumvirate, so he was always very beholden to it. It was a popular retirement location for Roman soldiers, among other things. We happened to be there at the same time of the French minister of culture. Kyle and Janette really wanted to ask him for an internship, but that didn't end up happening. The tour of the museum felt kind of rushed, because we were such a big group and the professor kept moving us from one artifact to another. I prefer to go at my own, very slow pace in museums; I'm one of those people who will read every single placard if you let me. I took lots of pictures, but most of them didn't come out very well. Such is life.

The café Van Gogh painted. I did not have lunch here.

Lunch: baguette with goat cheese, ham, tomatoes, basil & garlic. And wine.

After the museum, we went into Arles proper, which was great. First we took a lunch break; Janette, Kyle, Mel, Caronae and I found a very cute, very cheap little sandwich place. The wine was good too! We passed by the café Van Gogh painted, which was beautiful. I would love to know more about more recent Provençal history; we've covered it a little in my film & littérature class but not enough to satisfy me. Anyway, the two big things we saw were the ampitheater and the theater, so that's a little confusing. A fun fact about the ampitheater is that after the fall of Rome, it was used as a fortified city in its own right: people built houses inside it! They finally tore the houses down around the nineteenth century, and now the ampitheater is used for concerts and bullfights.

Kyle, me, Janette and Kevin!

The Rhône from the tower at the top of the ampitheater

The theater was cool, too, although it was in much worse condition. The theater at Orange was more interesting, so we'll talk about that one when I get to it. But a fun thing I learned about the Arles theater is that they would kill people onstage. Whenever a character had to die--say, in a tragedy--they would substitute the actor with a war prisoner, and literally kill the person. Well, maybe that's not so fun, but it was apparently very popular. I guess it was more realistic than someone falling dramatically and being dragged offstage.

After Arles we went to Glanum, which was a Gallo-Roman city. You may (should) remember that Entremont, which is outside Aix, was full of Gauls who hated the Romans. By contrast, the inhabitants of Glanum actually welcomed the Romans and helped them out. In thanks, the Romans built an arc de triomphe (which later inspired Napoléon to build the one in Paris) and a monument in honor of the leaders of Glanum. The residents also received Roman citizenship, which was a big deal. Glanum has early Gallic, Greek and Roman influences, so that was interesting. It was also very hot.

Janette and me at Glanum

Aerial view of Glanum

After Glanum, everyone headed back to Aix--but my adventures were just beginning! A few days before I had gotten in touch with a lovely woman named Anouk, who went to college with a friend from Grace Pres. It shows the power of Facebook, because when my mom posted that I was going to Aix, Whitney commented that she had a friend there, and then Anouk and I got in touch. Our original plan was to hang out in Aix on Sunday, but then she invited me to stay with her Saturday night and go sightseeing on Sunday, which was absolutely incredible. She lives in Jonquières, which you can find on my awesome Google Map. It's much more agricultural and green than the area around Aix. I got to meet her adorable three year-old, Edouard, who is my friend, and her very lovely parents. We spent the night at her parents' house, which is surrounded by vineyards and just beautiful.

The view from Anouk's parents' house!

They took me out to an absolutely delicious dinner on Saturday night with two other friends, who were also really nice. As soon as I got back I wrote down everything I'd eaten, because I didn't want to forget anything. We started with olives, cheese and sort of cheese puffs. That was before you even ordered. And we had champagne! Then there was a sort of amuse-bouche with a warm fromage blanc (like yogurt?) with wasabi. Then, my appetizer was lightly grilled shrimp over some cabbage-y thing. I think the sauce for the cabbage may have been pineapple or mango but I am not sure. It also came out with a dried shrimp head for decoration which was amusing. My main course was a cod filet with a butter/pesto sauce with tomatoes, green beans, snap peas, white beans and potato strips. It was so good. Then dessert took a long time to come... but I had a sort of cannoli, except the shell was caramel with maybe bits of hazelnut, and the filling was chocolate and hazelnut mousse. It also came with a little fruit garnish of apple, raspberry, kiwi and the elusive nèfle.

And that's just the food. There was also delicious wine, and everyone was just so nice and welcoming. Anouk helped me figure out what to order, since for some reason schools don't teach much French gourmet vocabulary. The more I reflect on it, the more I think they should.

I slept in more than I'd planned on Sunday, and woke up around 9:30. I showered (they had an actual shower!) and ate a yummy breakfast of pain au chocolat and coffee. Then Anouk, Edouard and I went on our sightseeing extravaganza!

Edourd and me at the Arc de Triomphe at Orange

We started in Orange, which is where Anouk went through high school. As some of you may know, Orange is also the name of a county near my ancestral hometown. However, I have been developing a theory that I am descended from Gaulish princesses: they were Celtic princesses who lived in France, which is exactly my life. Therefore, Orange, France is just as much a place-near-my-ancestral-hometown as Orange, Virginia. So there we go. But the similarities don't stop there! If I'm not mistaken, Orange, Virginia, is named after William of Orange, the Dutch prince who became king of England during the Glorious Revolution. The Dutch princes held the title of "Prince of Orange" in the same way that "Prince of Wales" is used in England. And it turns out that the Orange to which the title refers is this little town in France! It became a Dutch territory during the Middle Ages, and was integrated with France under Louis XIV. The Wars of Religion were pretty brutal around this area, because of the Protestant Dutch presence.

When Louis XIV took over Orange, he destroyed the Dutch castle. But he left the stage wall of the old Roman theater (which, like the Arles ampitheater, had been converted into a sort of residential area) intact, proclaiming it the most beautiful wall in his kingdom. So there you go! It's great that he left it, because the stage wall of the Orange theater is one of three intact Roman stage walls in the world, and the only one in the West. So while the Arles theater has a few broken columns, the Orange theater has this:

It's pretty incredible! The theater has served many functions over the years, including a fortress, prison, military encampement and residential area. Around the turn of the century, it was restored to its original status as a theater, for both ancient and modern plays. Sarah Bernhardt performed on this stage in 1903. It is still in active use today, which is great!

We picked up lunch (quiche lorraine and macaroons!) in Orange and picnicked at Pont du Gard, which is actually just outside Provence. It's in the Languedoc-Roussillon region, and the Pont is an ancient Roman aqueduct that carried water to Nîmes (the town that gave us de Nîmes fabric: denim).

Now it's a popular place for swimming and picnicking. We sat under the bridge because it was so hot, and it was really fun and relaxing.

The last stop on our tour was Avignon. Anouk had driven me through the city the day before so I could get a feel for it. When my friend Stephanie told me to go on the IAU program, she recommended the Avignon center, which had been for more advanced French. IAU closed its Avignon location this past winter, which is how I ended up in Aix. So it's interesting that Avignon was almost my "home." It's a beautiful little city (smaller than Aix) enclosed by a glorious old fourteenth-century rampart. Whenever I mention Avignon to my mom, she likes to use her French skills to reference the song:

Sur le pont d'Avignon
L'on y danse, l'on y danse
Sur le pont d'Avignon
L'on y dans tout en rond

I did not go on the pont d'Avignon, but I drove under it a few times. Avignon was crazy this weekend, because the big annual theater festival is going on. There were people crowding the streets in all manner of outlandish costumes, handing out flyers for various performances. There are the official, fancy shows; the "off" shows; and the shows in the streets. It was very energetic and fun.

Our main stop in Avignon was the Papal Palace, where the popes lived during the 1300s and 1400s. I'm not very up-to-date on my papal history, mostly because I'm too Protestant to really wrap my head around it and because the names sound too similar, but it was very cool. The palace was huge!

We wandered around for at least an hour and I know there is so much I didn't see. My favorite parts were the frescoed rooms: the pope's bedroom and the chambre des cerfs. They had beautifully detailed walls and preserved tile floors. After the palace, we cooled down on a terrace café just next door. Anouk and I had ice cream and menthe à l'eau, that elusive bright green drink you always see in French movies. It was very minty and refreshing. Edouard had chocolate milk, which made him happy.

Unfortunately, after Avignon it was time to head back, and Anouk drove me back to Aix. It was an absolutely beautiful weekend, and I'm so grateful to Anouk and her family for their hospitality. I got to see so much of Provence that I wouldn't have otherwise, and I made new friends!

Sunday night was my first opera with Cara, which was delightful. We saw Acis and Galatea by Handel, which it turns out is in English. Who knew? The theater was outside a converted château; we took a shuttle from town and had dinner in the gardens before the show. It was great, although the modern dance-inspired choreography got distracting at times. Last night (Tuesday) was our second opera: Le Nez by Chostakovitch. We'd expected a sort of grand Romantic-style comic opera, and instead it was much more absurdist, but we both enjoyed it. It's the story of a man who loses his nose, and the nose is dancing around the stage at times, and there were all these lights and animations integrated with the set which was just incredible.

The sun setting over the stage at Acis and Galatea

That brings us up to today, where in two hours I will be sitting in a movie theater, about to watch the final Harry Potter. I'll write more on it tonight or tomorrow (no spoilers, don't worry), but for now I'm just going to say: everyone's worried about what to do after their childhoods end in this last movie. As much as we want to search for a moment that defines our transition from childhood to adulthood, that rarely exists. I know that Lucy Maud Montgomery identifies an exact moment when Anne (of Green Gables) grows up, but that's in a book. Am I a grown-up when I graduate from high school? become engaged? graduate from college? get married? stop referring to myself as a princess? (Because I will always be a princess.) It's like, on your birthday you don't suddenly feel older; you've been working toward that age for a year, you know? So it'll be weird to be done with Harry Potter, but we've known it was coming for a decade. Just like it'll be weird to leave France, even though when I came here I knew I could only stay for six weeks.

Google Maps and Ned Appreciation Blog

Another short post today, but once again you can marvel at my mastery of Google-based technology. (I just got a Google+ account, so let me know if you want an invite! I don't entirely understand it, but anyway, my offer is out there.) Well, when my friend Ned (who never updates his blog) was road-tripping out to California, he had a game called "Where in the World is Ned Sandiego?" There was a Youtube video and it was this whole thing. I'm going to do essentially the opposite: update my blog, no Youtube videos and here is a sweet map showing all the places I've been in France!

"Aix Adventures" on Google Maps

Look how easy it is to stalk me!

Today has been fun. My film & lit class went to Manosque to visit the home of Jean Giono, a very important French author who nobody in America has heard of. So hipster. We were mostly standing around in the heat and listening to old French men talk about someone we haven't really studied in depth, but I enjoyed it. His library (libraries? bookshelves everywhere!) was incredible. My host mom had some friends over tonight for dinner, which was nice. We had an apricot tart for dessert that I need to replicate when I get home, and I had real champagne in France for the first time. Lovely! Tomorrow I'm off to Arles with my archaeology class, and going straight to Anouk's house from there, so... à bientôt !

My wonderful friend Ned, who never updates his blog and certainly never reads mine. He's going to be the best man in our wedding. If my life were Disney's Beauty and the Beast (which it is), I would be Belle of course; Andrew would be the Beast; and Ned would be Cogsworth.

Comment est-il devenu si tard si tôt?

Click the picture to see it bigger:

This is the time I have left in France. When did this happen? I'm not sure.

Other notes: I tried apricot ice cream today! Amazing. We also visited Entremont, an ancient Gaulish city just outside town. Aquae Sextiae, as Aix was first called, was founded to keep an eye on the troublesome Gauls (think Astérix). Tomorrow my other class is going to Manosque, home of writer Jean Giono! And this weekend, after yet another class trip, I'm visiting a woman who lives about an hour out of Aix and is a friend of a friend from Grace Pres. Her name is Anouk and she seems lovely. I'm excited to see another corner of Provence!

How did it get so late so soon?

La canicule

So far, this week has been lazy and kind of stagnant. It feels like we're hitting the dog days--la canicule, in French. I looked it up. Of course it's only early July, but it's hot; I didn't feel well the past few days; I got all my homework for the week done on Sunday so I've just been napping and wasting time after school. I've settled into my routine here enough that some of the novelty is wearing off. It's nice to have a break to relax, but I feel like I'm in a bit of a funk. I find myself getting bored in class, and I'm not awake enough to take advantage of being in freaking France. Fortunately, today I was feeling better and snapped myself out of this strange mood by buying some incroyable souvenirs for Mommy and Brother. I still need to do a lot of souvenir shopping, but I'm so excited about what I have so far. Les soldes started today, so basically everything is on sale, which has definitely added a hustle and a bustle to little Aix.

Still, to force myself into proactive, positive thinking, here are some things that help when I am starting to space out:

1. I am in France and my friends here are awesome. If you've been paying attention, you've probably noticed the omnipresence of Cara and Kyle. They are great. Kyle is hilarious, if sometimes problematic, and Cara is just the sweetest ever. Not to mention the wonderful and in no particular order Janette, Clara, Brooke, Kim, Liz, Mel, Other Katherine, Elle, Mia, Eliza, Caronae and Kevin. Is that everyone? I left people out. But it's just incredible how close and supportive is even though we've known each other for a few weeks. I've seen this phenomenon before, at camp and in Pi Phi with the baby angels, but it still amazes me.

Outside the Château de Vauvenargues, where Picasso lived, with Kyle and Cara.

2. I am in France and I am seeing and doing awesome things every day. 

See this incredible, beautiful view? This is on my walk to school. Even if I do nothing but grab lunch before class and go home after (I have class from 1-5, so this happens fairly often), I see a beautiful Gothic cathedral spire every single day. The cathedral is actually right by the school, and my archaeology class visited it in the morning a few weeks ago. It's built on a Roman temple to Apollo, so in its very existence it attests to the victory of Christianity over Roman gods. Under the temple foundation there's a Roman street; it's in the oldest part of Aix, so it goes all the way back to 123 avant Jésus-Christ, when the little town of Aquae Sextiae was founded to keep an eye on the troublesome Gauls in Entremont (which I'm visiting tomorrow!). Anyway, over time various additions have been made to the cathedral, so it has early Christian, Gothic, Romanesque and who knows what else elements represented.   I don't always think about it, but it is really cool to be near that much continuous history every single day. The baptistry has been in use since 400 AD. That's 1600 years!

Plus, of course, we get to do unbelievable unusual things too. The Picasso château on Saturday was really great. My immediate impression was that it was much plainer than I'd expected. Although it was built in the Middle Ages for the nobility of Aix (it's like a 20-minute bus ride north of the city), almost all of it was cleared out in the nineteenth century by some businessmen who had bought it. When Picasso bought it, one of his friends expressed concern that it was too empty and too severe. Picasso replied, "Too empty? I'll fill it with stuff. Too severe? You forget that I'm Spanish. I like sadness."

So in all its simplicity and white walls, the château told a powerful story about its most recent owner. The rooms were full of his statues and engravings, aspects of his work with which I wasn't familiar. And the view from the terrace was breathtaking. Picasso, who idolized Cézanne (don't we all), was so excited to have bought a house overlooking Mont Ste-Victoire. They didn't allow pictures at all on the property, but trust me that it was gorgeous.

3. My support system back home is awesome. I have some epic friends and family. It's comforting to wake up to a message from my fiancé or my big or my soulmate or my bff... well, actually, usually BFF just wants me to add more people to the Pi Phi google calendar. But she's still nice about it. I talked to my Pagano today and it was really exciting, so he gets a shoutout too. Hooray!

Andrew, me and Pagano!

My amazing pink family!
Tania, Ebony, Julianna, Raya, Jillian, me, Sarah and Allison
(Little, little little, little little little, little little little, little little, me, big and big.)

4. I am in France! People speak French here! Do you know how much time I spend in America wishing that everyone spoke French? So much time. It's really hard. But here even the food packaging speaks French. Also, Pagano is learning French.

So see, things are exciting. It's just hard to realize everything you have sometimes.

Things I like about America

A huge group of my friends are in Lexington for the Fourth of July this weekend, and a part of me does wish I were there. Between camp and Lexington, I haven't spent a Fourth of July outside of those mountains since I was fourteen. That's a long time. At camp, we always have lunch under the apple tree and a big carnival in the afternoon. I always signed up to man the slip & slide on the Cottage lawn because it was the best part. We had a giant plastic tarp that we'd coat with soapy water and the girls would slide down the hill. Messy, dangerous and so much fun. This was usually the day that the JCs would "get their purple back" and be able to rock their sweet purple beanies. My year, we got our purple back during the evening activity movie--we were so worried we weren't going to get it, because it always happened during the carnival. At night, after the movie, the Green Team boys would set off fireworks from the barge on the river.

My favorite memory of the Fourth of July 2007: JC initiation!
That's me hugging my JC 'big sis,' my wonderful cousin Mary.

Last year, instead of going to camp I worked as an ESL tutor with Refugee & Immigrant Services in Richmond for my Shepherd poverty internship. Allison and I drove over to Lexington on Friday and there was a barbecue at the Kremlin and we went to the VMI parade grounds to watch fireworks and it was just lovely. Plus, if anyone who was there last year is reading this, remember all the dessert?

Part of the potluck buffet

When I was going through pictures, I found so many that I really loved and I realized my W&L friends have not gotten all the credit they deserve on this blog. It is not their fault they did not come to France with me. So here they are! But I couldn't find a cute one with my big, Allison, so just know that I love her a lot.

Former residents of Pi Beta Phi room 309:
Eleanor, me, Anna and Fowler

EW, Steven, me, Kyle, Paul and Danielle

Erika, Anna, Danielle and me at the fireworks

Yay friends! So eat burgers and pasta salad and chips and cookies for me, America, because I love you and because statistics show you're very good at eating. And don't worry. Even though we think French people hate Americans, I don't think they actually do. They seem to like me.