Day 52: Monday, May 11, 2009: Today, we spent the day in Nice again! We were pissed at Katy and Christophe for not answering their phones. After we got up, we walked to the train station to try to get our tickets changed and explain the problem. It was so difficult! No one wanted to help us! They acted as if it wasn’t their problem. I finally demanded to speak to a manager who finally resolved our problem and reissued us new tickets at no additional cost.
So then we walked back to the hotel to get our bags. We had an hour before we needed to be back at the train station so we sat on the beach! There was no way we were going to make our grammar class. We text Christophe and he still never responded. Thanks!
We arrived in Avignon and took a taxi to Melissa’s house because it split the difference between my house and Lance’s. I walked home and explained the situation to my host parents. Jacqueline was really mad and suggested that I write a letter to the TGV and demand 25E for the cost of my hotel room for the night.
After dinner, I wrote a paper for literature class and studied for the grammar test that I have tomorrow. Lance text me and said that the test was moved and that it wasn’t going to be tomorrow – Christophe didn’t let me know, Lance did. I’m really glad that I’m paying him to be here on vacation with his girlfriend and he can’t communicate with me at all. It’s excellent!
Day 53: Tuesday, May 12, 2009: Today was busy; I had three classes. John got back from Germany. Yesterday in grammar, they watched the movie for the book that we are reading so I missed that. I have to watch it tomorrow with Lance and Melissa.
I had dinner with Jacqueline, Bernard, and John and did some homework. It was a pretty average Tuesday in France.
Day 54: Wednesday, May 13, 2009: Even though there was no class today, I still did a lot of work. I went to the internet café with Melissa to print our papers for our writing class tomorrow. Then we met Shawna and John at the university to work on our oral presentation that is tomorrow in our oral grammar class; topic: the language of the youth. We have to record a conversation between students our age, transcribe it, translate the slang terms that they use and present it to the class.
Shawna recorded a conversation with some of her French friends talking about a handball game but it wasn’t what we needed. We needed slang terms. John talked to his correspondent and we all decided that we could meet up at the bar tonight to do this.
Then I went to Melissa’s to watch our movie. Lance came too. After the movie, we had to write a film critique comparing the book to the movie. I went back to the university library to write and email mine to Christophe.
After dinner, we went to Red Sky to do our project. John’s correspondent brought a bunch of friends and it was really cool to just hang out with them. We are all basically the same age; some of them don’t speak any English so I have to speak French which helps me out a lot. We recorded our conversation and decided that we would write the presentation during our four-hour break between classes tomorrow.
Day 55: Thursday, May 14, 2009: Today in writing class, we talked about our book that the class is making with all of our poems from class. Each person has a job; it’s like high school yearbook. I’m the editor-in-chief. Each person gets to choose four poems, a picture and biography for the book and at the final dinner, we get to read one in front of everyone.
After class, we worked on our oral presentation. We decided that it would be way too hard to transcribe the conversation so we just typed up a page with the slang terms that they used and the meanings in regular French. Some were a little dirty but that’s how kids my age talk to describe things.
Then we had class and we had to present our project. The four of us – Shawna, Melissa, John, and I each read a section. We printed our handout and the professor copied it for us. After dinner, I decided not to go out because I went out last night and it was raining. So I stayed in and did lots of homework for next week.
Day 56: Friday, May 15, 2009: Today we had two classes again. When I was leaving my house this morning, I ran into the postman and I got a letter from Mamaw! It had some money that she had not spent while she was here.
In history class, we watched a film on the French Revolution. It is a really interesting part of French history. I sat next to Shawna and explained, in English, the events for her because the professor is a little difficult to understand.
I ate lunch in the cafeteria, had my journal meeting with Jenny, and had literature class. He explained another project for next week. We have to choose a French author and a short excerpt and explain the meaning in a presentation to the class. Everyone explained that we were all going out of town for the next Friday and only four people would be in class.
On our original schedule for France, it says that we have Thursday and Friday off school next week but then Christophe decided that that was wrong on Monday (when I wasn’t in class) and told everyone that there would actually be classes. Everyone explained that they wouldn’t be attending because we’d already made reservations for a four-day weekend (we hadn’t exactly made reservations yet but it would happen soon).
After class, I went to Melissa’s with Lance, Nina, Zoe, and Meghan so we could decide what we wanted to do for the long weekend. We thought we found really good plane tickets to Brussels, Belgium, but then the price doubled with fees and taxes so we decided against that. Finally, after much research and debate, we decided to go to Lyon. It would be Melissa, Lance, Meghan and I for two nights; leaving Thursday morning and returning Saturday afternoon. We found a hotel and train tickets and made all the reservations online.
After dinner, I decided to join everyone else at the bar for a while but I didn’t stay out long because we have an excursion tomorrow.
Day 57: Saturday, May 16, 2009: Today was really fun! We had an excursion to the village of Uzes and we went canoeing to the Pont du Gard, a huge ancient Roman aqueduct. The day was really fun!
Monday, June 15, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
days 47 - 51
Day 47: Wednesday, May 6, 2009: Today was very simple and relaxed after a stressful day yesterday. I slept late and ate lunch with Jacqueline on the terrace. After that, I met Lance and we walked to the train station to buy tickets for the weekend. It was 40E roundtrip.
Then we had two classes: history and literature again. We normally don’t have classes on Wednesdays but since there is no school on Friday, we have to make them up today. The literature teacher was absent… so we watched a movie. Can you waste more of my time while I’m in France please?
After dinner and watching the news with Jacqueline and Bernard, I packed a bag for the weekend and did some homework.
Day 48: Thursday, May 7, 2009: Today we went to Juan-les-Pins! We had our first class and we were told that our second class would be immediately following rather than four hours later. We were lied to yet again. Thus we had another four hour break. We bought train tickets planning on leaving right after class. Since the class was later, we decided to skip it because it was their fault for not giving us ample notice of the change. And we are allowed to miss one period of each class – no more. This was our first miss and we knew we would not skip again so we did it!
After the first class, I went to Casio with Lance and we bought stuff to make Skyline dip… or at least we tried to make it as best as we could with what we had. Note to the world: France is the capital of cheese yet cream cheese does not exist here. Cheddar cheese exists but you have to hunt it down. We got lazy and gave up on the cheddar. Also, Tostito’s scoops also are nonexistent or nearly impossible to find, thus we bought Doritos that served a similar purpose.
We went to Lance’s and tried our best to make authentic Skyline Chili Dip with his host mom: we basically failed. The chili was excellent but the cheeses did not do the job. After hanging out with her for a while, she offered to take us to the train station. I went home to get my bag and meet Melissa.
When my host parents’ son slept in my room the other night, he left the key in the door on the interior, thus when I tried to use my key it did not work. Jacqueline and Bernard were not home so I knocked on the neighbor’s door to see if maybe she had a key. Fail. Then I called Jacqueline. Fail. Then I called Bernard. He told me where Jacqueline was but I was confused. Finally, he just met me on the corner and gave me his keys.
So I finally had my bag and walked to meet Melissa. Then we walked back to Lance’s house. I did some homework on the train and we arrived in Juan-les-Pins at about 8 p.m. It was easy to find the hotel and the woman that worked there was very nice.
We put our stuff in the room then walked to the beach and saw the sunset. Then we walked around the town and found a restaurant for dinner. We decided not to go out; our friends couldn’t get on our train and are arriving tomorrow.
Day 49: Friday, May 8, 2009: Today was excellent! I went to Italy! We had heard about this huge outdoor market just across the French boarder on Fridays so we bought tickets and went. We took the TER and it took an hour and a half to get there.
When we were finally there, we found the market; it would have been hard to miss. There were tons of fake goods, sunglasses, belts, bags, whatever you wanted. But you could tell that it was fake. The only thing that I bought was a bottle of Dolce & Gabanna cologne for 6E50.
We walked around and found a restaurant for lunch. When in Italy, you have to have spaghetti. It was weird because we didn’t speak Italian but everyone thought we were French anyway. So at the restaurant, we got the French menu and ordered in French.
After lunch, we walked to the beach to see the sea in Italy; then we found our way back to the train station for the ride home. It was a fun day but we spent as much time in Italy as it took to get there and back. When we got back to Juan-les-Pins, our friends had arrived and we found them on the beach.
We had a light dinner and spent most of the night hanging out at the beach. Sparks flew between Lance and Melissa and I’m now in the middle of a honeymoon of sorts. Total third wheel over here… it is excellent to say the very least. (Sarcasm)
Day 50: Saturday, May 9, 2009: Day 50!? What!? Today was very relaxed and laid back. This is exactly why we came to Juan-les-Pins. It is like a resort vacation here. The sand is excellent and it was so sunny today. So sunny that wouldn’t you know it… I got an incredible sunburn.
After tanning all day, we took showers and got ready to go out. We had a big dinner together then visited a bar for a while before coming back to our room to hang out. I Skyped my family and friends in America. We ended up watching Aladdin on youtube before falling asleep. Yes, we are all actually six years old.
Day 51: Sunday, May 10, 2009: Today started off real well then went to hell real quick. Our friends checked out of the hotel and went to Nice for the day. Lance, Melissa, and I went to the beach again but thankfully, it was cloudy. I still was careful not to get more sun.
After the beach, we went back to the room to shower and change before going to the train station. I read online about the riots at OU’s Palmerfest! The nice woman at the hotel allowed us to stay in our room until 7 p.m. without paying more.
So we got to the train station on time and our train never came. It was cancelled without telling us. We missed our connection to Antibes and watched as our train to Avignon passed us. The woman at the counter was useless and told us that there was no way we were going back to Avignon tonight. Excellent and we have class tomorrow.
We called Christophe and Katy, our program director and his assistant and neither answered their phones. Excellent again! I’m so glad we’re paying you to be on vacation here for three months with your girlfriend and neither of you can answer your phones when your students are stuck somewhere.
We called Jenny, the grad student assistant and explained the situation. We decided to take the next TER train to Nice and try to exchange tickets. If we really couldn’t get home that night then we at least knew we had a place to stay at the hotel from the last weekend.
After failing to get new tickets, I called the nice old woman at the hotel and she said that she had a room for us. I recommend her hotel to anyone travelling to Nice, France! She is excellent!
So here we were back in Nice. But we love Nice! By this time, it was no earlier than 11 p.m. and we decided that we needed some of our favorite ice cream in Nice to make the day better. Then we went back to our room and we were beat. We went right to bed.
Then we had two classes: history and literature again. We normally don’t have classes on Wednesdays but since there is no school on Friday, we have to make them up today. The literature teacher was absent… so we watched a movie. Can you waste more of my time while I’m in France please?
After dinner and watching the news with Jacqueline and Bernard, I packed a bag for the weekend and did some homework.
Day 48: Thursday, May 7, 2009: Today we went to Juan-les-Pins! We had our first class and we were told that our second class would be immediately following rather than four hours later. We were lied to yet again. Thus we had another four hour break. We bought train tickets planning on leaving right after class. Since the class was later, we decided to skip it because it was their fault for not giving us ample notice of the change. And we are allowed to miss one period of each class – no more. This was our first miss and we knew we would not skip again so we did it!
After the first class, I went to Casio with Lance and we bought stuff to make Skyline dip… or at least we tried to make it as best as we could with what we had. Note to the world: France is the capital of cheese yet cream cheese does not exist here. Cheddar cheese exists but you have to hunt it down. We got lazy and gave up on the cheddar. Also, Tostito’s scoops also are nonexistent or nearly impossible to find, thus we bought Doritos that served a similar purpose.
We went to Lance’s and tried our best to make authentic Skyline Chili Dip with his host mom: we basically failed. The chili was excellent but the cheeses did not do the job. After hanging out with her for a while, she offered to take us to the train station. I went home to get my bag and meet Melissa.
When my host parents’ son slept in my room the other night, he left the key in the door on the interior, thus when I tried to use my key it did not work. Jacqueline and Bernard were not home so I knocked on the neighbor’s door to see if maybe she had a key. Fail. Then I called Jacqueline. Fail. Then I called Bernard. He told me where Jacqueline was but I was confused. Finally, he just met me on the corner and gave me his keys.
So I finally had my bag and walked to meet Melissa. Then we walked back to Lance’s house. I did some homework on the train and we arrived in Juan-les-Pins at about 8 p.m. It was easy to find the hotel and the woman that worked there was very nice.
We put our stuff in the room then walked to the beach and saw the sunset. Then we walked around the town and found a restaurant for dinner. We decided not to go out; our friends couldn’t get on our train and are arriving tomorrow.
Day 49: Friday, May 8, 2009: Today was excellent! I went to Italy! We had heard about this huge outdoor market just across the French boarder on Fridays so we bought tickets and went. We took the TER and it took an hour and a half to get there.
When we were finally there, we found the market; it would have been hard to miss. There were tons of fake goods, sunglasses, belts, bags, whatever you wanted. But you could tell that it was fake. The only thing that I bought was a bottle of Dolce & Gabanna cologne for 6E50.
We walked around and found a restaurant for lunch. When in Italy, you have to have spaghetti. It was weird because we didn’t speak Italian but everyone thought we were French anyway. So at the restaurant, we got the French menu and ordered in French.
After lunch, we walked to the beach to see the sea in Italy; then we found our way back to the train station for the ride home. It was a fun day but we spent as much time in Italy as it took to get there and back. When we got back to Juan-les-Pins, our friends had arrived and we found them on the beach.
We had a light dinner and spent most of the night hanging out at the beach. Sparks flew between Lance and Melissa and I’m now in the middle of a honeymoon of sorts. Total third wheel over here… it is excellent to say the very least. (Sarcasm)
Day 50: Saturday, May 9, 2009: Day 50!? What!? Today was very relaxed and laid back. This is exactly why we came to Juan-les-Pins. It is like a resort vacation here. The sand is excellent and it was so sunny today. So sunny that wouldn’t you know it… I got an incredible sunburn.
After tanning all day, we took showers and got ready to go out. We had a big dinner together then visited a bar for a while before coming back to our room to hang out. I Skyped my family and friends in America. We ended up watching Aladdin on youtube before falling asleep. Yes, we are all actually six years old.
Day 51: Sunday, May 10, 2009: Today started off real well then went to hell real quick. Our friends checked out of the hotel and went to Nice for the day. Lance, Melissa, and I went to the beach again but thankfully, it was cloudy. I still was careful not to get more sun.
After the beach, we went back to the room to shower and change before going to the train station. I read online about the riots at OU’s Palmerfest! The nice woman at the hotel allowed us to stay in our room until 7 p.m. without paying more.
So we got to the train station on time and our train never came. It was cancelled without telling us. We missed our connection to Antibes and watched as our train to Avignon passed us. The woman at the counter was useless and told us that there was no way we were going back to Avignon tonight. Excellent and we have class tomorrow.
We called Christophe and Katy, our program director and his assistant and neither answered their phones. Excellent again! I’m so glad we’re paying you to be on vacation here for three months with your girlfriend and neither of you can answer your phones when your students are stuck somewhere.
We called Jenny, the grad student assistant and explained the situation. We decided to take the next TER train to Nice and try to exchange tickets. If we really couldn’t get home that night then we at least knew we had a place to stay at the hotel from the last weekend.
After failing to get new tickets, I called the nice old woman at the hotel and she said that she had a room for us. I recommend her hotel to anyone travelling to Nice, France! She is excellent!
So here we were back in Nice. But we love Nice! By this time, it was no earlier than 11 p.m. and we decided that we needed some of our favorite ice cream in Nice to make the day better. Then we went back to our room and we were beat. We went right to bed.
day 44, 45, 46
Day 44: Sunday, May 3, 2009: Today was really fun too! We went to Eze village just outside of Nice. We took the TER again and when we got off, we found the bus line that runs to the village. But since it is Sunday, the buses only run every hour. So we decided that we would take the trail and hike to the village. We all only had on sandals and it was a nice, sunny day.
So we start walking up the mountain and have no idea how far we are going. We stopped to talk to a couple of people along the way. It ended up being over a mile and a half and took almost two hours to accomplish. So finally in the old village of Eze atop a mountain in the south of France, we decided that we needed a snack to reward ourselves. We had crepes at a little restaurant just inside the town walls.
The village was excellent! I bought a new belt from a leather maker that was custom cut to fit me. He also shortened by old belt. I also got a leather bracelet. Then we found another store where my mom and aunt bought a pair of shoes each. The storekeeper couldn’t speak that much English so it was fun translating for my family. I also bought a Picasso wall covering for my room next year and a gift for my other grandma’s birthday.
We took some pictures and wandered back down to the bus stop only to find out that it was done for the day because it was Sunday; it was no later than 6:30 p.m. So then we waited around to catch a taxi. Finally, we got one and shared it with these two other American girls from Miami, Florida. One of the girls was studying in Paris for the year and her friend was visiting for a long weekend.
We paid the taxi fare and waited for the TER to take us back to Nice. My friends had left to go back to Avignon because we have a class tomorrow but I am allowed to miss it since my family is here. After freshening up, we had dinner at an Italian restaurant that was close to our hotel.
Day 45: Monday, May 4, 2009: Today was the last day with my family so we went to Grasse, home of the finest perfumes in France! We took the TER train from Nice for the hour trip the small city. We met a couple from Connecticut that was on their honeymoon.
We started by going to the Perfumerie Fragonard. It was semi-interesting but my aunt and grandma were loving it. After that, we had paninis for lunch. After walking around the city for a while, we decided that we had seen enough and I needed to get back to catch my train for Avignon.
We got back to the hotel and I packed my stuff and gave some things to my mom to take home for me and then I was ready to leave for the train station. My mom walked there with me. She waited with me until the board posted my platform and then we said goodbye. I had an excellent long weekend with everyone! They are leaving France tomorrow.
On the train, I always have to sit by the screaming children that are never under control. Just my luck. I needed to read basically an entire book for the class that I was missing today too. It was a struggle but I did it.
Finally, I was back in Avignon at 12:30 a.m. I walked the 20 minutes to my house and my host dad was waiting up for me. I had to sleep in the salon because their son and his fiancée and their granddaughter were sleeping in my room. They are leaving to go back to Paris tomorrow.
In my room, I noticed that I had received a box in the mail! It was from Alexis Parker! What a surprise! It had a bunch of fun Cincinnati stuff in it: Busken’s cookies, Reds’ peanuts, Skyline Chili, water balloons, playing cards, etc. It was really nice of her!
Day 46: Tuesday, May 5, 2009: Today was really busy. I had an oral exam for my grammar class. My teacher said that he could tell that I had spoken English all weekend and that my progress had suffered. Well my family doesn’t speak French so was I not suppose to speak to them at all?! Maybe we could just look at each other all weekend and they could try to guess what I was trying to tell them. I wasn’t happy when he said that.
Then I had my two other classes: history and literature. After that, I needed to write a paper on the book I had just finished so I went to the internet café. After sending a less-than-par paper, I went to Melissa’s to decide on plans for the next long weekend coming up at the end of the week. May is filled with lots of holidays in France!
We decided to go to Juan-les-Pins on the ocean for a weekend of fun and sun. We booked a hotel 100 meters from the beach for three people for 20E/person/night. Juan-les-Pins is just outside of Antibes, France. My room is Lance, Melissa, and me; Nina, Caitlyn, and Kelby are also going and they have a room for three as well.
Also today, John left to spend the week in Germany visiting his girlfriend. He is missing a week of classes after missing one yesterday because he missed his bus home from Barcelona, Spain, this past weekend. After dinner, everyone went out to celebrate Cinco de Mayo even though we are in France…
So we start walking up the mountain and have no idea how far we are going. We stopped to talk to a couple of people along the way. It ended up being over a mile and a half and took almost two hours to accomplish. So finally in the old village of Eze atop a mountain in the south of France, we decided that we needed a snack to reward ourselves. We had crepes at a little restaurant just inside the town walls.
The village was excellent! I bought a new belt from a leather maker that was custom cut to fit me. He also shortened by old belt. I also got a leather bracelet. Then we found another store where my mom and aunt bought a pair of shoes each. The storekeeper couldn’t speak that much English so it was fun translating for my family. I also bought a Picasso wall covering for my room next year and a gift for my other grandma’s birthday.
We took some pictures and wandered back down to the bus stop only to find out that it was done for the day because it was Sunday; it was no later than 6:30 p.m. So then we waited around to catch a taxi. Finally, we got one and shared it with these two other American girls from Miami, Florida. One of the girls was studying in Paris for the year and her friend was visiting for a long weekend.
We paid the taxi fare and waited for the TER to take us back to Nice. My friends had left to go back to Avignon because we have a class tomorrow but I am allowed to miss it since my family is here. After freshening up, we had dinner at an Italian restaurant that was close to our hotel.
Day 45: Monday, May 4, 2009: Today was the last day with my family so we went to Grasse, home of the finest perfumes in France! We took the TER train from Nice for the hour trip the small city. We met a couple from Connecticut that was on their honeymoon.
We started by going to the Perfumerie Fragonard. It was semi-interesting but my aunt and grandma were loving it. After that, we had paninis for lunch. After walking around the city for a while, we decided that we had seen enough and I needed to get back to catch my train for Avignon.
We got back to the hotel and I packed my stuff and gave some things to my mom to take home for me and then I was ready to leave for the train station. My mom walked there with me. She waited with me until the board posted my platform and then we said goodbye. I had an excellent long weekend with everyone! They are leaving France tomorrow.
On the train, I always have to sit by the screaming children that are never under control. Just my luck. I needed to read basically an entire book for the class that I was missing today too. It was a struggle but I did it.
Finally, I was back in Avignon at 12:30 a.m. I walked the 20 minutes to my house and my host dad was waiting up for me. I had to sleep in the salon because their son and his fiancée and their granddaughter were sleeping in my room. They are leaving to go back to Paris tomorrow.
In my room, I noticed that I had received a box in the mail! It was from Alexis Parker! What a surprise! It had a bunch of fun Cincinnati stuff in it: Busken’s cookies, Reds’ peanuts, Skyline Chili, water balloons, playing cards, etc. It was really nice of her!
Day 46: Tuesday, May 5, 2009: Today was really busy. I had an oral exam for my grammar class. My teacher said that he could tell that I had spoken English all weekend and that my progress had suffered. Well my family doesn’t speak French so was I not suppose to speak to them at all?! Maybe we could just look at each other all weekend and they could try to guess what I was trying to tell them. I wasn’t happy when he said that.
Then I had my two other classes: history and literature. After that, I needed to write a paper on the book I had just finished so I went to the internet café. After sending a less-than-par paper, I went to Melissa’s to decide on plans for the next long weekend coming up at the end of the week. May is filled with lots of holidays in France!
We decided to go to Juan-les-Pins on the ocean for a weekend of fun and sun. We booked a hotel 100 meters from the beach for three people for 20E/person/night. Juan-les-Pins is just outside of Antibes, France. My room is Lance, Melissa, and me; Nina, Caitlyn, and Kelby are also going and they have a room for three as well.
Also today, John left to spend the week in Germany visiting his girlfriend. He is missing a week of classes after missing one yesterday because he missed his bus home from Barcelona, Spain, this past weekend. After dinner, everyone went out to celebrate Cinco de Mayo even though we are in France…
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)