My first two weeks in France

Day 1: Monday, September 26, 2011

Third time’s a charm! After trying three different days I finally made it to Paris! I have so much luggage. At the airport in Pittsburgh I met a nice older couple that was going to visit friends in France. It turns out that they are actually just north of La Rochelle where I will be living.
On the plane I watched Bridesmaids and had dinner. I tried to sleep some but coach is miserable on international flights. I maybe got two or three hours’ sleep. We had breakfast before landing but it wasn’t excellent.
When we finally landed in Paris there wasn’t a gate for us to park at so we parked someplace way out of the way. We were met with buses to take us to the terminal but there were only two because the bus drivers were on strike! Ca c’est la France! It was a good thing that we got to customs when we did because after us the line was out the door.
I remembered customs being a more difficult the last time I was here but it was very simple. I chatted with my friends from Pittsburgh as we waited in the customs line. Then we all went to get our bags. They had a train to catch that took them directly to La Rochelle. We walked to the train station together then said goodbye. I wish I remembered their names now.
I took the RER B train from the airport to central Paris. It is the simplest and most direct route but it’s challenging with 100+ pounds of luggage. But once I was on the train I didn’t have to worry about switching. I got off at St. Michel-Notre Dame but came out of the train station on the wrong side of the street and right in front of Notre Dame. I dragged my bags across the street and got a cab to take me to my hotel. I was convinced that I could walk there with all my bags but I was so exhausted that I gave in. Once I told the cab driver where I was going he seemed hesitant to take me because I was so close. It turns out that I could have walked two blocks and I would have been there. Oh well! The cab ride was worth it.
I finally got to the hotel where Melissa, Meghan and Kristina had been waiting for me since last Saturday. I had to make three trips from the lobby to get all my bags up the old and winding staircase. Thankfully, our room was on the first floor. When I got there they were still in bed!
After they all got ready we decided that today would be our day to run errands. First, we went to the Gare Montparnasse to buy our train tickets and carte 12-25 (this is a discount card for people ages 12-25. It allows you 50% off the regular train fare for a one-time fee of 49E.) On our way to the train station we walked through Les Jardins du Luxembourg. They were really nice and this was something that none of us had ever done before in Paris. Then we all went to buy cell phones. We decided to get prepaid ones because that’s what we had last time we were in France. We each got a different phone at Phone House.
We are all English teaching assistants but we are all placed in different parts of France. I’m in La Rochelle, three hours southwest of Paris on the Atlantic Coast. Melissa is in Istres, about 45 minutes west of Marseille in the south of France on the Mediterranean. Meghan is in a small town outside of Dijon east of Paris. Kristina is also in a small town outside of Strasbourg also east of Paris and close to the German border.
Once we had our train tickets, carte 12-25 and new cell phones we decided to head back to the hotel to drop everything off. On our walk back we came across St. Sulpice. It has one of the largest organs in Europe.
Finally back at the hotel, it turned out that this would be when I crashed. I had been doing so well all day but once we were back in our room, I gave in and took a power nap. I have been awake for almost 36 hours besides the little sleep I had on the plane.
After my nap we went to dinner. On the way back we stopped at a student bar for a drink but I was so tired at this point that I just wanted to go back to the hotel and sleep for what would be 12 hours.


Day 2: Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Today we decided that we were going to do some touristy stuff in Paris. After showering and having breakfast at the hotel (coffee and bread) we walked to the Catacombs. When we got there the line was around the block! It turned out that we would wait an hour and a half. But once inside it was well worth it. The Catacombs are an underground burial ground in Paris. At the beginning of the 1800s Paris cemeteries were at capacity and there was more demand for burial space after a widespread flu killed more people. So the mayor of Paris decided to empty Paris’s cemeteries and move the remains to an old quarry in the south part of the city. They would be nearly organized and arranged and new markers would be installed to tell visitors which cemeteries the remains had come from. Then the entire place was covered over and now has an eerie cave-like feel. There are so many remains down there it is incredible.
After the Catacombs we were going to go to the Montparnasse Cemetery but we forgot because we were hungry. We decided to take the train to the Eiffel Tower and get lunch somewhere around there. But once we got off the train Meghan was so starving that she headed straight for the Eiffel Tower and got lunch at one of the touristiest places. There are good deals to be found if you can hold off hunger just a little bit longer.
We all got lunch and ate on the Champs de Mars, the huge park in the Eiffel Tower’s shadow. We sat in the grass and relaxed for about an hour before heading to Place de Torcadaro across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower. We took pictures and then walked to the Arc de Triomphe. We sat for a while and just watched the cars entering and exiting the roundabout. It is Paris’s busiest with eight streets converging at one point.
Then we got on the train and headed back in the direction of the hotel. We went back and showered and changed then went to dinner. Tuesdays are student nights at bars in Paris and we decided to try a few suggested in my guidebook. When we went to the first one we were the only ones there! We decided to stay for one drink then try another place. Apparently either the book was wrong about the bars or we were too early in the night.


Day 3: Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Today we headed out to walk around in the Marais district. We took the metro to Place de la Bastille where Parisians stormed the prison at the start of the French Revolution. Melissa found a vintage store in one of my guidebooks so we decided to check it out. It was cool but everything there was so expensive. They had a ton of Burberry trench coats but as I brought my Christian Dior one I didn’t think I needed to splurge on another. After looking around the store for a while, no one bought anything and we headed for Place des Voges. I always love going to Place des Voges. It’s a square and all the buildings are exactly alike and everything is symmetrical right down to the size of the windows and the pitch of the roofs. We sat in the grass and watched all the little French kids play in the park.
We decided that we wanted to take a boat tour of Paris at night so we went back to the Eiffel Tower where most of the boats leave from. We ate dinner at a nice café on Rue Cler then headed back to the Champs de Mars to sit in the grass under the Eiffel Tower at sunset and wait for our boat. People sell all kinds of things to tourists under the Eiffel Tower and we decided to buy a bottle of Champagne. A guy approached us and asked if we wanted to buy it. We asked how much and he said 20E! We told him he was crazy and to forget it. But he was persistent and so was I. we finally got the bottle for 5E!
And so we drank our Champagne under the Eiffel Tower and waited for our boat. It was at 9pm so we had about an hour to kill. We were the first people in line to board the boat because we wanted seats in the front where it was open.
The boat tour was excellent! I would definitely recommend this to anyone visiting Paris but be sure to go at night when all the buildings are illuminated.


Day 4: Thursday, September 29, 2011

Today everyone is leaving Paris to go to their new towns. I’m staying until Saturday. We got up and had breakfast at the hotel and paid our bills. It turned out to be cheaper than we had originally expected because I let them know that I would not be there for two nights and despite the fact that we still had a room for four people they only charged us for two the first night and three the second.
We all packed and Kristina was the first to leave. She took a cab to Gare de l’Est. Meghan and Melissa helped me take my bags to my new hotel just down the street. It is very simple but I will only be here two nights so it is fine. It is the Hotel Stella and Ernest Hemingway once stayed here. But there is no wifi or breakfast nor are there bath towels.
After I dropped all my stuff in my room the three of us went to lunch nearby at Place St. Michel. Then we walked back to the hotel and they got a cab for Gare de Lyon. I was finally on my own in Paris.
I decided to go to St. Chapelle church where they claim to have some remains of Christ. But the line was way too long. I almost went to the nearby Conciergerie – where famous people like Marie Antoinette stayed until being executed – but it didn’t interest me presently.
Finally I decided to go to the Musée Carnavalet, the Paris history museum. I had wanted to go the last time I was in Paris but it was closed. It turned out to be free and I wandered through time and its excellent collection.
Tyler Walton, a guy who is also teaching English in La Rochelle, texted me to meet up for dinner. I was to meet up with his friend who would then bring me to him – very strange way of doing introductions. And so I met his friend Aaron, who had also been an assistant and is now living in Paris, and we walked to meet Tyler at the Eiffel Tower where he was also meeting another friend. The three of them went to Baylor University in Waco, Texas. We decided to get gyros from the Latin Quarter and eat at Notre Dame.
After we ate I went back to my hotel and read more of my book. It is a women’s diary and explains her involvement in the French Resistance during World War II. It turns out that others in her group lived on the same street where I was now staying. When I asked the owner of the hotel if she knew this woman’s story she said no but that her parents had hidden Jewish children in the basement of the hotel during the war.


Day 5: Friday, September 30, 2011

Today I started by going to the Musée d’Orsay. It’s another art museum in Paris but is often overlooked for the much busier Louvre. The building used to be a train station but now houses some excellent pieces of art. It was massive; I did my best to see almost everything in the time that I had allotted myself.
After the museum I had lunch in the Tuileries gardens across the Seine. I had a sandwich and relaxed in the sun. The weather this week has been excellent! Although it has been hot some days – 85 at the end of September in Paris – it could have been much worse.
At the Musée d’Orsay I decided to buy two museum tickets for the price of one. It was 13E to visit the Musée d’Orsay and the Orangerie where Monet’s paintings are exhibited. The Orangerie was excellent was well! The colors in Monet’s paintings are awesome.
After going to two art museums I decided that that was enough for me for one day. I like art but museums can be tiring. I walked back to my hotel to grab my book and then went to the Jardins du Luxembourg to read more.
For dinner, I met Tyler and Aaron again and we bought food at a grocery store and ate on the Pont des Arts. I walked back to my hotel and read more before going to bed.


Day 6: Saturday, October 1, 2011

Today I’m going to La Rochelle! I checked out of my hotel and left my bags in the lobby. I have about two hours of so before I need to be at the train station. I had breakfast at a café just opposite the Jardins du Luxembourg. There wasn’t much I could do in that time before leaving so after I ate I went to the park to read some more.
When it was time for me to head back to the hotel, I first stopped at the hotel where my parents and brother and I will be staying for Christmas. It seems very nice and well kept up.
Back at the Hotel Stella I got my bags and asked them to call a taxi for me. It came and took me to Gare Montparnasse for my train to La Rochelle. I was pretty early so I sat on my bags and finished my book.
Once I was finally on the train with all my bags I was able to relax. I got out my Kindle and started reading another book – Nellie Bly’s Ten Days in a Mad House. The train takes three hours to reach La Rochelle and passes through the Loire Valley on the way. There were four stops on the route.
Tyler and I arrived at the train station in La Rochelle and waited for my contact person to pick us up. He had asked that I let him know what time our train would be arriving and he would take us to the hostel. He had booked the hostel for all of us until we found housing so we could decide ourselves how long we wanted to stay. I decided on three nights.
After getting our bags to the room Tyler and I decided to walk into town for dinner. We ate at a good restaurant in the Vieux Port – three courses for 13E. It’s also nice to be at the hostel now because they have internet! After a few days of being disconnected I finally called my parents.
Day 7: Sunday, October 2, 2011

Today was a very relaxing day at the beach! I got up and had breakfast at the hostel. I had to be out of the room so that they could clean it so I figured I would go to the beach that is about a ten minute walk away.
I heard that everyone was getting together at a bar at 3pm so I went to the beach until then. It was excellent! I read for a while then took a nap. At 3pm I headed into town to go to the bar but when I got there no one was there. I waited for a while then ran into Justine and Shannon, two other American assistants. Justine is from South Carolina and just graduated from the College of Charleston. Shannon is from New Jersey and graduated from Clemson.
They said they were headed to the other beach that is closer to downtown so I decided to go hang out with them. Justine is living with Jo – another assistant from Syracuse. At the beach we met Catherine who is from New Zealand.
Tyler met up with us at the beach and around 6pm we walked back to the hostel. I wanted to shower then we ate there. We had duck confit for 6E. We used the internet then got ready for bed and our first day of work tomorrow. Tyler has to go to Poitiers for his orientation but mine is here in La Rochelle with all the rest of the primary assistants.


Day 8: Monday, October 3, 2011

Today we had our first orientation to the program and an even deeper look into the French system of bureaucracy. We first had to fill out our forms for social security. Since we are now government employees we must pay taxes and are entitled to French health care. Their coverage is nice – 70% of all doctors’ visits and prescriptions are paid for by the government. If we wanted we could enroll in supplemental coverage that would pay the other 30%. I decided I didn’t need that.
Then we had to enroll is life, liability and renter’s coverage which is mandatory. We then got our school schedule for the year. We get almost eight weeks of vacation! In the month of October we work for three weeks then get two weeks off. We get off on my birthday (Veterans’ Day)! Then we work three weeks in November and two weeks in December before getting two more weeks off for Christmas.
We broke for lunch and Shannon and I decided to try to find an apartment together. I had originally planned to live with Tyler and Garrett but they have already found places for themselves. Garrett is from Oregon and graduated from the University of Arizona. He is living with French roommates. Tyler is a secondary assistant and has been offered accommodations at his school for 200E a month. Everyone else now has their own place except for Shannon and me. Tonight is my last night at the hostel then Thiery, our program coordinator, is taking me to the school where Tyler is living. They have offered me a studio while I continue looking. Shannon is staying with Justin and Jo.
After our day of orientation Shannon and I went back to the hostel to get online and look for an apartment. It turns out that renting here is a lot harder than we had anticipated. Because we came so late in the year most all the apartments are already rented to university students. We are also limited in our options because we need something furnished.
A bit of good news – today we found out that we will actually be making more money than we had originally anticipated. They are taking less in taxes than we had been told.
After making a few calls for apartments we gave up the hunt for the day. We will do more later this week. Shannon left the hostel and I had dinner there again. There is a French guy who is staying in my room that is also looking for an apartment in La Rochelle. We thought about maybe trying all get a place together but finding three furnished rooms is harder than finding two. I watched a movie at the hostel then went to bed.


Day 9: Tuesday, October 4, 2011

I woke up, had breakfast and checked out of the hostel. Thiery said he would pick me up to take me to my new studio. When he got there he told me that he could take me to his office and let me use his computer to try to find an apartment with Shannon. She would meet us there. We tried for a long time. We made calls and left messages but lots of places are either already rented or not furnished.
Shannon and I went to lunch then everyone had to be back in the afternoon to schedule their school observation visits for Thursday and next Monday. On Thursday I will be going to my first school. I got lucky and all my schools are in La Rochelle. I’m in three schools total teaching three classes in each.
After scheduling our visits Thiery took me to the studio. I had to sign some forms to get the keys. I will also be paying 200E per month but I can only stay for two months. I hope I can find something this week! The studio is nice but very simple. There is a full bathroom, a bed, a desk and a type of closet/dresser to store my cloths. I have gradually unpacked but I don’t want to settle in too much then have to pack up again when I find my own place. There is also a shared kitchen space with a fridge, toaster oven and two hot plates.
One nice thing about the studio is that there is a supermarket right down the street. I went in and bought a ton of food for only 22E! I got five apples, five pears, five kiwis, green beans, granola bars, 16 yogurts, orange juice, pasta, sauce, toilet paper and soap. I went home and made pasta with meat sauce. I also finished reading Nellie Bly’s book. I’ve now read two books in a week! I’m going to start another tomorrow.


Day 10: Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Today I had a meeting at the bank to open my account with Sandrine; she is one of Thiery’s assistants. I was the last person to open an account. Everyone will be banking with CIC. It was really simple but for the fact that after September 23, 2011, no bank in France will accept traveler’s checks. I brought $1,000 in traveler’s checks to make my initial deposit so that I could have access to a security deposit and rent for my apartment. There was nothing they could do for me at the bank. I decided to keep the checks until my parents come in December and they can take them back to the States and cash them in there.
French banks also offer cell phone plans. I decided that even though I already had a phone I would sign up for the bank’s phone because it has unlimited text and web and one hour of calling a month for 28E. The phone itself is only 1E and it’s a smartphone. I decided to get the Samsung Wave which looks like the iPhone. The woman at the bank told me that they would text me when my new phone was able to be picked up this Friday.
After going to the bank I went back to the office with Sandrine and Shannon met me to look for apartments again. Still no luck. We had to leave at noon because everyone only works a half-day on Wednesday s. We went to the market and had lunch then met up with everyone else at Vieux Port for Sammy’s 21st birthday. She is from the Isle of Man. We had Champagne for her birthday and waited for everyone else. We walked to the park to sit outside until dinner. At about 6pm about six of us went to Fitzpatrick’s Pub for a beer before dinner.
For dinner we went to a great little restaurant inside the old part of the city. I had stake haché with frites. It was excellent and only about 8E! I walked Catherine home because my house is further than hers and it’s on my way. We all decided not to stay out because we have our first day in the classroom tomorrow. I’m observing classes with Elly; she’s from Suffolk in the U.K. I started a book by Wendy Kopp on my Kindle; it’s entitled One Day, All Children… and it’s about Teach For America.


Day 11: Thursday, October 6, 2011

Thiery picked me up first today to take us to our schools. He also picked up Garrett and Elly. Elly and I are teaching at Descartes. We met the teachers and observed about four classes. One teacher let us teach a little right away. We played Simon Says in English. They were also able to ask us questions about where we lived and if we flew to France or took a boat!
French primary classes are strange. Each class is either at two or three different levels and ages. So they could have six and seven year olds in a class with eight and nine year olds. It would be like having first and third graders in the same class in the States.
All the teachers seem really nice and we talked about our schedules. They would like us there on Thursdays and Friday s but we may try to move the Thursday classes to Friday because we still don’t have our schedules from the other schools. We are observing at the other schools on Monday then have one more orientation scheduled for next Thursday. Then we will have one week of teaching before having two weeks of vacation.
After our observations Elly and I walked downtown to get on the internet and meet up with her roommate Amy who is from Ireland. We thought we had found an internet café but it was closed. As we were window shopping I used my iPhone4 to get online at one of the hotels. I found an apartment that was perfect for us. It’s in Aytré, south of La Rochelle but at least three other assistants live there. I called the number and the woman that answered told me to call another number that was listed online. I also called Thiery and told him what I had found and asked him to call for me. He did and left a message. He told me to come to his office tomorrow at 9:30am and we could call again and keep looking if it didn’t work out.
I went home and ate dinner and Tyler cooked for some secondary assistants. They invited me to eat with them but I had already eaten when they asked. I had planned on going out for Sammy’s birthday but no one called me and I don’t have that many phone numbers so I just stayed home and read.


Day 12: Friday, October 7, 2011

Today I went to Thiery’s office to meet Shannon and continue our apartment hunt. You can’t say we’re not trying. We thought we found a few but it is difficult to understand everything on the phone when we call. We thought Thiery or Sandrine would call for us but they didn’t. Finally, we found an apartment in La Rochelle and set up a viewing for tomorrow at 11am. It is through an agency so if we sign for it we will have to pay their agency fees.
We decided to go the agency office and clarify our phone conversation and see what their fees would be. Once we got there we were told that the apartment was already in the process of being rented and it would not be available for us. This entire process is so frustrating! There is an excellent rental market here in La Rochelle and if anyone wanted to make some money here would be the place to invest. I can’t imagine Athens even being this difficult.
While we were apartment hunting I got online and read that Steve Jobs died. I felt so out of the loop! I can’t believe I wasn’t watching TV or online when I heard the news. This whole not having the internet thing is really starting to put a damper on my ability to keep up with current events.
Shannon and I stopped at a café and were going to go to the bank but it was closed for lunch. In France, almost every business closes for between an hour and two hours for lunch. I went with Shannon to Justine and Jo’s house and used the internet. Their house is really nice but it is kind of far from downtown. They both bought bikes and you can take the bus but it stops running really early at night and not at all on Sundays.
I went back to my studio to get ready for Garrett’s dinner party. Tyler and I took the bus to Place de Verdun then transferred to go to Aytré. All the primary assistants were there along with Garrett’s roommates, Elly and Amy’s French roommate and two girls that are couchsurfing at Garrett’s. One is from Canada and the other is from Belgium.


Day 13: Saturday, October 8, 2011

Today I didn’t do much. It was nice to relax and not stress about finding an apartment. Although maybe someone posted the one we are looking for. Shannon and I are hoping to wait until the new comprehensive list of available apartments comes out on Monday.
I ate dinner at my studio and met Tyler and another secondary assistant, Manuel. He is a Spanish assistant from Honduras. The Jazz Festival started today and we figured we could walk downtown and hang out but once we got down there we couldn’t find anyone. We knew it was going on earlier but maybe just not at night.
Once downtown I stopped to look in the windows of every real estate agency for something for Shannon and me. I didn’t have much luck.
Tyler and I walked home and I watched Saturday Night Live Best of ‘09/’10 Season that I brought before going to bed.


Day 14: Sunday, October 9, 2011

Today I didn’t do anything. I finished Wendy Kopp’s book on Kindle and went to Justine and Jo’s for dinner with them and Shannon. Maybe tomorrow we will get lucky and find an apartment! I’ve now read three books in two weeks! I don’t think I’ve ever read so much so fast before.

day 52-57

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!

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.

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…

day 42 & day 43

Day 42: Friday, May 1, 2009: Today was really fun! We all got to sleep late. My family was really tired after the time change. Today, we decided to stay in Nice and explore the old city. We started by walking to the top of the mountain where we could see the whole city. There used to be an old military fort there that protected the port but it was destroyed by Louis XVI. There is also an artificial waterfall.

Today, my friends arrived. They called and said that they were going to the beach. Even though the beach is rocky, there was excellent weather and they got to lie out. After we were done at the mountain, we walked down and met my friends on the beach so my family could meet them. I changed my clothes and stayed with them on the beach while my family found a grocery store; our hotel room has a kitchenette with a fridge, hotplates, and a sink.

After a couple of hours, we all went back to our rooms to change and get ready for dinner. We all ate together. It was really fun. I had a Nicoise Salad and it was excellent! After dinner, we ot the best ice cream known to Nice – Finacchio. After that, we went back to the hotel to enjoy some wine before my friends and I went out for another drink.



Day 43: Saturday, May 2, 2009: Today, we went to Monte-Carlo, Monaco! It was really excellent! We woke up and took the TER train to Monaco. We got there just in time to see the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace of Monaco. Monaco is a principality of France, meaning that the citizens have dual citizenship. Basically, they are French and have a Prince of Monaco and the President of France.

After we saw the changing of the guard, we were able to see the view of the port. There are so many huge yachts! Money is everything in Monte-Carlo; I loved it! We saw a huge yacht with a helicopter parked on the stern and a Rolls Royce parked right on the dock – this is the life!

So we walked to the harbor and took a ferryboat to the other side where we were able to walk up and see the famous Casino of Monte-Carlo. Naturally, when in Monte-Carlo, one has to gamble a little bit. And so I did. We all did except for my mom. Outside the Casino, there are so many nice Mercedes, Porches, BMWs, Bentleys, Mazaraettis, etc.

We had a light lunch and went looking in a few stores on our way back to the train station. We went in Zara, but I didn’t find anything that I had to have. We took the TER back to Nice and met up with my friends to go to dinner again. Afterwards, we had excellent ice cream again. It was a really fun day!

Day 41

Day 41: Thursday, April 30, 2009: Today was my first day in Nice, France, with my family! But first, I had class. We are scheduled to have two hours of class, then a four-hour break, then two more hours of class. So I bought a train ticket to leave during the break at 12:15 p.m. So then Christophe decided that we were just going to have one long four-hour class. Because everyone loves that!

The class was creative writing. We began at school and went on another walk of the city. We wrote down everything that we heard, saw, smelled, tasted, and felt. We were then going to use this and write a poem. We ended at the hill of the Palace of the Popes to write. I only had about 15 minutes to write before I had to leave to walk back to my house and get ready and go to the train station. Bernard drove me there after insisting that I eat a ham sandwich.

At the train station, I expected that he would just drop me off and go. I know how to take the train. He was really nice and carried one of my bags for me and waited on the voie until the train arrived. Then I found my seat and began working on the four-hour ride there. I did some grammar homework and read a little. I didn’t want to write in my journal because I would need the dictionary and then people would not think that I was French. I hate being pegged as an American anytime I go somewhere because people don’t understand that I am studying here, they just assume that I am a tourist.

So then I arrived in Nice. The views from the train along the ride were excellent! The sea is so blue! I love the Cote d’Azur! I waited at the train station for my Mom, aunt, and Mamaw because they were flying into Milan, Italy and taking the train to Nice. The train arriving from Milan was only half an hour after I arrived and I figured that they were on that so I waited. The train arrived an hour and fifteen minutes late without my family. So then I waited for the next trains from Italy; nothing. I waited for three hours before deciding that I was done and I walked to the hotel.

The hotel was recommended by the program director. It doesn’t have a website and people only know of it by word of mouth. I got a room for us four for 100E a night. It was across the street from the beach! That is an excellent for that type of location in Old Town Nice. If anyone ever goes there, let me know and I will pass along the hotel info. The hotel is more than 100 years old and the rooms could use a little TLC but it was excellent nonetheless.

Well the woman at the hotel didn’t even take my name of credit card info when I called to make my reservation. It is that laid back. I also reserved a room for three of my friends – Melissa, Lance, and Meghan – who were also going to Nice for the weekend. They are arriving tomorrow. Tomorrow is May Day so there are no classes!

So I finally get to the hotel and I tell the nice old woman owner that my family’s train was late and I wanted to wait for them here. She gave me the room without paying. I also explained that I was studying in Avignon and from that point on she spoke French with me and didn’t treat me like an American tourist. I unpacked a little and decided that I wasn’t going to sit in a hotel and wait for them to arrive since they hadn’t even called me. So I left and walked along the beach. I walked all the way to the point by the port and sat to watch the sunset. Just then, the woman at the hotel called and told me that my family had arrived!

So then I walked back and met them. It was really nice to see them after six weeks in France. They freshened up and then we found a place to eat since no one had yet. We had Italian. I had my Mom try Pastis with me. It was a good day besides that wait at the train station but what can you do.

Day 37, 38, 39, 40

Day 37: Sunday, April 26, 2009: Today was really fun, even though it rained a little. The Zemmits told John and me that we could invite friends to go to L’Isle Sur Sorges. I brought Lance; John didn’t bring anyone. The five of us drove in their car.

At L’Isle Sur Sorges, we went antiquing. It was really interesting. Lance and I found Picasso and Matisse drawings; if I wanted to spend 2000E, I could’ve owned a Picasso. Maybe next time. We must have seen two million euro-worth of antiques (probably like $3 million USD).

Then we ate at a patisserie where Jacqueline knows the owner. She cuts her hair. I had a pizza and tarte aux fruits. It was excellent. Since it was only like 1 p.m., we weren’t really ready to go home and Bernard asked us if we wanted to go to Fountain de Vaucluse so we went.

It was really cool. It’s a little town on this river. But the river has no source; divers descended 300 meters and still couldn’t find the source. It begins at the base of a mountain. The water is crystal clear and there are rapids as it flows through the town. Later, we saw the old paper mills in town. After that, we returned home. The Zemmits dropped Lance off at his street then we drove home. I took a quick nap before dinner. After dinner, we watched the news and I had homework to do. It was a really fun day.



Day 38: Monday, April 27, 2009: Today, I got to sleep late because it was Monday! I had class at 12:45 p.m. so I ate lunch in the sun on the terrace. In class, we got back our last grammar test; I was satisfied with my grade.

After class, I went to Casino with Melissa. I bought really thin sliced ham that I imagined was bacon because I miss bacon. We went to her house and made lunch. I grilled my ham/bacon and made a sandwich; it could have been a BLT but I forgot to buy LT… oh well. It was still good. After lunch, Lance met us and we all went shopping. Melissa wanted a new bathing suit for the weekend and Lance and I went to Zara. We both bought a shirt and jeans. I really like Zara and we need one in Ohio!

We waited for Melissa and saw some of our other friends. After that, I went home and had dinner. After dinner, we watched the news and I read Fanny by Marcel Pagnol for class.



Day 39: Tuesday, April 28, 2009: Nothing significant happened today that I can remember.



Day 40: Wednesday, April 29, 2009: Today was not fun. Apparently it is impossible for the program director to coordinate class times with the profs and the university. Thus, our classes we cut short because the building was closing. Before class, I went to the internet café with Melissa to print our papers for writing class tomorrow. After class, we had dinner and watched the news.

Then, I had to do some homework and pack for the weekend. I am leaving tomorrow for a long weekend with my Mom, Aunt Holly, and Mamaw in Nice, France! So I packed for the weekend then I packed a bag for my Mom to take back home of stuff that I no longer need – like my North Face jacket.

At about 11 p.m., Lance called me and asked if I wanted to play cards with him, Kelby, Meghan, and her roommate Erin. I went there and we played Hearts. I can’t remember ever playing before so it was new to me. Maybe I did okay?

day 35 & 36

Day 35: Friday, April 24, 2009: Today in history class, we had a walking tour of the city. It was really fun and interesting but everyone forgot that it was today so a lot of people had computers and heavy bags. We did that for two hours. Afterwards, I went to the university library and wrote my film review that was due at 5 p.m. that day. It only had to be a page so it was pretty easy.

Then we had literature class. The professor is so bizarre and the topics are really obscure. So then it was time for dinner. I went home and found that I had received a package from my Mommy! It was Easter candy from Graeter’s – a Cincinnati favorite. I had two chocolate bunnies and a dozen assorted eggs. I ate one bunny then and decided that I would share the eggs with my family and then I could talk more about Cincinnati. Jacqueline even looked it up in an atlas!

So after dinner, the four of us each got to choose an egg for desert. After dinner was over, I had to leave because I was meeting Melissa to walk to Place d’Horlodge where everyone else was meeting to go to the movies. We saw Coco avant Chanel in this one-screen theatre that used to be a church. It was really cool. The movie was really good; Coco Chanel is played by Audrey Toutou. She was in Amelie. The movie was in French without subtitles. It was a little difficult to understand the actors at times but I understood the movie and the story. I want it to come to America but I don’t know if it will be as big as it is here. Ten people went to the theatre.

Afterwards, six of us went to Red Sky – one of our favorite bars. We had a table outside and decided not to stay out too late because we had an excursion the next day and we had to wake up early to meet for the bus.



Day 36: Saturday, April 25, 2009: Today we had another group excursion. We went to Bories, Gordes, and Roussillion. We met the bus by the university at 9 a.m. The first stop was Bories. First, we waited in the parking lot for half an hour while we waited for them to open. Great planning here. We knew that this would be boring. It is a village where every house is built of rocks. It was restored in the 1970s to look as it did when it was built in the 4th century or something. Seeing one house built with rocks is okay but to see an entire village is a little much. We walked through it pretty quickly.

So then we went to Gordes. It was really cool. The bus let us off at an overlook where we took lots of pictures. Then we walked to the village. It was really hilly and there were really cool old houses. Gordes is for old, rich people. When we got to the village, we had time to walk around. It was cool but there wasn’t really anything to do.

Then we went to this Ocre reserve thing. Ocre is a red powder found only in France that is used in paints and dyes. The tour was a little interesting but it was in English, I speak French; I’ve been in France for six weeks; give me the tour in French. We all put the powder all over our hands and faces and it looked like we had fake tans.

So then we went to Roussillion. It was probably my favorite part of the day. We went to this National Park that we had to pay for; it should have been included in the excursion. The dirt was red and there were sandstone cliffs. It was really cool. After that, we had ice cream at a really unique place. I had lavender flavor.

So then it was back on the bus to return to Avignon. I took a little nap. Then we were home and I continued my nap until dinner time. After dinner, I played cards at Lance’s with him, Kelby, and Meghan.

(Google Bories, Gordes, Roussillion, Ocre)

Day 34

Day 34:

Thursday, April 23, 2009: Today, we had four hours of oral grammar because the creative writing teacher is out of town. Next week we will have four hours of creative writing so it evens out.

We started with an exercise about expressions like: “I’m as hungry as a horse,” or “I have a frog in my throat.” For that, the French say: “I have a cat in my throat.” So that was what we talked about. We also talked about the levels of slang too.

After class, I went to the university library with Lance to use the internet. It turns out that on Monday they voted to keep the university open for the week and have spring break as scheduled next week. So we could have had classes here this week. I uploaded a bunch of pics and videos onto Facebook.

Then, I had my journal meeting with Katy. I walked to the wrong place and was late. Then we had class again. This time, two groups had presentations. Zoe and Sakinah talked about an MC Solaar song and Rachel talked about a Canadian song. After listening to both, we go through line-by-line and discover the slang and colloquial words that are used in them.

Before class, I talked to Christophe about missing class to spend time with my family in Nice. He approved my request. Katy told me it was against the rules and that I needed to talk to Christophe about it; he had no problem. Then I asked if he could suggest a hotel because Katy told me that he lived there for two years.

His first suggestion was 200E/night; probably a little high for our price range. The second place is an apartment rented by a family. It is all done by word of mouth; they have no website. He gave me the phone number and told me it was worth a shot so after class, I went to Melissa’s with Lance and Meghan and I Skyped to reserve a room. The room for my family has two beds, a bathroom, and a kitchenette a block from the sea for 100E/night! While I was on the phone with the woman, I asked her about another room for Meghan, Melissa, and Lance. They got the same room as us for 25E/person/night. It was really weird because the lady made our reservation without even taking my name or credit card number. She gave me the address and said see you soon.

So then I Skyped my mom and grandma and told them that it was taken care of. I went home and we had dinner. Afterwards, Melissa, Meghan, and I went to Lance’s and Kelby had a bunch of people over and we had a party before going to the club. There were probably ten people there. At the club, it was there anniversary night party so it was really fun. They had an energy drink company there with free samples and they were giving away a bunch of free stuff. I got a messenger bag.

(Google MC Solaar)

Day 32 & 33

Day 32:

Tuesday, April 21, 2009: We started the day by finishing the movie and then it was time for the test. We were allowed to use a dictionary and our buscherelle (a book with conjugations of tons of French verbs. Because spelling changes occur so much with verbs, even French people use them.) And of course, I forgot my dictionary.

It was okay, I really didn’t need it that much. I didn’t think that the test was too hard but I never really know how I do on French tests until I get them back. After our test we had history again. It was fine. Some people really can’t understand the professor because of his accent but I follow pretty well. We also are talking about the Catholic Church its connection to France and some people aren’t Catholic so it is harder to understand.

After class, I went to Melissa’s house to use the internet. We were hanging out at her house and got a text that our next class had been moved up. Excellent planning; no one tells us anything. We got there almost 30 minutes late; it was okay because other people were later than us. We were talking about Balzac again… I do not understand the professor’s explanations all the time.

After class, I went home and chilled on the terrace. After dinner, I went to Lance’s with Melissa and Meghan. We watched Toy Story 2 in French.



Day 33:

Wednesday, April 22, 2009: Today we had a cooking lesson at the market. We were divided into three groups to prepare a Provencal meal. I was with Shawna, Lance, Melissa, and John to make the pork. Katy gave us the money and shopping list and we bought our supplies right there in the market. They have a kitchen area for groups like us and they also have cooking demonstrations on Sunday mornings. The other groups were cooking Ratatouille and apple pie.

We bought our stuff and started cooking. There were way too many chefs in the kitchen, as the expression goes. I didn’t want to fight for a job so I mostly just watched and made sarcastic comments about what everyone else was doing wrong. My only job was squeezing the lemon and pouring the juice onto the pork. Yey! So then we had to wait.

The pork took the longest to cook. The Ratatouille could have been cooked a lot longer than it was too. The pies were done first. Finally, we were ready to eat. Katy bought plats, plastic forks and knives and napkins and we went to a nearby park to eat outside. We had to bring our own drinks… thanks for telling us that one.

After lunch, a bunch of us went to the island because it was a really nice day. Lance and I took the ferry boat there and Melissa and John walked across the bridge. There were like eight of us who lay out and enjoyed the day. While we were there, we were approached by a cameraman and his assistant and they asked us to be in their documentary about spring. We explained that we were Americans and they probably wanted to talk to people with better French skills but they insisted so we obliged. I said that to me, spring was sun, fresh air, and flowers.

We stayed until about 5 p.m. and then walked home. Everyone left before Lance, Melissa, and I because they had to watch a movie for the Resistance class. John suggested our house without asking Jacqueline and Bernard so I didn’t want to be there when five people came over. It turns out that they couldn’t watch the movie on our TV because it was in a different format or something so they watched it in our living room on John’s Mac. Sweet.

When I got home, Jacqueline cut my hair. She told me that I had a really beautiful face and that I could do some really radical hairstyles but I explained that I was happy with what I had. She wanted her son to cut my hair because he cuts hair for L’Oreal in Paris professionally but I will be in Nice with my family when he visits.

Day 31

Day 31:

Monday, April 20, 2009: Today started by sucking. We have class from 12:45-2:45 p.m. so I got up early so that I could go to the university library for some much needed internet time – I was having withdraws. I walk all the way there to find out that it is closed until further notice… great. Now what do I do? The sign said that one gate was open so I figured that I would walk all the way around the block and check it out. I just wanted to sit somewhere and use the network.

So I get to the gate and there are students that have closed it. Basically only teachers and administrators are getting in to prepare for a big meeting later that day to discuss further action for the strike. Excellent. So then I walk all the way back to the main gate where I know I will see other group members and we will decide what to do about classes. I sat there for probably half an hour before I saw someone. I did get asked twice what was going on and I had to explain the situation.

I sat with Lance until everyone else gradually started showing up. Apparently, Christophe sent out an email saying that classes at the university were cancelled all week because of the strike and they had reserved space for our classes somewhere else. We were to meet at the university gates at 12:15 rather than 12:45 and he would show us where we would be having class for the next two weeks (the week after is there spring break).

Thanks for letting me know. I’m so glad I have internet at my house and can check my email 24/7 like at OU… oh wait; I don’t! How was I supposed to know where/when to meet? So much for this phone tree for useful information.

It’s a good thing that the new building is on the street that I live on; otherwise I would be even more upset. So we finally get into a classroom and Christophe tells us what is up with the university. Apparently, some students were taking exams at McDonald’s this week so that they could finish classes and would no longer be affected by the strike.

On today’s agenda: watch the movie “Marius” in preparation for tomorrow’s test. The plan was to watch it on a huge screen at the university but now we were watching it on a TV no bigger than 27 inches. And it was in black and white and had subtitles. Okay, so the movie finally started and it was really good and then there wasn’t time to finish it. For homework on our schedule, we were supposed to write a comparison of the book and the movie. This was obviously not going to be possible. Christophe told us that we would finish it before the test tomorrow. Finally some good news.

So that was the end of my classes and Lance and I walked to the internet café to get our fixes. He doesn’t have internet at home either. We were there for almost two hours. I Skyped with my dad and grandma; Lance posted pics on his flickr. Afterwards, I went across the street and bought more minutes for my cell phone. International texting from my first days in Paris really sucked up my minutes. I got 45E worth of minutes for 35E.

Then we walked home; just before it started storming. Provence has afternoon storms like Ohio. I chilled before dinner. We had fries! (Not French Fries… just fries.) After dinner, John and I had to help Bernard and two of his friends push an old truck into our garage. Bernard is putting a new engine in it.

After the news, I watched the rest of the Marius movie with John and Bernard. John borrowed the movie from Christophe because he is in the class for fun and doesn’t receive credit for it. He didn’t go to class to watch it and doesn’t have to take the test. Bernard served us really good digestifs (like aperitifs after dinner). This drink was a specialty of Normandy and tasted like apples and fingernail polish remover. Marius is a comedy by Marcel Pagnol and is really famous and really well-known in French culture. Bernard had seen it like six times already and still loved it and watched it with us.

After that, I had to start studying. I get really bad test anxiety for French tests. I studied for about an hour and then Melissa sent me a text saying that she was going to Lance’s to study with him and Kelby and I went too. We studied together until 1 a.m. then we went home.


(Google Marius or Marcel Pagnol)

Day 30

Day 30:

Sunday, April 19, 2009: DAY 30!!! Wow time really has flown by. It doesn’t seem like I’ve been in France for a month! Today was really fun! I went to Aix-en-Provence with Jacqueline and Bernard. They invited John but he had to stay home and write a paper for his Resistance class that I am not in. They told me I could bring up to four friends but I didn’t have cell phone minutes to ask people.

I would have invited Melissa but she already had plans to go to Marseille with her host mom and family for her host mom’s birthday. I invited Lance but I didn’t know if he could get up and be ready to go by 11a.m. when they wanted to leave. He couldn’t. So it was just the three of us. It takes an hour by car to get to Aix and Jacqueline let me sit in the passenger’s seat so that I could see the countryside. It was really pretty.

We were going to Aix because their youngest son, Mikael, lives there. He is a high school English teacher and is moving to New York City in August to teach. He lives alone but has a girlfriend – more on her later. So we were at his house for awhile we let to go into town. Mikael drove.

We parked and walked around a little farmer’s market. It was an okay day… a little overcast with a chance of showers. They showed me around Aix a little then we found an Italian restaurant and ate lunch outside. I had this really good spinach ravioli with a ricotta cheese sauce and cream brulee for dessert. This was Mikael’s birthday lunch because they were not able to celebrate earlier because they were in Paris for the Easter weekend. He is 31.

They also talked about plans for the wedding of their other son, Phillipe, on June 27. Mikael was making plans for the bachelor party in Paris. Lunch was really good. I discreetly watched Bernard put 100E (between $130-$140US) on his credit card for the four of us. After lunch, we walked around more and saw more of the city. Aix is probably about the same size as Avignon but attracts a younger crowd with more money. The city reminded me of a much bigger Athens because it is built on hills. Avignon is cool but as much as I complain about them, I love the hills in Athens; it adds to the character.

We walked down Cours Mirabeau with its super chic stores (all closed on Sunday; probably better for my wallet that way) and we went to Mikael’s girlfriend’s house. Her name is Leah. She is 21 and studies dance. She’s moving to Brazil in August. She invited us in and we had tea. The conversation then turned to the differences in the education systems of the United States and France. The French think that it is really ridiculous that universities give athletic scholarships. A recap of the French system: all classes and books are free; students pay for food and lodging; students can earn up to a doctorate degree for free. They also think it is strange that we have rural universities in America – like OU. All the universities in France are in cities.

The students are striking in protest now because Sarkozy wants to close smaller universities – like the one in Avignon – and require that students start to pay for instruction.
So anyway, after visiting with her for awhile, we left and wandered around some more. Mikael, Leah, and I went to a Picasso and Cezanne museum. Cezanne lived and did a lot of work in Aix. The museum was free because it was Sunday; it was mildly interesting. After that, we walked down the Cour Mirabeau again and there was an outdoor antique market. There were a lot of people and a lot of really cool stuff but I really didn’t get a chance to look around that much. I think my mom and grandmas would really like it.

So then we walked all the way to the new Theatre of Aix. It has the best view of the city from the deck on the roof; but it, too, it closed on Sundays. Mikael really wanted me to see the view so he insisted that we climb the fence and go. So Mikael, Leah, and I left our bags with Jacqueline and Bernard and went. The risk was really worth the view. No one was going to stop us anyway and there were already 10 people there.

On the walk back to the car, Mikael and I talked about New York. He is looking at an apartment in midtown that is half as much space as he has now and twice as much rent per month. I told him that I just went to the city at the beginning of March and I plan on going again and he invited me to stay with him if I ever needed to!

So we went back to his apartment in Aix and left for Avignon. We had to take toll roads there; it cost almost 10E. The ride back was really pretty too; we talked about my family visiting at the end of the month. We got home and John was not home; we started eating dinner without him. After dinner, we watched the news and I did some homework/blogging before bed.

(Google Aix-en-Provence, Cézanne, New York City, etc.)

Day 29

Day 29:

Saturday, April 18, 2009: Today, we wanted to go somewhere again so Shawna, Lance, Melissa, and I went to the train station. We bought tickets for Arles with the intention of catching the bus to The Camarague. It’s supposed to be one of the prettiest places in France. It’s a nature preserve on the Mediterranean with wild white horses and flamingos, etc. We wanted to go to a ranch and ride horses. That was the plan anyway.

Well we got on the noon train to Arles and found out that the next bus was not until 4pm. We really didn’t want to wait around and be in The Camarague for an hour before coming home to get our train later. We failed on that planning; my first as a travel agent.

Shawna hadn’t been to Arles with the rest of us the first weekend so she was content with playing there. We agreed, thinking that we had seen everything there our first weekend; we were wrong. We went to the real Van Gogh gardens, not the public parks where we were before. Then we went to the café that Van Gogh painted; it is one of his most famous pieces of work. Shawna has the poster on her wall at school so she really liked seeing that.

Afterwards was by far the most interesting part of our day. We bought tickets for the Corredia (bullfight) that was cancelled on Easter weekend because of rain and storms. As American students in France, we wanted to take in as much of the culture as possible. This may have been more than we bargained for. The Corredia is a Spanish custom but because of the close proximity to Southern France it has been adopted here as well. This was also a good way for us to see the Roman Arena that we otherwise would have had to pay for.

So we get to our seats at the Corredia and there is a band and people selling drinks and snacks. It looks really interesting. At the beginning, all the Matadors process out and present themselves to the president who judges the competition. We weren’t really sure of the scoring system – more on this later. There are also men on horses and other Matadors that are assistants. On the schedule today were three main Matadors – all younger than me – and “fighting” six bulls.

As the spectacle begins, we quickly discover how gory this is going to be. We were fascinated and we all took lots of pictures then we realized what they were really doing. The bull has a ribbon nailed (maybe) in its back and at first they are just oley-ing with it. Then the men on horses come out and one of them jabs and stabs at the ribbon with a really long pole with a spike on the end. The bull reacts by attacking the horse – really sad to watch – but the horse is protected with something like chainmail.

After that, the real brutality begins. The Matador stabs sticks with nails in the end into the Toro’s (bull’s) back. This happens six times; each time becomes worse than the other. Finally, towards the end, the Matador does the most damage by sticking a sword into the bull’s back. The sword is probably a foot and a half long. This brings the bull close to death, but he still has fight in him. The oley-ing continues. Maybe they get points for that?
The sounds that the bull makes are still in my mind. They are awful cries and blood flows from its back and mouth. Finally, when the bull is about to give in to death it lies down, still fighting the taunts of the Matador with small bursts of energy. Now sitting and waiting for death, another Matador stabs the bull in the base of its head and kills it – hopefully instantly but not always.

Next, the horses are brought back in and the bull is chained to them and paraded around the arena for all to see. They also cut off its ears. The bull is pulled off and the Matador walks around the arena to acknowledge his fans. He throws the bull’s ears to two of his most adoring fans – a trophy of his conquest. He bows to the judge and exits. The arena workers come in and re-chalk the ground for the next round.

After this carnage, we all just looked at each other stupefied. We really paid to see this?! We felt like awful people by just watching it; let alone participating. This type of thing would never be allowed in America yet it was like a national sport. It seemed like I was at a Reds’ game of sorts. We looked at the program and that’s when we discovered that we would be seeing this occur five more times. Excellent.

The next Matador wanted to taunt the Toro by sitting on the ground right in front of the doors upon its initial release; smart right. Well the Toro is pissed and comes out and charges him and he can’t get out of the way fast enough and he gets trampled by the Toro. His legs go flying in the air and we all thought he was dead. I knew this was an awful place. He runs off and gets looked at and decides to go back out to fight. Basically, the same carnage occurs again; same blow-by-blow.

Only this time, when the bull attacks the horse, the horse loses its balance and falls; throwing the man on it as well. The bull is still attacking the horse and I thought that it was dead too. The other Matadors distract the bull long enough for them to stand the horse back up – he is okay.

So this was our second day in Arles. It began to rain and I bought a poncho. After the Corredia, we exited the arena and it just so happened that we walked by the butcher that was chopping up the bulls after their deaths and they were bringing the last bull there right now. We stood there mesmerized as its body passed us in the streets. We walked to the front of the arena and the Matador that won – the third one – was signing autographs on his way out. Melissa got an autograph and I took his pic.

Let’s say that no one was hungry after that. Arles is like Nimes in that everything closes at 7 p.m. We walked around for a bit then waited for our train at the station. After returning for dinner, we went to Lance’s and played cards. No one was really in the mood to go out. Now I can say that I’ve seen a Corredia. I’m not sure if I would ever do it again although I was fascinated. I don’t like the idea of taunting and torturing an animal for sport but the unpredictable-ness of it is what undoubtedly brings in the crowds.

I’ve posted two videos of the massacre on Facebook. Viewer discretion is advised.

Day 28

Day 28:

Friday, April 17, 2009: Greve Jour!!! (Strike Day!!!) As rare as a snow day in Athens, today we had a strike day! All of our classes were cancelled because of unrest yesterday (as previously noted). Apparently, students were punching administrators and professors were punching each other and administrators.

After going out last night, Lance and I decided to meet at Casino (the grocery store) and buy stuff for a picnic lunch. The weather was so nice; it was probably 75°F and sunny most of the day. We bought salami, bread, cheese, brownies, baconsmaaks (like cheese puffs but bacon flavored), apples, and a bottle of wine for 10E. We packed it in my book bag and headed to the Palais des Papes.

We climbed the hill and sat in the grass on the hill overlooking the Rhone and had lunch. Afterwards, we just chilled and enjoyed the day. Often, I find myself saying that, “This is the life.” To the French, this weather is still pretty chilly. To Ohioans, this is excellent. Jacqueline always asks me why I never wear a coat out and I have to explain to her that it snows in Ohio. They don’t get snow in most of France.

Shawna came by but only stayed for a few minutes because she was feeling really sick; then she went back home. We stayed there most of the day but then Lance got a really bad toothache. He had a root canal before we left and didn’t have time to get a crown so he thought that he broke it. We went back to his house for a few then he wanted to take a nap and I left. I got home just as it started to storm. They have afternoon thunderstorms here like we do in Ohio too, except there are no tornados in Europe.

After dinner, Bernard went to the train station to get Jacqueline as she returned from Paris. I went to Lance’s and we hung out for a while before trying a new club that we had heard of. When we got there at midnight, we were the only people there. It was like being the first people at a high school dance. The club looked really cool but we didn’t stick around.

Day 27

Day 27:

Thursday, April 16, 2009: Today was awful until dinner time. We had writing class which was fine except that the students decided to strike again today. The professor told us that they had decided to strike now of Tuesdays and Thursdays – American students would have chosen Mondays and Fridays without a doubt. The worst part of the strike is that there is never anyone with a key to the classrooms so we are forced to wait in the hallway until the professor can find someone with a key and that is willing to help us out.

We had class and wrote a poem about our first reactions to being in France for the first day. It was more creative but I have to think that I’ve written about three of these for different classes now.

After class, we had a four-hour lunch break. This is the worst part of Thursdays. I ate at the cafeteria and used the internet. We tried to make plans for our four-day weekend in May. We’re going to the beaches of Corsica! Shawna, Melissa, Lance, and I then played 18 holes of Golf (the card game). We were so bored!

After we got tired of that, I Skyped some American friends – shoutout to Aimee Rancer, Caroline Flynn, and Haley Smith! Then it was time for class again. We met by the locked classroom for the professor. At the same time she was searching for someone with a key, the students held a rally in the lobby of the main school building of which we immediately became bystanders of. I’m not sure what came of that but they had to cancel our class because no one would let us in the classroom and they didn’t want to put American students in danger if it turned bad.

We were content with no having class. It was a nice day. I was mad because we waited all this time for class to just be cancelled. I was there so I wanted to have class. Some people in our group went to the bar to celebrate. I went to Lance’s house and we sat outside until dinner.

I ate with Bernard and John and then went to Melissa’s. Her host mom’s favorite foreign student was visiting this week and she was going to go out with us tonight so I went there to get them. Every time I go there, I always have to have espresso with her host mom. After that ritual, Melissa, Josephine (the 17-year-old German), and I went to Lance’s.

Lance and Kelby live together and have their own guesthouse (if I haven’t included this in a previous blog entry) so we can go there and chill and be out of everyone’s host family’s house. We were hanging out there when someone got a text from the assistant Katy… she had some excellent news! It seemed that after our class was cancelled, the students were still protesting and one of them punched an administrator and Friday classes were cancelled for the entire university as a safety precaution!

This was excellent for us! But we still wished we knew earlier so we could have planned something for this unexpected three-day weekend! It quickly became known to the group as Greve Jour! (Strike Day; comparable to a snow day at OU.)

We decided to celebrate by going to a new discotheque that was larger and much closer to everyone than the one that we discovered first. On the walk there, it thunder stormed and we arrived just as the hail began to fall! What an excellent end to a day that otherwise would have sucked.

Day 25 & 26

Day 25 & Day 26:

Tuesday, April 14, 2009: Today we went to school to find that the students had decided to continue the strike. They had blocked all the entrances – a big fire hazard. Christophe made us wait in the courtyard while he spoke with administrators about what was the safest way for us to enter the building and have class.

So we finally entered and had class. Then we had history class again. Afterwards, we had a two-hour lunch break. I got some much needed internet time and I Skyped with my Dad. We went back to literature class to discuss Balzac.

After class, I went home to read and do some homework. John brought a Chinese foreign exchange student to eat with us. It was a little awkward. Afterwards, they smoked a pack of cigarettes on the terrace and I went to my room for more homework. The day was fairly insignificant.


Wednesday, April 15, 2009: Today we had grammar class because we didn’t have it on Monday. Afterwards, Shawna, Melissa, Lance, and I went to the internet to print a paper for the next day. I wrote it on my computer and emailed it to myself but then it wouldn’t open on the computer here for me to print out because I have the most recent version of Microsoft Word and they do not.

After that, we went to the bookstore to buy books for literature. I didn’t need to buy them because I already found them in my room from the girl that lived here last year. Then we walked to the island in the Rhone and had lunch at the restaurant there. It was good but we ate outside and the Mistral was blowing so it was really chilly. Afterwards, we just walked back to Lance’s for more Golf.

It was time for dinner. Bernard came back from Paris but Jacqueline stayed because the baby was sick and her parents needed to work so Jacqueline took care of her. After dinner, I did homework and went to bed.

Day 23 & 24

Day 23 & Day 24:

Sunday, April 12, 2009 – Easter: Today we did nothing. It was only John and I at home so we invited some friends over to play games. I would have lain out but it rained again.

We had Kelby, Lance, Shawna, and Melissa over. I taught everyone how to play golf (the card game). Then, John decided that he wanted to play poker even though no one else really wanted to – the girls didn’t even know how to – plus we didn’t have any poker chips.

Well he devised a plan to play with Scrabble pieces and one piece of real money. He wanted to play for a pot of real Euros but we decided that was not what we wanted to do but we would still play. I got my computer and started DJing. After struggling through the game that John wanted to play, he lost. Lance won and I was second. We decided to not go out because it was still raining and we didn’t think that any places would be open because it was Easter Sunday.


Monday, April 13, 2009: Today there was no school because the French like to celebrate Easter Monday. Even though most of the country is Catholic, hardly anyone practices the faith because they are still mad about the government ties to the Catholic Church that caused the French Revolution. It turns out too that most businesses actually were open on Easter Sunday out of spite.

Today was really nice and sunny so I read Marius by Marcel Pagnol and lay out on the terrace. Later, Shawna and Lance came over for some time in the afternoon. John and I ate and I did some more homework and that was about it of my long weekend.

I wish the excursion could have been on another weekend so that we could have taken a trip on this three-day weekend. But hey what can you do… as the French say: <>

Day 22

Day 22:

Saturday, April 11, 2009: Today was our first excursion as a group. We went to Les Baux de Provence. The excursion was really cool but they basically tell us nothing of where we are going. We just get on a bus and we go.

We met our charter bus by the university gates at 9am. It was like an hour drive out into the paysage (countryside). We finally get there and it is an overcast day. Not too cold but when the winds licked up it was not fun. The Baux de Provence is these really old city ruins from like the first century AD. And the ruins are atop this huge mountain so they were protected. This was a catholic community so there were the ruins of a church and all these houses that were built into the side of the mountain – it reminded me of Mesa Verde in Colorado.

We explored for an hour and then they had a catapult demonstration for us. There were three replicas of catapults that were used to defend the town. I volunteered to help out so I could get a firsthand look at how it really worked. Not like the mini catapults we built in physics class senior year at all. Look for the pictures on Facebook and I will try to post some here or on my flickr account. So we catapulted huge water balloons. They demonstrated each catapult one time.

After that, we watched a short video of the sites and villages of Provence. We then had time for lunch and to explore the town that was there now – more for tourists than actually living in. I had pizza with ham. After lunch, it started raining. Our next attraction was the Cathedral des Images. Once again we had no idea what was here and why we were walking in the rain to get there. It was only a short walk away. They gave us tickets and pushed us in; still completely not knowing what to expect.

The Cathedral des Images is an old stone quarry in the side of a mountain. They cleared out all the stone and now it is like a huge cave with white walls and 50 foot ceilings. Well you walk into the darkness and find that it is a Picasso exhibit. They have created a show set to music and they project all his paintings 30 feet high on the walls. It was really cool but a little cold. It could have also made a really good night club with a laser show and strobe lights.

So after visiting there, we boarded the bus and our next stop was the little town of St-Remy-de-Provence. It was really cool and I wish we had more time there but people were complaining that they were cold and tired and wet. We did get to go to a chocolatier that is world famous? His name is Joel Durant or something like that… I met him too. After looking at hundreds of dollars worth of chocolate, I wanted to go look at $150 swim trunks at Villbrequin – I can look right?

So then we boarded the bus and headed home. We had to make a stop at the hospital because Christophe’s squeeze and assistant Katy sliced her hand and needed stitches. Her parents flew in today from Michigan and they were not with us.

I finally got back to my house and ate dinner by myself because the Zemmits went to Paris for a long Paques (Easter) weekend with their son, his fiancé, and their granddaughter. John went with some people that no one knew to Arles for the Le Ferida (bullfight). But it was cancelled because of the rain so they drank in the streets and came home later that night. Lance, Melissa, and Shawna came over and we tried to play French Scrabble but that didn’t work out too well so we just went to the discotheque instead.

(Google a bunch of these places – they are cool)

Day 20 & Day 21

Day 20 & Day 21

Thursday, April 9, 2009 & Friday, April 10, 2009: Since Thursday and Friday were basically insignificant, I decided to include them into one day.

Thursday, I needed to go to school early to print out my writing assignment. Well the students decided to strike again and so it was closed. Good thing I was not the only on that didn’t have it. I really like the writing class. Today we read a poem about people’s rights – fun things like the right to sleep late; it a creative writing class. And then we wrote our own.

I met with Katy and talked about my journal and then had four hours to kill. Zoe and I walked around the school a little and then we just sat in the courtyard on our computers – a sign we are not French. So then I had my oral grammar class. We learned all kinds of French slang and when and when not to use it. Really interesting, but she sped through it.

Thursday night, we went out. Melissa and I went to Lance’s then we went to the bar. We are trying to spend as little money at the bar as possible because we frequent it so often. We go to the grocery store after class and buy the 2E bottle of wine. Students have to economize.


So then we had early class on Friday morning. It was really boring – history. We watched another movie and he stopped it every five seconds and that’s when he lost me. The movie was black and white and silent as well. So then we listened to a song, which he kept stopping too. He handed out the lyrics and we went through it line by line. Really boring.

Then we had literature class. We talked about Marseille again. We decided not to go out because we had to get up early Saturday morning for our first excursion. I went to Lance’s to chill and was home and in bed by 11:30p.m. I’ve been in France for three weeks! Time really flies!

(Use “the Google”)

Day 19

Day 19:

Wednesday, April 8, 2009: Today was really fun! Shawna, Lance, Melissa, and I decided to go to Nimes for the day because there are no classes on Wednesdays. French students often have Wednesdays off but are required to go to school Saturday mornings – this might only be for grade school students. They also get a two-hour lunch break everyday because lunch is a huge custom in French culture.

And so we decided to meet at the train station for the 10:30am train. It was too early. We were all not ready to go by then and ended up missing the train. The next one didn’t come until noon so we had plenty of time to kill. Nimes is only a half hour from Avignon. The tickets were 8E per person roundtrip – the same as to Arles.

So once we got to Nimes, we decided to buy the city pass for tourists. Nimes is considered to be home to the largest collection of Roman ruins outside of Italy. It was founded as a retirement destination for Roman soldiers in 31 B.C. The pass cost us 7.50E and allowed us to see the three main sights in Nimes.

We began with the Maison Carree which looks like a Pantheon. There was a 3D movie about Nimes history so we did that. Afterwards, we decided to walk to the gardens and see the Tour Magnan: a lookout tower built by the Romans to keep watch for intruders. The gardens are on a hillside and really big. We spent a lot of time wandering around here before finally finding the tower. We climbed to the top for an excellent view of the city.

Fun fact: Nimes is known the world over for its production of jeans; thus came the name ‘denim’ literally meaning ‘from Nimes’.

We then found a place to eat before heading to the Arena. Our choice: McDonald’s! It sounded so good at the time but I think that, having only been out of the country for not even three weeks yet, I should have waited longer. It was 7E for the meal – almost double what it would be at home. It didn’t matter because it was well worth it. The McDonald’s was in a mall so after eating, we looked around for awhile.

We headed back to the center of town to spend time at the Arena. It was really cool. We climbed all the way to the top to get another great view of the city. We just sat here and walked around for a long time. Our train home did not leave until 8:30p.m.

We stayed at the Arena until it closed at 6:30p.m., then we wandered the city some more. The worst part about any city in France is that everything but restaurants and bars close at 7p.m. We found ourselves in the park with not much else to do but wait for out train home. Nevertheless, it was a great day.

(Google Nimes to discover more).