My first month

So I haven’t posted on this in like weeks. Well I’ve officially been here for a month. On one hand it’s like ugh I still have a month and a half to go, that’s a long time til I get to come home, and on the other hand it’s like wow I only have a month and half to enjoy all this while I can! I’m trying to make the most of it, been doing something/going somewhere every weekend and not just sitting around. Last weekend my dad came to visit, so that was fun. I showed him around town, had lunch with elyse in a café and then had a beer with him at another café (yes I had a beer with my dad…it was kinda surreal lol). He got lost getting here and ended up on tiny little streets packed with people who tend not to care that they’re in your way haha, but I got him to a parking garage via cell phone and my map of aix. That night he took me, elyse, and liz out to a really nice dinner that our French professor had recommended, and we all had duck which was really good. But first, my host mother insisted that he come over for “un aperitif” (a pre-dinner drink) before he took us out. We had champagne and my host mother went all out lighting candles and making little hors d’oeurves. It was interesting attempting to translate, even though my host mother speaks pretty good English and was able to communicate with my dad pretty well. Once in a while she wouldn’t understand what my dad was saying and I’d have to translate, or sometimes she would like forget and start speaking French and I’d have to translate for my dad. It was pretty funny. So after drinks we had our dinner, and the four of us made plans to go to Cassis the next day. We had my dad’s rental car, a map of Provence, and ME navigating…..i know, scary. But maps are the one thing i CAN do, so we actually made it there without too much trouble…the exit to cassis was closed so we had to find our own way after that, but my dad handled that. Anyway, cassis is gorgeous, it’s this little fishing village with a really pretty harbor and they’re famous for their seafood and nice beaches. So we found a little tiny beach in a cove-type thing and took our first official swim in the Mediterranean. It was cold. The beaches here are hardly ever sand, they’re mostly rocks, as was this one, so our feet took a beating. My dad of course swam down to the bottom of the ocean to get a huge rock for his “collection,” which he then conveniently left in my backpack and it’s now sitting in my bedroom. Anyway, after we swam and took a whole bunch of pictures, we walked to the other side of town to where the harbor and main city-life was. The port was really cool and we had lunch right next to the water. My dad and I each got a huge pot of “moules frites” (muscles and French fries). They were goooood. My dad had heard of this place where the Mediterranean runs through the mountains, kinda like a fjord or something, and it’s supposed to be really pretty, so we went to the tourism office and got a map and figured out how to get there. We drove up the mountain and had to follow a hiking trail to get to it, but it was sooo pretty. Elyse was being her usual shutterbug self and was climbing on the edge of cliffs trying to get good pictures, making me incredibly nervous. The hike was fun and the view was awesome, and we were exhausted by the end. We drove back to aix and my dad said goodbye and went home. Fun day.

The week following wasn’t terribly exciting. Liz and I went to the market on the main street again, or we intended to anyway, cuz we found a great little store on the way there and ended up spending all our time there instead. I got 3 tops for 10euro and she got a great pair of jeans, so we were pretty satisfied with our shopping. Our host sister, who we were convinced didn’t like us, invited us into the kitchen for some tea and the three of us talked for over an hour. It was a HUGE breakthrough haha it was really cool. She even said that we could go skiing with her and her mother possibly in December. Friday night my host mother’s granddaughter spent the night. She is 6 years old and is sooo cute! She was telling me all the words she knows in English, and the words she’s learning how to spell in French. Liz and I were practicing our French on her and she was telling us what certain things in the house were called in French. I taught her how to play Snood and solitaire on my computer! She was fascinated haha, and I really practiced my French attempting to explain the rules to her. it was really fun, and now guess what babe? I not only want a baby, I want a French baby. Going out friday night was annoying cuz we went out to the bar, then decided to go to another bar, and as I’m halfway through my beer everyone decides to go home. I was like umm what was the point of me buying this if I’m going to enjoy my buzz sitting on my bed watching Friends DVDs?? (which by the way has become my sobering up method lol: a bottle of water, a snack of some kind, and Friends on my laptop). So anyway that was disappointing.
We made plans to go into Marseilles Saturday because there was some sort of big international fair going on, like a huge market with stuff from all over the world. It cost 8euro to get in but our friends had gotten free tickets from their host mother, so we got in for free which was cool. We took the bus to Marseilles and took the incredibly sketchy (and crowded) metro to where the fair was. It was really fun walking around looking at all the different clothing and jewelry from different countries. Elyse and I are contemplating being Egyptian princesses for Halloween lol cuz their costumes are soooo cool. So we spent most of the day touring the fair, eating Italian gelato and French bread and looking at other cool stuff. We came back and had dinner at this crepe place that had the most ridiculously huge crepes I had ever seen. I got this big salad thing with ham and chevre (goat cheese…surprisingly really good) and something called lardons which we think are bacon bits but we’re not sure. Anyway the place specializes in having a crepe for dinner and then another crepe for dessert, but I was so full from my dinner crepe that I got a milkshake instead. It was apricot flavored and it was amaaaaazing, totally worth the 6.60euro I paid for it…yea I’m spending way too much money here. Anyway elyse and liz each got this chocolate covered something that they both really enjoyed.
After that liz and I went to a club with her language partner, Mako. It was SO much fun! The first one we went to was called “Cuba Libre” and it was PACKED. We each got a beer and then hit the dance floor, where everyone was going nuts and singing along, and the DJ was getting everyone involved which was awesome. I love just being in places like that even though I knew hardly any of the music. People were dancing up on the speakers and the tables and everything, it was wild. We thought it was pretty funny that some really popular American songs here are “everybody dance now” and that prince song, you don’t have to be rich to be my girl. The YMCA came on too lol and everybody did the motions. But aside from that it was all French/Spanish music, it was great. Then we went to a different club, where they played a lot of American music and Mako laughed at me cuz of course I knew all the words and was singing along. Some guy tried to dance with me but I grabbed liz’s arm and she saved me haha. that’s why us girls stay together on the dance floor! We had sooo much fun and we didn’t get home til about 2:30. we smelled so strongly of smoke though that even our eyes were burning from it, cuz you’re allowed to smoke in clubs here. Actually you’re pretty much allowed to smoke wherever the hell you want here, whether it’s in someone else’s face or not. A guy was smoking on the dance floor and was drunk and half-dancing half-stumbling around with some girl and he almost burned me with his cigarette like 20 times. I was having so much fun tho the smoke was worth it. So overall a pretty cool weekend. Mark took his LSATs Saturday morning so I was worrying about him all day Saturday haha but he says he thinks he did well. He’s coming to visit me in London for 4 days the last week in October!! Cant wait babe!!
So I’m rapidly wondering where the hell my money is going, but I’m still having so much fun here. It took a few weeks, but I think abroad is def shaping up to be a really good experience. That’s all for now, gotta meet Elyse at the chapel and attempt to follow mass in French!
Miss you all!
<3Cristin