Is not as thrilling as you may hope. Since I am but a poor college student, I decided to stay here in Aix for break instead of jetting off to somewhere exciting. And it's only been about 55 for the past two days, so that's a bummer. (Wow, what a hard life I lead!)
But I had a good weekend!
Saturday
I made new friends! Snaps for me. There were a few other students who stayed here over break so we got together and decided to go do things with life. So Saturday we went out and intended to do the "Steps of Cezanne", but decided we didn't feel like it and went to go explore Marchutz instead. Marchutz is the arts school here and one of the boys is in the program and told us it had a pretty view. So why not. (Oh, but first we got crêpes. Banana and Nutella, soooo good.)
We ended up wandering around Aix, seeing their version of a town fair, walking around a park, exploring some nature paths, and finally ended up at Marchutz. Which does have a beautiful view. Sadly, I forgot to take pictures because there was a cat and I got preoccupied.
Then we went to two girls' homestay and made dinner! Their host mom was out of town and told them they could cook and have people over. So we made grilled veggies, pasta (gluten free!) with red sauce, pesto, or homemade béchamel, and broccoli. For desert two of the girls made a desert their host mom makes which is bread with goat cheese, honey, and herbes de Provence put in the oven and cooked. Soooo good. We hung out and watched a movie and good times were had by all.
Sunday
I went to Nice on Sunday for Carnaval! Look at me, leaving the house! I went with one of my friends who is still here and we sat around on the beach, ate lunch (crepes for me again!), got gelato, ate it on the beach, and then I promptly fell asleep on the beach. Of rocks. I was really tired, needless to say. Then the parade was going to start, so we bought candy and found somewhere to stand. It was a little long, but awesome. The floats are HUGE and crazy detailed. It's incredible to think people actually made them. They were all politically themed too, which meant we didn't understand much.
Monday
Went to my internship, found out when I got there it was cancelled because it's winter break. Oh well. So I got my bus ticket for Cassis on Wednesday!! But it's a bummer because my friends hiked up Mont Saint Victoire today, which is the huge mountain nearby. I would have gone except for my internship. That wasn't even a thing as it turns out... And my stupid knee. I think I'm an octogenarian in teenager's body.
Tuesday
Wow, this is probably the lamest day I've had in a while. I read all the poems for my literature class until March 20th. Which happens to be all the rest of the poems (after that it's novels and plays). I then did some more homework, watched three episodes of Downtown Abbey, and... that's about it. My host mom just came in my room and told me she didn't remember I was in the house, she thought I had gone out. Oops... that's awkward. Nope, I've just been being a cave dweller all day... I swear, I do leave the house...
So, off to Cassis tomorrow! And hopefully I'll find something to do with the rest of the week or I'll finish all two seasons of Downton Abbey (thanks for the edit, dad! :) )and all my homework for the semester...
PS. Yesterday for dessert after lunch, I ate "milk of rice over a bed of caramel". It was in one of the little yogurt containers. It was pudding/yogurt, with bits of cooked rice in it, over some liquidy caramel stuff. Oddest thing I've ever eaten in a yogurt container.
But I had a good weekend!
Saturday
I made new friends! Snaps for me. There were a few other students who stayed here over break so we got together and decided to go do things with life. So Saturday we went out and intended to do the "Steps of Cezanne", but decided we didn't feel like it and went to go explore Marchutz instead. Marchutz is the arts school here and one of the boys is in the program and told us it had a pretty view. So why not. (Oh, but first we got crêpes. Banana and Nutella, soooo good.)
We ended up wandering around Aix, seeing their version of a town fair, walking around a park, exploring some nature paths, and finally ended up at Marchutz. Which does have a beautiful view. Sadly, I forgot to take pictures because there was a cat and I got preoccupied.
Then we went to two girls' homestay and made dinner! Their host mom was out of town and told them they could cook and have people over. So we made grilled veggies, pasta (gluten free!) with red sauce, pesto, or homemade béchamel, and broccoli. For desert two of the girls made a desert their host mom makes which is bread with goat cheese, honey, and herbes de Provence put in the oven and cooked. Soooo good. We hung out and watched a movie and good times were had by all.
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| Get a load of this ride. Featuring Polamalu, the "Candinals", and the "Soccer Bowl". |
Sunday
I went to Nice on Sunday for Carnaval! Look at me, leaving the house! I went with one of my friends who is still here and we sat around on the beach, ate lunch (crepes for me again!), got gelato, ate it on the beach, and then I promptly fell asleep on the beach. Of rocks. I was really tired, needless to say. Then the parade was going to start, so we bought candy and found somewhere to stand. It was a little long, but awesome. The floats are HUGE and crazy detailed. It's incredible to think people actually made them. They were all politically themed too, which meant we didn't understand much.
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| Soccer man, holding a king? Soccer refs? I'm so lost. |
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| Soccer player with a huge bump on his head, Obama, the Dalai Lama, and the Pope? I have no idea. |
Went to my internship, found out when I got there it was cancelled because it's winter break. Oh well. So I got my bus ticket for Cassis on Wednesday!! But it's a bummer because my friends hiked up Mont Saint Victoire today, which is the huge mountain nearby. I would have gone except for my internship. That wasn't even a thing as it turns out... And my stupid knee. I think I'm an octogenarian in teenager's body.
Tuesday
Wow, this is probably the lamest day I've had in a while. I read all the poems for my literature class until March 20th. Which happens to be all the rest of the poems (after that it's novels and plays). I then did some more homework, watched three episodes of Downtown Abbey, and... that's about it. My host mom just came in my room and told me she didn't remember I was in the house, she thought I had gone out. Oops... that's awkward. Nope, I've just been being a cave dweller all day... I swear, I do leave the house...
So, off to Cassis tomorrow! And hopefully I'll find something to do with the rest of the week or I'll finish all two seasons of Downton Abbey (thanks for the edit, dad! :) )and all my homework for the semester...
PS. Yesterday for dessert after lunch, I ate "milk of rice over a bed of caramel". It was in one of the little yogurt containers. It was pudding/yogurt, with bits of cooked rice in it, over some liquidy caramel stuff. Oddest thing I've ever eaten in a yogurt container.
The soccer player looks like Zinedine Zidane, who 'bumped' into an Italian player at a tournament match, got thrown out, etc.
ReplyDeleteThe guy standing next to the guy with the king looks like Captain Kirk of Star Trek, but aside from that...
Hahaha, I'm sure it's Captain Kirk. Also, you can check out more pics of floats on Facebook if you get bored.
DeletePS - It's Downton Abbey (no "w").
ReplyDeleteWow, for the amount of episodes and times I've Googled that to make sure I spelled it right, you think I would have gotten it right. I think my brain automatically puts in the 'w' to make 'downtown'. Oh well, I changed it!
DeleteI'm so jealous that you got to go to Nice's carnival! I taught my 101s about it a few weeks ago. The kings and sports dudes are because every year they have a theme of Roi X, this year it was Roi du sport. Interesting interpretation though! :) Have fun!
ReplyDeleteIt was so cool! I knew they would have the roi, but it was so strange to see the political figures with the sports figures. Do they have sports floats every year even though the theme changes?
DeleteI'm pretty sure the sports floats are only for this year. Last year the theme was something like Roi du Terre so it was all about being green and had animal floats, fish floats, etc. :)
Delete