Boutiques and Bags

Today I fought stubbornly against the construction to sleep in. I used earplugs and after that my headphones to combat the noise. After I woke up to go to the bathroom Beebow snuck into my room which I didn’t realize until he started attacking my feet for doing my sleepy food wiggle. I then had tot kick him out. Eventually I gave up with sleeping and went and took a shower. When I was getting dressed I got a text from Cassandra asking me to get lunch with her. I looked at the time and it was almost 11:30! Oops! I quickly gulfed down some of the breakfast food or else I knew Madame would notice I hadn’t eaten and went to meet Cassandra. We sat in the cave (student lounge) for a while talking with some other people before setting out to find some pizza! Which I hadn’t had in over a week which in Helwig Pizza Time is like an eternity! We found a good place to get slices for 2 euros and both got one. It wasn’t as good as the pizza I had here before but it wasn’t so bad. We then went and ate downstairs and talked to some more people.

Then it was time for the Scavenger Hunt through Aix, which is really why I woke up today! We got in groups of three and I was with Sophie the girl from Oregon and a girl named Morgan who likes to make it well known that she is in the French Honors program (which really I could have done if I wanted t but I didn’t. And basically means that you take a certain French course). They both were nice but not very fast… The scavenger hunt was also a race to see who could get all the information and be detailed in their answers and then get back to the school first. I took that to mean let’s do this thing fast! They took that to mean hey let’s walk slowly and take a lot of time at each place. Morgan ran into the Tourism office to get a map and no joke we were waiting for twenty minutes before we went in and found her chatting it up with the person behind the desk about Aix and getting every brochure the place had. I pretty much gave up then on being a winning team. Then we went to the crepe place where they both bought crepes and then we went to the movie theater, American book store, Monoprix, American food restaurant, and Coffee shop. Each place they wandered and looked and browsed which is fin because they were getting to know the places and stuff but they were very slow. I was the navigator and they were the writer and reader. They also wrote very slowly. But it was all good after I decided to just go with the flow.

We came in next to last and I don’t even think we had all the answers filled in correctly but so it goes. We went and hung out in the cave while we waited an hour for the associations or clubs around Aix to arrive to talk to us. Pretty soon I got a text from mom and soon after a facebook from dad both talking to me about my day. Then they both told me almost at the same time to go and buy that bag! I was so excited! On the way to get it I was telling Cassandra that if they didn’t have it there anymore I was going to cry. And sure enough when I got there… It was gone! As were all the other bags. I asked the sales lady if they still had them and she gave me a sad face and I said “Noooo!” But then when I asked her if they sold them she said no that they had moved them to another boutique! I was very elated then and she offered to take me to there. I happily agreed and explained to her how much I had wanted to buy it and how I had been walking past it and always thinking of how joli it was. She asked if I was staying in Aix and I told her that I was a student and she wished me a good time here. She was very nice and it was very nice of her to show me the way. It was about a five minute walk. She grumbled as we had to weave our way through tourists in front of the Hotel de Ville or courthouse. And I laughed and told her that they ca be a bit annoying, which is true they really can be in the way a lot. But then again when I am being a tourist I am sure that I am the same way! I was very happy to have my new bag. The sales lady tried to put it in a giant bag which I never understand why people always try to do that… It is a bag so it doesn’t need handles or a bag! It is a bag! 

We went back and decided with a group of other people in the cave that after the club thing a few of us would go to Happy Hour at the bar down the street. The club thing was really cool. I bought an Erasmus card which gives you discounts at a lot of places for 5 euros, and got information about the different clubs and such. There was a woman there from a Christian church that does service in English on Sunday nights that I hope to be able to go and try out. I don’t think that I will be able to this weekend because of the afternoon trip to Marseille but if I have time I will. She seemed really nice. I also got info on the locations for the next couple trips that the one guy George plans for international students. One of which is a 4 day 3 night trip during the beginning of fall break to Barcelona, Spain for 150 euros. Which seems like a lot but it includes transportation, lodging, and having everything preplanned. I like that and because it is at the beginning of break I could get a group who wants to do that and then we could leave from Barcelona to go to Paris or Italy or somewhere else for a few days. I think that would be really fun!

There also was info for a cooking class for 4 two hour sessions for 100 euros, which seemed cool but a little expensive for me so I don’t think I will be doing that but it seems like it would be fun. But there are a few student organization things that I signed up to get emails from which I can just delete if they don’t interest me. Better to be well informed and have options I decided than to be bored with no clue.

After the club thing Cassandra left because she didn’t have time to get a drink before needing to be home for dinner but I went with some other people to have a drink anyways. I had a Monaco it was good and didn't taste like beer. We had fun I think and talked about a lot of stuff. It was nice to get to know some other people and some of them are in a few of my classes. After a while Madame called wondering if I would be home for dinner and I told her I would be there in a few minutes. We had pasta with white sauce and ham which was delicious. And Paul and Madame put a egg yolk on theirs. Not cooked but I didn’t because eggs tend to make me sick which we talked about a bit more in depth. But it is a bit strange why I get sick from eggs by themselves but not if they are with other things like in cake or whatever. But it was interesting. It was good and then I gave Paul a piggyback ride before I went and Skyped Thad. Who ended up meeting Paul and Jean-Claude by happenstance of them showing up suddenly but it was funny to me! 

 

Tomorrow I go to Nice at 745 in the morning. We are I guess stopping at the medieval town of Eze before hand and then there are a few different things that we can choose to do in Nice. I hope to hit up the beach a bit though!