Chez Doctor

My alarm went off at 7:30 so that I could have time to get ready and Skype Thad this morning but I was so tired I told it to “tais-toi” and went back to sleep for another half hour, (sorry!). I really didn’t feel too great this morning and wasn’t very hungry. I am wondering if now that my body is adjusting to the time here if it is starting to not like Breakfast again. I took my usual little bread with me and a banana and then went to class.

Our class was really interesting because we talked about the legend of the forming of Marseille, then called Massilia. Marseille was formed by the Greeks. The legend is that the two Greeks came to the king of the region of Provence and were invited to attend the marriage ceremony of his daughter. The way it worked was that she was to give a cup of wine to the man at the ceremony whom she wanted to marry. She chose one of the Greek chiefs and then the King gave them the land to build Marseille. The funny thing is that because of this all the other suitors at the marriage were mad because they weren’t chosen so then they attacked Marseille continuously (les gauloise). The Greeks won out though and put military bases in the countries of the people they beat which lead to the formation of the town of Nice = which in Greek is Nike = which means victory! (Shoe name history) After this the Greeks started the “first” supposed towns that had walls and military protection. They also moved from being fisherman and pirates to being farmers of grapes for wine and olives, leading to why olive oil, olives, and wine are so popular here!

Did you catch the problem with this legend? How can the princess of the region give wine to her chosen husband at the wedding if wine isn’t in this region yet? Also why would the king just let these random strangers in to his daughter’s wedding? It is believed either that it was water in some legends or that this wasn’t the first interaction between the Greeks and the Gauls but that trading and such had happened before and in order to strengthen relations they wanted to create a trading post in Provence. Doesn’t that make more sense? Yes, but the legend was a fun read. Next class we are going on a trip to the Oppidum d’Entre-Mont which is just north of Aix. I think it will be kind of cool!

After class I said I want to go to the doctor so I went around the schools trying to find the housing lady so she could make me an appointment. They ended up not having space but they told me to come down and they would squeeze me in. I was given directions and then sent off. I found the building all right but I couldn’t figure out the buzzer to have the door unlock… But luckily someone was leaving like two minutes later and I got in because of them. The receptionist spoke French only so that was a bit difficult. But we figured it out and then I sat down to wait. There were about 3 people in front of me but I didn’t have class again until five so I really wasn’t in a hurry. Plus I had my game of thrones book (the odd couple just got married for all you knowers of the book. I am still Pre-Red wedding! No spoilers!) So I was happy to wait and not be doing homework. ;-)

About an hour and fifteen later I went in to see the doctor who I thought was going to speak English but actually did not… But it sort of worked? He didn’t seem too happy that I didn’t always understand him. I mean I know I made his job harder but… whatever. He looked in my ear and fiddled around in it saying stuff but my medical term French vocabulary is slim to well let’s be honest, I know none. Also I don’t know any ear terms besides ear. But I think he said that it is because I am congested because he wanted to check my lungs and stuff as well and was surprised that I wasn’t feeling bad about anything else. So maybe I have an infection or something? He gave me a prescription for ear drops and some pills and told me how often to take the, charged me 23 Euros and then sent me on my way. So I don’t actually know exactly what is wrong but I have the tools to fix it! Also I got the forms to get my money back from the appointment but I don’t know how to do it so I will have to go talk to the housing lady again.

After that I made my way two doors down to the pharmacie (there’s one on every block). I looked and asked about a heating pad but they didn’t have any and didn’t know where I would find one. I think it must not be a thing? Maybe I can like Google shop for one and then buy it and have it sent here from Europe so that it has the right plug. But I got the drugs and then ventured back towards the school buying a sandwich on the way. A couple tried asking me for help with directions in French and then I could tell they were struggling so I asked if they spoke English and they looked like I had like just saved their lives or something. So I think that they were very lost. Also yesterday some French girl running down the street on her phone asked me for directions to the Rotonde in French so I gave her directions in French. Go me! I don’t know if it was she thought I was French or what but she specifically asked me even though she was clearly French and there were other French people around. Kind of cool I guess? I must look like I know what’s up.

I had forgotten about the banana and it had gotten all gross in my bag so after cleaning that up (which it wasn’t so bad to begin with) I hung out in the cave a bit talking to Patrick and Will and Cassandra for a bit. Then I went upstairs to try and buy my train to Paris but learned that it wouldn’t take my card, maybe because it was a debit card or a MasterCard or what but it didn’t like it. So I decided it could wait another day. I did reserve the hotel for Paris which was very cheap, 3 nights for 140 and split two ways is 70 Euros. Not a bad break I don’t think! It is like 3 Euros more to train there in first class so I decided to do that as well. But I don’t have my tickets yet obviously but the train should be about 91 Euros for both ways together. Not super cheap but eh, I will double check that I can’t find a flight for cheaper tomorrow. But I mean I get to go to Paris so… Totally worth it, and I can’t come to France and not go to Paris, let’s be real. After that I attempted once again to try and find cheap hotel in Lyon that isn’t too far from the metro or some sort of way to get to the city part of Lyon. Here’s a hint it is a nightmare because I have to find a room for beds for three and everything is totally booked because the light festival is so awesome that everyone goes.

After getting frustrated I gave up and went and bought myself a strawberry tarte for good measure and then read for the rest of the time before my last class. It was very easy today, we talked about the five senses and different verbs that give different subtleties of meaning for the same like thing and talked about when you use each one. We probably talked about over 50 – 100 words though. So I hope we don’t need to remember them all. My professor is really nice though so it was fun. After that I walked home.

On my way home I was thinking about how frustrated I have been all day and how I don’t know if it was because I was trying to plan something or if I’m just hitting the wall already. I know in the study abroad timeline I am getting close to that time but it just sucks. I know that I am having a great time here no questions but I am getting really sick of being judged for being an American. People assume that I can’t articulate simple things. And alternatively, I am getting frustrated when I speak French with nice French people and I can’t find the word I am looking for or can’t articulate myself in the way I would prefer. I also am getting frustrated with things not working like my internet and the train tickets. I am shaking them off fine and not getting to get bogged down but it is just very frustrating all the time to not have things work properly/to my gluttonous American standards.

The good thing about this feeling is that it usually goes away when I get home each day. Madame is very understanding and helpful all the time and the rest of the family will help me with my grammar and have me re-explain when they don’t understand me rather than judge. I like that I have some space and Madame doesn’t have expectations for me. I always make time to sit and talk with her and I think our relationship is progressing nicely. I told her about my hotel problem and she called Christelle (her son’s wife) and asked her to look for hotels in Lyon for me since she lives closer and knows more about navigating the city. So I guess I will wait to book the hotel for sure until after she calls us back tomorrow.

Tonight for dinner Madame made a sort of like… quiche looking thing but it wasn’t quiche. She calls it a tarte de pou… something. She described it as a long green vegetable and by process of elimination I thought it was celery but it turned out to be leeks once we translated it. It was really good! I will ask her for the recipe. It was like pie/bread crust and then cheese and leeks. It was really good. We also had salad with olives, corn, and tomatoes. Madame told me I could pick off the tomatoes as soon as she set it down. She told me that she just put them on so that they looked nice and I could take a picture, J she knows now that I really hate them which is very nice. We had bread and cheese as per usual and Madame bought more of the cheese I like since two nights ago I finished the last one off. That is also very nice! I thanked her greatly and then she scolded herself for not remembering to cut the melon. I told her it was no problem and we could have it for dessert. It was good cantaloupe! Beebow started meow-begging when she was cutting it. She cut some up and gave it to him! And he ate it! I was shocked! She told me he ate corn earlier too but that he really likes melon. I found that really weird. After that I finished reading some of my book and accidentally read the English word chat as chat as in the French word cat without realizing it. I was like wait that sentence made no sense. I think that is again another sign that my English/French is getting worse/better. I still have my history homework but that won’t take long and I don’t have class until noon tomorrow.

After homework I Skyped Thad and then also Grandpa! I Skype chatted mom and we figured out the money/bank situation. After that I went and journaled in the living room until Madame went to bed. Tomorrow I hope I will be in a better mental space. 

Sorry there is no food pictures i cant find my ipod cord. I will add them tomorrow morning after I find it!

Ironman

Last night was pretty much the worst ever. I woke up at 4 am and my ear hurt soooo bad. I immediately took 800 mg of ibuprofen and tried to figure out what else I could do. I was talking to mom and Megan on Skype and they both told me to use a hot towel but at 4am I really didn’t want to wake up Madame and I didn’t really want to move… Overall I was just in a lot of pain and mad that there really wasn’t anything I could do. So I started crying because it hurt so bad and learned that somehow it relaxed or something so my ear felt open instead of closed. It made it feel a little better so I kept thinking about sad things so I would keep crying, eventually the ibuprofen kicked in and I fell back asleep. It was definitely the worst part of my trip so far. Nothing like being in a foreign country in pain and not being able to do anything about it…

I woke up about 9:30 this morning again and told Madame I didn’t sleep well because of my ear. She pretty much was like yeah im not surprised because you went swimming and got water in it. She gave me a schpeal on paying attention to water getting in your ears. I just sort of nodded along. I think what it was is that I had used the ear drops and they had just made it worse before I went to bed. So then when I woke up 3 hours later it was just still worse. The best way I can explain it is that my ear felt clogged and that behind that it was like burning. So when I could make a gap between the clog it felt a bit better but it just really sucks. I am going to go ask tomorrow to get my sard so I can go to the doctor because it is just getting to a point where I think there is something really wrong going on. Everyone seems to think it is an infection and I think yeah it could be that but I feel like my ear infections before haven’t ever been this bad and that because it all started with the airplane ride here there may be something wrong with like pressure or something. I dunno but I really hope that I can see a doctor TOMORROW. But I doubt that will happen… But I am really going to try.

I had breakfast and whatever and then started reading. Around lunch time I met up with Cassandra to go to the place we went last night so I could get pizza. The waiter was really not nice… He was not shy in his expression that he didn’t like us because we were American. Even though I spoke French to him and I thought I did a pretty good job saying everything. It was interesting because both times we went there they serviced the French people twice as fast and often as they serviced us. The girl last night seemed nice enough but the guy today like was really not hiding his dislike. It really doesn’t make sense to me because if they didn’t really want us there they should have serviced us faster so that we would leave… Whatever. I just won’t go back there again because their pizza sucked anyways. We talked a while and then left to go walk down to Cours Mirabeau. Cassandra and I parted ways after she kept walking on my left where she mumbled and because of my ear I really couldn’t hear her so I kept having to say “WHAT” all the time.  Everything was closed because it was Sunday so there wasn’t really a point in walking around town. 

I walked down Cours Mirabeau to go home and saw there was a bunch of stuff going on in the Rotonde. Apparently there was this Ironman race today. I think it was a triathlon but I am not sure. Cassandra had said she had to wait for bikes but then all the little stands had biking, swimming, and running gear for sale so I would assume it was a triathlon which probably started in Marseille because I don’t know of any other water around. The finish line was at the Rotonde so I walked down and saw some people cross it. I went back to going on my way home and noticed some water bottles for sale!!! I have been looking everywhere for a water bottle and they were only 5 euros so I bought one which says Ironman Pays d’Aix France on it.  It isn’t the cutest thing ever but it works so I am happy! I got to being really sad on my walk home. Crying last night just sort of opened the flood gates and there is something very somber about Sundays here that just make you sad. 

I went back home and did some homework and reading. Madame helped me with the pronunciation of French names for Megan which I am not sure if they are really in IPA or if they are in French phonetics because yes they are different even though you think that the “I” in IPA is International there are differences. But it isn’t so hard to figure out.  She also looked over my answers to my French homework tomorrow and corrected my grammar. That is nice because even though I’m not turning it in it’s nice to have the corrections to learn from.

I learned today that Madame’s mom died when she was really little and that her dad lost his mind like had brain troubles so that is why she moved to France. She lived with her Aunt who she says was already old so it was a difficult life. She finished 2 years of high school and then started working so I think that is why she has had some odd jobs and still does. She worked in a restaurant for a while, cleaned houses for a while including for two years in Ramatuelle which is where we went swimming yesterday.  She had troubles with her heart when she was younger so she didn’t play sports but she has skied and runs sometimes. She had Laurence when she was 21 and her son (I forgot his name) when she was 23. So she has had a bit of a crazy life. Now I can find out how old she is by finding out how old Laurence is! 

We had some good bonding today I think which is nice. We had pasta and broccoli for dinner. I couldn’t eat all of it though. I am not a big pasta personne it fills me up too quickly. Now we’re watching tv. I feel really tired today so I will probably turn in earlier. I have been fighting with the internet all day as well. Oh that’s another thing. At the end of the month when my account expires if Jean-Claude hasn’t bought internet for the apartment yet, Madame told me that she is going to give me 30 Euros to go buy another month of internet (I’m going to try a different company if that’s the case). She was very intent that it is important that I have it and that she wants to pay for it. I told her I could no problem but she seems very insistent. But hopefully Jean-Claude buys it and then it will be no big deal and the internet will be better because we will have a router. Also we are getting a new tv which is kind of exciting at the end of the month. It must be when people get paid here. But Madame seems excited about it so that is cool. 

I am most excited to have my ear fixed. It has been very annoying since I got here so it will be nice once that isn’t a concern anymore. Also I hope that my package is here tomorrow because that would be cool!

Saint Tropez

I woke up grudgingly this morning at 6:50. Madame was already up. I ate breakfast and made myself a pb&j and then got dressed and packed for my day. I headed out and decided to take the "short way". Well here is the deal about the short way, it's only short if you know how to take it and don't end up going too far up and too far left. It was getting to be ten minutes until I needed to be there even though I had left twenty minutes ago... I took a gamble and took a different street. Luckily I ran into some IAU girls who were going and knew how to get there! Thank goodness or I really would have missed out and missed the bus! I was definitely going the wrong way!

When we got to the buses we got on and then drove for about an hour and a half before arriving at Saint Tropez! There were lots of boats and lots of tourists. The guy who organizes the trips George took us up to the citadel. It was pretty cool. I don't know any history on it but it was clear from the rock and the way that the lookout was tiered that there is definitely some history to it. Most people descended half way up to go see the cemetery but I continued up further to see what was at the very top. There was. Sort of tower thing on the side of the wall of the citadel at the top as well as an amazing view. I got to talking with a group that was there and we took pictures and stuff. We descended after that and went down to see the cemetery. We didn't go in but it was pretty cool to see the grave sites. Similar to the graves in Mexico, they are above ground and very ornate. I wonder because both Mexico and France are mainly Catholic if that is a catholic thing to have graves like that. I really liked how they had wreaths of ceramic flowers on a lot of the graves. I thought that was a kind of cool idea because then the flowers don't die and no one has to take care of them. I wonder why they are in a wreath shape though.

After that we started heading back into the older part of town. It was really pretty there and we got to pass the hotel de ville. I didn't see any famous people but I did see lots of cool yachts. There were also a lot of cool paintings that were done that artists were trying to sell. Everything here was very expensive and the prices increase was enough that even I could see. While we were walking through town Cassandra called me and wanted to meet up. When she found us she stopped to use the atm so I stayed with her and our group didn't notice so we ended up splitting off. We took our time wandering through town and walked through the souvenir shops poking. We found a good deal on post cards of ten for 2 Euros so I bought ten and a pack of cards. Which reminds me that yesterday I bought a post card that has different places in southern France and I want to TRY and see all of them before I leave?

I got an ice cream cone at a little ice cream shop that makes their own ice cream. It was really good! After that we walked towards the cathedral but it was closed when we got there so that was sad. We walked around a lot and then eventually found our way back to the bus to leave to go to the beach.

 

The bus ride there was veeerrry curvy. I felt really sick by the time we finally stopped. I wonder if I can get motion sickness pills from the pharmacy. Probably though I would think. I may have to look into it for next time. We go off and they told us that we could either stay at the little beach we got off at or go on a half hour walk to a different beach. Being not so great feeling I decided to just stay where we were.

It was verrry gorgeous! The water was even clearer than the last beach I went to. There were also a lot less people. After deciding I was feeling better I went and joined some IAU girls in the water. We swam for a while and the shore went out pretty far before I got deep. This was a much sandier beach but there was a section of rock just past the shore before it turned back to sand. We swam for a while and then I noticed my arm was like kind of uncomfortable stinging feeling. I started wondering if there may be jelly fish in the water but decided maybe it was just the salt of something and I had a scratch that was causing it or something. About two minutes later one of the girls noticed a little jellyfish with brown spots. Oh no. I definitely did. The girls didn't believe me when I said yeah I think I got stung. I think they thought I was being attentionish. It was uncomfortable but not to the point of being super painful. I would say it was half the annoyance of a stinging nettle. It wasn't painful really just like uncomfortable. Or maybe like a mild shock from electricity. Kind of like the feeling after you get shocked but a little worse. I got out after another ten minutes and went back to my towel to eat something. After I got out I noticed I started to have some red humps on my arm. That pretty much confirmed it. The stinging started to feel worse so I did what you do for jelly fish stings.... Yep. I peed on it. Which was definitely a weird experience but it for sure made it feel better instantly and then it went away completely about ten minutes later. The bathroom was really weird though and was basically just a hole in the ground which made the whole process a bit easier. 

Overall I am kind of shocked that I didn’t freak out and that I really did that… There was a shower nearby that I definitely used afterwards. But really like I’m here to have experiences right? Like… How many people can say that they have done that? That’ll be one that will definitely stay with me. After all that I went back to the beach and everyone was like yeah good for you for actually being brave enough to do it. It was kind of weird. But I was pleased that they weren’t like grossed out. But like it really did start to feel like it was going to hurt like to a noticeable point soon. But it was all good. I went back in the water because I was like eh well now that that’s out of the way nothing worse can happen. And I was right thank goodness.

So then I met two girls who are going to a different university who were both from San Francisco. They were very nice and I swam with them for probably a good hour talking. Then some of the girls started taking a ton of like group shots so I played camera girl for them. They went topless at one point to take like pictures of their backs holding their top over the shoulder. I definitely would not have done that because there were definitely boats out there… But I saw this cool rock by itself out in the cove so I had Cassandra wait until I got out there and then had her take a picture of me. It turned out alright. It was a bit difficult to get to with the waves but it was not very deep so I just sort of swim/crawled out to it. The rocks had slimy stuff but it was whatever. Then I swam back. There were some cool silver fish with black stripes in the cove and one was actually probably 4 inches tall and as long as a ruler. So he was pretty big! The water was clear enough that when the wave let up a bit you could see the bottom even if you couldn’t touch bottom. 

Most of the girls tanned the whole time, but I swam most of the time. It was really fun and I was sad to have to leave. It was getting close to time to leave so we dried off and went back to the road to get a drink from the café carts. I bought a icee thing that was pretty good. They are really popular in this area but I hadn’t tried them yet. I think they are not as good as real icees, but they were refreshing all the same. 

After that we got back on the bus… to drive more windy roads. Roads here are VERY skinny so a lot of the time we have to break repeatedly while we turn corners and they don’t do it very gently. Also we have to stop a lot so that the other cars can move off the road so the bus can go by. It was very curvy and again I felt sick… I also was tired so I was going to try and sleep it off but that didn’t work either because I couldn’t fall asleep because of feeling sick. That was a bit sad. But when we eventually got back on the Auto route I started feeling better. My ear hurts still. I think Monday I will ask to go to a doctor. I still haven’t gotten my insurance card… 

When we got back I made plans with Cassandra to go to dinner. I took a shower and such then skyped Thad for like 2 minutes before my internet died and told him what happened with the jellyfish. He laughed really hard. Then I went to meet Cassandra for dinner. While I was waiting I skyped Megan because it was creepy waiting for her in the dark on a not super crowded street by myself. Right before she got there though I got heckled by a group of three guys so I decided to go wait by the fountain but then not 20 seconds later Cassandra showed up. I said bye to Meg and then we went to go find food. 

We ended up going to a restaurant because it said pizza and salade for 10 euros so I was like DEAL! But then when we started looking at the menu Cassandra was going to get spaghetti and I knew I would be jealous so I changed my mind. I definitely should have not… Not that it was bad but whenever they walked by with pizza it smelled reeeallly good. The pasta was fine but not as good clearly plus I wanted some greenery in my life. 

The service was very slow. I don’t know if they did that on purpose but it too two hours from when we sat down to when we left for sme 11 minute pasta. It was not so good but eh. I also tried a citron Diabolo which is like lemon soda with flavoring. I was stupid and got lemon. Oops. It was very tart though. I liked it. After dinner I came home and was sad that the cool game show I like on Saturdays was over. But then! There was a second one!!! It is really the best show and they should bring it to the states. This one has Tony Parker the basketball guy and Eva his wife who apparently isn’t his wife anymore. But I don’t know who he is so that’s lame of me. But it is really a good show. 

I guess the best I can say for this day is I had a good time in St. Tropez and definitely am experiencing some things!

Marbles and not Shorts

I woke up yet again to the lovely sound of construction. I tried the ear plug thing but my ear was bothering me so I finally just gave up around ten and woke up. I took a shower and did some interneting and then watched Beebow chase a fly. Then I began to realize I was going to spend all day in the apartment if I didn’t so something about it. So I texted Cassandra and asked if she wanted to do some errands with me. She was bored too so we met at the school and started off. I went to the post office to mail moms card and it was surprisingly not very expensive! I was very impressed. There was some confusion on the envelope though because the girl helping me had given me an envelope that was prepaid for in France mail but because I was going international when I took it up to the guy he was like uhhhhh okay she gave you the wrong one but it’s okay I will just meet the difference. And so I got this like piece of paper sized envelope which was a lot bigger than I needed. But whatever we all figured it out in the end!

After the post office we went in search of some clear nail polish. All the top coats here we learned are mat. So I bought a base to use as a base and top coat. I learned the beauty store is waaaaay cheaper than Sephora too, 2-3 euros for nail polish instead of 5 for a tiny bottle. Lesson learned! After that we went to Monoprix for lunch. I got the 3 chicken wrap box thing and a Dr. Pepper. I took one bite of the first chicken wrap and gave it to Cassandra to try. It definitely tasted like fish. I turned over the package and learned that that particular wrap has anchovies in it! Oh jooooy. Luckily I was bad and spit it out. But the other two were fish free so I let Cassandra have that one. The other two were really good as was my Dr.Pepper! I bought a little Starbucks coffee thing for cheaps for tomorrow morning when I have to meet the bus at 8am. After that we went in search of some shorts and went to some interesting places. We tried Gap, H&M, some other clothes places and finally American Apparel. I had never been to an American apparel store but it is definitely an interesting store. We found lots of leotards and bizarre clothing including a poncho which we definitely tried on. Overall shorts were a bust but I found a pair of sunglasses that I figure I should have for the trip to the beach tomorrow. We sat down in a café for a soda before going our separate ways as it was getting closer to 6 and looking like it was going to rain soon. We had a fun day though walking around and I had fun getting to know her better.

When I came home I skyped my parents for the second time since I have been here and talked with them a bit until Thad came on and my parents had to leave to go to work and I started talking to Thad. After that Madam came in with Paul and told me when I was done to come downstairs. When Thad went to lunch I went downstairs and Paul showed me how to play his Skylanders game on his 3DS. It is like a game where you buy these little monster dude figurines and then with this little platform they light up and then sync to your Gameboy. It was pretty cool but definitely geared more towards younger kids. Paul sat on my lap while he played and it was pretty… nice feeling. I feel like he trusts me which is cool and he definitely likes me which is cool. I haven’t had a lot of exposure to younger kids in my life so it is cool to have that now. He shows me his games and asks me to play with him. Madame got a really cute picture but her phone is so basic I don’t think there would be a way for me to get it off even if I asked her if I could have a copy. It was really cute though.

After that he started making Mii’s which are little character dudes. He made an ugly one and a pretty one and he was having a good time. Pretty soon Laurence came home and we talked for a while. Madame told me that if I ever come back to France I should call her up and I can stay with her no problem but that I should come back between April and September because that is when it is nicest. That was very nice of her though J After a while we went back downstairs and were getting ready to start dinner stuff when Paul came down with some marbles and wanted to show them to me. Then Laurence came down so Madame pulled out some appetizer things and opened the bottle of rose that I bought at the winery a few weeks ago. I played marbles with Paul (he cheated a lot) and we played with those until we came back to the living room and Paul got really hyper and started pulling out all of Madames cat figurines and stuffed animals and being a seven year old kid. I talked with Laurence and Madame. We looked through an old photo album of Madames and I learned that she lived in Algeria until she was eleven and her family moved here. Her dad was Greek and her mom Algerian. That explains why she has a bit darker of skin.
 

We talked for about an hour and then Paul and Laurence went downstairs and we stayed and had Chicken nuggets (with a fork) and cubed like hashbrown potatoes. Quick and easy tonight. We are getting into a good routine Madame and I. She starts dinner and I help set the table. While she is finishing up I pour us both water and turn the tv so we can see it while we eat. That is really common her I learned. We talk about the show and usually it is the news or the zoo nursery show depending on if we remember the zoo show is on that night and what time it is. I finish dinner first and wait for her to finish and then she waits for me until I’m done with cheese. We both are just faster at the other even though we have the same amount. After that we eat an ice cream bar either right then (sometimes a fruit) or wait a bit because we are both full from dinner. Usually I go skype after dinner but not always.

Then we watch some sort of tv (tonight is Master chef) and then after about 45 minutes Madame is asleep. I usually just watch tv and finish my journal until she either decides to go to bed or I fake being tired so I can use the internet and then she decides to go to bed.

Tonight I asked when it is too late for me to skype and she looked at me like I was crazy. I told her that other students had been told by their families not to call their parents or people after a certain hour because it was too loud. She said she really doesn’t care as long as I’m not screaming or being loud but just talking in a regular tone it is fine whenever. So that was a good thing to ask.

I’m glad that I went out today because I could have easily enjoyed my day reading my book but that wouldn’t really be taking full advantage of the fact that I am in France… But I had a fun day even if I didn’t really “do” anything. It was fun to hang out with Paul and to talk with Madame and Laurence.

Beebow just attacked Madames hand while she was sleeping. She was not very happy… Also 40 fountains supposedly but I don’t believe it. I’m sure that there are ore and they aren’t counting the little ones. There are two on my street alone. Maybe I will have to go on a fountain hunt.

Also shout out to my mom who's birthday it now is! Love you!

Monument Revolutionaire

This morning I woke up around ten and went and took a shower. I had breakfast and made myself a PB&J to take with me to school. I got there early and read a little of my Game of Thrones book. After a while I went outside to meet my class. Today we went on a little trip to the monument of Joseph Sec. It is one of only 5 monuments from the French revolution that still exists. The other three are in paris and there is another one in Nantes. The last one is here in Aix! It is a small little monument with a sort of garden like thing on the inside.

Pretty much during the revolution everyone wanted to trash everything that had to do with French history before the revolution. Some people like Joseph Sec didn’t really like that idea. He made this monument and made it a sort of mausoleum but without his body so that people wouldn’t mess with it. It is super cool and has sculptures and such. On the outside it has three plaques.  The middle one just kind of says what it is. The one on the left says something like : Leaving cruel slavery, I have no other master but myself, But my liberty I have no other use of but to obey the law. The one on the right says something along the lines of: I will prefer to die for these laws more than to abolish them. Basically at this time because every other country was attacking France this was France saying hey we are free from the king now but we are going to follow the laws we made, and we’d rather die fighting you than to break them and be a part of your country. Basically, France has it’s own laws and they will fight to keep them.
 

The monument itself was pretty cool. We stood outside talking about the different parts. In the middle there is a statue of a man with horns. My professor asked us who we thought it was and because of the horns we assumed the devil. But we learned that it was Moses and that he has horns because somewhere in translation someone mis-translated halo to be horns. Quite a bad mix up to be honest! But that’s why in a lot of famous paintings and such of Moses he has horns. On each side of him were statues of women but I don’t really know their significance or if they had one. On the very top of the monument was lady Justice with a scale. On the other side of the main wall of the monument is Jesus with a lamb. The significance of the statues is that the front and back are the old and new Testaments of the Bible and Lady Justice being on top is the French saying that Justice will win over the king who was supposedly chosen by God himself and ruled by divine right. It was pretty cool to see the monument even from just the outside.

We went inside and it was pretty much just a little garden with some more statues. We learned that the statues there were fake and that the real ones are in the museum in town. This is the museum I have already been to but I think that I need to go back later because there is so much I have heard about that I didn’t see. I think because there is a temporary exhibition there now so once that is over they will put back their regular stuff.

Inside we learned that the statues were of Noah, some random girl (he didn’t really say), David with Goliaths head, Judith nailing the guy in the head, Solomon, a Prophetess, and Aaron Mose’s brother. They were all really cool looking even if they were replicas. Right after the French revolution people started to realize that they needed to have their cultural heritage guarded so the people stopped wrecking everything. 

Another interesting story where the French were trashing stuff was when King Henry the 4^th was removed from his tomb. Pretty much the revolutionaries dumped the body in the sewers but some crazy guy like kept the head and now it has resurfaced and it’s a big deal. There are DNA tests going on and such but I wonder how they can do that if the rest of the body is gone. I guess probably by using his lineage and finding people that were descendents from him? Though how they would really know 100% I question because his descendents would only have half his DNA each time, and after 10 generations that wouldn’t be a lot left… But I guess it must work somehow.

 

I also learned that the French wanted to create their own calendar and forget the Christian calendar. The wanted it to be separate so on the middle plaque it says “the fourth year of liberty 1792” So they were trying to use the new calendar and the Christian calendar. They soon learned that the new calendar wasn’t going to work.

The whole little trip was really cool and I got to learn a lot of things about the French revolution that I wouldn’t have learned from reading a book. I want to find out who the other statues are that were in the garden and also when the other statues were moved. The ones on the top and front of the monument are the real ones from that time which makes me wonder why they didn’t move those ones as well. Perhaps because it would be too much work? I don’t know.   

My literature class was a bit dull today. Instead of having a big discussion we had like little talks on different parts of the text. I enjoy the longer discussions much better though. But it wasn’t bad. We are almost done with Paradise Lost.

After class I went to the FNAC (aka best buy +books and other things) store to find a birthday card for my mom. I wandered around for a while and bought a lemon and sugar crepe. It was surprisingly delicious! I was pleasantly surprised. After that I went back to the school to read for a while before meeting Cassandra for Happy Hour. Kelan, Julia, and Patrick ended up joining us as well because Kelan saw me outside the school so I invited him, who saw Julia so he invited her and Cassandra had class with Patrick so she invited him and it was fun! We went and sat and talked about lots of different things. Julia left to go skype her parents and the four of use kept sitting and talking for another hour. After that Kelan, Patrick, and I went back to the monument so we could show Kelan but it was closed by then. It was really cool though.

I came back home and wrote moms card and then I decided to try and write to my French professors in French. And I was doing fine until I wanted to know how many fountains there are in Aix exactly. Madame came home and we tried to find the answer on the internet. That didn’t work so we consulted her dictionaries for Aix but that didn’t say either. I learned she doesn’t have a book for Aix (Christmas Present? Oui.) so tomorrow my mission is to find that out. I probably will go to the office de toursime and see if they know and if not go to the library. I really want to know though because there are so many and I want to know the exact number because I am curious like that! Aix is called the city of a thousand fountains but I bet it has a few less. After that we had dinner and then watched Men in Black. Paul came up to say hi and I forgot to do la bise or kisses so he was like standing there and I was like what until Madame was like bisous and I was like oh! I didn’t know that was a thing that I was supposed to do! But I guess I am!

Also a fun little fact: after the Storming of the Bastille some businessmen sold stones from the building and one of them ended up here in Aix in this like random building. But the people who bought the building after the guy who bought it dies didn’t know it was historic so they had it engraved with “Toilettes” and used it as a sign for the bathrooms. Oops! But after they found out it was too late. My professor said not many Aix people know about it but because the building is under construction or something we couldn’t go see it.

Also I can’t remember if I put this in my last post or not but I learned that the construction next has been going on for 2 years! Blech! It shows no sign of stopping either!

                                                                                                                                       

Lost Teeth and Pokemon

Today (I feel like I start every post with that) I almost didn’t go to class because yesterday Paul dropped my phone aka my alarm clock, and I didn’t set the date correctly so my phone though it was Friday and didn’t need to wake me up. So it was very lucky that I happened to wake up twenty minutes after my alarm. But now that I think about it I probably would have woken up at eight with the work next door. Today being Wednesday was laundry day! Which I love because then I can tell how long my week has felt in comparison to last time laundry was done. This week seemed very short I think because the weekend was so busy. So now that is my goal! Keep the weekends busy! This isn’t very hard considering how many weekends I am doing something with the school or for a class or going somewhere on my own/ with other people.  A lot of these trips are like day trips in fact all but two so far are day trips.

Before I went to class Paul came up and announced an showed us all his first lost tooth. (Good thing I’m not you Megan!) He was very excited which got me wondering about the tooth fairy and whether that exists here. I went to class and it was good. We are learning about the Oppidum d’Entremont which is an ancient civilization that existed just north of here 300-100 years B.C. which is pretty crazy! We are going to the site next Wednesday to see it so that is pretty cool. Tomorrow I am going…. Somewhere French Revolution related in Aix for my European history class, so that is pretty neat. I don’t have homework tonight which is nice too!

After class a girl named Mary and I went to go track down something to eat. She had never been to the crepe place so we tried to go there but they weren’t open yet. So we went to a pizza place. It was alright not my favorite. Mary is really nice but she likes to always talk in French which I am totally fine with doing but the way she talks she elevated and drops her voice a loooot, to the point that it is kind of obnoxious? But she is nice in smaller doses. We also went to the ATM and this one was super nice (not) and gave me a 50 which no one likes to break. But I needed some more money in order to pay George the trip guy for Saint Tropez on Saturday! I’m kind of excited for that as Madame has told me it is super nice. No one from my usual gang is going but I think Cassandra said she was and it is good to branch out. J After hanging with Mary for a bit I came back home and Madame seemed surprised to see me. I think she thought I was going to be gone all day but I have a pretty long break so I wonder if I’m not supposed to come home? Or if it matters? I researched a bunch for Paris and Lyon. My plan for fall break is to go on the trip with George to Barcelona, Spain for the four days and then come back and the next day go to meet Grace (my Oregon Crusader friend) in Paris. And then I will have Sunday to recoop before school the next day! It seems like it wont be… THAT expensive about 30ish euros to each place on the train and then another 40 back plus about 80-150 for 4 or 3 nights total. So I feel like for what I am doing that really isn’t that bad. And I mean while it is money how often am I really ever going to get this good of a chance to go to Paris? Or to Lyon? Like never so I might as well do it. And it isn’t like I am staying in the most swanky hotels I’m going with the cheap hotel that has a shower ( YES I am already looking forward to them) and saying how often am I really going to be sitting around in the hotel? Mmm probably not long unless I am sleeping! SO that’s my plan! Also I have heard that like to get into the museums and stuff I can get in free or way cheaper with my Student ID card and a copy of my student visa. Seems like a pretty good deal to me!

Madame was filling out a complaint card for the bus. And had one from last week as well, I didn’t ask her what the problem was as I figured that it was prying. I also learned that she does Laurence and Jean-Clauds family laundry on Wednesdays too not just ours. So it seems like even when she doesn’t work she works. I asked her today if she likes the job she has and she said she does. She is very knowledgeable about parts of France but other than the South she hasn’t really been to very many other parts. She just watches a lot of informative TV shows.

I went and paid George and then went to my Translation class. I asked my teacher what “Mon petit brouillette” means as Madame says it all the time to Bee bow. MY professor didn’t know so she told me to ask Madame or write down how it is spelled. I think she said it just means like face or something. She laughed when I asked her what it meant. I don’t think it is a real word but like something she sort of made up.

When I got home no one was home so I started doing more research about trains now that I knew that Cassidy is flying into Marseille not Lyon. It’s actually going to be fun to ride the train together and be cheaper overall. I have to wait for my new visa card to get here though before I book the hotels and trains. I have noticed my English is getting worse since I have been here. Today I wrote overloud instead of overload and didn’t realize it until like five minutes later. Also my grammar as well is getting worse as is my spelling. I think this must be a good thing though because my brain is switching modes and is going more French.

Pretty soon Paul came up and wanted to go through the pokemon tumblr that he went through yesterday. I need to find some more kid friendly blogs to follow for him. I feel like this isn’t going to be a onetime thing. Pretty soon Madame came upstairs and started cooking and Paul went back downstairs. Tonight we had mashed potatoes and sausage and wine and fromage and these like appetizers which is like some type of meat on bread with a pickle coin on top. Strange but they taste alright. I don’t particularly like them but they aren’t bad. Madame made them last night and asked if I like them and I said yeah so then she made them again tonight. I hope it isn’t becoming a thing…  After dinner I went and talked to Thad a bit. Then I came out and started writing my journal but that was like two hours ago because the tv shows keep sparking my interest. But it has been a nice day where I did some things but also didn’t do too much. J

Fun things!

Today I woke up slowly as I love to do on Tuesdays and took a shower, got dressed, made my bed, and ate some breakfast. I made my lunch and threw it in my bag and then went to class. I was there early as per usual so I tried to do a bit of homework and research into hostels in Paris. I think it is actually cheaper for Grace and me to get a super budget hotel than to stay in a hostel. Which I think is a bit strange but I am rolling with it. I haven’t booked anything yet because we both need to look at transportation there but I think that it is a done deal and we WILL be going. I need to see if it is cheaper for me to leave from Barcelona and go a day earlier than Grace or if it is better to come back from Barcelona on the bus and leave the same day as her. We shall see.

My classes were cool today. I got more info on the French Revolution and learned that July 14^th isn’t the day of the Storming of the Bastille but is actually the day of the fete de la federation which was like this huge party that was in France after Louis the 16^th pretty much became the prisoner of the people and had to do whatever the Third Estate said. But I guess that each year the news people tell everyone that this was the day of the Storming of the Bastille, but it was not! So that is funny. Also the story of how Louis and Marie Antoinette tried to leave France to go to Austria but got caught is a funny story. They got caught near the border because the King was hungry and was dressed as a bourgeois but he ordered like the most expensive stuff on the menu. And then some other guy in the Inn noticed he had the same profile as the guy on the coins. So I thought that was pretty funny. 

For lunch I ate my delicious PB&J. Now I weigh 305285 pounds. ;-) Actually I was looking at the nutrition facts between PB and Nutella and the difference is that PB has more calories (barely) but a ton more protein and less fat. So I think that it is actually better for you. But anyways then it was time for World Literature. We talked a bunch about Satan as we are reading Paradise Lost. It is always interesting and I was able to finish the bible phrase about how it is harder for a rich man to enter heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. I felt pretty proud of myself. After that I walked into the hallway and ran into Kelan who told me that him and Julia were going to go to Happy hour at 5 if I wanted to wait and join them. I said sure why not since I had nowhere to be. So I figured I would go read in the school for the next hour and a half. 

On the way back to the school I passed a sign to an exposition of paintings that I had passed a few times but hadn’t explored. I figured why the heck not now? So I went down the steps into this like gallery room. It was just one lady there and I said Hi which you are supposed to do all the time whenever you go somewhere. The lady who was probably a bit on the older side came over and started talking to me! Which was a bit strange but nice. She asked where I was from and stuff we probably talked for ten minutes and then she asked if I would stay here while she ran to the bathroom and guard the stuff. I said of course! And she left. I wasn’t supposed to take photos but I figure it wouldn’t hurt for my blog so I quickly snapped a few of the room and went on looking at the paintings. She came back and kept talking to me as I made my way around the room looking and talking about what I liked in each one. She asked my favorite and I said so far that one but I really liked them all, which I did as they were all really colorful and probably took a lot of work. I learned about half way through that they were HER paintings!!!! I thought she was just the one in charge of them! The artists name was Paule Romas so I thought that was a guy’s name! Kacy fails! But she was super nice. She complained that it was cold and I told her Oregon is much colder so this was still warm for me. Also that it rains all the time in Oregon. When we went through all the paintings another lady came in who was from Belgium and so we talked with her a bit as well. They were both VERY nice. I went to leave but noticed she had some posters with her art on them so I figured that would be fun to get a poster to remember how nice these ladies were to me. And when I went to pay she would NOT take my money! I tried everything! She signed my poster and then told me to hang up “a bit of sunshine” in my room at home so that I would have some when it rained. J I was very happy and thanked her many times before happily departing on my way with good faith that people can always be nice to one another even if they are from drastically different worlds. 

I went back and started reading but sooner than I thought Kelan came down looking for me so that we could go. Julia soon joined and I retold them the story of what had happened. I told them that they should go check out the paintings because they were so pretty! And it is free! We went down to Happy hour where Kelan and I split the tab on two “Sex in Aix”s which I think is just like a sex on the beach? It was like coconut, orange juice, and strawberry? I think? I don’t really know but it was very good! We talked about problems we had run into with our hosts or what interesting things we had learned. Kelan talked about how he has the opportunity to stage manage for a reading in November but it is also the week his parents are coming to visit. So he wanted to know what we thought he should do. 

After that I went back home and was doing a bit of homework when Paul came in with a balloon. Of course then he wanted to know if I would play with him. So we did that for probably about half an hour until he got bored and wanted to play on my ipod. He thinks it is a phone but I have told him like 5 times that it isn’t. Today he said why do you have two phones? Meaning my Ipod and my phone so I told him again. For dinner we had lasagna which was very good. I ended up eating a lot of it as I was pretty hungry. After that I introduced Paul to one of my Pokemon Tumblr followers and he scrolled endlessly through it telling me who has genders and who doesn’t and which cards he has. I think he is pretty excited for the new game.
 

He then left and I got online. I had jokingly to Cassidy told her she could join me in going to the Fete de Lumieres in December. I thought it was totally a crazy idea. When I got back to my computer we started talking details and where she could stay in Aix. I started trying to find cheap hostels or hotels or something. I went out to talk to Madame to see what she would say if I said I had a friend who was coming to visit in December because I didn’t want to ask if she could stay here since our program like forbids it. But she was like yeah if she wants to sleep with you I have no problem with that it would save her lots of money. And I was like are you really sure like six times and she was like Yeah of course! So I went and told Cassidy and she said that her coming here might actually happen and then all of a sudden she had a ticket to come on December 5-15! YAY!!!!! Oh my goodness I am so excited!!!!!! Someone is coming to visit and see where I live and everything!!!!  I am pumped :-D!!!!! We are going to Lyon first and then after that back here and she can get lost in the city and everything!!! I’m sure she will have a blast! And I know I am looking forward to it!!!

Grocery Shopping

Compared to my last uneventful day today was REALLY uneventful. Did the usual morning thing and then went to class. After that I went to the Monoprix to get some lunch foods that I can start to take with me to school so I don’t cost as much to eat each day. I ended up spending 30 Euros to get everything which was 1 spiral notebook, pencil case, tiny jar of PB, jelly, bread, Oreos, some pretzels, goldfish, a PowerAde, sandwich bags, a uncle bens rice pouch (microwavable) and some bananas! It really wasn’t a lot but I think once I don’t have to spend over 4 Euros on a tiny peanut butter it will start to be cheaper. It was kind of cool to see all the different things that they had and next time I need some food I want to go to the super market stores that are outside of town just to walk around for a bit. I would have to take the bus though but meh. I think that is an experience all in itself. After I made myself the first PB&J since I did OC, I started in on the homework. I read for a few hours and then decided that I was done. I finished all the homework for tomorrow so I figure I’m probably fine.

When Madame got home I asked her where she would want me to keep the food I bought and she started trying to figure out why I was buying breakfast food (in her opinion) since that was her job. I explained it was for lunch though and then it was all good. I showed her my PB because she asked what I bought and she told me it was bad for my health and was going to make me fat. I just laughed it off because most of us Americans are getting that same thing from all our hosts about peanut butter. She cleared me a shelf though and it was good. 

Then I went to my translation class which really doesn’t seem very hard yet. It is difficult in that you need to understand both languages but the professor is really nice and because it is a translation class we get a mix of French and English which I really like. It’s nice to make comparisons of the two. Also no one in the class but me knew what agates were. So I had to explain. The class is really nice though and there are only ten of us in it so it is intimate, just how I like my French classes!

I got home and uploaded the rest of my pictures onto Facebook and discovered my second French album had been set so that only I could view the pictures. Whoopsie that won’t work! So I changed it. For dinner we had the rest of the chicken and diced potato fry hash brown things. They were god and so was the cheese. After that I went and Skyped my beau before getting a facebook message from my friend Grace from Oregon Crusaders who is currently studying in Denmark wondering when I was free some weekend to go to Paris. It turns out that she is free during my fall break so we are going to try and see if we can make that work! Because that would be awesome!!!

After that I talked to Madame a lot about holiday sad traditions and where I wanted to go and she told me where the best place is to go and at what time of the year. It was a fun conversation which included Beebow being a dork.

After that I put my blog up and went to sleep J