Un weekend à la mer

This past Sunday was the thirtieth birthday of my host parents' son, and they gave him the house for the weekend for his party, so what better time than that to take a weekend vacation to the sea? Martine and Philippe (my host parents) have friends who own a house right on the Mediterranean in La Madrague, Hyères, which is about an hour and a half from Aix. And when I say right on the Mediterranean, I mean it. It was awesome. This was my view from the front porch all weekend:

On Saturday, we drove a few minutes to get to the port, then we took a quick ferry to the nearby island of Porquerolles (literally pronounced "pork roll" but with a French accent). We arrived in a port filled with sailboats and dogs running across the docks.

My friend Megan came along for the weekend too!

Once off the boat, we rented bikes to ride around the island on what Philippe claimed was a "short, easy bike ride." It wasn't. What we actually did was ride up and down 12 kilometers of rocky hills, while I came to the conclusion that my 61 year old host father is in better shape than me. The views were amazing though, so it turned out just fine.

Here we are with Martine at the top of the hardest and steepest hill.

What really made it all worth it was our destination: the beach. We passed several slightly crowded beaches along the way, and I wondered why we didn't stop at those. When we got to the end of the trail though, I found out. None of the other beaches looked as good as this:

The water was brilliantly blue and green and so crystal clear I could see tiny fish at the bottom when I went swimming. It was beautiful, and the water felt great after the bike ride. We had a nice picnic lunch on the sand then hung out for a couple hours before biking back. After some yummy gelato, we got the boat back, and headed home.

Goodbye Porquerolles!

After some quiet time to recuperate from the day's activities, we went to a long stretch of beach on a little inlet, and watched the sunset. Pictures cannot capture all the colors. It was a beautiful end to the day.

On Sunday morning, Philippe suggested we "walk into town," which sounded fun. And it was, but it was most definitely not a walk. There are trails along the cliffs on the sea shore, and we headed out on those. The thing about seaside cliffs though is that they are not at all even, and it was more like rock climbing than anything else. But once again, the views were amazing. With the sea to my left the whole time, I could look out to the horizon and watch all the sailboats as we hiked. We also passed lots of stairs cut into the cliffs that went down to hidden little beaches right on the shore.

After about 45 minutes, we finally reached the town and climbed up to the lookout point. There, we could look out at the sea on both sides. We could even look back at the island we had been on the day before.

Martine picked us up in town once we were done exploring, and as it was a pretty windy day, we headed to a beach to watch the kitesurfuers. Apparently, it is very popular in the region. There were probably 40 or 50 kitesurfers on that beach alone. It looks really hard but really fun. I think we should give it a try on Keuka!

After we got back to the house, we changed into swimsuits and walked along the cliffs again back to one of the little beaches I mentioned. It was quiet and secluded, and we all enjoyed one last swim in the sea.

After a yummy Sunday lunch, we had to pack up and head home, but not without watching a few more sailboats from the porch. It was a weekend full of beautiful sights, and a great first trip to the Mediterranean!

Quelques choses qui me frappent…

As part of my program here, we spend a lot of time talking about the differences between cultures and trying to understand why certain differences exist between the U.S. and France. Obviously, I expected to find things that were different here, but there are some random, small things that I just do not understand. So here are a few of the things that have surprised me in the past two weeks…

The Notebooks:

This may not seem like a big deal to some people, but for someone like me who likes to have perfect and neat notes in class, French notebooks are unacceptable. In France, notebooks with normal lined paper do not exist. Well, not unless you want to dig through the specialty paper store and fork over 5 euros for a small notebook, and I’d rather spend that money on Nutella crepes. Thus, I am left with the basic notebook options at Monoprix (kind of a French version of Target, except more expensive and less awesome). There, you can find plenty of notebooks, but they all contain either graph paper, or this:

I don’t know what crazy person decided this would be a good way to line notebook paper, but let me tell you, it’s not. Even if I could write small enough to use a single line at a time, I wouldn’t be able to read it. And who wants lines running through the middle of everything they write? I’m making do just fine, but it’s funny what little things you find matter when they’re gone.

The Clothes:

I think I’ve mentioned this, but let me just reiterate: it’s hot here. And humid. And although I would usually be breaking out the boots and sweaters around this time of year, I’m not. It’s still summer here. But here’s the strange thing: French women don’t seem to care. I’m still in sundresses and sandals, trying to keep from overheating, and the vast majority of French women in the center city are decked out in their best fall fashion. Yesterday, the high was 80°, and on the bus I saw a woman in a sweater dress with a cardigan over the top, leggings, and fur-lined boots. I love my sweaters as much as the next girl, but I also enjoy not feeling like I’m in an oven all day.

The Greetings:

Here’s something I didn’t know before arriving; apparently, you are only supposed to say “bonjour” to someone once a day. Last week, we were given a kind of “French etiquette” class to teach us to set the table, eat properly, and greet people, among other things. What surprised me most was that “bonjour” is a greeting to be given the first time you see someone each day, and then after that you are supposed to use other greetings, like “salut.” Apparently saying “bonjour” twice is like indicating you forgot you already saw the person that day. Greetings are much more nuanced in France than in the U.S. Add that to the list of things I’m trying to get the hang of!

La Nourriture

*Warning: Do not read this post if you are hungry. Reading may result in extreme hunger, overindulgence, or feelings of sadness that you are not eating French food.

I think it goes without saying that the food here is awesome. And with bakeries and cafés on every corner, there is certainly no shortage of it. It’s a good thing I have to walk so much, or I would come home enormous! I can’t quite put into words everything I have gotten to taste in just the past 2 weeks. So, since a picture is worth a thousand words, I have taken pictures of all of the delicious things I’ve been eating. Sorry some of them already have bites out of them in the picture… It all looks too delicious, and by the time I remember I’m supposed to be taking pictures, I’ve started eating!

My first crepe of the trip!

This was some sort of sweet made from almonds. I don't know what it was called, but it was delicious!

My first steak-frites! They actually put the fries inside!

Croque monsieur! My favorite.

Tartes au citron are the best.

I got a scoop of Kinder gelato and a scoop of Calisson!

The baker called this bruschetta, but it didn't have any tomatoes... All the better for me!

Other things I have loved, but are not pictured: duck with sweet figs (a new favorite, and the figs were from the tree in my backyard here!), tajine, and of course, lots of bread! It's awesome being able to buy a croissant or baguette whenever I want, and for less then a euro! Overall, a delicious two weeks!

Les Villages de Lubéron

Yesterday, our group went on a trip to Lubéron, a mountainous region near Aix. We got to wander around these tiny villages, perched on the sides of mountains, and take in all of the postcard-worthy views. Everything was quaint and petite: the stone walkways and buildings with tiny streets and even a pedestrian walkway that I equated to a hobbit’s tunnel.

The first village we visited was called Lourmarin. It has a huge old cathedral that is really just an empty shell now (it was raided during the revolution), but it still has beautiful grounds, and was just far enough from the rest of the village to give us a great view.

Also exciting was the cemetery down the road. Or rather, one of the graves in the cemetery. Albert Camus lived and was buried in Lourmarin, and we got to see his grave!

We ventured into the center of Lourmarin for a quick stop at a café (un chocolat chaud was needed by several of us, and it was delicious!), and to purchase the makings for a picnic which we took to our next destination. 

After a short drive, we arrived at Bonnieux, a village that climbs its way up the side of a mountain. On our way there, we turned a corner and suddenly it was just there, perched perfectly on the mountain with a church steeple rising out of the center.

The one problem with cute little villages is that their narrow streets are not meant to be navigated by big tour buses like the one we were on. This soon became apparent when we drove into Bonnieux, and for a few terrifying minutes it looked like we were going to drive straight into the front of a hotel. But thanks to some fancy maneuvering, our driver Ahmed managed to get the bus around all the tight corners, and he even parallel parked the bus in a side street! We actually cheered for him. Once safely parked, we climbed to the top of the village to eat our lunch. It was embarrassingly tiring and made me question whether or not I should reconsider my daily bakery visits. We made it to the top though and enjoyed our picnic while sitting on a high stone wall and enjoying the view of the valley below.

Finally, we reached our last village of the day, Rousillon, which legitimately looked like a miniature Colorado. All red rock and dust that left our shoes looking rusty, and delicious gelato to end the day! 

Overall, an exciting day of exploring and a successful first excursion with AUCP!

American University Center of Provence

The American University Center of Provence gives a whole new meaning to the idea of a “small school,” and this coming from an Ursinus student. AUCP has two buildings. I’m not kidding, there are literally only two buildings, which contain five classrooms, two kitchens, and a few offices. It is small but absolutely beautiful. Walking into the garden is like walking into The Secret Garden, with its little pond (complete with fish), tall trees, an old stone wall, and vines everywhere.

The main building is an old maison de maître with a double stairway on the outside. It may be old, but they still have a coffee machine and vending machine for us! It’s very different to not buy a Milka bar during every break…

AUCP is beautiful, and the people who work there are very nice, but the best part is Pax. Pax is a little black puppy who is almost a year old, and he is adorable. He follows his owner around constantly, and when he walks he prances around like a little prince. He likes to eat leaves for some reason, and the other day he was looking at himself in the pond, and he fell in! Everyone loves him, and he gets constant attention from all of us. He’s just too cute to ignore!

Arrivée!

Well, I’m here. After all the applications, tedious visa visits, and 3 planes, I have made it to Aix! I arrived Saturday morning, and orientation didn’t start until Monday, so I spent most of the weekend getting over jetlag and getting used to speaking French all the time. Oh, and being hot. It is super hot here. And not like Rochester hot where the hours in the middle of the day are the worst, but the rest of the day is bearable. It is just always hot and humid. In French, they say “il fait lourd” which means “it’s heavy,” and it’s a good way to describe it. The air just sits on top of you as your try to wade through it. But it’s not all bad since my host family has a pool! And I can’t really complain because, for all the heat, Aix is beautiful! My host family lives outside of Aix in the country, which is lovely, and in the city center there are fountains everywhere! The Cours Mirabeau, which has all the major restaurants and bars on it, ends in this huge roundabout:

   

On different days, Aix has open air markets in different places. As today was Tuesday, there was a clothes market on the Cours Mirabeau and a food market outside the palace of justice. They manage to cram a ton of tents into a very small space, and all of the food looked delicious! I made the mistake of wandering through when I was hungry, but I managed to make it out without buying everything!

We also ran across a group playing jazz in one of the squares during our lunch break. That’s one of the cool things about Aix; the city center is tiny, but there is so much squished in together, and there is always something new to see!

I've really only spent two days in the city so far, so there's still lots to see, but it's all very exciting! For today, I'll leave you with my French fun fact of the day: in France, when parents name their children, the French government reserves the right to tell the parents they have to choose a different name if they feel the name will cause the child problems in the future. You won't find any North Wests here!