Hier Soir

Personne 1: Qu'est-ce que le mot pour "in style?"

Personne 2: À la mode!

-silence-

Personne 3 vers quelqu'un qui est francais: En anglais, "a la mode" est aussi pour la glace. quand tu veux quelque chose avec la glace, c'est "a la mode, aussi."

Ce qui se passe??!!

C'est la phrase nous utilisons la plupart ici à Aix... c'est drole. Donc, samedi soir était fantastique! Je suis allée à un bar qui s'appelle "Cuba Libre," et la musique là etait comme "You're The One That I Want" et "YMCA." C'est. La. Verité. Qu'est-ce qui se passe?!! Après ça, un boite de nuit qui s'appelle "Mistral." Ça marche.

What's French?

Starting tomorrow, I can only speak in French for three weeks... So I'll be doing this blog thing in French and you're more than welcome to Google translate!

One Week Anniversary

It has officially been one week since I left for Aix!!

Hier soir, we went out for a thursday night on the town. Firstly, we found a bar where one could order 8 shots for 12 euros! At the time, there were 8 of us so its not like I had them all. If that had happened, I would not be writing this right now. After that, we attended this bar that has a special for international students Thursday's.... free shots between 10 and 12, anyone? And at 12 DJ Fox arrives! But we decided to leave before then.

Then after that, we somehow crashed the birthday party of someone named Nicholas, and we were lured in by a singer qui s'appelle "Joseph Papino." He wore a sequin hat, danced like Russell Brand in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, sang like Ricky Martin minus five, wore clothing like Danny in Grease in white, and sang Madonna, Barry White, and "Celebrate." These things exist. France is a wonderful place. Joseph sang and seduced, and here were 8 American students dancing with many many 50-60 year old French men and women. There was one guy who must've been in the mafia because his chapeau was really too much to handle.

After a lovely dinner tonight, we went to another bar.... mind you, we speak in French the whole time. But somehow, somewhere, everyone still knows we're American. We are speaking your language, people. Cut us some slack. I was also able to demonstrate to some of my new friends the importance of changing your name when someone ugly or creepy starts to talk to you. Tonight my name was Charlene.

Also today was the day we met our language partners. Super chouette!!

I love this place more and more every day. Happy One Week Anniversary, France!

Two Kinds of Ice Cream

When they wrote the musical "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown," and they wrote the song "Happiness," they forgot to mention Aix-en-Provence.

Getting to Know You

Today was the second day of meeting people/orientation!

The people in my program seem lovely and I can't get wait to know everyone better. Especially because I can already tell that relationships speed up like college... times two. Also there is a Barnard girl! She's so sweet, and I don't know how I don't know her because Barnard is the size of a raisin.

Hello Aix!!

I have arrived!!! After about 18 hours in the airport, my host mother has welcomed me with open arms and plates full of food.

Genevieve, my host mother, is absolutely lovely. For one, she is a great cook and I can totally learn from her... Look out powersuite!!! Also, when we had dessert we played this game where if you bite into a figurine, that is evidently jesus, that lucky person gets to wear a crown and becomes The King of Christmas. They celebrate the holiday for about two months here. Basically, a field day for Emily Wallen. Anyway, guess who bit into Jesus? It was not Genevieve!! It was me!! After quite a few good laughs, I decided it was not the right time to tell her I was Jewish. Today she is going to show me the town before Orientation Week.

My flight experience was also lovely. I can immediately see a difference in Europeans. Even the flight to Frankfurt, everyone just says HAI! I decided that in Germany I should not discuss that I was Jewish either.

Upon waiting for my plane in Marseille, these three french people assumed I was from New York and began talking with me... they all loved Times Square, and they all mentioned they accidentally took the wrong subway and ended up in Harlem. One of the men of this group kept referring to me as "panique" as he jittered his hands. How anxiety is a universal language is beyond me. They were a fun group, but essentially laughed with me or at me in an endearing way because I could not carry my bags and my guitar. One of the others eventually helped me. After also meeting a French older man on the plane who spoke to me about guitars in English for about 10 minutes, I decided it had been a good day.

Also, Aix is absolutely beautiful.
Bisous, America!!

TIK TOK

"Ain't got a care in the world, but..." I do.

I leave tomorrow which does not even seem like a real thing. I'm so ecstatic!! My flight's at 9 pm from JFK (I think), and arrives in Frankfurt at 10 am. After my 5 hour layover in Frankfurt, in which Yonatan suggests I eat bratwurst the whole time, I leave at 4 pm and arrive at the Marseille airport at 6:15 pm. In Marseille, I will finally meet my host mom!! She seems lovely after our 10 minute phone conversation, and while I googled her, I didn't find much except the fact that she may be a bookseller. Luckily, this means I can finally surface all of my knowledge of Madame Bovary. She also lives a lovely 8 minute walk to the AUCP.

My last night home will be as American as possible. And by that, I mean chinese food and the 2 hour episode of the Jersey Shore that will be on tonight.

I'm so excited to get on my flight to start the book I plan to read. This fine piece is literature is none other than "The Last Song," the Nicholas Sparks book that was made into a movie starring Miley Cyrus. I hope that as I read this, the Germans and the French will approach me and I can truly see how worldwide the Miley Cyrus phenomenon is. That, and I just want to read it.

Hopefully I can write quelque chose ("something" in French) when I arrive in the Frankfurt airport! If not, I'll update as soon as I can in France! Should I arrive to the airport wearing the fantastic beret Emily and Alex gave me?

France, I am on my way.

Ode to Packing

So the only bringing "one suitcase" thing is quite baffling to me.

4 months + 1 suitcase = frustrating. Let me get this straight: every study abroad program expects you to rotate between about 4 pairs of pants and 10-12 shirts, respectively (give or take an occasional dress or Americanized going out top). If I were going to a reservation, this would be fine. But I'm going to Europe, a mecca of fashion. I guess this will be another learning experience... which I think I'll truly appreciate almost as much as I do waking up to a morning of Community Food and Juice's Veggie Scramble. For those of you who don't know the reference, this is a lot of appreciation.

Frankly, I spend too much time wondering what I'll wear the next day (see: sophomore year in high school outfit choices). Limiting my options may give my brain a break. However, since I got to college my outfits are simply a rotation of leggings and scarfs.

Also, here's my apology to my leggings: can't bring you to France. love you always.

The Reason

No, not like the "popular" Hoobastank song of about... 2005?

"The Reason" I've decided to start this blog is... well... ACTUALLY "you" (thanks Hoobastank. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then god bless you). Between my Long Island friends, college friends, and family, I figured having a blog would be the best way to communicate with everyone. Rather than copying and pasting the same emails from person to person, I figured this was a more honest way to do so. OF COURSE personal communication will come your way as well (depending on who you are), but this is a more general way of saying "i love you enough that i am willing to conform and start a blog." I actually never thought I'd have a blog. I also never thought I'd have a pair of UGGS, which I bought for the first time 3 days ago.

I leave for Aix-en-Provence in 5 days which is exciting, while making me incredibly nervous. It's crazy to think I've been taking French for ten years. While the days of Madame Baral in my 6th grade French class are now fond memories, I could never have anticipated that those elementary teachings would lead me to the experience I am about to embark upon.

I discovered that at the AUCP (aucp.org) I am taking 5 classes TBD in France (which I've essentially picked out), I will have a language partner for 2 hours a week (preferably a green eyed french man named Jacques), I will need to do community service each weekend (senior citizens? children? pottery?), and lastly, I am required to join a club (chorus. wine tasting. the like). I am so excited that my program has all of these aspects attached to it. I have yet to know my host family. Mom and Dad are freaking out about this, naturally.

A tout a l'heure!! (where are the accents on blogspot?)