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!!