Cannes..

... WAS FANTASTIC! What a wonderful few days this has been. We saw Tim Burton on the yacht marina. That is all. Not to mention, Cannes is a lovely lovely ville.

A reason why the French are so dramatic upon seeing Michael Douglas waving in his car:

French girl: Michael Douglaus! Il est trop sympa! Il fait le "coucou!!" (Translation: Michael Douglas! He is so nice! He says hello!) A you have to be there moment? Perhaps.

10 Days Left.

Yes, I realize it has been a while. I have been so caught up that I forgot that I had a blog!! Yeah, I know, excuses are great. Anyway, I can't believe that this is all winding down, my finals are next week, and I need to start thinking about how big the extra suitcase I need to buy will be.

Tomorrow we have our "Grand Spectacle" for our Theatre class and our art class. Naturally, I would be excited about this. However my paintings look like children's art work and our Theatre teacher, Jean Claude, has only rehearsed one of my scenes once.

When I was in 1st grade I was a French artist for Halloween because that was my aspiration at the time. How strange an aspiration, since not only was it achieved at the age of 20, but my artwork is so bad that it looks like it actually was from first grade. In addition, in spite of Jean Claude's lack of time management and the same black tight pants he has worn since the first week that leaves unfortunately nothing to the imagination, the Theatre spectacle should be really fun since we're essentially laughing the whole time. Let me set the scene: the opening sequence is us walking around in costume to Viva La Vida. Yes, yes, and yes. I am also pumped to meet all of the host mom's after hearing stories about their promiscuous ex-husband's or over indulged cats.

Another thing that just happened, was the Grand Ball last saturday! It's publicity ad called it "The Night of Grand Prestige" with 10 ambiances, 10 rooms, and many bars. The Grand Ball was at the engineering school where most of us have our language partners/ex language partners/rock and salsa class, and it was essentially prom part 2. Minus the dates, because everyone just kind of goes. Minus the prom drama (PROMA copyright Evan Schwartz), because everyone just kind of goes. Like I always say, the proof is in the pudding, and if the pudding was a conglomerate of pictures, we had a grand ol' time. It was fun seeing our "friends" from Rock and Salsa class, since they generally don't take us seriously anyway. We also ran into every person we knew from our 4 month cluster of French friends. This part of the night was 50% incredible, 25% awkward, and 25% classic Aixoise.

I am so sad this is all coming to a close, but I still have 10 more days to really "sink my teeth into." My french has gotten better, so much so that I actually dreamed in French last night... or so I think. I remember having a dialogue with someone in French, and the person kept saying to me "I don't understand what you're saying!" So yes, I dreamt in French.

Thursday I'm going to Cassis, which is a beautiful town facing the Med Sea. I had been taken there a few months ago when it was a little cold, but I get to go again when it is warmer. The first time was still beautiful but second time's a charm. And then FRIDAY we're going to Cannes to check out the film festival and do some exploring... you know, the things we do best. I am so excited about Cannes. When I was in 8th grade, my mom got me a sequenced tank top that said "Cannes," and I remember saying "MOOOOOOM WHAT'S A CAN? WHAT DOES THIS SHIRT MEAN?" I'm glad that when I was 13, after having been exposed to the film world more or less, I was still so well rounded. Speaking of well-rounded, when I told Craig I was going to Cannes he said: "Like in Entourage?" I love my brother.

Hopefully this rain in Aix will stop. Hopefully the volcano will stop. Hopefully I can get home in 1o days.

SPRING BREAK...

... WAS SO LONG!! Especially thanks to the volcanos. Basically, we got stranded in Brussels, but ended up in Paris before going back to Aix which ended up being quite lovely.

Anyway, Spring Break was a whirlwind. Just like I did with Spain, I'll write the top ten things in no order about each country we visited:

Brussels

1. Belgian Waffles

2. Unlimited Chocolate Samples

3. Museum of Musical Instruments and the Comics Museum

4. Fries with unlimited sauces

5. The big grand place/square filled with lovely buildings and many outdoor cafe's. We had a happy hour there, and it was our first drink to kick off the break

6. The Delirium Cafe - over 2000 beers with tons of flavors like COOKIE

7. Finding Kebab Street

8. The underwhelming peeing statue which mirrors how underwhelming Brussels is as a city

9. The fact that Brussels looks like the Bronx

10. I can't even think of 10 ugh Brussels

Prague!!! By far my favorite.

1. Seeing Obama - we went a beer garden and the street was closed off so we couldn't cross it. All of a sudden millions of motorcycles -- really, millions!! -- rolled by and police cars and then a limo with Obama in it! He was in Prague signing some treaty or doing some President stuff.

2. The walking tour/learning history and wishing

I paid more attention in high school. Particularly the Jewish history. The jewish quarter in Prague was named that by Hitler. Hitler thought that after WWII all of the Jews would be exterminated, and the Jewish quarter of Prague would be like a museum. It was so disturbing and it gave us all the chills.

3. The PUB CRAWLS were so fun (meeting people, getting a good old taste of Prague night life)

4. All of the architecture

5. The exchange rate - about 25 crowns to 1 euro. Going shopping and seeing 1100 crowns pop up after a purchase is a funny moment

6. The things you can eat and drink on the street like the famous Prague pastry and mojitos

7. I got to see Allie again! She ended up being in our room in the hostel!!

8. Taking Wizzair from Brussels to Prague. Wizzair is a pink plane. It was terrifying and dangerous and wikipedia says it should go out of business rather soon. Feeling good to have survived it.

9. All of the tourists that randomly jumped into a picture with us, and now we have a series of nine photos.

10. Because we can't understand Czech, we accidentally bought raw turkey instead of raw chicken at the supermarket. A man on the line behind us kindly informed us. We also met characters all over the supermarket, including an old man who pulled Caroline aside to practice English.

Amsterdam

1. It is just so lovely with all of the canals and rather short buildings

2. The walking tour, the history, etc. I became a history nerd this vacation

3. Anne Frank House was so unbelievably touching

4. Going to the Keukenhof, the worlds largest/most photographed tulip garden. We then biked around the garden fields and some more of the Netherlands. It was like being in Narnia which has been a lifelong dream. There was also an amazing zip line!!

5. Bacon pancakes and Banana pancakes... Amsterdam is known for pancakes which were so delicious

6. Seeing the canals of Amsterdam at night

7. The homeless man that served us breakfast at our "hotel," but it was really a hostel

8. First hearing about the volcano and not thinking that it was an actual reality

9. Taking pictures in the I Am Amsterdam sign... not because it was particularly cool, but so touristy, and everyone does it, so why not us?

10. Being unbelievably disturbed by the women galavanting in windows in the Red Light District

Other fun facts:

We were scheduled to leave back for Aix on a Saturday morning, but we got to the airport and every sign said "cancelled" like Home Alone.

We went back and forth from train stations and airports to get refunds and new tickets. The train station was insane. The guy who sold tickets said for three people the cost of a train to Marseille, a town close by, would be 444 euros (about 650 dollars). We literally were so delirious and overwhelmed that we laughed in his face and couldn't stop laughing either. It was one of our better moments. Then he said the train was leaving from Paris in a half hour and we couldn't make it anyway. We took a train to Paris anyway to deal with it there. We just needed to get out of Brussels, by any means necessary.

Eventually we got to Paris, and after waiting on another long line, we we informed that we couldn't get a train back to Aix monday night. This whole process has so far taken 12 hours. Luckily Caroline's friend had space in her apartment in Paris, the weather in Paris was incredible, and I got to have a lovely dinner with Becca!

The fact that we are back in Aix seems like a dream. I actually woke up in the middle of the night, terrified, because I had no idea where I was. Luckily the weather in Aix is currently unbelievable and warm and I love it.

Actually though, I come home in a month IF I can get home. The volcano stuff is evidently getting worse, and the volcanic ash can melt the engines of the plane which would just make the plane FALL from the sky. If we have to take a boat home, I plan on redoing all of Titanic minus the sinking part.

Copenhagen...

... WAS AMAZING. Not only was it great to see Allie, Copenhagen is absolutely beautiful and I could totally see how it is the happiest place in the world. The culture is fascinating, and I wish I could live there to experience what Allie's experiencing. We did so much in such a short period of time! My first night I arrived late, but we walked around the center of Copenhagen which is lovely at night. The city is so full of life, and hearing everyone speak Danish is like hearing a bunch of people with marbles in their mouth. Nonetheless, the language is incredibly cool.

The next day, Allie took me to one of her favorite Danish bakeries. If I studied abroad in Denmark, I would eat way too many pastries than a person should have. If I studied abroad in France, I would eat way too many pastries than a... wait... yeah...

Then, we went to the castle where the Royal Family lives. After asking three separate sets of tourists to take a successful picture of us, we moved on to a town called Christiania. Marijuana is legally sold there (and I believe I saw heroin, but I am not really sure what it looks like), so the atmosphere was quite... quaint? You're not allowed to take pictures in the town because naturally, the drug is not legal everywhere else. Allie also mentioned that the no pictures thing also has to do with something about the Denmark modesty, but I don't get it/probably heard incorrectly. We then made our way over to the Carlsberg's Brewery, which was particularly exciting for me! That wednesday, for Saint Patrick's Day (Happy Birthday Mom!!), I had my first Carlsberg beer! My friends suggested it, and who would have thought that my new experience with a new beer would follow me all the way to Scandinavia?

That night we went to ICE BAR which is incredibly COOL (no pun intended). Right before Ice Bar, Allie introduced me to a Denmark-ian drink called "Fisk," which is essentially cough medicine with a twist of mint and European culture. The best part was, we drank it in a random South African influenced bar. Ice Bar is a bar made of ice. They give you these large coats and you galavant around a below freezing Ice Box.

Hold on a second, I can't resist: "There's an Ice Box where [Denmark] used to be."

Anyway, you then drink a drink in an ice up. Each song that was playing had the word ice in it, I guess to go along with the theme. The thing was, it wasn't that cold. Yes, it was below freezing, but incredibly bearable. Allie's friends and I concluded that the idea of the Ice Bar is actually one big placebo affect, and there is a man with a camera making fun of all of this. These guys must of really made fun of us when we all proceeded to try to eat the ice cups. If anyone goes to an Ice Bar and finds these cameras, then I'm not going to say I told you so. After Ice Bar, we went to another bar and drank like the Danish.

The next morning, after another delicious pastry my stomach mocked me for, we took a canal ride around Copenhagen! We saw the Little Mermaid, the Black Diamond, A Famous Church, and I even listened to some French people speak French. This made me very happy. Allie and I did other wonderful things, but I can't remember at the present. Although this morning, I navigated myself around the Danish metro system all by myself.

Other things I noticed about Denmark: everyone is beau-ti-ful. And when I say beautiful, for those of you who understand this, picture Allison saying "beaauuuuuuuuutiful!!!" Also they are tall. I felt very short. The kroner is also confusing. Why do the numbers have to be so big?!? I actually missed the Euro. And no, I didn't see that one coming. Nonetheless, it was an incredible weekend. If you have the chance, go to Denmark. And Provence. Come here, too.

The Return of the Little Mouse

So remember when I said going abroad was like living in a fake world? You have no idea.

Tonight, I went to dinner at Genevieve's daughter's house, and we dined with her daughter's fiance and his parents. First of all, Genevieve driving is the most frightening thing in the world. It is as if Craig (my 17 year old brother), Marissa (one of my very best friends from Long Island), and a bear are sharing the drivers seat. Every time she accelerates, it's an acceleration closer to my death. I am 80% sure that she will get in a car accident by the time I leave here.

ANYWAY, just as a back track, if you can recall I encountered a very outgoing Croatian man in Madrid from our hostel who called me his "little mouse." We never ever had a real conversation; he just coined this phrase. Here are some of the things he said to me and my friends. Mind you he was drunk and has a heavy Croatian accent:

"Little mouse! I want to buy you for a hunk of cheese! Or two! Or a horse!"

"Little mouse, where is our litter?!"

to my friend: "Where is my wiiiiiiiife?!"

and at dinner the next day, because everyone made dinner in the hostel, he threw a piece of cheese at me, completely sober:

"Good evening little mouse!"

I swear on all of the chocolate crepes in the world that I did nothing to provoke this kind man. I just hope no one ever offers to buy me for a horse again.

Basically, I thought my days as a little mouse were over. But alas.

Back to the present. After dinner, we had dessert. Dessert is three courses: cheese, cake, coffee. There is a way to cut a circular cheese and a way to cut a square cheese. When were taught this during the first week of the AUCP, I was unsurprisingly not paying attention. Thus, I made an incorrect incision in the square cheese, and the future father-in-law of Genevieve's daughter started to laugh at me, as did Genevieve, and soon the rest of the table. Then they all laughed and exclaimed: "un petit souris!!!"

Now this didn't register, because these people preceded to make me drunk in spite of the midterm I have tomorrow that I told them all about. What is a "souris?" It is a mouse. What is "petit?" Little. This table of people called me a little mouse. WHAT. I AM IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE. I'm sorry, but am I universally a little mouse across the ocean? This was more humorous to me than anything. And to explain the Croatian man story in French to this tipsy bunch would have been as difficult as to explain Barnard's relationship to Columbia in french.

In conclusion, this is a fake world. Where am I? Clearly the best place on earth.

And sometimes we travel

After "fairing the bise" to Aix on a "fievre-esque" Friday night (does anyone get this except three or four people), we "classically" say goodbye as we venture off into Spain. We have no idea what we're doing yet so we're depending on our 8 hour bus ride to make the official plans and spill all of our secrets. That is so what bus rides are for. Middle school field trip to the planetarium anyone? Is that spelling correct?

Apparently Caroline overheard our directrice saying how "8 girls going to Spain is so touristy and not French," but sometimes she forgets that we are American, and not French. And to be fair, I don't think we'd want it any other way. I think one of the funniest things of the night was walking home and then running into Lisa again because she only knows how to get home from one direction. Classic. Lisa. Also Ben wanted to know that if in R.Kelly's "Ignition," it's really a pick-up line to American girls to say "The way you do the things you do, remind me of my lexus coup."

One last dark chocolate crepe before the bus ride.

G-d I love studying abroad. PS, Katy Perry's "Hot and Cold" is another universal language.

Tablette du Chocolat

So I've essentially given up on this 21 days things. Our transition from french to franglais to anglais to english has been incredibly fun! Firstly, "tablette du chocolat" means "tablet of chocolate" which is the idiomatic french expression for "having a 6 pack." Now why do we know this? Our Oral and Written Expression Professor, Jean-Michel, taught us that! These are things I'm learning here and so much more. The context was an explanation by Sam of "The Situation" or "Le Situation" on the Jersey Shore. The more I've been here, I am starting to concoct a list of UNIVERSAL languages: food, love, and the Jersey Shore.

EVERYTHING else is wonderful as well. Certain content has recently been deleted as a result of new facebook friends.

Other things: We are going to Spain in a week!! Next Saturday, we are leaving for Barcelona and Madrid, or a week of Spain life and the much looked forward to nap in the middle of the day. On Friday night, we were thinking of going to a techno festival in Marseille called the Nuit Rouge... but after last night I'm not sure...

We went to techno club in the middle of the nowhere in the South of France called "Spartacus," in which there was apparently "a really good dj" according to the partenaire de langue de Caroline. The place was really really fun, and the dj, with a lot of personality and no hair, essentially played one long techno song for three hours. Don't get me wrong, the place was awesome and I had never been to something like that before, but when it's 3:30 and you're the only 15 people there (that was the size of our group french and english alike) not on e, it's time to hit the trail.

But our entire saturday was a dream. We woke up at 9 to go into the countryside of Provence with our Painting Professor. Yes, I take Painting and Drawing here and it's great. We saw 5 different areas over a course 7-8 hours and it was the most beautiful "paysage" I had ever seen. I'll post pictures later because everyone took 5604564 plus. About 6 of us were lost from the group the entire day, but we weren't REALLY lost, we just didn't stay with the group, but we felt like we were in a scene from Beauty and the Beast (you were right, Nina). Since we didn't know any of the words to the songs except the one that starts "Bonjour bonjour bonjour," we decided to live out this dream by eating more baguettes and drinking wine at lunch time.

After a petite ballade around le centre ville when we returned, we went to Susanna's host family for FONDUE. Susanna lives in the paysage of Aix, and her house is a dream, as well; her host parents are also lovely, and they have entertaning friends. In the middle of dinner I actually thought to myself: "I am actually studying abroad, having the time of my life, and really happy." After champagne and fondue and talking with Susanna's host dad about Dexter and how the characters who play Deb and Dexter are married in real life, we were off to Spartacus.

And now I'm afraid to get out of bed because Genevieve woke up when I got home last night... in her silk pajama set I was welcomed with a "Jeeel? C'est toi???" C'est moi, Genevieve. C'est moi.

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!

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!!