The Final Countdown

4 days. I leave in 4 days.

I am currently packing instead of studying for two finals on Friday, and I remember blogging when I was packing to go TO Aix. I actually may need to buy another suitcase, but I think I should be okay. A lot of my suitcase is filled with gifts I got for apparently everyone and their mother. Do you think I can bring herbs on the plane? Or is that something you need to check? I got SO MUCH chocolate because I feel like it's really hard to shop for guy friends in the South of France. Unfortunately, packing made me so stressed I ate one. So that means someone is getting one less chocolate bar.

Bittersweet feelings. So so so bittersweet. I love it here and I love the niche I've found, but there are so many things. I miss New York. I miss my friends. More than that, I miss my family a lot a lot. I wish I could be home to see my brother transition into being a college freshman. I've always been incredibly close with my family, especially my brother, and I never realized how lucky I was to go to college so close to home. I also miss performing. I miss Americans, as well. Take that last one as you will.

Meanwhile, Lisa's birthday was yesterday and it was epictastic.

Finals in France?

No thanks.

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.

Lazy Thursday, if you will

Today we went to Cassis and the Calanques, two of the most beautiful areas in the South of France. Chasty's language partner, Guillaume, was awesome enough to take us, the day was incredible and I felt so French. We had to climb all of these mountains and rocks that were all facing the Med Sea. Eventually we hiked down and put our stuff down in this little beach/rock area that hit the water. The med is so clear and blue and amazing.

After a nice dip in the water, we even jumped off cliffs!! I was terrified. I couldn't believe all of the little boys that were so reckless... it made me wonder if I was ever that reckless as a child. Probably not.

And if we didn't feel French enough, we had a picnic on the rocks with wine, baguette, cheese, chocolate, apples, etc... basically, the gang was all there. To the right is where we were.

Got a nice little color! I plan on stepping off the plane into America with a French glow if that's possible.

ALSO the Spectacle yesterday actually went surprisingly well! So well, that our director cried. It was... surprising. She also gave us too much wine beforehand. Thanks Lilli. I guess it's pretty cool that we put on a theatre piece in French.

This gem of a picture is Caroline and I in art class.

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.

I. LOVE. PARIS.

Basically, this was one of the best weekends ever. Lisa and I did so much in a short period of time, and we essentially felt like we were on our honeymoon.

Thursday night, we thought the TGV would be a "nightclub," since we got in at 11 pm. American and French friends alike told us this, and everyone lied. We took naps and ate snacks and listened

to Justin Bieber. When we arrived, and throughout the rest of the trip, we successfully navigated the French metro! I forgot how much I missed a good subway to get you around. Lisa's friend Nikki was awesome and let us stay with her in her apartment in the Latin Quartier, which is amazing. We didn't realize that we had passed the Sorbonne and the Jardin de Luxumberg until daylight was upon us Friday.

Friday we woke up early and metro-ed over to the Eiffel Tower. We had thought we had taken the wrong subway stop because we made a 300 degree turn instead of a 360 turn off the subway. Once again, accidentally, we found the Eiffel Tower. We meandered over like little children, and then we climbed to the second "observation deck." Climbing it was not only good exercise, but just incredible on

the whole. The Eiffel Tower really is more beautiful in person than in pictures. That picture is us on the Eiffel Tower, Tom Cruise proposing to Katie Holmes style.

After, we walked over to the Arc de Triomph, walked down the Champs Elysée, walked to Les Invalides, Le Petit Palais, Place de la Concorde, got caught in a terrible rainstorm, went to Le Louvre, the Jardin de Tuileries, and we saw the Pont Neuf (the bridge). At Le Louvre, we saw the Mona Lisa, the Aphrodite sculpture, Milo et Venus sculpture, the Sphinx, Hammurabi's Code, and a bunch of other amazing things. We posed like the sculptures for pictures, and that's how we made friends. After this adventurous day, we stumbled into Chatelet Les Halles where shopping really called us.

Saturday, again waking up early, we took the metro to Le Sacre Coeur which is fantastic. Especially climbing up the tower... by the way, so much climbing in Paris. So. Much. Climbing. Afterwards, we walked around Montmartre, saw the I Love You in many languages wall, did more shopping, went to the Cemetery and saw many a cool graves like Degas, Emile Zola, and Hector Berlioz, walked by the ever so anti-climactic Moulin Rouge, felt uncomfortable by Pigalle, searched the Jewish quarter for falafel, and had Chinese food which was delish. Luckily it rained during lunch, so by the time we walked over to the Opera House the rain had stopped. After that fun-filled group of activities, we went to this huuuuuuge department store called Lafayette and went to the top floor, in which one can get an amazing view of Paris. Everytime we climbed a significant amount of stairs, 30 pictures followed. Talk about classical conditioning.

Saturday we just decided to walk all the way back to the Latin Quarter. We decided we must have walked 7 miles that day, or something that impressive.

Sunday, our last day of romance, we went to the Notre Dame bright and early. We were soooo confused as to why it was more crowded than usual, and we realized it was Easter Sunday. How we ACCIDENTALLY went to the most famous church in all of Paris on Easter Sunday is just something we would do. After walking through the service, we waited online for about an hour to climb more stairs to the top, but it was beyond worth it. For one, the people in front of us kept going to the souvenir shops to buy things to keep them warm. Their total list included: three new pairs of gloves, 1 large cup of coffee, a beret, a scarf, and a pair of socks. This was really a sight for cold eyes. Then we saw the Jardin de Luxumberg which reminded us of the scene with "16 going on 17" in The Sound of Music. Actually, Lisa and I must have sang it for about 10 minutes.

After more walking around and unfortunately heading home, we had decided that it was a fantastic weekend. For one, we've been learning about all of these things in Paris since we were in 6th grade, and to see them as a reality was just... unreal? Also Paris has got to be my favorite city I have traveled to thus far. Copenhagen is a close second, but Paris is well... Paris. Not to mention, Aix is a dreamworld. Ahhh I hate superlatives.

The weather was more fickle than a girl picking her outfit for a first date. Rain, shine, overcast, mildly cloudy, and as we got on our train home it started to HAIL.

Anyway, tomorrow, we leave for Prague, Brussels, and Amsterdam with our third partner in crime, Caroline, who we missed very much.