This weekend was my first official weekend in Aix and it was awesome! The city is filled with young people... there are over 40,000 students in Aix and a lot are international. This large amount of foreign students makes the city feel more lively, at least I think so. My cousin, Alissa, came to visit me this weekend (for those of you who don't know, she studied at the IAU in Aix two years ago)! It is so great to have family in France and I loved seeing her! She was able to take me around so that I could see and experience her favorite places! What was the most entertaining thing though, was the fact that Alissa and I are both blonde. There are few blondes in the south of France... so when everyone saw two blondes together... it was like we were a special commodity. It was hilarious to see everyone's reactions! Alissa helped me buy my ticket to Belgium for this upcoming weekend! I am taking a train from Aix to Paris... where I have to switch train stations to get a connecting train to Liege, Belgium. And then I have yet another connecting train from Liege to Maastricht, Holland where I will be visiting Maggie (my roommate from HWS!!!!) as well as a bunch of other friends from HWS!!! Yay! Mid week, Maggie and I are going to fly down to Barcelona, Spain and spend four days in the sun there! I can't wait!!!

On Saturday night, my friends and I were wandering along the Cours Mirabeau (main road in the city) when these guys ( who looked our age) in uniforms passed by. I had just recently learned that there was a military school in Aix and I was excited to explain this to my friends. I had just started to tell them this fact when we heard, "AHHH! Are you American?!?!?!" We kept walking becuase we did not want to be harassed... but one of the guys came up to us and said, "Wait! I am American too! I'm from Texas... it is nice to hear an American accent!" They turned out to be really nice and spoke to us in French and English... I tried to speak French until I found myself laughing at their hats (which were ridiculous), and this is when I switched back to English and told them that we had to go (because I could not talk to them any longer because I was laughing at their hats... which had tons of feathers and were hilarious). Oh, all the restaurants and pubs play American music... so when Sweet Home Alabama came on, the French attempted to sing it... but failed. All in all, it was a great night and a great weekend!