Little thoughts

1) French dogs are the happiest dogs in the world, plain and simple. They always look so happy (and are rarely on leashes) and are definitely loving life. No barking... no whining... just pure happiness. They will sit politely outside of a store, looking at the people passing by... but never making a noise! There is one man in Aix who has two sharpeis. These sharpeis are puppies and wrinkly and adorable. Not only are the dogs always happy and smiling but the cute older man is too! So happy dogs in France, make happy people in France.

2) French men smell. Apparently they do not sell deodorant in France... it is gross. Thankfully, some wear it... but there are many who do not...

3) Blondes in France are like diamonds. No joke, we are rare and everyone feels the need to stare. In the south of France, there are not that many blondes and the men here think it is okay to tell me that I have beautiful hair and that we should date... no random man I do not want to date you! It is a silly thought, but my cousin, Alissa, who is also blonde and studied in Aix will agree.

4)French food is amazing. My host mom should be a five star chef.

5) Everyone smokes in France. But they all claim that they are just casual smokers or social smokers. This is not true.



So before I write a page or two about my vacation to Barcelona and Maastricht, The Netherlands, I wanted to discuss something. It has been raining a bit recently here (and by raining, I mean it rains for an hour and then is sunny and beautiful) and my apartment building is really old. So today, I was leaving to get to walk to class and I attempted to open my front door ( from the inside...) and it would not open. I tried again... and again... and again. I attempted to open my front door for 15 minutes. I then called my housemate who said she would come let me out. So I awkwardly stood in the hallway, hoping for someone to open the door from the outside. My hostmother then struggled opening the door but was successful. She then laughed with me at the fact that I was not able to open the door. Turns out my housemate had the same problem earlier in the morning. We showed up a little late to class and my friends had told our professor that we would be late. As we walked in, he said, "Ohhhh so YOU are the one who was locked in her own apartment building... okay." Hahaha, our hostmom described why it was sticking (the wood expands in the rain) and told us how to open it (with force... and lots of it). What a day! How many people can say that they were locked inside of their own apartment?! Not many!

Vive la France!

So we all know that the French are known for their fine cuisine and they are also known for eating things such as frog legs, liver et cetera. Well, my host mother, Bridgette, is an amazing cook. I would like to give an example of what I have been consuming for dinner over the past couple weeks. Last night I had the most amazing meal yet. We began with salad with the same vinagrette I use at home. Good start. Then we continued with spinach (not usually my favorite) sauteed in a cheese sauce. So yummy. Then we had steak (!!!) with mushrooms (again not my favorite) and a cheese sauce. Delicious. We then had cheese, my favorite part. My host mom found out that my favorite type of cheese is Chevre so she bought that to add to the assortment of cheese. Like I said, it is my favorite part of the meal. It was the most amazing meal ever.

Now to move on and discuss some of the weirder things I have consumed. I decided when I came to France I was going to try everything that I was served. Anyway, lets start with slightly smoked salmon. For anyone who knows me, you know I do not like raw fish (or slightly smoked... not cooked... smoked). So this was new for me. We placed the salmon in a crepe and put sour cream and lemon on it... sounds odd. But it was delicious. The other night we had something that resembled steak... it looked the same... but didn't taste the same. So I decided to ask. My host mom said, "Well... it is... foie... I don't know the word in English..." Yup, that is liver. So we had liver... it was good... but the texture was a little strange. And then there was the fish... wrapped around a pickle... These all sound very strange, but it was amazing.

Needless to say, dinner is my favorite time of day!

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!

I realized today, when I was eating my lunch that consisted of baguette, la vache qui rit (laughing cow cheese), badoit and an orange (yummy!), how lucky I really was. My friend and I were eating our little lunch outside of a church, the one pictured previously, that is ancient and beautiful. It seems that the French girls who were sitting next to us in the warm sun did not even seem to notice or appreciate this. And this is a silly thought. They see this gorgeous church every day. They also see buildings that were built before the 16th century all the time.... it is a part of their life. My friend and I realized and very much appreciated how lucky we were and glad that we were able to appreciate a church that was built in the 5th century! I have always been a fan of Europe and European history, but to be eating lunch right next to this church was amazing! I discussed this with a French professor and he laughed and said, "Welcome to France, where they actually knew how to build buildings and monuments that would last forever." It is true, I do not know what the oldest building is in the United States, but it is obviously not even close to anything in France! Tonight we have a little party put together by Erasmus and all universities in Aix, so that all the international and American students can meet each other as well as other French students! I am very excited to meet some interesting people! A plus (See you later)!

Nice, Cannes and Monaco, oh my!

I have officially been in France for a week and a two days now.... but it has honestly felt more like a month and I still have to remind myself (often) that I am in France and not in upstate New York! My university here organized a trip to Nice, Cannes and Monaco for this weekend. We left Saturday morning at 8:30 and started the 2 hour bus ride to Nice. Of course we were all very tired from a long week, so we all attempted to sleep on the bus... which was difficult for anyone over 5'5". I was too excited to fall asleep and was happily taking pictures of the fields of Provence. I knew that we were also going to be able to see Mont Saint Victoire, which is a large mountain that is on the outskirts of Aix. The first picture is of Mont Saint Victoire from the roof of a theater in Aix... the second is from the bus!




We arrived in Nice and found ourselves in the warm sun of the French Riviera. We looked around and saw palm trees and cacti and we all were thinking the same thing- C'est magnifique! As the bus pulled away, I turned around and I immediately knew what I would do next. There was a large ferris wheel that was in Nice for Carnaval which begins on February 12th! We wandered in the direction of the ferris wheel and found ourselves surrounded by gardens with palm trees of different sizes, catci galore, and beautiful plants that were in full bloom. Ah, the French Riviera. We paid the 6 euros to get onto the ferris wheel (well worth it) and waited in anticipation. We slowly began to climb higher and we were all so excited to see Nice from higher up! But then we reached the top of the ferris wheel and we realized that this was the best way to see Nice: We were above the buildings and could see everything perfectly! It was incredible and once in a life time experience. We then walked around the city in hopes of stumbling upon the Mediterranean.... which we finally found! Since I am a lover of any ocean or body of water, I immediately took off my boots, rolled up my jeans and jumped right in the waves! It was, of course, very cold... but I still managed to enjoy myself! After playing by myself int eh waves, I convinced a few other girls to join me and we were frolicking happily when we saw a scuba diver in the waves! He waved to us, or so we thought. We soon found out that he was trying to warn us about a huge wave that was coming right for us... which we didn't see in time. I was soaked, but just from the knees down, so it wasn't that bad. The picture of my friends Zaira and Madeline and myself shows how cold the water was! Look at their faces hahaha! I apparently was trying to hide that emotion, or my feet were just numb already! Oh, I forgot to say that the beaches in Nice are made of rocks and pebbles... no sand. So after we went for a dip in the sea, our frozen feet were in pain as we hobbled across the rocks in search of warmth and food.



We walked into the area in front of Nice's Hotel de Ville (city hall) where Nice's famous flower market (as well as general market) was. We had been told by the IAU tour guides/ faculty that there was a specialty called Socca which is made from chick peas and is made like a crepe. We were excited to try this so we wandered in the direction of the smell of food being cooked. Finally, we found a stand with Socca and waited for about twenty minutes. But it was well worth the wait. The socca was amazing and I enjoyed every bite! We then went on a tour of the city with some staff of the IAU and had to be back on the bus around 4 to travel on to Monaco!

On the way to Monaco, we stopped at a parfumerie in Eze-le-Village. We took a tour of the facility and learned how they make their perfumes that are world-renowned. This parfumerie, Frangonard, is part of the main one in Grasse and is very famous. They allowed us to test their top selling perfumes, which of course smelled incredible and I wanted to buy them all. Unfortunately, I did not have a couple hundred euros to buy the parfum ( which is 40 percent oil I think... the eau de toilette contains 10 percent oils... so it is less expensive). I did give in and bought a eau de toilette called Blue Riviera which smells wonderful! The picture is of Eze-le-Village and the parfumerie is near here.

Finally, we arrived at our hostel, which was called Centre Méditerranéen in Cap d'Ail (right near Monaco). We changed, ate dinner at the hostel (which is has camps to learn French and is also a location for universities and schools to stay for excursions!) We also had a little party before where we were served aperitifs and then mounted the bus again for the short drive to Monaco! Those of us who were 21 were able to enter the Montecarlo casino for ten euroes... So because my friends and I are not 21, we sat at the Cafe de Paris which was right next to the casino. We people watched and observed the expensive cars that passed by, which was fun. We then returned to our hostel for a discotheque! We had fun, but we were all exhausted so after a few hours, we went to bed. We woke up to something that is rare in the French Riviera. Snow. It only snowed for a little bit, but the seeing snow on palm trees was just too bizarre!

The next morning we left for Cannes. I fell asleep on the bus right away so when we arrived in Cannes I was ready to walk around. But it was cold... and snowing... so we were not that enthusiastic about walking around. We walked up a large hill to see an old castle and a church. The views from the top of the hill were beautiful and we stayed up there a little while and hung out until we were hungry. We found a little cafe and had a quick ham and brie sandwich and then decided to find a warmer place with hot beverages to warm us up a little bit. We stumbled upon this cute little cafe that was across the road from all the large boats, so we had a great view as well as great hot chocolate! Then a miracle happened. The sun came out. It became warm within a matter of minutes! We decided that since it was sunny, a trip to the beaches was necessary and we headed toward the port to see the moored yachts and boats as well as the famed beaches of the Mediterranean! We photosynthesized a little bit while watching a little regatta of 420s!


Wow...that was a lot to write about! To sum my weekend up: It was amazing and I am definitely going back when there will be no chance of snow! Nice is definitely one of my top three favorite cities and I cannot wait to explore Monaco more!


Here is a webshots account with some more pictures! http://community.webshots.com/user/AmandaEShaw

Un cafe creme... please

For some reason, it is easier for me to speak French here than in the United States... I am much more hesitant in class at HWS, but I think that I have accepted that the only way to learn is to make mistakes and practice. Bon. So on Tuesday, we had more orientation activities and then some classes. I had two political science classes in a row... in a room that is pretty much a cave that is attached to a 5th century cathedral. Amazing. My classes, Geopolitics of the Mediterranean Basin and the European Union seem really interesting and I can't wait for a European view and perspective! Anyway, after my classes, a friend and I decided to find a cafe and have some coffee. We walked in, making sure to say, "Bonjour Madame" (very very necessary) and then figured out what we were going to get. I said, "Un cafe creme... please." Oops. I immediately laughed and said, "pardon, s'il vous plait." Haha typical American? Well at least I tried. And yet, today, I was talking in English to a friend and I was inserting French words into our conversation without realizing this. This is going to be entertaining!

As I was saying before, I have really been trying to speak French, especially at dinner with my host mother and her daughter. First, I need to explain something. This is how dinner usually goes: my host mother begins cooking around 7:15, while singing opera loudly and of course, in French. My room is located right next to the kitchen, so I can hear this very well. In fact, last night she was singing so loudly and it was very entertaining for me and I was laughing because it was so funny, and suddenly I hear, "Désolé Amanda... I sing comme une vache" (I'm sorry Amanda, I sing like a cow). Not so, she actually sings well. Anyway, around 8:30, after my concert, she calls us to the table and tells us to eat. Now, my housemate, Leslie, and I are never sure what to start with. She usually has four different things on the table at a time. For example, one night there was a bowl of soup, salad, cous cous with veggies in it, fish, and a plate of cheese. Now one would think that we would start with salad... nope. Soup first. Then cous cous. Then fish and then salad and cheese. Huh. But this changes every night. Last night, we had salad first... then green beans and potatoes and Alsatian sausage then a quarter of a pineapple each (no joke, it was actually a quarter... but it was the best i have ever had) then cheese. So my housemate and i decided it was best to let them take the lead. Dinner usually lasts about two hours and it delicious everytime! Our conversations are quite hilarious though. My housemate and I speak only in French, but when trying to think of a word, we often ask each other first. When we cannot think of the word, we then try to think of similar words. This can go on for some time. And this is in normal conversations. But then, when, for example, we start talking about President Sarkozy's healthcare policies and localisation policies, things get interesting. As well, the accent of the people of Provence is heavy and different then anything I have heard. It is not noticable sometimes, but then there are some people, like my host mother, who has a very strong accent. I wonder what we will discuss tonight!

So this is a picture of my friend and I in front of la Rotonde, a gorgeous fountain that is at the center of Aix-en-Provence!

Arrival in Aix!

I have arrived in Aix safely!! My flight to Munich was not that bad... I flew Lufthansa so everything was awesome, I just wasn't able to sleep much at all unfortunately (nerves I am assuming, since I was very tired!). We arrived safely in Munich and had about a three hour layover which was spent trying to convince ourselves that we were in fact in Europe and would soon be in France! We found other IAU (Institute for American Universities, my university in Aix) students in the airport and we all chatted until our flight. On the connector plane to Marseille, I had the window seat which was perfect for this flight. In my sleepy state, I somehow managed to convince myself that we were headed into a storm, as I saw darkness ahead. I was preparing myself for this storm when I realized that the "storm clouds" looked jagged and not like the fluffy clouds I am used to at all. That is when I realized that I was too tired and that I needed to take a nap... and that I was flying over the Alps!!!!!! They were gorgeous and I of course took out my camera and started taking pictures. After a few it was clear that the man sitting next to me was judging me, so I decided that I would nap after the Alps left the skyline.

I woke up to a man's head almost in my lap... I was at the front of economy class and the business class which is not any better on the small plane... except the seats recline a lot more, hence the head in my lap. We landed in Marseille and I got a quick glimpse of the Mediterranean! We were greeted by an IAU staff member and took a bus to Aix-en-Provence! There we were dropped off and our host families were supposed to pick us up... but my host mom's father picked me up (my host grandfather? haha) and he dropped me off at my new home for the next four months! J'habite a 34 rue Victor Leydet which is right near the Cours Mirabeau (a comparison- the Cours Mirabeau is like the Champs Elyses of Paris...)
My host mother is great and she has a daughter who is odler than me (I am not sure how old she is, but it is between 22-25 I think). My host mom's father picked me up and I spent my first day in Aix unpacking... all day. Not because I had lots to unpack, but becuase the granmother was at the apartment with me and could not understand a thing I said. Frustrating needless to say, but I kept trying and she kept looking at me like I was an alien. So I gave up and spent the day being frustrated and wanting to explore but I decided to unpack and take a much needed nap until my housemate, Leslie, arrived finally! This is when my host mom's daughter came home and began preparing my first French dinner. So good. Somehow pasta in France is better (haha)!
So my first full day in Aix consisted of a tour by my host mother and then a meet and greet at the IAU with my fellow students. A few girls and I decided to walk around the city by ourselves and found it easy to naviagate the streets and started to really get to see the city! We walked for an hour or so and split up, heading towards our homes. I ended up walking around more with a fellow HWS student and was exploring untila round dinner time! We just got to know our host mother more since she was not at dinner last night. She is definitly a funny woman and is very heplful with helping us and correcting us! But now I am off to bed to try to catch up on more sleep and prepare for tomorrow, which consists of activities all day at the IAU! Bon nuit!