Chez Moi!

Here it is finally! Pictures of my place!

I know its taken me awhile to get these posted but i didn't want to post them until i caught you up and the place was kinnda a mess and empty (which it still kinda is but oh well). So for the year I'm leaving with 3 other guys which is a first for me. Ive never lived with guys before so its something new for me but so far so good. I have always gotton along really well with guys and had mostly guy friends so its not hard for me to not have other girls around. I mean its kinnda nice i get more shower time and pretty much get free range to decorate however i want, even though i haven't really got to that yet. I love my roommates were all so different and come from such different backgrounds its great Jordan goes to cal state long beach with me but i had never met him, hes the California blond. Omar attends cal state la is 23 and is living away from home for the first time, and lastly theres Al Hassane hes are frenchy even though hes originally from Senegal and has lived in Paris for years. Hes only going to be in Aix until about January and then were going to have to find a new roommate. But i love him its great to have someone around that will help me with my French and be able to explain things to me when i feel that French is the worst language on the planet! The only downside with living with the boys is the lack of space i have in the fridge and the abundance of dirty dishes in the sink...but for the most part its been really good we just all do are own thing and it works out really well. Okay well its late and I'm tired and I'm leaving for Germany in the morning so i still need to pack! So here are the pictures and expect a post real soon!

I rode a horse...a pretty white horse!

Arles and La Camargue

About every weekend there is some sort of weeked trip set up for us that we can choose to go on or not for about 20 euros... so the other weekend i went with a small group to Arles a La Camergue. The rice festavial was going on in Arles so there were a ton of people and they had music and a bullfight...it was the first bullfight i have ever seen and it was hmmm i dont really know how to explain it, it was amazing to watch but then again not my favorite thing in the world to see a bull murdered but i mean it was part of there cultural so i felt that i should see it. After Arles we got back on the bus and drove to La Camergue where their known for there white horses...a few of us decided to go ride the horse for my first time ever! It was sooo much fun!

*Ill try and write more about this trip later because it was way more fun than im letting on and there are way more details but im in a hurry and a little lazy...*

Erin's coming and along with Erin comes the maddness!

One of my really good friends Erin from Illinois is studying in northern France for her first semester so on her way to school she stopped by Aix and stayed with me for awhile. While she was here it was probably the busiest 2 weeks. I started school, moved into my flat, showed her around town, went to Marseille and La Ciotat, it was exhausting but SOOO much fun!

She was set to get here on my first day of school so I had to get out of school and then walk to the bus station to pick her up but the thing was that she didn't have a phone that worked and i really had no idea where the bus station was. So after class i go with my friend Christa to the train station where the buses come in and we waited for about and hour and a half with no sign of Erin until i found out that i was in the complete wrong spot so i hussled up the street to the bus station i was supposed to be at and still no sign of her. I had no idea what to do i had no way to get a hold of her or to find out where she was and then all of a sudden i hear and American voice call my name i turn around and there she was with all her luggage. She told me that she had been waiting at the station for about 2 hours...i felt soooo bad! So we grabbed her bags and started to carry them up the cobble roads to my new flat (pics will come soon it still a mess ha). We finally get home and start to get her settled for her stay, i show her around town and make some dinner. It was a start of a hectic vacation.

La Ciotat

For our first group adventure 14 of us decided to go to the beach. For most of them they hadn't been out of Aix yet, i was just lucky because i had met some friends that had a car to take us out of time. The clan of us meet up early in the morning and walk to the bus station, because first we have to take a bus to Marseille and then go to the train station and take a train to the beach. A group of 14 Americans learning french traveling together is just asking for trouble. Everything ended up harder than it needed to be as soon as we got to the bus station. After some confusion we got our bus tickets and were on our way to Marseille, once in Marseille it was just a short walk to the train station and that's when all the fun began. The train station was madness to get our tickets without waiting in line forever and missing our train we had to buy the tickets out of the machines they had, but the problem was that the machines only took change (there aren't 1 and 2 euro bills there coins) and barely any of us had enough change for the 9 euro fare so here are 14 of us throwing our money around trying to get change from the people at the food stands who were really not in the mood to give change to a group of Americans. By the time everyone had everything in order and got there change we realized 3 of us were missing. I get a phone call from my friend German asking where were were and what we were doing because the train was going to miss us. I had no idea where the train was so German was trying to explain and yelling at me to run or we would miss it! I was positive we were too late and going to have to wait another couple hours and buy all new tickets because it took to long. Finally i figure out where were supposed to be going and German is still yelling at me to run...so i yell at the group to run but they all just look at me like I'm and idiot so i just decide to run and hopefully they'll follow and so they did. So here we are a group of 11 Americans running through a crowded train station...I'm laughing now but at the time i definitely was not! So finally we get to the train and the men taking the tickets are smiling at us and there is German hanging out the door trying to get them to wait for us. I get on the train and find seats next to German, Christa, and Sarah and get on my phone and start calling everyone to see if they all had made it. Luckily everyone did. The train ride was about a half an hour and once we got there we still had no idea how to get to the beach so we asked a local man and he told us how to get to the beach. We eventually made it to the beach and just spent the whole rest of the day laying out and swimming. It was a lot of fun but a lot of work for such a short trip.

!Marseille!

The day after La Ciotat the CSU Program had already set up a tour of Marseille...it was a long day of sight seeing of amazing building that i don't remember the names of so ill just tell the story with pics!

*It was great to have someone from home come visit me so early into my stay it helped to make me feel so much more comfortable being here...we had sooo much fun bring our own little Midwest to France! Here are just some other random pictures from here stay.*

I just jumped off that cliff!!!!

My next adventure in France: Les Calanques

Hughes had asked me and Tina if we would want to go to the beach on the weekend and he would drive us...so of course we were down for another free trip so we agreed. This time we went with Hughes roommate Fred and one of our friends from the group Jenae. So the weekend came along and we girls got all ready for the beach, we put on our swimsuits, sundresses and flip-flops thinking it would be somewhat like St. Tropez... oh how wrong we were.

We get there and the boys have on there tennis shoes and backpacks all ready for a hike...well they failed to tell us that it would be about a 40 min. hike to even get to the water...little can i say we were not thrilled. I would have loved to go hiking if i KNEW that would be what we were doing in that case i wouldn't have not been in a dress and flip-flops but oh well life goes on haha. So here we are the 5 of us hiking in the heat to, we don't even know where, but we were still excited to get to this mysterious beach. The boys were helping us hike down this hill while i was slipping all over in my sandals getting really angry with them for leaving out the details of our little beach day.

So after40 mins. of complaining, hiking and attempting to learn some french we get to the top of a hill where we look down and see the most beautiful view i have ever seen in my life. We stood there overlooking the clearest blue water, amazing cliffs and people just sitting on the cliffs relaxing. From this point my mood completely changed i was excited and our pace picked up a bit haha. Finally we get to a spot where we were able to set out things down and get int the water, and wow was the water cold and we get it and the boys are yelling at us to not touch the bottom or we would be pricked by some sea urchin. It was probably the funniest sight the 3 American girls jumping into this freezing water and yelling to each other about not touching the bottom, we were quite the sight. I have never been in such clear water where is you looked under you could see for a good 50 feet it was incredible. So after a while of swimming Fred suggests we all climb the cliff next to us and jump in... we were all down because from the second we saw the cliffs that's what we wanted to do. So after about 5 or 6 times climbing up and jumping in we all got tired and decided to go back up to our stuff and take a break. After a short nap and basking in the amazement of where we were we decided to head back to Aix. The boys offered to make us a traditional French dinner when we got back so we spent the rest of the day eating drinking and just enjoying each others company. So far it has been my favorite day in France thus far it was as if i was in a travel ad...i still can not believe how amazing it was there and that a place like that even exists, i can't wait until i can go back!

Group Dinner

These are a few pictures from our first group dinner. There are 42 of us from the California State school system that came to Aix only 8 of them being guys so the women definitely overpower the guys on this one haha. It was nice to get a nice *free* 3 course meal and just sit and get to know everyone a little bit better.

St.Tropez!

So how lucky am I?

The first weekend i get to France i get to spend it in St. Tropez , the winter resort for the rich and famous. Here's the story...

While on the bus ride from the airport to the dorms I sat next to Tina we got to talking and became immediate friends. A day or so after being here she tells me that she had met this guy from France months ago online and has been chatting with him sharing stories and getting to know each other. They had decided to meet up for dinner and she didn't really want to go on her own so i agreed to go with. Her friend Jerome was also going to bring his friend Hugues. We ended up meeting with them later that night for dinner and it went really well so on a whim Jerome asked us if we would want to drive to St. Tropez the next morning at 7, it now being about 2 in the morning we still decided "hell ya" and went to bed ecstatic (Its really hard to get around out here so him having a car mad things a lot easier). So the next morning came along and the boys were out front right in time. Its about an hour drive to get to St. Tropez so it didn't take long at all to get there, on the way up we stopped and got our first french pastry experience. Jerome drove us back through the smallest roads i have ever seen and being from a small town like Sherrard that saying something! I was so confused at first because i did not understand were in the world we were going or where the beach was but anyways we parked and started walking into what i thought was a restaurant, well i was wrong. There was the Mediterranean Sea right in front of me, it was gorgeous and an incredible shade a blue, that was the point that i truly realized i was in France and it was going to be a good year. Jerome bought us a few lounge chairs and drinks and we just laid around all day drinking and napping in the sun. We spent the whole day there and started heading back once it got dark. It was a great day, one of those days that makes you really excited to take chances and take risks and just live in the moment.