Christmas Markets in Aix

So every year all around Europe the Christmas Markets appear. They are not just little street fairs but full on houses filled with every christmas item you can think of. And the whole town of Aix is lit up like a Christmas tree. Cours Mirabeau and all the fountains look absolutely gorgeous. These pictures dont give it justice, but its a glimpse, and they stay up until mid-January.

A bit blurry, but this was us walking home after school.

Belated Thanksgiving!

Yes it has been a while, I have been extremely lazy. But better late than never. This post is about thanksgiving! Since they don't celebrate in France, we got about 20 students from my school together and went to the Swedish girls' house to cook. Well, we tried, but copious amounts of vin chaud got in the way. But it was delicious in the end :)

My homemade vin chaud. Hot red wine with cinnamon, anise stars, clovers, sugar, apples, oranges, and lemon zest. My new all-time favorite beverage.

Laura from Colombia

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Our American chef Sarah and food for 20...

Finally going out after dinner.

Thanksgiving lunch/dinner :)

mmmmm

The Rotunde all lit up

Un Petite Update

I know it has been ages since my last post, but like a genius I left my camera on the train coming home from Milan and didnt want to post without pictures. But my new camera has arrived so here I go!

Life in Aix is pretty simple right now, I am getting into a rhythm and it definitely feels like home. School is getting more and more boring, basically all I want to do is move to the Alps and go skiing! But the tests are hard and long. I took a theatre test last week that was as hard as a test I would have taken in english! And I have another test tomorrow morning that I am probably not prepared enough for, but oh well.

The weather has been amazing. Blue skies everyday and mostly warm during the day. It gets really cold at night time though which is a good sign that winter is actually coming. But Christmas is already here. This town is so lit up at night time it is gorgeous. Pictures and explanation to come.

I have plans to go to London with my roommate Kinvara for Christmas and New Years and I am very excited about that. She has a very large family so it should be a great time.

For now that is all. I will write more and add pictures later. Bonne nuit!

Arrivaderci Milan

So my very late night turned into a later morning wake up that I had to rush to check out in time. I walked to the train station with the two guys from the night before (I dont even remember their names...) and we parted with hugs and kisses like old friends.

 On my own again, I stowed my bags in central station and went back to the Duomo to explore it my way. Guide book in hand I spent an hour in, around, and on top of the Duomo. It is a seriously impressive piece of work that 500 years to build. It is the 4th largest cathedral in Europe, built to hold 40,000 worshippers. It has thousands of statues on the outside and inside and has 52 hundred foot tall pillars to represent the weeks in the year.

 The Piazza del Duomo would have been beautiful, but the massive statue of Victor Emmanuel was hidden under construction tape, the weather wasnt great, and the number of Africans trying to tie bracelets around your wrists is awful. Along with the disgusting pigeons and Arabs who grab your hand, put seeds in it, watch as the pigeons land on you and you giggle and scream, and then demand money. Thankfully I was not one of those people, I managed to avoid the pigeons and the harassing men, but viewed all of it.

  There was mass going on inside which was great to see, there were probably 1,000 worshippers plus as many tourists, but it was beautiful. The roof is the real beauty though. Up about 1000 stairs, you come out into what looks like a stone forest. The spires, buttresses, gargoyles, and statues were so impressive. And the view of the city was great as well, I just wish it was better weather (it was a bit foggy). 

 From the Duomo I walked down the Via Dante to the Sforza Castle. There is very little auto traffic in the center of Milan and many of the streets are pedestrian only, like that one. I got a gelato and walked through the castle. It is a massive accomplishment of brick which was once the city gate, then the Sforza castle, then a place to house foreign soldiers, and now a building of museums.

There are 14 museums inside the castle! One of them holds Michelangelo’s unfinished pieta which I could have paid to see, but I didnt. Instead I walked around the castles huge grounds, the equivalent to Milan’s central park and admired the thousands of knockoff purses, wallets, flying toy helicopters and other worthless memorabilia that are on display wherever tourists flock. I wish I could have gone outside city center a bit, but I had a train to catch to Villefranche which I am now currently on. And I cant believe I just wrote all that because it took about 3 hours. And now I only have 20 mins left until Vintemiglia. Ciao!

Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween! At first I was nervous when I thought I would be spending Halloween alone in Milan, but instead I spent Halloween with 3 foreign girls (Sarah, Maya, and Shen Shen) in Lake Como. There are 4 lakes north of Milan, Lake Como, Lake Lugano, Lake Maggiore, and Lake Orta. The first 3 are huge, I mean they make Tahoe look like a pond. Lake Como is over 30 miles long but very thin. They all border Switzerland and the Alps. Lake Como has tons of little villages up and down its shores. It has three legs, like a peace sign. 

Only an hour ride from Milan, the train dropped us off in Como where we caught another hour long ferry up the lake to Bellagio. It was a very enjoyable ride on the lake and tons to see. There are beautiful homes from the 18th century (including Richard Branson’s and George Clooney’s) and every village is precious.

 I thought every town was cuter than the last until I got to Bellagio and completely fell in love. The houses and shops and streets and cafes were all amazing. Out of everywhere I have been so far, I could see myself living there the most, probably because its so similar to Tahoe. An hour from Milan, an hour from skiing, and stunning.

You can see the Alps in the distance and the mountains jut out of the lake. And the color!!! We were so lucky to be there in the fall because all of the leaves were different colors. Ivy completely lining the narrow cobblestone paths were 10 different colors.

The views and the people, awww, it was amazing. We just walked and explored, the stores with the scarves and silks were my favorite, and had lasagna and local wine for lunch. Since we got a bit of a later start than planned... we had to get back on the ferry at 5:30.

  It was very cold and mountainous and they were giving away roasted chestnuts and spiced hot wine right in front of the port. We bundled up and enjoyed every minute of the ferry ride to Varenna.

We would have loved to explore Varenna, but it was freezing and dark and we had an hour train ride back to Milan.  Once home we changed and got ready for Halloween on the town.  Since none of had costumes, we made due with makeup. I wore a mustache:)

We went back to the neighborhood along the canals because we were told the bars wouldn't have a cover. Apparently some of the Discotheque’s had €25 entrance fees! We started out back at the StraRipa again and were greeted with kisses and free shots from the waiters from the night before. We stayed there for a long time because they were all dressed up and the place was decorated and the music was so much fun. The music they play in clubs in Europe is hilarious. It would never be played in the States. Its a cross between oldies, euro club music, 80s and 90s super over played songs, and songs I’ve never heard of. We danced and drank and ate and it was super fun. But we wanted to see more so we kept going to another bar which was in a boat on the canal.

This one was full of very young people dressed in witches hats smoking cigarettes. I think that Italian youth think that halloween means witches because literally every other person was dressed as one. Meaning the girls were wearing very skimpy black outfits with heels and a witches hat. But hey, they tried. I was actually blown away by the number of people that did dress up, there were quite a few. Not even comparable to the US but it was better than nothing. It was very late but our goal was to stay out until 4 so that Sarah could go straight to the train station for her 5:30 flight back to Paris. And we did.

We caught a taxi from the canals to the train station to drop her off then back to the hostel. When we got back, a German and Guatemalan guy were having a couple bottles of wine on the back deck, so I joined them for a bit and we talked and laughed as strangers who dont speak the same language do. Once again it was a combination of English, Spanish, French, hand gestures, and alcohol. I am figuring out that I might speak a universal language better than I think. It is so fun to communicate this way and amazing when you figure out that you can actually understand each other. Language is beautiful, and very confusing.