Bienvenue á Aix :) Finally settled!!

Train ride down from Paris

 Bonjour toute la monde!!!!! I apologize right now for not being in contact for the last week. It has been one hell of a difficult time to get to where I am now. I just got internet last night so now I can catch you up!!!

I know it looks like central california, but just remember its the beautiful south of france

Excuse my french but holy shitballs this has been hard!! And beautiful, and complicated, and exhausting, and breathtaking, and fun, and STRESSFUL! My arrival was fine but of course I arrived with all my luggage all alone in a random town I have never been to in the heat. I figured out my way to the hotel and then to the school to find out my place to live and, like most things, you get what you pay for. CSA, the program I used, is the cheapest on the internet for studying abroad, for a reason. They promised us housing upon arrival and they didnt do anything. I have met lots of other students using CSA who where in the same awful predicament as me. There are thousands of students in Aix and all of them were looking for places to live so apartment searching was impossible. So here we are (WE being my new roommate, Gabriella, an American from Georgia who I met on the street and we decided to be roommates in about 2 minutes, she is also in CSA) 2 american girls who dont speak the language, searching for an apartment in a town we have never been to, with not enough money, no resources, no help, no phone, no internet, and no hope....

Gabriella

But! We prevailed! After 4 days of searching, we finally found an apartment, and it was worth the wait and the stress. If you picture an ideal provencal apartment, cute and quaint, this is it. It is tres jolie et parfait!!! It is one bedroom, we will share a room with 2 beds, but it is big, fully furnished in a way mum would approve of.

With plates, utensils, pans, beds, fridge, tv, dishwasher, laundry machine, great bathroom, in an old tall building down a narrow street with the most precious old french couple living downstairs. To stumble upon it after days of looking at totally overpriced dumps, we couldn't believe we actually found this perfect place.
 I swear it is worth the money mum and dad, and I promise I will pay you back :) Just think Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and my birthday combined for prezzies, now you dont have to get me anything!! :)

Ma chambre

So now you know the good and the bad you can also know the lucky. I arrived a week ago on monday and I picked that day randomly because it seemed like a good day to show up. I went to the office and they said the secretary wasn't there and that I should come back tomorrow at 10am, so I returned to the office the next day expecting to see a secretary and stumbled into my mandatory placement exam for french language... and then later just stumbled into my oral exam. Good thing I have dumb luck...

More luck came when I was in the tourism office and Gabriella approached me and asked if I wanted to be roommates, there on the spot. So I agreed and we went and had drinks. Then the housing search began which meant a french bank account, a rental office, and online adds (being difficult because we didnt have any internet) which by the way is very difficult because there is very very little free wifi in this town.  We finally found this place but now you know that story.

I also met a french boy named Romain in the store where I bought my phone who has become a good friend and has helped us out tons. He came with us to the rental agency and translated the fine print of the lease agreement. My brain literally shut down the first day trying to translate everything. In Paris, everyone speaks english, but here, it is a much smaller town so neither the rental agency nor the bank teller spoke english which will be good in the long run, but not when you are exhausted and frustrated and just want to tell them something simple... It was very difficult.

Since moving in however life has been great. On Sunday, Romain took me to a place in Marseilles called Les Calanques de Sugiton which is like a cove that was sooo beautiful!

We had to hike down to and then back up after but it was stunning. Beautiful turquoise water with people swimming and huge rocks to jump off of, and the water was incredibly warm! It was so incredible to actually be there.

Marseilles is a huge city that is not really that nice. It doesn't have the best reputation either, but it was worth a visit and Im sure I will be back again because it is only 20 mins away.

As for school, I started yesterday and had 7 and a half hours of french class..... Let me put it this way, in Oregon, I took 5 hours of french class a WEEK!!! For the next 4 months I will be taking 20 hours of french a week and then be surrounded by it all day.

Universite Paul Cezanna SciencPo

My school!!! l'IEFEE

I am somewhat bummed I couldn't find a french roommate but I am not complaining.... All of the teachers are extremely nice and my classes are interesting thus far. I am taking french language (duh), french short stories (mix between fairy tales and legends, super cool :) history of france through literature, theatre, and possibly french news and press which sounds awful but I might have to do. There are tons of asians here too. At least 70% of the foreign students are asians who only hang out with each other. But they are nice and friendly, albeit a bit hard to understand. I tested into exactly intermediate which is working out well so far.

Mine is the 3rd floor, looks bad from here but its great

As for Aix, the city is precious. My apartment is directly in the center of centre-ville which could not be a better location. Centre-ville is why people come to Aix, the rest of the city looks like a normal city but centre-ville is so adorable. It has really narrow streets and big tall buildings with massive green wooden doors. The cobblestone paths wind through the city in a very confusing pattern and motorbikes wizz by constantly. The shops are amazing, the boulangeries delicious, and the cafes smell incredible.  There are bars and patisseries everywhere to cater to the student population and it is a really fun place to live. It takes me 5 minutes to walk to class through the daily outdoor markets and antique sales.

Streets in centre ville

Place des Albertas, built in the 15th century

Literally every single day there is a market right outside my door all year long that sells fresh seasonal local produce, cheese, jam, honey, bread, seafood, meat, anything!!   

All year round market, 30 sec walk from my door

And you can taste everything. And everyone is so nice, offering me a bite of cheese or melon on my way to class at 8:30.

And fish

The Rotunde

Beautiful Cours Mirabeau

The Cours Mirabeau is the most famous street in Aix. It is lined with trees on either side and ends with the Rotunde fountain that is huge and gorgeous. The shady side of the streets has banks and shops while the sunny side is completely lined with cafe's like Les Deux Garcons, made famous by Paul Cezanne. Unfortunately I have been unable to enjoy these fine cafes due to lack of sufficient funds, but I am doing just fine as I sit here in my room eating a homemade salade de chevre chaud and a baguette baked an hour ago.... And as a side note, no wonder the french had a revolution over a bread riot, these people live off of it, you never see someone with just one baguette, its always multiple, and there are 15 different types of bread in each boulangerie, each with its own special name. It is served with every meal and then as a snack in between. I think I eat a baguette a day here, I might need to lay off soon...

And last night we went and had drinks with our landlady and her husband who live in the flat below us. They are the sweetest old french couple and their flat is beautiful. She is a lawyer and he is a doctor, policeman, and writer... Apparently he has written a ton of books and some have been made into movies. They are so nice and we actually had conversations in french. Im getting there....

I had to include these last two pictures...

So family, Im very sorry I have been out of touch, it wont happen again now that I have a link to the rest of the world. Friends I cant wait to talk to you! And I miss you all incredibly. I love you very much.