le fabuleux destin de brenna

au revoir aix :(

2009-05-28T21:56:00.004+02:00

i had to say goodbye to aix on the 16th of may! it was very very hard to do. leaving the aixois (my french friends) was very difficult, plus my american friends, plus my host family, plus my city!!! it was an emotional day. I am very fortunate to have been with a family as amazing as the Meyers. They taught me a lot about SAVOIR VIVRE! that means "know how to live" : they definitely work very hard, but they are a very happy family. they spend a lot of time with each other and have fun together. although they work hard, they break hard as well. they love cooking for each other and drinking wine ! they love singing and dancing throughout the house after dinner! they love sitting outside on a sunday morning in their underwear eating tartines of fresh bread and drinking coffee! they love going for walks with their dog! they love reading the paper in their slippers on january mornings. i definitely understood that their lifestyle was not lazy but rich :)

one thing i will also note is that i think french culture is one of the hardest for americans to adapt to. french people are quiet, and keep their business to themselves. one example that sticks out in my mind is when I was locked out of Erik's apartment (for 15 minutes) in amsterdam. I was sitting on the sidewalk, and 2 people asked me if I was ok or needed help, in 15 minutes! In France, no one would have offered to help me because it is not their business. Any sign of emotion like anger or crying in public is not really socially acceptable in France. I remember this one woman was freaking out and crying and everyone was just staring at her. Another thing that is difficult is the obsession with image: being skinny, well-dressed, and good looking is very important for French people! Sometimes it got to be a little too much.

In the end, I stopped trying to hard to be French and embraced my exotic self! I mean, where else are boys going to tell me that I have a cute accent??

mon anniversaire

2009-05-28T21:49:00.006+02:00

i turned 21 in france! i had such a great day! the weekend before my host parents let me have a bbq at my house, and my actual birthday my host mom cooked me all of my favorite foods. including a delicious cheese plate! YUM!! so i got to celebrate with family and friends! i am very lucky.

article interessant

2009-05-14T17:13:00.003+02:00

new story about aix that was on the home page of nytimes

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/arts/design/14abroad.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=global-home

l'anniv d'eve

2009-05-10T22:49:00.004+02:00

my host sister, eve, turned 9 last week. you would think from the pictures she turned 29! She is a little diva; the only thing she wanted for her gift was a massage chair (and she got it!). But she really has a good heart and cracks me up. She wanted everyone to have a great time on her day! I got her a little bracelet and she said she really likes it, so I was happy :) Enjoy the pics!

happy mother's day !!!

2009-05-10T11:55:00.003+02:00

this post is for my maman!!! who is the most amazing maman in the whole wide world! (now that i've traveled i can say that). i couldn't ask for anyone more loving and giving than her. how do you do it???

miss you mom ! love you! happy mother's day!

london

2009-05-09T15:18:00.004+02:00

what can I say about london! it was great! I got there on thursday, and my friend from Catholic who had an internship in parliament this semester gave us an awesome tour of the Parliament building. It was a little Catholic reunion in London, plus we got the hookup! Mark made some friends over the semester and we got to see things inaccessible to the public, like the chapel of st mary undercroft. This crypt-like church was where St thomas more used to come to pray! It was absolutely beautiful.

It was cool to see how the House of Lords and the House of Commons are a lot like our government in DC. The actual building was a lot older and more ornate, but there was the process bears some similarities (wonder why?). After parliament we walked around London and saw the street where the prime minister lives, Westminster Abbey, and of course BIG BEN! When we walked by Trafalgar square there was a free Pink concert going on!! We were really lucky that day.

On Friday I took a day trip to Oxford, which was AWESOME! It was pretty much my dream, because that is where they filmed most of Harry Potter. There were tons of people with really posh accents, and we saw a wedding taking place - English people really do where funny hats to weddings, just like in the movies! We had lunch at Jamie Oliver's restuarant in Oxford ; it was so tasty. I got a veggie sampler thing: it had breads, olive oils, roasted veggies, mozzarella and parmesan cheese, and a little salad. And not too expensive either! We ended the day at Blenheim castle, and wouldn't you know it, Jack Black was shooting a movie there with Emily Blunt (she IS really that skinny in real life). Jack Black seemed just like how he does in his movies in real life. Anyway, the castle was beautiful, even though we were star struck walking through it.

Saturday Matt's friends and him took me on a walking tour of London, starting the the market near Matt's house. We got all sorts of delicious food, and then saw Globe theatre, the Tate modern, Millenium bridge, and St Paul's cathedral. After taking a little siesta in Hyde park on the row boats (Matt is on the crew team so we'll let that be my excuse as to why I didn't help him row) we went home and got ready for a big night out on the West End! We got a drink at this awesome bar overlooking all of the city, and the weather was beautiful! There were tons of artists outside performing for all of the tourists who were walking by. Then we went to see SPRING AWAKENING! I didn't know anything about it, except for that it got amazing reviews in NYC. I found tickets for 20 pounds - I wish the shows in NYC were available for that cheap. The show had some heavy topics, but the music was excellent. I loved it :)

Sunday Matt and I got an English breakfast (he promised me I had to do it before I leave) : baked beans, sausage, bacon, ham, eggs over easy, toast, and tea! Heart attack on a plate. Then I went wondering around Notting Hill, which was beautiful, and to Harrod's. Harrod's was the most exquisite store I've ever been into, except for Galaries Lafayette in Paris. I got some tea to bring home for mi familia!

The only thing about London was that it had a lot of my favorite things from home - like normal sized coffee! It made me a little homesick, but I have to take advantage of my 2 weeks left in Europe!

liverpool

2009-05-07T19:29:00.001+02:00

My mom sent me an email just before I left Amsterdam saying “maybe you should skip Liverpool”. SKIP LIVERPOOL!??! Are you crazy Elise? You who loved George? Who now has a crush on John’s son? You didn’t want me to see where it all began? I am so glad I went to this funky city!

First of all, Scousers are the friendliest and warmest people I’ve ever met! I was taken care of from the moment Jay met me at the airport! I was so happy to see my former co-worker from summer camp in his home city. We went out to dinner with all of Jay’s family and friends, and then I experienced the nightlife in Liverpool! It was so fun! Everyone was so nice and wanted to show me a good time. We went to the pub that the Beatles used to go to before they were famous, plus the pubs they played in before they were famous. Then we did some dancing! It was really cool.

The next day, Jay made me English breakfast and tea and we were off to explore Liverpool. We walked Matthew’s street, which is famous because of the Beatles. Then we went to St. Albert’s dock, and I saw all the government buildings. Along the way, I of course was amazed by everything typically English: red telephone booths, black taxi cabs, double decker buses, driving on the wrong side of the road, the word “cheers”, (still gets me every time). Liverpool is known for its cathedrals, so afterwards we went to the Liverpool Cathedral, which was absolutely amazing. So huge! We even climbed all the way to the top for the view. We could see the two football stadiums in the city, which are right next to each other. On one side is Liverpool, on the other side is Everton: the city is split into two!

For my last night I went to a pub quiz with Jay and his dad. I embarrassed myself horribly and fulfilled every known stereotype about the IQ’s of Americans. Does anyone else know the only American president to wear a Nazi uniform? On what part of the body is the diastema? I got one question right, about foreign affairs. But I promised Jay’s family that I am not as stupid as I came across in that quiz! I don’t know if they believed me, because when Jay’s parents talked to me I usually only made out about 25% of what they said. The scouser accent is HEAVY! Beware!

I had a great time in Liverpool and I was sad when Jay sent me off to London on the train Thursday morning. But I was glad I got to meet his family and friends and hopefully I can return the favor for him this summer in the US OF A!

amsterdam

2009-05-07T18:44:00.003+02:00

i left barcelona at 3am and took a long journey to amsterdam! i flew into eindhoven, a city in the south of the netherlands (for all of you who have never heard of ryan air, it's a budget airline company that makes it possible to fly across europe for 30 bucks one way, but it was been described as flying "in a tin can of advertisements", and it costs money to go to the bathroom...you get the picture). a really nice dutch girl i met on the bus to the airport in barcelona drove me to the train station in eindhoven, and they have me a little tour of the netherlands!!! my first impression was great: very flat, clean, green, and organized! very different from barcelona. all of the young people are bilingual and most of the adults speak fluent english, so it was very easy to get around. then i took the train from eindhoven to amsterdam, which was great, because i got to see the dutch countryside before arriving in the city !

the city itself is gorgeous - the houses on the canal are exquisite, and everywhere you look there are fashionable people riding around on their bikes. literally, pedestrians are second class citizens to bikers. you have to be careful walking in amsterdam because it is easy to get hit by a biker! it almost happened to me my first few moments there. i got to erik's apartment, and right away he took me out on his bike for a tour! it was so cool! i got to sit on the back of his bike (haha he did all the hard work) and observe the beautiful day in amsterdam. i went out to lunch with his friend, and we had a fun time just catching up. the canals everywhere make it kind of confusing to find your way around because the streets look the same - but everywhere is just beautiful!

we picked up my friend at the train station and rented bikes - our first test as tourists. of course we failed miserably, hitting the locals and stopping traffic. it was literally a mental struggle every time we got on ! not to mention our butts were really sore at the end of the weekend...

saturday night me and my friend got indonesian food (which we read is famous in amsterdam) while erik had dinner with co-workers. it was delicious! all small trays of hard boiled egg, chilli sauce with little rice cakes, veggies in peanut sauce, goat, cabbage salad, rice, yumm. Afterwards erik’s friend had a little get together at his house. But this wasn’t any old get-together in Amsterdam: this famous dutch woman was there! And the house was a mansion! On the canal! Desiré is apparently famous in the Netherlands for her music – she also does the dutch voice of Jimmy Newtron! Ha! So it was very posh and me and my friend tried hard to fit in with the older successful professional crowd for an evening.

The next day we slept in and erik took us to burger meester: the best burgers in the whole entire world. They are gourmet! I got one with lamb meet, goat cheese, mango sauce, and who knows what else on it. Erik got a tuna burger, and Alicia got the special. It was so delicious. We said goodbye to Erik who had to work in Budapest, and did some museum visiting. We saw the VanGogh museum, which was awesome! It chronicled his life by time and also by places he lived, which was amazing because he lived in St. Remy, Auvers-sur-Oise, Arles, Paris – all of these places that I have been to and seen! It made the museum that more special to see all these famous works picturing places I had visited. The highlight of the museum was the special exhibit, which featured all of VanGogh’s nightscapes. We got to see Starry Night! After VanGogh we saw the house where Anne Frank was in hiding for nearly three years before being discovered and taken to a concentation camp. It was a very well put together museum, but clearly very sad.

On Monday we headed to the countryside to see some of the real Netherlands: TULIPS! There is a sort of amusement park of flowers called Keukenhof. It was kind of like a HUGE flower show, plus they had acres of gardens, a petting zoo, a windmill, and dutch ice cream! A dutch wonderland for grown ups! It was really beautiful and relaxing to visit.

Tuesday I wandered around all day observing before it was time to fly to my next destination for a Sandy Hill Camp reunion: Liverpool! I did not love Amsterdam as much as I loved Barcelona (maybe because it was colder and rainier?), but it was a beautiful city with TONS to do and see. I don’t think I could ever live there though, because legal prostitution and decriminalized marijuana really freaks me out. I obviously didn’t have any direct affects from it, but making a wrong turn and watching a 90 year old main bargain with a 20 year old prostitute in a g-string is not something I ever want to be used to. Although it was fun to see the faces of the grandma’s and grandpa’s on their tours when they realize they are standing in front of a prostitute.

fc barcelona

2009-05-05T22:11:00.005+02:00

push play for a video of the football match!

barcelone

2009-05-05T21:35:00.005+02:00

spring break 09! woo! just got home from an amazing amazing wonderful glorious trip through europe! visiting everyone i know! haha. I visited friends in barcelona, amsterdam, liverpool, and london. i saw so many beautiful things, met so many amazing people, just had an excellent time! and everyone i visited took great care of me and made sure i was eating the most delicious food and seeing the most interesting things. not one single complaint!!!

i took an overnight bus to barcelona on april 21st - and I was awoken by a policeman in spain at the border. "hola policia...tienes passaporte?" or something like that...haha needless to say i woke up fast! after leaving a few undocumented stragglers at the border (i felt really bad for them) i got into barcelona at 6am. this is one city that doesn't sleep! the metro was already full at 6.15 am. it was really cool to arrive just before the sun came up. my friend's apartment was amazing and looked out onto the city and the mountains behind it. after taking a little nap, i went exploring in the city with theresa's guide books. just down the street from her apartment was las ramblas - the most exciting street in barca. the street performers, artists, flower vendors, graffiti, (and unfortunately prostitutes late at night) make this street impossible to walk down! i stopped along the way at bouqueria de sant josep, and was amazing at all of the delicious fruits they had. fruits i had never even heard of or seen before! i got some guava juice for only 50cts and continued exploring. i ended up finding some people from israel and going on a free tour of the barri gotic with them! it was great to hear stories of catalonia from a professional - how they got their independence, why they speak catalan, etc (they have the same flag as provence! they all used to be under one rule). After the tour me and my new friends got tapas - they were delicious! Octopus, calamari, sardines, cheesy potatoes, shrimp, squid, and sausage. yumm :)

afterwards i went off exploring again, this time to the barcelona cathedral. it was so relaxing and beautiful there. the shrine to the old patron saint of barcelona, st eulalia, was there, and it was absolutely beautiful. because she died when she was only thirteen, they keep thirteen birds in the cloister of the cathedral all the time to remember her. then i went to parc de la ciutadella, which was made for the world fair in 1888. interestingly enough, gustave eiffel wanted to put the eiffel tower in barcelona for the world's fair, but the city thought it was ugly and settled for their arc del triompf. who knew it would be so popular??

that night i made dinner for my host and then we went to see fc barcelona play sevilla! WOW! incredible!!! one of the coolest things i've ever seen. catalonians are CRAZY for fc barca - and they have a right to be! barca is amazing at football! it was funny to see the difference between professional sports in both countries. at the stadium, they don't have any vendors as you are walking in. they don't sell beer at the games because people get too rowdy after drinking. they had people walking around selling sandwiches, and that is it! can you imagine!? arenas in the US are all about making $$$ and exploiting people in any way they know how...

the rest of my days in barcelona were spent checking out gaudi and montjuic (oh and sunbathing on the beach!! i have a little tan). gaudi was an amazing architect who created inspirational buildings all across barca. before going to barca, i thought that it was only gaudi buildings created in the modernista style. but most of the apartments and buildings are all modernista - creating a truly unique city. gaudi was a deeply religious man and loved catalonia. ironically, he had a fear of public transport and got run over by a train walking to church one day. he looked like just a pauper so no one even stopped to help him. he was in a poor man's hospital when someone realized who he was, but he refused to be transported. when he died a few days later everyone in barcelona came to his funeral because he was so greatly loved! he also loved nature and was inspired by it daily. when i went to parc guell, i literally thought i was in a movie! it was incredible! montjuic is a huge park on a hill/mountain that hosts some of the olympic buildings used in the 1992 olympics. it also holds the musee nacional d'art de catalunya - the old palau nacional! it was beautiful there, and i saw an exhibit on an artist from catalunya called sorello. i loved it!

to sum it up, barcelona was modern, beachy, laid-back, romantic, delicious, bohemian, and inspiring! I LOVED IT!

ok i am procrastinating studying for finals...but i have to write more later about the rest of my travels. less than three weeks until i return to the society of consummation! after traveling to different countries in europe i can really see how that description fits our country perfectly. i wonder how long i'll stick to my french ways of walking everywhere/only shopping at the marché/recycling EVERYTHING/never using too much electricity/not doing ANYTHING on sunday? would i be ostracized for riding my bike to acme?? uggh...the word acme makes me shudder. i don't even want to think about wine costing more than 3 euro...

bienvenue au cote

2009-04-20T23:10:00.013+02:00

i just returned from a lovely two days on the cote! I visited Antibes on Sunday morning, and Cannes today! Antibes was absolutely amazing. lots and lots of impressionist artists came to cap d'antibes to be inspired! everywhere you look there are plaques showing a famous painting, indicated that someone painted in that exact spot! although it was raining and yucky out on Sunday, we went to the market and got a picnic lunch of tapenade, cheese, bread, and fruit and ate it under the umbrella. the beach was so beautiful, and vielle ville was gorgeous as well. it made me think of bermuda (although i've never been there, so who knows). On saturday night we walked back into the residential area of antibes - which was AMAZING! the flowers and plants were so pretty, and the houses were absolutely amazing. it was very quiet, with no restaurants or stores - just the houses and the sea! our hostel away from the town center, and was run by paulo - this friendly old man who ran the beautiful pink building facing the ocean. although the bathroom/shower/cot situation was bare minimum, there was TONS of young kids from all over europe and australia bumming around looking for work on the yachts that passed through antibes, cannes, monaco, etc. it was a great atmosphere because everyone was poor and living out of their backpacks, but so generous to fellow travelers! the boys were "lifting weights" outside using the picnic benches, and we all had a communal dinner together. after dinner me and my friend walked to nearby juan les pins, which had AMAZING beaches. we sat on some unused cabanas and watched the sunset! afterwards we were looking for a place to get a drink, but of course it was really expensive. we were talking to some french people our age about how expensive everything was, and they replied "bienvenue au cote". welcome to the riviera!

we ended up going to this funky place where they had live music. the guy playing the guitar was really nice and we had fun singing with them. they said we are welcome back anytime! we woke up this morning and paulo made us some coffee for breakfast. then we were off to cannes! cannes had beautiful beaches, but it was really expensive and not much to see. it is famous for the film festival, but other than the building where it takes place it is just designer stores and high class restaurants. we walked into the most expensive hotel in cannes and went exploring! we can pretend...

my camera ran out of batteries, but i found some pictures online to share. the map is cool, because where the square is is the center of Antibes, but our hotel was on the southern tip. there was a really cool lighthouse on the southern tip, it reminded me of our family adventures to cape may! on the west was juan les pins, where we went sunday night. you can walk from juan les pins to antibes center in 45 minutes. obviously, i LOVED cap d'antibes and would work there on a yacht ANYDAY.

joyeux anniversaire grace!

2009-04-18T10:55:00.004+02:00

this is a post to commemorate the 21st birthday of grace fitzpatrick! because i miss her dearly and i will not be there to celebrate with her. AND equally important because she is a sweet, intelligent, funny, and amazing person! (i mean you have to be if you are my friend)

embarrassing picture required.

joyeux anniversaire grace! j'espere que tu passes une belle journée!

un diner americain

2009-04-18T10:45:00.004+02:00

On thursday night, I cooked an american meal for my host family. What is an American meal, you ask? The only things I could come up with where pie, chili, meatloaf, and (GASP!) hamburgers. Straying away from the whole "americans-are-fat-and-all-we-eat-are-burgers" image, and frightened to death by the idea of trying to make a pie attempting to convert to the metric system, I went with the good ol' classic of meatloaf. Then I make asparagus and red peppers in a yummy sauce, and mashed potatoes! I was really nervous that they weren't going to like it - but it was a HUGE success! They were asking me how to make it and are going to take the recipe! They called the mashed potatoes, "potates purée" hehe.

For dessert, we made s'mores on the stove-top. Instead of graham crackers with Hershey's, we made s'more "tartines" and put the "chamellow" (love that word - it means marshmellow!) on top of a Petit Ecolier cookie. It was a really fun night. Although sometimes I feel frustrated because my host family keeps a distance from me sometimes, my host mom said the other night that I was like part of the family! I was so happy she said that, because out of everyone, she is the one who I didn't fully understand at first. Although she has her crazy theories and wild ways, she is really a generous hard-working woman and I'm lucky they are sharing their family with me!

feria d'arles

2009-04-18T10:23:00.005+02:00

On monday we had the day off from school because of Easter. So me and too friends ventured off to Arles, the city of VanGogh. It was here that VanGogh painted The Café on the Terrace. (Bridget, recognize this!??) It was really cool to see, plus we got to see VanGogh's bedroom. It was tiny! The city has a lot of Roman influences. It is in Arles where you find a huge colosseum, just like the one in Rome! The feria d'arles is a festival like the ones in Spain, where there are "corridas" and running of the bulls. Me and my friends were crossing the street and nearly got run over by the bulls! That was a huge mistake, we were a little shaken up by that. People were everywhere singing in the streets, dancing, and drinking pastis. The environment was really cool! Although we didn't go to the corrida (they kill the bulls in this one) we walked by the colosseum and could hear the shouting that was going on inside! It was a neat experience to be in Arles for this fete.

huile d'olive

2009-04-18T10:11:00.006+02:00

So yet another blog about food...and food tasting...what can i say i have to "profiter" as they say in france. My program hosted an olive oil tasting last week, and I learned a lot about it! France isn't thought of as a major producer of olive oils - it ranks 15th in the world with only 4,000 tons. Italy, Spain, and Greece produce the most in the world - France got a little behind because of a huge frost in 1956 that killed 2/3 of all its olive trees. Nonetheless, Provence is very famous for its olives and olive oils. When I go to the market, most people are selling olives, tapenades (crushed up olives put with different flavors like sundried tomatoes, anchovies, etc), or olive oil.

Jenna (the lady who was running the tasting) explained to us how much effort it takes just to produce a little bit of oil! That is why it is so expensive. It takes 5-7 kilos of olives to make 1 liter of olive oil! We tasted some oils from the region, which contain Aglandou, Saloneque, Grossance, Verdale, and Picholine olives. One of the oils, called Castelas-Maussane, tasted just like fresh cut grass! I thought it was disgusting, but Jenna told me that that was one of her most popular oils! We tasted the oil off of a little spoon; it was weird at first, but then I began to realize all of the different flavors in olive oil. They don't all taste the same! Jenna said she always has a teaspoon of oil olive before she drinks alcohol because it lines your stomach and protects you from getting drunk/hungover. Plus she uses it in salad dressing, with vegetables, cooking, anything! But she warned us that when you cook the olive oil the taste changes. I wonder if any French olive oils are available in the US? (Hannah beautiful picture...I stole it! tres bien fait cherie)

joyeuses paques

2009-04-12T11:37:00.004+02:00

happy easter everyone!! while it is weird to be in France on easter - the first time without my family - it is nice to see how the french celebrate the holiday. my host family is not religious, but we hid eggs in the garden this morning and and went looking for them. it's raining today, but it was still fun!! spring has sprung in provence and the flowers are beautiful! tons of purples and yellows :)

this morning i went to the little church next to my house - it was very friendly and welcoming! they teach the songs before mass starts so everyone can sing along. i really liked it because everyone seemed to know each other really well. the only weird thing was that no one was dressed up! I wore a dress and everyone else was wearing normal casual clothes. my roomate wrote me a really sweet note and gave me some candy too! she is so nice. plus my best friend here, who is jewish, offered to have a meal together to celebrate. it was funny when we both realized that the normal easter foods - bagels, ham, chocolate - are not allowed to be eaten by those observing passover. we are both learning about each other's religion! i am fortunate to have met some very great people here :)

i hope everyone has a great easter!!!

"studying" for photography

2009-04-10T18:48:00.005+02:00

i love these pics! we are learning about photography and literature - and i am particularly interested in the existentialiste/humaniste movement. it's so cool! beautiful pictures...i had to share :)

les amoureux par robert doisneau
laila par eduard boubat
petit parisien by willy ronis

"je me souviens de Paris casquettes et chapeaux melons et de Paris révolté, Paris humilié, Paris bigots-bourgeois, Paris putains mais Paris secret et puis Paris barricades, Paris ivre de joie, et voici Paris bagnotes, Paris combines, Paris jogging..."

-Robert Doisneau

les gorges du verdon

2009-04-06T09:59:00.006+02:00

Today, j’ai passé un tres bon dimanche! Comme habitude ☺ I went on another Georges trip, this guy who does tours around Provence and has a very thick southern accent. He took us to Les Gorges du Verdon, the biggest canyon in Europe! It was beautiful, and reminded me a lot of Norway. The lake in front of the gorge is artificial, but that is because they created a dam to control the water flow. We relaxed there and soaked up some sun, and then we went to a little village called Moustiers-Sainte-Marie. It was such a beautiful town, and at the top of the top there was a beautiful church. We went exploring for a little while, and then it started pouring raining! Me and my friend Hannah got some ice cream and coffee in a little restaurant looking out into the village before heading back to Aix. I am loving the warmer weather, plus it doesn’t get dark until 8pm now! I posted a picture of Aix - the town where I live. It is a picture of the Cours Mirabeau, the main road in my town. tres jolie...

la camargue

2009-04-05T19:37:00.005+02:00

Yesterday I took a day trip to Camargue with the people in my program, The Camargue is near the city of Arles, but situated more south on the base of the Rhone river. It is mainly agricultural land - the area is famous for its production of rice and salt. In the center and south of Camargue it is a National Park with tons of marshland full of various wildlife. Supposedly the area is abundant flamingos - but I only saw a few unfortunately. They also have beautiful white horses! Although, because of previous brave attempts to conquer my fear of horses (near death experiences with Tony and Ashley in PA), I did not participate in horseback riding. But hey I took pictures of my friends doing it!?!? Instead of trekking through the marsh on smelly and dangerous animals, we went to a little town in the Camargue called Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. This town is famous because the three Maries' - Mary Jacobé, Mary Salomé, and Mary-Magdalen supposedly were expelled from Jerusalem on a boat that landed on les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. The Gitans are a group of gypsies who come every year in May for a pilgrimage to this little town. The town was really charming, and right on the beach! I checked out the church, grabbed a baguette, and relaxed in the soleil. It was a great afternoon!

The Camargue is also associated with le guardiens, which are bull rearers. There are tons of bulls in the Camargue ! We went to a see what the bulls were really like. Although I had no idea what to expect, we went to les arenes in a little town to watch a bull show, called la course camarguaise. The town was absolutely charming, and we were the only tourists there! All these old men with dark provencal skin were welcoming us and teaching us the rules of the game. There was a live band playing music from the opera Carmen as we walked in. The rasteurs are the men who try to pull these little strings off of the bulls' horns using a crochet, which is a spiky weapon they hold in their hands. It was one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen, when the bull was attacking them they ricocheted themselves off the walls and grabbed onto the side banisters to avoid the bulls horns! I have never seen anything like it. I happened to fall in love with one rasteur, Matthieu Marquier! What a stud. Agile, athletic, and a bull-fighter! What more could a girl want?

paris je t'aime

2009-03-31T22:27:00.007+02:00

I just got back from a great weekend in PARIS! I took the TGV, the train de grand vitesse, all the way to the city of lights. It was only a three hour ride through the beautiful countryside. Lots of sheep and cows! I was so happy when I arrived - all of these amazing memories from last summer came flooding back! There really is no place like Paris. I met up with Kiera's best friend and Tony's girlfriend, Ashley, who is studying abroad in Barcelona. We stayed in a hostel in the Marais, which is an absolutely amazing section of the city. It is where the Jewish quarter is, so it was full of delicious Jewish bakeries. We went to a famous falafel restaurant; L'as du falafel has the best falafel in the world - even better than Israel! Falafel is a pita with veggies in it - shredded cabbage, lettuce, cucumbers, onions, carrots, grilled eggplant, and these fried balls of chickpeas. It also has a special yummy sauce on it. It was so good!

Although it was pretty cold, we went on a night bike tour of Paris! I was laughing with sheer joy when we first got on our bikes and rode down the Champs du Mars in front of the Eiffel Tower - I hadn't ridden a bike for fun in such a long time. Plus, I was in PARIS! It was amazing to be able to see all of the sights at night time, when they are all lit up. Even better, our tour guide was really knowledgeable and taught me a lot of interesting things that I didn't know before. The only negative was that I nearly died a few times due to the heavy traffic and stubborn Parisian drivers. Although we were well equipped with large green reflective vests and lights on our bikes, I guess small bikers are usually in the blind spots of large buses? Needless to say I survived without a scrape and the tour ended when we got aboard the bateau moche on the Seine and had some wine with the people in our group. It was a great night!

Other highlights of the trip were seeing an excellent Andy Warhol exhibit at the Grand Palais, eating delicious fondue in Montmartre, and watching people leave the opera on Saturday night dressed in their finest clothes! tres chic :) The weekend ended on a great note when I went back to Sartrouville to visit Estelle and Michel, my host family from my high school exchange! And not to mention the infamous Antoine, whom many of you met. He is currently sporting a new do, "the Jackson Five" as he likes to call it. And no, he is no more mature than before! But his parents were so sweet to Ashley and me, and I was so happy to see them. They made us a big four course meal on Sunday night and packed sandwiches for our trip in the morning. They are really generous people and I was happy to get to see them again. We had a great time looking at pictures from three years ago. I was happy Ashley got to meet them, and she is excited to show me around Barcelona when I go for a visit in a few weeks. Can't wait :) I am so lucky to be able to do all this traveling...I am soooo addicted :)

st. remy

2009-03-31T22:06:00.007+02:00

After the cathédrale des images, we went to st. remy. This is a little town where VanGogh lived - he was admitted the the psychiatric hospital here! I went and visited it - it was the most beautiful hospital I have ever seen! He painted some of his most beautiful works there.

The most amazing part of our trip was that we had lunch at a troglodyte farm house. This really old man named lulu opens his house up on Sunday for lunch. This is not just any lunch, but a Provencal sunday lunch - it lasted three hours! First of all, lulu's house was amazing. It was carved out of rock and his front yard was full of olive trees that he planted. His house a gift from his family before him - the deed of his house was signed by Louis XIV, the king who created the Versaille palace. He was really an amazing person to talk to - he welcomed us by saying how much he loves the generosity of Americans, and how it is thanks to us that France exists today. He cooked all of the food by himself for 40 people - and he is 86 years old! He loves cooking and of course talking.

The food was delicious, to say the least. First, we had this really yummy country pate that was dried and smoky. Next, we had olive omelettes, which looked strange because they were brown but very tasty. And I cannot forget to mention superfluous amount of wine - rose and red. The next course was ratatouille, a specialty of Provence which is just cooked veggies in a tomato sauce and olive oil. The main course was lamb with green beans - I don't think I've ever eaten lamb before but it was delicious! Then, of course we had huge helpings of cheese, there is nothing better to finish your meal with. Except that wasn't the end! For dessert we had strawberries and coffee, perfect for a spring day.

It was so nice to sit and spend so much time with friends just talking. I am vowing to use less minutes on my cell phone when I return to the US and more time face to face! After lunch, we walked around beautiful st. remy and lazily layed out in the grass basking in the sun. It was a GREAT day! I wish you were all there to join me!

les baux

2009-03-31T22:00:00.004+02:00

Last weekend I went to the baux de provence and st. remy. Les baux is a beautiful and quaint little village near Avignon. We went to see the Cathedrale des Images, which is a stone quarry which inspired many Provencal artists like Picasso and VanGogh. Recently the quarry was transformed into an art exhibit, in which an artists work's are projected on the wall and timed in accordance with music. It was a very amazing sight! I was taken aback at first - the quarry is huge and you are overwhelmed by the colors and detail. I saw an exhibit on Picasso - it was amazing!

calisson

2009-03-31T21:55:00.002+02:00

Last week I visited a calisson factory. They are a delicacy of Aix! Made out of almond paste with candied oranges, there are tons of patisseries that hand make their own calissons. Translation: calissons are trop cher (very expensive). I could get used to all this chocolate and candy tasting!

le ciotat

2009-03-15T21:13:00.006+01:00

There is a little town between marseille and cassis known for it's rocky cliffs, called the Calanques. Today I was off to do more hiking in the Calanques! The weather was absolutely beautiful and I got to lay out in the sun for a little by the sea - it was so relaxing! I loved it :) And it is only 20 minutes from Aix; I imagine I will be back all the time when it really starts to get warm.

sainte victoire

2009-03-15T21:07:00.005+01:00

There is a mountain here that I usually talk about - le sainte victoire - which I have been wanting to hike since I got here! Saturday I finally got to do it. It took about 2 hours to climb to the top, and it wasn't easy! It was like a never-ending stairmaster. I was exhausted by the time we got to the top. There were some crazy people passing us who were RUNNING up the mountain!?!? If I did that I would have a "fesse" of steel (butt of steel).

Once we got to the top, it was so worth it! The views were amazing! I packed myself a picnic lunch and we relaxed en haut for a while before making the trek back down. It was a beautiful day!

more pictures :)

2009-03-11T10:34:00.003+01:00

-After wine tasting in Chateauneuf du pape

-the only picture we have of us three! In front of Atelier Cezanne

joe and elise come to europe

2009-03-10T20:59:00.006+01:00

I had to say goodbye to my parents today after a great week with them. I feel really lucky that we got to have this time together! They took me out to dinner and all over France. Although there were certainly times when we had disagreements ("BRENNA I DON'T READ FRENCH!" -my dad, before going through the first toll booth in france), I have awesome memories of the trip. I learned a lot about them and had a lot of fun! Just some of my favorite memories:
- the first night in nice when we ended up having a political discussion with the french guys sitting next to us
- watching the nice carnaval fireworks
- me and my mom trying to be cultural and going to the bar in orange for happy hour: she ended up talking to a "woman's companion" while I chatted in French to a nice lady
- dinner with my host family and my parents!!!
- wine tasting in chateauneuf du pape, the sommelier worked with American soldiers during Desert Storm and had an American coin collection!
- everyone staring at us and our tourist ways in Carmagnola, Italy
- the delicious dinner we had at 14 and our friendly waitress Ornella
- breakfast in Nice/my French lesson with the "dirty rag man"
-driving through the Alps and facing near death experiences on the road, driving through the 2006 Olympic Villages
-me and my mom losing my dad nearly EVERY MINUTE because he walked so slow
-my dad making faces at the group of italian students who were staring at us at the Matisse exhibit
-me being grumpy about missing the Chagall museum, and my mom finding an original Chagall in an old church in Vence!
- my mom and I making delicious dinner picnic in our hotel room after a long day of touring: success at the supermarket!
-waking up in Carmagnola (which we thought was an ugly industrial town) after the fog cleared to see the MOUNTAINS!

I love this picture of my mom in Vence, observing the beautiful old buildings. And how cute are my parents sharing an umbrella in Turin? It was so cold that day, my poor dad didn't have a jacket! The next picture is a view from our hotel in Carmagnola! It was so beautiful there :) Then my dad in front of RACCONICI castle in Italy ! Yes, he did drive that little car, stick shift, for 8 hours!

chemin de bibemus

2009-03-10T20:45:00.003+01:00

Today I went running on my favorite path, the chemin de bibemus right by my house. Even though you have to hike up this mountain to get there, the view is totally worth it! The other weekend I went up with my host family. You can see the mountain where Cezanne frequently painted, called the Montagne Sainte Victoire. It's a beautiful view! Makes the run a lot easier...

chez medecin

2009-02-18T22:43:00.003+01:00

I have returned from the life and the rich and the famous to the life of the rich...hehe. This week I took a sewing class with this woman who used to work for all the big labels like Gucci, Prada, etc. She had her own store in Monaco! I don't know how good of a teacher she is though because my creation is not that amazing...

ok i have to document this because it was so funny and i want to remember it. tonight at dinner we had the funniest conversation about hair. Charles has really long girlish hair and he refuses to get it cut. he likes to hide behind it and he thinks it looks cooler. at at the same time Christian was saying that he needs more boys in the house, because there are 5 girls and charles looks like a girl with his haircut. then charles got mad because he thinks he is a grown up man. Christian asked him if he had facial hair, and he screamed "NO! BUT EVE HAS ONE ARMPIT HAIR!" haha eve was so proud of it! she showed everyone at the table! and then charles told her to cut it and she matter-of-factly responded that if you cut it it will grow back thicker and darker! haha it was so funny.

veronique thinks everything can be solved by a "tezane" which apparently is a kind of tea with herbs in it. lilly wasn't feeling well the other night and she made this huge concoction with honey and and herbs and tea. and manon was cracking me up because she said she wanted to go to the doctor, but vero wouldn't hear of it. christian said it is because she is from bretagne and it is the bretagne method to refuse medicine! haha.

they are always keeping me laughing :) but at the same time they remind me of home because no one sits at the dinner table...i miss my fam!!! can't wait until my rentals come :)

LUXE

2009-02-16T11:12:00.003+01:00

Hello Monaco! On Saturday night we got to Monaco, where we enjoyed the most luxurious weekend a college student could ever dream of! Included in the price of our program was a dinner with the whole group. We went to this delicious restaurant overlooking the yachts in the harbor of Monaco. It was so delicious! Afterwards we went to the Monte Carlo casino, which is the casino in the 007 movies (so I've been told I've never seen it). It was so cool! I'm pretty sure Beau would have died here haha. I've never been gambling before, and I was too scared so I only gambled a euro on the slots. But it was still cool just to be there! There were so many fancy cars, yachts, designer clothes stores, restaurants, etc. Definitely a different way of life!

Carnaval

2009-02-16T11:04:00.002+01:00

I just got back from an amazing weekend in Nice and Monaco! Nice was so beautiful - the buildings were so colorful and the sea was amazing! When we got there we tried all of the native food at the market. There is a lot of Italian influence there so there is really great Italian food and seafood as well. I tried socca, which is kind of like a crepe but made out of chick pea. It was really good. Then they also had this delicious pastry made out of swiss chard, pine nuts, raisons, and dough that was soooo good.

After we walked around and ate a little we went to carnaval! The carnaval parade that we went to was called "Bataille des Fleurs". They had huge floats all made out of flowers, it was really cool. The outfits of the people in the parade were amazing as well! They threw mimosa flowers on us, which are they yellow flowers that are in season now. It was really fun !

Pictures are copyright of my roomie, Lilli! Isn't she talented???

L'homme qui rit

2009-02-13T17:24:00.004+01:00

Tonight I went to a French play written by Victor Hugo called, L’homme qui rit. The play was performed by a traveling theatre company who set up camp in Aix for two weeks. It was a sad story about a boy who has lived an unfortunate life, and of course it ends in tragedy. The music and acting were great! I had a hard time understanding some of it – the actors were not actually French, they were British, so that might have had something to do with it. Luckily I read the synopsis on wikipedia before I went – gotta love that website.

The ambiance of the play was almost better than the actual play! Shall I set the scene un peu? Imagine freshest, coldest air, in the middle of the woods in southern France on a dark night – and stumbling upon a small and cozy tent filled with rowdy French people and traveling thespians. I almost felt like I was an extra in the movie Chocolat, when the band of gypsies (aka Johnny Depp!) takes Juliette Binoche to the boat party to hang with his fellow gypsies. You walked into a little tent filled with people, with vintage posters for theatre on the wall. There was this crazy man who looked like a character from a movie: he had a huge mustache, darker skin, a newsboy hat, dangly earrings, and a vest. He was serving “vin chaud” and tea to everyone before the show began. The show actually took place in a big tent – and when you walked in you could see the actors getting ready in their makeshift dressing rooms on the side. It was like Moulin Rouge in real life! Afterwards the actor stayed around and talked to us.

Maybe I’ll just stay the summer and travel around France with the theatre gypsies???

Here is a pretty bad picture of an actor getting ready, and sitting next to me is my roomie Lilli and our friend Alex!

la dégustation

2009-02-12T23:07:00.002+01:00

So...three weeks in and already I went wine tasting! IT WAS AMAZING! A local American woman who has her wine certificate (it's actually a Masters!?? who knew?) hosted a class for students in Aix. She had it in her adorable apartment, and I met lots of cool new people. At the beginning of the class she said "who is not able to legally drink in their home country?" and I was the only one who raised my hand haha. Everyone was very happy for me it was funny - especially the other Europeans.

French wine is not sold like American wine by the type of grape. It is sold by the region where it is made. In Aix, we have the best weather conditions in the world for making rosé. I learned that the color of wine has nothing to do with the grape juice - the juice is all white. The color depends on how long you leave the juice with the skin while it is fermenting. Rosé can be as dark or as light as the producer wants. Also, wine in France is never 100% of one flavor - it is usually always mixed.

I happened to like the light fruity wines and the dark spicy ones. We had yummy fruit with the light wines and dark chocolate with the red. We took little sips of each one - and learned all about snobby wine etiquette. Swirl swirl swirl, SNIFF! and sip! Hilary gave us a wine wheel aroma to help us figure out which tastes we liked best. There was so much to remember! At the end they served us a student-budget-friendly wine that was made in Chili. It was delicious, and it only costs 4 euro! Yes mom and dad I can buy wine in the store...mwahahaha!!!

Maybe the Mulvaney/Parker families can have a wine tasting party early this summer before it gets too hot? Now the only problem is that I have to learn how to cook the food that goes WITH the wine...

Calanques

2009-02-09T10:39:00.002+01:00

On the tour with Erin, she took us in her rusty old Renault to the Calanques, which are big cliffs that overlook the sea. You can go hiking all the way to Cassis, which is a nearby beach town. The Mistral was so strong that day, my French friend said "il faut etre américain pour aller dans les calanques," meaning that no sane French person would go hiking on cliffs with the wind so strong! It was a beautiful day, but the wind made it freezing cold. It was so beautiful though, I am going to go back when it gets warmer. We climbed all the way to the top of that cliff in the picture. Afterwards we sat and had hot chocolate on the beach to warm our chilled bones.

marseille (again!)

2009-02-09T10:32:00.003+01:00

I spent the weekend in Marseille! There is so much to see and do there. On Saturday it was the last day for winter sales, so me and my friend Cari went shopping and I got a cute jacket. On Sunday a former CEA student who lives in Marseille now took five of us on a tour of Marseille. She took us to places I hadn't visited before, which was awesome! Plus, for lunch we went to her boyfriend's grandmother's house. She was this little French lady who didn't stop talking for two hours straight! It was so funny. And there were one of two people who just started learning French, but she wouldn't accept that and just kept talking and talking. She kept force feeding us cheap white table wine, which she said was "a woman's wine" because the top has a twist off cap and it has less alcohol content than normal wine. Then, as she giving us stale bread and the french equivalent of tastykakes she called herself a "vrai gourmand". Ha! She was cracking me up.

In this picture, it's a Coke ad but it is saying "allez OM". OM means Olympique Marseille, the soccer/football team that everyone loves here. I am dying to get to a game! Maybe i'll go one weekend to see what it's like :)

la famille

2009-02-05T22:00:00.004+01:00

I think Charles should be a model! Don't be fooled by this good looks...he is so sassy. Although he would get along great with Liam because he loves Wii! And he's always showing me his computer games and such. I told him about Rock Band and he was amazed !

la famille

2009-02-05T21:36:00.007+01:00

I know I have mentioned my family, but I don't think i every really described my family. I live with Véronique, who is a psychiatrist and she sees patients at the house. Christian is a consultant for artists, performers, musicians, etc. and he travels a lot for work to Paris or around France. So a lot of times he is not here. He has been everywhere in the world almost! They traveled a lot together before they had kids - Veronique worked as a "hostesse de l'air" or a flight attendant for an Italian airline before going back to school.

I have three French sibs: Manon, Charles, and Eve. Manon is super smart, she's 15. She loves Bob Marley and playing guitar! Usually I wake up/go to sleep to Bob...Luke and Manon should go out! She's single and she's really pretty Luke! She loves basketball too :) But she's chatty so I don't know if that will work. JE RIGOLE!

Charles and Eve are two peas in a pod. They fight horribly but they cannot be separated and they adore each other. The whole family is very animated; they love singing and dancing and being goofy. So I obviously fit right in! I wish I spent more time with them - everyone is so busy, the only time we are together is for dinner during the week. On Thursday and Friday morning I get to have breakfast with the babies because I have early class, I love it! We somehow always have the best discussions over breakfast. For example, who knew that Véronique was on a French game show, where she was tested on general knowledge against French stars. She won three times, bringing home a TV, a phone, and a vacation. And Christian's grandparents started UDF, Union pour un Democratie Francais, a recently retired political party. Cool, huh?

Tonight we had my favorite dinner yet! Everyday there are fresh, delicious vegetables and fruits for sale in the city. This equates to DELICIOUS! meals chez moi. Last night Christian made sushi! I really want to learn how to make that when we get home. The kids helped him make it because they each have their favorite kind. Anyway, tonight we had salad first, with this delicious spicy asian sauce and little tiny tiny shrimps in it! Then we had this gratin with cheese and some mystery vegetable that I don't know the word for in english. Apparently it belongs to the onion family, but the only thing I could think of was shallots. They were very dark green, so I don't know if it was exactly the same kind of shallot that we have in the US. With the gratin Véronique got jambon italien, prosciutto! I love prosciutto. Then we had steamed potatoes, but I have never eaten this kind before; they were brown on the outside and yellow on the inside, and almost sweet tasting. And for dessert delicious oranges. yumm :) Hopefully I can recreate some of this back in the US!

Side note to Julia and all other lovers of the Melting Pot: Eve got a fondue set and the other night we had some fruit kind of like grapefruit but more sweet and less bitter and oranges in dark chocolate. We MUST have a fondue party this summer!

Donc, je mange très bien ici. In conclusion, I eat very well here!

Here is are some photos of me and Eve goofing around. We both love to dance - she is a very good actress. They were taken by another American student who lives in my house, Lilli! Lilli is awesome, she's from Arkansas and super nice. She's also a very talented photographer. I'm lucky to have such a great homestay.

commenting

2009-02-04T10:38:00.004+01:00

I think I just changed my blog so that anyone can comment on my posts, if you have an account or not. You just have to pass this little safety test (so I don't get any spam) Hopefully this works! Let me know :) Vous me manquez ! I miss you all!

la fete des chandeliers

2009-02-04T10:15:00.003+01:00

Le lundi soir Charles n’était pas la – il est parti avec son école sur un jour de camping. C’était génial ! On peut discuter avec les adultes sans être interrompu. Veronique est vraiment fort : elle est psychologue, et elle voudrait dire ce qu’elle pense tout le temps. Moi, je ne trouve pas ça vraiment moche : elle pense que si tu restes silents tu n’es pas ton vrai soi. Je ne sais pas si c’est vraiment correct en français mais…ok. Je t’ai dit que de temps en temps c’est la politesse qui peut vraiment m’arrêter de dire ce que je pense. Elle, elle n’avait pas un problème de dire que le pape est un Nazi ! Bien qu’il j’ai dit que je suis catholique. Hehe…les différences entres les cultures.

De plus, j’ai rencontré une jeune fille française hier soir qui aussi étudie la psychologie. Mais elle me demandait « est-ce que tu es Aixoise ? » le meilleur complément du monde. YAY !!!!

Monday night my host brother Charles wasn't here - he went on an educational camping trip with school. It was great! We could talk with the adults without his interruptions hehe. Veronique is very smart and strong-minded. She is a psychiatrist, and she says what she thinks all the time. I don't think that particular philosophy is very flattering; she thinks that if you are silent and don't speak your mind you are not being your true self. I told her that from time to time your manners may keep you from speaking your mind. She may take it a little too far because she tried to tell me that the pope was a Nazi in his youth...hint hint ***that is when you use your manners Veronique !

In other news I met a French girl last night after church (it was la fete de chandeliers last night, the 2nd of feb when everyone takes down their Xmas trees and eats crepes? No frenchie can really explain to me the significance of it). She gave me the BEST COMPLIMENT IN THE WORLD! She said "are you an Aixoise?" meaning do you live here in Aix? WOOO! It was loud so she couldn't really hear me speak my bad french but hey at least my outfits are working! a bientot....

Marseille (2)

2009-02-04T09:53:00.006+01:00

Marseille

2009-02-02T11:49:00.004+01:00

Le samedi j’ai renconté Nathalie à Aix ! ouai c’était vraiment bizarre de se voir ici ! Mais j’ai passé une très bonne journée avec elle et ses amis qui viennent d’Allemande. Le dimanche je suis allée à Marseille avec Emily, Cari, et Arielle ! J’aimais très bien Marseille ! Il y avait beaucoup du monde la, et c’était vraiment différent qu’Aix. C’etait vraiment une ville très grande, mais avec les gens gentils et la nourriture excellent. C’était beaucoup plus divers qu’ici. Aix semble quelquefois dans un autre univers, un univers de boots et café et l’élégance. J’ai vu plein de choses merveilleuses. Le Vieux Port était charmant, et L’Hôtel de Ville très jolie. On a visité aussi la Charité Musée, qui était un cadre pour les pauvres en 1674. Maintenant c’est un musée. J’ai beaucoup aimait aussi le Cathédrale de la Nouvelle Major. Ca, c’était mon favori parce que l’église était crée pour faire connaissance a la fait que Marseille reçoit des choses de la Moyen Orient. Alors, l’église a la décoration Byzantine. J’ai jamais vu une église chrétienne comme ça ! C’était génial.

On Sunday I went to Marseille with some of my friends in the program. I really loved the city! There are tons of diverse people here, and it was nice to get out of the bubble of sophistication and snootiness that is Aix. I saw tons of cool stuff in Marseille! We walked all around the old Port which was really charming. My favorite thing was la Cathédrale de la Nouvelle Major. The cathedral was created to represent the importance of Marseille as a port city. It therefore tried to incorporate art and architechture from the Middle East in a Christian church. It was so beautiful!

bon apetit

2009-02-02T11:42:00.001+01:00

Le vendredi, j’ai des cours qui commencent à 8h et finissent à 15h sans pause ! Alors après les cours j’étais vraiment fatiguée, et j’avais vraiment faim. Alors il y a une petite boulangerie qui s’appelle Paul très bon, et j’achetais un sandwich avec la tomate et la mozzarella. J’étais en train de rentrer le cours à mon école, mais j’avais tellement faim que j’ai mordu un petit morceau dans la rue. Un mec très beau m’a vu et il a dit « bon appétit mademoiselle ! » C’est bizarre, mais Vivienne me disait que c’est quel que chose que les gens disent aux étrangers quand même : le seul chose acceptable ! C’était vraiment un moment français.

On Friday I had class from 8-3 without a break. After class I was really tired and really hungry. I went to this really good chain bakery I love to get a yummy sandwich and I couldn't wait to get back to school to take a bite of it. This french guy saw me obviously drooling over my sandwich and he said "bon appetit mademoiselle!". Normally, I would be freaked out because you NEVER talk to strangers in France, not a hello on the street or anything. But one of my teachers told me that this was a normal thing to say when you see someone enjoying food! Strange huh? I really felt like a French person!

Santon

2009-02-02T11:34:00.002+01:00

On Wednesday we visited a Santon factory. A santonnier is a person who makes these little Santons, which are very characteristic of Provence. A Santon is a little figurine used for the creche, or the Nativity scene for Christmas. Provencals don't use just the baby and the stable and the wise men - they include the whole town in the image! One Santon that is famous is Le Coup de Mistral, which is an old Provencal man who is struggling to hold on to his hat and cloak while facing the terrible winds in Provence called the Mistral.

It was really cool to see how they make these figures - they are all handmade! It takes weeks to make even the smallest one.

lécole

2009-01-30T16:50:00.002+01:00

aujordhui était le fin de ma première semaine à lécole! cétait difficile mais amusant quand meme. je suivi deux cours d art: l art pendant la rennaisance et la photographie pendant les années 50. j ai aussi autres cours le litterature.

today is friday, which means ive been at school for a week! its difficult but fun at the same time. i take two art classes: photography during the 30s 40s and 50s and how it relates to litterature, and also french art during the rennaisance! these are my favorite classes.

photos de Luberon

2009-01-26T10:51:00.003+01:00

bilingue maintenant! I made my blog bilingual!!! First French, then English. These are pictures of Rousillon and Isle Sur la Sorgue that wouldn't fit on my last post. J'ai la chance, non?? Alors, je commence mon premier jour à l'ecole maintenant. Dites-moi bon chance! I'm so lucky aren't I? Today is my first day at school, wish me luck!

les villages de Luberon

2009-01-26T10:23:00.006+01:00

Ici, c'est Rousillon. Dans ce petit village progtegé (apres la destruction de la deuxieme guerre mondiale), on se trouve l'ochre. L'ochre fait la sable ce coulour rouge et orange. Tout les maisons sont ce coulour aussi, et c'est presque comme Sante Fe aux Etats-Unis.

The last photo is Rousillon. In this little protected village (it's been protected since the destruction done during World War Two) we find ochre. Ochre makes the sand this red/orange color. All of the houses are this color also, it's been described as like Sante Fe in the US.

Nous sommes montés en haut de la Fontaine de Vaucluse. Ici on est assis sur un vieux chateau de XII siecle, utilisant pendant la periode Roman. C'était tres belle!

We climbed to the top of this site at the Fontaine de Vaucluse. Here we are seated on top of an old chateau from the 7th century, used during the Roman period. It was beautiful up there!

On a vu beaucoup des kayakistes qui sont ici pour un competition. J'ai jamais vu ce sport en realité, juste sur la tele pour les Jeux Olympiques! C'était magnifique!

We saw a lot of kayakers who were there for a competition. I've never seen this sport in real life, just on T.V. for the Olympics! It was awesome!

C'est un petit village avec les petits fleuves qui s'appelle Isle sur la Sorgue, tres bien connu pour son grand marchés le dimanche. Les fleurs étaient belle, et la nourriture aussi. Tres populaires sont les olives, les tapenades, le pain, les fruits et legumes, les antiquités, et le savon. Les vendeurs sont tres gentils et m'ont donnée un gout de toutes les choses.

This was a village surrounded by rivers called Isle sur la Sorgue (Island over the Sorgue River) very well known for its sunday flea markets. Popular items are olives, spreads (like caviar or anchovy spread), bread, fruit and vegetables, antiques, and soap. The sales people were really nice and gave me a taste of everything! I even tried the anchovy tapenade, it was pretty good...very fishy. I tried olives over and over again but I still really don't like them!

je suis arrivée...

2009-01-24T00:01:00.003+01:00

ma soeur francais, Eva, et sa chien Ulman. Les enfants ont gagné dans un jeu qui s'appelle pentago. ouai c'est vrai :(
Un trompe d'oeil! Roi Louis XIV a resté ici, et il a aimé les murs. Alors, il a demandé à l'artiste d'assister à peindre les murs à Versaille.
Ma chambre!

je suis arrivée à Aix!!! C'est la plus belle ville que j'ai vue dans tout ma vie. La ville a pleine d'histoire: c'était une ville roman au debut. Je suis très content d'avoir choisi cette ville. Il y a beaucoup d'étudiants qui habite ici, presque 40.000. Chez moi, la maison est marveilleuse! La villa est tros grande, et la famille ont trois enfants. Manon, Charles, et Eva sont tres sympa. Ce soir pendant le diner, nous avons discuté de nos amoureux. Eva voudrait un homme assez intelligent et assez beau - elle est tres mignonne et sage pour son age! j'ai la chance d'habiter chez eux :)

mon semestre à Aix

2009-01-09T16:10:00.003+01:00

bonjour! c'est mon petit journal pour me souvenir tous mes experiences ce prochaine semestre :) j'ai haté de faire la conaissance de tous les autres étudiants americains, et ma famille francais aussi. je voudrais apprendre et améliorer ma francais...je ne parle pas bien en francais :(

j'ai beaucoup de chance pour avoir l'occasion de participer à ce programme. il y a beacoup de gens qui voudraient voyager en France mais n'ont pas de l'aide financier. je suis determinée de ne considére rien comme allant de soi.

alors, en fete c'est 11 jours avant que je parts pour le semestre...et j'ai beaucoup de choses à faire...a bientot ;)