And The Count Down Begins....

Only 6 more days here in France, and I'm not ready to go. If I could keeping doing this forever, I would, but I'm spending my last few days here wisely and trying to get the most out of it, while still keeping on top of final exam work. This past weekend I enjoyed a visit from some ill bros that are studying in Granada. They brought a lot to the table, but it's a fortunate thing that they did not study here with us, or we probably would've ended up in jail or stabbed to death by gypsies or a pikey by now. We spent a day in Cassis on the beach and hiked the colonques. The water there is so clear and absolutely beautiful, but our peaceful afternoon was so rudely interrupted by paps chasing Brad and Angelina around the city. Helicopters galore. It's truly nauseating the lives these guys lead. I have more respect for strippers than these people. It's a parasitic profession that has no redeeming value.
I leave Aix this Sunday for a last hurrah in Paris. I'm going to hit up things I was unable to see the last time we were there like Montmatre, le Sacre Coeur, the Picasso Museum, and due a little gift shopping for Mother's Day (I won't be with all boys this time, so maybe i can actually see the inside of a store!). It's been an awesome semester and even though I'm sad to go, I can wait to see all of you when I get back.

What we do..pretty much every day


The beach in Cassis

Les Colonques

Sardenga Spring Break

Last week was Spring Break for us here in France, and my lovely group of friends and I decided to explore the rural Italian island, Sardinia (or Sardenga). We took a 17 hour ferry from Marseille to Porto Torres, which wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, I only puked twice! We had little cabins with bunk beds, but I saw this backpacking couple sleeping under the stairs, and I think I could've totally saved on the ferry and slept under the stairs in steerage with the other low class folk. This is what I get for having Kate Winslet types booking my boat cabin. Have to have a bed to sleep in, pshh. If Titanic taught us anything, it was that steerage folk have more fun and like to dance on tables..well, and not to steer your ship into an iceberg...Anyways, we arrived in Porto Torres around noon, picked up our rental cars, and drove 2 hrs south to our lovely villa in Torre de Stelle, overlooking the most beautiful crystal clear waters the Mediterranean has to offer. Our very cute pool boy/landlord, Franchesco, met us at the house, and I'm sure was very surprised/shocked that he just rented his precious villa to nine 20 somethings. We assured him that we would keep it clean, and only throw the old furniture over the terrace. After this agreement, he left, and our party began. Our days consisted of eating delicious food, shumping on the beach, and eating gelato, and our nights consisted of wine consumption, rowdy games of charades, man hunt, and card games. The weather was absolutely beautiful every day, and since we were there during the off season, we pretty much had all the beaches to ourselves. It was an amazing spring break, and we were all sad when the week had ended and we were forced to get back on that god forsaken boat, but in the end it's always nice to return home.


The Sardinia Crew about to embark on our ferry journey (Marseille in the background)
From left to right: Lindsey, Andrew, Britney, Alex, Melissa, Peter, Trafton, Me, Nathalie


The view from our first floor terrace

Me kicking ass and taking names in charades

The girls being beautiful on the beach

Trafton and I debating whether to risk potential jelly stings by going into the water...he was stung shortly thereafter.
Me and the flavor of the week in our dope living room

Les mecs and moi , with lovely Sardenga in the background

Tuition

I've been discovered.....they want my money, an arm, a leg, and my first born :( :( :( :( :(

The Food Issue

This is the food issue of my blog (mainly for you Shannon, haha).
The food in France is, probably as you have suspected, amazing. Especially the bread, it's très delicious. My host mom is a fabulous cook, so we always have something yummy to eat for dinner, except Wednesdays....I don't know why we don't get fed on Wednesday, when every other family has chosen a weekend day to not feed their host kids, but whatever, my roommate and I have nice little dates on Wednesdays. Dinner typically starts of with a salad, or a homemade soup, then for the main course we have something different every time. We have yet to have had the same meal twice. My host mom makes a very delicious ratatouille. Then we have a cheese plate, i always try the cheese, but I don't eat much. However, I have found I really enjoy brie and chevre (a goats cheese), and maybe sometimes camembert. Then we finish dinner with a dessert. Either yogurt eaten in various ways or some sort of cake my mom has baked.
We have to find our own lunches, so I either get a sandwich from one of the many delicious sandwich shops in Aix (one of my favorite sandwiches is a mixte, which is just ham, cheese, and butter on a baguette, so simple, but so good), or pasta from this fresh pasta place across the street from my house. If we're going to be out and about and I need to pack a picnic lunch, I usually by a baguette and some brie, an apple, and maybe a pudding.
When I do eat dinner out I try to have something different every time. One of the best meals I've had in Aix though, was at this little restaurant called le petit verdot. There I had the best fois gras of my life and a lamb shank that was to die for. I've also eaten lots of delicious creme brulet! I dunno how the french don't get fat. There's lots of wine and carb intake, maybe it's because they walk 10 miles a day. I think I've even lost weight, it's a mystery to me. I'll try to remember to take picture of some food I eat and post it next time!

Today, at the end of March.....

IT SNOWED! And I thought we had freak weather in Texas. Seriously, in February it's crazy hot, and now, we're almost in April and it's snowing. My camera was dead, it was 7 in the morning, and I was très sleepy, so i didn't get a pic. BUT you can enjoy this hilARious picture of naughty peeps, hehe.

Le Luberon

Last weekend we went to this area of Provence called "Le Luberon". It's about 30 mins north of Aix and features your "typical" provençial sights. Lavender and sunflower fields (which are unfortunately not in bloom until the summer), medieval ruins, olive groves, and cute little cottages. A tasty little fact for you, John Malcovich lives in this area, and we actually drove right past his house.
I'm not sure if it was because I was tired, but this was sooooooooooo boring. I really was not enthused, however, we did go to this one super cool town, Roussillon, that had an ocher quarry, so all the houses were these beautiful reds, oranges, and yellows, très beaux. We hiked around in the deserted ocher quarry, and everyone's pants and shoes turned into a lovely shade of red dust. Afterwards, I had my first contact with dog poo on the street...OH NO! I've been doing so well, 2 months and i've been able to dodge every little pile on the street, but alas, as fate would have it, i stepped in a nice mushy dropping, yuck.
Unfortunately sailing has been canceled this week, waters are too choppy, so we'll see if there will be anything else in store. Right now Aix has turned into a cluster mess of American tourists, so I've been hiding inside. Looking out from the inside, there really is NOTHING more annoying than an American tourist, haha. They stick out like sore thumbs, with their silly t-shirts, crocs, and brightly colored jackets. I also know why the French would just rather you speak in English than attempt French. There was this young American man ahead of me in line at the sandwich shop today, and he was speaking the most god awful French I have ever heard, I wanted him to stop, and the poor sandwich lady was getting so frustrated with him. It's so funny how your perspective changes when you become a local. I can definitely see me having a little bit of a rough transition when I return to the States.


The Ol' Ocher Quarry
Old Clock Tower in Roussillon, featuring blue shutters

Skiing in the Alps

Yup, you can be jealous, we went skiing in the Alps on Sunday. It was a really sweet deal. For 40 euros, we got round trip bus transport, lift tickets for the day, and ski rental. However, it wasn't the best skiing i've done...a wee bit icy, which led to a few epic falls. (haha, the best one was when I think we went of trail...it wasn't marked very well, and the snow was rock hard, and i fell and slid down the hill, without my skis. Trafton went to retrieve my skis, and in the process, he too fell and took me out, for a second time, with him). Not used to the ice, but the silly east cost kids rocked the slopes because apparently that's all they have, gross icy slopes. I had no ski pants, so not only did I look like a redneck, my jeans were nice and damp by the end of the day. It was my friend Andrew's first time skiing, and I think he could've gone head to head with Brian as the worst skier ever. He managed to fall and fly up into the air while standing still, ski into the nets and get tangled up, and lose his skis a number of times. It was a good weekend activity. Lots of laughs, and lots of fun.

At least I wasn't the only one looking like a douche skiing in jeans....absolutely ridiculous


Donning my host mom's super cool ski jacket, brand NafNaf, it's top of the line..totally.
Also sporting gloves a man in the ski shop let me borrow. they were too big
so i wore my leather gloves underneath, which served duel purpose as a germ blocker