Another day in paradise

DAY ONE: ORIENTATION, MEXICAN FOOD, FRANGLAIS

it's nice not having any clouds, eh?


the petits roues au centre d'Aix


you can just see the history of the city in the buildings


a larger outdoor cafe somewhere among the small windy roads of the city's center


WOW I love this place!!

Day 1 of orientation was great! I was so happy to have met so many other nice students who are also in my program--there's 32 of us, 2 boys and 30 girls. Woa. Not surprising in the least, but the cute French boys will balance things out I think. Seriously. It's so interesting...they are attractive in a different way from Attractive American Guys. Yes, I did treat that as a proper noun, since it's not commonplace all the time, am I right girls? To any American Boys reading this, I don't mean to offend, but I'm surrounded by Europeans, what can I say? :)

Back to class. We learned all about phones, health, safety (which we don't have to worry about..don't worry, parentals, I'm very contentious despite the fact that there are no "bad areas" or places to not walk thru during night, and I'm lucky since I live so close and in a nice area). We got some time to mingle together and introduce ourselves over thé, café, et des biscuits on the terrace, which is located between the two gorgeous buildings. I'll take pics later. In addition to our program, the center is also used by local French students who come to learn English, Spanish, German, and Italian.

We had 2 hours for lunch at 12h30, which is when we were introduced to our french language partners, who we'll meet with one on one for the semester. This was the first major boy sighting. Most go to the engineering school across the street (how convenient) and were 22 years old. When they walked in the room, no one said anything, but you could so tell the girls were all suppressing their smiles as they looked over the attractive lot. Needless to say, lunch was fun. Their English is good, similar to our French I'd say, but I just love hearing the French speak (both languages), it's cute seeing how others attempt our challenging language. What ends up happening is that they want to practice English, ask us a question in our lang., then we respond in French.

Now, where do we go for lunch, a group of 4 French students and 10 Americans, a traditional cafe, you think? No. We go to the French equivalent of Chipotle. Evidence Below.

My first burrito was in France...funny how the world works, ya?

Later, we barely made it back on time since there were only two people working the shop when we put in our large order. Back at "The American Center," as it is known locally, the afternoon was filled with test taking for language evaluation and another exam for understanding our stance on cultural diversity. Sounds like something Pops may have had to do at work...?


Fun things I've noticed so far:

--Americanism. It's everywhere people, and it's so amusing. The music--Taio Cruz, "No Speak Americano" (aka GREAT dance song), Gaga, Katy Perry--you name it, the French are rockin' to it. My host mom has similar music taste to myself and my mom, too, as we were surfing YouTube together showing each other songs, ranging from Empire of the Sun (aka hipster group with an English name/played at Lolla, but are secretly French...) to ACDC-it was so fun. She broke out the dance moves yesterday with the other moms just like my mom would with her friends at the end of a party, it was really cute. And my host sisters were SO embarrassed, as any teenager would be when their parent's try to be cool, right? Haha.
--Cars. MY HOST FAM ALSO HAS A MINI!!!! Morgan gets to drive it, but since she hasn't had her license for 2 years, she has one of those magnetic bumper stickers on the back with an "A." I forget what it stands for. Also, as expected, every car is just as short as a Mini, except the giant Louisana pickup I saw today. Evidence below:



SO out of place, right? It made me laugh.

--Skype. It seems like this is the most solid piece of technology (along with my laptop) that I know I can count on. I've skype even more people since last posting--Lenaaaa (in Copenhagen!), Billy:) and Pops. I'm becoming quite a fan I must say.

Less than a week til classes start, but I'm more excited for them to start now to give myself a bigger purpose & because I'm going to be surrounded by great people!

Bon nuit tout le monde!

c