cars, cars, cars

Fiat: if I can't have a MINI for the rest of my life, I want you.

Milan is the capital of many, many Porsches, it made me happy. Here's a cute yellow one in the distance.

Need I explain further how adorable this car is?

MINI! As Pop said, if I need a family-sized car, the Mini hatchback would be a good option.

An old Fiat...Put Pop and I together, and we will find all the cool cars Italy has to offer!

food, food, food

My favorite capp, from The Break Cafe in Milan.

And to go along with it, a tuna salad, completed with the edible bowl in which it was served.

The Oil Shoppe: a basic sandwich shoppe, but soo a master at its art. In our 4 days in Florence, we ate lunch there 3 times. Wow. Below is the basic prosciutto, cheese, and arugula panini on whole wheat bread.

Bad boy, gelato! According to our friend Judy, if gelato is overflowing the top of its container, it's been commercially-made and therefore won't be as delicious as the homemade. Not sure how perfect this theory is, though, as virtually every gelateria seemed to have overflowing rainbows of flavors.

Vegetable focaccia bread

We craved, and we craved. A waffle sandwich with cookie gelato in the middle. I thought I'd wait until Brussels for an authentic Belgium waffle, but I couldn't resist! (I couldn't eat it all, that's saying something!)

At a local restaurant recommended to us, a delicious starter cheese, pear, and honey salad, which Ali and I shared/fought over,..sooo good!

One of my best salads of my life. Three key ingredients: thinly shaved beef, balsamic, and parmesan.

Two capps and two petites tartes. Cut it in two, share half with me!


An epically delicious dessert from an epic night. Rice ice cream with berries and whip. This puts Champps' messy sundae to shame (Billy's childhood favorite...what am I kidding, it was my favorite, too!)

the big food face off

Italia vs. France: Qui gagne?

As my most loyal readers know, I am a foodie in heaven over here in Europe. I am studying along the Mediterranean, in FRANCE, which is a double combination for food deliciousness. My travel buddies often noticed this week how I couldn't help but describe my meals as "beautiful," which is a natural instinct for me when I "mange" something so perfectly crafted that it should be evaluated on a scale of beauty.

I was fortunate enough to spend a week of my 10 day fall break in Milan and Florence with some of the coolest girls to ever set foot in the American Center, and even more lucky to have 28 hours with my Papa, who flew down to Florence for a short visit after doing business in London town. Not bad, eh?

Here's my full food report for the week:

Hotel Cadour in Milan has an amazing bread basket, and if you ask enough, the refill will keep getting bigger. Prime time for such dining luxuries: 10 pm on a Friday night, so you can watch the elegantly-courteous waiters start laying out the breakfast buffet for the next morning. Yay for 4 star hotels and their luxuries you can't help but love!

Cappucinos: Almost never are they bad, but in Italy they were impeccable. From the first one we had, on our shopping break Saturday in Milan, with a hand-crafted leave design in the foam, to the perfectly-creamy Sunday afternoon capp at the Break Cafe, I was not disappointed. In Aix, I've tried to stick to expressos because it's cheaper and more calorie-friendly, but there's just no way to resist an Italian coffee dream. Note: I did try a real Italian coffee but prefer the flavor of black coffee in the land of Frogs. Between the two countries, all coffee needs can be covered pretty darn well. :)

Pastries, breads, and sweets: I pick France. I was disappointed by the croissants in Italy after eating the flakiest, softest ones in the world for 2 months straight. The gelato in Italy was amazing, but I'd choose nutella crêpes over anything these days.

Dinners: Italy wins. Every meal we ate was a WOW, especially our dinner out with Poppa, where we all had our best meal of our life, without a doubt. It was so special being out with him and my new abroad friends, I literally could write an essay about the whole experience. I will, stay tuned for that soon! That meal & my time with my Pop deserves its own post. But, back to dinners overall, what I've decided is that the food in France will never disappoint, but I have not had the same WOW effect as easily (for a lower price, no less!) as I had in the multiple cities and restaurants in which we dined in Italia.

Not to pull a Switzerland on you, but honestly, I'd say it's a tie for which food country prevails. I like things about each country's cuisine, but am happy as ever to come back to the south of France to have the comfort of tomatoes and unbeatable bread products. Although, I'd be open to going back to confirm my verdict... :)

"that's so random"

Post title is in honor of Pete, I know how much you like when we say that. Why does that not translate to French?

Anyways, for all the other noteworthy things need to be said about Italy, I have this post.

-- The fake Duomo is not that cool.
-- I found comfort in the industrial feel to Milan. Maybe a cold, modern city reminded me of home..? Not sure if that's a good thing, but either way, the "high rises" in this fashion hub had a slight resemblance to the 'scrapers in Chi city.
-- I have passed 1K photos for the semester in France. Will I hit 2K by the end? We shall see...
-- I find comfort in the happiness I felt coming back to my host family's house. Home. I may only be here for 6 more weeks or so, but I definitely feel that this is home here, which is only a testament to my warm host family, not to knock on my AMAZING family back home!
-- I am so, so close to finishing The Book. SO GOOD. If you haven't read Steig Larsson's series, you are seriously missing out on a wild ride.
-- My blackberry has been only of my most valuable items with me in Europe. When our pay-as-you-go phones from France wouldn't work in Italy, it was great knowing that Ali and I had BBM to keep us in touch, in case we might end up on the opposite side of the shopping plazas. ;)
-- Italian men are slimy. No, European men, as a whole, can be very slimy. There are hunks all over, but I did not appreciate the eager Italian eyes that we on the prowl out in bars and clubs the past week. No, thank you.
-- What's with the French? Two discoveries I made this week was that the waitstaff and salespeople in restaurants and stores were much friendlier, and, to top it off, the prices for both were more reasonable! Horray for the 7 euro plate of food, WHY don't you exist in French restaurants?!
--It's a small, small world when you study abroad. Here's a recap on the people I met this week, just out and about in Italy: a girl from JMU (where my momma went to school!) studying in London, 2 UK guys teaching in Nice, a Midwestern guy also vacationing avec parentals, about 15 people with connections to Ali, and a Hungarian/Canadian girl finishing grad studies in Aix ! I love meeting other people who are in the same boat, it's cool to hear what everyone's doing as we 20-somethings take over Europe!

travel without the 'agent

Other thank my 36 hour trip to Paris, this was my first week-long vacation I had planned sans parental units. It was a big step to say that my girlfriends and I were able to successfully organize all the necessary details to have smooth sailing in Italy. With few hiccups and many smiles along the way, I think it's fair to say that we did a darn good job planning "Italia 2010."

To me, vacations and traveling are most profitable when you go to see the world, appreciate the culture and everyday things of another place, and when you don't forget to take care of yourself. Sleep, proper nutrition, happiness, and safety & security are the necessary components on any trip.

Traveling takes a lot of courage. You put yourself in new environments, leaving whatever comfort zone bubble to which you belong. If you're not careful, you can easily lose your balance from these 4 key categories, and that can really hamper a potentially successful trip. I'm proud of my friends and I: we managed to plan a vacation almost completely on our own, including transportation, hotels, meals, and daily activities.

It's hard to say exactly what is most beneficial about being abroad, but I'd argue that learning about yourself, in whatever many ways we each do as we journey along in a foreign space, is most beneficial. Arguably, the more you expose yourself to, whether that be different lifestyles or different cities, the more room you give yourself to grow.

Before going abroad, I expected the fall break to be a time where I'd see a dozen cities in 10 days. I know people doing that, or at least attempting to through many weekend trips and quick stops in major European cities. To me, having had the time to relax, live the Italian culture for a couple of days, and learn to take responsibility for my own well-being in a different foreign country, was a really great thing. I feel much more accomplished about myself, on a personal, you-can-do-it-girl!, sense than I had ever expected to feel after a week of "vacation from vacation," as Ali often says. Turns out our fall break was as educational as the hours I put in week in and week out. (That's not to say we don't learn from Jean Michel and his warp-speed lectures!)

Do I sound completely vain right now? I'm sorry. But if study abroad is supposed to be an experience, I can tell you that this is one of the most valuable parts of it.

inspiration à la ITALIENNE!!

HI!

I am back from ITALIA! I had an absolute ball & can't wait to share. Be prepared for MANY blog posts to follow. Until I write sometime tomorrow, I will be doing three things: sleeping, running, and most importantly, finishing "The Girl Who Played With Fire." There's under 75 pages left in this 724 (exact page count, of course) page FANTASTIC novel and I can't WAIT to see how it ends.

Talk to you soon!!

xoxoxox, c

song lyric of the day

"Let's go shopping, maybe then we'll go to a café"

–Estelle w/ Kanye West, from "American Boy"

Props to her for defining my life in Aix:)

Also have been listening to a lot of Regina Spektor, Eagles, Pretty Lights, Country, and some Francophone pop; hit me up with anything new I should be listening to, I'm always looking for more great music!

Ça veut dire quoi?

I could probably write a whole post of all the funny things that have happened in my life. "Ça veut dire quoi?" (what does that mean?) was the only latest funny French fumble we ran into over the weekend. Let's just say that old French men aren't up on their Lil' Jon lyrics (circa 2003 aka 8th grade) so this "mec's" furrowed brow at my friend's rapping was a simply classic moment we won't be forgetting soon. Also, anytime a sentence finishes with 'quoi,' i secretly laugh in my head. It just sounds funny! Another expression which Americans always know is 'je ne sais quoi,' which was used in some commercial back in the day & that Billy/my parents love to quote when we were little. Aw, memories!

Alix and my host mom were working together to go over her homework tonight as I got home. This girl is literally the funniest thing ever. While to a stranger it may seem like she's completely crazy and, frankly, very ungrateful to her mom helping her with homework, her random bursts of energy, to put it nicely, are just a part of her personality. And it's a good thing we all know it; it would be kind of ridiculous to believe that she actually is mad over one of the political points on her 'cahier' as she spits the correct answer back to her momma. Elizabeth is very patient & knows when to just roll her eyes because we both know how funny the girl is!

Wait, have I mentioned food yet? Oh, right, better get to that. I cracked this week. Don't worry, as Jamie says, it's a good food obsession I have. Have you guessed it yet, Liza? Yes, I got myself some Special K after nearly 2 months without it. WOW. How did I make it this long? It was soo delicious to have milk, SK (which is much more wheat-y here, different, but equally good), and yogurt (Liza, you guessed it-plain Activia, woo!) for lunch the past couple days, just to settle my craving. Otherwise, the French diet is definitely not treating me poorly–not that you would be worried. More food pictures to come later, but let's just say that I've had lots of salad, zucchini & courgettes for dinner at home, un crêpe au sucre, The Miami bagel, and lots of honey and lots of tea in the last couple days.

By the end of next week, I'll have been in Paris, Milan, Florence, and not to mention sunny Aix-en-Provence, wow. I am excited for our travels and to see some more Italian cities, but I'm even more excited to see my POPS! Let's get Firenze, people. Life is good.

xoxo, c

PARIS

PARIS! It was great! I loved it (again!) This time, I was there for an even shorter time than when I went with my lovely family & Nana in 2007, all because of the French greves, aka unnecessary strikes that clog up the whole world. Because it's Paris, I don't see it necessary to go on to complain, so just check out the photos to see how BEAUTIFUL it was there this Saturday!

First meal in Paris: Croque Madame! I've been searching for one for a while, so when I saw it on the café menu, I had to get it!

Notre Dame, we approached from the back, but I think it was prettier that way!

Locks along 'le pont' leading us to Notre Dame.

Laura & I in front of Notre Dame.

Le Louvre! J'avais hâte de le voir! (=I was excited to see it...I love the word 'hâte' en français!)

MUSEE D'ORSAY!!! This is literally MY favorite icon of Paris. I took maybe 10 ('interdit', oops) pictures of it. I was awestruck 3 years ago seeing the former train station, but this time was equally as special. I did not get to see my favorite Renoir painting as that section of D'Orsay was under construction, but luckily I found a little notebook with "Les Deux Filles Au Piano" on the cover!

Place Vendome, I believe...This picture may look boring at first, but just check out the sky. We got so lucky Saturday because it was originally supposed to rain, but surprisingly it was not that cold & it all just made for great pictures!

Laura, Ali, & I avec La Tour Eiffel, what's not to love?

Shopping girls do as shopping girls do. Don't worry though, we only strolled down, just stopping to get a little afternoon sweet at un boulangerie, which is always necessary. We continued walking until...

L'Arche de Triomphe! With the afternoon sun flowing in, it made for beautiful pictures of the iconic & historic landmark.


Paris is one of those cool places to go where you will enjoy yourself (probably) no matter what you do, even if you've seen it already, because everything is so impressive. But no matter what, there's always something that's going to want to bring you back. What would I like to go back for? Well, first of all, I wish, wish, wish I was able to see my friend from high school, Maggie, who was in the same museum as me Sunday morning just before my friends & I had to peel off to come back to Aix.

I'd also love to spend an afternoon in Montmartre again, without a schedule, because that area of Paris really mystifies me. We went to a delicious cheese-fondue dinner Saturday night up there, but it wasn't enough! It was delicious, though (duh). I also really would love to explore the Left Bank, as sometimes I wish to be a hipster and/or think of myself as artsy, and seeing or knowing the Left Bank is definitely a notch on the artsy-street-cred scale. I'll get there someday.

I'm also itchy to see modest Paris boutiques, because anything even near Champs-Elysées is out of my range in price & in extravagance-I love my clothes, but I'll say no to Louis V any day of the week.

There also is a place that was listed in my guide book (under the family fun section, please do go ahead & laugh at me!) called "Chicago Pie Factory" or something like that. Chicago in Paris...I'm in!

Paris 2010 was a succes, and I can't wait to continue seeing Europe this fall! :)

Also, please check out my other 3 blog posts I just posted, they were written before but I finished them up tonight!

Bisous,
c
xoxoxo

favorite aix spots.

Here's a photo essay of some of my favorite places in this city, but you'd have to see it to believe it!

La Cure Gourmande
A beautiful, beautiful candy store.
Note: photo from my first trip there, ie when it was still warm enough to just wear a tank top (tear!)


Joesph's
This is our bakery down the street, aka our exile when we have hunger (literal translation of "quand nous avons faim," it cracks us up more than it probably should).


Place des Prêcheurs (...Monsieur camion crêpe is in this picture!! Check out the white truck on the right side. I repeat: he's so awesome).


Belle Epoque
This is our velour-seated café where we drink sweet tea from a mason jar, just like Kellie Pickler sang. Except in France. It's really nice and apparently has a bumpin' night scene that I need to check out!


Place Richelme
Home to my daily marché stop, it's a huge open market (even in the cold) by morning, a beautiful café-filled plaza by day, and a great hang out place to watch the Marseille soccer club's game by night. I think it's one of the prettiest general areas in Aix.


Cours Mirabeau (bien sûr)
How could I not put the main drag on my list? I'll admit, every time I turn the corner past the 24 hour bakery toward the Cours, I get a little excited. Maybe I'll see someone I know! Maybe I'll see Blake Lively! Maybe I'll check out a new café! Typical day in the life right there.


Book in Bar
The closest thing to a coffeeshop in Aix, this is my home away from Barnes & Noble as I sit in this window sill often to do homework and sip some "British tea," which is much better than anything I have ever had–it's got caramel & vanilla flavors in it. YUM. Also, their coffee is 1.20 euro, cheapest around. It's a great place to be.

Other honorable mentions, but without photos:
O'Shannons
One of the two main Irish pubs in town, it's literally the center of the nightlife, where on any given night you go out, you'll likely see a fellow AUCPer or a Frenchman/woman you know, it's great! Fun place.
Place de Cardeurs
Right around the corner from Shannons is a beautiful new plaza full of restaurants that look more delicious than the next. Also, there's a great skyline view with tall & thin apartment buildings lining the south side of the plaza.
New Plaza with Zara, Sephora, La Cure Gourmande, ect
This place is beautiful! Very modern, with envy-worthy apartments above the shops. It's very different from the rest of Aix, which is home to older (but well-persevered) architecture.

"i wanna feel the sunshine..."

SUN! It still exists in Aix, even though it's been super cold here. I am in constant denial that it will be cold here and have attempted to continue wearing warm-weather clothing just to pretend winter isn't coming.

Here's some shots from Aix in the last couple weeks, food included.

Place de Prêcheurs, just behind this fountain hides the much abuzz Monsieur Camion Crêpe (at least on this blog).

A weekend breakfast a couple weeks, homework included.

The sky during a cloudy sunset, taken as I was walking up and over to Laura's for delicious raclette the other week.

And finally, the Grand Ecole (=translation, the most prestigious type of university in France) des Arts et Métiers (IE Engineering, ect) across the street from our program. Beautiful on a nice fall afternoon!

French Poetry

Hello, all!

Since it's been an action-filled week since I last posted, I figured a couple shorter posts would work well.

First, I would like to "publish," for the first time ever, my very own poetry. I'm no Shel Silverstein, but they're some "tasty" poems. I will write both the French and English for all yall anglophones. Just note, they sound way cooler in French and if spoken slowly, almost in an existential way, even though they actually are quite uplifting.

nutella,
sucre,
salé.
je
m'en
fous.

je
les
aime,
toutes.

"nutella,
sugar,
savoury.
all are
great
to me.

i
love
them
all. "

SEE?! So much cooler in French.

The others just aren't as good, but I will report back in when I come up with some other winners.

Tomorrow I am likely going to have my now weekly Tuesday savory crêpe for lunch. I've been cheating on Monsieur Camion-Crêpe, as I call him, but I don't even think he's parked his truck by lunchtime, so it's okay. Crêpes à Go-Go really is fantastic and super cheap, so I think it's totally excusable that I have a quest to try as many types as I can before Crêpes à Go-Go before the opportunity is really a gone-gone!

Stay tuned for the update on my weekend in PARIS!

Day & Night.

It's amazing what sort of transformation a city can take when the sun does down.

With that line being said, the DJ in me is coming up with a mile-long list of songs related to that. But for now, I just can't get Kid Cudi out of my head. He's been one of my favorites for a while (and "Memories" with David Guetta is really hot right now), so it's only appropriate that his breakout "Day and Night" is always ringing in my head.

In Aix, there's always something to do, virtually at any hour of the day. I found this out this weekend as I celebrated Meg's (one of my lovely roommates from Denison who is in an study abroad art program also in Aix) 21st birthday at the always-abuzz nightclub, Le Mistral (named after the notorious wind that comes at random during the fall). I was not shocked in the least to find out that our 20 euro cover charge got us one weak drink, and an exclusively Michael Jackson playlist, a nicely-kept club with untrashed walls (including one side of the club, with women's naked bodies painted across the length of the club, giving the impression that there was a strip joint through the mirror). Another shock was that the sticker price didn't help us find the men of our dreams, sigh. Just your average guys (and, frankly, quite below average guys...) were on the prowl at Mistral last night. I also met up with my French friend, Elodie, who's family is very close to my host family, so that was fun, too.


During the day, Aix is just of full of life. This week, I saw my first "manifestation," ie, a student protest that probably will have no end result on what they were protesting. When I walked to school on Tuesday morning, I noticed that a ton of people were standing along the sidewalk of one of the mainstreets, all watching these hooligan high schoolers keep their fire alight that they created in the middle of the heavily-travelled road that runs around Aix. If I were Amy Poehler or Seth Myers, this would be where I'd say, "Really, high schoolers? I mean, really?!" Pushing giant trash cans down the street into a fire (which inevitably rerouted all the buses and caused lots of commute problems) as a way to "protest" the retirement bill being debated in Paris? To me, as mild as it was with a bunch of people standing around watching some kids play around, it was just such a pointless (selfish?) thing to do, for what?, to hassle everyone trying to get to work. I don't see how a fire in the road is going to change Sarkozy's position on anything, but hey, I guess that's part of being French. I think the fact that they were all so much younger than me also made me mad: I would never think to do anything like that today, let alone as a puny high schooler!

What else have I been up to? It wasn't as an exciting week as others. My classes are all great, very interesting, not too demanding, except, wait, my Immigrant Identities class. It's safe to say it's more of a literature course than sociology, as listed on the syllabus. I'm normally pretty positive about my classes, but it's tough to be so when you've got 2 written assignments on top of a 300 page reading assignment (all in French). Ouch.

All of the reading & presentation prep-work for that class have kept me more than busy, but, exciting news, we had our first wine tasting course this week! It was so interesting! We tried four wines (2 white, 1 red, 1 rosé), and I think I've found my favorite wine in the world. It's called Beaumes de Vinise, Domaine Des Bernadins (2003). Besides it's beautiful amber color, it smelled and tasted of honey and was made from black grapes, even though it was a white wine–very cool. All the ones we tried were from Provence and ranged from 16 to 35 euros a bottle, which is not bad considering how excellent they were! I'm looking forward to learning more about wine-appreciate this week.



Food update, since my life is literally becoming a "photo food journal." Laura's host my kindly had 5 of us over for raclette, which is both the name of a cheese and a meal (with Swiss/Alps origins) where you heat the cheese in the middle of the table & serve it over a variety of accompaniments–potatoes, carrots, and Italian hams for us. The lovely night continued with a cheese platter and a delicious almond/chocolate cake. Friday night, we satisfied our Americana craving by going out for burgers (at a British joint called "Bulldog," actually) and then Haagen Daas on the Cours. My host mom has continued to serve amazing dishes; I have difficulty remembering all of their names, but they've all certainly been delicious!

I've got another busy week ahead & am going to Paris next weekend–YAY! I'll keep you posted on all the deliciousness I encounter:)

xoxo, c

Here is Sparta

Now, the pictures to go along with my previous post, enjoy!

In Arles, on the 'pain' diet. Two baguettes for 4 hungry girls.

AUCP-Aix students in front of the amphitheater in Arles–it was a climb to get up here, but the view was stunning! I have officially decided I am fascinated/obsessed with rooftops, they're so beautiful here!

In the (other) theater in Arles, surrounded by astounding history!

Beautiful flowers we found in a tucked-away garden, conveniently located next to the café where we'd dine on galettes (savory crêpes) and Nutella crêpes. This is becoming a theme within my food chronicles...

Arles is home to Van Gogh, so we were able to catch a glimpse at many of the places he painted, including this café, and, we believe he also painted the garden from which those flowers came.

Overlooking the Rhône, this divides the Provence/la Camargue regions, J'aime and I after a history-charged day (she was very pleased!)

On the way out of town, I stopped in here to hydrate, but I couldn't not take a picture of something I so knew would make my Pop jealous: these cookie treats are on my to-eat list!


And now, some pictures from the past couple weeks. They're not all from the same day, but they may as well, because they depict pretty much everything delicious I can eat in a single day.
Friday's breakfast in town. I have officially converted and enjoy a good coffee:)

My typical lunch (when I stop by the market in the morning): salad with olive oil & balsamic and grapes or prunes. Simple & satisfying.

It's 5 o'clock somewhere...is it that obvious how happy I am to have a crêpe in my hand?

It's great to be surprised when you least expect it. Here's the delicious quiche and salad from Woo Hoo last night.

And finally, a little bit of fashion.
The Aixoise look: balloon pants, soon to be seen in NYC (probably in 6-10 months, knowing us).