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