Last day

For better or worse, this is my last day. I fly home from Marseille tomorrow morning.

This blog's going to stay here, just kind of forgotten on the Internet, but I hope you all enjoyed reading.

The Château d'If, or, a fun day in France

Yesterday morning I went back to the bank to receive the money that remained in my account after closing it. I thought I had about €2 left, but they gave me €11.11! Better still, I got back my paper from France et l'Europe and saw I'd gotten an excellent grade.

In the afternoon, I went to Marseille with a friend where we took a boat toward the Frioul archipelago. It's a collection of five islands about three miles away from Marseille that wouldn't be interesting if it weren't for the Château d'If located on one of them.

Built in the 16th century to defend Marseille, the castle never really came under attack and was later converted to a prison. If became famous, of course, when Alexandre Dumas used it as the setting for The Count of Monte Cristo. Today there's plenty of historical learning to be had inside—the life of Dumas, the list of famous prisoners who were held in the prison, and so on. Among the prisoners was Henri Riqueti Mirabeau, the same Mirabeau for whom Aix's Cours Mirabeau is named. The prison also held many Huguenots, the French reformists from the wars of religion.

After taking the boat back to mainland France, we went to the Quarter du Panier, a neighborhood in Marseille marked as "old town" on the map. There we found narrow, winding streets that don't resemble the big-developed-city that is most of Marseille, as well as numerous winding stairways that cut between buildings to climb hills. We also found a café called "Wild Style" which uses a Starbucks-esque logo and also rents mopeds and sells moped parts.

In the evening Mme G and I went out to eat because she didn't want to cook and, before I leave, wanted to take me to her favorite restaurant in Aix. It's called Auberge d'Aillane and is run by two sisters who inherited the house and thus restaurant from their father. It was a really sympa restaurant and our food was delicious, too.

I had melon with ham as my entrée; it was half a juicy melon and thin, delicious strips of ham. My main course was duck with olives in a Provençal sauce and it was also fantastic. When she found out I was from the U.S., the waitress (one of the sisters) asked if I'd send her a postcard from Ann Arbor for her guestbook.

To top off that excellent day, Mme G gave me a book called "Recipes from Provence" that has literally every recipe ever cooked in Provence, including many favorite that she cooked for me. It was a fantastic day and made me realize how lucky I am to have spent six months traveling and living in the south of France. Today I started packing again, which is going to be a serious challenge—how did I ever fit all this stuff in my suitcase?

My last week in Aix

You may wonder what I've been doing with my last full week in Aix. Well, Monday I had class. Yesterday I closed my bank account and told the renter's insurance company when I'm leaving France. I also swam in a pool—two of the students here students live with a French woman who has a pool in her yard. Today I met with my Histoire de religion professor and got my grade for the class: 14, or the equivalent of an "A" at Michigan.

Because French painter Paul Cezanne spent almost all his life in Aix, the locals love everything related to him. Today I finally gave in to the pressure and learned all about Paul Cezanne. With some other students, I followed the so-called "footsteps of Cezanne", a self-guided walking tour. Little bronze plaques in the sidewalks guide you all over town, and a free map explains the various landmarks.

Frankly, many of the "landmarks" are uninteresting. For example, number 17 is the church where Cezanne's mother's funeral was held. Number 18, however, is an art museum from the late 19th century. Cezanne visited and said "I found it all terrible." All in all, the map counts 36 points, but we probably only saw 20 or so. One of the ones we missed is Cezanne's tomb, which supposedly has a fantastic view of his beloved Mont Sainte Victoire. But the cemetery is on the far side of Aix and it was incredibly warm today, so we skipped it.

Finally we headed to the north of Aix—in fact, towards the Oppidum d'Entremont—to Cezanne's workshop. In 1901, Cezanne bought 7000 square meters (some 75,000 square feet) of land on the Lauves hill. Among the olive trees, canal, and fig trees, he built a house that would serve as his workshop until Cezanne's death in 1906. Inside isn't huge and you can't take pictures, but it's the workshop where Cezanne painted Mont Sainte Victoire and his Les Baigneuses paintings. They still have the skulls, bowls, and statues he painted in his still lifes, as well as Cezanne's clothes and other belongings.

All in all, it was a really interesting day, although we ended up doing a serious amount of walking on an 86ºF day. Tomorrow I have my very last class here in France, then next Tuesday morning I leave for the U.S.!

Fancy French Dinner

I'd been planning to go to Paris this weekend, but ended up canceling my plans. That was a shame, but it did mean that I was here in Aix for our exchange program's year-end dinner. Because they didn't tell us about the date for this dinner until I'd already planned to go to Paris, I didn't think I'd get to go.

Anyway, on Thursday night all 40-or-so American students met at La Madeleine, a fancy restaurant near the court in Aix. The program paid, which was good because we ate well. My entrée was a pastry with melted goat's cheese and smoked ham inside. It was incredibly good. Next I had loup de mer, which despite meaning "wolf of the sea" turned out to be sea bass wrapped in a pastry with cheeses and salad. It was also fantastic. Finally, we had crème brulée, which wasn't really fantastic compared to the rest of the meal.

Still, it was a great evening and one of the last times our program will all be together; some students started leaving for the U.S. yesterday. As such, our three program directors gave little speeches about how much they'd enjoyed having us here despite the strikes, etc etc. They also asked if the students had anything to say, so must of us stood up and mentioned how much we'd learned, that we'd miss French food, or something similar. However, the last student to speak gave a long rant about all the problems our program directors had caused him, which ended with telling one, "You're useless... Just kidding."

Other than that moment of awkwardness, though, everything was great.

Only fifteen days left in France

Yes, just fifteen days before I leave France which means I am practically done with school—although if one more Michigan student tells me "Our semester ended in April!" I'll lose it.

Anyway, the last week hasn't been too interesting because most of it's been dedicated to studying. Wednesday I had class all day long. Thursday after class I planned to go and study at an outdoor café with a friend. By the time we got there, sat in the sun, and drank (expensive) cappuccinos, however, homework kind of got forgotten. Oops!

Saturday and Sunday I spent most of my time writing my the two final papers that I had left, one for Monday morning and the other for tomorrow. It was a beautiful weekend, though, so I did go out to lie around in Parc Jourdan and walk around Aix. There was an artisans exposition on the Cours Mirabeau, which meant scores of stalls selling belts, beads, books, furniture, lamps, all sorts of things that had been, apparently, handmade in the area.

Otherwise, school here is pretty much done. I have classes tomorrow, Friday, Monday, and then Thursday. Now all I have to do is wait until Michigan tells me how much transfer credit I'll get for all these French classes...

Back from England

Last night I got back from England, which was fun but hectic. I got a new suit and went to my cousin's wedding, all in a few short days. But it was sunny—record highs of around 23ºC on Sunday and I even got a little bit tanned!

Now I need to finish all my papers. After all, I only have three more weeks left here in France.

Going away, again

Tomorrow I'll leaving France once again on what will be the tenth plane I've taken this year. That's a lot of flying, and by now I think I could recite the "In the unlikely event of a loss of cabin pressure..." speech in my sleep.

See you next week.

Five months: Aix in the winter versus the summer

When I arrived in Aix, it was January 3 and the town was alittle bleak. After all, we even had snow a few days after my arrival! These days things look quite different, especially given that it's regularly over 85ºF during the day. Here's a quick before-and-after of a few parts of town.

Le Cours Mirabeau.

Parc Jourdan.




And of course, the university.

Finished with yet another class

Friday is technically the last day of Expression Ecrite, but as I won't be there, today was my last day in that class. Campbell and I gave our final presentation, on Le foot en France, which our professor seemed to like. I've now finished with two of my classes here in France.

Speaking of school, there was good news this weekend: many French universities decided to stop striking. Of course, six are still on strike, including La Fac in Aix. Among the problems for French students? Their student loans and scholarships might not be renewed for next year if they don't have finals this semester. If there are no finals, students might have to retake this schoolyear—Damien's girlfriend, for example, will probably have to spend an extra year at university because of the strike. Students can't apply for summer jobs or internships because they don't know when they'll be done with this semester. And foreign exchange students are in real trouble as they can't even book their plane tickets home.

The picture above is from La Fac. This is week sixteen of strikes, and the school is still under blocage—in essence, student unions pile up chairs and desks so that neither faculty nor students can enter the school.

A pool, some wine, and sunshine

One of the many downsides to the strike was that I didn't take classes with French students, and so don't know a huge number of young French people. Among the people I do know is Damien, a French student who lives the nearby village of Meyreuil. This weekend, he was having a barbecue and he'd invited me and some of the other American students.

We took a bus to Meyreuil, which is about half an hour from Aix. Meyreuil itself is a very small but pretty village that resembles suburban America: big houses with lush gardens. (Guess who forgot his camera?) Damien lives with his family, which means he lives in a large house with a big patio and, yes, a swimming pool. He asked that we took wine or pastis, and he'd cook.

There were about six French people, a German and a Hungarian (who were, improbably, a couple), and four Americans. The French kids all knew some English, but the German and Hungarian kids didn't know much French, so we kind of switched between French and English.

For lunch we had tabouleh and pasta salad, then the merguez sausages that are oh-so-popular in Marseille. Oh, and rosé wine and pastis. It was all really delicious and I met some really interesting new people there.

But here's the best part: the sun was shining, we had clear blue skies, and I got to go in the pool. And when I got home last night I saw I'd tanned... quite a lot. If this is la vie française, sign me up right away.

Today is the back-to-reality day: I did homework. It's been tough to focus, though, as it's swelteringly hot in the apartment and all around Aix. I'm writing at 7 p.m. and the outside temperature is 31ºC—which is almost 88ºF. Apparently, it's the beginnings of the cagnard—"a suffocating heat"—that pervades Provence from June to August. If only the Provençaux had air conditioning...

Using iTunes abroad

Back in the fall, my final paper for a communications class argued that DRM—digital rights management—technology wasn't a problematic way to restrict music and movie piracy. I said enforcing anti-piracy laws was a better strategy, and the paper got an A.

Being in France has further confirmed my belief. See, all DVDs are region-coded, which means if I buy DVDs here in France and ship them back en masse to the U.S., they won't play. Region coding is ostensibly to prevent people from buying DVDs cheaply in one region and exporting them to another for profit.But it also means that if I wanted to rent a DVD here, I wouldn't be able to play it on my American laptop... "hacks" excluded.

Here's an oddity that really frustrates me. There's nothing to stop me going into a store today and buying a French CD—it'll work anywhere in the world in any CD player. Yet the iTunes store won't let me buy French music online. Many French songs aren't in the U.S. iTunes store, but because my iTunes account has an American credit card and billing address, I can't buy those tracks.

I understand there may be legal licensing issues at play, but given that I could buy the CD in person, how do the iTunes restrictions make sense?

One down...

Today my group and I gave our final presentation in France en Perspective. It was on nuclear energy in France and seemed to please our professor, Claude. This means FeP is essentially over: I'm going to go next week to listen to other presentations, and that's it. One class down, four to go. It's a shame, actually, because FeP is probably my favorite class here. Claude is funny and has an answer to all of our questions, and the class itself was really interesting without requiring too much work.

Otherwise not much news for you. The universities are still on strike here which poses yet another big problem: students who don't take exams this semester (ie. those at universities that are on strike) won't have passed this semester, and thus won't be eligible for the entirety of their scholarships in the fall semester.

Tomorrow the forecast high is 27ºC—a toasty 80ºF! I get to sleep in, too. Normally I have class at 9 a.m. on Wednesdays but, as was the case with a different class on Friday, my professor just won't be there tomorrow. I could learn to love the French school system...

Cannes you believe it?

I just couldn't avoid a title like that, I'm afraid. Anyway, Saturday was our trip to the Cannes film festival, and as promised, we got to see two different film screenings. The first was an Australian film, Three Blind Mice, about three soldiers about to be sent to Iraq. It was excellent, and if/when it comes out on DVD, I'd definitely recommend it. It's comedic, tragic, thought-provoking, and light-hearted all in one. The acting and writing was really fantastic.

After lunch we saw Ordinary People, which follows a young boy in the Serbian army. He has to take part in the killing of Croats during the war. But the film just wasn't very good: the lead actor showed little emotion, every shot lasted several minutes without any action, and it was just drawn-out and dull.

Afterwards we went to the center of Cannes where the bustle of the festival takes place. The port was filled with huge, expensive yachts, and people were crowding everywhere to stare at the red carpet. We eventually managed to push forward to only a few feet from the red carpet and its assorted camera crews, but I didn't see anybody famous. Some other students in our program saw Quentin Tarantino and Tara Reid, however.

Finally we had some time to walk around Cannes a little more and go to the beach. Cannes is a beautiful town and, judging by the yachts and Ferraris we saw, attracts lots of money during the film festival. Cannes is about two hours by bus from Aix, though, so we left at 8 a.m. and didn't return until almost 11 at night. But still, for the chance to see films at the Cannes festival, it was definitely worth it.

Rainy Friday

My class today is canceled because the professor went away for the weekend, and outside it's grey and raining, which seems like the perfect opportunity for a blog update.

This week I've really started to study—seriously! On Tuesday I have to give a presentation on nuclear power in France and on Wednesday I need to hand in an outline of my final paper on Jules Ferry. On June 3 my history of religion paper is due (10 pages on the Catholic League...), and five days later I'll turn in six pages on journalism in France. The Jules Ferry paper's due June 10, and on June 18 I'm finally done after a test in the history of the French language. Honestly, it won't be that bad.

Tomorrow we're going to Cannes for the famous film festival. As Cannes is far from Aix, we at 8 a.m. which means I may have to set my alarm as early as 7. However, we are seeing two film screenings and hopefully getting to climb the red carpet steps. The films are Three Blind Mice directed by Matthew Newton and Vladimir Perisic's Ordinary People. And other than that, I know nothing about the films.

The latest news on the Fac is that university unions are still unhappy; they demonstrated in Paris the other day, although Sarkozy remains firm and says he won't change his mind.

Finally, two people know from the Michigan have also started travel-around-Europe blogs: Molly, who's hoping to visit ten different countries, and Patrick, who's doing something-or-other in Ireland.

Stuff French people like

Stuff French people like: nuclear power.
A 2001 Ipsos study found that nearly 70 percent of French citizens approve of nuclear power. Nuclear power, of course, generates about 80 percent of France's electricity.

Stuff French people dislike: Nicholas Sarkozy.
The French president's approval rating is now somewhere between 30 and 40 percent.

Studying. But not really.

Now that I'm back from break, I have to do a whole semester's-worth of work in one month. That's why I spent yesterday and today typing and reading online about French history.

But studying here isn't as easy as in Ann Arbor. In Aix, the library is closed on Mondays, so I couldn't get any books for my research. And even if it was open, there's no wifi at the library. Compared to the University of Michigan library, where I can get books almost any time of the week and research online, studying at the Bibliothèque Méjanes seems a bit... pointless.

Another scholarly problem: the French department at home announced a new class that I wanted to take this fall called Spoken French: The Artistic Challenge. It sounded really interesting, and among the requirements was, "Prior daily contact with one of the many varieties of spoken French is desirable"—something I am obviously doing now.

I couldn't sign up for it online, though, because I don't have enough French credits. I do, based on the classes I'm currently taking, but they won't appear on Michigan's computers until July or August. I emailed an advisor and managed to sign up for the class. Yet this just goes to show how different our schedule here in France is to that of Michigan. Michigan's last semester finished at the end of April and spring classes have already started; I only just learned the topics for my final papers and presentations.

One final note: last night for dinner we had mussels and snails, both in garlic butter. I'd had them both before and liked them, although after a whole meal the taste of garlic butter is a little overpower. Mme G told me she thinks trying French cuisine is an equally important part of studying abroad, and I agree—especially given how delicious it is!

Back to normal

Well, since getting back from Dakar it's been back to normal here in Aix: ie. going to classes again. I actually have a fair amount of work to do now as most of my classes are done by June 10, so I only have a few weeks in which to do, effectively, a semester's-worth of school work.

Oh, and La Fac? They and 19 other French universities are still on strike—which makes this the 14th week they've gone without classes.

For some reason Thursday there was an exposition des Ferraris on the Cours Mirabeau. And they had Ferraris of all types: new ones like the F430 and 612, as well as older F355s and Testarossas. It's hard to tell which there were more of: Ferraris or people staring and taking pictures.

Friday was a national holiday to commemorate the Allies liberating Provence from the Nazis in WWII, so there was no school and I went to the beach in Marseille. However, it wasn't really all that sunny so we left early and went to eat near the Vieux Port.

This morning I went to the markets which Mme G and we bought three intriguing items: more steaks de cheval (horse steaks), as well as saucissons d'ane and saucissons de sanglier—donkey and wild boar sausages. Believe it or not, all three are actually quite tasty.

I eat some strange things here in France!

Five days in Dakar: Part 2

The next day I was woken up at 5 a.m. by the call to prayer emanating from Dakar's mosque, not something we have in Aix. And then I was woken up again at 7 a.m. by the early sunrise. Once it was actually daytime, Alex and I went to the Ile de N'gor, a small island not far from the coast of Dakar. To get there, you take pirogues from the beach, which are boats only in the sense that they float. The bottom was filled with water and the boats aren't much more than elongated canoes that can hold far more people than you'd expect. If I recall correctly, it cost 500 CFA per person for the roundtrip. Which is $1.

The island is very, very pretty, with big houses that are presumably very expensive—people tell me that singers Akon and Peter Gabriel have, at separate times, lived on the island. On one side, you stand above huge cliffs facing the Atlantic Ocean, and it's really desolate; we saw a driftwood sculpture and a man fishing. On the other side, facing Dakar, are numerous beaches. They look like they came straight from a postcard for tropical island vacations, although there are few spots on sand left which haven't been commandeered by locals who want you to pay to sit on a mat. Yes, we swam in the ocean, although it was surprisingly cold.

Back in Dakar, I ate with Alex's host family, although due to a recent death in the family, her Momma Coura wasn't there. Instead, the maid Astou had made us thiéboudienne, which is kind of the national Senegalese dish. The word comes from Wolof, the local dialect, for "rice and fish", which is pretty accurate. Ours was rice with chunks of fish, chicken, and assorted vegetables. After, we had atthaya tea, which takes an unreasonably long time to make but is sweet, refreshing, and minty.

On Saturday, Alex and other American students from her dance class were to give a spectacle showing off all the African dances they'd learned through the semester. In the morning was the practice session, then in the evening was the actual performance. I won't embarass her with the video of the dance, but here are the djembe players who accompanied the dancing:

Saturday night we ate with Alex's host family again. This time I'm not sure what the meal was called, but it was millet with beef in some kind of sauce. As is proper, we sat on mats and ate with our right hand only. You're supposed to grab the meat in the sauce and sort of grab the millet all around it, so it all sticks together in a ball. I wasn't too successful and ended up dropping most of my food on the floor until Astou told Alex to get me a spoon.

Afterwards we went to Koulgraoul, a monthly dance party on the beach for students. It was absolutely packed even until the wee hours of the morning. To get there, we took a taxi. The driver stopped at least seven or eight times to ask directions from other taxi drivers, people on the street, etc. Apparently this is normal in Dakar. Traffic and taxis in Dakar is another post in itself.

Sunday was my last full day in Dakar and, after eating chocolate spread on a baguette with instant coffee and instant milk, we went to Oakum. Oakum is a little village outside of Dakar where two other University of Michigan students live. It really is a different planet than the United States or Europe. One of the girls lives in a house with 20 people. Chickens and foot-long lizards wander around. As they pointed out in the comments on my last post, toilets and sinks are just a dream. At the Oakum market, flies buzzed around raw meat and the whole place smelled absolutely disgusting. But rather than being a terrible experience, it was eye-opening and I'm glad I saw it.

In the evening we walked toward the coast. There wasn't the spectacular sunset over the Atlantic you'd expect; as the sun dips toward the horizon, it just kind of disappears into haze. We did, however, play on what Alex and her friends have named Bouncey-Doo. On cliffs overlooking the ocean are a set of trampolines. For just 500 CFA—$1—you get 15 minutes to bounce, leap, and spring all about. I don't know why, but it was fantastic fun. Also, I've never been on a trampoline so close to the ocean.

And that, sadly, was the end of my sejour in Senegal. I had to go to bed early and sleep so that I could get up early for my flight back Monday morning. I was only there for four full days after my flight was delayed, but it was truly unforgettable. The whole experience was eye opening and I am really, really glad I went.

Five days in Dakar: Part 1

As you could probably infer from the previous posts, I spent the last five days in Dakar, the capital and largest city of Senegal. I went to visit Alex, and I'm really glad I did: although it was the priciest trip I've taken while in France, it was certainly an unforgettable experience.

The excitement started on the way there. I flew with Royal Air Maroc from Marseille to Casablanca, where I'd change planes and head to Dakar. Royal Air Maroc's planes are interesting: written notices are in English and Arabic, while their announcements are in Arabic and French. I waited in Casablanca's Mohammed V airport for my connecting flight, and they didn't start boarding until very late. All the passengers were guided down some stairs to buses that would take us across the runway to the plane. But we waited and waited and waited without the buses going anywhere. After a while, a woman from the airline came and told us to go back into the terminal and wait. It turned out they didn't have a plane for us, so we waited an hour or so while Royal Air Maroc "found" a plane. As we got on to the new one, a French man in front of me asked, "What kind of plane is this?" "It's a 737-500," replied one of the airline workers. "Don't worry, it's a good one."

By the time I got to Dakar it was late so we didn't do anything other than find the university residence where I was staying and go to bed. The next morning, I woke with a start at 7 a.m. thinking I'd slept through my alarm because sunlight was streaming through the window. Senegal doesn't follow any kind of daylight savings time, so the sun rises much earlier than here in France. The room in the university residence was surprisingly roomy and comfortable, although the bathroom was a little primitive. The shower water was warm for almost two minutes. Breakfast was fried eggs and a baguette with cheese and butter. They also gave us boiling water in which to add instant coffee and instant milk.

Outside, it was seriously hot—as in over 80ºF hot. The sun isn't actually as bright as you'd expect in Dakar, because it's mitigated by a mixture of dust and pollution in the air, but the air was still extremely hot. I saw Alex's school, WARC, and got to pose next to a baobob tree like a true tourist. We also briefly saw the coastline as we tried to find the Mali embassy (Alex and a friend are planning to visit Mali once their classes are over), although the embassy was shut.
After lunch we went to the marché HLM, a market unlike any I've seen before. It stretches for the equivalent of four American city blocks and the stands are packed in tighter than the seats on RyanAir flights. It was loud, crowded, and offered all sorts. Alex bought some scarves and we tasted hibiscus juice, sold in little ziplock-style bags and incredibly refreshing in the afternoon heat. Prices at the market were, like most prices in Dakar, up for negotiation; Alex got her scarves for half the price the seller first suggested. As it was by now around 5 p.m., many of the vendors stepped out of their stands to lay down mats, wash their feet, and pray.

Next we went to the Place de l'Indépendance, in some way's Dakar's downtown with banks, shops, and other tall buildings. I don't have any photos because it was busy and we were already being hassled to buy phone cards, "Dior" sunglasses, "Gucci" clothes, and to give money to little children, so I decided against standing around taking pictures. Because it was so hot, we had ice cream from a place called Nice Cream—make up your own joke about that business name.

I'm still tired after all my traveling over the past two weeks, so that's as much as I'm going to write tonight. Check back tomorrow to read about the rest of my trip.

Live from Senegal

Well, here's a quick note from Dakar, Senegal. I arrived early Thursday morning after my flight from Casablanca to Dakar was delayed. Since then, I've done a lot: eaten traditional food and tea, swam in the Atlantic Ocean, visited an African market, and been asked to buy beads/give money/take a taxi more times than I can count.

So far, Dakar has been huge fun. It's a crazy, hot, dirty place, where everyone can instantly tell that I'm a foreigner... and hence asking me to buy everything in sight. At the same time, this is the strangest place I have ever visited: cars drive wherever they want, the sidewalks are just sand, and you really just drop your trash wherever you want.

I'll be back in France late Monday and have class on Tuesday; hopefully I'll be able to fill in more details then.

Trip to Spain

Last Thursday I went to Spain to visit a friend who's studying abroad in Granada. Getting there from Aix took some time: I flew to Madrid, then took a bus from Madrid to Granada. It was by far the cheapest option, but it meant it took me the whole day to get to Granada. By the time I arrived Thursday night, I ate with my friend's Spanish host family, which was interesting—I don't know Spanish and they don't speak English.

People had told me to do three things in Granada: eat churros, try tapas, and visit the Alhambra. Friday I crossed off the first two. Churros are a type fried pastry that curl into long, twisted shapes—imagine a sausage made of pastry, perhaps. The Spanish dip churros into a big bowl of melted chocolate and have them for breakfast. They're delicious, but probably very fattening. Tapas is a surprisingly straightforward idea: you eat at the same time as drinking. Basically, they'd bring us tinto (a mix of red wine and soda?) along with little snack that you pick off a list. You can have anything from potato wedges with sour cream to mini cheeseburgers or calamari. Tapas is apparently really popular all over Spain: you get to eat and drink at the same time. Young Spanish people apparently go to until midnight, and then go out to a discoteca until something like 4 a.m.
Granada's a really pretty city but looks totally different than anything I saw in France or Italy. It's at the same time a big city with wide streets and fancy stores, and a pretty town entrenched in years of history. There's a region called Barrio Albayzin which is an old Muslim quarter from before Granada was Spanish. Inside the Albayzin region we saw the Mirodor de San Nicolas. It's a high-up vantage point by the church of San Nicolas. From it, you can see the Sierra Nevada mountains, the Alhambra, and all of Granada. There were lots of people taking pictures from the mirodor, which makes sense: it was a fantastic view.
We also saw Granada's giant cathedral, although it's hard to really take it in because it's surrounded by other buildings on all sides. It's still large and imposing, though. Because it was incredibly sunny and very warm (as in 25ºC), we went to a big park to the south of the town called Parque Federico Garcia Lorca. It's named after a Spanish writer and poet from the early 20th century who was murdered in the 1930s. Today, his former house is at the center of the park. Interestingly, the flowers and trees in Granada were already in full bloom, but are only just starting to emerge here in Aix.
Sunday was the day we went to see the Alhambra, so obviously it rained. Built in the 14th century, the Alhambra's a giant collection of buildings perched atop a hill over Granada, and was once the residence of the Muslim rulers of the region. But what's most impressive is the attention to detail: inside almost every room, the stone walls and ceilings are carved with minute, intricate patterns. The buildings often face out onto courtyards, which typically have elaborate fountains. And here's an interesting fact: ground-level fountains were functional, for bathing or washing, whereas fountains elevated on a platform were purely for decoration. Overall, the Alhambra is a huge complex and truly beautiful. We didn't get to see all of it because some rooms were closed for renovations, plus it was raining and starting to get late, but I was really impressed by what we saw.

Outside the buildings are expansive gardens, which are almost-always arranged in geometric patterns. Many of the trees and plants in the gardens aren't actually native to Spain, but were instead gifts from foreign rulers who came to visit. For example, the gardens have both green and black bamboo. The green already grew in Spain, but the black was a gift from a Japanese ruler who visited the Alhambra.

I spent Monday taking the bus and plane back to France. Mme G has two guests staying all this week: the daughter of one of her best friends, and the daughter's boyfriend. They're 20 and 22 respectively, and it's been really interesting talking to them last night and this morning. Today I'm going to try to do some homework before I leave tomorrow morning for five days in Dakar. See you next week!

I spoke too soon

A few hours after I wrote about having lovely sunny, 18ºC weather, a huge thunderstorm erupted and it rained heavily for a few hours. This was the view from the apartment balcony:

Marseille, again

Today I went to Marseille once again, though this time it wasn't so much fun.

Before I go to Senegal I need a yellow fever vaccine, and the only place in Aix that could give me one didn't have any appointments in time, so I had to go to Marseille. I took the bus from Aix, then took the Marseille metro to the tiny public vaccinations clinic. I waited a little while, got the injection, and came back to Aix.

I've been very lucky with the weather: at the weekend, in rained in Aix, but Amsterdam was sunny. Today and tomorrow the weather here is beautiful, but Thursday—when I leave for Spain—it should start raining again!

Weekend in Amsterdam

I spent the weekend in Amsterdam with some friends, and it's a truly beautiful city. We were lucky enough to have clear, sunny skies which made the town's abundant canals and trees look even prettier.

Everything in Amsterdam is notably clean and orderly, unlike dog-mess-littered France. For better or for worse, pretty much all Dutch people seem to speak almost-perfect English; the people working at our hostel almost sounded like native speakers.

My biggest observation, though, was the number of bicycles everywhere. At all times of the day, people navigate Amsterdam by bike—and never wearing helmets. Bikes are locked to anything stationary and some roads have six lanes, with individual lanes for bikes, cars, and trams. The town as a whole is very historic with all sorts of old buildings, churches, and narrow streets.

The Royal Palace in Amsterdam.

The "New Church"... which was built in the 15th century.

We went on a tour boat that wound through the canals which was really interesting. We saw, for example, an apartment building that's just 1.5 meters wide and the "Skinny Bridge" that isn't really all that skinny. I also learned that Amsterdam is home to 2500 house boats—people live on boats permanently moored in the canals. And let's not forget Sea Palace, which holds the dubious title of "largest floating Chinese restaurant in Europe." Who verified that and where the larger one outside of Europe is, I'll never know. The tour was in both Dutch and English, and I have to say, Dutch sounds very, very similar to English. Written Dutch seems especially similar: a sign saying "Deur ez defect" bore the English translation "Door is broken".
Amsterdam also has a cool science museum called Nemo, which caused obligatory "Finding Nemo" jokes. It's a giant building made to look like a ship within which you can play with science. It was really cool and was designed for people our age as well as children.

Another surprisingly interesting location was the Rembrandt Museum, a once formerly owned by painter Rembrandt until he defaulted on his payments. He's obviously celebrated for his paintings, but apparently was also a prolific etcher; the museum contained all sorts of line etchings by Rembrandt. One really cool exhibit: the same etching printed onto "European" and "Japanese" style paper gave completely different visual effects.

I really liked Amsterdam and had a good time, although a weekend was probably plenty of time there. I now have a few days here in Aix before I go to Spain on Thursday. I should probably start working on homework, actually, because I'll have a lot of work due the week after our two-week vacation ends.

Before I go...

In a few hours I'm leaving to spend the weekend in Amsterdam. But before I leave, a quick note about the French language. They have a specific word for Internet users: internautes—like astronauts, for example. Seems like it'd be a useful word in English considering how many things I read with the unwieldy phrase "Internet users".

School's in session

I got my history test back yesterday and earned 13.5. The French grade out of 20 points, and anything above 14 or 15 is considered stellar; the University of Michigan translates 13s as "A-" grades and 14s as "A" grades. So I'm pretty content with my first real test in France.

Our homework for the next class is to list ten streets in Aix and the historical significance of their names, something I did out of curiosity the other week. Perhaps I can just print my blog for homework?

For France en Perspective we also have to write three pages on "the strengths and weaknesses of France." Our professor clarified that "wine and Carla Bruni" and "warfare and work ethic" aren't adequate responses, which I suppose is fair.

Last night for dinner we had rabbit. At the weekend there was apparently a huge sale on meat at the local supermarket, so Mme G bought rabbit, steak, chicken, pork, and more. Personally, I thought the rabbit tasted a lot like chicken.

Friday is the start of our two-week spring break here in Aix. I'm going to Amstedam next weekend, then Grenada, Spain the weekend after. For the final week in the break, I think I'm going to go to Dakar, Senegal. It makes for a pretty eclectic travel schedule that I'd better enjoy, because once I get back, it'll only be a few weeks before my final papers and presentations are due for classes.

Wet weekend, sunny Monday

We should've known better. The weather forecast for this weekend was rain, but I was skeptical: Friday's forecast called for rain, but there was none, so I hoped the weekend's forecast would be equally inaccurate.

Let's start at the beginning. Remember when I went to Arles and saw the bullfighting arena? Easter weekend was supposed to be a big celebration with numerous bullfights in Arles, so a few other students and I decided to go and watch. As with the trip to Marseille, we could use our Cartreize on the bus, meaning getting to Arles cost just €1 each way.

When I went before, it was a sleepy town of which I saw some ruins and the restaurant where I had lunch; our tour didn't allow enough time to see much else. On Saturday, however, Arles was transformed into a heaving city. Marching bands trumpeted in the little side streets, which were already packed with tourists from all parts of the world. Outside the arena were throngs of people standing in line to buy tickets and, eventually, watch the toreadors battle bulls. But, as you can see in the picture, the expectant crowds carried umbrellas; it was pouring with rain, just as the weathermen had forecasted. As such, la corrida that we had tickets for was postponed until Sunday at noon. Soaked and cold, we went back to Aix, hoping to return Sunday and finally see the taureaus.

I was quite optimistic when we got back to Arles and it was barely raining. Unfortunately, the event organizers decided the ground was too wet for a corrida and canceled it. Being Sunday in France, there wasn't another bus back to Aix until 5 p.m., so we saw some more of Arles and ate before returning from our wet weekend in Arles.

Monday, however, was a beautiful sunny day. To take advantage, we took the bus to Marseille—again, just €1. The beach was pretty far from where the bus from Aix dropped us off, so we then took a Marseille city bus from the Vieux Port all the way out to the Plages du Prado. The bus cost €1.70, but I noticed hardly anyone bought tickets; someone later told me not to bother because "they don't care" in Marseille. Not sure whether I'm brave enough to try that.

Either way, the beach was big and busy. It borders the Mediterranean Sea, and even though I didn't have a swimsuit, I waded in far enough to realize the sea is still freezing in April.

The beach is actually composed of tiny little pebbles instead of sand, but was still pretty comfortable. By the end of the afternoon it was absolutely packed with people swimming and sunbathing, and with due cause: it was warm! We had clear, blue skies and temperatures close to 70º.

We took the Metro back to the Vieux Port, rather than the bus, but ended getting there a little later than we meant to. As the next bus back to Aix didn't leave for another hour, we had ice cream by the bustling Vieux Port. All in all, not a bad way to spend Easter Monday.