And then there were four

Robert arrived today, so there are four us here now--I don't think Kevin's around often enough to count. Thus far, we've only exchanged waves and "bonjours," but he seems nice.

I promise I am going to post about break soon, but I'm currently trying to decide which classes to take next semester, and it's taking a little longer than expected. Ever since I found out that the Women's and Gender Studies department cross-counts a lot of courses from other departments, including many that I have wanted to take anyway, I've been wondering if I should try to add another major or at least a minor in that since I will have completed most of my French and theatre majors by the time I get back, and I want to concentrate my left-over courses somehow...

It's just a thought. I've never taken any WGS courses, so it's possible I wouldn't like them, although I doubt it, and it's also possible that all my course catalogue scrutinizing is in vain because the scheduling might not work out. I've considered trying to pick up another language, but I wouldn't be able to finish a minor before graduating, so I don't know what to do. Suggestions are welcome (Dad, I am still leaving room for Econ 100).

anyway, if I am not helping Pélopidas with an exposition for the play from morning til night tomorrow--which I may be, aside from a break for class--I'll post pictures tomorrow. If not, this weekend for sure.

Marseille

Ok, back from break, and so much to write about, but first a little bit about the week before...

Last Tuesday Mme Hamouda took our class to Marseille (about a twenty-five minute bus ride away) to visit the Maghreb immigrant quarter. Marseille is kind of a grungy city as far as I can tell from my time there (and according to basically everyone I've ever talked to about it...), and there isn't much to see, but this part of it at least was interesting.
Our first stop was this stand Mme Hamouda must love because she made a beeline for it. I had one of these pancake-like things with vegetables. It was gigantic and weighed a ton. There were also meat pastries and potato cakes.
We went in a few shops that were full of spices and dried fruits, as well as incense to inspire just about everything--love, tranquillity, etc--which Mme Hamouda thought was hilarious. Every time she saw a new one, she'd call it out to us across the tiny store.
Honey straight from the comb! Apparently, we were allowed to taste everything right out of the bins, but I somehow missed that memo.
Fortunately, Mme Hamouda always bought something for us to try.
Here's a dried kumquat. I think that was the first time I've ever seen one. Definitely the first time I've ever eaten one. very citrus-y.
Totally out of place WWF towel hanging in the souk (marketplace)...
More spices...everything we've been reading always talks about the colors and the smells of the Maghreb countries as a huge part of the "myth of the Orient," so I think Mme Hamouda really wanted us to see that. Plus, she was able to do a lot of shopping over the course of the trip.
Then we walked around outside the marketplace for a while...Mme Hamouda showed us the former prostitutes' quarter, where her daughter lived briefly when the area opened up to immigrants, although she eventually moved because she felt too unsafe there at night. Since then, it's apparently progressed even more (here's a shot of one of several art galleries along the street--there I am in the reflection), although I think I'd still be uncomfortable living alone there.
So many posters plastered everywhere. I took a bunch of pictures since we have to turn in some sort of creative response about the visit. I'm considering doing a collage, but those often end up being frustrating for me because I'm too organized, so we'll see. If it turns out well, I'll post a picture of it.
Moving on to the Islamic book store, which had really pretty leather-bound books. There were also a lot of children's books and paperbacks with titles like "A Woman's Duties" and "Mixed Marriage," etc.
This unassuming tea shop is supposedly the most well-known in southern France for its Tunisian pastries
So, of course, we went, and Mme Hamouda bought an assortment for us to try. There were a few baklava-like ones and some that were similar to powdered doughnuts and others that were unlike anything else I've ever had.
Plus really delicious mint tea. I think this was my fourth, and not at all last, cup of the day since I was still sick then.

I had really wanted to visit Morocco or Tunisia while in France this semester, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen, so it was cool we at least got to do this, even though it's of course not the same. It was neat to see a distinctly different neighborhood within a city because you really can tell a difference as soon as you turn off one street and onto another.

On Wednesday, we went back to Marseille to get a medical exam that's a new requirement (they changed the law in June or July) for 3 month student visas. We were going as a group after class, but I had stupidly left my passport and papers at home because I thought we were leaving later. Long story, but basically, I had less than 30 minutes to run from the center back to Bellegarde (a fifteen minute walk each way) back to the bus stop, which is another ten or fifteen minutes from the center, in the pouring rain, wearing rainboots, of course, and I am not a runner, but I somehow managed to get there with time to spare. It was crazy enough that's it's still worth noting in my blog over a week later. When I showed up at the bus stop looking like a drowned rat, Mme Scott couldn't believe it and asked if that was my exercise for the month.

So then, we went to OFII (I don't remember exactly what this stands for), and considering how my doctor's visits usually go, this one was pretty uneventful, probably because there was no bloodwork. We got chest X-rays (they gave them to us to take home too, so I guess I've got that as a souvenir if it'll fit in my suitcase), and the gowns we had to wear were completely transparent. I asked Renaud if that was typical, and he said he'd never seen one like that before. Mme Scott told us to keep them so we can throw a party and wear them. She is so crazy.

Also, I didn't need the copy of my birth certificate translated into French that I had Dad overnight to me. The doctor just took my word for it that I'm up-to-date on all of my vaccines, and when he was supposed to be listening to my heartbeat, he just kept giving me advice about being an actress. The French are all about encouraging people to pursue their artistic dreams, at least, the French people I keep encountering. It's great.

Thursday was spent finishing my Contemporary France paper about marriage between French people and foreigners. Apparently, one in five marriages involves a foreigner! whoa. I guess Mom's concern that I'd fall in love with a Frenchman and never want to come home was justified, although this hasn't happened yet, if anyone was wondering.

I'll post about Vienna soon--currently working on internship paper which is due Tuesday, but it was a really good trip, and I've got some great pictures.

Heading out

Interning for a bit today before class and then taking a train to Paris tonight for a week and a half of travels. I'll update for this week and next when I get back to Aix October 31st!

Halfway point

Tonight we did have raclette for dinner, and since our friend Lindsay's birthday is tomorrow, Dani brought over balloons to decorate our entryway and gummy alligators so we could make her an ice cream cake of sorts. It was pretty great.

Midterms are looming this week, so I should be researching, but instead I'm complaining about my cold and reflecting. My ten-page paper about my internship got delayed until after break, so I can afford to slack a little bit. 6 weeks down and 8 to go, so not quite midway through the semester, but I think that after break everything really will seem to go by much faster. I keep wondering how I'm going to feel about going back to Vandy come December because some people are ready to get back already and others want to stay the rest of the year, even if they can't. In some ways, three and a half months seems too short, but I think it's going to be exactly what I needed. I feel like I was doing so many things--actually, most things--halfway last year, except I didn't really realize that until I was here, and even now I already feel much more ready to jump back into them and give it a better go. here's hoping. sorry for such a trippy post. blame it on the gummy alligators.

Tour du Monde

Since I promised to post a picture of Mme Scott's purple hair, here she is with several of my professors. Mme Hammouda (Maghreb), Maite (Conversation), and Mme Cros (Contemporary France). I got this picture from the Vanderbilt in France blog, which I've been meaning to link because people reading this who are considering going to V-i-F might want to check it out. There are pictures from a few of our soirées in the center on there as well as headshots of everyone in the program.
Last night, we had a Tour du Monde (around the world) party, where each auberge was a country that served its native food and beverages, and the party moved from one apartment to another throughout the night. Elyse and I, and our other roommate, Kevin (Renaud was in Marseille for a motocross show), chose France, so we had bread and cheese, cookies, and an assortment of wine and champagne. Other countries represented were Mexico, Jamaica, Ireland, USA, and Russia.
There's Elyse setting up in our common room. We both wore black and she's sporting a beret. One girl's parents were here this weekend, and they came along for a few countries too. We don't do that many things with the entire group--the sorority girls and frat guy tend to hang out with each other, and the non-Greek people tend to hang out with each other, even though everyone gets along pretty well--so it was fun for us to all do something together. I didn't take any pictures, but lots of people did, so maybe I'll post a few later. Someone told Maite about the party on Friday, and she absolutely loved the idea. She told us to send her pictures so that she could put them on the blog, so you might even be able to see a few there...

Entre le Mistral

Le Mistral, the cold wind that blows down from the North, has arrived. Our afternoons are still sunny and warm, but mornings and nights here are pretty cold. The funny thing is that it happened so suddenly--Sunday was warm and Monday was freezing. A nice thing about the cold weather though is the change in food. Monday night I showed up late to dinner at the Daniels' because my class with Pélopidas lasts until 7:30--when dinner starts, and it's a twenty to twenty-five minute walk, although I was able to make it in about seventeen. Mme Daniel was serving raclette...which is basically cheese you melt yourself and pour over potatoes, and it's usually eaten with meat. I tried to explain this to Chloe, and she said it sounded disgusting, but it's actually delicious. There's a special device called an appareil à raclette, or just a raclette, and it has slots for each person's spatula of cheese, which you dump (I guess I could choose more appetizing diction...) on your potatoes after it's melted and bubbling. When we got home, I was telling Renaud about it, and he stopped me mid-sentence to lead me into the kitchen to show us a raclette sitting in a box on the shelf. It's hilarious because there are so few cooking utensils here, and Renaud always eats really basic food, but then he's got a raclette. We may do that for our next soirée.

The next night, we went back to the Daniel's for a soirée d'oenologie. I ended up not signing up for the wine-tasting class because I found out this outing was already included in our program fee, and I'm glad I didn't since most of what he told us was pretty basic. I'm sure the trip to vineyard would be cool, but it didn't seem the best way to spend 130 euro. It was half the V-i-F group, plus Mme Scott and her partner. It was fun--we had a rosé with the tapenade, a red wine with coq au vin, et then a rosé à boules (bubbles) with pears cooked in wine served with cream made with leaves from Mme Daniel's garden.

Monaco "mah-NAH-ko"

Yet another nice view of cliffs and the blue Mediterranean. Last Friday night, there was a soirée Maghreb at the center for the all of the students and their French roommates. The aunt of one of the tutrices (who's from Algeria) made tons of couscous, vegetables, and lamb for everyone, and the tutors set up the classroom like a dining room of sorts. No pictures of that, but worth noting, and then the next day, a few of us went to Monaco with the Office of Tourism. This is the first picture I took after getting off the bus.
It was really sunny--even warmer than it's been in Provence lately.
There were sea gulls seriously everywhere. I've never seen so many or been around ones that wanted to get so close to people.
Here's the Cathedral. We didn't get to see the inside because it had closed by the time we came back by to do that.
The Palace. I was really surprised by the simplicity of the architecture of many of the buildings, but especially of the palace. I wouldn't have expected that from Monaco. We got there in time to see the changing of the guard, and then we took a tour of the palace, which was small but had some impressive rooms. The audio-guide wasn't very informative; I think there's got to be more history, but sometimes it would just say what the main piece of furniture in a room was made of, and that was it. Weird, but like everything I've done, I'm glad to know that I've been.
Cool view, made even cooler by tiny Elyse in the corner. All of these next few pictures were taken along a path through the garden.
Say whatever you want about the architecture, the ports are impressive.
A view from the other side of the plaza area in front of the palace. Patrick pointed out to me that you can see the Grand Prix track down in the bottom left-hand corner.
Turrets of the palace on the left. City on the right
They really do love Princess Grace there; these commemorative posts are all over the city, detailing her life in Monaco. This one with a photo and date of her wedding is across the street from the cathedral.
Not only are there many live birds, but there are bird statues everywhere too. I liked this one's bottle-cap feathers.
le port, encore
Proof they do have statues of things besides birds. I guess this is the favorite one to rub for luck before stopping by the casino.
The only colorful bird, I think, and Lindsay.
Casino Monte-Carlo. There was much traffic (of incredibly expensive cars, of course, except I couldn't recognize any of them), so this is the best picture I got. You can't take pictures inside, but it was just as ornate as expected, all black and gold.
View from the casino steps. Between the five of us, we gambled 5 euro in a slot machine...and Claire won 1.20. She offered to split it five ways with us since we'd all chipped in, but in the end we'd decided it'd be cooler to keep the ticket rather than have 24 centimes each.
Last stop was the Café de Paris, the restaurant across the street from the casino that you're supposed to check out, where we got this berry pavlova sundae to share. Patrick and Claire

On the way back, we drove through Nice, along the Promenade des Anglais, the road right along the beach, and through Eze. I didn't realize that was on the way, so I was surprised to recognize the perfume factory, and the cafe where Evan and I went, although Eze is tiny, so being able to remember where things are is not really that crazy.