Bienvenue a Bellegarde!

Here are a ton of pics of my place. It is really, really cool, and quelle surprise, it has wifi! woohoo

That first picture is the view from my window. The rest are pretty self-explanatory, I suppose. The backyard/garden is huge, and it has a pizza oven!










I took the bed by the front window since I figured it'd be noisier, and I can sleep through anything. We have three beds though, so if anyone wants to come visit...


Two French guys have been living here over the summer. One of them left us a note explaining some things and saying he'll be back in a few days. It's pretty silly, so I look forward to meeting him. I don't know where the other one is. There's also another American student, a guy, I think, although Renaud's note says "Hey Girls!!" Pretty sure it's a guy though, and he hasn't moved in yet. There are a couple of dumbbells lying in the backyard, and there's a pull-up bar in the kitchen doorway, so I guess they are into working out? They've also written "Mangez-moi! Mangez-moi!" (Eat me, Eat me!) on the fridge with dry erase marker.

This is apparently the biggest residence--not surprised because it's huge--and it's also the farthest, but still only a ten-minute walk.

Oh, my suitcase was wrapped in packing tape, although nothing seems to be missing/damaged. or scorched, Faith ;)

Elyse was getting in an hour or so after me, so she should be here soon. Guess I'll unpack a few things and take a shower before she arrives. Everyone's supposed to meet back at the V-i-F Center at 7 to go to dinner. Besides that, we are free to do whatever! Tomorrow is also a lot of free time and a tour around the city (post office, bus station, restaurants, etc), and then on Sunday we're going to Cassis, a village on the coast that's supposed to be beautiful. I will take some pictures

Flights...

Most people probably aren't interested in this post, but I feel like I should write it anyway, so--

With the exception of a huge fiasco trying to get my boarding pass in Frankfurt, the trip ran really smoothly. Had lots of down time in Philly (although not quite enough for Alok to visit me) to walk around, exchange money, discover this was the terminal Evan and I flew out of for Eurotrip 08 (I recognized the lego Liberty Bell), and eat the biggest scone I've ever seen.




The best part though was that on my overnight flight, I sat next to this friendly, little Indian boy named Amit who told me that he'd "been looking for a pen pal" and wondered if I was interested. Of course, I was. We swapped addresses, with a lot of help from his dad, even though Amit was nine and claims to have had a pen pal before....we'll see how this correspondence goes. His parents were really grateful I said yes, so I guess Amit has really been on the prowl.

There were a couple of V-i-F kids on my last flight, two of whom I've had classes with and one who I've never met. We all took a taxi from Marseille to the V-i-F center, which saved some $$ as well as trying to figure out the shuttle.

The Vanderbilt in France center is so nice! I'll take pictures of that eventually. I do have one of the outside with one of the "tutors" who helped me find my auberge...

I don't know why it keeps automatically putting the pictures at the top, but I'll leave it that way for now

Ready to go

Figured I should make sure everything's a-okay with my camera (and prove to my cousins that my blog exists), so here's a picture of all my stuff. really exciting.

I leave tomorrow at 10. Nashville-Philadelphia-Frankfurt-Marseille and then I'll take a shuttle to Aix. Should be pretty simple, I think?