Week One
Tuesday
Yesterday, we had orientation. It was uneventful as we simply spent the day locating our school buildings, sitting through information sessions on various topics concerning life in France, and meeting other students. Today, we met at La Rotonde and from there we walked to Hotel de Roi Rene where we boarded buses bound for La Ciotat. We sat in the very front of the bus so as to see as much as we could during the trip. When we arrived in La Ciotat it was sunny and seemed warm but when we got off the bus there turned out to be a bitterly cold wind. We walked to the open-air market where we perused until we purchased two clementines, a baguette and some goat cheese, all from local vendors. Buying from a French speaking market was nerve-wracking for Jeff since he had never done that before and his French is not that good. He was surprised at how much French he did know and how he was able to get by with it. After going to the market we walked to a tiny pier with a small park on it and waited until the other students returned to get back on the bus. The buses then took us to a park where we were to have a picnic. The park was beautiful and had wonderful views of cliffs, the Mediterranean, French flora, and small villages. We ate the food we purchased at the market while watching waves break on the cliffs below. We finished our food and sat and chatted for a while before setting off and exploring the park. Carly took many pictures. From the park we got back on the bus and went to the historical Eden Theatre. At the Eden Theatre, the first movie theatre in the world, we watched three short films. The first films was on the history of the theatre, the second was on the history of the Lumiere brothers (who invented the first video camera), and the third was a group of films that had been shown when the theatre was first built. It was very interesting information but when coupled with a dark room, jet lag, and a long day, many of the students were finding it hard to keep their eyes open. We left the theatre and got back on the buses. The buses took us up a beautiful, winding road, that seemed much too small for buses. It showed us many inlet villages along the Mediterranean. We stopped at the top of an incredibly high cliff face where we stayed for just long enough to take pictures. At this point the sun had set and it took the warmth with it. We boarded the buses and got on the highway headed back to Aix-en-Provence. Carly was exhausted and put her head on Jeff's shoulder and promptly fell asleep. Jeff figured he would close his eyes for a bit as well. Next thing he knew, the buses were back in Aix-en-Provence and almost to the drop off point. We got off the bus and headed to our favorite cafe where we enjoyed warm drinks after having been out in the cold all day. Jeff walked Carly to her bus stop and then walked home. We both had dinner and went to bed soon afterwards.
Wednesday
We are both sick! Carly is more sick than Jeff. We ate lunch at a cute, little restaurant where we sat on a couch in the sun. Carly had soup de legumes and Jeff ate Barrata et legumes grilles. Jeff really enjoyed the cheese but didn't enjoy the vegetables because they were cold and had a spice on them that he didn't like. Afterwards, we walked back to the school at our sick, slow pace. We went to "La Cave", a student lounge in the basement of the Manning Building. Carly took a nap while Jeff worked on the blog and researched possible trip locations. At 5 PM we had our first class, Economic Globalization! After class we went to our favorite cafe and had tea. We walked to the bus stop where Carly's host mom, Amira, picked her up.
Thursday
Today was our first full day of classes! We both have very busy Tuesdays and Thursdays and have one class on Wednesday. Carly has no classes Monday or Friday and Jeff only has one class on Friday and none on Monday. We both had doctor's appointments today at 11:30. Carly was given medicine for the flu and Jeff was diagnosed with bronchitis and was prescribed an antibiotic. We went from there to get tea from our favorite cafe. We had our tea and then went home.
Friday
We met at a small Italian Brasserie for lunch. Carly had spaghetti with olive oil, basil and cheese and Jeff had a pizza de trois frommage with gorgonzola, goat cheese and mozzarella with fresh tomatoes. Jeff ate the whole pizza by himself! Jeff started to feel a bit better today but Carly was still having a hard time so we found a nice seat in the sun and relaxed for a while. It was incredibly windy and the wind was very cold so being outside for long was very unpleasant. Eventually we ended up back at our favorite cafe where we talked and had tea until Jeff walked Carly to her bus stop, got her on her bus, and walked home. We both ate dinner and went to bed.
Saturday
Today we both slept in! Then we met at Carly's bus stop. It was very warm and sunny today with almost no wind so we took advantage of the nice weather and walked around town. We had dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant right across the street from our favorite cafe. Carly had french onion soup (In France:)) and Jeff had lasagna mediterrano. The food was delicious! We walked around for a while more then headed home.
To see pictures from our adventures this week, follow this link:
http://imgur.com/a/RDfJY
That is all for this week,
Carly Ward & Jeff Popek
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