Blog
My second week of classes are finished and things are going pretty well so far. I found out on Wednesday that my Art History class will be taking us on a field trip to Paris in November for 5 days and 4 nights. We will be visiting museums in the mornings and afternoons and have the nights to ourselves. Everything is paid for except our lunches and our evening activities. I am so excited! Tickets to museums can be pretty costly so it’s great that we don’t have to pay or wait in line.
This week I discovered a few new bars and a couple new clubs. From Tuesday until Saturday the bars are always packed. We take Sunday and Monday to recover before we go at it again. ☺
Friday a couple friends and I went to the park that’s about a 15 minute walk from chez moi. It was great to finally have a place to sit and relax outside the city. The park is pretty big, there is a pond and a lot of trees and open spaces for people to play badmitton and football (soccer). We spent a good four hours there hanging out with my friend’s dog. His name is Apache and he is being trained to be a seeing eye dog. He’s very well behaved and sweet but he ain’t nothin compared to that ole Murph. I’m headed off to the parc again this afternoon. I think I will be spending a lot of time there from now on.
Yesterday I went to Avignon with 5 other students from IAU. It was a cool old city. We went to the Palace of the Pope and I have never seen anything like it before! It was gigantic. It amazes me the skills and attention to detail people had 700 years ago. I can’t believe it. So we walked around in the Palace that is now a museum for a few hours and then headed over to the famous bridge Pont d’Avignon. We didn’t feel like paying to walk on a bridge that we could just as well see from the ground but it was cool to see. We walked around the city a bit more then headed back to Aix that evening for dinner and a few hours at the Hookah Bar. Over all it was a really great day. I am glad I chose Aix in the end, as I was debating between the two. Aix is a much younger crowd and a more happenin place it seemed.
This week I will probably be staying in and saving up for my upcoming weekend in…..PARIS!!!! Libby, Annabell are leaving Friday to meet up with Libby’s dad who is in France for the week for his job. MY FIRST TRIP TO PARISSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!! I can’t explain how pumped I am.
Also I got my ticket to travel over the ocean to England the second weekend in October to see Mr. Philpott. I’m pretty much broke now and will not be eating lunch from now on but oh well. It’s worth it. ☺
Hope everything is going good back in the states. Wishing you all well, especially the Good Twin who supports my need to party by petitioning my mother the Beautiful Twin ;) for more money. I however am not wishing good things for my mother’s first born because I just found out he doesn’t know how to spell my name. Last I checked I was a girl and thus the spelling is FrancEs, not I-s. Nana is gonna be really mad at you. ☺ Your garlic stuffed green olives are on the line here.
Love Y’All
Je t’aime Monsieur Murph!
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Unbelievable Sites
Feeling a bit tired today after a long weekend and a VERY long day of classes. First, last Thursday I went to Interville. Interville is a french television show that is broadcast all over the world but has not yet been picked up in America. There is a similar show in the US called Most Extreme Sports or something that is really hilarious. Anyway in Interville 4 countries (China, America, Russia and Kazakhstan) compete in a series of ridiculous games to win each episode. The people from the other countries were not joking though. A lot of them were celebrities in their countries. For example, one of the Russian women was a world champion boxer. They were freakin huge. Our team was a joke. ☺ Anyway the game is like Nickelodeon’s Global Guts for adults in stupid costumes. IT WAS AWESOME!!!! 2 girls from IAU and I went on a giant charter bus to Nice for the evening to shoot two episodes. Normally there should be 6-10 girls but the rest of the girls bailed for numerous reasons so Jaqueline, Tracy and I got to participate in nearly every game for both shows. Because there are so few guys at IAU the TV producers got French firefighters to act as the American men. They were hilarious and had the thickest accents, “GO TEAM USA GONNA WIN” and such.
So over the course of the evening I was dressed up as a frog, a bunny twice, an old school fisher-woman and a crocodile. I can’t even begin to explain the games but I am supposed to get a copy of the 2 shows we filmed and I can’t wait to show you all how ridiculous this was. For example, in the crocodile suit I was zipped up into this giant plastic ball that was aired up so I could stand up straight in it. I had to run in the ball about 50 yards up a ramp and into a pool where things got a little crazy. I basically rolled across this pool and back to the start of the race. It was so SO difficult. My croc head was about 2 feet long and I couldn’t see a thing, especially when I was trying to crawl on top of the water. One of the girls from Kazakhstan just gave up at the end of the pool. Her body just looked limp in this giant kangaroo costume. It was hilarious. So basically all these games are created so the competitors make asses of themselves which we were quite successful at.
We won the first episode and had to leave before the second was over so I don’t know if we won or not. The first time was a fluke so chances are we lost. We filmed for about 5 hours probably and got back to Aix at 3:15 in the morning. It’s a tough life being a star.
So Friday night after dinner (about 9 pm) I went to take a nap so I could go out later and I woke up to my surprise Saturday morning at 7. Interville really took it out of me. Luckily I woke up in plenty of time to meet up with IAU for our trip to Nice and Cannes.
We spent Saturday in Nice and it was breathtaking. We ate lunch in a café by the market and the waitor lied to us and told us the pizza were sized as personal pizzas. They were definetly not, as you can see from the picture. Then we went and bought wine and headed to the beach. Again the beach was rocks, not sand. Thanks to my amazing chacos (sandals) I had no trouble walking down to the water. When I went swimming in the ocean I realized there was a lot more than in the beaches I have visited in the states. This was awesome! I was able to stretch completely out and float on top of the water with absolutely no effort. And the coolest part was that when my ears were submerged I could hear the shifting of the rocks as the waves crashed the shores. This is one of the coolest things I have ever experienced. So simple.
We left Nice at about 5:30 and headed for our hostel in Cape d’Ail. We ate and then hoped on the bus to go to Monaco for a couple hours. We saw the prince’s palace and stopped at the Monte-Carlo Casino. I have never seen anything like it. The cars, the jewels, the clothes…these people were dripping with money. Libby, Dash and I went into one of the casinos and they ordered a drink. I passed because I am a smart girl. ☺ When the bill came it was 15 Euros for a Gin/Tonic and 17 Euros for a Jack/Coke. I am too smart for that. How ridiculous! I could have bought an entire bottle. Ha. Anyway then we went outside and checked out all the nice cars, with names I can barely say, much less spell. Then we sat at a bar outside and split a bottle of really good red wine then headed back to the hostel for the “discotheque”. HA! We got there and they had pushed the tables to the edges of the cafeteria and set up a disco ball and strobe light. So of course I danced the night away with the IAU students and a couple German guys that worked at the hostel.
Sunday we ate a small breakfast and headed to Cannes, which is also a pretty cool city though I like Nice better. There was a big boat show that day so I got to see Yatchs that were enormous! We only had a few hours there so we wandered around, ate lunch and found ourselves in Old Cannes. It was soooo beautiful. We wandered up cobblestone streets and found a huge church set up high on a hill (mountain to the Texans) that had such an amazing view of the whole city, all the way around. Unfortunately my camera had died and I only got one picture of the church but my friends got some so I will try and post those. After that we walked along the beach, ate ice cream then headed back home.
The weekend was completely amazing. Every morning I wake up and I can’t believe I am here. I wish y’all could be here too to experience all this with me.
This week I am going to be pretty busy with school and planning a couple trips. I have yet to buy school supplies here because they are so different and it weirds me out. Why can’t I just buy a binder with dividers and pockets?!? And they don’t have regular notebook paper, it’s only graphing paper which is surprisingly difficult and confusing to write on. Ahh my life is so hard and filled with so much stress. ☺
I miss and love you all so much.
So over the course of the evening I was dressed up as a frog, a bunny twice, an old school fisher-woman and a crocodile. I can’t even begin to explain the games but I am supposed to get a copy of the 2 shows we filmed and I can’t wait to show you all how ridiculous this was. For example, in the crocodile suit I was zipped up into this giant plastic ball that was aired up so I could stand up straight in it. I had to run in the ball about 50 yards up a ramp and into a pool where things got a little crazy. I basically rolled across this pool and back to the start of the race. It was so SO difficult. My croc head was about 2 feet long and I couldn’t see a thing, especially when I was trying to crawl on top of the water. One of the girls from Kazakhstan just gave up at the end of the pool. Her body just looked limp in this giant kangaroo costume. It was hilarious. So basically all these games are created so the competitors make asses of themselves which we were quite successful at.
We won the first episode and had to leave before the second was over so I don’t know if we won or not. The first time was a fluke so chances are we lost. We filmed for about 5 hours probably and got back to Aix at 3:15 in the morning. It’s a tough life being a star.
So Friday night after dinner (about 9 pm) I went to take a nap so I could go out later and I woke up to my surprise Saturday morning at 7. Interville really took it out of me. Luckily I woke up in plenty of time to meet up with IAU for our trip to Nice and Cannes.
We spent Saturday in Nice and it was breathtaking. We ate lunch in a café by the market and the waitor lied to us and told us the pizza were sized as personal pizzas. They were definetly not, as you can see from the picture. Then we went and bought wine and headed to the beach. Again the beach was rocks, not sand. Thanks to my amazing chacos (sandals) I had no trouble walking down to the water. When I went swimming in the ocean I realized there was a lot more than in the beaches I have visited in the states. This was awesome! I was able to stretch completely out and float on top of the water with absolutely no effort. And the coolest part was that when my ears were submerged I could hear the shifting of the rocks as the waves crashed the shores. This is one of the coolest things I have ever experienced. So simple.
We left Nice at about 5:30 and headed for our hostel in Cape d’Ail. We ate and then hoped on the bus to go to Monaco for a couple hours. We saw the prince’s palace and stopped at the Monte-Carlo Casino. I have never seen anything like it. The cars, the jewels, the clothes…these people were dripping with money. Libby, Dash and I went into one of the casinos and they ordered a drink. I passed because I am a smart girl. ☺ When the bill came it was 15 Euros for a Gin/Tonic and 17 Euros for a Jack/Coke. I am too smart for that. How ridiculous! I could have bought an entire bottle. Ha. Anyway then we went outside and checked out all the nice cars, with names I can barely say, much less spell. Then we sat at a bar outside and split a bottle of really good red wine then headed back to the hostel for the “discotheque”. HA! We got there and they had pushed the tables to the edges of the cafeteria and set up a disco ball and strobe light. So of course I danced the night away with the IAU students and a couple German guys that worked at the hostel.
Sunday we ate a small breakfast and headed to Cannes, which is also a pretty cool city though I like Nice better. There was a big boat show that day so I got to see Yatchs that were enormous! We only had a few hours there so we wandered around, ate lunch and found ourselves in Old Cannes. It was soooo beautiful. We wandered up cobblestone streets and found a huge church set up high on a hill (mountain to the Texans) that had such an amazing view of the whole city, all the way around. Unfortunately my camera had died and I only got one picture of the church but my friends got some so I will try and post those. After that we walked along the beach, ate ice cream then headed back home.
The weekend was completely amazing. Every morning I wake up and I can’t believe I am here. I wish y’all could be here too to experience all this with me.
This week I am going to be pretty busy with school and planning a couple trips. I have yet to buy school supplies here because they are so different and it weirds me out. Why can’t I just buy a binder with dividers and pockets?!? And they don’t have regular notebook paper, it’s only graphing paper which is surprisingly difficult and confusing to write on. Ahh my life is so hard and filled with so much stress. ☺
I miss and love you all so much.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Or Say We're Only Dreaming
Well I have just finished my first week of classes and I had to write a freakin paper that was due today at five. Someone needs to tell these crazy professors that I did not come here to learn. :) So, my psych class is pretty cool. My first French Language class we went and sat at an outdoor cafe having coffee and such talking about Aix and the french culture so that was amazing. My French business class is ridiculously hard. One minute I look down to write down a vocab word like part time employment or something and I look up and she is talking about social security tax and it's all in French and very fast so I think I may shoot myself...or just fail. :) My french media class (also in french) is pretty sweet. It's really hard because he speaks so quickly but he's really cool and the subject matter is interesting. My other class is Art History and he seems cool as well. He tells a lot of really interesting stories about architecture and paintings.
I went to a bar the other night and watched a football (soccer) match with some people from IAU and another school in Aix. They had this giant flutes with a tap on them that you order instead of getting a pitcher. They are called giraffes and they are amazing. We need these in the states! Also tequila and all mexican beer is served with a lemon instead of a lime here which does nothing to help but it's just a little cultural knowledge nugget for you all.
Tomorrow I am headed off to Nice and Cannes, the coast, for a trip with the school. I am really excited it is supposed to be so beautiful! I will take lots of pictures for you!
Thanks Tree for your comment. I'm so glad you like it. My mom forwarded those pics of the boys, I love the one in front of the boat. It's my desktop now. :)
Love and Miss you all!
Bisous
I went to a bar the other night and watched a football (soccer) match with some people from IAU and another school in Aix. They had this giant flutes with a tap on them that you order instead of getting a pitcher. They are called giraffes and they are amazing. We need these in the states! Also tequila and all mexican beer is served with a lemon instead of a lime here which does nothing to help but it's just a little cultural knowledge nugget for you all.
Tomorrow I am headed off to Nice and Cannes, the coast, for a trip with the school. I am really excited it is supposed to be so beautiful! I will take lots of pictures for you!
Thanks Tree for your comment. I'm so glad you like it. My mom forwarded those pics of the boys, I love the one in front of the boat. It's my desktop now. :)
Love and Miss you all!
Bisous
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
No One to Tell Us No
My first day of class was today. I only had one but it was pretty cool. I changed my entire schedule so I could have Fridays off for traveling so now I am taking Psychology (today), Art History, French Language, Business French, and Contemporary French Media. Woo hooo.....
Psych was pretty cool. We will be learning a lot about infancy and how it effects you. I'm going to find out all the ways Mom messed me up as a child. :)
Last night my host family laughed at me becaues I used the dirty clothes hamper they put in my room as storage for my books. It looks like one of those boxes you set on the floor and put magazines in. They found it pretty funny...
Went out last night to meet with some kids from another school but it was lame so I sat down and got on the internet for a while. Once I decided to leave I ran into a couple girls from IAU and we walked around and ran into more students we knew. We sat down in an outdoor cafe and had some wine then walked around old Aix for a couple hours. It was the first time I had walked around at night so it was pretty cool. When we all decided to go home I found out one of the girls in the program lives in the apartments across the street from me so that's great, now I don't have to walk home alone when we go out! :)
Nothing really exciting. This fat old French woman was rude to me this morning because I couldn't figure out how to get into the currency exchange building. they have to buzz you into one door, then you close it and call for them to buzz you through the second. She was obviously much more intelligent than me because she was French and knew how to use this building. But for me to be here 3 days and that be the first time a French person was rude to me I think I am doing pretty well!
Like I said, nothing too exciting. Think I am off to Nice and Cannes this weekend!
Bisous!
Psych was pretty cool. We will be learning a lot about infancy and how it effects you. I'm going to find out all the ways Mom messed me up as a child. :)
Last night my host family laughed at me becaues I used the dirty clothes hamper they put in my room as storage for my books. It looks like one of those boxes you set on the floor and put magazines in. They found it pretty funny...
Went out last night to meet with some kids from another school but it was lame so I sat down and got on the internet for a while. Once I decided to leave I ran into a couple girls from IAU and we walked around and ran into more students we knew. We sat down in an outdoor cafe and had some wine then walked around old Aix for a couple hours. It was the first time I had walked around at night so it was pretty cool. When we all decided to go home I found out one of the girls in the program lives in the apartments across the street from me so that's great, now I don't have to walk home alone when we go out! :)
Nothing really exciting. This fat old French woman was rude to me this morning because I couldn't figure out how to get into the currency exchange building. they have to buzz you into one door, then you close it and call for them to buzz you through the second. She was obviously much more intelligent than me because she was French and knew how to use this building. But for me to be here 3 days and that be the first time a French person was rude to me I think I am doing pretty well!
Like I said, nothing too exciting. Think I am off to Nice and Cannes this weekend!
Bisous!
Monday, September 10, 2007
A New Fantastic Point of View
Bonjour tous le monde!!!
I have arrived in France and had orientation today. The home I am staying in is beautiful and Aix is a very cool old city. There are fountains everywhere, narrow streets, cathedrales, outdoor cafes and markets throughout the center of town. I live less than a mile from the school, which is in the center of town.
The weather here is perfect. Warm and sunny, not a cloud in the sky. Marie and Mariette, my hosts, invited me to join them at the beach yesterday. It's about 45 minutes from their home and it too is amazing. The water is crystal clear and very refreshing. i.e. freakin cold. :) I had my first experience with topless beaches and it took a little getting used to. Perhaps one day I'll have the nerve to try it, though I doubt it.
The food here is delicious. I haven't eaten McDonald's once! :) Fresh fruits and veggies with lots of fish. Yesterday I tried Tellen. I think it's some sort of mussel but since I never tried mussels in the US I could be wrong. Anyway they are tiny and came broken open and seasoned with something. They tasted just like chicken with ceasar dressing. YUMMMMMM.
I've had some interesting lessons already. I learned how to flush a french toilet and take a shower in a tub without a curtain. Not exactly easy yet but I'm slowly mastering it. There is so much to say but I have even more to do so I'm off now...
Hope you enjoy my pathetic attempt at blogging. :)
Au Revoir
I have arrived in France and had orientation today. The home I am staying in is beautiful and Aix is a very cool old city. There are fountains everywhere, narrow streets, cathedrales, outdoor cafes and markets throughout the center of town. I live less than a mile from the school, which is in the center of town.
The weather here is perfect. Warm and sunny, not a cloud in the sky. Marie and Mariette, my hosts, invited me to join them at the beach yesterday. It's about 45 minutes from their home and it too is amazing. The water is crystal clear and very refreshing. i.e. freakin cold. :) I had my first experience with topless beaches and it took a little getting used to. Perhaps one day I'll have the nerve to try it, though I doubt it.
The food here is delicious. I haven't eaten McDonald's once! :) Fresh fruits and veggies with lots of fish. Yesterday I tried Tellen. I think it's some sort of mussel but since I never tried mussels in the US I could be wrong. Anyway they are tiny and came broken open and seasoned with something. They tasted just like chicken with ceasar dressing. YUMMMMMM.
I've had some interesting lessons already. I learned how to flush a french toilet and take a shower in a tub without a curtain. Not exactly easy yet but I'm slowly mastering it. There is so much to say but I have even more to do so I'm off now...
Hope you enjoy my pathetic attempt at blogging. :)
Au Revoir
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