It's strange to think about how it hasn't truly been a week since I've been in Aix. Tomorrow I will be boarding a bus to go to Nice and Monaco for the weekend and I am pretty excited. But before that happens, I figured a blog entry had to be written about all of these new experiences I had during this first week of classes. In true Justher fashion, I will outline these experiences with subheadings. Because subheadings are cool.
Anyway, as the Whovians (and the Francophones) say, "Allons-y!"
Anyway, as the Whovians (and the Francophones) say, "Allons-y!"
The Flight & Train Ride
20 hours of travel is just as bad as it sounds. From the Bay Area to Seattle, Seattle to Iceland, Iceland to Paris, then a train ride back to Aix? Yeah. My willingness to follow that itinerary (complete with a 55 minute layover in Iceland) probably says a lot about how much I enjoy saving money. Also: The TGV was a bit confusing at first but I'm very proud that I was able to manage it... it was a crazy time filled with two delays that somehow only made me arrive about an hour later.
Host Family
Perfect. I have a wonderful host mom, sister, dog, and cat. The meals are wonderful, too. I also really, really enjoy my room, the entire apartment, and getting to know French culture through a French household.
IAU Activities
There's so much to do! Today a group of us students participated in a scavenger hunt and kind of gave up midway (the gams they were a-aching), but it gave us a great chance to get to know some wonderful places in Aix.
Classes
My professors are fantastic. I have three French classes, an international relations course, and an education course. It might sound a little strange to a lot of people, but I'm just as excited to learn inside the classroom as I am to learn outside of it. So many learning opportunities!
Navigating
Aix-en-Provence is perfect for walking. During the two times I got rather lost, it wasn't hard to find my way back on the map - what was hard was finding a way to pull out my map without looking like a tourist.
I think that covers most of what happened this week. I got to meet some other great IAU students (quite a few who are bloggers, too!) so I'm excited to get to know everyone better. Fingers crossed I get to become friends with French people, too.
20 hours of travel is just as bad as it sounds. From the Bay Area to Seattle, Seattle to Iceland, Iceland to Paris, then a train ride back to Aix? Yeah. My willingness to follow that itinerary (complete with a 55 minute layover in Iceland) probably says a lot about how much I enjoy saving money. Also: The TGV was a bit confusing at first but I'm very proud that I was able to manage it... it was a crazy time filled with two delays that somehow only made me arrive about an hour later.
Host Family
Perfect. I have a wonderful host mom, sister, dog, and cat. The meals are wonderful, too. I also really, really enjoy my room, the entire apartment, and getting to know French culture through a French household.
IAU Activities
There's so much to do! Today a group of us students participated in a scavenger hunt and kind of gave up midway (the gams they were a-aching), but it gave us a great chance to get to know some wonderful places in Aix.
Classes
My professors are fantastic. I have three French classes, an international relations course, and an education course. It might sound a little strange to a lot of people, but I'm just as excited to learn inside the classroom as I am to learn outside of it. So many learning opportunities!
Navigating
Aix-en-Provence is perfect for walking. During the two times I got rather lost, it wasn't hard to find my way back on the map - what was hard was finding a way to pull out my map without looking like a tourist.
I think that covers most of what happened this week. I got to meet some other great IAU students (quite a few who are bloggers, too!) so I'm excited to get to know everyone better. Fingers crossed I get to become friends with French people, too.