Remember that time I told you I would try to blog every day?
I hate it when he doesn't do stuff... Yeah, that didn't really happen. So now I'm going to finally write an entry to let everybody know what the heck I've been doing in France since I got here a little over three weeks ago. This will be a lengthy tale of tales; so brew your coffee before getting started, put one of those puffy little back pillows behind you in your shabby little computer chair, kick your feet up, take off those worn-out leather loafers, and get ready to be mesmerized by my story from abroad.
I'm going to begin this chronicle with my arrival to my house-mother's home on Sunday, June 1st; which just so happens to be exactly eighteen days ago. Funny how the best of intentions to write in this blog can go awry when you get to a brand new country with a language that you barely speak and hundreds of new, awesome people to meet. That was me when I got to Aix-en-Provence, except that I was also jetlagged and exceptionally tired. When my house-mom picked me up from the airport, I think I spoke like three words of French on the 25 minute trip to her apartment from the Marseille airport. I knew the language well enough to converse, I suppose, but I was intimidated by my terrible accent and, frankly, I don't think that my school's classes really helped me that much with speaking.
When I did finally get to the apartment, I found out I was the first one to get there (because I knew I was going to have a housemate named Michael Alan, whom I briefly talked to on Facebook prior to my arrival in France) and had the choice between a twin-size, baby bed or a much more reasonable full-size, adult bed. I think you know which one I chose. First come, first served right?
I then unloaded my suitcase in a whirlwind of movement, frantic pacing, putting my stuff in designated locations, with a few interruptions of poorly worded french conversations with my house-mom, and then proceeded to pass out like a grizzly bear in the Kodiak winter on my new bed. I was supposed to go with my house-mom to pick up my housemate, but I absolutely slept through that alarm and about five others. I woke up exactly when he was arriving at our new French home, giving him the distinct pleasure of meeting me bleary-eyed and zombie-like almost immediately after arising from my coma.
To say that I was jet-lagged would probably be a little bit of an understatement. I was uber-super-heavy-duty-jet-lagged and I literally did nothing that day except sleep and recover from the lengthy trip to France from Austin. I think that I may have had dinner at some juncture that evening, but I can honestly say that I don't recall eating anything at all that first day. I'm quite confident that my roommate, Michael, thought I was going to be a homebody who didn't like to go out or do anything fun because I chose to not do anything my first night in France. I can't say that I blame him, but he may have been slightly mistaken. Just ever so slightly though.
One of the first people to talk to me, Paige. She gave me this look quite often... I'm going to begin this chronicle with my arrival to my house-mother's home on Sunday, June 1st; which just so happens to be exactly eighteen days ago. Funny how the best of intentions to write in this blog can go awry when you get to a brand new country with a language that you barely speak and hundreds of new, awesome people to meet. That was me when I got to Aix-en-Provence, except that I was also jetlagged and exceptionally tired. When my house-mom picked me up from the airport, I think I spoke like three words of French on the 25 minute trip to her apartment from the Marseille airport. I knew the language well enough to converse, I suppose, but I was intimidated by my terrible accent and, frankly, I don't think that my school's classes really helped me that much with speaking.
When I did finally get to the apartment, I found out I was the first one to get there (because I knew I was going to have a housemate named Michael Alan, whom I briefly talked to on Facebook prior to my arrival in France) and had the choice between a twin-size, baby bed or a much more reasonable full-size, adult bed. I think you know which one I chose. First come, first served right?
I then unloaded my suitcase in a whirlwind of movement, frantic pacing, putting my stuff in designated locations, with a few interruptions of poorly worded french conversations with my house-mom, and then proceeded to pass out like a grizzly bear in the Kodiak winter on my new bed. I was supposed to go with my house-mom to pick up my housemate, but I absolutely slept through that alarm and about five others. I woke up exactly when he was arriving at our new French home, giving him the distinct pleasure of meeting me bleary-eyed and zombie-like almost immediately after arising from my coma.
To say that I was jet-lagged would probably be a little bit of an understatement. I was uber-super-heavy-duty-jet-lagged and I literally did nothing that day except sleep and recover from the lengthy trip to France from Austin. I think that I may have had dinner at some juncture that evening, but I can honestly say that I don't recall eating anything at all that first day. I'm quite confident that my roommate, Michael, thought I was going to be a homebody who didn't like to go out or do anything fun because I chose to not do anything my first night in France. I can't say that I blame him, but he may have been slightly mistaken. Just ever so slightly though.
The following Sunday, IAU held an informal orientation at the main campus in the downtown (or in français, le centre-ville) area of Aix for all the students had arrived the day before. I, being a completely ignorant American who had never traveled outside of North America and Hawaii who could say like ten sentences in French, was offered a ride by my house-mother. I obviously accepted that offer, and she drove me to the area of Aix called The Rotunde and led me to the school. During the walk, I was immediately struck by the beauty of the city. The streets are narrow, full of various shops selling every good that you can think of; but it was the buildings that struck me. They are incredibly old. And beautiful in a way that only ancient things can be. It was really an eye-full just to take in the scene of the downtown area of Aix and appreciate it.
After traveling a little ways in to the city, we arrived at my new college. It is situated by a millennia old cathedral, down a little narrow street, and in a building that is almost as old as the cathedral itself. The building that IAU now fills was once a place where criminals were hung and tortured, a part of the church just up the rue, and also a halfway-house for reformed prostitutes. And that sort of history is typical here in the main cities of France and Europe. The countries here have ten times the history that America has, and many of European buildings here have weathered war, destruction, and many, many generations of man. It's a really illuminating place to dig for history.
Anyways, back to the orientation. I got there with my house-mom a bit on the early side and sat down next to myself for the first ten minutes. I had a very entertaining conversation with myself about all the cool things I wanted to see in Europe, how much money I was hoping to not spend (but still did), and all the cool people that I was hoping to meet while studying and while I was backpacking through Europe. While I was having this vibrant conversation with myself, I'm pretty sure I got some weird looks from the other early people. I kind of felt judged.
After this conversation, I decided I would start talking to some other people in the IAU program this summer and I met Tim while I was still sitting down. Turns out Tim is in one of my classes, Ethics of War and Peace, and I would be getting to know him much better later in the week. I also met a whole bunch of other people, predominantly girls because, hey, more girls want to go to France than guys. Why this is, I do not know, but it still suits me just fine. After talking to Kelsey, Paige, Tatiana, Katie, Kate, and everybody else, my house-mom interrupted me to tell me that she wanted to go home. If anybody knows anything about me, it's that I like to talk, and I felt like I had only been there for a hot second, so I begged, in the worst french ever, to stay for 10 mor minutes. This request was hesitantly granted, and I was happily allowed to talk to people for exactly 10 more minutes.
Hoodrat Friends! After traveling a little ways in to the city, we arrived at my new college. It is situated by a millennia old cathedral, down a little narrow street, and in a building that is almost as old as the cathedral itself. The building that IAU now fills was once a place where criminals were hung and tortured, a part of the church just up the rue, and also a halfway-house for reformed prostitutes. And that sort of history is typical here in the main cities of France and Europe. The countries here have ten times the history that America has, and many of European buildings here have weathered war, destruction, and many, many generations of man. It's a really illuminating place to dig for history.
Anyways, back to the orientation. I got there with my house-mom a bit on the early side and sat down next to myself for the first ten minutes. I had a very entertaining conversation with myself about all the cool things I wanted to see in Europe, how much money I was hoping to not spend (but still did), and all the cool people that I was hoping to meet while studying and while I was backpacking through Europe. While I was having this vibrant conversation with myself, I'm pretty sure I got some weird looks from the other early people. I kind of felt judged.
After this conversation, I decided I would start talking to some other people in the IAU program this summer and I met Tim while I was still sitting down. Turns out Tim is in one of my classes, Ethics of War and Peace, and I would be getting to know him much better later in the week. I also met a whole bunch of other people, predominantly girls because, hey, more girls want to go to France than guys. Why this is, I do not know, but it still suits me just fine. After talking to Kelsey, Paige, Tatiana, Katie, Kate, and everybody else, my house-mom interrupted me to tell me that she wanted to go home. If anybody knows anything about me, it's that I like to talk, and I felt like I had only been there for a hot second, so I begged, in the worst french ever, to stay for 10 mor minutes. This request was hesitantly granted, and I was happily allowed to talk to people for exactly 10 more minutes.
I went home after that, went to bed, and began Monday with orientation. I don't recall much about that day except that I was painfully bored and grew quite weary of listening to rules, regulations, how to get to school, stories of needing go to class, blah, blah, blah, blah. I did however get to talk to Paige and Kelsey a whole lot during orientation and we became fast friends in the world of summer abroad. (A hint- studying abroad in a relatively small group of students forces us to become friends extremely quickly. It also invites lots of drama. More on that later.)
Since I didn't write a blog post everyday as I had thought I could, I don't really remember that first week all that well. I made great friends with the people at IAU, and I went out almost every night. I know this is frowned upon by some of the more conservative members of the school, but I'm only here with these people for 6 weeks and I want to enjoy every single second that I can. This means that I stay in for about one night per week and the rest of the time I am with my friends. I've stayed ahead of my studies and have worked hard in my classes, but I also have enjoyed lots of wine and drinks with friends exploring Aix and getting to know the French people along the way. Wouldn't you want to live life to the fullest?
Anyways, time has literally flown by until the present time. We have TWO freaking weeks left in Aix, and I try not to think about it too much. Part of the fast-moving friendship part of studying abroad is that you also form really hard bonds with those that you fall in with. One of my best friends here, Paige, left last week and it was really quite a sting to my heart in many ways. Our friendship endured just a touch of turbulence while she was here, but I found out the last couple days that she was here just how awesome of a person that she really is. I got to hang out with her mom in Aix, the last Saturday that I saw her, and we just had a really awesome time. She had French class with me in the first three weeks, and I'm not sure that the second one can be the same without her. Even if it's not, I don't think it is the last time that I will see her or the rest of the unbelievable people here in Aix.
I'm going to make it a point to see these new friends of mine as often as I can. I think it would be awesome to plan a trip every so often so that we can all hang out, catch up, and maintain the bonds of friendship that we found in narrow streets of Aix-en-Provence.
Lastly, I have been to several places since my last post on this blog: specifically Ibiza and Barcelona. I also was a part of a huge musical festival in Aix called La Fete de la Musique. I think that this post is waxing on the lengthy side of things, so later this week I am going to post some flashbacks of these trips. Smaller posts encourage me to actually write something and also make it easier for you, my ever loyal fans, to read my posts. I will post oodles of pictures and hereby swear to post on each of these weekends before the next weekend arrives.
Ever your friend,
- JP
Since I didn't write a blog post everyday as I had thought I could, I don't really remember that first week all that well. I made great friends with the people at IAU, and I went out almost every night. I know this is frowned upon by some of the more conservative members of the school, but I'm only here with these people for 6 weeks and I want to enjoy every single second that I can. This means that I stay in for about one night per week and the rest of the time I am with my friends. I've stayed ahead of my studies and have worked hard in my classes, but I also have enjoyed lots of wine and drinks with friends exploring Aix and getting to know the French people along the way. Wouldn't you want to live life to the fullest?
Anyways, time has literally flown by until the present time. We have TWO freaking weeks left in Aix, and I try not to think about it too much. Part of the fast-moving friendship part of studying abroad is that you also form really hard bonds with those that you fall in with. One of my best friends here, Paige, left last week and it was really quite a sting to my heart in many ways. Our friendship endured just a touch of turbulence while she was here, but I found out the last couple days that she was here just how awesome of a person that she really is. I got to hang out with her mom in Aix, the last Saturday that I saw her, and we just had a really awesome time. She had French class with me in the first three weeks, and I'm not sure that the second one can be the same without her. Even if it's not, I don't think it is the last time that I will see her or the rest of the unbelievable people here in Aix.
I'm going to make it a point to see these new friends of mine as often as I can. I think it would be awesome to plan a trip every so often so that we can all hang out, catch up, and maintain the bonds of friendship that we found in narrow streets of Aix-en-Provence.
Lastly, I have been to several places since my last post on this blog: specifically Ibiza and Barcelona. I also was a part of a huge musical festival in Aix called La Fete de la Musique. I think that this post is waxing on the lengthy side of things, so later this week I am going to post some flashbacks of these trips. Smaller posts encourage me to actually write something and also make it easier for you, my ever loyal fans, to read my posts. I will post oodles of pictures and hereby swear to post on each of these weekends before the next weekend arrives.
Ever your friend,
- JP
When I look at my old pictures, all I can see is what I used to be but am no longer. I think: What I can see is what I am not.
- Aleksandar Hemon
Pictures coming here!