The last week at IAU was so bittersweet. I was sad things were coming to an end with my time here at IAU, and was also happy to see my family and other relatives at the end of the week for an extended vacation in another part of France!
On the Tuesday before finals, IAU put together a big picnic for all the students and their host family’s to come to as a wrap up for the term. It was a great opportunity to spend time with my host family, as well as see my friends and meet their host families. The whole group was set up under a large willow tree with different multi-colored picnic blankets and big picnic baskets for each family. My host family brought a bunch of different food to feast on, and even packed our favorite snack – paprika chips!
This is my professor's catchphrase On the day before finals, my portfolio was due for class. It was semi-stressful to print 18 images when four other people were in the same position. On top of that, our photography class’s printer happened to run out of ink. In fact, the ink that was low could not be bought in any of the stores in Aix. After much frustration, another printer that produced less quality images was used (lucky for me I actually woke up early for once and didn’t run into the ink problem!). That afternoon, all five of us ‘showed off’ our portfolios in front of the class and let our professor look over them one last time. It was very cool to see the patterns that some people had while shooting or editing. Some focused on architecture more as oppose to others that shot more flowers and people. And some edited their images with much definition and contrast while others kept the photos softer. I loved going through the images and seeing the progress that everyone made from our first assignment, Light, to our last assignment, Still Life. Everyone’s images turned out beautiful, despite the printer problem. As well as all the knowledge I learned from my class, I also now have a nice souvenir to take home and show to everyone!
In addition, my photography class was invited to the Atelier Marchutz School's art exhibition to show one of our favorite images from the course. So along with the painting students and sculpture students of IAU, us photography students were able to present our work too! It was a lot of fun to mingle and see the other students' incredible work!
By Friday, my family and extended family (grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins) had all arrived in Aix-en-Provence! My host family was so kind to invite my mom and brother over to eat lunch with us! I was so happy that my family had the opportunity to meet my new family that I’ve grown close with during the past three weeks. And for nine people at their house, there was definitely more than enough food! Both Catherine and Hervé are wonderful cooks! But, after the lunch was finished, Megan and I had to scoot to take our photography exam. It was refreshing to take an exam and actually know everything on it! I learned so much during these past three weeks, so the fourteen – yes fourteen – page exam was a breeze.
After the exam, my friends and I decided to make the most of this night because it was our last few hours together! Me and five other girls (Megan, Meghan, Cameron, Kayley, and Jenna) all dressed up and went to a nice outdoor restaurant for dinner. It was the perfect restaurant to relax and reminisce about the past weeks here in Aix. Afterwards we grabbed some gelato and headed to La Rotonde (the huge fountain in the center of Aix). Now, I heard through the grapevine that this was tradition, or maybe it’s just something crazy that us girls wanted to do, but we decided as our last night here in Aix to go all out and do something crazy! So what did we do? We jumped in La Rotonde! Fully clothed and fully illegal, we all splashed in without a care. I mean we’ve run into problems with the law once already, what were the odds it’d happen again?? By that time it was pretty late, so we all said our farewells and well wishes for the future. I’m so happy I met these lovely ladies and plan to keep in touch for a long time!
For the past week now, I’ve been on the western side of France. In the past few days I’ve been in caves, castles, and canoes - having my breath taken away by the views and the scenery. France is such a gorgeous country with so much here historically, culturally, educationally, and aesthetically. As my time here starts to wrap up, I wish nothing more but to visit again soon. I will definitely be bringing a lot back from France including friendships, cultural experiences, and extra pounds in my suitcase. This whole experience has definitely changed my perspective in life and hope to hold onto that for as long as I live.
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