Blog Abroad

Hey! I haven't talked to you all week. But I haven't heard from anybody either! If you're on my postcard list, keep an eye out this week! If you're not and you think you should be, you'll have to tell me. Last weekend as I said I visited the villages of Luberon (see encyclopedia). The trips are usually every other week, but we had another trip today to Arles (see encyclopedia). Arles is great, but I think I enjoyed the villages better. Although today we followed the path of Van Gogh and, as I am not interested in art or history, it was kind of blah. Beautiful, and the town is very large and full of things to see, but we didn't get to wander really. However, I learned that Arles, although not the oldest city in France (because we all know the oldest French city is....... ? ... OK... if you really can't guess, it's Marseille), has structures from the 12th century!

In other news, I learned that the restaurants don't throw their trash in dumpsters (or- as in Spain- in giant plastic bins on the sidewalk). The trash is underground in a sort of manhole-thing. I also learned that the French are very impatient and that they eat tomato soup cold and in the summer, but not hot. HOWEVER, the grocery store sells tomato soup (to be eaten hot) so I'm not sure how reliable that info is. Also French students take the equivalent of 24 credit hours per semester.

So what actually interests you after reading all of this is that this week to come, I start my volunteer work and my club. We've had two weeks of courses already and, yes, I'm feeling more at ease now as we are all getting to know each other. I have made plans with Camille, my first language partner, twice since the first time we talked and I still haven't seen her again. The second partner I received (Manon) invited myself and another student (Emma and I have the same language partner) to see a movie last Saturday evening, but she was sick so we didn't go. We're going instead tomorrow to lunch and then to see Into the Woods (words in French, music in English). Also last Sunday I spent the entire day with Catherine, who we all know is my host mother, going to the market, to her daughter-in-law's for lunch, and then to the Philharmonic Orchestra of Pays d'Aix. It was nice. Thursday night (I think...) I went to a cafe for students on the dark side of town and it was really great! They serve tea, hot cocoa and desserts, and they have game night one night, open mic night one night, and a sort of speed-friending another night. When I went with a small group of the Americans (the students at the AUCP) it was open mic night and it was really quite enjoyable, but I had to wait 40 minutes afterwards for a cab. I would have walked, but Catherine thinks I'll get murdered if I walk home alone in the dark (which is highly unlikely, btw. I feel very safe here).

My volunteer work is in a church. I think I'm assisting somebody as they do a Sunday-school after-school sort of thing, but I'm not really sure yet. And for my club, I chose a hiking club, but apparently they're OOBER serious and also really old, so I changed and I'm gonna take a Salsa class at the university across the street, which is equally as exciting.

For the week of winter break in February, Edison and I are going to Paris. It was way more expensive than it would have been if we had made arrangements earlier, but for certain reasons SOMEBODY thought it would be a good idea to wait (points agressively with eyes to the charming young man in Spain).

And that's all I've got for you. I'm gonna upload some pictures tonight, but I don't want to stay up too late as I have my rndv tomorrow at 11. which means I have to wake up at 9. Which is 3 your time. Fun.

A bien tot!