There is a McDonald's on my way to school, and I was craving some food I eat at home. So I went in there and bought the 20 pcs chicken nuggets that I always eat. You know, the ones that cost just over $5 in the US. Guess how much they were here. Almost 10 Euros. That's $11.13 in the US. I may be craving food from home, but I don't think I want to pay $11 every time.
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The first thing a person thinks about when they are on their way to school is "Did I forget my homework?" or "Do I have all of my supplies, like my calculator for math or my correct binder for the day?". Rarely is it "Did the bus drivers go on strike again?" It turns out that, in France, any group of people can strike at any time. I got an email this morning from Kristin, my CEA coordinator, that the buses are striking again and, to get to class on time, I need to use the bus before 9:30 am since the strike doesn't end until 3:30 pm. I woke up at 9:47, so I missed my 1 pm class. This was not what I was expecting.
We went to a vineyard after the trip through St. Tropez. They took us to Chateau Sainte Roseline, a winery on the way back to Antibes. They gave us a tour of the their wine-making process, but not before they showed us the local church of Sainte Roseline along with her mummy. Not kidding. There is a church with a 800 year old dead girl right next to the winery. The story was nice, but that was creepy. In the winery, we saw the fermentation room, the labeling room, and the big barrel room. They place seemed huge, even if walking it didn't take long. He told us how to make the wines. White wines have the grapes pressed softly and gently over and over again to get all the juices without destroying the quality. Red grapes are macerated and the juice is mixed with the skin until the juice is the desired shade of red or pink. Then the juice is placed in a giant container, where it ferments with yeast for ten days. The wine is then placed into barrels until it is ready to go out. After the tour, we did some wine tasting. It turns out that I can easily drink white wine, sip rose wine, and can't stand red wine. We all have our preferences. Of course, buying some wine came immediately after the tasting. I bought two white wine bottles, along with a wine stopper. Drink safely everyone!
Today, CEA offered a trip to St. Tropez, famous for the celebrities and some movies. It was a two hour bus ride, on which everyone slept through, and a twenty minute boat ride. I was in the back right next to the water, so I kept getting splashed and sprayed on by the make-shift waves the boat gave off. Once there, we took a small tour of the area. Beautiful sites and a free museum tour along with a flea market all within walking distance. Shopping was a must, as was eating since we left Antibes around 8:30, arrived in St. Tropez around 10:45, and we don't leave until 2:45. The part of the beach we went to did not look good for swimming, but I still stood in the water for a few minutes. Then we walked though the local museum, that was free for that day only to the surprise of our group coordinator. After that we had the local favorite desert, a tarte tropezian. We got on the bus and left around 3.
I went to class for the first time today. It turns out that the Bachelors' classrooms are in a separate building across the main street higher up on the hill. The building is two floors, but the first floor is actually the basement and the way into the building is on the second floor. I have three classes upstairs and one class down stairs. The campus is beautiful: hiding behind the trees and seems separated from the road going through the campus. I had to classes today: Advance French Language and Contemporary French Culture. Advance French had only 6 people in classes (total was 8) and, of course, no English allowed. We learned a lot of new words like jellyfish and flea market. In Contemporary French Culture, which had a lot more people, was funny as can be. We were talking about clichés and stereotypes and how some are true, but most are not. We got on a hilarious tangent about dating and cheating rules. The class was cracking up almost every time we talked. I'm going to look forward to these classes.
Today, my CEA group did a bus tour of Nice, a small village named Eze, and the tiny country of Monaco. We started at 9:00 am and didn't get back to the apartment until 6:00 pm. We started in Nice, where we walked in the old part of town and got some small snacks. There the leader of the tour told us about the origination of Nice (how it was once a Greek town) and all of the interesting spots and beautiful views. We went up the mountain side to get a spectacular view of the city and the water (Photo 1). Afterwards, we went to a local confectionary and learned about some chocolate and how they make candy. Of course, we bought some. Afterward, we left for Eze, a little village with a panoramic view on top of a hill. Everything was sloped and everyone's legs were burning after the climb through the fortress that it once was. The weird thing about this spot was that you had to pay to use the bathrooms (not kidding; it was 50 cents each time). After that, we went to Monaco, a principality the size of Central Park in New York City. We saw the palace (Photo 2) and walked along the alleys between the buildings to shop and get food. We even saw the changing of the imperial guards at the door of the palace. The guards must be use to it considering the size of the crowd watching from behind the ropes. We walked through the church and learned more about the royal family before we left for Monte Carlo (Photo 3). There, I gambled away 5 Euros ( I wanted to be able to say I gambled at a casino in Monte Carlo, if not the real one) and we all took pictures of the amazing places around us. At 5:00 the CEA coordinator walked 21 tired, aching kids back to the bus for the one hour ride home.
Last night, my flat-mates and I went to a little get-together at the boys' apartment. We noticed they had a small TV. After that apartment, we went to a near-by girls' apartment. They had an even bigger TV. Our apartment doesn't have any TV. We only have this little radio. I started to think about it and thought that a TV is not needed for us and it might be better that we don't have one at all. TV can be distracting and can take the watcher away from his or her homework when it is due sooner than he or she would like. TVs are very distracting to me because I get caught up in the movie or the show, so it would do me good to avoid television, especially when I could just watch youtube on my computer.
My four roommates and I decided to take a walk around the area for something to eat and just to get to know what's around us. We ate at this little sandwich shop: they got sandwiches and I bought a bowl of pineapples. The shop-owner was really helpful. He knew we spoke English, but he had us practice asking for food in French. So we got food and just walked around and, eventually, we got to the beach. We walked and talked and took pictures of the view and got lost. We walked in circles until we found the way back to town center. We did a little random shopping for food, shower stuff and wine. Then we got lost again trying to find our apartment. We finally found it and fought with the keys to get inside. Altogether, it was a fun adventure.
Yesterday, I jumped on three planes to get over to France. The first one was fine, but then my troubles began. The second flight was delayed for operational difficulties, so I didn't get on until 40 minutes after we were supposed to. On the second flight, the lady in front of me decided that her sleeping involved my head being squished. This plane also had the screens in front of each individual person that can play music, movies, and games. Mine decided it wanted to malfunction and stay playing only music, so I got no movies or games. The major problem the delay created was that my next flight was less than an hour after the expected arrival before the delay. The moment I got to Zurich, I ran to the next gate for the flight to Nice, only for them to tell me that if I get on the plane, my luggage wouldn't make it. Decisions. Decisions. Either get on the plane and fill out a missing luggage report or wait for the next plane and hope that a representative of my program is their waiting for me. I picked waiting for the next flight. So I got the new boarding pass that had the flight at 12:50 pm ( the first one was at 8:55 am) and tried to hook up to the Wi-Fi to contact the coordinator and my mom. COULDN'T CONNECT TO THE WI-FI! I was too exhausted to actually stress out, so I set my alarm and passed out instead. The third plane ride was a breeze, but I slept through that one with very little memory (over-stressed and complete exhaustion will do that to me). I arrived in Nice, France and I got my luggage. I couldn't contact the coordinator or anyone, but luckily, I saw a guy outside the baggage claim with a sign that is the program I'm with and he took me to the coordinator who took me to my apartment. It all worked out, but I still refuse to get on a plane until I go back to the United States.
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Nicole JohnsonI am a college student studying abroad in France. This is my journal of all that I see and experience on my journey. Archives
December 2015
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