After the Arles visit, we went to this castle on a hill called Les Baux de Provence. The Castle had this explanation gizmo that tells you all about the castle and the different areas in the castle. I ignored it and just looked around. The view: TO DIE FOR! The stairs: KILLING ME! We saw vineyards and olive orchards, and the coordinator learned to never be surprised by Dylan, who does really crazy, dangerous stuff, like climb a wall of the Amphitheatre and sit on a ledge that had a killer drop. I bought a book, written in French, about women in the Middle Ages and some candy, which is starting to become a bad habit.
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We had to leave the bus stop at 7:30. We were on time, but dead tired. Two hours into the trip, we stopped at a rest stop for coffee and to use the restrooms. I had an apple tart; it was delicious. One hour later, we arrived at Arles in time for the big Saturday market. First we went to a near-by theatre and coliseum that were built in the Roman Era. Took a ton of pictures and made note of the location in reference to the positioning of the sun. After the walk, we went shopping at the market; I got a new shirt and some "nougatier" (nougat). On the bus we go and off to the next location.
We had a CEA excursion this past week-end. We had so much to do that we stayed overnight at this one hotel. For this blog, I will be doing multiple posts, one per place we were at with the corresponding pictures.
For those of you who have never been on a train, think of it this way. It's like a plane, only no seatbelts and no ladies telling you where the emergency exits are. There is also no lady coming down the aisle offering a beverage. I took a night train to Paris and here is what I documented.
October 1, 2015 8:27 pm I’m on a train. I can’t believe I’m on a train. I’ve never been on a train before, or at least not one I can remember. I’m on a train going to Paris; however, I’m taking the overnight train. A regular train will take only five hours to get from Antibes, where I’m staying, to Paris, where I want to go. I didn’t get to sit in the seat assigned to me because a lady with a lot of stuff and a dog took that seat and I’m not going to fight her for it. From the looks of it, people just choose their own seats instead of going for their assigned one. That works for me, but I don’t know if that is okay. I’m scared because of that; I don’t want to get in trouble. The way they number the seats confuse me. The train made a quick stop in Cannes. I wonder how many more stops are along the way. I hope not too much; the constant stop and go feeling will keep me up all night and I need my energy for my day in Paris. October 2, 2015 5:55 pm The train ride was interesting. They didn’t care where you sat, only the other riders cared, and they only checked to make sure you have a ticket for that train ride. The ride was dark and cold, which made me wish I had brought my sweater or a jacket. I tossed and turned a bit, going in and out of consciousness until dawn. I had enough rest to go through the day. I arrived at the station in Paris, walked across the Seine River to another station that had the metro. Bought a booklet of tickets and hopped on. I got off at a place called Les Halles. Turned out that it was an underground mall. Off course I was there too early since it was about 9:15 and the stores didn’t open until 10, so I went to the surface and walked a few blocks down to Le Louvre. I realized that my laptop case, which I brought to hold my laptop and a few extra things, was too big to allow me access to the museums, so I just walked around the exterior, which is art in itself. I walked along the courtyard and saw a lot of statues and another museum. I tried to go through the Place de la Concorde, but a job fair was going on, so I had to walk around it. Found Champs D’Élysées, and I walked down it. The first half looked like a park, but the second half had all the shops. I found this tourist shop and bought two items; one of which was a miniaturized Eiffel Tower, which I have yet to see, and a key chain of the Eiffel Tower. I got tired of all the walking around, so I found the metro again and went back to Les Halles. Did some shopping. New items are a $100 coat and a $12 top. Don’t I have expensive taste? Then I just went back to the train station. I do have A LOT of time to kill before my 9:22 pm train, but I am just too tired from all the walking around to do anything else just yet. I plan to come back again next month and hopefully there won’t be so much construction going on like it is now. All the building had construction going on. The underground mall has it bad. Next time, I’ll check out all the museums and walk inside the Notre Dame and try to walk up the Eiffel Tower. Wish me luck on that one. I ate at a little café at the train station about an hour and a half ago. The Panini was great (chicken and bacon, yum), the café au lait was delicious, and the tiramisu was divine. Now to charge my computer and my phone. October 3, 2015 9:00 am Seating doesn't matter. I got on the night train back to Antibes around 9:10 pm last night and there was a guy that was assigned to sit next to me. I found some open seats, open as in there were rows of two seats that didn't have anyone sitting in that particular space, so I moved into a seat with no neighbor. No one check or cared, so I sat there for the entire night. The way home was the same as the way to Paris. Lights off and everyone snores. By the way, someone explain this seating arrangement to me. Both numbers are in the exact same row of two seats right next to each other. 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.
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.
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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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