week two in aix & SEWANEE GOES TO PARIS

The Seine River and The Catherdral Notre Dame

Hello again! 
This is my third entry of my blog since I have been living in France for three weeks. Thus far, my time spent in France has been spectacular. I have had so many memorable experiences ranging from traveling to Paris for the weekend, to people-watching with Kathleen on Cours Mirabeau in Aix-en-Provence. The past two weeks have been pretty interesting in our home-stay situation. When Kathleen and I returned from Nice and Cannes two weeks ago, our host mom was feeling under the weather. Since then, Danielle has been in the hospital for a little under two weeks, and we have been living in her home and receiving money for meals. Her daughter who is 30 years old has been checking up on us and doing our laundry (which has been a God-send.) Delphine, Danielle's daughter, does not speak any English, but explained to Kathleen and I that her mother has been tired, but her situation is not serious. "Ce n'est pas grave." This news kind of confused us, because in America, if you are "tired and under the weather," you generally do not go to the hospital for 2 weeks. However, today I spoke with our school director, and she explained that in the French health care system, if a patient is sick, the hospital wants to keep them on strict bed rest in the hospital until a full recovery. At first this news startled us, but on the positive side, now we are ten times more independent than three weeks ago. This past week (September 19-23), Kathleen and I tried a variety of different restaurants in Aix. It was really fun because Kathleen knows a lot about worldly cuisines, so I got to go along for the ride and try new foods I had never eaten before. We went to a Lebanese restaurant that had a very high rating on a French website. I had never eaten tabouli or the chicken dish we ordered, but I was very pleasantly surprised. When Kathleen and I walked up to the Lebanese restaurant, we were the first ones to sit down at 7:30pm which was slightly unexpected. However, by the end of the meal it appeared that Kathleen and I were quite the trendsetters, because the restaurant was packed by 9pm, when we left. Another night, we also went to a Mexican restaurant in the more ethnic quarter of Aix. It was funny because, I was not facing the street during our meal, and I told Kathleen when we got up, that I had forgotten that we were even in France. (haha) It is such a humorous yet pleasant surprise to forget, and then realize I am in this beautiful cultural country. 

Kathleen et Moi en Paris

Van Gogh, Midday Siesta 1889

My classes have been going very well. They are not as challenging as the classes I take in Sewanee, but that is to be expected. In my Advanced Grammar class we are reviewing a lot of the material from my 300 course with Professor Glacet in Sewanee. Last week we had to present articles that were popular on a French journalistic world website: TV5. Our group presented an article about the woman who was executed in Virginia. In my Art History class we have been reviewing the works by Jean Louis David and Goya. It is interesting how their artistic style is slightly different because of their viewpoints and focus in the political world. In my drawing and painting course we have moved from sketching to painting. Being that I have never taken an art class before, this transition has come with some difficulty. I never knew that mixing colors to copy another painting would be so difficult. The assignment is to paint a copy of a famous piece. I am currently painting a piece by Van Gogh titled: Midday Siesta which he adapted from an earlier Millet painting. I have been enjoying the class very much, but it is one of the more challenging courses I am taking. 

on the Seine River in Paris

This past weekend, September 24-26, Kathleen, David and I travelled to Paris to meet up with our friends from Sewanee who have been studying abroad there. We took a TGV train on Friday afternoon around 3pm. The train ride was very relaxing and took about 3 hours. It was enjoyable to see the green countryside, even though it was raining. We checked into our fair-priced hotel and were pleasantly surprised that even though it was a low price, it was very clean and in a good location. It was funny to see a room with three twin sized beds in a row. I do not think a room like that exists in America. It worked out really well though, and we were pretty happy with our decision. I was completely blown away by the architecture in Paris. It was the first thing I noticed when we arrived, and I could not stop marveling over the cast iron terraces and tall buildings. It was obvious that there was so much history behind all of the neighborhoods we visited. After walking around the area where our hotel was located, that night we met up with Oise and a few girls on her program for dinner. One of my close friends from high school, Bethy Munoz, was sitting at the table when we arrived. It is such a small world. I did not know she was going to be there. It was so nice to see a familiar face from home and to catch up with her. Later the group of us went to an Australian Bar called "Cafe Oz." Many people were speaking English, it probably had to do with the fact that it was an Australian spot. I liked having the chance to take a break from speaking French. The next morning we all woke up and went to Thomas' apartment to see what his home-stay was like. He lived in a very quaint section of Paris and had an amazing view of Parisian rooftops and flower boxes. For lunch we went to a sushi restaurant, where we all ordered entirely too many rolls. From the sushi restaurant we went to the famous Techno Parade that takes place in September every year. This parade was unlike anything I had ever been to. There were said to be about 500,000 people who attended. About 10 floats went down a very famous street in Paris and each were featuring different DJ's blasting techno. I would compare the Techno Parade to a mixture of Mardi Gras and the New York Marathon with music. Everyone was happy and dancing and there were just SO many people. Kathleen and I decided to wear clothes that we thought would be appropriate for a Techno Parade. I wore a hot pink tee-shirt, nike shorts and sneakers, and Kathleen wore a Piggly Wiggly tee-shirt, workout pants and sneakers. That was probably the worst decision I have made on this trip haha. People in France apparently do not wear work out shorts. Many people came up to me saying they liked them, but I think they had just never seen bright shorts before. All the attention began to get annoying, but it was not the end of the world. At the Techno Parade we were all just walking, and out of no where another friend from high school, Meghan Carey tapped me on the shoulder. I know I keep saying how small the world is, but I could not believe that in a 500,000 person parade that I would run into another friend from Summit. It was really nice to see her. People at the parade were dancing on surfaces that would be SO illegal in America. Tons of boys would be standing on top of bus stop covers and people were even sitting on  traffic lights. In America, that would get someone into quite a bit of trouble with the police. I guess in France, anything goes. 

TECHNO PARADE: dancers on the bus stop waiting place

500,000 people following the techno buses

a man sitting on a street light at the parade

 In front of la cathedrale de notre dame

Later we sat at a cafe located on the Seine River with a lovely view of Notre Dame. I was completely in love with all the architecture and buildings located in that area. It was beyond beautiful. I took probably 20 pictures of Notre Dame. Along the Seine River, I surprisingly reminded of New York City. There were many stands selling art work of the area, and it reminded of the art sales in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which was across the street from Marymount, the school I attended when I lived in New York City. I was weirdly taken back to a time when I would stare at all the sketches of New York while wearing my light blue Marymount jumper. I always loved that walk my babysitter, Glynis would take me on in front of the Met. Later, we met up with the boys from the European Studies trip, which is run through Sewanee. It was crazy to see all our guy friends while standing in front of the the Cathedrale de Notre Dame. We all met up to go out together later that night. I LOVED seeing all our girl friends from Sewanee. Seeing Page, Lauren and Margaret, Cecily and Sarah and everyone else just made it feel like we were walking down University Ave. It was just so much fun. We all caught up about our different abroad experiences and had a really good time. 

 La Cathedrale de Notre Dame

kathleen freezing in front of Notre Dame

L'Arc de Triumph 

Sunday morning, we met up with Thomas and Oise for lunch. One of Oise and Seeley's friends from home, Ashley, came along too. We all went to this really good pizza place for lunch. Page, Oise, Kathleen and I decided to walk to the Arc de Triumph before Kathleen and I had to leave on our train.  Walking down the Champs Elysees was probably the highlight of my trip to Paris. It was so stunning and I loved being able to experience it with some of my best friends. The green trees lining the street going down to the Arc de Triumph was spectacular. The four of us went to this darling cafe where we sat and ordered cafe latte and salads. Oise was very chic and ordered escargot, a meal I have yet to try. I did not want to say goodbye to Page and Oise at the end of our trip. Our last day in Paris was definitely bitter sweet. I was sad we were leaving, but I am so excited to return to Paris with our Art History class in November.  We will be going on a guided tour of all the museums for five days. Our weekend in Paris was overall a huge success. I was very proud of Kathleen, David and I for planning all of our hotel and train arrangements on our own. I felt like Paris was one of the biggest cities I had ever been to. I must admit that the Metro system, though helpful, was a real pain compared to walking everywhere in Aix. Thank goodness Kathleen is the best navigator I have ever met, because without her, I guarantee you we would have been very lost for most of our visit. Coming home on the train home was very relaxing and was a good end to our weekend. Kathleen and I were laughing the entire way home thinking of the funny things that happened the past weekend. We arrived to our home-stay around midnight to such a pleasant setting. Danielle's daughter, who works in a restaurant, had bought us a lot of groceries and set out a bouquet of flowers and a meal waiting for us in the fridge. It was SO nice to come home to a clean house and a familiar place, but I am very excited to go back and visit Paris again. 


Bientot,
Molly 


p.s. Today would have been my Father's 56th birthday and it is my Uncle Ted's 60th birthday. I am celebrating my Father's life and hope my Uncle has an amazing day. Also, Glynis's birthday is tomorrow and I send all my love.

view from thomas's home-stay

Champs Elysees