Aix-en-Provence and 21st birthday!

Saturday September 27th
We took a group trip to Aix-en-Provence. We took a big coach bus, like the one we took the Monaco and Eze. It is normally a two hour drive to Aix-en-Provence so I was glad that we took the coach bus. However, there was an accident on the road going to Aix-en-Provence so it took us 3 hours to get there! As a result we got an hour less of free time while in Aix. When we got off the bus, we took a walking tour as a group. We got off on Cours Mirabeau which is the biggest and probably most famous street in Aix. It is lined with shops and has several fountains down the middle of it. Actually, there were a lot of cool little fountains scattered throughout the whole town. We went by the city hall, a cathedral, some markets and some old roman bath ruins (I think??). Then we were set free. I wandered around with the other Laura from CSB and two other girls who are not from CSB, I think one was Swiss and the other German but I can’t remember exactly. They are both very nice. We ended up just wandering around the streets since none of us had anything in mind that we really wanted to do. It was fun and I bought a cool keychain at this store that has all super brightly colored and fun stuff. We didn’t have much time so we basically wandered in the direction of our meeting spot. We got free samples of snuggle-there were people handing them out with coupons. We were a little early back so we just sat down on a bench and people watched before getting back on the bus. I was told that Aix is a very student city with lots of college students studying there. I also think that Aix is where CSB/SJU used to have their study abroad program before moving it to Cannes. It was a nice town with lots of old winding cobble stone streets and it isn’t as busy as Cannes but I’m glad we are in Cannes, I love being near the sea! Once back on the bus, we drove to the edge of the town to one of Paul Cezanne’s studios. It was the studio where he spent the last 6 years or so of his life. It was a small two story building surrounded by woods. We had to wait to get the “tour” so we wandered around the woods (there were many paths leading to various spots that would have a bench or a little clearing). I finished up my bag lunch and took advantage of the free bathroom! We couldn’t find one in Aix and most of us were very excited! We finally got our tour but they were running late and there was a big tour group who was impatient and had an appointment. We were there first so we got to have the tour first but since there were running late, the lady giving us the tour talked really really really fast and was using some art terminology that I didn’t understand. His studio was only one room. We were supposed to look at the items around the room and try to see if we recognized them from any of his paintings. It was cool and I felt rushed. I would have like to spend more time looking around. Oh well. Then we hiked up to the top of the hill to look at a mountain that Cezanne painted several times. I don’t know the name of it but I’m glad we took the hike to see it. Since we had to travel so far, it seemed like a really quick trip. We got back on the bus and headed back to Cannes. I took a nap and I think most that most people did the same.

I was expecting to see fields of lavender on the way to Aix but it was the wrong time of year and all we say were vinyards.

Sunday September 28th
Since I hadn’t done much homework this was my day to get down to business. I sat outside and did senior seminar readings while attempting to do laundry. There are only 3 washing machines for the whole college and it seemed like everyone had decided to do laundry today! I was annoyed! I hadn’t done laundry in a long time and really wanted to do it! I kept checking to see if there were any free machines and FINALLY there was one. I put my stuff in and all was good. I even used the snuggle sample I had gotten the day before. Then the problem was the dryers. For some reason there are three washing machines and only two dryers…how did they figure that was going to work?!? So I had to wait for a dryer. This was turning into a much bigger and longer process than I was expecting or had time for! Now I really understand and appreciate the laundry sign up sheets at CSB!
Tuesday September 30th
My 21st birthday!!!! It was weird celebrating my birthday with no family, especially Emily! While I was still sleeping, my roommate put up a Joyeux Anniversaire sign and some balloons. It was a nice surprise when I woke up! Michelle gave me a card before we went to breakfast and Maisha gave me a bracelet that matched my outfit perfectly! I really like it! They sang happy birthday in my grammar class…but it wasn’t your normal happy birthday…one of the girls wanted to do what she did in her high school French class when they had a birthday. It involved me standing in the middle and everyone else standing in a circle around me...they walked and sang switching directions with every verse... Kinda strange but fun none the less. I don’t have afternoon classes on Tuesday’s so it was great! I was really tired for some reason so I took and nap and then spent the rest of the afternoon lazily working on a presentation for my grammar class. I got to talk to Emily on skype for about 5 minutes…she had a really busy day so I was glad we got a chance to talk! It wouldn’t have been right if I didn’t talk to my twin sister on our birthday! My friend Michelle had asked me what I wanted to do to celebrate. I didn’t really feel like going out to eat because it takes so long in French restaurants and I didn’t want to make everyone spend money. So she came up with the idea of having pizza in the courtyard at the school and I thought it was a good idea. I
had been finishing up some stuff in my room and went down at 7:15 (when we normally have dinner and when our pizza party was planned to start) and was surprised by more than half the CSB/SJU group, other friends from the college and the CSB/SJU program director and her kids!! They proceeded to sing happy birthday to me in the same manner as my grammar class…I think I prefer the normal version but it was certainly a happy birthday version that I won’t forget and will probably only be sung to me in this way on my 21st bday! A few friends had gone to leader price and picked out two chocolate desserts….don’t remember the names, and some cidre for everyone to share. I have to say the cidre was better than any of the wine that I have had sips of before….apparently it had a really low alcohol content and that it probably why I liked it better. Jean brought two tartes, an apple one and a RASPBERRY one!! I was SUPER excited!! I have always loved anything raspberry but had never really had a raspberry tarte until coming to France and I have fallen in love with them! Thanks to the other Laura’s suggestion, Jean got a raspberry tarte. It was amazing and I had a huge piece…but of course I sampled all the other desserts! So there weren’t any candles at leader price so we used matches instead…I had to blow out the “candles” like three times because there was no way to get them all lit at the same time!
We had an optional viewing of the presidential debates at 8 pm and several people had theater practice…I didn’t feel like watching the debates on my birthday so my roommate and I hung out and chatted while finishing off the desserts. Since it was a Tuesday, most people were finishing up homework and going to bed. I didn’t feel like going to sleep yet so I snuggled up in my bed and watched “Les Choristes” on my laptop. It is one of my favorite movies and I had been wanting to watch it for awhile. Part way through the movie, my mom called! She had my grandma on the phone so I got to talk to both of them and my Uncle Dave who happened to walk into my grandma’s house while we were talking!! I think someone else called me too but I can’t remember…
All in all it was a good birthday! People wishing me happy birthday and randomly bursting out in song…it was really nice! Thanks everyone who made my birthday special!
The rest of the week:
Nothing too exciting happened the rest of the week. It was just a normal week filled with homework and nice sunny days (but chilly in the morning and night). I didn’t go anywhere this weekend. It is the first weekend I have spent entirely in Cannes. Yesterday after brunch I went shopping in Cannes with Neva and Michelle. I bought a sweater at a store called Zara and a cool scarf at a random touristy shop. We spent almost 4.5 hours shopping which was more than I was expecting but that’s ok. I wrote a few postcards when I got back and did my grammar homework. After dinner I read for senior seminar and didn’t go to bed until I finished the reading. I had read on Thursday and Friday but still had a lot left last night. Today I went to church, brunch, wrote my essay and now I’m updating my blog. I’m going to go play frisbee now.