Nice, Monaco/Monte Carlo and Cannes.

Okay. So it's been a while. Désolé! This'll be a long one to make up for it.

Thursday I went out, a bunch of us met up at the "hotel de ville," which is actually not a hotel, but rather city hall, to drink before the bars. Unfortunately, my buddy Alex got really really sick and didn't make it out thursday, so the bottle I ended up buying for us and a girl, ended up being for two of us (we had about half, and before the bars, and then I finished it later...oops.)So a bunch of people showed up, we had some drinks, and my friends Alain and Thibaut (who I may refer to as "The Cousins") who were supposed to join us, were late, and told us they'd call later. So we went to a bar called the Sextius Bar, which is on Sextius road. That bar kind of sucked. There were far too many people (many of which were American), and you couldn't move much, and it just kind of sucked. Also this one guy who ended up being 18, kept trying to get my friend, and then me, to introduce us to our friend who was a girl, and she had no interest. So Evan and I, and these girls Katie and Emily went back to Sam's Pub, the pool hall and met up with Alain and Thibaut. And then later our friends Peter and Charlie showed up. So they played against Katie and Evan, and Emily and I played against the cousins. Charlie and Peter left, then the bar closed, and Evan and Katie wandered off together, which left Alain, Thibaut, Emily and I to chill outside the bar. We killed my bottle of whiskey, and then Alain and Thibaut went home and I decided to walk Emily home. Well, that took a little longer than expected haha, we eventually called a cab, and both got home.

Well, that was Thursday. Friday I slept till almost 1. Then went to meet up with Mckenzie and Stacy for lunch. Then I went to do this scavenger hunt thing, which was pretty lame, except it gave us the opportunity to wander around the city, and of course despite it being for teams of 2, I got a bunch of people to go in a larger group and we kind of all just chilled. We ended up giving up and sitting down at a cafe, until IAU's version of Club Rush happened. Then I went home for dinner, and then back out to Sam's Pub. Friday we wanted to be a relaxed night seeing as we all needed to be at the Office of Tourism at 8 am for our trip.

We got two tables and played a while, I, who only wanted one beer, ended up being talked into having another one by the bartender who said it was on him, and sure enough it was. But before that, Roland (the owner and bartender) had walked in late, and was very excited to see me. He even introduced me to his friends, who I kindly introduced to two of mine. Anyways, the other bartender's name was Michel, and he was just as nice and funny as Roland, and they joked around all night. I even had a third beer on some other guy at the bar. It was pretty cool. Haha. Free drinks are always cool, especially when you only plan to have one drink, and you end up having three.

Saturday morning sucked. It was grey, early and not fun at all. But I got to sleep on the bus, and then we got to Nice, and well, Nice was nice, before it rained. We walked through this park and grabbed oranges from orange trees. Apparently they were bitter, I didn't try them.

Then we walked through a market, then down to a pebble beach. The water was mesmerizing. So cool. Then we decided to climb to the top of these things that looked like ruins, so we did, and the view was incredible. Absolutely incredible.

Then it started to rain, and we went to wait for our group that was meeting up for a walking tour. Well the walking tour sucked. Because it was in the rain, and because the guide really annoyed me. Soon enough it was time to get back on the bus to go to Monaco. We went straight to the hostel, where we divided into rooms. I had kind of gotten screwed with rooming, and Peter, Charlie, Peter and Evan (the first two and second two room together in their homestays), decided to room together, and Noah disappeared, and of course Alex, didn't come because he was sick. So I ended up rooming with these two kids Jorge and Matt, who were decent enough guys, but the four guys I was hanging out with were all together. We went for cocktails, which were these weird fruity drinks, and finger food, which I stuffed my face with, and I met two of the three or four german boys who worked at the hostel: Felix and Johanes. They were cool. Felix spent a year in Quebec and spoke with a quebecois accent, and Johanes promised to bring me a good German beer to try. Later, it stopped raining, and we all got on the buses to go into the city to the casino. Which was quite the experience. I didn't bring my camera, but the casino had all the coolest and most luxurious cars lined up in front, it's also where they shot some of the James Bond casino scenes. We had to pay 10 euros to go in. Charlie and I went to the blackjack table, and Noah joined us. Noah and I each put down 50 euros, and Charlie put down thirty. It was a minimum of 25 euros per bet. I won't go into too much detail, except that I walked away from the table, with my 50, and another 50 on top of that. Noah walked away with well over 150 euros, and Charlie was up 165, which means he walked away with 195, including what he started with. And then later our friend Peter walked away with 100 more than when he walked in. The boys from IAU certainly killed it at the casino.

When we came back to the hostel (we were only allowed to spend an hour at the casino before the buses brought us back), the boys convinced me to just grab my stuff and move into their room, since there were 5 beds. So I did. Then we all went to the dining area which doubled as a discoteque (night club in french), and danced and drank for a while. I won't spend too much time on Cannes, because it wasn't too exciting. I plan to go back during the film festival, because I hear it's much nicer in the summer and with the ambiance of the festival. I will only mention that I woke up Sunday with a soar throat and the sniffles, and have been trying to kick them ever since.

Tomorrow is Thursday and therefore after two nights of rest (we went out Monday but took it easy), I am going to take the city by storm, with Alex (who hasn't partied since early last week).

Send me emails or facebook messages or comments on this blog if there are questions you have that I didn't answer.

"Deuces!"

Day 4&5 - Beginning of Classes and rockin nights out.

Wow, a lot of stuff has happened in the last few days. So the girls from Sunday night didn't come out with us the next night. But Evan and I agreed to meet up at the liquor store. Thing is, it closes at 9 and we met up around 10-10:30. While waiting for Evan, I ran into this guy Noah, who was going to the american-friendly bar, Wohoo. He went on his way, and then I ran into two girls, Mckenzie (from the first day) and Stacy, her housemate. Then Evan showed up and and we decided to go back to the cafe from the night before, and ordered a bottle of wine for the four of us (we were then joined by a girl named Kat), and then a round of pastisse - we had to make the girls try it. Eventually, just as the cafe was closing, Noah came to find us with a guy named Alex. Now there were seven of us, and Mckenzie suggested that we could go play pool at this poolhall near their home.

So we went, and it was fantastic. We took turns playing pool, two vs. two. Mckenzie, Evan and I took turns buying a pitcher, while the other four had this tequila flavored beer called Desperado. The bar was mostly empty, and the bartender was so nice, he gave our group a round of Desperados and a pitcher for free. He wouldn't even let us pay when we tried. I think we even got an hour of pool for free as well. We ended up meeting this slightly older french guy who was hitting on the girls, and who's name was apparently hotman, he even showed us some official looking document with that name on it. He was pretty funny. But we also met these two cousins who live just outside Aix, Alain and Tibault(sp?). I exchanged numbers with Alain, and he told me that whenever he was in Aix, he would give me a call. The two cousins are going to Vancouver in a month and a half to spend a year there to perfect their English. We ended up staying outside for almost an hour after the bar closed just talking. A great night!

Yesterday was ladies night. One of the bars, Manoir, gives free champagne to ladies and another bar (which I don't remember the name of) gives free cover for ladies. We started at Wohoo, which was fun, since I hadn't been yet, met some americans and english speaking people. We even met the coach of the American Football team in Aix, and is a former NFL player. We stayed until Happy Hour, (which was in our honor), which gave us 2 for 1 beers. By that point, the bar was packed. So a large group of us left for Manoir.

This was a fun night too, but much less fun than Monday. For a few reasons, one, I'm not a girl, and therefore had to pay for all my drinks, secondly, the group was far too big, at least 40 Americans.

As far as classes go, yesterday I was my first day, and I thought we had Monday classes, so in fact I was up earlier than necessary. Instead I went to have lunch with this girl Parker, and we walked around Aix a little bit to kill some time. My first class, European City in Lit. and Film, seems interesting. We read books and watch movies to learn about 4 cities: Rome, Paris, Prague and London. Unfortunately, we're reading Kafka's the Trial, and watching the Orson Welles movie for Prague. They both give me the shivers. We're reading some Zola for Paris, and Death in Venice which I read at Goucher, and various other books and movies. Unfortunately, we're supposed to watch all movies ourselves before class, oh well.

Today I decided that I will cease to go out on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, because I was absolutely dead for my 9 am Business class this morning. Also, Wednesdays are fucking long. I had my Intro to International Business class at 9 to 10:25, then I dropped the class I was supposed to have after that, then I had France as seen through its movies from 2-3:30, and a basic Media class from 3:30-5pm.

I'm not going out tonight, and Mme Roux is having dinner and playing bridge at her friend's tonight, so just me alone, maybe I'll get ahead on some homework. Tomorrow's going to be a super fun day! I hope Alain remembers to text me, we're going to go out and start the weekend! Oh and this weekend, Saturday and Sunday we'll be in Cannes, Nice, and Monoco! Very excited.

A la prochaine et "DEUCES!"

Day 2&3 - Orientation and stuff

So dinner with Mme Roux and her friends was great. They got me a little tipsy, which was fun, fed me 4-6 glasses of wine (all different kinds), a glass of whiskey beforehand and a small shot-sized glass of this prune liqueur which was awful. We ate "Greves" which is a kind of bird. A huge pain in the butt to eat (more than lobster). It was alright tasting, definitely not my favorite, but in the spirit of trying new things, I did. Then I came home and went to sleep around midnight.

Yesterday, I woke up, had a quick breakfast, took a shower, and then Mme Roux went to pick up her daughter in law, grandson, Martin, and their American student, and they all came over for lunch. We ate the salmon I brought from home, but I stupidly bought normal salmon instead of smoked salmon. Oh well. Then we had this open house thing at the school, and Martin dropped the other girl and I off. We were joined later by Mme. Roux and the other host, Francoise, but they took Catherine (the other American) home with them because she didn't know her way back on her own, and I thought that I did.

I ended up meeting this kid Evan from Vermont who goes to school at Tuffs, and we met these two girls, Heather and Natalie, who have a flat instead of a homestay. We ended up sitting at a cafe with them and tried Patisse (a typical provencal drink which tastes like black liquorice and is then watered down considerably). After that we had this amazing pizza and bought two cheap bottles of wine and a bottle of whiskey, and went back to their apartment to eat and drink and be marry. I had arranged that I would come home around 11 or 12. So I left around midnight, not long after we finished the bottle of whiskey (we finished both bottles of wine first). I didn't feel drunk, but I still got lost coming home, it took me well over an hour instead of twenty minutes. And it turns out, I was really close, and going in circles for at least 30 minutes. But now I'll never be lost again.

Today I got my keys to the apartment and went for orientation at 9 am. It was a long, relatively boring day. We'll see what tonight and tomorrow brings. I think I might go out with some people, depending on what they want to do.

A la prochaine! Or - in english - deuces!

Day 1 - Arrival

My flight to Frankfurt was awesome. It wasn't full so there was a seat empty between me and the other person in my row. He was nice, and worked for the Wilfred-Laurier University, and was going to Turkey for some Global University Olympics or something. I also watched two movies: Clash of the Titans, and about an hour and a half, maybe a little more, of The Social Network.

Now, having said how awesome my flight was, we did arrive late. Instead of arriving at 7, we arrived at 7:30 and didn't get off the plan until 7:40. Then passport control took forever and a half. There were so many people! And then after that, we had to go through security again, which took a while, and THEN my gate was really far. Not fun, and I ran a lot of the way, with a backpack on my back, another one on my front, and my jacket tucked under my arm. My plane was supposed to board at 8 and leave at 8:30. I think I got to the gate around 8:25.

But I made it to the plane and even though most people had already boarded, there were still people on the shuttle bus waiting to go to the plane. Once on the plane, I noticed that a girl who had been on the shuttle with me was in fact American and from my program. I also noticed there were a few of us. The flight was short and uneventful. Then we all met up at the baggage claim and started to introduce ourselves. I re-met a woman who I had met at my Towson orientation, who seemed very happy to see a familiar face. Once everyone had our baggage, we went to meet the IAU personnel. I helped load most people's luggage onto the bus, mainly because I could do it, and like to do that kind of thing. Don't judge.

I've already met people who remind me of Goucher people. The first girl I met on the plane, Mackenzie(sp?) (who was actually born in Toronto, and her Dad still lives there, but grew up in Arizona and goes to school in Connecticut) reminds me of Danielle D.: blonde, wears a lot of pink, and actually physically looks and talks a bit like her too. Then there's Peter who reminds me oddly of my friend Blair. Met some other people, but they seem pretty different than other people I know. They're from all over the place. Which is really cool. Of course some people know each other.

I am staying with Andrée Roux, an older lady. Her kids I believe are all older than I am, and have kids of their own. She says she has 3 sons (although one is deceased - I didn't ask what happened) 8 grandchildren and 1 great grandchild. She's very nice and seems to be a lot of fun. My room is actually about the size of my single at Goucher, so not too bad. I have internet which is cool, and a letter left to me by a fellow named Francesco, who I take it stayed here last semester. He left instructions about the internet and some words of advice, as well as a list of things he left for me (He left me this protein powder...for those of you who know me, this isn't something I've ever had or bought. But hey, here's to trying new things.) There is a train outside my window, so that could be interesting, otherwise I am already unpacked and maybe ready for a nap. Although I'm really trying to stay up as long as possible so I don't get jet lagged, and I'm already invited to dinner with Mme Roux, so I better stay up for that!

That's all so far. Look for more in the near future. I might actually enjoy this blogging thing.

As my boys in Winslow 2 say: "Deuces!"