so. we went to nice a few weekends back. nice was niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.
see? niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.
as a group, we went to the chagall and matisse museums. yes, i understand the historical/cultural significance, but chagall and matisse don't do much for me. what does? modern and contemporary art. and nice has a nice museum of it. [will stop with nice puns now.]
no modern/contemporary art museum is complete without at least one of joseph cornell's boxes. granted, this one isn't as impressive as any of the ones at the art institute of chicago, but i still freaked out when i saw it.
fun with mirrors!
you can walk around the roof of the doughnut-shaped museum, and there are some works out there, but they're all overshadowed by the amazing panoramic view of nice you get from up there.
the next day, we had a get-together with our iu-neighbours across the street and our retired-american-professor-neighbours in the building next door. rosie baked a cake:
yes, she used nutella for the frosting. and it was amazing.
it seems to happen that when i'm in france, i do things i normally probably wouldn't. last time i was here, i went up in a three-seat plane. this is notable because flying scares the crap out of me and it goes over much better with an ativan. this time, i hiked up a mountain (la montagne saint-victoire) with some friends. [hence the sore legs that persisted for three or four days after the fact.] after doing this, i can personally testify to the fact that vans slip-ons are TERRIBLE to hike in.
we're not up very high here.
higher....
teresa, jennifer, and rosie: hiking buddies, drinking buddies, dinner buddies.
that pointy thing up there is a gigantic cross. and we hiked allllllll the way up to it.
i love getting aerial views without the airplane. yeah, there's google earth, but it just isn't the same.
finally, we arrived at the old monastery, which is a relatively short climb from the top. the day we went, the military high school from aix was having some sort of ceremony involving a lot of singing. i didn't take any pictures of that, but i know jennifer shot some video....
view from the top! we forgot to bring our ropes for rappelling.
me and the hiking shoes from hell. not pictured: celebratory "i got to the top of the mountain!" cigarette.
while waiting for the little van-bus to take us back to town after our descent, we discovered a dead-looking bush with empty snail shells stuck to it. either a bizarre phenomenon of nature, or a very odd art project.
other than that, life en france has consisted of going to class, doing homework, dyeing hair, going to the sunset every thursday night, and going out or relaxing at home on the weekend. my twenty-first birthday was on the fifteenth -- the saturday before, we had a party at our apartment. this was the evening after the mountain hike. needless to say, i was in no state to take pictures!
i also came down with french cold numéro deux sunday night. everyone in the program has the sickness -- my roommates included. i was doing such a good job holding out, too....
there will likely be halloween shenanigans on wednesday. i will try my best to take pictures... and to update more often.
à bientôt!
