nice! cake! mountain!

my desire and ability to get online lately have been crushed by class and sore legs... though those have gone away now. i'll get to that in a bit....

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!

photographic explosion!

it's a gray wednesday in aix. but at least i have this to look forward to tomorrow night:



rosie and i are so there. question is, if american hipsters drink pbr, what do french hipsters drink? hopefully, an answer will be found tomorrow.

also tomorrow: medical exam for the carte de séjour in marseille. i'm not a big fan of marseille. i'm also not a big fan of waking up early (we have to be at the bus station in aix at 7:30 to make sure we get to the office in marseille by 9:30). but i am a big fan of looking out at the mediterranean, so hopefully i'll have time for that.

as promised, here are some pictures of aix (that don't involve the cité u or the interior of my apartment)...


this would be the outside of my apartment. we're the second row of windows up from the bottom. from left to right: my room (mostly obscured), the living room, and the kitchen.


the weird fountain by our apartment. aix is known for its fountains. i have now decided that it is my mission to take a picture of every single fountain in aix by the time i leave in june. every fountain i can walk to, at least.


le palais de justice! this is where you'd find my dad if he were french.


however, the fuzz français are much more low-key (and in shorter supply) than the american fuzz, so business might not be quite as booming.


not pictured: the canine restroom just next to this fountain.


restoration in progress.


le roi rené. you'll find him at one end of the cours mirabeau.


and this would be the cours mirabeau.


and this would be a fountain in the middle of the street that is the cours mirabeau, making a tiny sort of roundabout (rond-point).


this fountain (also on the cours mirabeau) is just in front of monoprix. think of it as a french target that's not open on sundays or past 9:00 p.m.


the other end of the cours mirabeau: la place du général de gaulle, a.k.a. la rotonde.


la fringale: home of the french fry sandwich. quite possibly the most delicious three euros and thirty centimes ever.


l'hôtel de ville.


l'hôtel de ville.


in the middle of the place de l'hôtel de ville, there is, believe it or not, a fountain.


la cathédrale saint-sauveur. i have yet to go inside, but it's on my list of things to do.

these pictures were taken on sunday afternoon. rosie and i hiked around and did the tourist-with-a-camera thing. then we headed north out of centre ville (downtown) and up a hill, where we learned:


1. that french fire hydrants are funny-looking, and


2. that the view from up here is UNBELIEVABLY BEAUTIFUL.

if after seeing these pictures, you feel compelled to jump on a plane and come to aix, we recently discovered that our living room couch can unfold into a double bed. and i don't mean one of those fold-out couches -- it's comfortable. and there's also the extra twin bed in my room....

il fait longtemps avec pas d'écriture.

well, i've decided that, at least for the moment, i'm going to write in english here. i figure most people looking at this are english speakers, and if everything's lost on them except the pictures, then what's the point?

anyway. classes started at the fac this week. so far, this is what i'm taking:

monday: italian literature of the 20th century (overview) & introduction to provençal
tuesday: nothing! i went to a third-year french grammar and style class and was scared out of my freaking mind. [in france, undergrad is three years instead of four.] nothing like analyzing novels through a linguistic/grammatical lens... something i actually enjoy, because i'm weird, but i would have performed so poorly in that class it wouldn't have been worth it.
wednesday: a class on french créoles & french phonetics (at night, with the other americans)
thursday: a class on semantics
friday: italian literature of the 20th century (analysis of an italo calvino novel) & expression écrite (with the other americans)

this equals 14 hours at iu. oh, and my monday italian class is at 8:30 a.m. i know i swore off classes that start before 10:10 a.m., but i didn't really have a choice, and i need those italian credits for my minor. by the way, walking one way to or from the fac to my apartment takes roughly a half hour. now i might start going to pastry shops more often....

so that's pretty much what's gone on this week. last weekend saw our end-of-intensive-course party at our apartment (which then devolved into a trip to ipn, a dance club which i don't want to go back to -- it suffices to say that drunk guys unloading their bladders on dancefloors really puts me off) and faketoberfest/okposerfest, a beer night with some of the wisconsin lovelies. this weekend, who knows? it's unbelievably cold here, and it was cloudy today. and the wind! exercise caution when planning your wardrobe in this town. you'll have more than a few marilyn monroe moments if you don't watch out. or someone might pull a michel poiccard on you. you never know.

guys here pretty much suck. i mean, the ones at the fac are good-looking, but i never see them in my part of town. i got mauled by a high-schooler on my way back from class yesterday -- to which i yelled "casse-toi!" ("fuck you!"). in what country is it appropriate to grab onto the arm of someone you don't even know? god. and i haven't succeeded in meeting many french people at this point. i hate the fact that every time i open my mouth in this town, i get the old eyebrow-raise with the accompanying "oh, you're american?" but i'm trying, dammit.

we're hoping to get internet in the apartment, so hopefully my updates will be a bit more regular. i'll post some pictures next time i get online -- so, you know, tomorrow, or a week from tomorrow, or something. bisous!

le choc culturel.

ou peut-être ce n'est pas un choc culturel, mais je suis, comme dit ma grand-mère, "woeful." et je ne veux pas être "woeful." mais à ce moment, ma vie aux états-unis me manque.

je sais que j'irai mieux quand je rentrai chez moi et je mettrai de la musique....

amethyst slippers.

oh, eurodif....


à la lavomatique.

des photos de ce week-end passé:


on a acheté beaucoup d'alcool....


rosie a son vin blanc de table dans la forme de "juicebox."


et moi j'aime mon bordeaux qui a coûté 3,90 €.


et rosie aime aussi du bon alcool: absolut apeach et josé cuervo (mais moi, je déteste la tequila).

pas beaucoup de nouvelles en ce moment... à plus tard!

band practice?

une photo de la fête du vin à cassis:


moi, rosie, et sarah-anne. on tient les verres du vin de la fête -- et moi, je tiens aussi une gauloise blonde.

j'ai oublié de noter ici un phénomène qu'on appelle, chez nous, "band practice." ça c'est quand un groupe joue dans un appartement à l'autre côté de la rue. on peut s'asseoir dans la fenêtre de la chambre de rosie et sarah-anne avec un gin tonic et écouter les reprises très mauvaises, chantées par un garçon qui essaie de chanter comme jack white. le groupe utilise aussi une batterie électronique. c'est vachement terrible, mais aussi vachement amusant. on a entendu "billie jean" et "house of the rising sun," et peut-être "jesse's girl." et peut-être les garçons du groupe sont mignons. on ne peut pas les voir, vraiment. et il y a une fille dans l'appartement qui aime nous donner des regards malicieux.

aujourd'hui, j'ai acheté un portable. si vous voulez le numéro (et peut-être les instructions pour faire un appel des états-unis), veuillez me contacter par courriel. c'est aussi sur facebook, pour ceux qui l'ont.

c'est tout pour aujourd'hui... il y a trop de monde à students in aix, et j'ai besoin de préparer un exposé pour le cours de demain (mon sujet: la cuisine provençale). merde alors!

david bowie.

rosie pense que notre prof du cours intensif ressemble à david bowie. moi, je pense qu'elle est bien folle.

DES PHOTOS DE NOTRE APART!
(oui, en anglais un peu -- je suis in a hurry!)


nos clés. the short one is for the downstairs door. the really cool, old-style long one is for our door -- one key locks it FIVE TIMES. i shit you not.

MA CHAMBRE!
(also with guest bed.)









window views (at night this time):






bonsoir, je m'appelle élisabeth, et j'aime tant ma chambre et mon apart!

séjour:



les toilettes:



cuisine:







now we turn the corner to go upstairs:


LES HOMMES AU CHAUD! this was already here. seriously. too bad it doesn't says "les hommes sont chauds" (translation: "horny men").

voilà ros(al)ie et sarah-anne et leur chambre chouette:











window views:





and the handbook said "please be advised that large furnished apartments are quite impossible to find in the center of aix." on a eu de la chance.

aujourd'hui.

aujourd'hui est un jour ferié aux états-unis. pas en france. on a vu le début du cours intensif.

mais ce weekend passé était superbe. samedi, on est allé à marseille -- rosie et moi avons fait des achats pour l'appartement (des bols pour le petit déjeuner, un horloge pour la cuisine, des verres de "shot" sur lesquels il est peint "viva la fiesta," deux serviettes de bain pour moi) et nous avons marché beaucoup, à cause du grandeur de marseille.

mais dimanche, on est allé à cassis pour la fête du vin, où on a goûté beaucoup de bons vins blancs.

je vais mettre des photos ici bientôt, mais il faut que j'aille à une réunion où on va discuter des sujets pratiques concernant la vie à aix. à demain, peut-être? on verra.