the Aix chapter: I actually like of want this provincial life

so sorry for not posting yesterday, we just got back from a wonderful trip in provence this past weekend and I was très fatigué. 

I think, instead of making up for all of the days I missed from the start of orientation, I will just start at the night before we left this past weekend. But, basically, we have begun our french classes now, my teacher is really cool and good. We've already done 2 oral projects and we have our first test this coming thursday. Other than that,  orientation was't anything more than a lot of meetings and your typical orientation affair. 

So, this past thursday night

I was planning on coming home, cooking a nice quiet meal and perhaps snuggling up with my laptop and watching youtube videos (yes, I do not have ANY dvds or means to watch actual movies because Netflix does not work at all. c'est dommage) however, right as I had finished preparing my pasta sauce, about 6 or 7 people walked in and began to prepare their own feast ( I had already taken all of my stuff off the stove, and was sitting at the table) I began to talk with them and it turns out they were all seniors from Georgia Tech in the architecture department here for a semester long program. All really nice people so we start eating together and drinking together and we had a good time. Plus, my friend Samantha showed up too so there was some mingling between SLC people and others. Later that night too, two of the GT guys, Samantha, and I met this really nice french artist who lives in the same dorm as us and we got to go up to his artist loft on the 5th floor and see his work. Really amazing stuff. he finds it hard to understand english, but he wants to learn so he can study in new york so we made a deal that I would only speak in french to him and he would speak in english to me so we could both practice. Lots of fun that night

Then (bum bum buuuum) the next morning we hopped over to Gare de Lyon and nous sommes allé au Provence.

We stayed in a city called Aix-en-Provence. very old and beautiful buildings. Lots or Oranges and Yellows on the walls and buildings. Paul Cezanne worked and lived in this area and there were a lot of things that were named after him there. We heard that Cezanne really liked a ocher, orangy color and you can understand why when you look around there. The buildings all have this orangey brown yellow color to them and they are so beautiful when the sun hits them. Also, the dirt in the surrounding area is a rich red clay which also has that same color tone.

We saw about every single church in that city. There was one that was built by the romans at first and then had several different architectural styles added on as the cathedral was built. the cloister of that place was really quite wonderful as well. all of the carvings in the wall had a little story to them (by the way, all of the things I describe will have photos once I can get a strong enough internet connection to upload them all)

After walking all over creation, we had some free time. It was during this time that I FINALLY found some blues music. I literally was walking down the street and I heard a harmonica blaring out of a cool looking bar and I basically said goodbye to who ever I was with and darted off. It was so worth it too. It was a two man blues group with a singer-harmonica player and a slide guitarist. I had seen anyone play slide guitar before so it was a cool experience for me. 

The next day we went to Marseille. Marseille is a huge and beautiful beach city on the coast. It's further west than Nice and Cannes. Very old as well and it was one of the hardest hit cities during world war 2. Thankfully, a lot of the old buildings remain. It was wonderful. You just can't the sweeping ocean views anywhere else. It was all very majestic. We saw some very cool art there as well. There was a collection of Italian renaissance paintings done by lesser known artists of that era. It was very fascinating to see these other works that were being done at the same time as ''the greats''

The next day we traveled home by way of Saint Rèmy de Provence and Avignon. Saint Rèmy de Provence is the city that Van Gogh lived just outside of and we got to go to the house he lived in. It was really beautiful there. one of the cool things they did was they would post paintings he did right next to the real life subject of the painting. It was facinating to see his unique perspective on things. 

Avignon was a very interesting city, and it was the only one where I totally lost my bearings. Generally I have a good sense of navigation, but at one point I realized that without our guide, I would be completely lost forever. I had no idea of where anything was. Luckily, we had a great guide who fearlessly led us into many museums and architectural wonders of Provence. 

I'll try to post more detailed and specific captions on each photo once they're uploaded so you can gain more insight into my Provincial voyage

now we're back and getting ready for classes to start next week. There are a few more orientation events, but they all seem like fun things so I'm excited.

I may start writing more frequently now because there is so much happening in a week that it's hard to remember it all. But, as of right now, let's just stay on a weekly basis.

À bien-tôt!