- You expect les bisous at every greeting and good-bye
- Saying hello to complete and total strangers as you pass them in the street? Non merci
- Food anywhere else just does not taste very good
- Second-hand cigarette smoke no longer makes you feel like your lungs are about to cave in
- 1h30 minutes for a washing machine cycle seems normal
- Dryer? What dryer?
- You buy everything Bensimon, Les Tropeziennes, Zara, H&M, NafNaf, Kookaï...
- You mock those obnoxious American tourists. And the Italians. And the Spanish, the Germans, the Portuguese, the Japanese...
- Your refrigerator smells of strong French cheese
- When angry, you start yelling expletives in French. Zut alors!
- Ouaich, z'y vas
- You expect to pay no more than 7 euros for a fabulous bottle of wine at Monoprix
- You do not understand the foreign obsession with le Tour Eiffel or le Tour Montparnasse
- La grève, c'est la vie
- You no longer have to stare at the Parisian Métro map for hours to figure out where you need to go
- You make the French facial expressions, gestures, and conversational sounds without thinking
- You understand why Parisians leave Paris in August
- Pariscope becomes your best friend
- The pigeons start to recognize you at your favorite park and/or garden
- You never ever want to leave France!
You know you have become French (and Parisian!) when...
I have been selected to be an ambassador next year to the Vanderbilt-in-France program, which is an honor I do not take lightly. Already, I am planning out what I will say to wide-eyed freshman, hopeful sophomores, and burnt-out juniors. The most common questions? A) What was your favorite thing about Aix, B) What was your least favorite thing about Aix, and C) What do you regret the most? Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.
A. Some people love the parties. Some people love free champagne Tuesdays at O'Neils. Some people love spending the night studying. Some people love the markets. Some people love going to La Provence at 8:30am. And still, some people love Jacob's sandwiches and PAUL's pastries. Then there is me. What do I love the most about Aix? I love sitting at a café on the Cours Mirabeau and playing 'Guess the Tourist.' I adore meandering through alleyways searching for hole-in-the-wall restaurants. But truly, overall, I love exploring the cobblestone streets and reliving history first-hand. Especially in April when everything is in bloom.
B. The weather we suffered through.
C. The only thing I truly regret is not spending my entire year abroad in Aix. Simple as that. If I could have changed anything, I would have studied abroad longer. As they say, hindsight is 20-20. If I could turn back time...
Aix really was the most amazing city to study abroad in. I could not have asked for a more wonderful experience. The memories I made I will cherish forever. I still cannot believe that it is actually over. Unfortunately, one cannot stop time, for time continues on. Thus, I must continue on my path to wherever it leads me. Luckily, in my case, it led me to Paris for 6 weeks!
..To be continued!
As I sit here writing this blog post, I am filled with an infinite amount of complicated emotions. Tomorrow is my last day in France. After 6 full months of living abroad, I will be coming home to Washington DC, but I will be leaving my heart in Paris in addition to the part I already left in Aix-en-Provence. I feel complete, yet strangely lost. There are so many things that I have done in France, yet so many more that I have yet to accomplish. I know that I will be back one day, but when, how, where, and why have yet to be determined. In the next couple of posts, I will finally end my Aix blog, and try to tell the story of my experiences in Paris. I hate leaving projects unfinished, and I am determined to complete l'histoire of my life abroad. Thus begins the beginning of the end of Dani's Aix (and Paris)-capades. Enjoy.
Everyone knows that I came to France for one reason. No, not to study or become fluent in the language. That's too silly. Instead, I am here to examine, taste and report to America on the glorious French pastries. Well, I wish that was the only reason. Studying and speaking French are important, as well. To fulfill my duty as an American citizen, I will now attempt to explain the world of French pastries.
The Crêpe
Apparently a Hungarian treat and not originally French, the crêpe is a super-thin pancake. However, do not call it a pancake in front of the French, because they will call you a "stupid American." While pancakes are great, crêpes cannot be beat! You can eat them plain, with sugar, with lemon juice, with chocolate, with any type of confiture (jam, jelly, etc), with bananas, with chestnut cream, and, last but not least, with nutella (my favorite). To top it off, add some beautiful powdered sugar and/or chantilly cream. You have not lived until you have eaten a real French crêpe. If in Aix, go to Crêpes-a-Gogo. It's cheap, and delicious! Just make sure to ask for extra napkins, because eating crêpes sans silverware is quite a challenge.
The Croissant
A buttery, light, flaky pastry shaped like a crescent. There is no substitute for a fresh croissant. Add butter or confiture for a great, cheap, and carb-filled breakfast.
Pain au Chocolat
A rectangular shaped croissant with a chocolate filling. Don't pay more than 90 centimes for this delicious treat! My favorite ones come from Jacob's, a local chain around Aix.
Macaron
Although I am not too sure about the origin of the macaron (not macaroon), they are delicious! The look like little hamburgers, but are very different. Imagine a creamy filling surrounded by fluffy pastry buns. Paul's sells huge ones, but I prefer the ones at this little chocolatier near Place Richelme called Brunet Louis. They have chocolate macarons with raspberry filling. Heaven! Many places sell 'specialty' macarons. Expensive, but beautiful to admire and also delicious! Marese Macarons in Aix are beautiful. They even have a lychee macaron that I have yet to taste.
Calisson
The little calisson is apparently from Aix. It is a tiny oval-shaped, almond-melon filled cookie that packs a huge taste and leaves a large hole in your wallet. Reserved for presents or special occasions, the calisson can also be tried for free at La Cure Gourmande. My advice: play the dumb tourist, admire the calissons, and say (in French or English): 'Qu'est-ce que c'est un calisson?' or 'What is a calisson'? Add extra American accent if desired. The nice people at this chain will offer you a taste of their calisson. After having tasted many different types, I think I do prefer their calissons. And they have the cutest boxes! Guess I will have to bring some home.
Brioche
Sorry about straying from pastries. Now, back to business. Brioche is similar to a cinnamon bun, but is not cinnamon flavored. Just imagine the shape. Add some delicious sticky honey substance, raisins, or chocolate chips, and voilà! Brioche aux raisins ou brioche aux pepites. Personally, I love the chocolate one.
Tournade
Tastes similar to a brioche, but looks like a giant Twizzler.
Chausson aux pommes
Imagine apple pie inside of French pastry dough. It is like heaven in a little stuffed tart.
Mille Feuille
Layers of puff pastry cemented together by cream. Topped off with frosting. Delicieux.
St. Tropez
I have never tried this pastry first-hand, but it is some sort of layered cake. My roommates adore it.
Petits Fours
No, not "little cakes with 4 corners." Non, non, et non. Petit does mean little, but four is an oven. Real French petits fours are not just small pieces of cake. They are hand-crafted works of art. Do not confuse the American petit four with the French petit four. Naughty, naughty American.
Fondant au Chocolat
Not sure if this classifies as pastry, but I absolutely love love love this dessert!! Imagine Chili's molten chocolate lava cake, but better and not processed. The best fondants 'coule' (run) chocolate in the middle. Mmmm. Add chantilly and vanilla ice cream.
Well, thus ends my experience with French pastries. I might have to add another post later about French dessert. Until then, bon appetit! And remember, everything in moderation ;)
When you think of France, a couple of things come to mind. For example, baguettes, cheese, wine, berets, poodles, and last but not least, strikes (aka "grève"). Being an ignorant American, a French strike seems like a novelty. A strike on the Paris metro? No big deal, I live in Aix. A street-cleaning strike in Marseille? I still live in Aix. A strike basically shutting down the entire French railway system? I may still live in Aix, but traveling becomes 100 times more difficult.
This past weekend, Eszter and I traveled to the city of Nice (Alpes Maritimes) and the itty bitty country of Monaco. We were all set to leave and take our lovely TGV to Nice. When we arrived via Navette to the Aix-TGV Station, it was bedlam, and our train was (of course) cancelled. So, we hopped back on the Navette to Aix (goodbye 7 euros) and decided to trade our train tickets in for bus tickets to Nice instead. According to the office of tourism, tickets to Nice would only be 21 euros. However, this all changed April 6, when the price went up to 30 euros. Zut alors. We finally arrived in Nice at the Gare Routière, and made our way to our cute little hotel down Boulevard Jean Medecin, the largest boulevard in Nice. At night, it is lit up with blue and purple string lights, and is quite a site to see. The Nice tramway passes right through the boulevard, as well.
We were greeted at the hotel by a cute little old man who told us all about Nice, gave us a GIANT map, and even introduced us to the hotel's entrance system: digital fingerprints! It was so neat. We got to our room, which had a kitchenette and all (not that we would need one, but thanks anyways). After dropping our stuff off, we went downstairs to a fabulous dinner. After dinner, it was time for my cough meds, and I fell right asleep. Unfortunately for me, I had caught a lovely sinus infection + bronchitis the week before, so everywhere I went the French eyed me suspiciously like I was a host for the plague.
The next morning, we decided to go to Monaco. Unfortunately, the grève decided against this. Instead of being able to take the train at 10:30am (which no longer existed), we had to wait until 3:25pm. Oy. In the meantime, we strolled down the boulevards of Nice in our sundresses (the weather was absolutely gorgeous!), walked along the beach, visited the Russian Church (random), went to a park on the top of an ancient chateau (?) to see a view of the city, and had lunch at La Tapenade in the old city. Success? I think yes.
Russian Church?
Mmm Nice
The Old City of Monaco
The Casino
Garden outside of the Casino
Future ride? Maybe not.Our original train back to Aix was canceled, and we were told to take a different, earlier TGV back. Unfortunately, we didn't have seats, because seats were for those people who had actually purchased those tickets. I had indeed purchased tickets, just not for THAT specific train. Oh well. But on the plus side, we did stand next to a cute little Jewish family. It was a mother and her 3 little girls, and someone else who might've been the grandmother or a sister. Not too sure. It was neat meeting other Jews in France. It made the 3 hours of standing much more pleasant. And they even gave us some food to eat! Malheureusement, the train didn't actually stop in Aix, but rather in Avignon. So we had to take a train from Avignon to Marseille (we passed by the Aix station on the way...) and then another train from Marseille to Aix. Needless to say, I was ready to take a nap after the whole ordeal. We left Nice around 11 am (it was delayed for 30 mins due to 'technical issues') and got to our Auberge around 4:30. Longest. Day. Of. My. Life. But hey, we made it home all in one piece.
After such a successful weekend, I feel that is it only fair that I should add in some tips to future travelers:
1. Do not wear a sundress. French guys go nuts.
2. Do not walk closely by homeless people. Don't ask.
3. When you hear grève, expect the worst.
4. If you are really nice, gas station attendants will let you use their private bathrooms that are usually barred from public use.
5. Do not go to exotic gardens with cacti.
6. Do not use windows as a mirror.
So long, Monte Carlo
Don't say it. I know, I know. It's been almost a month since my last blog post! Awful. Traveling, school-work, and midterms tend to get in the way of updating my blog. Anyways, here's what I have been up to since my last update:
Weekend of March 13: Efram came to visit!
Met up with the boyfriend in Paris. To make a long story short, it was fantastic. For more details, read on. D'abord, I had to meet Efram at Charles de Gaulle Airport. I woke up super early to take the Navette to the Aix TGV station, and then took the TGV to Paris in 3 hours. Not awful, but then I had to figure out the Parisian metro system, which was a lot larger and more complicated than I had originally thought. Lets just say that the average 30 or 45-minute trip to the airport took me about... an hour? Whoops? But, because I was late, the craziest coincidence happened! I ran into one of the guys Eszter and I had met in Naples during our Italian Vacation. The only reason we ran into each other was because I took forever getting to the airport, and his girlfriend's plane was late getting into the airport. Talk about a coincidence! We are now facebook friends.
After meeting Efram at CDG, we took the RER (suburban train) and the metropolitain (metro) to our hotel in the 15th arrondissement. Cute little hotel. Small by American standards, but that doesn't bother me anymore after all of the traveling I've been doing in Europe. It took us FOREVER to find our way to the hotel, so by the time we actually got to the hotel, it was pretty useless to go and see museums. Instead, we went shopping/sight-seeing down les Champs d'Elysées. We visited l'Arc de Triomphe, and the flagship Sephora store. We walked along the Seine, toward the Nôtre Dame cathedral, past the Louvre. Overall, it was a success. For dinner, we met up with an old friend of mine from CAA camp: Allison! It was such a great time. It's funny how you don't see someone in 6 years and it seems like nothing has really changed. I find it hilarious how we could never meet up back in the US, but we both happened to be in Paris at the same time. Again, quel coincidence! We all ate dinner in the Latin Quarter (the happenin' quarter where most students live/sleep), and had a good time.
Sunday morning, we woke up late (Efram's jet-lag + me loving to sleep in lately), grabbed breakfast at a nearby café, and took the metro over to the Louvre. Spent a good 2 hours in the Louvre, saw the Mona Lisa (they must have moved it since the last time I was there 10 or so years ago, because I don't remember it being behind a rope...), saw some other great paintings that I have studied, and meandered through the Ancient Egypt collection. After being cultured, we took a walk to Centre Pompidou, which is the modern art museum. We both decided that we did not feel attached enough to modern art to go inside the building, so instead we took a picture of the outside (which is still neat looking), and did some souvenir shopping. Afterward, we walked to the Nôtre Dame cathedral. It was beautiful from the outside. The line to get in was about an hour long, and a) I have already seen the Notre Dame, and b) I have seen so many churches/cathedrals/christian monuments over the past couple of weeks. Overall, we decided to stay on the outside of the cathedral. We walked around some more, and then had a snack at a café, and caught our train back to Aix.
Arc de Triomphe!
Arc de Triomphe!
Meeting up with old friends :)Week of March 15: Efram comes to Aix
For me, coming back to Aix is just a normal, daily ritual. This time, Efram came back to Aix, too, so it was much better! To sum up this week, I had class and homework, so Efram explored Aix on his own for the most part, met my roommates/collocs, my friends, and we ate a lot of great meals. Successful week? I think so!
Weekend of March 20th: Efram and I travel to Bruxelles!
The next weekend, Efram and I traveled to the lovely city of Brussels, Belgium. It was my first time flying RyanAir, and I was relatively impressed. I didn't feel like I was going to die, so that's always a plus. The only negative thing is that I decided to check in my bag. Online it said that they would only charge me 15 euros. Not too awful. However, once at the Marseille MP2 airport, they told me it would cost 35 euros. It was painful, but my bag got to Brussels safe and sound. The ironic thing is that I basically paid the entire amount of my actual plane ticket to Brussels. Oh well.
In Brussels, I did everything that one is supposed to do there: I ate Belgian waffles, drank Belgian beer (and cherry beer), ate and bought Belgian chocolates, and saw the little statue of Mannekin Pis (literally a statue/fountain of a little boy peeing...there were such crowds around it!). Brussels was a success. We also lucked out, because it was supposed to rain, but we just had clouds. Aside from that, unfortunately, there isn't much to do in Brussels. We walked around the city for a long time, saw some pretty buildings, did some touristy-shopping, and sampled a lot of different chocolates.
After Brussels, took the Thialys train (which was delayed for 2 hours...) back to Paris, spent the night in a lovely hotel, and said good-bye to Efram the next morning at CDG. Headed back to Aix, and had a great week of midterms and projects.
Waffles!
Mannekin Pis
BruxellesWeekend of March 26th: Toulon and A Wine Tasting
Friday March 26th, our program decided that we should go to Toulon to do an ecology project with French students. Good idea, but it was pretty boring and useless. Met some nice people, gave a good presentation, ate some non-filling BIO food, sun-bathed on the campus, listened to some good and some boring presentations, said good-bye to Toulon, and ate a delicious dinner back in Aix. Originally the project was supposed to be optional, but they made it mandatory. I would have preferred a trip to Cassis, personally.
Saturday was much more eventful. We went on a little trip to Château VigneLaure, a vineyard! We were given a tour of the wine-production facilities, which specialize in red wines and rosé, and then afterward we tasted some rosé and some red wine. The rosé was 2008, and the reds were 2005 and 2003. Apparently 2005 was a good year. I'm not really the biggest fan of red wine, but it grew on me. And the location was absolutely beautiful. After the tasting, we went to lunch in a nearby town. The restaurant we ate at was Michelin rated, and it was delicious! For appetizers, we had a salad with a warm goat-cheese croustillant, our main plate was fish, and for dessert we had hazelnut ice-cream with raspberry sauce. Delish! And, not to mention, we also were given wine to drink. Afterward lunch we traveled back to the vineyard to learn about grape production, stroke the vines, and buy bottles of wine if our little hearts desired.
Bienvenue à Château Vigne-Laure!
The wine barracks
Mmm ChateauMarch 30: Bellegarde puts on a Passover Seder
For the second night of Passover, our auberge hosted a Passover Seder with about 15 people total. We had so much food, and everything went so well. I only wish that I had taken pictures!
Weekend of April 2: Lyon and Easter
This past weekend, Eszter and I TGVed ourselves to the city of Lyon, the 2nd-largest tourist city in France (after Paris, of course). The city was a lot of fun to walk around. We got there Friday afternoon, and walked EVERYWHERE. We went to this one church/basilica on the top of this GIANT hill/mountain. It was intense. So many stairs, and so many hills to climb. Once we got to the top, my feet were crying. Luckily, the church itself is quite beautiful: Nôtre Dame de Fourvière. Unfortunately, they were having mass at the time we visited, so we didn't get to take pictures/wander around inside (but no worries, we went inside Saturday and got some great pictures!!). After climbing the hill, we discovered that there is actually a funicular that takes you up and down the mountain. We decided to take the funicular down and make more use of the Lyon metro system after that expedition. In Lyon we also saw l'église Saint-Jean, walked down rue de Boeuf to see the passageways where the Lyonnais would hang their silk to dry, visited the Museum of Textiles and Fine Arts, ate at 2 awesome bouchons (typical Lyonnais restaurants), and went shopping. Overall, another fun and successful weekend. We also lucked out, because we didn't get rain, like the forecast predicted. And Lyon was actually warmer than we expected. It was windy, though, because it is the origin of the famous mistral. Saturday night we took the TGV back to Aix, and voila.
In front of Cathedral Saint-Jean
In front of the Grand Synagogue of Lyon
Neat statue of horses with mist coming out of their noses
View of Cathedral Nôtre Dame de FourvièreToday is Easter Monday, so we didn't have any class. I got to wake up late, and I also made some Matzah Brei for my collocs. There was also a cute little marché down Cours Mirabeau for Easter, and I bought some neat salts and a delicious garlic-tomato-basil sauce. Yum. Now, it's time for dinner, and hopefully later we will get to paint our Easter eggs!
Sorry about the long post. I promise in the future I will update more often!
~Dani
Being an intrepid traveler, I decided to take a trip this weekend to Nimes (pronounced Neem) and the Pont du Gard. This time, I was a solo traveler, but no worries, I made friends. I went on a tour with 'George.' Only 25 euros for everything. I highly recommend his tours! But unfortunately if you don't speak French, you are out of luck. And he has a very interesting provençal accent.
Anyways, first we went to Nîmes. Nîmes is known as the "Little Rome," because of all of its Roman ruins. We first arrived at les Jardins de la Fontaine, which is a park full of Roman statues, and canals that were used by the Romans to bathe in. In the park there is the Temple of Diane, which was primarily used for parties and soirées, not exactly for prayer. Then we hiked up the hill (it was rough) to see the Tour de Magne, a very, very old tower built before the Romans arrived and conquered France! Unfortunately the top was missing, and we didn't have time to climb to the top of the tower, but it was still magnificent. Afterwards, George led us around the quaint little city of Nîmes to see La Maison Carrée (Square House). Unfortunately, it was under scaffolding. But think: Pantheon. I forget the exact importance of the building, but to me it resembles a temple, so I am going to conclude that it was a temple. Next we walked to Les Arènes, the most complete and well-preserved Roman arena/colosseum in the world! The audio guide that came with the entrance ticket was really humorous. I love how 'English' in Europe translates into 'British English.' I learned all about the arena, the gladiators, roman orgies, and christian martyrs from a very nice British voice. Life could be worse!
Les Jardins de la Fontaine
View of the City of Nîmes
La Tour Magne
Les ArènesAfter Les Arènes, we hopped back on the bus (but only after grabbing a sandwich for lunch, of course) to travel to the Pont du Gard. I couldn't tell you how long the bus ride was, because I fell asleep. Whoops. But on the way to Nîmes I made a friend with an American living in Aix. She was nice, and we talked in French the entire time. Also, by coincidence, one of the girls who is doing a home-stay with the family I eat dinner with was also on the trip with a bunch of people from her program (IAU?). Needless to say, I made some new friends, so traveling alone turned out to be not so bad!
At the Pont du Gard, George took us on a hike around this cliff so we could get a stunning view of the ancient Roman Acqueduct. The Pont du Gard was constructed to bring water all of the way to Nîmes, a good 15km away. It was amazing how large and intact the bridge was! We were there in the late afternoon, and the sun struck it in such a way to make it look like it was glowing. From what I learned in my Provence class, the bridge has 3 levels of arches, and it is 50 meters high, because the water actually floods up to the first levels of arches. The bridge is also built with a slight slant in order to sustain the crushing water. I have to hand it to the Romans--they truly had a great knowledge of architecture! And thank goodness that WW1 and WW2 didn't destroy everything in France. Where would we be today without the sight of the Pont du Gard across the Gard River? Not sure. A bit of advice, though: if traveling to the Pont du Gard, bring a good pair of sneakers. Hiking up and down a mountain in leather boots is not preferable, and surrounding the Pont du Gard are rock formations, so the best way to get around is in sneakers. Please, learn from my mistakes. And take pity on my poor boots. I swear, if they survive this semester, I will treat them to a polishing and fix-up at a nice cordonnerie.
The Pont du Gard
LoveSo, I can now check off the Pont du Gard on my life-goal-must-see list. Check! Next on the list? Bordeaux, Montenegro, Monaco, Australia, ... But next weekend Efram is coming to France (yay!) and we are going to... the one and only... city of... PARIS. So excited. Maybe I'll have time before this weekend to blog more about my life in Aix (instead of only talking about my travels around Europe and France), but who knows what assignments my professors will give me last-minute. So until then, bonne journée à tlm (tout-le-monde in short-hand).
Bonne soirée!
How can I begin to describe the Carnaval de Nice? For starters, it ended last week, so unfortunately I am a bit late in posting this. But no worries, it will still be the same carnival next year. The theme for the carnival was: Le roi de la planète blue, which translates into "the King of the Blue Planet (Earth)." The carnival itself was a combination of Macy's Day Parade meets Pirates of the Caribbean meets Alice in Wonderland meets Cirque du Soleil. Quite the combination! It was quite the show.
Our program took us to Nice pretty early on a Sunday morning, and the bus ride to the region of Les Alpes Maritimes was only about an hour and a half. We got dropped off next to... THE BEACH! Unfortunately it is a rock beach and was only about 50 degrees F when we arrived, so it was no Ocean City. But I did touch the water (Mediterranean) and pick up some neat rocks.
BEACH!Outside of the carnival there were street performers, floats, hair stylists creating strange hair-do's, people doing face painting, there were a bunch of grunge drummers wearing red kilts, and there was even a collection of wind catchers made from kite fabric (I don't really know how to explain these... see picture). For the carnival, we were given a giant bag of confetti (there is still confetti all over our auberge and in random pockets in my jacket) and silly string (in french: bombe).
Wind-Catchers?The actual carnival started around 2, 2:30. We grabbed a great spot in the front, where the parade started, before it hit the bleachers. It was marvelous. The entire show was so much fun. We even got into a silly-string war with some random French people. They weren't very nice, because we would try to take pictures, and they would spray us with silly string. In our faces! But no worries, we got them back. The carnival lasted about 2 hours, after which me, Eszter and Jeff congratulated ourselves for surviving by getting some gelato, and taking a walk along la Rue des Anglais (yes, it was really called that--its the 'Boardwalk'). We left for Aix around 5, got back, and voila. Ate dinner at Bistro Romain (so delish) and passed out, ready for another week in Aix!
À bientôt!
Mechanical T-Rex Float
Creepy Float
The View
Mother Earth?
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