Le Mistral

Le Mistral. How do I begin to describe Le Mistral? Le Mistral is a wind that seeps into every corner of your home, freezes every bone in your body, whips your hair around like a rollercoaster ride, and sounds like a train going through the middle of the room. Le Mistral. Today, I experienced Le Mistral. What was supposed to be 45 degree weather felt more like -10. Thank you, Le Mistral.

Well, aside from the not-so-lovely Le Mistral, the past couple of days here in Aix have been full of new and exciting things. For starters, I began classes yesterday. I am taking four classes, plus (hopefully) an internship at either Le Musée d'Histoire Naturelle d'Aix (Museum of Natural History of Aix) or le department d'anthropologie d'Université de Provence (anthropology department of Provence University). Not sure when I hear back from either internship (called a stage here--pronounced more like staaj), but hopefully I get one! That would be très chouette! Classes are also very interesting. I am taking a class on Contemporary France, History & Culture of Provence, History & Culture of the Mahgreb (Northern Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia), and Literature & Art of the 20th Century. Luckily my schedule isn't too crazy either, except for Wednesdays. Oh man. Wednesdays I have THREE classes! And they are 1.25 hours each... and trust me.. it's rough. Normally it wouldn't be so difficult, but since EVERYTHING is in French, it is tiring trying to listen to everything, translate it, understand it, comprehend it, etc... I think my brain just tires out much more quickly. Hopefully it will get better soon! Luckily I think the jet lag has finally worn off. It's been much too cold to go out at night, but now that I'm well-rested and somewhat organized, once it gets a bit warmer and not so rainy, I will definitely explore Aix's nightlife and report back.

Today was a nice day, because I didn't have class until 4:30 pm. It was the Mahgreb. Interesting course, but the professor loves to lecture without a specific order. It seems like most of the French professors here are like that. They are somewhat désordonnés (disorganized) compared to American professors, but I will adapt. The one thing that is frustrating is that they didn't really give us an exact list of the homework we have each night. Hopefully that will also become easier to figure out. Since I had class late, I had time today to work on and finish my Resume and Lettre d'intêret for my stages. Also had some time to plan out my February Break plans! Oh man that has been such a frustration! After a lot of researching, I think I am going to Italy (Rome, Naples, Pompeii) via train. A much better idea than Brussels (Belgium) and Amsterdam. Not that those places aren't amazing...but I think Italy will be absolutely fantastic! (And hopefully a bit warmer!) Vive l'Italie!

After class we had dinner with our lovely French family. They even brought a guest to dinner--their little neighbor who is about 7 years old named Lior (I think). She was so adorable! She was missing her two front teeth, and is learning English, and told us all about colors in English. Très mignonne! Dinner tonight was absolutely phenomenal. Apparently it was Tunisian. We had Couscous, vegetable soup to pour over the couscous, poulettes (little balls of meat mixed with herbs--the best thing I've ever eaten and I must learn to make these ASAP) and some beef sausage (mergueza). To make dinner even better, for dessert we had Mandarines and... LYCHEES! My favorite! I find it so fantastic that Aix has lychee nuts. If you've never had one, well, then you have unfortunately missed out on possibly the most delicious fruit ever known to mankind. Eszter and I found this great raspberry-lychee juice the other day. So good. I wish they had juices like that back home.

Unfortunately I have class tomorrow (10:30am though, so not too awful for a Friday morning), so I need to finish this entry and hit the hay! À demain!

Bon soir!