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Day 9

July 5, 2013

Although many people from our group went traveling this weekend, a small group of us decided to stay in Marseille so we could explore more of the town and save money for our other travel weekends.

Friday was exhausting, but pretty amazing. Forrest had planned a kayaking trip in the nearby town of Cassis. We met early in the morning to catch the 9:15 bus from Marseille to Cassis. We had been to Cassis on one of our previous group outings, but none of us were 100% sure where to go to rent kayaks. One of our professors had given Forrest directions, though they weren’t all that helpful… “pass the Golfe Hotel… turn left… go through the park” etc. It was quite a hike from the small village to the calanques to find a boat rental shop. I never thought I’d say this, but I’m so glad my mother convinced me to bring my tennis shoes. We trekked for about an hour up the hills of Cassis and down into the rocky terrain before we found the kayaks.

The ten of us arrived at the shop at about 11:30 and found that a lady in her 50s or early 60s ran the shop out of her small house beside a marina. We got 2 three-person kayaks and 2 two-person kayaks for half a day (4 hours). Molly and I shared a kayak with our friend Morgan.

We were soon rowing off and ended up going to a small beach in between the calanques that we’d previously seen during our boat tour of Cassis. Paddling was quite a work out, but we were lucky because we were only given two paddles for our kayak, so someone in our boat always got to rest for a little bit before switching off the paddles. The water near the beach was some of the clearest and most beautiful blue water I’ve ever seen. I was surprised that like many beaches I’ve seen in Southern France, this beach was made up of small rocks - not sand. I’m so accustomed to our sandy beaches back home that anything else seems quite strange. We stayed at the beach for maybe an hour our less, going swimming in the freezing water too.

None of us had eaten any lunch, so we paddled back to the kayak rental after just three hours of kayaking because we were all so hungry and needed to eat. We hiked back to Cassis, got some food, and looked around the town a bit more before catching the 5:15 bus back to Marseille.

At 7:30 we met some of the Interact students down by the Vieux Port for a boat party. It was neat to see Marseille at sunset from the sea, but I was a little too tired from our kayaking and hiking trip to fully enjoy the experience. Because had been in a rush to get ready for the party as soon as we’d gotten back from Cassis, many of us hadn’t had a real dinner. Molly and I were so hungry after the boat party that we ended up going out for crepes and ice cream at 11:45.

It was a tiring day, but I’m glad I stayed in Marseille for the weekend instead of spending so much money to do the touristy things in Paris that I didn’t really want to do again. I’ve had much more fun learning about and experiencing the Mediterranean culture of Southern France. 

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Day 8

July 4, 2013

Thursday felt like my first real day of classes. I caught the bus for my 9:30 French 101 class with a group of other UNCW students studying French and headed to school. We have three class periods every day, but our class times change from day to day so we have to consult our schedule to see when our classes meet. For example, next week my French 101 class will be meeting at 11:00 on Monday, 1:30 on Tuesday, and 8:30 on Wednesday. Our professors set it up this way to allow us free time during different parts of the day so we could explore more aspects of the city. In the past people with morning classes could almost never visit the local markets in the mornings, etc.

My French class lasted from 9:30 to 11:45. It wasn’t too bad; it was just long. I’d packed a few snacks in my bag, but wish I’d brought more. My International Business 300 class (also known as Cross Cultural Negotiation) met from 12:00 to 2:15.  Everyone else seemed to enjoy the class, but I was hungry and exhausted by the end of it. I found it hard to go from nearly two months of summer vacation to four hours of class in one day. We don’t have class on Fridays, so hopefully next time I’ll be more prepared with bringing enough food with me to get me through the school day.

The 4^th of July also happens to be my friend Forrest’s birthday (She’s the one that was stuck in Lisbon. Her bags had finally arrived after about a week of being lost.) Forrest wasn’t very interested in going out for drinks for her birthday, but simply wanted to go out for dinner with some friends. Five of us (including Forrest, Molly, and me) ended up eating out at a pizzeria that Molly and I had discovered a few days earlier. It was a fun dinner, and I once again got to meet some new people from our group.

A lot of other people from our UNCW group were going downtown to the Vieux Port bars to celebrate the 4^th of July. Since we hadn’t really gone out much, Molly and I decided to tag along after Forrest’s birthday dinner. I suppose going out with a huge group is fun, but I still feel more comfortable hanging out with a small group of friends instead. I was surprised to see American flag decorations in one of bars, and even more surprised when a Frenchman told me that he loved Americans. It wasn’t a normal 4^th of July celebration for me, but that’s ok. How many times will I get to be in France for Bastille Day (July 14^th)?

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Day 7

July 3, 2013

What ended up being a great day actually started off with some pretty crummy weather. It rained in Marseille on Wednesday morning (the first time during our trip thus far). Molly and I had wanted to check out the local market, which has booths right at the end of our street, and we weren’t going to let a little rain stop us. There were dozens of booths with clothes, toiletries, jewelry, DVDs (probably pirated), and so much more. I decided just get acquainted with the prices of everything since there wasn’t anything that I truly wanted or needed to buy. Molly’s only pair of stud earrings had broken a few days earlier, so she found a good deal on some really cute studs from a nice vendor we met who also spoke English. The earrings were supposed to be hearts, but as I pointed out, when turned upside down they look somewhat like tremble clefs too.

As many people may be aware, the Tour de France was coming through Marseille that day. Because of the race, many main roads were closed and the buses weren’t running. Because we rely on the city buses to take us up to campus, our professors had made the executive decision to have class in a local park instead. My only class that day was my French 101 class, so around 12:15 I met some of my classmates in the lobby and we walked to the park for our 1:00 class (the weather had cleared up pretty nicely by then). To our surprise the park was closed, so the French classes were held outside the park gates at an outdoor café instead. Class wasn’t too bad. We went over a lot of practical things like names, ages, numbers, and colors.

We finished class at 2:30, so my classmates and I decided to stay near the beach (only another block or two from the park) so we could get a good spot to watch the Tour de France. The only problem with this plan was that I had hoped to catch up with Molly at some point, but neither one of our phones were in any working order. I also wasn’t sure when exactly she was going to come down for the race. Her debate class wasn’t meeting that day and she had been hoping to get a spot in the conference room to practice her violin.

My classmates and I did eventually meet up with some other UNCW students, an Interact student, and our program leader. We had a fun time collecting the free hats and things that were being passed out amongst the crowd. I went up the street to look for Molly around 3:40, but still couldn’t find her. I hoped she had come with some other students or at least would find someone else from our group. I ended up going back down the street to claim my spot with our group by the 350-meter marker and wait for the racers to come. Originally we’d heard that the first racers should be coming into Marseille around 4:50. As we waited there was a parade of cars with advertisements and some people handing out free candy.

Finally around 5:30 the pack of cyclists came rushing toward the finish. As I mentioned earlier, I was at the 350-meter mark, meaning I was 350 meters from the finish line of this leg of the race.

There was obviously a lot of excitement in the crowd, but it soon turned a bit chaotic. I couldn’t see what had happened from my point of view, but another girl from UNCW got it all on video. 300 meters from the end of the race a cyclist had fallen off of his bike and suddenly there was a pileup of about a dozen cyclists as they had all crashed into the man who had fallen. I saw some ambulances rush past me down the street, but didn’t fully understand what had happened until later because the announcers were only speaking in French.

It was still a really neat experience, and I’m so glad we got the opportunity to see it. I don’t regret the sunburn or the long wait. The Tour de France is something I’ll likely never see again, and I’m glad I could be a part of it just this once.

Once I got back to the hotel Molly explained that she hadn’t been able to find me, but ended up seeing two other UNCW girls in the crowd and had hung out with them during the race. They ended up watching the race at a point past the finish line on the other side of the street from me. Molly hadn’t seen the crash either, but had seen the blood on some of the riders when they’d stopped. She ended up having a really fun time bonding with the other two UNCW girls that we previously hadn’t had much interaction with on the trip so far. Some of the people on this trip (in our opinions) party way too hard, and Molly was glad to find other people we could hang out with that weren’t interested in going out every single night. They had so much fun hanging out at the race that all four of us decided to go out for sandwiches later for dinner.

Overall, I was really glad I got to see such a famous race and that our professors encouraged us to take part in the cultural experience. They even moved around our class times so that we would have enough time to get good spots for the race. Some of the kids from Florida still had to go to class at their regular times and had to risk missing the event. I’m also glad I’ve gotten to know more and more nice people from our study abroad group.

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Day 6

July 2, 2013

On the road again… Instead of having class today we had a fieldtrip. We drove about an hour and a half to Le Château des Baux-de-Provence in Les Baux de Provence, France. The little town reminded me of a smaller Assisi, Italy. The town is located on a steep hillside and has the remains of medieval castle at the very top. We took a guided tour of the castle and were able to take some pictures.

Afterwards we had lunch as a big group in a nearby café. I appreciate the fact that I haven’t had to pay for all my meals here, but I get hesitant at many of the big group meals because I can’t control what kind of food I will have to eat. I don’t want to insult any of the chefs by not eating my meat or anything with apples or peaches, but I also feel bad for making people go out of their way because of my specific needs. The main course today was veal, and when at least three other members of our group asked for just the rice and tomatoes, I did too. I didn’t mean to be a bother, but I’d rather the restaurant not waste such a meal on me when I certainly won’t appreciate it. I’d be curious to know what percentage of Europeans are vegetarians. It seems to be a lesser percentage than Americans, and if I remember correctly only 1% of Americans are vegetarians.

Molly and I did a quick bit of shopping after lunch. I got some Moulin Rouge and other vintage looking coasters, a small vintage poster print, and a postcard for all under 8 Euros. Molly got a bag and some soap.

Our next stop on the fieldtrip is by far one of my new favorite places. If there is a heaven on earth it must exist under a mountain, in a rock quarry, with a light show, set to classical music! Yes, you read all of that correctly. We went to an art exhibit of moving images projected onto the limestone walls of a rock quarry in Les Baux de Provence, France. It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen, and consequently rather hard to describe. There was some confusion about if we were allowed to take pictures or not, but in the end Molly and I opted to not take any pictures and just enjoy being in the moment of the show. It reminded me of a quote from W. Eugene Smith, “The world just does not fit conveniently in the format of a 35mm camera.”

I did, however, find this online article about the rock quarry that includes a few pictures:

http://www.goworldtravel.com/travel-france-les-baux-provence-van-gogh-limestone-quarry/

NOTE: I’ve been getting a little behind on my postings to the blog because I’ve been trying not to write about the day’s experience until it’s completely finished, but I think I’m going to start updating the blog earlier in the evening if possible. It should save me from staying up even later to write about every little thing.

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Day 5

July 1, 2013

On our 5^th day here we finally visited our school. Our group spent several hours in the morning at orientation at Euromed Business School (which has recently become Kedge Business School). The building we toured is very modern and even has a room in its library full of beanbag chairs for tired students to take a nap! We received a lot of information about our classes and had a catered lunch on the faculty patio of the school cafeteria. We’ll take the city bus to and from classes each day. It’s about a 40-minute one-way ride from our hotel to school and vice versa. We were given bus/metro cards from our program, so traveling to school every day shouldn’t be an issue.

To explain the next part of my day I need to explain what happened to one of my friends when she flew into Marseille. She had been a part of another study abroad program in Lisbon, Portugal in June and was supposed to fly from Lisbon to Brussels to Marseille. The day she was supposed to leave Lisbon, the airport workers there went on strike. She was stuck in the city for two extra days because the airport still had her luggage and she didn’t want to leave it behind and lose it forever. She finally arrived in Marseille two days late, but the airport had lost her luggage in all of the craziness. It had been two more days since she’d arrived in Marseille, and she still hadn’t gotten her bag. To make matters worse, the airport workers from Brussels then decided to go on strike, so no one was much help with locating her bag. She was getting annoyed with having to wash the same two outfits every night, so I volunteered to find the shopping district with her and help her find some new clothes.

We ended up taking the metro to a stop we knew was a little beyond the shopping district and were then going to walk our way back through the shopping center. It seemed simple enough when we looked at the subway map, but we both had a difficult time orienting ourselves in the right direction once we got off the subway. We had ended up at the correct spot, but were surprised that it was in a much poorer part of town. It took us a few tries to find the shopping center, but we had a neat time seeing the different cultures, especially the different variations of Muslim culture.

By the time we got to the shopping center it was nearly 6:30 or 6:40 and most shops here close at 7:00. We didn’t have enough time to find anything for her to buy there, so we ended up going to the Monoprix by our hotel and finding her a few more clothes. We had walked a lot in the short amount of time we’d been shopping, but it was a nice experience to get to learn more about the metro and see a different part of the city.

When we got back to the hotel around 8:00 Molly and some other students were waiting outside the hotel for an optional activity planned by the French students from Interact. I decided I should go too so I could try to meet some more people on our trip. We ended up going “speed chatting” on the beach. It was like speed dating, but the goal was simply to become acquainted with other students in our program at Euromed. It was fun enough, and I finally met some other people who will be taking French 101 with me.

Day 4

June 30, 2013

Molly and I started out the day once again by running to the store to get a few more supplies. As one of the girls on our trip pointed out, it seems like the French must go to their local store almost every day. They charge for bags at stores here, so people are inclined to bring their own bags and to not buy more than they can carry. Today Molly and I stopped at Monoprix and a store that sold fresh fruits and vegetables. I was finally able to say "J'ai une allergie aux pêches" (or something resembling that) as one of the workers offered us a fresh peach to try. I hadn't actually had to tell anyone about my allergies in French until then. I did get some bananas, strawberries, and potatoes, so I should be pretty stocked on groceries for a while. 

Our main event of the day was visiting Cassis, a small town several miles outside of Marseille. We got to take a boat tour of the calanques, visit a local beach, and have some free time to go shopping. Molly bought a neat souvenir clock for her apartment, and I got three postcards. I've decided to collect a postcard from every country or city that I visit so I can make and frame a collage when I get back to the states. Molly and I talked with some of the other girls about possibly going back to Marseille sometime in the future so we can explore the small town a bit more.

When we got back to Marseille around 6:30 we found out that there was going to be a free jazz concert tonight at the Vieux Port. We had a cheap dinner eating in and went to the concert later on in the evening. We had to navigate the subway system to get downtown. We have metro passes provided by our program, but it was the first time we'd been on the subway without any help. We only stayed at the concert for about half an hour before we decided to come home (we have to be up early tomorrow). It was a bit confusing to find our way back to the hotel because the subway station we'd originally used had been shut down due to the crowd. It took us a bit of walking to get to the next station, but we still managed to have an early night and were back home well before midnight. 

Tomorrow we'll get a tour of Euromed and have our school orientation. Molly and I still don't know if we have actual classes tomorrow or not. The only thing we really know is that we have to be downstairs by 8:30 to catch a bus to school with everyone else. I'd nearly forgotten I was here to take two classes. Hopefully school won't be too boring.

Day 3

June 29, 2013

Day 3 started off with a trip to an electronic store, Darty, with Molly and 2 girls from our trip that we met last night. One of the girls needed a cheap hair dryer, one needed and charger, and I needed a SIM card for my cell phone. We had to be back at our hotel by 1:30 for a bus tour and we were pushing it for time. It was taking forever for them to set up my SIM card, so Molly and I told the other 2 girls to go back to the hotel so we all wouldn’t be late for the tour. Eventually we got my SIM card and Molly and I had enough time to jog back to the pavilion by the hotel, buy a quick lunch, and be in the lobby by our scheduled time.

Our bus tour was one of the highlights of the day. It lasted from 2:00 – 5:00 and we got to see sites like Notre-Dame de la Garde, Palais Langchamp, and the Vieux Port (the Olde Port). We got some great pictures, and it made us want to spend some more time exploring the different parts of the city. Marseille is twice the landmass of Paris, so we’ve got a lot of ground to cover.

When we got back from the tour we were pretty hungry. We found a bigger grocery store a few blocks away from the hotel that we stopped in to get a few things and then went to a pizzeria on the main boulevard.

In France, water is often more expensive than wine. On the first night I paid 3,50 Euros for water at a restaurant, and only 2,50 for a glass of wine. Because it’s more economical and because I’m visiting France, I’ve been trying to find a wine that I actually like. I’ve tried white wine (hated it), rose (could handle it a little more), but tonight I tried red wine. The red wine is my favorite one by far. Hopefully I’ll find some specific types of wine that I really enjoy by the end of the trip.

Molly had wanted to go to the beach to see the sunset, but we didn’t quite make it there tonight. Instead we’ve been hanging out in our room, chatting, uploading photos, and trying to fix our phones. I need to figure out how to put money on my SIM card, though for the time being I seem to be able to text Sarahanne in Switzerland just fine.

Tomorrow we’re going to Cassis with our group and I can’t wait to see the calanques!