GAP is not french.

i have been here for 2 full weeks and i suddenly realized that besides food and my ticket to barcelona, i haven't bought anything for myself yet! i've been strolling the city walking into every clothing shop for the past few days, but today i finally made my first purchase. the huge sales start this weekend but i just couldn't wait. ironically, my first purchase was at GAP. yes i know, GAP is not native to france. in my defense, they seemed to have different items than we do in the states. that could also be due to the fact that i haven't been into a GAP in over a month now. anyways, i bought a navy and white striped sail-style tee that was on sale for 7euros. that definitely seemed like a steal to me...then i remembered that i have to convert that to dollars. i made up for shopping at GAP by buying these amazingly cute salmon colored shorts at Etam, which is definitely a french store. they go perfect with my new tee....just in time for barcelona!

miscommunications.

for the most part i understand everything that my host family says and when i don't understand one or two words they will normally explain them to me until i find the english meaning or i just nod my head and go along. the other day me and my roommate were talking and we realized there are several things that we understand differently. for example, the other night our host mother was telling us that her son was going to paris for the weekend to see black eyed peas in concert. my roommate thought that she had said her son saw black eyed peas in the airport on his way back to aix. we confirmed her story last night - 1 point for brooke. one of the best misunderstandings was sunday while we were eating lunch. our host mom asked us what time church was at and we told her 5pm. she told us that she was going to town to go to this big market at 3 and she could take us with her and then to church. so naturally we agreed to be ready at 3. well both clara and i thought that she meant the market in the downtown area of aix where the church is - false. once we are in the car and she turns on the highway, we both stare at each other thinking "where in the world is this woman taking us?!" we end up driving about 15 minutes away to this outlet type mall in who-knows-where. i'd never turn down the opportunity to shop, so it was okay with me. once we got to church clara and i started laughing about how neither of us knew where we were going or what we had agreed to do - definitely a humorous trip. this one is probably one of my favorite misunderstandings and for the sake of the person i will protect their identity. so last week a few of us were at a restaurant and the waiter comes up and asks if we would like to hear "le plat du jour" (meaning the special of the day). before any of us could answer "oui, bien sur" this nameless friend starts talking about la plage (the beach) and how it was too cloudy to go that day. the waiter just kinda stares for a minute then gives a little laugh and says that he said le plat du jour not la plage aujourd'hui. naturally this person got really embarrassed but his/her french skills still trump mine any day. oh man i still love that story.

Cliff Jumping

So yesterday we had an excursion to a few more french villages (Vinon and Moustiers) and then we went to a lake which was glorious! The water was this beautiful bright green and blue and there was a sweet waterfall called the Gorges du Verdon. People rented paddled boats and boated around the lake. A few of us decided to swim across the lake and go cliff jumping off this mountain into the lake. IT WAS AWESOME! I got to officially check another item off of my bucket list. Don't worry, I didn't get hurt or anything! Today, we went to St. Tropez which is basically a beach town where all of the celebs have their summer homes. Johnny Deep, Georgoe Clooney and Bridget Bardot apparently have houses there. No celeb sightings unfortunately. Then we hiked part of a trail that goes from Italy to northern France and found a beach area to lay out and swim in the Mediterranean, no big deal. 

La Fête de la Musique

on the first day of summer, there is a huge music festival all over france. it was crazy! it starts around 7pm and didn't end officially until 2am. i have never seen anything like it. all kinds of bands and DJs line the streets of the city and play music all night long. there was definitely a large spectrum of people: hippies jammin to reggae to old people listening to orchestra music. it was definitely worth the lack of sleep i got last night. i think i walked around for 5 or 6 hours listening to different bands play. french people love old school american music and really terrible pop music (ie. katy perry, lady gaga - my dad's new favorite). i'm excited for bastille day (france's 4th of july) which is coming up on the 14. its a huge deal here, we have classes off and everything closes down to celebrate. today in my film & lit class, our prof spent about 30 minutes explaining the french version of bocce ball, petanque. i'm not really sure what it had to do with anything we are learning, but he decided to invite us all over to play it one day. i really enjoy his class, everyday he references old american films that none of us have seen which defeats his reason for mentioning it. if i don't remember anything else from the class, i'll at least have a long list of movies to watch!

joyeuse fête des pères

yesterday we celebrated la fête des pères with our host dad. after church, clara and i were craving some good french pastries since neither of us had eaten any in our first week here. everything is closed on sundays so we were lucky to find this quaint boulangerie calls Lavarane near le cours mirabeau. we bought ourselves some yummy french tarts and cookies and we bought our host dad a petit gateau au chocolat. we gave it to him after dinner and he shared it with us! thankfully, i got to talk to my daddy on father's day and wish him a father's day. i  can't believe i have only been here a week, it feels much longer than that! i am enjoying every minute of it and i don't want it to end! i paid today to reserve a spot to go on a trip to st. tropez this saturday. apparently, it the beach for the rich people which explains why i had never heard of it before. it looks beautiful and much nicer than marseille. my friends and i are planning a trip to either venice or barcelona or belguim, such a tough decision i know. my priorities still lie with paige in england and ireland, i just have to officially buy a ticket to get there. anyways it's almost 8pm which means dinner will hopefully be soon! not eating from lunch at 1pm until 8pm makes up for all of the cheese i eat! 

marseille la merde.

marseille, what an adventure. the hours from about 10am until 1pm couldn't have gone more wrong. first, the plan was to meet at the bus stop in aix. it would have been flawless except for 3 of the 5 people didn't know where it was. once we all got there 4 of us bought a pass for 6 trips. so we all get in line for the bus and we swipe the card 4 times. well, the driver doesn't let me on because i am eating an apple. an apple, a biodegradable food for goodness sakes! so i have to get off the bus and throw it away. by the time i get back to the bus he closes the door in front of me and leaves!!! the whole time i was yelling "J'ai déjà payé!" ("I already paid") but he left anyways. thankfully, i explained it to the next driver who graciously let me on. meanwhile, the fifth person had failed to put money on her bus card, so she got on a third bus. so i am the only one from the group on my bus which isn't a bug deal, except for the fact that there are 2 different stops once you get to marseille. naturally, i chose the wrong one. so i am in this park near a giant arc and the other 4 people are at the bus station in marseille. so we plan to meet in the vieux port. so i follow the signs that point to that direction. well i see this huge statue and think that has to be the place, false. so once i make it to this staute i find more signs for the vieux port pointing in the direction i just came from. meanwhile, my friends had the same problem and they are now at the giant arc that i had just left. so finally we all meet up at this huge arc and make our way to the vieux port. it turned out to be a sunny and perfect day! we took the petit train to the notre dame da la gard. which was beautiful. we saw all of the boats, smelled all of the fish and even got to see some sort of a protest. today it clara's (my roommate) birthday, so our host mom decided to have fondue for dinner, followed by the usual cheese and bread, and then ice cream (our first "french" dessert here!) it was definitely a success and memorable day!

*note: my host dad calls marseille, marseille la merde because he is not fond of it at all.

olives au chocolat

(which are not chocolate covered olives as we thought. they are chocolate covered nuts in the shape of olives.)

clara et moi

la belle plage.

le centre ville de marseille

notre dame da la gard

le luberon

we took our first excursion today to la luberon which is a mountain region in provence. we visited three villages: lourmarin, roussillon, and gordes. our tour guide told us that the french government has strict rules for french villages. 1) they must have less than 2,000 inhabitants 2) they must have some sort of monument (statue, chateau, etc.) 3) they must be well-maintained for tourist attraction...there are a few more but unfortunately i failed to write them all down. lourmarin was my favorite by far. they have a huge farmers market that we walked around and i bought some souvenirs and ate a fougasse  with goat cheese and tomatoes, delic! the french desserts havent been a problem for me yet...its the cheese that gets me! i figured with all the walking that i do and eating like the french, im bound to start looking like one. a few other girls and myself are going to marseille tomorrow to lay out on the beach, shop, and hopefully visit chateau d'if. i kinda forgot that i'm here as a student, not a tourist! i failed to  mention earlier that my host dad has another oddity...he makes me blow dry my hair after every shower. im still not quite sure why...something about my hair being wet, either way, i know my mom is happy that someone is making me try to look good. if it wasn't for him, my blow dryer would still be packed away in my suitcase. they weren't here tonight when i took a shower so i got away with it this time!

so blessed.

i have only been here a total of 3 days, but i already feel so blessed. i have to constantly keep reminding myself that although im in a crazy secular country where only a small percentage claim to be practicing Christians God is still with me. he has already shown up in small and big ways. today i had a rendez-vous with a girl who is an intern at the church that was started by people from my home church in charlotte! we sat and had coffee at a cafe and then she showed me where the church is and i met some of the people who go there. it's so great to have that connection here and feel a sense of home and belonging in a country miles from my own. she told me about the french teaching program she did this past year in aix. im thinking that could be a possibility for after graduation next year (sorry mom!) my classes started today and i love them already. i have two french profs and they are awesome. i was relieved that i understood every word they said...i think i finally found that french-english switch in my brain. although i was shopping today at mango (caroline's recommendation) and i was trying on these high-wasted pleated khakis that are really popular over here and these sales woman starts telling me how she has more upstairs and i completely froze and had no clue what she was saying. i quickly regained my confidence and starting talking except i am not really sure if i was answering her questions. anyways the pants looked terrible because of those kiser-hips i inherited (they will pay off one day when i have kids) and i was telling her how my legs were too big for the pants and she laughed at me, then i quickly walked out of the store. my goal is to find a pair that look good and fit in with the rest of the youngins here!

WOOHOO

free wine and cheese, yes please.

it's only day two and i already know my basic bearings. so far i can get from my house to the school and from the school to the major market and shopping areas. just call me a native...minus the whole being an-american thing. although, twice today i did get asked a question by a random french person...one was for directions. i suppose that means i somewhat fit in, or i was the only person nearby...? a few local french students came to our orientation to tell us about the good places to shop and eat. one of them was a bartender at WoHoo's (the bar down the street from the school). he invited all the students to a free wine and cheese gathering, bad idea. the entire bar was packed with american students obnoxiously singing along to all of the terrible american pop songs. yes, i know what you're thinking...and you're right. i was also one of those obnoxious americans, but atleast i know that i was invading the locals space. every night at dinner my host dad tries to shove more and more food down my throat. although i have already eaten whats on my plate he insists i still need more food and offers me bread, cheese, and fruit....all of which i cannot turn down. when i came home tonight for dinner he was chillin watching 7th heaven in his boxers yet again. he and his wife took a trip to the states recently and he has decided to call me brooklyn (which sounds like brooklie in a french accent) because of his obsession with america. their 6 year-old granddaughter was here today and she came and talked with me for awhile. i love how natural it is to switch from english to french. i decided to be a tourist today and take some pictures of my town...enjoy!

le cour mirabeau

le centre ville

la vue de ma maison

the longest day ever.

after an eight hour plane ride and a three hour train ride, i'm finally in aix! losing six hours of day-time really messes you up. i was super nervous to be thrown into a new culture and living with a family that doesn't speak english, but after my pep-talk and pump-up music, i walked off the train like a pro - speaking french and greeting people with the traditional french bisous. my american room mate is really awesome and it's nice having someone else to play off of during conversation. i live with an older couple and their daughter. they have hosted other students for years so they have this whole thing down pat. the dad is so endearing and i think he appreciates my naivety of the french culture. the french are really open people, for instance when we got back from our first student function, the dad was chillin in his boxers and undershirt watching tv. he stayed like that all through dinner and the rest of the night, no shame there. so our host mom dropped us off at the school and told us that it is only a 10 minute walk back. being the adventurous people we are, we told her that we could figure it out and walk back....false. a 10 minute walk turned into a hour wandering the streets until we finally reverted to the ultimate tourist stereotype - consulting our map. i can definitely get used to the never-ending meals. first was the pasta, then the salad, then the cheese and then yogurt. no wise thus far. this needs to change if i want to become a french wine connoisseur. my host mom is a great cook and i told her that i love cooking and want her to teach me the french techniques. i'm one step closer to opening my french bakery!