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