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Published: January 5th 2011
This was a really interesting day. It began with me leaving the hostel and looking for the number 22 bus. Did I mention that I was on a MOUNTAIN! Yea so I walked about a mile with those two butthole suitcases up hill to the nearest 22 bus stop. So let me just begin by saying that the French don't know directions just like everybody else in the world. I was trying my hardest to find my dorm but try as I might I could not find it. I went up and down the 22 route for hours. When I asked from directions I kept getting pointed in the opposite direction. I was so close to giving up ( although I have no idea what I would have done). I found myself at a stop literally a block from where I needed to be (I didn't know this at the time) my arms felt like they were coming out of their sockets from those m-fin' suitcases when I saw him. There was a boy walking down hill on the opposite side listening to his music. I stopped and thought: does he look friendly? could he be a new friend? I took the risk. I ran across the street shouting <<Monsieur! Monsieur!!>> He stopped and I asked him if he knew where the address was. He told me it was right around the corner but I told him, looking at my suitcases toppled over on the sidewalk opposite us that I had two super lourdes (heavy in French) suitcases. And so being the amazing person that he is he told me he'd ride the bus the two stops with me and show me where to go. OHHHH MMMMM GEEEEE! So of course we had to go uphill to get to my dorm (figures) and I kept thinking he would tell me va te foutre (bad word) and leave me but he didn't he took the heavier of the suitcases and was walking faster than me up hill. Haha I looked so fat at the moment. So we get to the office and I told him thanks like a million times and that he didn't have to stay but he insisted on staying so he could help me get my stuff upstairs, which he did and surprise surprise I'm on the 4th floor (There are only 4 floors in the whole building fml). Ok so we get to the room and he helps me fill out the room assessment by testing everything. THEN he invited me to lunch. We got baguettes. Mine had camembert in it (cheese) and his had jambon in it (ham) with drinks. Oh and I forgot to mention that he told me his name. I think it's something like Titu but I wasn't sure so I call him Steven in my head. Yeah so Steven showed me where he likes to eat and he told me about what he liked to do and what Nice was like etc. Once we were done Steven asked me if I would like a tour of Nice and I said sure so he took me downtown by bus and showed me all of the main sights. We definitely walked at least 5 miles. He gave me as much background info as possible and told me what he did in those areas. We explored the side streets called (trottoirs) and saw lots of interesting and unique stuff. Then we walked up the biggest hill ever in the world so I could get a carte-postale (postcard) picture of the coast of Nice. We went along the Promenade des Anglais to see the beach. There's no sand there just palm-sized round, grey stones. Steven was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo nice to me. I couldn't believe it. We went back into the trottoirs and found a hole-in-the-wall place to havea snack. He got this thing called socca. It's crushed chickpeas made into a paste with eggs then spread out on a stone and baked in an oven. It was so good! We shared that then took the tram to the bus then the bus back to campus. He told me he was going to go hang out with his friends for a while but that he'd meet me back at the cafeteria if I wanted for dinner at 19h.
I went back upstairs and attempted to unpack and settle in until 19h. (that's military time for 7pm. the <<h>> stands for heure which means hour in French) I was leaving the dorm when I ran into the guy who mans the desk at the bottom of the building. He's kind of frosty but he did introduce me to my new friend Marissa. She's a student at the University of Tennessee. She's a double major in French and Spanish. She got here the same day as me and was smart and took a taxi to the university instead of the bus and didn't have to stay in a hostel. She had spent the first semester of this school year with a Spanish family near Madrid studying Spanish. We were so glad to meet each other because we were both feeling really lonely. We have rooms right next to each other and hit it off great. I invited her to have dinner with me and Steven and so the three of us went to the cafeteria along with two friends of Steven who're law students. We had pasta with Bolognese sauce, fruit, yogurt, baguette and water. After dinner Steven and I said good night. He gave me his number and told me to call so we could hang out more. Marissa and I planned a shopping trip for the next day so we could get stuff like toilet paper (no biggie) haha. I'm so thankful to have found such awesome people here and on my 2nd day no less!
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Galadriel
non-member comment
Why Steven?
You realize Step is short for Stephen? Do you have a thing for my hubby or what?? Hahahah. I love that you are making new friends. I'm really having the best time reading these entries I keep laughing out loud. Oh and by the way unless you don't want to be friends with "Steven" you may want to learn his real name. Just saying. Love ya