Update 1

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Bonjour tous le monde! 7-4-09

Well, today is my 3rd full day in Nice. I say my 3rd full day because my flight was all messed up. I flew to Boston at 1:05 on Tuesday and arrived there on time, but the Boston airport was crazy busy and it was misting badly, so that flight was delayed and I ended up missing my flight at Heathrow at 9:20 on Wednesday. I spent about 6 hours at the Heathrow airport for the next flight, an hour and a half of that time was in the line for a boarding pass for a later flight. Europeans do not get in too much of a hurry, but they are all for the most part very patient and understanding. Story short, I was supposed to arrive in Nice at 12:30 on Wednesday and did not get here until about 8:30, making my supposed 16 hour trip more than 24 hours.

Once I arrived in Nice I was met by the program’s RA. Her name is Christiane. She was very nice to accommodate my changing of times to be picked up, and she is very nice in general. She drove me to the residence I am staying at, Ségurane. The residence mostly only accommodates students, most of who are all in the same summer program at the university here. In fact, the girl in the room next to me is in my class. We have all gotten comfortable with being around each other quickly because we all see each other everyday. The residence is actually not near the school. It is in the center of old town Nice, which by the way is very old and beautiful, and the school is on the west side of the city. But the school is only about 30 minutes away by bus, and I bought a 30 day bus pass so it is all good. Also

I’m having a great time so far. All the people in the program are all very good and smart people, and all the people here at the residence from other schools and programs are great too. Class so far is crazy. I missed the placement exam since I arrived so late, so the next day when classes began I showed up I was asked some questions in French and was placed in my group. I feel it is the right group for me to be in. Most of the people know about the same as me. It’s different so far though. M. Bepoix is my professor. He doesn’t know English well, but that’s ok, they don’t teach us in English here. In fact, he lets us know because “I not very good at speaking English!” That’s what he tells us when people are speaking English in the class. Just say it to yourself in a very frenchy, sarcastic way. So far all we have done in class is discuss different topics like people, traveling, France, Nice, and it is very class involved. No paperwork so far, just a bunch of talking and he shows us how to word what we say correctly. I like it a lot. It is forcing me to speak French and really listen. My problem with learning the language so far is the oral comprehension, and it is already getting much better. M. Bepoix is very funny; he likes to play with all the stereotypes of all the people in the class. Like Texans, supposedly we all wear button up shirts and ties? Yeah, I don’t know. There are also people in my class from Holland, Spain, Italy, Mexico, and other states. The program at the school is an international summer institute, so it’s a melting pot of different cultures.

So far I have done a lot of things. On the first night, Wednesday, I went out with my friends Tess and Michelle to a bar called Waynes that is just a few blocks away. We just wanted to go out and get a beer and see what the night life was like. Thursday morning is when I went to class, then after that I walked around the city for a bit and then met some people at the beach, which by the way is a pebble beach, which in the sunlight gets hot and it is very difficult to walk on, but fun. After that we went back the residence, cleaned up, and met our RA for dinner at a local restaurant. It was fun to try some local foods. I ordered Tomates et Mozzerrella. It’s exactly what it says: a plate of sliced tomatoes (very flavorful tomatoes) with slices of mozzarella on top sprinkled with chopped green onions and bell peppers and drizzled in olive oil. It was very tasty. After that I was tired and just went back to the residence and eventually went to sleep.

Yesterday, after class, me, Tess, Kelley, Daniella, and Morgan took a train to Cannes and spent the day at the beach there. The beach there is sandy and small (it doesn’t stretch the whole city like here in Nice), but it is pretty there and much more touristy than Nice. There are tons of huge yachts that people have in Cannes. It’s a very rich area. After we took the train back we got a bottle of wine (most of us) and I drank a whole bottle to my self. Come on, it’s France, and the wine is good and cheap! Everyone was going out to the bars and stuff. I hung around with Michelle as we were waiting for her friend Alex to arrive for a few days to visit. Once she arrived we left to try and catch up with everyone, but the streets were crowded and the bars full, so after a few moments of unconsciously debating where to go we just walked back to the residence and went to sleep.

Today, Saturday, I went on an excursion with the school. (The school has many trips and activities planned for the 4 weeks here to sign up for at very nice discounts.) Today’s trip was free. What we did was get a nice walkthrough of Nice and we walked up the Parc de la Colline du Chateau which is a huge hill (maybe mountain, I don’t know what it is considered.) Anyways, it is up very high over the south part of the city and the port at Nice. There is a park at the top of the hill in which we sat out under the trees for lunch looking out over the sea. I wound up taking a nap and being woken up by a couple young French boys playing soccer. They were fun to watch. Many people were setting up spots to spend the day. There was a group setting up a small volleyball net and a family celebrating a young child’s birthday. After that I went to a large supermarket inside of a mall just a few blocks away. I bought some eggs, some awesome cookies, mushrooms, bell peppers, babybells, a round of brie, strawberries, nectarines, apples, a few cans of really nice tuna, some croissants, olive oil, some eating utensils, some salami, croissants, an awesome chocolate bar (honey and almonds, yummm!!!), a package of tomatoes, and that’s all I can think of right now. I just wanted to get some stuff to eat while I’m here in the morning before class and just for when I don’t feel like eating out. However, the other day I had a hamburger: it was fairly thin ground beef stretched along half a baguette with provolone cheese, mayo, and tomatoes. It was awesome. We also got some ice cream yesterday in Cannes. I believe mine was chocolate brittle, and it was tasty! I just got done bowling with Michelle and Alex a few blocks away, and we had a great time!

Well this is getting very long, and only the hard core people who actually care will read to this point. I’ll try to keep updating more often to keep it a little shorter. Again, I’m having a lot of fun and look forward to the next few weeks. I also miss everyone at home and look forward to seeing everyone when I am done here. I’ll send out pictures later, but all the websites I’m trying to share with are lame, and I am tired.

Je t’aime and Happy Independence Day

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