Classes

So now that I have made it through my first week of official French classes I can tell you about them. Like I said before we had to sign up for far more courses than we actually wanted to end up taking but I didn't go to all of them. The university I'm going to is called L'Universite de Provence and specifically I'm attending the branch in Aix-en-Provence. It is also known as the FAC de lettres or just the FAC. Its not that far from my house (maybe a 10 minute walk either through a really pretty park or walking alongside the park). I'm in a bunch of my courses with my friend Amanda and she lives right on my way there so it is perfect.

Monday morning Amanda and I left pretty early because we were scared of getting completly lost. We met our friend Kellsey who had a different class but at the same time. We found the room without a problem and sat outside it until the professor got there. So from 9-12 monday morning I have Creole Literature and Culture. At first I was so scared because its a third year course (meaning the french students are Juniors and are very specialized by that time) but I don't think it will be too bad. I will probably take it pass/fail anyways though. The professor seems really nice and is very easy to understand. Of course there were things I didn't understand but that will get better over time I think. He is rather unorganized with how he presented the material but that is very French I'm told and I can get over it. He basically lectured the entire time and when he came to a word that might be hard to understand or a name he wrote it on the whiteboard (although there was no rhyme or reason as to where he wrote it). Overall that class sounds really good. I loved it because for a lot of that class he talked about how the creole languages developed and I've already learned that so it was really easy.

That afternoon from 3-6 we had our written expression class with all the other program participants. That professor seems really nice. She told us that she has worked with American students so long that he teaching style is very American and that she is very organized.

Tuesday morning from 9-12 I had The history of Religion in France again with Amanda. The professor for that class was a rather young woman. She talked really fast but articulated well so after a while I didn't have too much trouble understanding her. It was a bit difficult understanding all the terminology though. She talked about specific religious things that I know I know the name of in English. I just need to spend some time truly looking up the terms and learning them.

For lunch I went along with one of my friends Nate on his search for food (I brought my lunch that day). We went all the way down this one street and he didnt find what he wanted so we went back to the FAC to go to the Cafeteria. We had passed one earlier and decided to just go back there since we didnt know where the other ones were. I sat down to eat and Nate went to buy food. About 10 minutes after getting there I started to realize something... we were the only two students there. We had walked in on the faculty cafeteria! We finished eating there among the rather inquisitive looks. We might have been able to pass for professors (given how young some of them are) apart from the fact that we were speaking english... In our defense the word Cafeteria was much, much larger than the word for faculty which was right beneath it.

That afternoon from 2-5 I decided to go to a History of the Industrial Revolution class even though I wasnt signed up for it. Again the teacher was really young... he didn't look older than 25. He talked very clearly though and told the international students that there would be a different style of grading for us. He actually made the subject material fairly interesting too. It was funny though, when he drew France on the board to illustrate a point he drew a square. None of us could quite figure it out because France is shaped much more like a hexagon than a square!

Wednesday morning from 9-12 I had the class I was looking forward to most: Language, Culture and Society. The professor had amazing reviews, the class I had heard was amazing and the subject matter really facinated me in general. We got to the room rather early again (there were 4 of us americans in the class) but about 10 minutes into the class we realized it was the wrong one. We were sitting in on a linguistics class that was offered through the same department as the Language, Culture and Society class. Only one of us had looked at the schedule to see where the class was and told all the rest (looking up room numbers is really anoying here) and they happened to look it up wrong. The professor was really nice about it and we found the correct room fairly easily. Walking in with 4 people was a lot better than walking in alone but it was still really embarassing. That professor was really nice about it too though. He started off the lecture talking about how humans are the only species with language even though other species can communicate and he asked us why that was. I had already studied that in a course I took last year so I answered grammar to which he said I was close. I know it may not seem like a bit deal but answering a question voluntarily in France was a big deal for me. After that he handed out a list of languages, dialects and other things and we went around the room saying whether or not they were languages to truly define what a language is. It was really interesting! I absolutly love that class and have already started my reading for it.

That afternoon I went to Comparitive literature: Myths. American invasion... seriousally! I think there were at least 15 people from our program (year and semester students) taking in out of a class of maybe 40 or 50. The professor talks very clearly but is very intimidating. Even the international students are required to present an oral presentation infront of the class which kind of scares all of us. We have to read 3 books by the begining of March and she kept on talking about how hard they were. One of them is written in english (although translated into french) and she advises us that If we can read the original language we should do so. Its not so much a mythology course as I thought it was as it is seeing how different mythical towns are then alluded to directly or indirectly in modern literature. At the moment this is the class Im thinking about dropping because at the moment im taking 17 credits beyond the 2 from the required written expression class.

My last class of the week is Thursday morning from 9-10:30 (It seems so short to have a class that is only an hour and a half long!) It was language and the brain and I was really looking forward to this class too. Unfortunatly the professor never showed up. Ive heard that is very normal in France and especially in southern france where the culture is very "just go with the flow". Professors will post things like that either online in some obsure place, on a bullitin board which is not necessarily anywhere near the classroom or not at all. I really didnt mind too much... its culture. I actually dont even know if I will be allowed to take this course or not because it actually counts for a class I will need to take for communicative disorders but they are scared it will not cover the same amount of course material because it only meets for 1.5 hours every week. I guess we will see!

Overall I am a lot less worried for my classes, and hopefully it stays that way! I will never, ever, in my entire life complain about a power lecture again. An hour 15 is nothing compared to here! 3 hour classes! Luckly they give us a break in the middle for about 20 minutes but still its a long time to sit and listen especially when you have to pay super attention to what they are saying. My professors arn't too difficult to understand so that is good but its still difficult to listen to french for that long.

Well, tomorrow I'm going to climb Mt. Staint Victoire which is a mountain fairly close to Aix with a group made up of people from all over so that should be fun!

My computer still isn't working (Dell decided to send the new hard drive without Vista) so I may be without my computer for quite a bit longer :(

Well I'm off to enjoy the wonderful 50 F weather we are having!!!!

Bre

A long-overdue update

Bonjor a tous! Sorry this update took so long, Ive been busy getting to know the city, with our intensive language course and then my computer decided to break. I am now able to get internet although it is very slow and a new hard drive is on the way! However because of that you will all have to wait for pictures... sorry!

So since I last updated so much has happened! The snow melted and we have had a few fairly nice days here! Coats are still a necessity but if the sun is out those are even debatable :) We also started out iteisive French course. They really do try and make it fairly interesting but when you are studying french grammar for 5 to 6 hours a day it can get rather boring! The intensive french course is a 2 week course for which we get two credits. We were split into three groups and have classes at the International Students school which is about a 10 minute walk from my house through the beautiful winding streets. Its an old house so its rather confusing to find the rooms and it is not built for the cold at all so most of the rooms are absolutly freezing but that will get much better once the weather gets nicer! All of the rooms have huge windows that open and would be amazing if there was a slight breeze on a summer day but in just above freezing temperatures it isn't so fun. I have two professors that alternate days: the woman is pretty nice but she gets annoyed when we dont over articulate things. She also keeps telling me that I vary the tone of my voice too much then in her correction she does exactly what she told me not to do. Ah well... Our other teacher is this really cute older man. When we aren't doing grammar with him he loves to talk about languages and how different languages are different (he's a linguist). We have these indepth discussions about the aquisition of language and what is the best way to learn a second or third language... its absolutly facinating! Especially for me! Its really cool when he switches into English to say our names or explain something in English because he has a very thick English accent then. The days may be long but both our professors give us fairly frequent breaks and we usually have a two hour break for lunch.

I guess the food would be a good next topic :) My host grandma's cooking is amazing! She really tries to make very diverse things as well. We have had traditional French, Italian, German, and Austrian dishes as well as from different parts of those countries. Dinner is promptly at 7:30 and I love eating so late! We always have an appetizer (very normal in France) which is anything from a cucumber and tomato salad to three fried jumbo shrimp (and i do actually mean jumbo... they were like 5 inches long) to soup. Then the main course. We had some amazing fish once... that was probably my favorite meal but we have also had chicken, lasagna, pasta, and different types of meats. I also really liked something she made the other night: it was a kind of mashed potatoes but it had a fish taste too. It was so good! I think she said it was a traditional German dish. Then we always have bread with cheese (I love that part of dinner). I'm trying to determine my favorite kind of cheese while I'm here. Ive narrowed it down to goat cheese but there are so many kinds! I really like this kind I bought at the grocery store but I have yet to try out all the cheeses at the market! I suppose I have 6 months so I have pleanty of time! Then for dessert we either have a fruit or an actual dessert. We have had kings cake twice. Thats a traditional cake from all over French-speaking countries but each specific area has different traditions and form the cake takes. The Provencial kings cake is a flat flaky cake with both a figurine and a bean baked inside of it. If you are lucky enough to get the figurine you are the king or queen of the night. If you get the bean you supposidly have to make the cake for the next gathering or for the king/queen (depending on the rules) but I dont think that tradition is closely followed. We also have had a cake with chocolate bits baked inside it and chocolate sauce dripped over the top... oh so good! They also provide me with breakfast which is also really good :) I think my host grandma is the only one of the hosts who makes their "boarders" breakfast. There is always two pieces of toast (for which i have a choice of cheese, nutella, honey or jam), some sort of fruit either whole or in a fruit salad, orange juice and sometimes yogurt. She also always has hot coffee waiting for me. For lunch I either bring food or find one of the stands along the road to eat at. The stands are pretty expensive (although good) so I usually bring lunch. There is one stand though called Pizza Capri which has 2 euro slices of pizza ($3) and they are pretty good! Although they only have "normal pizzas" its comparable to ians pizza for those of you who know what that is. The paninis here are really good too :) Some of the stands also sell crepes which are AMAZING!!!! Nutella, jam, sugar, whatever you put on it you cant go wrong! I found a bakery today that sells pain au chocolate (basically a large croissant with large chunks of chocolate baked inside) for 1 euro... i need to be careful! Aix really is a very expensive city but we're starting to find the places that actually have fairly decent deals. There is a student grocery store called Ed (kinda like Aldys back in the states) where the food is fairly cheap, so thats where I do my shopping. Ive found some instant pasta and rice bags as well as these small bowls with tuna, pasta and vegetables inside. They dont have to be heated up and are actually really good!

Lets see... France is in the middle of their large biannunal sales right now so pretty much everything is 15-70% off. Ive bought a few things but am trying to be fairly conservative! What I really want are a pair of boots but I dont think they make my size :( I'm going to keep looking though... I bought a black bag to use instead of my backpack when i dont bring my computer, a few shirts, a sweater, a skirt and a pair of pants (I think I wrote about some of those things before)

Last weekend a bunch of the program people went on a guided tour to Monaco (the second smallest country in the world- Venice is the smallest) They have the longest ruling family I believe in the world and because of their extremly lax tax laws they are the richest country in the world (per capita of course). It was gorgeous. You're going to have to wait for me to fix my computer to see pictures but the city is built on the Mediterranean coast and the whole area is so pretty! The entire bus ride there my eyes were glued out of the window at the Provencial country side. Words can't describe it... the arcitecture and the landscape. The farm fields and the amazing blue sky. Ah! I love this country! In Monaco we first saw the changing of the guards at the Palace. It was very interesting because they guards were much less formal and "military stick straight not moving" than in United States. The flag was up on the palace so the royal family was in... that was kind of cool. Then we wandered around the old district. It was cool with all its winding roads and tunnels under buildings to other streets. Unfortunatly the cathedral was closed because its their tourist off-season but we found a beautiful little chapel with a mural painted on the ceiling, numerous statues and three relics of saints. We ate lunch there then took the bus down to the lower, more chic part of the city. There we saw the famous casino (where the country gets its revinue) and walked around a bit. We did some window shopping and walked through a few gardens. Then the bus took us to a parfumerie (a place where they make perfume). We got a tour and of course were offered the chance to buy perfume or the other products they sold there. On our way back we drove through Niece and along the boardwalk along the Mediterranean. That is a gorgeous city as well and I cant wait for our program trip there. That whole trip only cost 25 euros (29 if you count lunch)!

On sunday I tried out a church thats about a 5 minute walk from my house. I looked online for a protestant church and ended up finding an amazing presbyterian church. The building used to be a synogogue and they still have two menorahs by the door to symbolize that. Its a fairly small church and it really seems like everyone knows each other. I was immediatly struck by the pastor... he is very easy to understand and easy going. He made a few jokes (that i actually understood!) during the service and overall seemed like a very personable man! I later found out when talking to the couple I live with that he and his wife are our neighbors! They're going to introduce me to them when they get the chance.

I love how everything in this part of the country is done slower. Everyone eats slower, walks slower, talks slower. At the begining I really had to remind myself to do things slower but now it has become second nature. Everything is so laid back and I love it! There have been many times these past two weeks where our classroom has been double booked. If that happened in America people would freak out over it but the professor calmly goes and finds another open room. I'm really starting to just take things as they come. My computer is broken? Eh who cares it will get fixed eventually. The lack of stress has been amazing! (Especially after the extreme stress of last semester!)

I chose my classes the other day. We are supposed to pick way too many then drop down to a normal class load. As of right now I'm signed up for: a french writing class (required), Language culture and society, history of religion in France, language and the brain, Creole literature and culture, history of education, comparative literature: myths, sociology of literature and lecture, theories of the science of language, and Anthropology of Provence. Overall that comes to 32 credits so there is no way Im taking that many! I'm going to go to nearly all of them the first two weeks then drop the ones I dont think will work out. The first few on that list are the ones I really want to take and if my schedule works out the way Ive planned it my weekend officially commenses at 10:30am on thursday morning :)

So I guess overall I love it here! The city is gorgeous, my host family is amazing, the other people here are so nice, the food is so good and I love the whole mentality of life!

As soon as I fix my computer I'll post more pictures I promise!!!

I miss you all!

Bre

Photo tour of Aix

So you guys asked to see pictures of the city I was in... I didn't take very many pictures my first few days because I didn't want to stick out as a tourist or american. However, today I decided to walk around the city, try and see if I could find the important places and take some pictures for you...

(By the way, these pictures are also on facebook with the same captions so that is probably easier for you who are facebook friends with me)

This is the yard of the house. Notice all the snow? yea thats what people are absolutely freaking out over.

This is the house I'm staying in :) There arn't too many actual houses in Aix. Most of them are right on the road with no room between them. The house I'm staying in has two levels. On the first level is a living room, a kitchen and a bathroom. The second level has at least 3 bedrooms and a bathroom. The third level is kind of like a small apartment. Thats where all the other girls who are living here stay. There are three bedrooms, a bathroom and a small kitchen/living area. The couple who owns the house is really nice! I eat 6 dinners a week with them and she prepares me breakfasts as well. She is such a good cook! She prepares such a wide variety of things too! We've had fish, shrimp, chicken, soup, and so many other things.

This is the sign pointing to the house...

This is the driveway-type-thing I walk down to get to the road.

And looking the other way...

The opening you see there is the entrance to the driveway. So the house is behind those buildings.

This is the road I live on. I'm getting pretty good at saying it too :)

This is one of the main fountains which is only a couple of blocks (french blocks thus much smaller than american blocks) from my house. It used to be the center of the really rich potion of town. Then these single houses were turned into "les hotels particulaires" or houses that the owners rented out to wealthy visiting families. I got to go in one of them because I have a friend living with a family down the road from this fountain. It was absolutely gorgeous with high spacious ceilings, beautiful paintings, and just such an amazingly pretty architecture. The square itself is called "la place des quatre dauphins" or the place of the 4 dolphins (due to the fountain)
Here is one of the dolphins up close. Its kinda pretty with the icicles!

Down the street from the place of the 4 dolphins theres a large church. I remember our tour guide told us a little about it but I dont remember exactly what he said. The house I went in is right here...
Looking the other way down the street... isn't it just so french?
the church again...
At a candy shop down the street there is a mosaic above one of the windows. It shows a woman walking from a carriage to the fountain of the 4 dolphins. I thought it was really cool...
And here is the candy shop window. They make some of the candy, calissons, that Aix is known for.
Back when Provence was its own country and not a part of France as a whole Aix was the capital. Because of that there are a lot of old governmental and religious central buildings. This is a statue of the Roi Rene, the last king of Provence. The statue is at one end of the "cours mirabeau" (the "state street" or main street of Aix with a lot of shops, restaurants and banks).

On almost all of the corners of major streets there is a statue of some saint (usually the virgin Mary holding baby Jesus)

This is fountain in Aix that is from the natural springs beneath and dates back to the time of the Romans. Just like in Bath, England Aix has underground springs that were used by the Romans. Aix actually means water in the old language of the region and a lot of the statues and city architecture centers around that theme of water. Its in the center of the cours Mirabeau at a round about.
This is on the cours Mirabeau as well. Its upstairs from a restaurant down on the street and I thought they were so cute!
This is looking down the cours Mirabeau. The trees were planted by American soldiers during one of the world wars...

This is another one of the fountains on the cours Mirabeau. I love how this one looks with the icicles! Every one (even the locals) were around it taking pictures of it!

This is one of the chain convenience stores which is on the cours Mirabeau. In the basement it has a grocery store, the second level has cosmetics and womens clothing and the third floor has mens clothing and housing things. Its very convenient and some of the things aren't too expensive (although they do sell 120 euro purses there...)

A carousel at the end of the cours Mirabeau. I thought maybe there wouldn't be very many people outside today as most of the shops are closed and it was so cold but quite a few people were out just walking especially with their kids.
One of the statues at the end of the cours Mirabeau. I believe it is dedicated to science and math.
This is the main fountain of the city called the rotond. The three statues at the top all represent something. The one facing the camera reprresents justice and faces the courthouse. The other two face Marseille and Avignon but I dont remember what they symbolize.
SALES!!! For the entire month of January there are huge sales everywhere! Of course everything is still really expensive but 30-75% off is much better than full price! Ive profited a bit from the sales... after they are over though I doubt I will buy much.
This is one of the smaller streets off the cours Mirabeau and one of the many many fountains throughout the city. Aix is called the city of a thousand fountains... and I think thats about accurate!
One of the open areas...
The Hotel de Ville (city hall) and the clock tower...
A statue at the top of the building. The two statued represent the different components of water. The way the tour guide explained it was that the statue on the left is an older man, very predictable and calm. The statue on the right is a younger woman, very unpredictable and with a lot of energy and passion.
A closer look at the clock tower. It tells the time, date, month and season.
It displays the season by what statue is visible. This one is winter because he is wearing a heavy coat. The tour guide said its kind of a city-wide mystery how the statues change but he thinks someone goes up and changes them manually.
This is the building where I will be taking some of my classes. Its the school for international students in Aix. I'll be going there tomorrow to start my intensive French course which for the next two weeks will be for nearly the whole day each day then once a week once regular courses start.
All the roads in this part of the city are marked in both French in Provencial (the ancient language of Provence) No one really speaks it fluently anymore but they keep the signs around to remember.
A church very near the school. There are three very distinguishable parts. The part farthest to the right is from the Roman era and the other two farther to the left are from later periods.
The newest portion of the church

The american bar in Aix which is really close to the schools and the rest of the "night life district" This is where I'll be watching the super bowl.

Then I walked back to the cours Mirabeau and tried to find the school again... and I proceeded to get completely and utterly lost. It is so hard to navigate those winding streets! Its not possible to get completly lost however because if you continue to walk in one direction you will find a busier road and you can follow that around to the cours Mirabeau. This is one church I found along the way that I thought was pretty.
And another building I found when I was lost...
I finally found my way back to the cours Mirabeau and tried to find the schools again... this is on the way there. It used to be a really nice hotel (it still might be im not sure...) They are doing a restoration here and you can see the stark contrast between the left and the right.
I ended up finding the school that time, walked back to the cours Mirabeau, ran into a girl from the program and we walked to the school together this time (I have it down now!) As we walked up we saw a huge crowd. It turned out we had stumbled on "the march of the three kings" The people were singing christmas carrols, were all dressed up and there were three camels! It was pretty cool!

It was so cute, there was a little dog right in front of us and the camel found it very interesting for some reason so it kept on trying to smell it. The dog got so scared!

We were hungry so we went into a fast food place on the cours Mirabeau called Quick and there was a pidgin in the restaurant... they are everywhere!

I'll probably put up more pictures when I take them. There were a few other places I wanted to take pictures of but didn't get the chance today. I feel like I'm beginning to get the hang of the city. I guess I just need to walk around as much as I can to figure out where things are in relation to each other. It really isn't that large of a city... just extremely confusing!

Well... I might be going to Wohoo tonight to watch the packer game if people go otherwise I'll watch the play by play on ESPN.com. GO PACK!!!

snow!!!!

I woke up to a beautiful sight this morning...



After all this freaking out about the snow that never came we finally got some :) Well... I guess if you count 1/8 of an inch getting some snow... Before I left I heard there might be snow on Saturday and I was kinda depressed but now that it came its awesome!!! Its worth it just to see everyone's reactions. My host mom told me this morning that there is no way she was going to even leave the house today because she was scared of slipping. My host dad said that one of his friends didn't go visit a friend because he didn't want to drive in the snow and then he added that his friend would have been absolutely crazy to drive in this weather. I understand that they dont have salt or snowplows but all the snow was melted off the roads!

So I took full advantage of our canceled trip today (it was canceled because of the snow) and went shopping!!!! I went into it knowing i needed to be careful. I am here for 6 months and can't just go buying everything I see... but on the other hand their big sale is going on right now and I was intending to take advantage of that! I met my friend Martha at a fountain near both of our houses and we went together. First I bought a black long sleeve shirt at one of the more expensive stores for only 10 euro ($15 ish) Then we went to H&M. For as much as I love that store in the US, I love it about 100 times more in europe! The sales there were amazing! I ended up getting a gray sweater, a t-shirt, a cami, and a pair of really comfortable long brown cotton pants for 24 euros ($35ish) Not too bad for France! Then the two of us went shopping at a grocery store that we have heard is really cheap (mostly students shop there I guess) I bought enough to last me for lunch for a while... basically cheese and bread (I am in France after all!)along with some lunch meat and yogurt. But I also bought some of my favorite desserts: Prince cookies, Mikado, and Milka chocolate. My host mom gives me a piece of fruit every morning with my breakfast and I end up just taking it for lunch. The store really was cheap too! I think I will be doing all of my grocery shopping there!

Tonight I think we are all going out to go dancing... can't wait!!!

A tout a l'heure!

sleet?

So at Madison we only get a snow day once every 50 years or so and that’s only when there is about 3 feet of snow predicted. In Aix the students get off for two days because of the threat of a couple centimeters! It was all over the news last night about how it had snowed in Paris and Avignon. The weather predicted 4 centimeters for Aix. Last night it sleeted but that was it… woke up this morning to no snow just some really cold rain. All the students are really happy though because they are in the middle of their first semester exams!

I’m slowly adjusting to life here. That first night was really hard because I was so tired so I didn’t really participate at dinner very much. I slept like a rock and the next day I was ready to begin using my French. My host family is really nice- I’ve already started to think of the lady as my host grandma. She’s very easy to talk to and really encourages me to use my French. I don’t feel bad asking her for the word im looking for either. She told me to make myself at home like I would at my own grandma’s house. The man is very quiet and when he is home sits and watches TV all the time. Outside the gate it says that he is a dentist although I don’t think I would want him to work on my teeth! He is very old and shaky. I have a really hard time understanding him because he mumbles a lot. I guess that will probably get better with time it’s just very difficult now. He also tends to say the most random things that sometimes don’t make much sense even if I did understand what he said.

Yesterday was the first day I really met the other program participants. Half of us went on a tour of the city in the morning then we had an orientation meeting in the afternoon. The tour was very informative about the different interesting or important areas of the city, but it was very winding and hard to follow exactly where we were. I think I’ll be using a map for a while at least. I live about 2 blocks from the “State Street” of Aix. It has a giant statue of the last king of Provence on one end and a giant fountain called the rotond on the other end. There are a bunch of shops, two movie theatres, and quite a few restaurants and bars. Luckily for the tour we had amazing weather; it was sunny and not too cold. I got to know quite a few of the other students as well and they all seem so nice!

After our tour a few of us went out to lunch at a pizza place that one of the guys had heard was really good. Then we had an orientation meeting and went to go get our cell phones. I got unlimited texting and next to no minutes although I can easily buy more minutes if I need to. It’s a 4 month plan and after that I’ll but a 2 month plan. In case any of you want to know my number is: 06 65 68 55 65. I get free incoming calls so if you want to talk to me J you can call me over skype for 2 cents a minute. Don’t leave a message though, I don’t know how to check it and don’t want to spend my minutes figuring out how to do it.

Last night I went with some of the others to check out an American bar called Wohoo (those of you who watch How I Met Your Mother will understand why I find this so hilarious). They play all the games from back in the states there so you know where I’ll be the night of the superbowl! (I believe is starts at 1 am here) Some of the guys and I already have plans to reserve a spot at the bar super early. It would have been an amazing night except for the fact that it was pouring rain, then sleeting, then pouring, then sleeting, etc. The weather was disgusting and my boots got completely soaked! I did have quite a bit of a walk, well at least comparatively because the city is so small and walkable!

Today I have my French placement test which I’m not so excited for. When I told my host grandma this she was like “Why? Your French is so good!” She says that grammar is hard for everyone, especially the French, but that won’t make my test any easier! Oh well, whatever happens, happens!

Bonjour from Aix!

Hey everyone! So I have finally made it to Aix and I'm in heaven! (well, apart from the being deathly tired and on top of that try to keep up with people speaking rapid french...) The area is gorgeous, the city is gorgeous, my house is gorgeous!

Yesterday I flew from Chicago to Frankfurt and then this morning flew from Frankfurt to Marseille. I thankfully didn't have any troubles with the flights but some of the girls I traveled with did! I was the only one of 5 that had a seat number and they didn't get theirs until after everyone else had boarded... They were so scared they weren't going to get on! Then once we got to Marseille two more of the girls luggage wasn't there! They will get it shipped because it isn't actually lost, it just didn't make it on the plane but still...

So from the train station I took a bus and then a taxi to my host families house. My host parents are on the older side (they have a great grandson...) but they are really nice and their house is gorgeous!!! My room is small but just what I was expecting. I have the amazing windows with shutters that open :)

I am just so exhausted! Being this tired and trying to keep up with people speaking French is not working too well at the moment. I'll get some sleep tonight though and the French will come back.

Miss you all!

Bre

24 hours and counting!

My name is Bre Hilby. I attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison and am planning on majoring in Communicative Disorders and Neurobiology with the intent to become a speech pathologist. Ever since I started taking French in middle school I have been obsesed with the French culture (if not always the language... I'm not too fond of grammar rules). The summer after my Sophmore year of high school I decided to explore that interest further and participated in the Rotary Youth Exchange Program. Basically they matched me with a French girl who stayed with my family for a month of over the summer and then I traveled there for a month and stayed with her family. I had the time of my life! Unfortunately (or not so unfortunately) this experience simply fueled my interest in the French culture and I decided I wanted to go back for a longer period of time. It fit in with my college planning so I decided to go for it despite the cost and long duration. I opted against Paris because I'm not fond of very large cities so that left me with 3 choices: Rennes (north western France), Grenoble and Aix-en-Provence (both in southern France). Somehow Aix just seemed right. Thus from January 6th to June 26th I will be a resident of the gorgeous city of Aix-en-Provence. I will be taking classes in French (no idea what i will be taking yet) and living in a boarding-type situation. I will be living with an older couple, Madamme and Monseiur Esslinger along with three other boarders: a girl from California, a girl from Japan and a girl from France. I'm so excited!!!

Here is some contact information for you to get a hold of me if you would like:
Facebook- I will be checking Facebook fairly regularily so thats probably the easiest way for most of you to contact me
e-mail- briecheese1414@gmail.com or hilby@wisc.edu
Skype- briecheese1414
Address-
Breanna Hilby
C/O Academic Program in Aix-en-Provence
30, avenue Victor Hugo
13100 Aix-en-Provence, France
Phone- I will have a cell while in France so I'll give you that number as soon as I get it (although calling from the states would be really expensive)

I fly out of Chicago at 2:34 pm to Frankfort and then from there to Marseille!

Well, the endless packing calls!

Au revoir!