Today I want to talk about the two classes that I'm taking. I'm taking a Modern Art in Provence class, which is about modern artists who are from or lived in Provence, like Cézanne, Van Gogh, Delacroix, Monet, and Millet, to name a few. It's my first art history class. I'm also taking a Writing in Provence class, where we read authors who write about or lived in Provence and do some creative writing inspired by those authors. Sometimes we are also supposed to watch films that take place in Provence and discuss those, too.
I was honestly pretty wary about both of my classes. I need those credits for my French minor and to fulfill my art general education requirement, but I have already taken a Written French class at Pitt, and well, I haven't had great experiences with history or art museums in the past. After the past couple of days though, I think the two classes will be okay. I get more homework than I expected, so I'm a little disappointed that I probably won't be able to breeze through the course and do a ton of exploring, but we get to go on field trips to cool places (like Arles and Marseilles!) for class, so I'll get to do some exploring anyway :)
There are actually a ton of excursions planned for us, and some that are optional. For example, this Friday, I'll be going to La Ciotat, which I've heard is beautiful. I've (obviously) never been, so I don't know too much about it. I'm also going to Monaco on Saturday (for only 30 euros :D ), and Arles and Saintes Maries de la Mer on Sunday. I've heard all of these places are beautiful, so I'm looking forward to it. I'm in for a beach-filled weekend! Hopefully I'll get to take lots of pictures ;)
My daily schedule looks like this: I have my writing class (taught in French) at 8:30 every Monday through Thursday until 10:15. I then get a 2 hour and 15 minute break to do whatever I want, which for the past couple of days has consisted of going to stores to pick up anything I forgot and buying myself lunch and maybe starting my homework. It turns out that I forgot most of the things I would need for school, because of course I didn't think about school at all when I was packing, until the last minute when I threw in some pencils and a mini-stapler. Luckily, I consider myself a pretty smart spender ;) so I've found school supplies at reasonable prices (school supplies in Europe can be ridiculously expensive).
My second class, art history, is from 12:30 to 2:15. Afterwards, I've been doing homework or some exploring of the town. On Tuesday, my first day of class, my friend Natalie and I went on a little "scavenger hunt" where we actually only completed 1 thing on a list of about 12 (I actually don't know because I didn't count how many there were total, but there are a lot), which was to get our student bus ticket pass, and then we got free ice cream. I also lost my cardigan that day, so I was kind of sad, but oh well. It happens. In Aix, we pretty much have to walk everywhere, so by the end of the day I'm pretty tired. The walk from home to school is about 25-30 minutes if I don't get lost, so I definitely have to set aside travel time.
Things in France are just slower. It's not like the United States where you can do a bunch of errands at once. In some places, you have to wait a really long time to get one thing done (like getting our bus pass took a long time because we had a long walk). I mean, lunch is supposed to last for 2 freaking hours! So sometimes, you might just be able to do a couple of things. I actually love it because it's so much more relaxed. Everything in America is so fast and stressful--I can't imagine moving back and having to pick up my pace again.
Also, I asked Lucie (the other student living with Marie-Claude, so I guess technically she's my host sister) if she wanted to see Jurassic World with me at the cinema, and she said Sure, why not. So I might be seeing my first movie in France! I hear the cinema is popular with the young people here (actually, I definitely have to explain the way the young French people go out at some point, because sometimes they party crazy).
By the way, for those of you worried about my seemingly junk food diet, I promise it's not that bad! Marie-Claude has vegetables and fruit for me every day, and we usually eat something simple and healthy for dinner. Since I don't get lunch provided for me, I've been budgeting to try something authentically French and new/popular/different every day, which is why you'll probably see me sharing a lot of pictures of weird foods that are tasty but different from anything I've had before.
Lastly, I'll leave you with some of my pictures from this week:
Stumbled across City Hall (L'Hôtel de Ville)
Who doesn't enjoy some free ice cream?
Check out this French keyboard! It's extremely difficult to type on.
The morning market every day
A quiche I bought at the boulangerie (bread bakery)
They said the pizza at Pizza Capri was good, so I got anchovies and tomatoes. It doesn't look appetizing in this picture, but it was okay! Much better than Sorrento's.
À bientôt!
Cindy
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