Weekend 4

Friday, I went to Moustiers Sainte-Marie! It was beautiful, and I had so much fun. It was honestly like probably one of the best days of my life. Our school had a field trip to Moustiers and then to some Lavender fields. Moustiers wasn't all that great, it was just this little town on this giant mountain, but it was pretty. Then we went to the lake, and I really wanted to paddleboat, so my friends Abby, Karen, and Natalie and I split the costs and went out onto the lake! It was so beautiful. Honestly it was sort of hilarious because we were so excited that we paddled in the completely wrong direction--almost everyone else paddled into the Gorges du Vernon upriver and did cliff jumping, but instead we went the opposite way into the middle of the lake. We got some great views though!

I also split some lavender ice cream with Abby! We ordered figue and lavender ice creams with whipped cream on top. It honestly tasted like we were eating the flower itself. It was pretty interesting... but I guess I have to say I prefer fruity flavors.  

Moustiers is known for their beautiful (but quite expensive) plates. Here are a few that I saw!

Abby, me, Karen, Natalie (hard to see because it was so bright and hot)

I guess I should mention that here in southern France, it is SO HOT. Like every day is over 90 degrees Fahrenheit (it's been at least 35 degrees Celsius for the past few days). And it's so sunny all the time! I am certainly very tan now. Something that the southern French people do during the day is close all of their windows (including shutters) to keep the air inside, and then at night they open the windows to let the cool air ventilate the house. I'm lucky because Marie-Claude has an air-conditioner, haha, so even during the day, it feels pretty okay. 

Paddle-boating!!

We went the wrong way but the view was so worth it.

So I realized that in all of these pictures, we look really pretty (not to brag or anything, haha). And then I realized something... happy people are beautiful people. I honestly can't remember the last time I was this happy. Maybe it's the sun, or the sea, or the people (or even the food), but it's been really great. I think we should all do things that make us really happy because life's too short to do things that only make you feel indifferent or unhappy. 

Also, can I just say how awesome the people here are? I have only known them for a few weeks, but I love them already. I honestly feel more connected to them than even some of my friends in the US. I suppose we have quite a bit in common already because we all love French and chose to step out of our comfort zones into Europe, but on the way back from Moustiers, Abby and I got into this really amazing conversation/rant about feminism and ignorance and views on society and actually some pretty political things, but it felt so good to finally talk about all these things with someone who has very similar views to me and just gets it. 

:)

We were actually probably trespassing on private property because people who make lavender oil is actually quite expensive to make, so they need a ton of lavender to do it. 

This picture was taken next to a store that sold lavender things. So many flowers in France! Sunflowers are also very big here as well. 

On Saturday, I went to Arles originally with my art history class, but my professor couldn't make it due to family issues, so we joined the archeology class. We were actually doing some pretty cool things, but I had already been to Arles and it was REALLY HOT, and we had spent the first two hours walking around this archeology site and I was really irritated because the tour guide/one of the other professors was walking and talking really slowly in this boiling weather, and I was just not having it. And we were going to see all these sites that I had already seen (and also not doing any of the stuff that was relevant to my art history class), so I was having a pretty bad day... until I saw Abby and Karen in Arles, too! I knew they were going the same day, but it was like God's gift when I ran into them. I was honestly so happy, and it made my day infinitely better. Luckily since our professor wasn't there, we could do whatever we wanted, so I just hung out with them all day. 

Sharing this ice cream with you all with the Roman Arena stuff in the background:

Banane marbrée ice cream

On Sunday, I wrote my art history paper and Natalie and I were going to go to a study café but it was closed when we went and we didn't feel like waiting until it opened, so I just went to her apartment instead. It was quite unproductive, but it was okay because my eyes were really tired from writing the paper. Sunday was the first day I could sleep in since I've been to France. It was great! Except I still slept until when I usually woke up (of course) so it really wasn't that exciting. 

Oh! We also got a new student in the house since Lucie left. Her name is Iku, and she is turning 22 next week, and she is from Japan! She goes to an international school so she also speaks English. She's really nice! Last night there was a movie in the park lawn really near our apartment, so after dinner I took her there and we watched Breakfast at Tiffany's in English with French subtitles! It was super neat!

Also, I guess I should talk about my classes for a bit too... I really like my writing class. Last week, we were supposed to write a letter to someone we really cared about to advise them on starting something new (like when we came to France) and also to reference some of the movies we've seen for class. It was supposed to be an emotional, heartfelt letter. I almost cried when I wrote mine! Maybe I'll post it here sometime and translate it for you. I guess my teacher really liked it because she emailed me back to tell me how great it was (she usually doesn't respond after receiving our writings), so that was sort of nice. Anyway gotta go have some more adventures! Bye :)

-Cindy