21!!!

I am officially 21 here in France now. It is too bad that it isn't such a big deal here. I am so glad that I never have to worry about drinking age again. Now I can have a glass a wine with my meal. Yay! I am going to celebrate well. I have this weekend here in Aix and then I go to England next weekend! I just wanted to say Happy Birthday to me.

so they're striking already

Yup. There is a strike planned for this Thursday (my birthday). At least I won't have to go to class for my 21st! For those who can read french this is what the director wrote to us.

Il y aura déjà une journée de grève universtaire ce jeudi 29 janvier, que vos profs de la Fac et de l'IEP vont certainement respecter.

Si d'ici lundi 2 février le gouvernement et les universitaires n'arrivent pas à un accord, ce sera peut-être de nouveau la grève, dont la durée est, à l'heure actuelle, imprévisible.

Also this is the website for the strike http://www.29janvier2009.fr/.

Yay for French politics!

Some Paris photos finally.

Hilary and me at the lunch in Chartres

Caitlin, Lisi, and me with a view of Chartres

Our group with tour guide, Lucille, in front of the Cathedral in Chartres


An awesome table at the Ron Arad Exhibit in Pompidou

At the Ron Arad Exhibition (click the link to see what it was like)

The Seine and the Eiffel Tower

With Hilary in front of Sacre Coeur

A very cool sculpture of a polar bear at the Musee d'Orsay

In front of the Institut de France (I think)

My new apartment

I moved in this morning. I am very pleased with my apartment. I am going to take and post pictures as soon as I buy batteries for my camera. I went out and did some shopping for the new place. I bought a cute pillow for my bed, a mirror to put on my dresser, and a wire shelf thing to use as a bedside table. I also found some nice photo things of flowers to put on the walls. Cheap (very cheap) art. They make the room much less bare and make me happy so I am thrilled with them.
We had a nice dinner in the apartment with some of our friends. Ali cooked a delicious meal with mini bow tie pasta and creamy tomato sauce with sun dried tomatoes and zucchini. We also had braised leeks, which I surprisingly enjoyed a lot. Afterward, some of us went to watch Vicky Christina Barcelona. I really liked the movie, but it left me somewhat confused about life. It kinda leaves the viewer with two unsatisfactory ways to lead their life. I guess it is the usual pessimistic Woody Allen outlook.
Tomorrow is Sunday so that means no shops are open. I don't know what I will do. Hilary and I have two goals. 1.) Get Hilary's pictures from her camera to my computer 2.) Look into where we will travel for our Feb. break. We are thinking Italy at the moment.

Movin' In

I get to move into my apartment on Saturday! Yay!

Oh and p.s. I saw the wild pig fountain today!

Fontaines d'Aix

First some images of the Fontaine Moussue. One of my favorites!





Next, this is the drooling Wild Boar. I haven't actually seen this yet, but I have heard about it. I will have to go on a quest to find it.

This is one of my favorite fountains so far. It is actually very close to my apartment as well as a Gap. I thought is was funny that there is a dog in the picture especially because yesterday I saw a dog hop up into a fountain to get a drink. There are a lot of stray dogs in Aix and sadly a lot of their poop as well. I think they do have homes, but they like to take themselves for walks. Kinda like a dog I know at home (oh Rosey Posey). The dog I saw was a black lab. He just crossed the street even checking for cars and then hopped up and had a drink. It was so cute.

Arrived in Aix

I arrived in Aix on Monday. Paris was a lot of fun, but I am glad I won't be spending my whole semester there. I think it is too easy to slip into English since it is such an international city. I really loved the train ride. We got ride in a double decker TGV train on the upper level. I loved seeing the French country side and I was sad when it came to an end. It was three hours, but I could have stayed on for much longer.
We are still in a hotel because the Fall semester students haven't moved out of their apartments yet. We will all hopefully be moved in this weekend. I went to see my apartment. It seems very nice. There is one large room where the beds, desks, dining table, and couch all are. There is a good sized kitchen off of that. I didn't see the bathroom (I hope that there is one), but I am pretty sure it is off the kitchen.
Aix is lovely. There are tons of markets, little streets, and cute shops. I can't wait to get to know the city. One thing that is especially nice is that Aix is a city of water. They have 26 (pretty sure it is 26) fountains throughout the city. I really love them because they are all so different. Some have moss and plants growing all around them. I will have to take some pictures or find some on the internet because I still haven't bought new batteries for my camera.
I am terrified about classes. It is so hard to even work out what classes I am going to take and their schedules. It makes me very nervous. Also I keep hearing that so many people have to take oral exams. That really scares me. At least it won't be until the end of the semester. Ahhh!

Past couple days.

I have seen a lot in the past couple days. I went to Chartres Cathedral with the group from the program. When we got to Chartres, which is about an hour and a half outside of Paris, we all went to lunch. It was a little restaurant and was decorated with tablecloths and fabric from Provence ( I could tell from the colors and the olives). The meal was four courses long. No one really expected that and we were all so full by the end.
After the lunch we all climbed the stairs of the town (very slowly) towards the Cathedral. One reason this Cathedral is well known is because it has two different towers. One is from the Romanesque period and the other is Gothic. It was so great to see something I had learned so much in my Art History class.

When we got back to Paris, I was so tired that I couldn't dream of going back out. Instead I read my twilight book. It was such a great story that I didn't stop until it was done. Now I am desperate for the next book. Sadly I don't know if I will be able to find it in English anywhere. I'm determined though and where there is a will there is a way.
Today was very busy. Hilary (my roommate here in Paris) and I walked A LOT. We went from the Notre Dame to the Pompidou to the Louvre to the Obelisque to the Arc de Triumph then back down the Champs Elysees and then to the Hotel Invalides and then finally back to where our hotel is. We had a lovely meal of crepes at the end. yum yum.
Well, there is an update. I am going to post actual photos soon. My phone ran out of batteries so I am going to have to get my photos from Hilary's computer before I can put some up of myself.

Some Photos

Aled and Anwen on Christmas Day.



Anwen on the last day I was at home.



The Eiffel Tower!
The Eiffel Tower when it sparkles.

In Paris!

I am in Paris. It is kinda hard to believe. I arrived on Wednesday and joined the rest of the Wellesley-in-Aix group. Yesterday we all tried to get over the jet lag. A few of us went to get lunch together. I think we stood out as Americans. This morning we had our first class. The professor spoke very quickly and it was hard to understand everything. This short course isn't graded, but it is supposed to give us an idea about what classes to sign up for in Aix.

This afternoon I went out with some of the other girls on the program in search of a cell phone. I bought one that I will be able to add minutes to from Orange. I hope I understood everything I was told about it. Most of the people I talked to in the stores immediately start talking to you in English. Even if we try to speak to them in French, they usually answer in English. Hopefully it will be different at the end of the semester.

I'm not sure what I am going to do tonight. I would quite like to visit the Eiffel Tower. In the next couple days I hope to visit many museums. It is very cold here at the moment. I hope it warms up so that it is more comfortable to walk around Paris. There is so much to see!

Class Ring!

I got my class ring in the mail today! I just thought I would post about it because I am excited.