Day 32/33- Getting Home

I woke up with a hankering for some more schnitzel before leaving Germany. We decided to go to the castle, our favorite spot, and have lunch at the base. Looking out over the city that we have stayed up way to late in, and drank a few too many beers in while eating a delicious lunch was a delightful, and a perfect way to end our long journey in Europe.

We packed up out suitcases for the last time, and Dieter drove us to the train station. Just before our train arrived Dieter slipped away and surprised us with hot out of the oven pretzels to enjoy on our last train ride. Thea and Dieter were the best hosts we could have ever had, they gave us a time we couldn’t dream of having. Although I was so upset that I did not have to opportunity to see Thea as much, it was nice to get to know Dieter a little bit more, and we already have plans for our next visit.

We had a 4-hour ride straight into Paris, then a stuffy, strange metro ride to the airport, which was next to our hotel. For some reason the metro was full of crazies this time around. I’m not sure if it was the people or just that fact that going home was settling in, but Paris seemed darker, and gloomier then when we first arrived there 32 days ago. A better bet might be that we had seen the most beautiful places in France, and Paris just doesn’t add up. If ever recommending a place to go for other travelers, I would say skip Paris if you need to, other places in France have so many small beauties to offer, I think its worth it to miss some of the more iconic items.

The shuttle ride to our hotel was a little crazy. Our driver completely skipped our stop, then picked up random people and dropped them off at a location that was not distinguished on the bus. In total, we spent an hour and a half, going in circles trying to get to our hotel. The bus driver was lucky I was too tired to argue too much. When we got to our hotel the buff charismatic man at reception asked where we were from then told us how if he lived near Philadelphia, he would do the Rocky steps every morning. He was just the personality we needed to be welcomed by after a long day of travel. We finally sat down in the hotel room just after midnight, we skyped our families to let them know we were on track to get home, and showered before bed. We kept our selves up so that we would be sleepy on the plane the next day, continuing our awful habit of not sleeping while in France, we gave our selves 5 hours for our last night.

We woke up early, and headed to the airport, The Charles De Gaulle airport is the second largest in Europe. Upon arrival it wasn’t as obvious, we grabbed our bags and got out of the building fairly easily. Getting back in was almost a nightmare. We started at the wrong terminal, which we walked what felt like a mile to get to. Then walked the same mile back to where we started jumped on a shuttle went through bag check, where I convinced the man at the desk that I had the same carry on luggage on the way to France as I do leaving and that I promise it is not to big, white lies never hurt anyone.  After checking our bags, the man I had so cleverly deceived told me that our terminal was the furthest one from our current location. Thankfully we left our hotel ridiculously early, because we arrived at our terminal just 40 minutes before boarding time.

During our trip in France Jill and I used a Flip camcorder to record the miscellaneous adventures we had been on. We promised that we would not look at them until the end of our trip. So as we waited to board our plane back to reality, we sat each with a headphone in one ear giggling like little girls in the corner watching our trip unfold before our eyes once more. We were given a great deal of satisfaction with our thirty three days, how much we had grown, and how comfortable we had become with the European lifestyle, America might actually feel foreign. We boarded our plane all smiles, arrived at our seats that had little TV’s to amuse us for the next 8 hours, and zoned off into our own worlds.

Sweet

As we descended into JFK airport and the group in front of us opened up their window shade and ooohed and aahhhhed at America’s coast line, I could feel their excitement radiating. The little girls behind us took pictures outside the window of nothingness. Well to me it was nothing, I am sure to them they will have that moment engraved in their mind forever, remembering the first time they came to the USA. And they will yearn to return, silly girls.

On the flight home

Jill’s mom picked us up at the airport, and we were met with about 2 hours of NYC traffic as we left. Welcome home.  My wonderful boyfriend Phil picked me up on the NJ turnpike as my parents were away at a conference. Although I was sure to enjoy my time in France to the fullest I missed Phil more than anything, and it was so nice to have him welcome me home, I am so grateful for his support, and encouragement during my journey. His family had a wonderful dinner prepared for me when I finally got home. Although I knew I was back home, it wasn’t until I saw my first firefly of the season light up in the middle of the lawn that it all set in, the feeling of summer in south jersey, I’m home. 

Day 31- Semi-Finals

Even when though it has been blown to shreds, and is barely in existence, it is still one of the most beautiful slices of architectures I have seen on this trip, an old castle that sits on top of a hill surrounded by its supporting city. We walked around the old ruins, and then up to the very top of the castle. As we looked down at the lime green plush grass that filled the spaces between the destroyed walls, I tried to picture a queen and her king walking around in elegant ball gowns. But time had taken over sufficiently, and it was hard to envision this area as livable, or even as a war zone.

Castle Ruins

After taking in the views, we headed to a restaurant that sat on a river and had a delicious German meal, schnitzel. It’s a thin slice of meal, veal, pork, or beef, whichever that location sells, breaded and pan seared. It’s a party in your mouth; I loved every second of it.

After lunch it was time to shop. Jill and I had to get our official Germany jerseys for the game. Everyone has non-stop been talking about the game, it was like their superbowl. Amongst the talk of how excited they were for them to play, they were also eager to get the retro green jersey. So when we got to the store, it seemed silly to get anything other than the green jersey. We bought our jerseys, and new totes to carry all of our souvenirs back to the US, and headed back home.

When we got to the bar, we had a table right next to the TV that was reserved for us. The only catch was we had to arrive 2 and a half hours early to be sure it wasn’t given to anyone else. So we were tailgating the game well in advance, and so was everyone else. Every corner of the town had someone in a Germany jersey, or their face painted, or a flag draped over their shoulders. They were proud and excited, and it was obviously seen in everyone’s faces.

Jill and I before the game

The national anthem played and everyone stood and sang their nations sacred song. Germany started the game dominating, and had several opportunities to score, but could not capitalize. Unfortunately, Italy did not have quite the same problem, the few times they were in scoring range, they made it in. In the end Germany fell to Italy, and you could feel the town’s disappointment. The loss didn’t stop us from enjoying our last night out in Germany. 

After the Loss

We spent our last night in Ali’s bar, this time we were left alone, and told to help our selves. I may or may not have done a cartwheel in the chic bar, or spent some time behind the bar. We had a few drinks and talked until the sun rose over the city. We gave Ali our last hugs goodbye and thanked him for such a wonderful time.

At Dache Cafe (Ali's bar)

Day 30- Frankfurt

Off to the only skyline in Germany, Frankfurt. We woke up to a delicious traditional German breakfast, bread and homemade, mouthwatering Marmalade. We quickly got ready and left for our day of sight seeing. Upon arrival we ran into a huge international food festival located in front of the old opera house. Dieter explained how there is always some type of festival going on in Germany, they find a reason to celebrate anything, my type of people!

Opera House

One of the Food Festival Tents

 We wandered the city getting the special Dieter Bender tour. Again it was obvious we had left France, the buildings either had an old country side feel or a very new modern and industrial feel. All of the men wore perfectly tailored suits and at the Frankfurt stock exchange car after car was sleek, and expensive. We walked to a really neat modern building called the Zei Gallery. It had an all glass exterior with a vortex looking hole in it kind of mimicking a bullet hitting water. 

Zei Gallery

We stopped by at the old statue in the middle of the city representing famous poet Goethe. Then continued to The Roman Square were street performers filled a little squared off area of street that screamed old German town. 

Roman Square

We had delicious Japanese ramen noodles for lunch. It was slightly ironic to be in Germany and not eating German cuisine, we had time for that though. 

What was not as shocking was to be in Germany and not know the language. A huge difference from Italy. Having Thea and dieter translate and teach us the small important words such as Prost (phonetically) which means cheers, helped us feel very comfortable and less like outsiders, but when it came to ordering food Jill and I put all of our trust in Dieter as he ordered food hoping we would like it. He did a Devine job choosing delicious food, you will notice I talk about almost every meal. 

We got back to their apartment and had a very nice well needed nap before heading to a Spanish dinner. So far a good summary for Germany is eat, drink, sleep. When can I move here?

Thea was supposed to meet us for dinner but got tied up at work. I wished I could call her workplace and let them know that she needed to be allowed to come out and play! But I wouldn't get so lucky. 

The Spanish food was perfect, I was expecting something more similar to a Mexican cuisine, but that was just a silly American thought. Instead it was a spread of fresh seafood and bread with garlic in everything. Spanish food is definitely one of my favorites now.  After dinner we went to a “public viewing” of the Spain vs. Portugal Eurocup game at a near by bar. 

Public viewing

One thing I absolutely love about Europe is how every bar has the option to sit outside. We watched the two teams battle each other to penalty kicks where Spain pulled ahead for a victory. We stayed until they kicked us out, at which point we went to our friends Ali’s bar and were treated as celebrities. We headed in early for an easy night, we knew that the next day would be a little crazy, Germany and Italy would be playing each other in the Semi Finals for the Eurocup, and the entire country was going to be out to show their colors. Something that was not to be missed, or be tired for. 

Day 29- To Germany!

We almost missed our first train ... And to think we thought we were finally getting a hang of the systems here. Between traffic on the bus ride to the main big train station, and poor planning on looking up the bus schedule, we almost missed the train that we booked well in advance, remember the ones we pissed off the man at the train station for?  If we missed this train we would have had no way to get back to our apartment due to leaving our keys there.

Thankfully, almost doing isn't doing, so we luckily made our train. Thank God.

We had a 9-hour trip and 2 transfers ahead of us.

Jill and I played more card games and read our books that have been sitting in our bags untouched the whole trip. Small catnaps were necessary. Although uncomfortable our first train was pretty relaxing. We were able to catch an earlier second leg of our journey, so lunch got cut out of our day, no big deal we brought some chocolate bars, yum!

On our last train Jill and I started to get very excited for our arrival to Germany. Everything had gone as planned, we made it to our last transfer on time and in one piece. We placed our bags on an empty single seat on the very empty train and took our place (unreserved) right next to them. A few stops later a couple got into the train mumbled something in German to us and then started to move our bags. Jill and I were so confused what the heck is going on? There's about 300 open seats stop touching our stuff. Jill stood up and moved our bags stacked up next to us and covering the aisle now we look like the jerks. The couple argued about who should take the seat. The man took it and the woman stood next to him, instead of taking one of the few hundred free seats, remember there are no reservations on the train. I got really mad. I pulled a Mr. Kevin Beebe put my suitcase directly behind their chair as stood there arms folded staring at them. I think they got the idea because they ended up sitting together in the seat I front of them, and we placed our bags back in a normal spot. In not sure what came over me, but I don't think they will touch an Americans bags again.

Staring down the locals.

We are going to Frankfurt Germany to visit Kevin and my new sister-in-law, Kelly's, good friends Thea and Dieter. They offered to have us over and give us a spot to crash. Dieter picked us up at the train station as Thea still had work. He informed us that the plan for the day was to go to Thea's parents and have a barbecue, then head to their apartment before we went out for the night. We took the Audubon to the house, which would have been much more thrilling I'm sure If we weren't sitting in traffic. As we drove through the little city of Giesen it became obvious that we had crossed the border into Germany. The city buildings all had cottage esk facades with flowers at the bottom of every window and cobble stone roads it was precious.

Street in Gisen

Jill and I were starving by the time we arrived, but it was more then worth it as we were served fresh picked sweet wild strawberries with steak that Dieter brought back from the US and delicious side dishes. We had died and gone to heaven, it was the most well needed, deserved and anticipated meal yet, and every bite was mouthwatering.

We finished dinner and went to a local bar that Thea's friend works at to have a drink with Thea before she had to go in for the night. We tried a local specialty called apple wine, which was absolutely delicious and then had real German beer and real sized German mugs. A whole liter! Tankfully it tasted good really good. An executive decision was made that we would not be returning to the apartment until the night was over, and that we had to go visit some of dieters’ favorite bars. At the next bar we played thunder strike, which is a dangerous game to play, trust me, and then went to meet up with a friend of dieters at a roof top bar in the middle of the city. The bar was closing when we arrived but the friend, Ali, let us go up and have a few drinks overlooking the city. It was chilly but so worth it. It was a movie scene of us at a closed bar getting the VIP treatment. The view was perfect; you could see the dim clusters of lights from other towns separated by the extreme darkness of the rolling fields that separate them. Ali asked if we would like to go to a different bar that he owned with him, as he had to go check in at the location. We went and he opened up the closed bar for us to hang out in for a bit, just us. He was one of the greatest blessings on the trip, and he treated us all like royalty, his extremely kind gestures will be engraved in our memory. 

Day 28- Mount St. Victoire

It’s our last day in our apartment, oh no! Not yet!  I woke up feeling much better then I had on previous days, missing the wine tasting was well worth it. Our plans for the day were to visit Mount St. Victoire. This is a place in southern France where famous artists such as Cezanne and Van Gough would go for inspiration to paint. This mountain has been on the “to do” list for Aix from the day we received our acceptance letters. It’s about time we got around to it. When we got on the bus to go to St. Victoire, the machine to take the fare was broken, so it was a free ride there. We have REALLY been getting lucky with the free thing, who would have thought?! In total this weekend we have saved 71 euro!  We asked the bus driver the best stop for the trail we wanted to go on, and off we went. 

On the side of mount St. Victoire, there is a cross, about 15 meters tall, which looks out over the town of Aix protecting it. It’s not possible to see from Aix, but it’s there.

Mount St. Victoire

Grassy Trail

 We started our hike on a slight up hill with a 4-foot wide path, it was smooth and easy. We would be at the cross in no time! As we progressed closer and closer to the mountain, the terrain changed, rapidly. We ended up going straight up the mountain on a narrow rocky path, in 90 some degree whether. We wore our sneakers, but were not prepared for this. All four of us huffed and puffed as we pressed our selves up and up the side of St. Victoire, excited to reach the cross and have our picnic. After an hour of uphill torture, we finally passed otherhumans! Yes other people are on the trail! With sweat dripping from our foreheads, and our feet on fire from the hot rocks beneath them, we asked the locals how far we were from the cross. Surely we must be close. Not quite, he replied, “oh its only about an hour maybe and hour twenty from here.” We laughed no way, “only” he said it so nonchalant as if we weren’t hiking straight up the side of a mountain! I suppose we should have expected his so calm attitude, the couple had on legit hiking boots, back packs with built in water supply, visors, double walking sticks, and hiking clothes, matter of fact, they looked like the were about to head to Mount Everest and give that a go.

With out going on and on, we were way under prepared. So we took a few more steps, decided we would probably never find a nice shady flat spot for lunch, and made camp in the middle of the trail. I ate the most well deserved sandwich in the world. After lunch we decided to head back down the trail, to try and catch the next bus back to Aix. Silly us thought that going down the side of the mountain would be much easier and relaxing. But we ended up having to go at a snails pace as to not slip on a rock or go sliding down the mountain on our bottoms. We made it safely, and on time, the bus arrived about 5 minutes after we got to the station.

Safe back at our apartment we took our last showers and started to pack up. L Every time I would put something in my suit case I’d look at Jill and say “this is so weird” it felt like we just arrived, how are we already packing and leaving this perfect little abode that we have called home these past 3 weeks? I guess we fell to hard for our little lovely apartment.

While we packed and cleaned like little Cinderella’s then decided we needed to have one last taste of Aix before leaving. We got a box of Macaroons that we so light and tasty, I’m sure they had no calories in them at all ;) 

with our bags packed the place felt empty, and less homey. Just a spot for the next people to come in and use for a week as tourists, I’m sure there wont be many others that will become as attached as I have.

Sad Faces

Packed up

Day 27- Lazy

Today I woke up even sicker, an eye infection on top of all my other symptoms. I know its boring to hear about my sickness all of the time but its seriously putting a damper on the end of my fairytale trip. Well this was just the icing on top of the cake, my rally was officially over. I made the wise, boring decision to sit out of the wine tasting trip that Jill and I had planned for the day to try and let my body recover from all of the abuse I have put it through. Also, it would have been hard to taste all of the great different wines being so stuffed up and congested. Recovering isn’t anything exciting to blog about though. I set up a sick camp on the couch, watched TV shows that required absolutely no thought, and curled up in the pillows.

Initially Jill felt bad about going wine tasting with out me, but after firmly telling her I might definitely hurt her if she didn’t go, she changed her mind. They had a great time, and even got the tour for free! They brought me back a nice bottle of red wine to enjoy when I recovered. When they got back they joined me on my sick couch (on the other side of course) and we all watched a movie together. It was nice being able to watch movies with other people it made my sick day feel more like a date then a lazy day in.

Jill snuck a picture of my sick camp

Jill Megan and I

After the movie we had a little dinner, and Jill and Megan had some wine while I enjoyed a nice hot cup of green tea (my life saver). Although the original plan was to hit the town hard for our last party night in Aix, hanging out with Megan and having quality time ended up being a much better decision, even though she lives very close to Jill and I back in the states, you never know how long it truly will be until you see a “long distance” friend again. 

Day 26- St. Raphael

We were up bright and early, as always on excursion days. Jill and I have become experts at the train now. We know exactly how to get there, where all of the platforms are (there are only 2, but we know them!) its comforting now knowing we can get where we want to go easily. Jill and I had barely any sleep the night before because we planned our trip so late, and the only train to St. Raphael was at 6am. When you’re sick, it’s most certainly NOT recommended to cut out all sleep, but when you are about to start you last week in Europe, well sleeping is definitely less of an option. But I rallied, again, and went to St. Raphael.

St. Raphael Beach

When we arrived we went to a small coffee shop that looked out over the water to give our selves a little kick start for the day. Everything always tastes better when you are looking out over the sea, and the sunshine is beating down on you.

After a delicious, tiny, cup of espresso, we headed to the pharmacy for some medicine to help me feel better.

The pharmacies here in France, and I’m assuming all over Europe, are similar, yet obviously different from the ones in the US. There is over the counter medicine, but you have to tell the pharmacist what your symptoms are, and they give you what they think will work. So it’s not really “over the counter”. After telling her as much as I could in French, and fake coughing to demonstrate my illness, she got a box and said that it would work. So I took it. When we got out of the store I opened the box to take my first dose to find little sachets. They were pre portioned liquid packs, the box said it was supposed to taste like vanilla caramel, but it just tasted awful. Weirdest medicine I have ever taken.

Weird Medicine

We taxied to the location that we wanted to go snorkeling at, which was the main attraction that made Jill and I choose St. Raphael. When we got to the tiny beach side shack it wasn’t open. So we laid in the hot sun, and took naps on the sandy beach (that’s right I said sandy!! Woo!). About 2 hours, and a little tan later we saw people moving around in the general area of the shack. When we got closer we realized everyone seemed to know one another so we began to feel awkward, we thought we might be crashing a party. After about 5 minutes of awkwardly standing near the shack like 2 silly Americans, a man came up to us and asked if he could help us, in English. We were thrilled, yes please! We want to go snorkeling! At first he said they did not start going snorkeling until July, instantly our smiles faded. But after he double-checked, he found out that there was going to be one run today at 3 and we could go if we wanted. HECK YES!

To waste time we went to a great little restaurant that, again, looked out over the water, this one was actually on the beach. In the US this type of attraction would warrant extremely high priced food, and normally and entire resort attached to it, but not here. Every one knew to owner, he was such a character, so friendly and outgoing, he tried to hook me and Jill up with his son, asking us to write our number on the check, it was quite an interesting lunch.

Looking out on the water

We sat on the beach a bit more before our snorkeling adventure, this time we both squeezed under a teeny tiny tree trying to avoid the sun so that we wouldn’t get too dehydrated. Again, we must have looked like the ridiculous Americans, we are pretty much over that now.

When we got to the snorkeling place the lady that owned the shop handed jill and I both full body wet suits, at first we laughed thinking it was a joke, but she was serious. We were about to embark on a serious adventure.

We suited up and jumped into the cold Mediterranean. After going out about 50 meters the owners husband dashed deep under the water and grabbed an octopus with his bare hands! We wrestled with it as it inked all over the place, when it finally calmed down he let us touch it and then gently placed it back down on the sea floor. In that moment I knew this was going to be unlike any other snorkeling trip in the world. Every time he would dive down he came up with a new beautiful creature, huge neon orange starfishes, coral, sea urchins it was so amazing. We swam about a kilometer away from shore, and then back again, about an hour and a half worth of snorkeling with a private special tour guide (it only felt like 30 minutes). We got out of the water thrilled! That was well worth 30 euro!

When we got back to the shack, we asked if the woman would call our taxi for us, of course she did. When she got off the phone, she told us where to meet the taxi, and said that we didn’t have to pay. WOOHOO! FREE SNORKLEING!

Our day had turned out perfect, thank goodness we chose St. Raphael over any other place. We took a long train ride home, and played cards to help pass the time. upon our return we heard the end of the France V.S. Spain Eurocup game; it didn’t end so well for France. Then we crawled our tired little bodies into bed and passed out.

Jill and i played war on the train (i won )

Great round of Beebe Solitaire

Day 25- Goodbye

We woke up to meet our neighbor to go find the keys to our apartment. She was very kind and seemed excited to be able to help us. She spoke a great amount of English and asked us why we were here and what we studied, it was strange because she thought it would be to personal to ask where we came from. She told the woman at the front desk that we were renting so our names were not on the documents and that it was okay for them to give the keys to us. Finally we had access to the building! No more worries!

On the walk home my sickness really started to set in. It has been pretty hot here, and our apartment has no air conditioning so getting inside wasn’t even that much of a relief. I decided to put on my bathing suit, sprawl out on the couch, and take a nap. It was most certainly my best decision.

After changing into appropriate attire, Jill and I met our friends for a fair well dinner. We went to a place called burger bar. It was amazing, well for burgers in France. 

Pesto Mozzarella Burger

Dinner ended quickly and it was time for u to say our last good bye to our new friends. It is strange how attached we have become over these past 3 weeks, some times it feel like we have known each other forever. The people I have met here in Aix were put here for a reason and so was I, and I am so glad that our paths crossed. It was sad to watch them leave. just another reminder that our trip is ending shortly :(

As our night started to end Jill and I decided to plan a trip to St. Raphael for the next day. One of the best parts of being in France is the ability to go somewhere that is so cool and different every day of your trip. In this case, small is good.  

Day 24- Blessings

My dad told me that I should start running again if I want to try and beat my small head cold. I am not sure if he is right but he’s my dad, so I followed the advice and went on an easy jog in the morning. The smoke from the Europeans was burning my esophagus the whole time, it was awful.

I returned and made my self a beautiful American breakfast. I had eggs with toast and cheese. It was most certainly the best I have had yet, I should open a restaurant here I think I’d make millions. It was just what I needed.

When Jill woke up we went shopping for souvenirs for our families. It was so depressing! It is starting to set in more and more that our trip is almost over. While going to the shops we ended up at a market in the center of town buying clothes for 5 euro. It was awesome! Needless to say I think I ended up buying more souvenirs for my self than I did for my family.

Thankfully I had time for a nap before our last class. While I was sleeping our wifi went out again L it wouldn’t have been such a problem the wifi being disconnected bur when we left for class saw a note on the door saying the locks were changed and go see land lord, but we don’t know who or where that is! The simple fix would be to e-mail the woman we sub lease from, but that’s had to do with no wifi!

We decided that class was more important at the moment, and if we were lucky, it would just be on when we returned.

Class was bitter sweet; we mostly talked about the end of our trip, and wrote letters to our selves about or favorite part, which will be cool to read in a few months. If you couldn’t tell from previous posts, our teacher is the sweetest person. While we were out on our 20-minute break she put little cadeaux on our desks. She never fails to impress me.

Petite Cadeaux from our teacher

After class the school had a little get together to say good bye to the students that were only doing the three week session. It wasn’t all that sad because every one that was there was attending the “Fete de la Musique” the same evening.

The Fete is Frances way of bringing in summertime every city has lots of bands playing all day and night on every corner. It felt like Italy on repeat, except this time we got to experience it with our friends. Although we were still slightly nervous about our key situation, it would have been awful if we got locked out of our building during the festival, most certainly would have been déjà vu. I decided to knock on the neighbors’ door before we had people over just to see if maybe she knew where to go. Of course she knew where the keys were, and being the sweet woman she is, she offered to walk us there the next morning and promised the door wouldn’t lock tonight. Yet another blessing on our incredible journey.

Friends

The party was on, we had friends here as always, but a few more than normal, then we hit the streets. Unlike Italy the music here was different on every corner some classical, some jazz, some rock, all of it was amazing. We headed straight to the big stage to try and catch the headliner for the night, and ended up being right in front of the stage on the rail. The band was so full of energy, the crowd loved it. The girl singer rocked the stage and we all instantly fell in love with her. it was the perfect last big night out with everyone.

Head Line Band

Part of the Fete de la Musique crowd

Day 23- Shopping

Normally when we go out at night with our friends Megan and Danielle sleep over because their host families homes are just out side of the city, and it is not a good idea for two beautiful girls to be walking around alone at night, even if Aix is fairly safe. So in the morning since our friends were already here, we decided to go on a shopping spree. We traveled up and down the beautiful old streets of Aix perusing all of the stores. Then we went to an area that I had never gone to in Aix that was an outdoor shopping mall. It was so close to where I lived I just over looked it every time. 

It was so nice walking around. I normally despise shopping; I am the total opposite of many other girls in this aspect. But to shop in Aix, this was just fun. I could have stayed for hours spending hundreds of Euros. But we had other things on the schedule for the day so I left with just a shirt and a beach dress.

Out door shopping mall

For lunch we went to this place just on the edge of center city that was cafeteria style. They had an item of the day and you could get 2 sides a dessert and drink for just 3.50 euro! It was so strange though the set up and people of all ages were there from 10 to 55, (it was mostly working people). It was only open from 11 to 2 , lunch time only. I wish there was a place like this near my house in Glassboro it was a bargain!

We had a great class talking about why we came to France and what our expectations were and how they panned out. It was eerie talking about leaving already, so soon. Didn’t we just start class?

After class we went back to our apartment to make dinner blog, and talk to our families and friends. 

Face timing my goofy sister, (she might kill me for this)

In the middle of using the Internet, our service cut out! Thankfully it only lasted for about 2 hours, because it was the last night that we planned on sitting in one spot for a decent amount of time before our journey back to the US. It was critical that we talked with our families and looked up the different excursions we were planning for our last days in Aix, and our trip to Avignon and Germany. Due to the loss of Internet, we were unable to contact out friends to hang out so we had, what may be, our last relaxing night in, hopefully ;). 

Day 22- Cassis

Unforgettable views

We have dreamt of Cassis since orientation when a few people told us to Google it. Today we get to live out the dream the best part is we are able to do it with our Teacher and new Texas friends. Although still feeling under the whether, I knew that being out on the beach relaxing would be the perfect remedy.

We headed to the bus station confident now in where we were going. With about 15 minutes to find our bus we were relaxed and ready for a simple day of fun. Well of course, not quite. The bus system really isn’t complicated as long as you are looking for the right buss. We weren’t. Thankfully 2 minutes before departure time Jill realized the bus we were trying to find wasn’t here because it’s the one we connect to in Aubagne, our faces lit up as we looked about 200 yards down the sidewalk at the bus we should have been looking for. RUN! We sprinted to the bus and were the last 4 people on before it pulled away; so much for a calm morning. Thankfully our second bus was very easy to find, especially since we had been looking for it all day long.

When we arrived in cassis we waited a bit for our teacher to arrive and pick us up to go to lunch. We met up with our teacher she was so excited to see us that she forgot where she parker her car. Oops! Thankfully an old Italian man noticed we were lost and walked us to where he believed our parking lot was. A few minutes after sending us off, we saw him chasing after us, he realized he pointed us in the wrong direction and wanted to make sure we didn’t get completely lost, which was so nice. Another little angel on our trip

We finally made it to our lunch spot and it was breath taking. The café we ate at felt as though it was on top of that water. We sat for a while gazing at the beautiful water talking and eating delicious food. I had the eggplant parmesan, it was the best I have ever tasted.

From the Rock

We wrapped up lunch a little later then expected and headed out to the rock. The spot that we laid out was most certainly the locals’ area. The French really do have hidden spots that they go to, and laugh at the Americans one the rocky beach, who would have thought. We were on a giant boulder away from all noise and distractions. It was amazing. Our little group were the only people who knew what a bathing suit was on the entire rock, which really proved we were in the locals terrain. We laid in awe under the over cast sky, and then decided to take a dip in the Mediterranean.

Our class

The water looked cold, and I could tell it was freezing when Sarah-Beth jumped off of the rock one color, and reappeared from beneath the water with no color at all. I plunged in and felt my skin burn, and my muscles tense up for a moment until everything went numb. At that point it became serene again. In my head I thought to my self “how could I ever forget this moment, jumping into the freezing Mediterranean with my teacher for class, this is what studying abroad is all about”

The day ended abruptly due to the train schedule.

About to jump into the Mediterranean 

Hi!

In the water

We made it back to Aix safely, only missing one of the busses due to a traffic jam, over all we did pretty well with self-transporting. We got back to the apartment and finished our homework while our friends eagerly waited to go out and have fun with us. We were slightly exhausted from our day, but knowing that they would be leaving in a few days, and that it was ladies night buy one get one drinks, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go out. Sorry sickness, you will have to wait until I get back to the states.

Day 21- Lost

I woke up to a stuffy nose, scratchy throat, and heavy head. Being dehydrated really hurt my body, and it wasn’t nice of me to not sleep very much. I decided I shouldn’t go to my favorite park for a morning run, I was slightly heart broken.

Instead Jill and I did some food shopping for the apartment at a cheap food store called DIA. When you walk in you can tell you are about to get cheap knock off food, and the workers don’t even seem French with their mannerisms, but it is cheap, so the atmosphere isn’t our main concern.

I took the French equivalent of an airborne and went to class expecting to sit and relax for a few hours just writing.

When our teacher arrived she came with different news. She had relied on someone else to get bus information for our class trip to Cassis that was happening the next day. As it goes, the friend was not able to follow through and the only way to get the bus information was to visit the bus stop information desk right now. Class had started at 4:00, the desk closes at 4:45, the classroom is across town from the buys stop, and we have wasted about 10 minutes listening to our teacher.

So the four of us went out into Aix-En-Provence to find the bus station and get the information to go to Cassis. Initially We thought that we had to go to the train station we got there at 4:32, nervous Ellen and I got in line while Jill and Sarah-Beth looked at all of the pamphlets to see if they could get the information there. After about 5 minutes Jill and Sarah-Beth tell us we are at the wrong spot and the map says we need to go about 3 blocks down the street. 4:37 and were headed towards the real information center. Its sweltering hot out, and we all are sweating, we get very excited as we approach the station, 4:41, just in time. We got the bus information and headed back to class for a short writing assignment, then we were sent home to rest up for our big trip to Cassis.

Bus maps for Cassis

Since we hadn’t seen our friends for the entire weekend we made plans to meet up for dinner. I said I would meet Jill and the crew at the Aix-presso a few doors down because I had a few things to do in the apartment. 

I left the apartment and couldn’t find them at Aix-presso, after looking at my twitter account I find out that they changed where they were going, and the directions they gave me were not helpful “turn right after Jacobs Boulangerie” Jill has said a million times she has wanted to go there, but I never knew where it was.

No problem ill just go up to my apartment use the wifi and then go eat with them. Only one problem, I left my keys in the apartment for the first time ever. So I walked around in the general direction that I believed they were, and after 20 minutes I found them, of course they were finished their meal by now, but it was okay I was just glad I found them.

We all headed back to our place to talk about our weekends apart from each other and how much we wished each other could have been there. It is the start of our last week together as Will and Danielle leave on Saturday to go home. Hopefully the next week will bring more time together, less time getting lost.