the start of vacation!

i will catch you up on the last couple week soon! well after new years. lol


Sunday: Matt arrives at gare routier. Bags did not make it to France! So we walk to the appt and drop off his one carry on, I let him borrow some pants (he had to get all dressed up for the first class flight over here). And then I introduced him to Pastis. 2 good glasses, and then it was out to hit the town by 1:30. We got lost right off the bat. And then matt’s bladder was on the fritz over here. He went and pissed on some French guys mail box. Ok so we find the city. And I show him around teaching him a bit of the history, and a little French as well. we go all over town and to the cathedral. This rendered matt speechless. I fell bad that I am already “used” to all this stuff and take it all for granted. How magnificent it all really is. So we check out the rest of town and then at 5:30 we head for the x mas church service, with ICCP. It is vin chaud and story and carol night apparently. So we got a couple glasses of wine. Matt fell asleep for most of the story time part. It was hilarious watching him drift in and out against his will. After church we came back to the appt to chill and have some wine. We got caught up on each other’s life. And then it was off to the bulldog to watch the falcon’s game! It was 17 to 7 when we left. And we had a beer and a half each. So we debated hitting up a club, but actually the couple I wanted to go to were not open for some reason. So we just came back to the appt to crash. (I think matt was definitely ready to lay down, long day, and I kept him moving. Gotta fight off that jet lag) I found hime sleeping on the toilette. Lol! Passed out.


monday: we checked out the town. bought some meat and cheese at the open air market and a couple baguettes. we took the bus to Mont Saint Victoire and climbed it, half way was all Matt could handle. It was an amazing day. the weather is so nice right now in the south of France. 52 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. so after the mountain we came back to the appt to get washed up and rest a bit. at 6:30 we went to dinner with some french friends of mine. got to see french life first hand. and pick the brains of a real Aixois (the name for someone from Aix). it was great to get a good understanding on the views of french people on society, life, politics, and the world. a great dinner too. thanks kimberly (she is the french guy's georgian wife) i think Matt really enjoyed himself. i did too. so far this trip is awesome.

on teusday we are going to explor marseille a little bit and see some more cathedrals and the Mediterranean Sea. it is a great city (second largest in france) and then we leave for Amsterdam at 7pm. we will be in amsterdam for 3 nights (including x mas!) and then we fly to London for 5 nights. and then on the 31st we move to Paris for another 4/5 nights!!!!!!! should be freaking awesome. i can not wait! wish us luck, and i will try and stay in touch.

MERRY CHRISTMAS and A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

the conclusion to thanksgiving week, finally

so the week of thanksgiving i went to a french catholic church on tuesday and got to see what there mass was like for the youth program. interesting to say the least. a lot of sitting and standing and having to say the right words at the right time. i was hopelessly lost. lol. well it was fun tho. and after the mass we all went downstairs into "la cave" (french word for basement) and had a huge thanksgiving dinner. it was probably like 80 students, and we spoke french and ate for about 2 hours. it was really good practice for me. so this was thanksgiving number two.

wednesday went by normally until about 3 am. i was online skyping someone and i noticed a sneaky looking guy outside my window. and i have never seen a person out my window before, much less at 3am. he was heading for a garage that was attached to the rear side of my building, i had never noticed it before. so i watched him, and then he took out a crowbar and started prying at the door. i was astonished, was i really watching a burglary. well i couldn't just be idle, and watch. so i opened my window and yelled at the guy (he was about 200 feet away) and he turned and looked at the building and then wheeled around and took off running. now, i do not know what was in that garage, but i know it was safe for at least one more night. this definitely got my adrenaline going and it was a little while before i went to bed.

So friday i had my 8am class, woohoo, so much fun. after class i ran my errands and then went back to the dorms for a little bit. some of the asian students in my class said they wanted to cook me a dinner that night. i was excited, and had no idea what to expect. so when night came i started the 25 minute walk across town to their dorm, and boy was it worth it. they had about ten traditional chinese dishes out on the table. 2 different types of pork, rice, noodles, spinach, spicy salad, huge turkey wings, sweet rolls with meat in the middle, soup, more rice, and they had special tea for me too. wow!!!! was it so tasty and awesome. everything was slow cooked to perfection. i used "chop-sticks" with ease. all the meat was so juicy and fall off the bone good. man that was a great dinner, and i got to pick up a couple more chinese phrases. anfter we ate we sat and drank wine and played some card games they know, can't wait to share them with you. it was definitely a fun night. and i consider this to be my 3rd thanksgiving dinner.

Thanksgiving

So Sunday was the big Thanksgiving feast! (I know that this is 2 weeks late). So the church I go to here organized the whole thing. Everyone was supposed to bring a side dish or wine and baguettes. And the church cooked all the turkeys, 20 I think and 5 chickens. I rounded up about 10 friends from school and around town to come with me. We got to the fest about 12 and the smells were amazing. We found a table and just started chatting waiting for the thing to start. So after 200+ more people arrived we were finally ready. There was a little speech about Thanksgiving and being thankful (in English and French) and then it was time to dig in. My plate was piled high. I think I got 15 different sides and turkey all in one go. It was so gooood. And there was enough left over for seconds. Now it doesn’t compare to Thanksgiving at home with the family, but it was a good substitute. We ate and drank wine for a couple hours before it was time to go back.
When I got back I went and relaxed at a tea house with a couple friends. We got some tea and a shisha and just chilled and digested for a few hours. It was very relaxing. And after this I met up with some other people at The Bulldog, and we watched some Thanksgiving football! It was a great thanksgiving day.

Bowling and Billiards

So Saturday started with laundry. I know not interesting but it has to be done sometime. I have to actually walk to another building to do it all. But it is fun to meet some French people while I am waiting the hour and a half.
The night was a blast. Two friends and I went out to Plan de Compagne, just 30 minute drive from Aix. This is like the little little Las Vegas of southern France. My friend Nizar, the one with the car, is the son of the Ambassador from Libya to France. Pretty cool, huh. And so we went out there and went to this huge bowling/billiards place. I think there were about 40 lanes and probably another 40 tables. It was a site to see, most everything in France it small. So we played “cut-throat” a couple of times, and then moved on to bowling. It was fun. I have not been bowling in years, I think. And I actually won the first game with a score of 115. And I had 3 strikes (not all in a row tho). So we played another and ordered another round from the bar. The night was good. We made it back to town by around 1 am. I can’t wait to go again.

Friday : wine and biking/ bottling

So I have a friend here who owns a wine touring company. Small scale, but she does a biking trip for university students twice a year. So I signed up. We met up and got the bikes from a rental shop. It was me, one other guy, and about 15 good looking girls. I know my life here is pretty awesome. So…. We rode out to a vineyard about 20-30 minutes outside of town. It was a nice ride seeing the scenery change from “busy city” to “rolling countryside”. The one problem was that the Mistral (the wind force that blows in cold air at 20mph in this area, and usually for 3, 6, 9, 12, or 15 days straight) picked up right as we started. And most of the ride was uphill and against this wind. But alas we all made it.
So we got off the bikes and regained our breaths and hydration. The Vineyard was of small scale, and of course it is after season right now. But it was still really cool. We had the owner, a French guy, explain to us all the processes of growing the vines, harvesting the grapes, and then we moved onto the fermentation. For the last part we went inside to the room with the large steel holding tanks where the wine sits, and the sugars ferment, thus creating the alcoholic wine. And just so you know the reason red wine is red is because they leave the skins in the tank for a couple days and the color is pulled out into the wine. And rose/pink wine is pink because they leave the skins in for just about half a day. Interesting? After he explained everything to us, in French mind you, the tasting began. He passed out glasses to everyone and then poured us wine straight from the steel containers. It was a really neat experience to get the wine before it goes to a bottle.
So after we got all nice and toasty we had to get back on the bikes and head into town. It was a much easier trip, considering it was downhill and with the wind. But when we got into town we hit French traffic. And I was actually almost run over and had to try and get out of the way, which caused a fall/jump from the bike onto a sidewalk. I cut my finger open and scraped my knee, but I survived. So we got back into town and checked in our bikes. Then it was off to my friend’s house, Hilary, to bottle some wine of our own. This was pretty cool to do. We poured the wine out of big jugs into bottle and then used a hand press to cork the bottles. After we all got a bottle the fun was over. But it was a great time and for only 20 Euros I would suggest it to anyone.

Stuff i need to update you on

finally a day to catch you all up.

The BIG turkey. one of like 20 that we ate. so delicious

All the belle filles at my table. i'm a lucky guy
Me and the guys bowling and goofing off
Ahh. the vineyard
Getting ready for the 30 minute ride to the wine country

Sorry. it's been busy here

So it has been a little while since i have updated you guys. Sorry about that. I must be having too much fun. But let me finally get this thing started.

so what like two Sundays ago is where i will begin. I had lunch with a small group of friends at that restaurant/pub the Bulldog (i believe i mentioned this place before. it has the American football). so we met and just all got caught up on each others lives in France. after this, we went to the international church here. it was pretty crazy. we actually had this really drunk beggar guy like right at the church door. and at the beginning of the service he came in and was shouting in French. so he was politely escorted out. after the service like 50 of us went back to the Bulldog for some burgers and Football. some of the guys here have a fantasy football league. and the true intention was for it to be just them going to watch the games and keep up with their points on the web. but it is just such a great pub that everyone wanted to come. so i think i was there until 12ish. then it was time for the long walk home. but all in all Sunday was a good day.

Let's move on to Tuesday. So in one of my language classes we were having our first test. I was not that difficult for me. but then again i have not received my grade yet. hopefully a 20 (but yeah right, nobody ever gets a 20. p.s. the french grade everything on a scale to 20 not 100) but after the test we had a really fun event planned in class. the day before we all organized to have a party! One of my friends in the class, Misha (pictured above in the bright blue, next to M. Tissot, one of the profs) has a fiance who happens to own a vineyard outside of town. so she brought a few bottles of the wine they make, and the rest of the class brought different cheeses and bread. we spent 2 hours or so just socializing and drinking and playing crazy french games that the teachers knew. It was so much fun. we really came together as a group. and now we are all much greater freinds. and i think we all did leave just a bit tipsy. but hey. can you say you ever got to drink wine with your teachers in class. you gotta love the french way of life.

On thursday me and some friends decided to do a soup night. Each person, outta the 16 that came, brought an ingredient of their choice. and we made up the soup as we went. The object was to make something really tasty and then take half of it out to the streets and feed the homeless. so we accomplished the first part. the soup was really good. But when we went out in search of homeless people we could not find hardly any. which is really strange since durring the day we all know where at leaste 10 are on our normal routes through the city. I guess they all have somewhere to go at night. this is a really good thing tho. And it also meant that we got to have more soup for ourselves. haha. oh, also i got to invite a friend from class to come. and before we went to the soup tasting we stopped by her appartement for a couple glasses of wine. and i really got to know her a lot better. we talked for a couple hours. it was really good. she has definitely had a very interesting and varied life so far. So yeah thursday was a success.

This is all i can right tonight. i will try and publish everything i did on the weekend really soon. and it was a jammed packed weekend. and i loved it. second favorite since i have been here. well i have got a test tomorrow so i shoudl get some rest. hope all is well

middle of the week.

so we had today off of school for armistice day (veteran's day for all of you stateside). So i took advantage of this and went to a fun dorm party last night. we had pastis and smoked hookah. it was really cool getting to meet some more French people. i think we were up til like 3 am. so needless to say, i slept way in today. i woke up around 2 in the afternoon. that's the latest i have slept yet!

tonight some friends and i had dinner together at Loni's apartment. We bought a couple rotisserie chickens and some green beans, corn, mashed potatoes, and gravy. It was really good. It felt like a mini thanksgiving. we sat and ate and talked for a long time. then we played some cards. i actually learned a new game. It's called "Turrets" . I will try and explain it to you, because it was really fun and i think you would enjoy it. So you sit around the table and one person holds the whole deck of cards, just for convenience we will call this person the dealer. So the dealer will turn over one card and put it on the table. He is now in a battle against the person next to him. How you win the battle is to be the first person to say a word (no numbers or Proper nouns). this word must start with the same letter that the number starts with. For example: if a 5 (Five) is flipped over then you must be the first person to say something that starts with an "F". and no words can ever be repeated during the game. So if you win the battle you get the card. If you were the Dealer who won, then you keep the deck and you flip over the next card and are now in a battle with the next person (traveling around the table clockwise). you keep being the dealer until someone else wins the battle of words. and then they get that card that they won on and the deck transfers to them. they are now the new dealer, and will battle the next person in line. It is a really fun game and if you try it, you will find it is a lot harder to think of words than you might think. we came up with stuff like; tumbleweed, squirrel, flag.... The object is to get as many cards as you can, and the game ends when the deck is out. you can use multiple decks to get the game to last longer, and you can even use Uno cards if that's all you can find. but try it out and tell me what you think. you understand why it's called Turrets? you wind up yelling out the most random of words, and you studder a lot trying to think of stuff to say.

well i hope all is well, can't wait to hear from you guys!

So wait! the election already happened???

hey, so yeah i guess a lot has been going on in the States since i left. I mean wow, now it looks like we are going to have Obama take over the white house... (I did actually get a text from a friend ia 5am with the announcement. moment of excitement, and then straight back to sleep.) i know a lot of you think that it's going to get crazy! But let's just see how these next 4 years go. ok, that's all i will say on that.

so i had a fairly mild week. i finally bought an umbrella!!! only after we had like 2 weeks of rain. very unusual for this area. and i got downpourred on going to class monday. so i knew it was probably time to cave in and spend the 10 euros. very good investment. i had to use my umbrella the next two day to get to class. but now we have returned to the bright and blue skies that i love. it really was the first weekend of great weather we have had in a while.

so i went on a jog this morning, Sunday, for a few hours. i walked some too. ok a good bit of it, but still it was good excersice. the path i took was awesome. i had never been to this area before, just heard about it. on the edge of town there is a little river. and there is a great running/biking cross cuntry type trail that follows it for a few miles thru the woods. it was very refreashing to hear the sounds of the rushing water and all the birds and such. a good time back in nature. and when the trail dead ended i took to some streets. i stumbled upon this cool neighborhood. and i took one of the roads that went up the side of a little mountian/ big hill. and man was this street just stright up the whole way. it was great though, because once i reached the top it offered some really extraordinary views. views of the city and of the famous Mont Saint Victoire. I also got to check out some really cool houses. in which i was totally jealous of the simplistic lifestyle of the mountain-side Frenchies. so lucky. but then again so am I. so, yeah, it was a pretty good run. i think i will go again soon.

oh yeah, and after church i got to see some NFL on the cable at a friends apartment. it was pretty fun hanging out with the guys for a few hours. I got to brag on my home state a little. Thanks Falcons. i got to watch the end of the New England game and the Titans (wow 9-0!), and the first half of the Steelers game (man were they showing up for that half). so it fun, and i got dropped off at my dorm which is always a bonus.

so i would say it was a good week. classes are going good, and getting better every week. I am still definitely enjoying every moment. and i hope all is going well for "y'all"

marseilles and the rest of my break

well i am back in class now. i was ready for it too.

so i went to Marseilles on Thursday. if you don't know already, i am studying about 20 miles outside of this city. Marseilles is the 2nd largest city in France. I just caught a bus from here to there, it was 13 euros round trip. not too bad. i went for a bit of "faire du shopping". so, after i got off the bus i ran into some random French kids my age, and they helped me to find the shopping area of town. I had some good conversation with them. they told be about the mall, so i checked that out. it was a very chique mall, but still much smaller than thos in america. it was nice to see something that resembled the USA though. well, i didn't buy anything in the mall, so i went to the strip outside. there i found all of the same shops that i had just seen plus like 100 more. there were small particular clothes shops, and bigger ones too. it is crazy to be walking and pass by a gucci shop right next to a versachi one. but those were a little outta my price range. so i kept searching. eventually i found a couple pairs of pants, a couple light-weight jackets, a hat, and some shoes. so now i have got a little french style. all in all it was 150 euros. i now its a lot, by i have been dying bacause i look so american. and plus i haven't gotten new clothes in like a year.

on Saturday, i took a long walk all over town. i extended my knowledge of my surrounds. it was a good 3 hour walk i think. i found lots of shops and monuments i didn't know we had here. i even found a Subway and an Apple store. i bumped into a few people i know here, and i had lunch with one girl. after lunch i was back to a little walking, until i found a good place to sit and people watch. While sitting i was bombarded with 4 french girls i had never met. i guess they thought i was a good looking french guy. because they started talking to me in french really fast and asking me all these personal questions and stuff. i talked with them for a while. that was pretty fun, and then they asked for my number at the end before i said au revior. i didn't give it to them tho, because i think they might have been a bit young, but still very cute. so it made me feel like my purchases in marseilles were completely worth it.

on sunday, i had church which was good. it started porring cats and dogs while we were in service, but it was finished when we were. which was really good because i still have not bought an umbrella here. after church i went to eat with a group of about 20 if the church members. all families with little kids. so it was like 10 parents, 10 little kids (all under 9), and me. i had a great time. we had some charwarmas and tajine. and wine of course. we know the owner of this restaurant really well, so we got the whole top floor for our pleasure. and then after we ate the owner came up and played the drum for us, tunisia style. it was really cool.

after dinner i went and saw Quantum of Solice, the new James Bond film. yeah that's right! it came out here 2 weeks before y'all will get to see it. haha. it was a really action packed one. i think there was a chase scene with every possible means of being chased; car, boat, foot... I do think there was a bit less story line in this one than the old school bond movies. it was mostly blasts of action. but it was definitely good, and i will recommended it to all.

so that finished off my vacation, and like i said at the beginning i am back in school now. no more breaks for a while. but i did get to drop a couple classes, so now i don't have to wake up at 8 am except for on fridays. every other day starts at 12pm or later. isn't that nice?

oh yeah today i did change my room in the dorms. i have a moisture problem in my other one. so now i am in chambre 2124. so for any of you with my address, please note this!

i hope all is well in the "Etats Unis"=United States

Castle Weekend!

Well, there are some pictures for you. 1st) is of the castle, it was huge. like 30 rooms. there were 41 of us who stayed there for the weekend, and everyone had a bed! i slept in the tower. 2nd) is of me in front of the largest Huguenot church in France. it is in Anduze. they made it in somewhat of a rebellion to the way cathedrals were being made at the time. 3rd) is the view from my castle window!! it was an awesome sight to see the sun come over the mountain to the left and burn off the fog that lays over the village below. 4th) is a huge cave about 10 of us hiked to. it is where the protestants had their secret meeting while being persecuted in the 17oo's. it was quite a hike straight up this mountain, with little to no real trail to follow. 500 people could easily fit in here. it was quite an amazing feeling standing in this place. 5th) is from the Musee du desert. this is one of the ways the Huguenots were torchered. it is in front of a list of of pastors who parished trying to further their values in religion. it was a great history lesson.

but i did have a blast on my castle weekend. we spent two nights there. it completely made me want to keep pressing towards my dream of one day owning a castle in France. Or maybe building one in america, and creating a small French-like village to rule over. lol. but it was a lot of fun. i think the best part might have been just being with families again. there were about 6 families on the trip, parents and kids, and then there were like another 15 university students. So i already knew most of the college age students, so i really focused my attention on the rest of the gang. It was great getting to talk to moms, and dads, and watch the little kids play. the atmosphere was always a happy one for the whole weekend. I felt like i was part of all the families.

and then we also went on the excursion to the cave. now that was interesting. there is no real path to this cave. so of coarse we got lost a bit on the way up. but i was actually the one to find the cave, it was a couple hundred feet (70 meters) from where everyone else was looking. so that was some good boy scout intuition at work. it was a really cool cave. and the acustics were amazing. some of the girls sang some old hymns for us. it was just a really cool thing to see.

i hope to get to visit the castle again in the spring. you really cant beat that experience for just 30 euros.

this week i hope to go and explore marseille a little bit for the first time. i need to get some clothes shopping done there too. Aix is about 4 times more expensive for everything than the rest of France. so wish me luck on that endevor. it is about time i start looking more French.

also i am planning on going to the coast some time this week. and hiking the calanques which make up the area between marseille and cassis. not all of it, but enough. they are finger-like cliffs that jet out and lead to some of the coolest beaches, with the bluest water on the limestone rocks. so hopefully these plans will come to fruition.

as always, i hope everything is well back in the USA, and i would love to hear from you!

sorry its been so long

well i have done a little bit since i last wrote you guys.

ok, so i left you off last after i climbed the mountain. ok, yeah that was a lot of fun. so on monday last week i had my classes. starting at 8 am. fun stuff. but my afternoon one thats 4 hours long is pretty fun. we just chat in french and learn some stuff along the way. after class i had the last of my small group sessions for the month. pretty good discusion.

well tuesday is nice in the fact that classes dont start til 12, but they go until 7. (i am currently writing this on a teusday, i do get one hour of break in between classes, but thats it for the day) so in my afternoon class we had a real interesting conversation. we talked about alcohol in france. yeah like where and how to get it. the good prices and even the slang terms that you can use to appear as if you are a local. lol. but after class was over i had a fun night lined up. me and a group of like 15 guys had a guys night out. we took over the top floor of a charwarma restaurant. ate and drank and just had a good time. and then we brought out the poker chips. and the y were nice chips too, reclaimed from a casino in aruba that had closed. there were eight of us man enough to throw in the 10 euros to start. i have to say it was one of the funnest times i had playing. and i held the high chip count for the majority. i was still in for the last play. but the other guy called my "all in" bluff, and he just barely beat me. it was a bunch of fun, but ultimately the whole pot had to be donated to the cost of the meal and drinks. but it was a good night.

wednesday i had a wine tasting to go to at night. wow was it a blast. we tried 7 wines from white to the darkest red. all in two hours. there were like 25 people there. and the set up of the night was really relaxed. we would learn a bit about wine, and then taste one for like 15 mins and just chat. then we would ask questions and learn a little more, before we started that next wine. just so you know, i am in the best region of France for rosé wine. and 2003 was like the best year so far, and right now we have shifted to an even year=good year of wine timeline. so don't buy an '07, get an '06 or '08. that is if it is from france. it was a lot of fun, and totally legal for me in France. i met a few more people, and thats always good too.

Thursday was another fun night. me and some friends gathered at a house outside of town. and that felt good all on its own, just to bee in a house for once, instead of an appartment or tiny dorm room. and the mom there cooked us all a very hearty and comforting potatoe soup. it was the bomb! and then we all watch "lady in the water" by m. night shamalan. most of us had never seen it. i thought it was good. it gave the girls a good scare a couple of times. which is always good for the guys they grab onto, wink. but yeah so that was a really fun and chill night. and i was able to get a ride all the way back to my dorm, which totally beats the usual 20 min walk from down town late at night.

i had a pretty relaxing weekend after my 8am friday class was over. just took care of some errands, like going to the bank, and getting some groceries.

on Sunday i went to a movie in a French theater for the first time. they are pretty nice, but a lot less leg room. actually it was like the dollar theater but without all the dirt and sticky floors and sketchy people. it was me and 2 girls. one of which is single.lol. but yeah i made the mistake of letting them choose the movie. a total chick flick. "vicky christina barcelone". its a new woody allen movie. it was in english, and had french subtitles. so we got to learn some french while we watched. after the movie me and one of the girls , laura, the single one, just strolled around the town and explored some ares we had never been. it was nice. um, and then i had church and got to see some more friends.

ok so now i am back to monday. well i totally slept thru my 8 am class, but i think i might be dropping it anyways. my afternoon class, 4 hours long, was pretty good like always. and then it was time for a big dinner. it was American Breakfast Night!!! the best meal i have had in a while. me and 4 friends started cooking for the 15 others that would be showing up in an hour. we cooked; potatoes, bacon ( absolutely the hardest american thing to find in france), french toast, eggs. oh it was awesome. and we had freash cut fruit and syrup and oj. wow good night. after the dinner we all watched the latest 2 episodes of the office ( yes i am keeping up with this show, but its the only american thing i watch here) they were so funny, this is a good season.

so that should get you caught up to today. i might be frying some chicken with a couple friends tonight for dinner, so we will see how that goes. oh and this is our last week of school for a little bit. we get all of next week off for some crazy french holiday. awesome right? and i know for sure i will be spending a couple nights in a castle, and then i might go and explore some more of southern france; nice, cannes, ect...

well sorry this was so long, but as you can see i am still having a blst and staying busy. i hope all goes weel in the states. and p.s. what has happened to McCain, it looks like obama might take this thing.

wow. long week

well, the first week of classes is over. i have to say most of my teachers are pretty good. they aren't to bad to understand either. but it is REALLY REALLY tiring to listen and concentrate in French for hours and hours everyday. but i think it will get better as the year goes on. it feels good to finally be back in school, and actually learning stuff again. i am also meeting more people and that's good too.

so i finally got all my stuff with the bank done here. like getting my debit card (yay, no more international fines). and i deposited my first meal stipend check. i am still waiting to transfer all my US dollars, i am hoping the dollar will get a bit stronger still. i have already "made" almost 200 euros by waiting this long. and i am surprised at that. but soon.

i climbed the mountain again today. we took a bit of a different path to the top. and it was a beautiful day. i mean really perfect. i will try and put of pictures of me and the gang soon. we came down a different way, and actully ended up in a really cool spot. a huge damn. we crossed over the damn. and i got to look down the damn walls. and see the damn water. they were generating when we were there, so we could see the damn water spurting out of the damn holes in the bottom. it was really cool. i have never been to a big damn before. it was like hoover, but much smaller than that. but sill a few hundred feet high. i'll put up some damn pictures soon. (haha. just having some damn fun. like in vegas vacation)

well, i will try and write again next week. sometime soon, i hope.

the first day

well, today started really early!!! a 7am wake up call, i think that is a first since may. so i got ready, and was at the bus stop like 5 mins early, but when the bus showed up there was only room for 4 people. and even tho i was one of the first 4, i could not let the little girls who walked up miss it. So i walked to school. and it was a cold one this morning. i was definitely glad i gad on 2 shirts, a sweater, and my red winter jacket (which totally make me look like a foreigner here, i mean nobody really wears red). so i still was able to get to class a bit early.

So i sat down and met the other 14 students (yeah that is how big my class is all year). and the teacher (who is a very attractive french girl) started writing on the board. at first i thought it was a joke. was she really writing l'alphebet? you know A B C D E... yeah she was. we spent almost an hour learning letters, and then spelling words out loud. wow. so i guess this class will be easy!

after that i had 3 hours til my next class. i know a long break, right. well it was just perfect. i went back to the dorm and dropped off my jacket. check my blog for comments, and then my e-mail and such. and then i went to the cafeteria for a cheap lunch. met a friend there and ate. and then it was back to class.

i have got 4 hours of class in the afternoons on monday. all with the same professor. he's pretty cool. i can understand everything he says. i think i might be one of the more advanced in this class. it gave me some extra confidence. we went over some simple listening, speaking, and writing exercises. and we actually change rooms 3 times durring this class. its pretty neat. i feel like i am getting a good refreasher today. and it was not too hard for me, so that made me feel good. i think i should pass!!

so keep wishin me luck.

i got small groups tonight, which is what i am studying for now. but i am sure i might get some real homework sometime soon.

last day of summer

Today was my last day of summer, officially. Now, i did not make it to the mountain like i had planned. you want to know why? i stayed up until 2am waiting on my Skype appointment with my family. and they did not get on the internet til 2:45, and then skype didnt even work for them. so it was a total bust. but i got to facebook chat with them for a little while. After this i was pretty awake, instead of tired. and i did not get much sleep. so when 8:30 rolled around and i t was time to get up, I hit the snooze button a few too many times. Its ok tho. I have been up the mountian once, and i already have plans to do it again next week. so no harm done.

well my classes start tomorrow! yay. just kidding. but i am ready to start really learning the language here. and i will get to meet some new people, so it should be good. oh, and i have got a free student bus pass for this month, so that will make things easier! my two 8 am classes are on monday and friday. what a bummer. but it will keep me on my toes.

also, i just got offered an opportunity to spend a weekedn in a castle with some friends at the end of the month. that would be really cool. and for like only 30 euros. thats a cheap 2 and a half day trip. yeah, we get a week off here at the end of october. some sort of French holiday. (Toussaint). so that might be a lot of fun. i hope i can get my name on the list.

well, i will let you know how classes are going soon. wish me luck!!

passed the first test

OK. so i got put into a middle level group for this semester. that is right where i want to be, and i think it is where the majority of the students are. I wanted to let you know what classes i would be taking/offered this semester. each week I will take 12 hours of French language classes, 2 hours of French phonetics, and 6 hours of electives. This gives a total of 20 hours/credits for this semester. The electives i can choose from are as follows and are 2 hours each: Translation (i will probably take this), short stories of French lit, general lit, knowledge of Press (i want this too), French politics (maybe), and French business (i was thinking of this one too). So what do you think? looks like a un semester, right? well at least i will learn a whole bunch. and i have met some of the teachers and they are deffinitely here for the students, and they completely understand that we are all foriegners. so i think it will be good, well except that some of my classes start at 8 am acroos town. but for the most part they are after lunch, so itll be warmer!

Well i am going to be climbing the mountain again on sunday! should be fun. i will try and put up more pictures.

i hope america isn't boring you too much! lol. oh, and i see the $$ is getting stronger, what a relief

some pictures

ok. so i have got a photbucket site working for some pictures. but my internet is only strong enough late at night, so i am not sure how often i will put some up. i have got 100 up now. so check it out if you want

http://s47.photobucket.com/albums/f178/caleb1326/france/

the first taste of school

Today we had our placement tests to decide what level of french classes we can take this year. It was at 10am, so i met up with a couple of friends and we walked there early in the morning. We got there with plenty of time to sit and have a nice cafe au lait (coffee with milk) and then we walked into the courtyard outside where the test would be. and there were like 80 other people out there waiting, and they were serving free coffee and biscuits (like a type of cookie). man that would have saved us each 3.50 euro. but anyways, we all find seats in the auditorium, and the speakers tell us what will be happening, and they did it in 4 languages (French, of course, Chinese, Japanese, and English). this was pretty cool to here. the test was like 15 pages, and actually not too bad. it covered everything from comprehension to grammar to listening and writing. mostly basic stuff i think, or at least my answers were pretty basic.

after the test, which took about 1h30, we had 3 hours to kill until we had to go back for an individual verbal test. so my friends and me went to a cafe on main street and got some food for an hour. i had a croque madame (bread with ham and cheese toasted on it and an egg sunny side up on top) very good! then we just walked the streets for the next hour or so, and even checked out a big cathedral, which i actually remember visiting in '06. so i t was a lot of fun for all of us to show each other the neat places we had found since we have been here.
the verbal test was only like for a few minutes each with one of the professors. they asked simple questions like about family, college, and life in aix so far. it wasn't too bad. i think i will be put in a middle level of classes, which sounds perfect. we get our results on Friday morning.

well Thursday i am turning in some paper work in the morning for my resident permit, and then doing laundry. in the evening i have an international student party to go to. there is supposed to be like 400 people. so it should be a good social. i am thinking of wearing a nice sports jacket. and after this party, i am going to a friends apartment in down town to watch the premiere of the Office! so it'll be a good night.

talk to y'all later

almost two weeks gone

so last friday i had some meetings for the school. i had to actually wake up early, and set my alarm for the first time. but i have to say france looks good in the morning. there is a lot of stuff that happens before 12. and the markets that pop up in the streets and courtyards around town are awesome. you can find anything and everything fresh and made local. it is quite a site. and on sundays they even have an open air antique market that fills one side of the main street. and the other side stays busy with all the cafes full of french people and tourists. there are actually a lot of tourists here, so you would fit right in.

i am still loving the views i have from my window. and every now and then i get to watch a storm front move over the mountains. its pretty cool.

well i have got a big 3 hour placement test on wednesday. it will decide what level of french classes i should take here. and then i will be able to pick my classes and meet some professors on friday. and the classes are supposed to start on monday. hopefully i can get some later starting ones. its like a 35 minute hike from my dorms to the building all my classes are in. so wish me some luck!!

tonight i am going to bible study across town. it should be good, it is the first of a 3 week series. its great to chat over wine and cheese. and then all go out to the 2 euro bar that we found. haha, it should be a good night. and i hope i meet some more people.

a bientot, talk to you soon!

Mont Saint Victoire

wow! this mountain is huge. i definitely can see it from my dorms and it is like 10 miles away. it is like stone mountain but on the alps scale.
so i met up with heather and a couple of her friends at la rotunde, in the middle of the city, and we hopped on the bus for st victoire. it only cost 1.10 euro each way, and was like a 20 min ride. petty good price i think. well so we had no map of the mountain but we could see the top from the bottom. its way up there. The climb started off nice and easy for like the first 20 mins, and then we really hit the mountain. i mean it starts going at like a 70% grade up. crazy! we were climbing over boulders, sliding on the rocks, and trying to take pictures all at the same time. one rigorous climb. but we made it to the top. oh yeah, while we were climbing there seemed to be a huge storm on the horizon. and guess what? it started to head right towards us. but we got to the top first, and got a bit of shelter. but it was soo cold and windy, and now wet. but eventually it passed, well just the rain. and we explored the peak a bit. there is a huge cross up there that you can see for miles, and we were now standing right next to it.
the views were spectacular to say the least. just when we were really enjoying our mountainous feat, some french people came over one of the cliffs. they had climbed the even steeper part by way of ropes and caribeaners. man that had to be hard. maybe next year. lol, no way. the part we did was hard enough.
but we started to head down, we had to catch that bus back to town. the climb down was about 30 mins quicker, but none the less treachorous. we made it all in one peace, and with nothing but a few scrapes and some great memorioies.
this was a lot of fun, i would love to take any of you up it if you visit me. there are some easier trails to the top, fyi.

still having fun

ok so i know it has been a couple days, sorry.

friday .
i met up with my isep coordinator, emily and we went and got me set up with a french bank account and a cell phone. after that i went to here office and filled out some paper work for my residence permit. and boy was here office far away from everything, i mean a good 30 minute walk. i also got some things like a blanket and some silverware and pans and stuff from her for free. that was awesome. also on this afternoon i found the bus to carrefour, the french wal mart (which is not easy because there are like 25 different bus routes, and they all pick up in different places around the city, and make several stops) but i figuredit out just in time, and the busses were actually free friday and saturday ( it was transportation services weekend here) so that was lucky. i met some interesting people on the bus ride there and back. all in all it was a good day, and i had some good interactive experiences.

on saturday i woke up late, and bummed around in the dorms all day. i did help an asian girl who only speaks russian and english move a fridge. she didn't tell me that she didn't live in my dorm building until i was already holding the fridge. it was a few hundred yards away. but luckily we found a shopping cart out side, and just pushed it the whole way, well except for the 5 flights of stairs up to her room. ugh. but once we got to the top, she said that she would cook me some diner later. she did. it was really good. we sat in my room (chambre) and ate and drank some red wine for a hour or so. it was fun. and now i got another friend here.

let's see. today, sunday wasn't too interesting until around 5 tonight. i went to an international church that speaks in english. this was with some of those people i told you i met on the streets thursday. it was good to get to see everyone again. and after the singing and the sermon, a big group of us went out for dinner. we ate and talked for a couple hours. it was a lot of fun. and now that i have a cell phone here, i was able to exchange some digits. tomorrow we are all meeting up for a home cooked dinner at one of the guys apartments. it should be fun. these are mostly all exchange students. but from all over. i think we will make a good group.

this is all for now. i hope you all are having fun in lame america. just kidding.

my computer works again

you might not know it, but my laptop crashed in the atl airport right before i got on my plain. i have been using the campus computers for the past couple days, and man are they slow. but now my laptop is back up and running. I have got SKYPE! my name in it is caleb_alexander so look me up!

i hope to hear from some of y'all soon.

a good night

so all of today i walked the town. looking in shops and checking out some cafes. i still hadn't really met any people i could talk/relate to. until tonight! it was a stoke of luck. i decided to go back out of the dorms and head to main street and hope that i find someone/something to do. I heard a couple girls speaking english, and i introduced myself. it turns out that they were meeting up with a local youth group that was meeting for the first time tonight. perfect timing, i was suddenly meeting around 20 people (18 were girls) who were all exchange students. they were having a social game/ meet and greet in someones apartment tonight. it was just what i needed. a couple hours of conversation( ones that i could understand). it turs out that we all have the same doubts in our capabilities abroad.

it was fun we drank wine and played catch phrase. it might be a good group of people to get involved with, a couple of them even live near me here. so hopefully i will be able to stay in touch.

other that... tomorrow i am supposed to get a phone. it will do me wonders i think.

well thats all for tonight, its almost mindight now.

p.S. the keyboard here is one of the most confusing things ever!!!

Im HERE

So i finally made it to France. It's a bit different than i had expected. It took over 18 hours to get to my school. I got a first class seat with my buddy pass, thanks robert. It was awesome! free drinks, food, movies (with the complentary noise reduction head phones) and anything else i could think of. my first challenge was trying to find where my luggage was going to be at the airport and then how to buy a train ticket. let's just say it was a good thing we caught a huge tailwind and arrived in paris in only 7 and a half hours. the train ride was really cool although i was tired. i had plenty of room for ny legs and the veiws were great! it was a 3 and a half hour riddes with about 4 stops. the scenery of france changes so much as you travel cross-country. Provence is amazing. the sky is blue, and it is still summer here, but without so much humidity.

My room is reqlly nothing special. kinda feels like the size of a closent. and my laptop is not working right now, a big bummer for me and everyone i wanted to "skype". hopefully i can get it fixed. I walked down into town, which is about a half mile or so. Its a great pedestrian street front shop/cafe place. After walking all over the main downtown and peeking into shop and checking out the many fountains, i sat down at a cafe and had a beer. a 1664 to be exact. it was 3 €. i sat and people watched for a while. I think i could get used to this. I just hope i can learn some French quick and find a group of college kids to hang out with. I only overheard like 5 or 6 kids speaking english all day. but i have got hope.

well i am going to try and get some much needed rest. i will keep you posted on what happens tomorrow and this weekend.

p.s. you won' t believe it but the keyboards here are completely different than in america. so knowing how to ten finger type is no good (its good i never learned how to)

a bientot,
caleb

The Day Has Come

Well the French consulate pulled through for me. I picked up my visa this morning!! it looks like i will be getting on a 3:30 flight for Paris! so my next blog should be from France. I am a bit under the weather right now, but i am betting that a cool Mediterranean breeze will be all the healing i need. Wish me LUCK!

Almost there

So today i went to the French Consulate in Atlanta to ttry and get my visa. I know it might seem like i should have done this a long time ago, but i forgot. So now i am doing a mad dash to get a visa in order to be able to leave on the 16th. It looks hopeful. I can't hardly wait to get over to France.