Hey again.

Hey. so i am 21 years old now! i am officially legal to have a drink all over the entire, big world. lol. I had a lot of fun last night. but let me back it up a few days...

I finished up my exams last week. Accounting was quite the tough one. We shall see what happens. it took me the whole 2 hours to finish up. but i think it was passable. And then i had the oral exam with my Droit Constitutionnel prof. That turned out to be a nightmare. I studied the last 250 years of french governmental history and the differences in their constitutions (they have had many). So i show up for the test feeling good, right. the teacher asks me 2 short questions about the present french government, and then a dozen about the US government. what the heck. I haven't taken US govn since 8th grade. So half of my answers were "je ne sais pas", and then he would tell me what i should have said, followed by my reply of "oui, je sais". lol. so needless to say i don't anticipate the highest marks there. but that's ok. i made straight A's last semester, so it should all balance out in the GPA.

So on thursday i went back to Gorges du Verdon. It was quite a different experience. I rented a Kayak. The river was calm in this area with a huge lake at the entrance to the cliffs. And these cliffs were indescribable. the water was a chilling 8 degrees still, but this time i had NO wetsuit. I still couldn't resist doing a little cliff diving tho. it was a great time in the wild. on our way back we stopped at a cool village in the cliffs that is famous for pottery and their amazing view of the countryside. After that we drove into the heart of the lavande country. We stopped at a local lavande farm and got to learn more about the whole process from some of the family owners. Apparently we were about 4 weeks too early to see the bloom. you know the classic purple covered fields of france. Right now poppy flowers are in full bloom. and the fields look fiery red.

Saturday was my big VIP day in Cannes. The film festival came to a close last weekend. My friend Thierry had been at the festival all week and was leaving just as i was arriving. So... he gave me 2 of his VIP passes to use. A girl i met up with on the bus and I decided to make it a day together. We had a great time. I am talking private beach, open bar, free Puyricard chocolates, private dock, and comfy seats with good looking people all around. It was 10 times better than what the average person would get. Awesome. And we also got to go into the Carlton hotel and chill in that lounge for a while. We watched the red carpet for a bit, but i didn't recognize anyone, and there were like a million people there to watch. And we ended the night with a little movie premier out on the beach. You got to be envious of this day. lol. It was one of my french dreams come into reality.

I forgot about friday. ha. I went and played some Laser tag with my friends. I got 1st place all three rounds. so bring it on!

Ok, monday was my birthday. i had a ton of fun. a friends from GSU came into town that day, and he is staying with me for a week or so. And we went out to an underground discotheque, and then hung out in the park with frenchies til about 3am. It was a great day, and thanks to all of you who sent out birthday wishes. I am 21 now, legal worldwide!

Today (wed), we are going to one of my friend's vineyards. hopefully do some wine tasting, swimming, possible horseback riding, and who knows. We will be staying there overnight. should be a lot of fun, and just a cool experience. Then friday we hope to climb the mountain, and go for a swim at a friends house out in the country. It's going to be a good last few weeks here in France!

Keeping busy

So... i know that i start a lot of these with "sorry it has been so long". but it only gets harder to sit down and find the time as the year is winding down. Yes i am starting to feel the end draw near. And i don't want to leaver here. so if everyone i know could just get on a plane and move to France, that would be great. haha. Well, anyways i have just got a month left!

So i have kept busy. I had 2 exams last week, and i have got 2 more this week. so cross those fingers, because they (just like the classes) are going to be in 100 percent French. I have got accounting in the morning. ouch. So this is me procrastinating (those of you who know me, know that procrastination is my favorite part of studying). But it should all work out in the end

On friday i went to a big end of the year bash with a lot of my friends. We had good drinks, good burgers from the grill, a fire, swimming, Wii, and so much more. It really was great to have a big shebang with a lot of people that are leaving this week. Oh and around midnight we all went out and did the ziplines at this house. imagine flying into a pitch black forest. It was awesome. you just have to watch out for that tree at the end of the line.

Saturday started out early. I got hooked up with some people who are moving teusday and need some help getting the house ready. so i went out to their place in Puyricard, and they set me to work. They had a pool, that really looked like a pond when i arrived. There were 2 inches of leaves covering the bottom. It was not pretty but with 5 hours of hard work... It was clean and clear. And it felt great to actually make some money for the first time in 10 months! I can't wait til this summer. I have got to find a job in Georgia (anybody know of one?) After work i got cleaned up and headed out to a tailgate. You heard me. I tailgated at an American football match here in Aix. Our team is #2 in all of france. The playoffs start in a couple weeks. Anyways, i made such a good mixed grill. mmm. and then The Argonauts (name of our team) crushed the opponents. 43-6 at the half. And there were some really good plays. Get this, the audience does the "braves tomahawk" here. It made me feel right at home.

Today, Sunday has been awesome so far. 5 friends and I went out to Les Gorges du Verdon to go RAFTING. The 2 hour drive out there at 8 in the morning was beautiful. We pass some great scenery; mountains, plains, little villages. once we got into the national park area the views only got better. It is impossible to describe, but i will try a bit. This is pretty much the french equivalent to the grand canyon. very different but all the same magnificent. We came around one of the cliffs and in front of us laid a huge valley covered in a cloud. It was something to see. Well, we got down to the raftin place, paid (signed 0 consent forms, they didn't even ask our names. only in France). And then we got suited up in some wetsuits (very necessary. the water was like 8 degrees Celsius). And we hit the water. It was a smooth trip down the Verdon, but there were some cool rapids. after we went through the biggest one of the day, the guide and us got the raft over to the side and we climbed a rock. this was followed by all of us taking turns jumping into the beast. what a rush! just got to not get thrown into the rocky cliffs to the left. ha. well the rest of the trip went with no problems. we had a splash fight, flipped the boat once, and did some swimming. It was great! i would suggest it to all

Well, i guess it is time for me to get back to my studies. Wish me luck. I hope all of you are doing great and having a good summer where you are.

Grandparents came for a visit

Well, Papa Don and Jojo (my grandparents) came to see me last week. We sure did have a lot of fun. I have been sleeping for the past few days just trying to recuperate from all the things we did together. So i will try and give you guys the short version of how things went down.

... I didn't even recognize them when they got off the bus Thursday afternoon. But i guess they figured out who i was pretty quick, and they ran over and gave me a good hug. After this, we put our things up in the apartment we rented for the week (awesome place by the way), and then we hit the sunny streets of Aix. Of course the first thing we wanted to do was sit at a café on Cours Mirabeau, have some wine and some french food. And that is exactly what we did with the exception of Don ordering a beer (he wasn't too keen on wine until later in the trip...) So we had a nice 2 hour meal and watched the Aixoise culture walk by in front of us. And then we headed up the street a little ways and into a cathedral. It was cool to show them something that was Built starting in the 5th century. Man, the USA is so young. After visiting some neat places in town, we got pizza (very french) and headed to the apt to call it a night.

Well, friday we hit the ground running. We woke up and went to the famous street markets of Aix. We got zucchini and fresh Parmesan cheese for dinner. Then we went and saw my school (it is celebrating its 600 anniversary this year). And for our afternoon we planned to go into Marseilles, so we got some senior discount bus passes and went on our way (for just 1 euro). We started Marseilles with a 2.5 hour lunch right on the vieux port. It was nice to relax before we started the miles of walking that i had planned. We wound up seeing 3 cathedrals, all completely different styles and really cool. One of them was on top of a huge hill and overlooked the entire city (2nd largest city in France) and also the Mediterranean Sea (where you can see the famous Chateau d'If where the Count of Monté Christo was held). From here we walked down the hill and back thru time once more to a Gothic style cathedral which got its beginnings from the 200s! But everyday does come to a close and so we watched the sun start setting over the city from the train station and then we caught a bus and got to see it finish setting over the Provence countryside. It was very beautiful. Finally we got back to the appt and started cooking a tasty pasta dinner that lasted til 11pm. Oh, i forgot Jojo had a French guy hitting on her while Don and I were in a store. We came out and he was telling her how much he wanted to marry her!

Saturday was also a busy day. We started the morning with buying a fresh baguette and catching the bus for Mont Saint Victoire. We hiked up thru the olive fields and once we got above the tree line we felt the full force of the Mistral (20mph winds of Provence). It made it really difficult to stay on the side of this huge mountain. So once we got to the halfway point, we found a shrub and ate lunch behind it and out of the wind. The views were amazing. We got down and were back in town by 1pm. Then i had to shower and head into town to help set up for the wine tasting we were going to that night. So i helped Hilary set up and then we went out to the meeting spot to get Jojo and Don and also 7 other people. But the other people never showed up. So we wound up getting a Private tasting of 5 wines! It was awesome, and to all our surprise Don enjoyed himself and was even asking for extra tastes. After all our questions were answered and our noses were a bit redder we thanked Hil and went up stairs to Have a great Italian dinner (and Hil let us have a bottle to finish with our dinner, 2003 Pinot Noir). And man was dinner tasty, and the service and atmosphere was top class at Pasta Cozy. After dinner we went to a rooftop party in the middle of the city. We got to meet some french friends of mine and get a great view of the city at night. And Jojo got to practice her "bisou", the french cheek kiss. It was yet again another great and full day.

We were happy to wake up to a rainy day on Sunday. Rest was definitely in need. So we just took it slow all day. Jojo read her Jane Eyre book and Don and i sat and talked for a few hours until we found a formula one race on TV. After the race we went out and saw my new dorm room (Awesome!) and we picked up some sandwiches to bring back for dinner. We had dinner, watch a movie (About Schmidt), and then we went to sleep.

on Monday we woke up in a rush ( I called the bus station and found out that we only had 20 mins til we had to leave on the bus). Arrived in Cassis by 9am and it was earlier than most of the town had woken up. We ate crepes in the park (Nutella, chocolat, and honey nut). After eating, we hiked the first of the calanques and learned some cool history of the area while we got some breathtaking views of cliffs and the Mediterranean. As we came back to town we saw a woman laying out Nude (finally a real french experience. lol). Then the sun popped out and we had charwarmas for lunch in downtown. Went and saw the light house where I left the grandparents for an hour (don took a nap, and jojo watched a guy swimming and hoped he was also nude). And they saw kids taking sail boat lessons, while I took a nap on the beach. Then I stepped in the freezing waters of the Med Sea. So, we took the bus back and while we were waiting for our transfer bus in Aubagne jojo got pooped on by a pigeon. lol. but we made it. We saw where Cezanne died, and the old Aix pony express. For dinner we grabbed 2 pizzas from Pizza Capri (3 fromage and chirizo). I helped some tourists get a cab for the airport. we ate dinner and Don and I stayed up again (every night talking til 12am, until don's alarm would go off).

And the last day finally was upon us. But we still had big plans! There was a tour of a local chocolat factory in Puyricard, just 15 mins north of town. So we took the bus there, and actually got dropped off at the wrong place. I had to get my friend that works at the factory to come and pick us up for the rest of the way. Ah, so we arrived a bit late, but it was just in time for the actual tour. We had to go thru a "clean" room and wash up before we put on hairnets. the tour was really cool. We were on the floor walking in between all the different stations for all the processes that the candies go thru. And my friend came and did part of the tour with us (he is a manager there and gave us a few cool extra background stories). We got to sample a lot of the chocolat and we saw some of the trade secrets. mmmm. Well after we had had our fill we went back into town. We got packed up and then grabbed some charwarmas for lunch (i swear these are the best sandwiches). And before the bus left we even had time to stop by a museum and look at some photography. So, I said my final goodbyes to my loving grandparents and waved them off as the bus drove away.

We sure did have a lot of fun.