vitalite' intellectuelle

This is my school right now. Like, where I have classes. There are palm trees. Word.

Oh, how I wish I could use accents when I type on this thing. It's rather irritating, and it makes that many of the the things I say in French make little to no sense. Whatevs.

This week has been pretty freaking amazing in terms of my classes. I mean, in terms of everything else as well, but it's been a long time since every single one of my classes makes me actually want to do my homework and want to actually try. Sad, I know, but that's kind of what pre-med did to me (and why I'm no longer bothering with it).

My cours d'expression francaise is always a blast. For some reason, every single person (there are 8 girls in the class) becomes totally crazy and giggly every class and Jean-Michel, our professor, just doesn't understand at all. And then he teaches us something that I leave class and start hearing everywhere I go. I'm like, "how the crap do you do that?" It's as if he knows about all the conversations I've had and am about to have which I guess is pretty creepy but like WOW. For example, we had a vocab test (which I majorly bombed...oops) yesterday, and of the words that I actually did know was "se debrouiller," which means "to cope." Literally I left class and went to my community service, which is hanging out with an old lady for 2 hours (more on that later), and Madame Ros used "se debrouiller" in a sentence. Awesome.

Hold on, going to make some tea and get something to eat--STARVING.

Little note on that: I bought myself some Darjeeling today, and I am stoked. My host mother has a box of Lady Grey, but I've been drinking so much of it and starting to feel bad about it, so I figure it's more polite to just use my own tea. Right now I'm legit drinking Darjeeling and eating leftover cooked vegetables while sitting in the dining room looking into the backyard of "Villa St. Jean" (yes, the house I'm living in has a NAME) and at the cat who's lounging on the table just outside.

ANYWAY. So my French expression class is only one of the 5. My cinema class, architecture class, French cultural patterns, all are so interesting (note: sometimes French cultural patterns is snore-central, but this morning we had a really interesting discussion, so I'm hoping that that's just the start of many more!).

My theatre class is fantastic. Jean-Claude has a very interesting way of teaching acting that is partly things I've seen and done before and partly exercises that are fascinating and incredible for building a group and getting to know each other. One of my favorites from last time was when we had to pair up and one person closes her eyes and the other has to lead her around the room by saying "a droite, a gauche, etc." Sounds easy at first, but Jean-Claude, while we had our eyes closed, started placing chairs and things around the room and having the guides manoeuver around them. Those of us in the first group of the blind didn't know this was going to happen, so the reveal was pretty damn cool. When we reversed it, I had to have Leigh (who was my partner, duh) crawl under a chair that was placed on top of two other chairs...and it totally worked. I finished by having her climb on top of a chair. We were a kind of epic team.

So yeah, that's just a little update on how my classes are going.

Yesterday I had my first one-on-one with the "personne agee" with whom I'll be meeting with and talking to for about two hours per week for the rest of the semester. I met her last week, along with a representative from ACLAP (I know, I giggled a little too), which is a group that connects elderly people with students and also does various other things for them of which I'm not entirely sure. My first meeting with Madame Ros made me a little scared, as I was very worried that we wouldn't be able to understand each other. She speaks fast and has a (I think?) Lyonnais accent, and also she has bad hearing, so she can't always hear what I say nor can she understand my beautiful American accent.

Side note: I keep forgetting to capitalize things. The French just do not capitalize. Only for countrys and peoples. For example, we are "les Americains," from "les Etats-Unis," but I have "un accent americain." Yeah. Whatever.

Also, mmm Activia.

Despite my worries about comprehension, I ended up having a wonderful two hours--and even stayed a little longer to have some gateau! Madame Ros and I told each other our life stories--incredibly different and now we've crossed paths; incredible. Her story is heartbreaking, inspiring and fascinating all at the same time. She was orphaned at age 4 in Lyon, put under the care of the state, started working at 13, never had much formal schooling, returned to Lyon around age 21, met her husband, lived happily with him just until I think around 15 years ago, and has been living alone, with only American students, her adopted family (who actually adopted her to be their grandmother. I can hardly comprehend it, but it brings tears to my eyes nonetheless), and all her neighbors (who all adore her) for company. She's pretty old and sick now and can't leave her appartment, but she's incredibly vivacious quand meme. And then she welcomes me into her home, feeds me cake and shows me pictures of her husband, her friends, the previous American students she's had, and more. When I left last night, I wanted to cry and laugh and dance around in the rain and fly to Moscow all at the same time--just writing this now is getting me kind of choked up.

I really can't believe how much this semester is changing me. I know that inside I'm still the same Tess as I was in Williamstown, but here in Aix, I'm living so much and seeing so much and LEARNING so much that the Teresa who returns to my beloved hometown and my beloved college is pretty much guaranteed to be ready to live as much as I do here--something that this past year has prevented me from doing, I really regret to say. I wasn't myself last year. I know this. I was coming back into myself some this summer, but now I really feel that I'm back. And I'm ready for the world. Bring it.

I've got to run and get dressed for dinner on the town with my girls. :) A bientot!

P.S. Sorry for the random, sudden emotional paragraph, this city has just really gotten to me. In the best way possible.

il n'y a pas un mot en francais pour "nerd"

And oh, how appropriate it would be.

Right now I should be doing at least 3 other things, but I did promise a blog update today to multiple people, so here goes.

Saturday I went on another field trip with my program. This time our chaperone was Jean-Do, my cinema and architecture professor, who is ridiculously skinny and hilarious. We left super early (ughh...) to the city of Arles, about an hour from Aix. Arles was a surprisingly important city in the Roman Empire, so there are tons of artifacts from around the 1st century BC (no, I'm not politically correct. What are you gonna do about it?). We went to the museum of Arles, where there are legit sarcophagi and statues of Augustus and things that in my opinion are really freaking cool but the museum was basically empty besides us. I cannot fathom this. Maybe it was an off time? But...Saturday in early October is kind of perfect in Southern France, so I don't really know. Anyway.

We saw the remains of the Circus (not like Ringling Brothers...like, chariot racing), the amphitheater, the baths, and the THEATRE. That's what the picture is of, me on the stage, with the audience behind me. God it was amazing--and there are still productions there today. I must. But yeah so pretty much I was Latin-nerding out all over the place because it was so freaking cool and I couldn't handle it. And no, there really isn't a good word in French for nerd.

It became an extremely hot day and we ended up walking so freaking much that by the time we got back on the bus we were all so freaking tired--though we managed enough energy to play MASH on the way back. I so miss middle school. Kind of.

Saturday night, despite our exhaustion, Liz, Emily, Grace and I went back to the Vietnamese restaurant we love so much and had a ridiculously slap-happy dinner--honestly, I can't really explain it. I blame LA PLEINE LUNE--and went out on the town.

OKAY. I have to go eat and run errands and go to my WINE TASTING class. Oh, France.

joyeux anniversaire a mon papan et gandhi!

The title kind of says it all. Happy birthday to two wonderful men!

garcon

So, yeah. That's Clement. Not Martin, but his best friend. They actually call each other "Papillon." Yes, I did manage--naturally--to find the most adorable/frustrating bromance in France. I have skillz. Kill me.

tout est bien qui finit bien

So. The Luberon. Pretty freaking beautiful. The title of this post is probably pretty easy to figure out, but it's All's Well That Ends Well in French. Which is appropriate, because I WAS FREAKING IN ROUSSILLON AND SHAKESPEARE NERD-ING OUT ALL OVER THE PLACE.

The first town was Lourmarin, which was tiny and had a gorgeous chateau and like a billion fountains. Liz and I wandered around before settling at a cafe, she with her Orangina, and I with my noisette (a little coffee with a little bit of milk or something). After taking stalker photos of our waiter and his man-pris, I bought some pretty jewelry (including Le Coeur de la Mer...seriously...kind of) and we got some little quiches and various lunch items. We then got back on the bus and headed to Bonnieux, which is literally on the top of a mountain. The ride there was slightly--understatement--terrifying, as the little mountain roads of Provence were not created for coach buses. Yeah. Not so pleasant. We made it there alive, and it was totally worth it. This town has a view of what seems like the entire of Provence--including the chateau of the Marquis de Sade. Craaazy--and I took like a million pictures (which I will upload eventually, I promise...yargh). We picnicked in the park of the church at the very very top of the mountain--gorgeous.

Last and certainly not even close to least was Roussillon. Roussillon is most famous for its ochre quarry-ish thing. It was unbelievable. Brilliant orange rocks set against the green of the trees and the perfect blue sky--also, I was wearing mostly blue so those colors looked great in contrast, too. Literally, I felt like I was in the Grand Canyon. Granted, I've never actually been to the Grand Canyon, but I imagine it's a lot like that. We hiked around the quarry for a while--it was really, really cool. After, I got some lavender ice cream--bizarre, because it literally tasted like I was eating the smell of lavender...does that make sense? But it was in no way unpleasant--and wandered aimlessly around the center of town. These little villages are so unbelievably perfect; I kept thinking I was in Chocolat and I could turn a corner and find Johnny Depp coming up the docks (sadly, this did not happen. Though he DOES live in France, so it's more possible...maybe...).

We got back to Aix at around 6:30. I then changed, ate dinner and went to the exhibition Picasso-Cezanne at the Musee Granet with my host sister, Alix. I already talked some about it, but I'll say a little more. This exhibit was incredible. First of all, it was free for us (ballin'!). The Musee Granet always has tons of Cezanne (because he lived a while in Aix), but I guess this year is some sort of anniversary of Picasso's time in Aix, so there have been events all year long. What I really loved was that the museum didn't only show the abstract, "usual" Picasso. We also saw some magnificent paintings by Picasso that at first glance, and in comparison to the rest of the exhibit, seemed to be by Cezanne, just by their delicacy and accuracy. Very cool. Also, we got there just before 9pm, when it was supposed to offically start, and when we left at a little after 10pm, the line outside was absolutely absurd. Probably helped that it was the very last night of the exhibit, but whatever.

Sunday was yet another "Aix, why do you rock so much?" day. There was a random big like garage sale on Cours Sextius, where it seemed like everyone from Aix just brought out all the random stuff they had lying around and sold it at ridiculously awesome prices (e.g. I bought 2 necklaces and a ring, all really beautiful, for 4 euros. What!?!). Liz, Emily and I hung around there for a while, then went a little cafe-hopping. At the first one, in Place Richelme, the son of the waiter was like helping him, and it was probably the most adorable thing I've ever seen in my life. This little boy was wearing almost Harry Potter-like glasses but the frames were red instead and he was super eager and ahhhh soo mignon.

At around 6, I met up with Martin (!!!) so he could, as he put it, "make me a visit of Aix." I already knew a lot about the city, but I pretty much just wanted to see where he would take me. He showed me to the south of Cours Mirabeau--where I like never go--and various other random places. He is like really smart. He knew all these random facts about the city and was telling them all to me in slightly broken but surprisingly good English. He's such a sweetheart. We also discovered that his parent's house isn't at all far from where I live. Kill me. He had to go back to Marseille and is having his housewarming party tomorrow (Friday) night, and I can't go because I have a stupid trip with my Architecture class (okay, I know it won't be stupid, I'm just bitter) and I am very sad. Oh well. When we parted, he was like, "okay, not this weekend, but next weekend! And the one after that!" I almost died. And I made him hug me. I was like, "Americans hug." :-D

Teehee.

degustation de France

I've found it's terribly difficult to have to think back to what I did exactly when and how best to explain it. I guess that's my punishment for taking three weeks to start this friggin' thing that I've been talking about doing since like before I left...awesome.

OK. After a lazy Sunday of homework and sporadic rain storms, I started my first "real" week of classes. There had been some uncertainty about whether the Cinema course would happen or not--it needed at least 5 people, and only 4 were there the first week--but yay for Amanda F, because she decided to enroll, so now I get to watch the most famous French movies and have a glorious time.

Mmm yeah. So, pretty much the same as the week before, but now I'll describe some of my classes more.

French Cultural Patterns, Monday morning at 10h45 with Jean-Michel Cosse. Jean-Michel is an awesome professor, he's really intelligent and above all really understands how much we can understand. He's obviously taught American students a lot. We have another section on Friday mornings with Elodie Buhrle, but it's sooo hard because it's the end of the week, and also I just blatantly disagree with a lot of the things she says in terms of the similarities and differences (okay, really just differences) between Americans and American culture and Frenchies and French culture. But then I'm too tired to say anything about it. Also, I can't really understand most of what she says, as she speaks super fast and uses a ton of words I don't know--super frustrating.

French Oral and Written Expression, Monday afternoon at 14h, also with Jean-Michel. This is probably the most directly useful class. Jean-Michel basically just straightens out the misconceptions of how to and how not to speak French. So many things that I used to say in French that made sense in terms of translation into English just do NOT fly in French. E.g. the adjective "plein/e," meaning "full," should not be said at the end of a meal, when you want to announce that you're too full to each more, as your host mother will probably be sent into a tizzy at the fact that after only 3 weeks in France, you are already pregnant. Instead, tell her, "j'ai deja mange assez, merci." Much better.

French Cinema, Tuesday morning at 9h (oof) with Jean-Dominique Brignoli. Jean-Do is super chouette and seems to know a lot about film. Also, I found out last week that France had the very first movie EVER. What!? How did I not realize this?? Then, a movie was actually a "vue."

Major Scenes in French Theatre, Tuesday afternoon at 15h with Jean-Claude Azoulay (yes, all my professors are Jean-Something. Oh, France). Jean-Claude is a professional actor--he has a show this weekend in Marseille that I'm really going to try to go to--and speaks perfect English--real like English English, not American English. Pretty sweet--and is hilarious and a wonderful teacher. In the 3 hour class (same as Cinema), we spend the first ~1.5 hours discussing plays (last week and this week is Moliere's Le bourgeois gentilhomme), then the remainder playing around like true Theatrettes. It's perfect.

Last is Architecture and Urbanism in Provence, Friday afternoon at 14h, also with Jean-Do. This class, which is pretty much just Art History of Provence, is really fascinating, especially because the focus is on Aix and Marseille, so I can literally leave class and see exactly what he was just talking about--and in fact, this week we're going to spend the last 1/2 hour actually in Aix, EXPERIENCING the Architecture and Urbanism in Provence. Good lord, I love France.

So yes. Those are my classes. They kind of rock.

On Tuesday, I chose my "club" for the semester--I'm going to take classes in "Rock" dance from a group called RockCaliente at Berny's Cafe in eastern Aix. The class last week was SO much fun. I know it sounds kind of conceited, but I figured that whatever beginning level dance class I take would be no problem for me, but I'd struggle with the language a lot. I found out that not only would I have some issues with the language, but that this "rock" dance is not something I'm used to at all and I was already pushed a litte--a very pleasant surprise. Some of the guys there were a bit "louche" (French for creepy. One of my fave words, duh), but in a way that wasn't so bad. And also, even the louches could dance. Now that was a surprise.

After my super chouette dance class, I went out on the town with Emily--starting at Brigand, as usual, then to O'Shannon, also as is our wont, then to IPN, which had Ladies' Night. This meant that if we paid 3 euros to get in, we could have as many champagne-currant syrup drinks as we wanted. Not a bad deal, even for just one. It was quite delicious, too!

After that long, louche-y night, I spend Wednesday catching up on sleep and doing homeworkses chez moi, then I headed to my very first course in Wine Tasting. Note for all:

WINE TASTING IS HARD.

I thought I could be good at it, mostly because I like to think I have a pretty good nose in general, but no. Absolutely false. I would smell the wine, and it would make me think of something, but I could never place the smell. And as for the tasting part? Fail. Total fail.

After another awesome rendez-vous with my language partner, Claire--she is so cool. She works at the Pavillon Noir, which is the "centre choreographique national," aka AWESOME, and she's said that she can get me tickets to the events there. That like makes my life. I wanted to see the Ballet Preljocaj (the dance company) so bad, but I figured I wouldn't be able to afford it. And now, free tickets?!?! So unreal. Also, this is an epic hyphen happening right now--I think I had a quiet night chez moi with my host family. That's also how my nights went for the rest of the week.

So, it's really late now, I'm really exhausted, and I still have a bit of homework to do for tomorrow, so I'm going to cut this off now. Tomorrow or something, I'll write about my trip to the Luberon yesterday (oh man, I am GOOD at this catching up thing), which was pretty damn cool.

Gros bisous!

HILARITY...err...HILARITE'

I can't believe I forgot to mention the best text ever (yes, I still text WAY too much here. Surprise, surprise) that I got from Martin. So he texts me in English and I text him in French, not really sure why. Often this leads to texts from him that make sense but with awkward/awesome connotations.

This was Friday 18 Sept, when it was raining like woah.
Martin: "ok for happy?brigand"
Moi: "Je vraiment veux aller. Quand il pleut un peu moins, j'irai!" (translation: I really want to go. When it's raining a little less, I will go!"
Martin: "Call me when you want to 'start me up'"

Er.....