observez et imitez

So. Sunday in Aix. A gorgeous day, of course, because literally every day of my first week here was absurdly perfect. Went to a fete with my host family (sometimes I might accidentally say "famille d'accueil," just to warn you) at the house of their friends who turned out to be Australian. So, on my first full day in France, I spoke a lot of English. It was weird. I tried speaking with the French people more, but it was just so good to hear some English.

The next morning was my first day at the American Center (that's what AUCP is called in Aix, as it's also for Frenchies to learn English). I met the other students, promptly forgot most of their names and had quite a whirlwind of a day. We had lunch in groups with some French students in Aix. My group was with two guys, Paul and Christophe, and they took us to a restaurant called like "the Bulldogue" or something, which turned out to be a British restaurant. So weird. We all got burgers. Delicious, but not quite how I was expecting my first lunch out in Aix to be.

The rest of the week went pretty smoothly--each morning I walked to the Center with Liz (Huessy, from Vermont), who lives near me in Aix, and whose grandfather (THIS IS SO WEIRD) was friends with my grandmother at Putney School in the 1930s and remained friends for the rest of his life. Like, wtf. Anyway. Each day was pretty long, as we had "French Cultural Patterns" in the morning starting at 9, then Intensive French class in the afternoons that finished at 5:30. Exhausting. It was also SUPER chaud every day, so that was fun.

Thursday night I went to the official going away party for the Australians, as they were returning after 8 months in Aix to Australia the following Tuesday. That was really fun, and I had my first wine!! It was a rose, therefore mild, and quite delicious.

That Friday, we met our language partners. Mine is named Claire, and she's really cool. Unfortunately, that night she was taking a train to Paris, so she couldn't spend the evening with me, like the rest of the partners did. I ended up tagging along with some of the other girls and their partners to a new bar in Aix called "The Wohoo." Not kidding. Kind of wish I were. So it's this "international" bar with all the signs in English and some in French and kareoke in the basement and all in all pretty strange. It was fun for my first night out in Aix, and it was nice to get to know some French people as well as the other American students.

That Saturday, I kind of bummed around chez moi during the day, then went out to dinner with Liz, Emily and Grace. Emily (from Kansas City, KANSAS) and Grace (from Illinois? Right?) both go to Grinnell, and Liz goes to Oberlin. We had a lovely dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant en centre-ville, then we went to the pub O'Shannon, which just happened to be right next door to our restaurant. We were all just planning on having one drink--I had a Guinness, I felt so Irish...in France...er...--then heading home, but then we were approached by Martin and Clement, two French boys who were fascinated by us. They (well, mostly Martin, who was drunk) ended up taking us (though we dwindled to just Emily and me at one point, then just Liz and me at another) on a tour of "the best bars in Aix," as they said, with their friends: Florian--a "Franco-Espagnol musician. Not kidding. Kill me, please--Mark, Martin's sister Margot and maybe someone else, I don't know. Martin kept insisting that we all had to come to his housewarming party in Marseille on "the TWO October! Two October! You hav to come!" We'll see. We exchanged phone numbers and parted ways at the end of the night. But trust me, that's not the last you'll see of Martin, just wait.

ADDED: I can't believe I forgot to mention this, but Martin actually looks like Roger Federer without the weird nose or the tennis skillz. As far as I know. And Clement is short, but beautiful. Pictures soon, I promise. At least of Clement, I don't actually have any of Martin...damn.

Oh yeah, and we finished ended the night at the Wohoo. Again. Good lord.

Ensuite, ma deuxieme semaine.