Une Ouverture d'Esprit

 Mon ami, Daniel, who I met on the plane to Spain! Here, he's posing in the Madrid airport.

 La maison/école AUCP

 La maison (AUCP)

 AUCP (main building)

 La fontaine

 Le jardin

 Les platanes

 Walking to lunch

 Fountain right by our school

 The King of Aix-en-Provence

Well, I've already spent three days at the American Center in Aix! I've been unable to update recently because I didn't have the right plug adapter to charge my computer (#studyabroadproblems). But now all is well- Merci, Josette! The center itself is absolutely gorgeous- two buildings with a jardin et une fontaine in the courtyard for studying, painting, n'importe quoi! It feels really bizarre to be thinking in English. In fact, I've even been having dreams that are partly in French...a good sign, I hope! :) Anyway, one of the buildings, before its transformation into a school, was a house occupied by the French leader of la resistance francaise during WWII. Wow! Everything here is saturated with history! What I've really noticed (and you can see in the photos) is that the light quality is very different, casting beautiful shadows. Everyone in my program is friendly, and it's nice to see that the 25 of us represent 14 different universities. So far, we've had many introductions, tours, took a 2 and a half hour long test of French linguistic/cultural proficiency, and we've already had some seminar discussions and lexique classes with two of the AUCP professors. We've had the chance to explore the city of Aix and eat at the various cafés, shop at the magasins, see dead pigeons (there are pigeons EVERYWHERE), and almost get hit by cars. Here is the French philosophy (as I understand it) for driving: get where you need to be as quickly and as dangerously as possible. The roads are extremely narrow (Roman, of course), and though the cars are much smaller than those in America, I still wonder how they can drive so quickly through such small spaces! (They also have a fantastic public transportation system, so there are less cars on the road.) When they come to a red light, they stop about an inch away from the car in front of them, and they honk whenever someone is in their way. But it works for them- they're traffic masters. My favorite parts of the city (so far) are the Cathedral (named for St. Catherine) and the marché en plein air (outdoor market) where they sell all sorts of fruits, vegetables, and flowers! The streets are made of cobblestone, and everything is beautiful and pristine. Ah, la belle vie en France! At night, the trees are all lit up along one of the main streets, Mirabeau. I've eaten lots of interesting foods so far: olive bread (pain des olives- very salty), le faisan (pheasant) that the uncle of my host family hunted, and squid (not calamari-no deep frying). At night, they offer une petite tisane (herbal tea) as a ritual. My host mom tells me now: "Tu es chez toi!" meaning, "You're at home/this is your home." I do the dishes after dinner, and I really enjoy it because it's more time I get to spend talking with Josette, learning more about different meals, etc. and being a bit useful too.

Oh man! French television is crazy! The shows are very similar to those in the US (especially the reality TV shows), but they don't produce many series- they watch American series with French dubbing. It's quite possible that they know more about American actors than I do! Also, the commercial segments are more than twice as short as ours- fantastic! One of the reality shows (L'amour est dans le pré) is about French countrymen (or women) who are searching for love- the hostess comes to live with them and work on their farm while filming them and asking about the specific qualities that the countrymen are searching for in a partner. Then, at the end of the show, viewers are encouraged to write to the countrymen to court them. It's like an exclusively rural version of eHarmony, but totally public! I was laughing about this with my host mother's son, Olivier (who's now like an older brother to me- he offered me "un chocolat" when it was really a medallion) and his wife, Nathalie (from Guadeloupe). Olivier loves the States and loves speaking English with me. Granted, he doesn't know how to really speak it- he just knows little words and phrases and will throw them in here and there (ex. nothing, serial killer, and les Ravens.) He and Nathalie speak very quickly, so it's hard for me to understand everything, but I think it will get easier in time. We also watched a show translated as "Nightmare in the Kitchen," about restaurant interventions. It's a lot like "Tabatha's Salon Takeover," only super French and gastronomique! Nathalie and I spent a long time talking about French and American music, and I learned that 1) Most French people HATE Celine Dion's music and 2) Young french students LOVE the song "Don't Worry, Be Happy." Of all the songs! haha. I'm excited to walk to the center tomorrow morning- it's only about 20 minutes by foot/on foot? ( I don't know English anymore!), and returning home is great exercise because it's almost entirely uphill. (Reminds me of another steep place that I love.) I also have a French cell phone now, so call me! (but not really, unless you live in France, which you don't, so in that case, VISIT ME!) Bonne nuit! :)