I really am here to study

Despite what most of you think, I actually do have classes here and I really do go to them. Schooling in France is different in every possible way from America. Its much more laid back and teachers put much more of the responsibility on you than back home.

I'm taking 19 credits (all in French) and I have just one final in every class as my only grade. The scoring here is based on a scale of 20, and I need to get a 10 out of 20 on my finals to pass the class (which I think is equivalent to a C).

Other than the grading system though, every single thing is different. My “campus” is two buildings that look like a 1970’s inner city high school. We picked our classes in person on paper in a group of 200 kids who just waited around for two hours until it was your turn. We also only had six elective classes to choose from rather than a billion course options at Maryland.

The first day of classes was the oddest thing in the world. I spent almost 45 minutes looking for a classroom that no one (including the people who work in the school) could direct me to. I ran into class almost 10 minutes late and our professor hadn’t even shown up yet. She comes in a little after 9:15, doesn’t say a word about being late and jumps right into material. No syllabus, no attendance, just straight into class. (Also, this professor has yet to wear anything but patched jeans and a turtleneck pink sweater.)

I have a different class every day for three hours. The oddest thing is the way the professors schedule class. If they have to cancel class one week, they will reschedule it to any day of the week at any time, or they will add a half hour or hour to the next few classes. And if you can’t make it because you have work or class during the reschedule time, too bad!

The great thing about school here is the laid back schedule. I asked my professor if we would have midterms (asking both out of curiosity and to see whether or not I could go to Venice for a few days when Kevin is here) and she told me that there would be no exams, and that if I was asking because I wanted to travel, I should absolutely do it. She was unbelievably relaxed about me missing any classes and told me she expected me to come when I can, but if I miss a class, “c’est pas la fin des haricots.” (An idiom for "its not the end of the world." The direct translation is "its not the end of the beans." My one class is all idioms and we've learned this among many other phrases and "necessary" curse words).

It sure is a totally different experience than what I’ve become accustomed to in Maryland, but I’m quickly getting used to it little by little.

Jusqu'à la prochaine fois!

A

(Tout est diffèrent à l’école Niçoise! La chose la plus bizarre est la façon dont les enseignants parlent. Si les professeurs au Maryland dit les choses qu’ils disent ici, je pense qu’ils seraient licenciés. Mais ici, c’est très normal. Juste une autre chose que j’ai besoin de s’habituer à!)

Spontaneity

Wednesday’s are rough for my and my roommate’s class schedule. We have class from 9-11, 2-4 and 6-8. But when we found out that we had no 2 o’clock class, we ran home and decided to book plane tickets. I texted my best friend Alanna in Spain, told her I was coming to Barcelona, packed that night and was in Spain by 3:00 on Thursday!

I somehow found Lana’s apartment and her roommates Erica, Rachel and Claire took me out to lunch and we wandered around Barcelona until Alanna finished with class. We spent about two hours deciding where to treat ourselves to a Valentine’s Day dinner and eventually ended up at a Mexican restaurant where we got delicious burritos and the most amazing raspberry mojitos probably ever.

We basically crawled our way home to their teeny-tiny apartment and tried to lose the ten pounds we gained in an hour. They showed me Barcelona’s infamous nightlife but we ended up snuggling together on their jean-covered futon catching up until after 5am. And it was so perfect.

The next day we woke up at noon and spent the next three hours enjoying the sun in their apartment, cheers-ing champagne from “Sketch-Mart” and taking three thousand pictures. They took me to Bo de B and we sat on steps outside eating our sandwiches until we were absolutely stuffed (again). After some pick-pocketing drama we headed back home and Alanna and I walked around the city a little. She took me to MACBA to watch tons of skateboarders (apparently skateboarding is a huge thing in Barcelona) and got coffee for a few hours then headed home.

Lana made us all dinner at 9PM (how European of us) and we all packed up (me for home, and the rest of them for Girona). We parted ways at 8am Sunday morning, and shout out to me for figuring out the Spanish metro and the bus system and successfully getting to the airport all by myself!

My experience in Spain this time compared to a few years ago was totally different. I was a little turned off by Barcelona the last time. For whatever reason, I found the people unfriendly and it was my least favorite city of all the places I visited. I was very wrong- every person I met was welcoming (which was a breath of fresh air) and I got a completely different feel for it this time around. We didn’t bother going to the Sagrada Familia or the Gaudi house, but instead spent my few days wandering around and eating at little restaurants. I honestly think that’s the best way to really get to know a city.

Thank you Lana, Claire, Erica and Rachel for taking me in so last minute! I had the best weekend and owe it all to you. I wish I could see you again soon. A & C, see you in May!!!!

Being in Barcelona really made me feel lucky that I can speak the language of where I’m living. I am by no means fluent in French, but I cannot speak a lick of Spanish. It was so nice to land back in Nice and be able to communicate with everyone. I got off the bus from the airport and really thought to myself “wow, I really love this place.” Of course I’ve been enjoying my time here, but with all my homesickness, I don’t know if I’ve really realized how much I love it.

Carnaval started on Friday and continues for the next three weeks, so the streets of Nice are insane (especially since I live on a very popular walking street right near where the parade goes by, so it’s a mess down there). There are tons of people and tons of venders selling candy, masks, bubbles, noisemakers and all that good stuff. I dropped my bags off and decided to walk around Nice alone. I spent 10 euro on gummies (worth it. I'm obsessed with gummies right now and they are so good here) and walked around for a few hours. It was a gorgeous day and there were such good vibes in the city.

The best part about it? I didn’t get a single look. People can usually tell I’m American, so they’re always staring. Yesterday no one was. And every time I spoke to someone in French, they spoke back in French. Typically, they always speak back in English (if they speak it) because they can tell French isn’t my first language. I don’t know if it was because I sound more French, or maybe it was because I spoke well enough that they knew I could understand if they spoke back, but I heard no English yesterday and it was so awesome. I want to give myself a little pat on the back for that.

Sorry this post was so long, but I had such a great past few days I had to share it!

A

P.S. Happy Valentine's Day, Kev! Missed you a lot this week, but I can't wait to celebrate when you're here in a month!

(Ce week-end a été fantastique. Je suis chanceuse d'avoir passé mon temps avec ma meilleure amie. J'ai manqué d'avoir Alanna avec moi et c'était génial d'entendre les histoires des autres. Mon voyage m'a fait apprécier la France. Ce n'est pas que je n'aimais pas Barcelone, mais Nice se sent comme ma ville maintenant!)

Oh! And on my plane ride home I got to see Cannes from the air! It was SO cool to see the monastery and the city from above. Here's the link to my last post about Cannes, and below is a picture of it from above!

Cannes et Monaco

It is unbelievable that I’ve only been here for two weeks. These last few days have been the most unreal experiences of my whole life.

We took a day trip to Cannes which was organized by our program and it was absolutely breathtaking. I’m sure you’ve heard of the Cannes Film Festival, but we spent the day touring and checking out the amazing sights that Cannes has to offer. We explored the Musee de la Castre, which is up a little hill and a short walk from the train station. The museum was okay, but the really amazing part was the view. There was a great view outside the museum, but in the middle of the museum there is a really tall building, almost lighthouse-esque, and you climb up about a billion stairs and end up with the most amazing view. We all just stood up there for a half hour just staring and talking about how dang lucky we are.

We were also able to take a ferry to a small island off of Cannes called Saint Honorat. Towards the back of the island there is an ancient monastery, which is actually one of the oldest in Europe. Again, the view. How many times am I going to say “amazing view” in this blog post? I guess that’s what I get for living in one of the most beautiful places in the world. Anyways… so I’m on top of this ancient monastery. On an island. Behind me is the Mediterranean. In front of me is the most gorgeous church and absolutely breath taking sights. To my right is a small adorable vineyard. And just beyond that are the snow covered Alps. What?!

So that was Thursday, and then Saturday we went to Monaco and lived like kings and queens for a night. We went out to dinner in an adorable Italian restaurant that was about a 3-minute walk from Monte Carlo casino. We did a family style meal so we all got to sample about 10 appetizers, 3 entrees (one of which was gnocchi in a Gorgonzola sauce. That’s all I need to say), and a bunch of amazing desserts. Lucky for us, my roommate knows some people who live in Monaco who were able to show us the country and really give us a feel for it all. We got to see the road for the Grand Prix, the casino at night (which I’ve been lucky enough to see before in the daytime, but walking towards it at night is a totally different story), all the beautiful cars and boats, and we hung out on the port for the rest of the night where we could literally see Italy from where we were.

Other than all that though, I started classes today, which means I think I need to start being a student and not just frolicking around France. Wish me luck in my first week of classes since December 11^th!

If you’re still reading this, thanks! I figured out how to change the comments options, so you should be able to comment freely if you like.

XO,

A

(Suis-je la fille la plus chanceuse au monde? Je crois. Je sais que je fais l’expérience les choses qui la majorité des gens ne pourrait jamais. Je suis très reconnaissante pour tout ce que je peux faire. Quand je me réveille de ce rêve ?)

Laundry Day

I decided to do some laundry today. I’ve only been here for a week and a half, but my jeans are worn in, my favorite socks are running low and we don’t have class until 4.

So I asked my roommate if she wanted me to throw some staple items in for her. Well, it turns out our washing machine is just big enough to fit my own jeans. I literally could not fit all my laundry in the machine and I’ve only been here for a week. That’s how small it is.

So I fit about three articles of clothing in there and we tried to start it. Of course the dang machine is in Italian. Are you kidding me?! I’ve finally gotten used to reading/writing/speaking in French and now you’re going to change the language on me again?! Curse you Nice for being so close to Italy.

So we put a little Tide detergent pack into the washer and sat there staring at it for a good 5 minutes after we started it. The packet made its way to the front of the washer and now I think my clothes are just spinning in this tiny machine in plain water that will probably make our utility bill go up 50 euro.

I have to wait an hour to see how the clothes turn out, so we’ll see, but its not looking so good. We’re now sitting in our kitchen listening to our mini washer make creepy little noises in the other room. Wish me luck.

A

P.S. And I don’t have a dryer.

(Aidez-moi!!! Une tâche simple a devenu un projet difficile. Avec un peu de chance, bientôt je serai mieux à vivre à Nice.)

One Week Later

So, we’re on day eight already. I’ve finally taken the time (because I finally had a free moment) to unpack my clothes and go grocery shopping for something other than baguettes. And now I’m actually living in this awesome place and not just visiting.

Speaking of baguettes… I’ve eaten so much bread this past week, I can feel myself turning into a baguette. Because of our 9-4 prep class this week and enjoying things like watching the sunset on the beach with a bottle of wine, we’ve had virtually no time to grocery shop. We’ve picked up some bananas here, a little bit of pasta there and other small things, but we really haven’t had the time to go actually go out (especially since stores close at like sundown and I have literally no sense of time here).

So yeah, I’m turning into a baguette. They’re 80 cents for one almost as long as my arm, obviously delicious and easy to grab on the go. One day, all I ate the entire day was a banana with peanut butter (shout out to Alanna in Barcelona for ordering me to bring peanut butter here. Thank you a million times over.) and a baguette. C’est tout.

But other than my lack of protein, things are going great. We were able to check out a cool American bar with license plates on the walls (sound familiar College Park friends?) and a live band that sings American music with a thick French accent. And they had WiFi, which has been a continuous apartment struggle. We also went to High Club on Friday and had the time of our lives, in spite of the 20 euro cover charge and feet that still hurt from those heels.

On Thursday we had a mixer at school with our Maryland-in-Nice program and some French students studying at the university trying to learn English. We made a Parisian friend and all went to the beach to watch the sunset.

We also went to this absolutely amazing Crêperie. I got one with ham, egg and cheese and another with Nutella and coconut. My mouth is watering just thinking about it; it was one of the most delicous things I’ve ever had and its just a block away. We’re really starting to find the good places, which makes me SO excited for visitors so I can drag them to each and every delicious place with me.

So I promised some pictures of my apartment when I got the chance to unpack. Don’t be turned off by the pictures. It’s much homier and nicer in person than these pictures show, and it’s actually starting to feel like home. Yesterday I took a nice nap on our futon and the sun was kind of peaking through these awesome windows we have (which, by the way, I cannot wait to open when it starts getting nicer) and it was so perfect. I made dinner on our teeny-tiny stovetop and I’m really getting used to this whole living-in-France thing.

I said last night that if we were on vacation, we would be leaving already. But we’re not visitors, we’re Niçois. And I’m pretty dang excited about it.

Avec tout mon amour,

A

(Je semble plus confortable que la dernière fois j’ai écrit. La ville est magnifique. Je ne peux pas croire la vue sur la plage et dans notre rue. Je ne peux pas attendre à voir ce qui se passe à côté ! Merci d’avoir lu !)