Okay so when I left you it was a couple weeks ago! I will try to update as best as possible. I went to Marseille and Aix-En-Provence shortly after my last post. They are both in the south of France and both absolutely beautiful!!! I preferred Aix because it was more of a small town feeling to it. In Marseille we saw the old part of the town and I took tons of pictures. In Aix I went to the market and it was beautiful. The fruits and vegetables almost looked fake I couldn't believe it. It was overall a wonderful weekend.
Following that wonderful trip I had classes, tutoring, Salsa lessons and more classes. The best thing that happened last week was we went to the National Archives of France. If any of you have seen the movie Marie Antoinette, I got to stand in the same room where some of that film was made!! I then, amazingly, got to see so many wonderfully amazing things. I got to see the last will and testament of Louis the 14th and Napoleon! It was so incredible. The coolest though was seeing the playing cards of Louis the 16th! On his cards he would write who he wanted to see that night in the card room. We also saw his hunting journal where on Bastille day, he wrote that nothing happened! He had no idea what was going on, none at all! Last, and by far the most impressive for me, was we got to see Marie Antoinette's final letter before she was killed. It was so sad but we could actually read some of it! Now when I say we saw these, he pulled them out of a locked vault and had them simply laying ina folder in front of us. No glass, no security. It was incredible. The picture below is of him closing one of the 3 huge doors he had to open in order to get to the relics.
The Friday of last week I climbed the Eiffel tower with a friend. You can only reach the 2nd level this way but it is incredibly cheaper and quite the exercise. I really had fun but it was sooo tiring!! Later that night I went out with some friends and enjoyed the evening.
I spent the next day at a flea market looking at incredibly cool stuff and then went to Victor Hugo's house. It was really neat to walk through it and see some of his old things including first drafts of Les Miserables. Before I made it to his house though there was a "manifestation" or a demonstration in the streets. It was really neat to see. I think it had something to do with immigration rights and problems. Following that it was a pretty relaxed day. Place Voges which is a park by Victor Hugo's house is beautiful and so very French!
Sunday I went to do my homework in the Luxembourg gardens and ran across...another manifestation!! This one was about teacher's and their wages and the fact that there are not enough teachers these days because the government is cutting spending. So since the gardens were not at peaceful as I had hoped I gave up that endeavor and went back to the dorm to work.
This past week has been good. I babysat for the first time. It was definately an experience. The teens are 11 and 15 and really don't need a sitter, save for the fact that they would beat each other up if no one was there. The 11 year old was extremely helpful with dinner which was a blessing because I'd never prepared a French dinner. The 15 year old was not as helpful or as kind. He seemed very put off that I was there, though I'm not sure I blame him! However, it was a nice way to make some extra cash for the week.
My roommate and I are finally seeing each other bit by bit. She is really nice and I love that she is so patient. We spent a couple hours Friday talking and she taught me some French sayings to be aware of because they are popular. We talked about everything from our families to Christmas and it was really incredible. Those types of experiences are what make me believe I am really learning French. Yesterday, Saturday, I went to another flea market which I didn't really like as much. After that I went and bought some boots and did some grocery shopping. My roommate and I went to see Vicky, Christina, Barcelona which was a decent movie but not my favorite. After that we both crashed and benefited from the time change last night! Today, as she told me yesterday, was our day for homework. I still have some more to do but I am currently taking a break! She is really helping and I am so glad I got so lucky!!
Thanks to my wonderful grandparents and parents I head out to Germany Tuesday for a 4 day trip! I am so excited and I can not thank you all enough !!
Pictures:
1. Me in front of the Eiffel Tower
2. Me and Notre Dame
3. View from the 2nd level of the Eiffel Tower
4. Me in Mareseille
5. The national archives and the crazy doors!
6. Those beautiful strawberries from Aix-En-Provence!!
Love and miss EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!
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