Settling In

So after arriving in Aix late on the 20th and chilling with the three other guys from the program later that night, it was business for the next couple days, but we got to start exploring more of the town that is going to be our home for the next year and get back into French-speaking mode in the process. The other guys and I started the day on Thursday (the 21st) with quick trip to the closest boulangerie (bakery, for you Anglos) and got a couple pastries for breakfast. Personally, I got my first genuine French pain au chocolat (simple, but so good!), a poulet poireau (small, flaky pastry stuffed with chicken and leeks) and a good old-fashioned baguette. Stuff at the local bakeries is all pretty cheap and high-quality (even though you can also get baguettes at the local supermarket for 20 centimes less, why would you?). So much bread already.I remember reading somewhere that before the French Revolution, the average French peasant ate two pounds of bread per day. TWO POUNDS. And while it's obviously much less now that France is a wealthy, modern country where people can afford to eat a balanced diet, France would still be a living hell to anyone with celiac disease, good God.

At 10:00, our entire group met in front of the Hotel Adagio for a practical tour to find out where some of the essential places in town are. The central landmark in Aix from which the most important streets ray out is a giant fountain called La Rotonde.

One of these main streets is the Cours Mirabeau, a broad avenue lined with tall, graceful platanes (trees which are the European species of sycamore, or so it appears). Before the Revolution, only aristocrats were allowed to walk there. Or sorry, not walk. No, be carried by their servants in litters was more like it. Jesus. Say what you will about the bloodshed that happened afterwards, but the Ancien Régime had to go, and if a few of those arrogant aristocrats had to lose their head to make it happen, so be it. Nowadays, it's a street where a thriving market selling various regional products is held three times a week and one particularly attractive piece of eye candy sells fancy hats. Taking her picture would have been a bit invasive, so just believe me here, folks.

One thing that no one had told us about before we arrived, however, was that the week of our arrival was the 70th anniversary of the Liberation of Provence from Nazi Germany, and that there was a military parade happening on the Cours Mirabeau with American tanks and some American veterans, apparently. I actually had the chance to talk briefly with a French veteran who was a member of the Free French while we were eating lunch on some steps next to La Rotonde. His very strong accent du Midi (southern French accent), rendered harder to understand by the fact that he was an old man who stammered somewhat as he talked and the fact that I had just arrived in France and was speaking English with the other Americans a few seconds earlier, made for a rather short, somewhat confusing exchange, in which he flashed us the impressive array of military medals and I, not really knowing what to say, thanked him for what he had done and said it was nice to meet him. Anyway, here's a picture that I snapped later in the day of a couple of the tanks. Edit: Oops, I didn't realize that I only got the Jeeps in this picture. I've been kind of "écervelé" these last few days and have had to take frequent naps just to feel normal. It's tiring, using a language other than your native one all day when you're not used to it!

At noon, we stopped in at a cell phone store to get some of these modern communication concerns out of the way. Since I'd already had my new iPhone unblocked back in the States and wanted to continue to use it as my phone both because it's, you know, a pretty damn useful device that also doubles as a decent camera, all I had to was pay 10 euros to get a new SIM card and have a few minutes/texts put on my phone until I had a bank account set up from which I could set up a plan. It was a much simpler process than everyone made it out to be, which was a relief.

And as it turned out, our housing situation wasn't as figured out in advance as I thought it was, so we spent the rest of the day looking into housing options, since every additional night that we spent in a hotel was going to cost us big bucks. Beaucoup de fric which we're certainly going to need later, considering that basic food items cost a fortune in Aix, with the exception of bread, cheese, and wine (which is DEFINITELY a basic necessity, don't even try to argue with me otherwise!!). We toured several apartments and visited a few families/individuals who were renting out rooms in their houses and apartments. As far as housing goes, since the program was extremely vague about what our options were, I was under the impression that we would be able to room with other international or French students. And normally this would be the case, but our program arrived in Aix a solid two weeks before the rest of the students looking for apartments would. Hmm. Problematic. I was pretty upset about this because, don't get me wrong guys, but I wanted to be damn sure that I would be in a living arrangement where no English is spoken, and living with other Americans...no. Sorry. I left the country for a reason.

Anyway, moving on. There were fortunately the rented room options, available with or without the board part of room and board. Some of the apartments were pretty legit buildings, and one of the houses in which two students could stay downstairs at a French woman's house with a garden sounded pretty nice as well. I immediately preferred one of the options over the others, though, and my mind was made up after touring their apartment. I ended up picking to stay with a retired couple (Monsieur and Madame Masson) on the fifth floor (in French, quatrième étage, since the ground floor is considered the rez-de-chaussée, the ground floor) of an apartment building in the newer side of town. It's a really comfortable, it doesn't smell like mildew like the buildings that are several centuries old in the Vielle Ville, I have my own balcony, and the Massons have been very welcoming - I can tell that I'm going to like staying here. I'll leave it at that for today, and I'll have to write one more blog entry to catch up and discuss the beginning of classes. But here's a picture of my balcony that I'll leave you with.

Ahhh.