Commençons! (Let us begin!)

Today is the day! After a train from Paris Gare de Lyon and a taxi from the station here in Aix-en-Provence I have finally reached our residence here in Aix! The commute was wonderfully simple, and luckily I  just missed the chaos from the Tour de France which passed right through town this morning (but make sure to keep posted on all the Tour de France fun! And congrats to Andre Greipel for winning today’s stage!). My room here is amazing and sports some gorgeous colors and it even has a mini kitchen and an incredible view onto tile roofed homes nearby. Tonight the group is getting settled and heading out to dinner together to get to know each other better, and hopefully we all get a good night’s sleep and defeat the jet-lag before placement tests tomorrow!

The students we meet tomorrow will be coming from around the world for this program. For the most part the only language we should all have in common is French. I am so excited to encounter such a variety of international students and really get the chance to test out my French with not only French natives but also students much like us.

So not only will it be French boot-camp for the next few weeks, but it’s also the season for sales in Europe, and you know what that means…shopping!!! Aix-en-Provence is filled with both quaint shops and more mainstream shopping, but summertime also means street markets in southern France. I’m sure I’ll be coming home with a few too many Provence lavender products and handmade goods and delicacies (oops!). Hopefully I don’t get carried away with more than my suitcase can handle!

Oh! And lastly, on top of the trains, taxis, dinners, and a future of shopping, happy fourth of July!!!