I have arrived!
It’s been a week since I have stepped foot onto Aix-en-Provence in southern France. Let me just say, I’ve seen so much it’s felt as though I’ve been here a year already! I was nervous to arrive as I had only been to the metropolis that is Paris, and I knew that everything was going to be different. And I was going to actually have to speak some French, as hesitant as I was to do so. But all my nerves washed away immediately when I got here. I was so comfortable. The buildings were older than anything that exists in the United States, and the language was beautiful, even coming from complete strangers on the street.
It’s still notable to say that culturally, of course, it took some adjusting. Especially with transportation. While I am comfortable with the CTA in Chicago, buses were a whole other story to me. Coming from the Marseille Airport to Aix was a journey on it’s own, trying to navigate the terminal and then find the correct bus. My friend Mariana and I arrived together, and after staying in a hotel close to the airport the first night, we made it on the bus to Aix. As we arrived to the gare, we took taxis to our dorm, Les Gazelles. Looking back on it now, the gare is not at all far from our dorm, and we could have most certainly walked. But I think it was better for us to take a taxi at the time than to get lost off the get go. But we made it.
My room here is small, but as it is only me in here, it’s the perfect size. I brought basically only clothes, sheets, and blanket with me, so I had to buy (or steal from the school, and by steal I mean they gave them to us) pots and pans, plates, and cooking utensils. Apparently everyone here cooks their own meals in the kitchen. As my roommate and I rarely cooked real food back in Fairfield, this was something that was going to take some getting used to. LIVE UPDATE: I have cooked myself THREE meals here so far. One was potatoes, carrots, and chicken, another was chicken, noodles and peppers with a curry sauce, and the other was a sandwich. I think I’m off to an excellent start.
But the part that was most nerve-racking to me was speaking French. I am not the most confident in my ability, but I know that I am not a bad speaker at all. The hardest part for me in orale comprehension. I can reply to what someone says to me easily, but first I just have to know what they said to me. Obviously native speakers speak significantly faster than any my teachers ever have, so I felt a little unprepared. But, I have to say, I think that I have been doing a great job so far. I’ve interacted with many people in stores, restaurants, as well as in blablacar (I will explain blablacar another time).
Classes have just started, and I’m excited to see where the semester will take me. It’s been just peachy thus far, so I can only imagine that it will get better from here! knock on wood!
From when I visited Nice this past weekend. Most beautiful city in the world!