Today is the day...

...I leave for Morocco for Spring Break 2012!! I will be experiencing the fascinating and lovely culture of several cities in this Middle Eastern/African hub. Stay tuned! I will return on Sunday March 4th with many, many updates. Have a fun weekend and a relaxing week! ma'a salama :)

coffee and knowledge.

Ce matin after two hours of French class at 8am on a Monday morning, Lauren and I decided to grab some قهوة at a local restaurant. We sat outside to soak up the beautiful weather that is blessing us with its presence. It's so lovely to be able to sit in the sun again and absorb some Vitamin D (especially on the Cote d'Azur!) Lauren, being her usual social self, started talking to our server in Arabic (because I had been there before and knew he was Tunisian). And our waiter actually said that he thinks the Tunisian revolution was a hoax put on by Ben Ali's wife to get a shift in power. We were pretty floored by his admission. I guess it pays off to be friendly, you learn some pretty interesting details...Just thought I would share this, have a lovely week!

Cultural realizations on a Monday Afternoon

I was just walking to school, down the narrow streets of Menton, when I heard "I will always love you" by Whitney Houston blasting from a window above the street. I thought this cultural spill over was intriguing and thought I would share! Happy Monday!

Picasso, Absinthe, Macaroons, and Rugby!

This weekend we took a little day trip to Antibes! It’s a lovely little coast town between Nice and Cannes. We arrived and, after a few trips like this, I am now realizing that you should never judge a town by the area around the train station. It was a little grummy, but the view on the train ride was unexplainable! It looked like we were on a boat in the middle of the Ocean (because you couldn’t see the shore!)

After walking into town a little bit (and stopping to get coffee),

We decided that the town was quite charming! It had a fair mix of old cobblestone streets and buildings with newer stores and lots of colors.  We met up with a few friends next to a park by the beach and it was so chilly! Standing right by the water it felt like a mini hurricane, so we snapped a few photos and then set off (inshore) to find the Picasso museum.

(A little side note to all of my viewers-Facebook and blog, I know it looks like I only wear one outfit everyday, but that's because I only have a few warm things, and considering the weather, I must wear them often. Give me a break-i'm from Arizona!)

We wondered around the adorable streets and popped into several little shops. There were a lot of hat shops and knick knacks, and cooking wear, and jewelry! And then, to our pleasure we ran right into a little outdoor market that was housing the Italian chocolate tasting! We walked around and tried samples of cheese and chocolate and macaroons and brioche! We ended up buying 12 macaroons and we ate 4 but are trying to make them last longer, they’re unbelievable!  It was super nice that we happened to go on a weekend where there was a little festival! Then we set off towards the Picasso museum. After a few quick pictures of all the precious streets and buildings, we entered the Picasso museum. Due to one of the exhibits being shut down for renovation, the price was cut in half, which was nice because it wasn’t even stuff we were that interested in seeing!

The museum was great! It was so interesting to stand so close to a piece of artwork done by the famous Picasso! The building that housed the museum was actually a building that Picasso lived in for several years because he loved the view of Antibes and the Ocean. Several of his works were inspired by the views from out the same windows that we were looking out of! It was neat to see the pencil strokes up close and the reoccurring shapes and figures that he wanted to experiment with. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take any photos so you will just have to trust me that it was very moving. There was a little back patio outside of the museum that I snapped a few photos on before running back inside to escape the hurricane.

After we left the museum we walked around a little outdoor market with some strange, raunchy items, and then we found the absinthe store/museum! The store had all different kinds of absinthe, little bottles, big bottles, and even little souvenir make-your-own kits. Downstairs, there was the “museum”. It wasn’t really a museum but an actual absinthe bar. There were decorations all over the walls and a bar with the different kinds of absinthe being displayed. There were also antique tables and chairs with the water dispensers and sugar cubes for consuming the absinthe. I took lots of pictures because we were the only ones down there, only to realize that there was a camera and the guy working the shop could see us down there taking pictures behind the bar, etc. We probably got the AMERICANS label and were dismissed J Here are a few photos from the bar area:

We continued our stroll down the cobblestone but were discouraged by the bitter cold wind that was whipping around the streets. We searched for a little coffee shop but instead found a great used English bookstore (mom-you would have LOVED it!).

After the bookstore a few of our friends decided it was a little too chilly-so they headed back home (Menton). Lauren and I weren’t quite ready to leave the mysterious city of Antibes (and I’m so glad we didn’t). Our first stop was a precious little soap shop where the owner told us about his process of making the soap and how each one had its own special qualities. My sense of smell was on stimulation overload so after awhile of chatting with our friend, we bid him a farewell! But he told us that there was no way we were leaving without soap, so he cut us a calendula and an aphrodisiac (not sure what he was trying to say) and gave them to us for free!  We felt bad, but whoever said the French are rude was gravely mistaken! So nice! We then ventured into a little coffee shop (because there were snowflakes falling -it seems like whenever Lauren and I are traveling-it snows) and split a crepe avec tartinade aux noisettes (not nutella-but something a bit similar).

Over our crepe we had a lovely discussion about nation-states and Tunisia in an effort to assist Lauren in her Thesis planning. It was ironic because we happened to be sitting right next to a few guys from Tunisia!

After crepes, we decided to eat dinner (obviously-all I do is eat). We found a cute little Indian restaurant (yum!) and ordered several enticing dishes. It was super yummy and we left feeling happy and refreshed.  Here is a picture of the little dish they give you with your check!

Then we decided to hit up a little pub that I read about in my guidebook and we got pretty lucky! There was a big rugby match between France and Ireland! So funny that we were in France and at an Irish pub. So we grabbed some beers at the bar and found a little table (lucky again-the place was busy). The game hadn’t started but it was showing the teams warming up and Lauren started chatting with the older couple next to us who were British. Then some French guys joined us at our tables because the place was filling up quickly. After watching the warm-up for awhile and sipping on beer (it was a blonde beer and it was really delicious-dad you probably wouldn’t like it-a little too light for you!) the bartender turned on some music and switched the channel to the Barcelona game. I was very confused so I asked Lauren was going on and she laughed and said the game had been canceled for like 10 minutes! How did I not realize? Oh yeah, because I don’t speak French!  So we watched Barcelona and chatted with our neighbors until we had to catch the train.

We hurried back to the train station and a short ride later we arrived back home in the lovely Menton!  All in all, I love Antibes! It was so cute and I’m sure in the summer it’s so lovely with its warm beaches! 

Hope everyone has a lovely week, and stay tuned because I leave for Morocco in two weeks!

Ciao babies!

My introduction to true Mentonese people!

Last night my friend Samir and I were invited to dinner by a couple who knew a friend of mine from last year. Samir and I popped by the store on our way over to get some macaroons for them.  We were supposed to be there at 7:45, so we left at 7:20 because they live behind the train station (which is the farthest point in Menton from us).  In a nutshell-we got lost. The directions they gave us said “the white building above the train station”. We saw several white buildings but didn’t know how to get up to them. We walked forEVER and then we asked a few people but we quickly realized that was pointless because although we could ask them in French-we could only understand about half of their response.

 We ended up going up this HUGE hill and it was very chilly and I was wearing heels, so we were hoping it was right. We got to the top and saw a huge building that said “Winter Castle” which was the name of the building we were looking for. Unfortunately, the hill we walked up was not the correct one, and so we had to go DOWN the hill and then UP another huge hill right next to it. We ended up being about 10 minutes late (which we decided was okay because the French are always late). Then we got there and they buzzed us up and they live in a beautiful flat on the sixth (top) floor of (literally) a castle. We sprinted up ( I don’t know why-so it would feel like a movie?) the marble staircases and went up the lavish elevator and arrived at their flat. We go in and they're SO nice and we start out sitting on the couch drinking some red wine (good wine!!- this is considering that all of the wine i've had here hasn't been good because it's been like 3 Euros) and a French delicacy which is little baby radishes and you put butter on them and then dip the end in salt and they were very yummy, it was hard not to just shove them all down my throat (starving foreign college student!). So then we just talked and talked and they have such good stories and it’s refreshing to hear English and they asked us about our lives and then we sat down to dinner and the first course is a salad with some sort of little yummy lentils and yummy dressing and 2 types of leaves. Keith (the husband) made dinner and he said they’re vegetarians about half the week so I was lucky that this was one of the nights! And then he pours us more wine and brings out a book that’s relevant to the topic we’re discussing and then he brings out this main dish which is like a risotto type thing and it's so yummy.

And we’re talking about Monaco and traveling around and we mention that we really want a scooter to be able to ride around and then they tell us they are going to give us their extra scooter that they don't use anymore (WHAT???Is this real life???). He's talking to his insurance guy to see if that will be okay!! And then he pours more wine and brings out another book that’s relevant to what we’re discussing (He has about a million books!).

And then the next course is being served- he brings out dessert and it's a cabbage tort sort of thing with raisins and craisins and it’s sweet and has like a pie sort of texture. I think it’s unnecessary to say it’s absolutely delicious and made from local ingredients.

Then we clear the table and they make some lemon tea that's from the region and we sit down in the living room and have tea. And I am obsessed with tea and this tea was really good!! I love tea, especially local citrus tea!

And then we're talking more about traveling and they tell us when it gets warmer they're going to take us in their car up into the mountains and some small villages in Italy (a car, a real car?)!!! They are so nice and I think the incredible part was not having to cook.  But really that was a minor thing compared to the magical feeling of being cozy and in a domestic scene again. They were like parental figures and although they didn’t send me peanut butter and cookies, it’s really satisfying to have that after almost a month of no (physical) familial contact.

They asked us over again and said if we need help with anything don't hesitate to contact them!!! So all in all it was a lovely evening and they even let us try the macaroons we brought!

No pictures from this one because although I thought about snapping pictures, I didn't think it would be received that well...

PS. New food obsession: NUTELLA. I may or may not be eating it out of the bottle right now. BUT, in my defense, it is stopping me from eating the peanut butter that my parents sent me, which isn’t as easily replaceable as nutella!

Love with your heart, not your head (quote from the ONE Dove chocolate I had-hehe)

I just received a package from the best parents on the entire planet!! It means the world to me to have family who care that much about me! They sent me Dove chocolate and each one that I unwrap (only one (not)) there is a precious little saying that is quickly bringing my mood from mediocre, to out of this world! And perhaps it gave me the inspiration I need to write my blog post:

This first part is for my lady friends: The men here dress weird. I don’t mean the sciences-po men, but the French men (actually and boys too) who live around here permanently. There is this little fashion trend that is huge right now. So the males look like they are always about to work out. They wear white sweatpants tucked into their Nike high tops and matching zip up jackets with Addidas shoulder bags. It’s quite interesting and highly unattractive. I saw an 8 year old wearing it the other day- c’est interessant!

Now onto real topics. I was walking along the boardwalk today with my friend Claire and I was telling her that I haven’t had a good inspiration to write a blog post and she told me to sit down and just start writing and whatever came out was what my blog post should be on. So this is it:

Being an exchange student is hard. It’s hard on your character to move to a new place where you know no one and attempt to make friends while also trying to understand a new place, a new language, and new cultural norms. Every day is an excursion from when you wake up to different sounds until when you go to sleep and realize your sheets aren’t necessarily the texture that you’re used to  (and then there’s the fact the toilets are in a different room than the sinks). And then you have to factor in that maybe you miss Mexican food…A LOT and it’s hard to find chips and salsa here, or anything spicy for that matter. Enchiladas, burritos, yum, craving them-HARD! And then there’s the ever boding problem of the fact that it is freaking cold outside. We’re on the beach; it’s not allowed to be cold on the beach! I really hope it starts getting warm soon so I can take advantage of this lovely beach front property I’m currently residing on J

It’s all a learning experience. Making friends here is not as easy as when I was in first grade and had to make friends-but I mean, it’s been a little over 3 weeks  and I may be cool but lifelong friends don’t just throw themselves at you (at least in my standards!)

But I think the hardest part is still the grocery store (lolz). Now I know I vented about this before, but it’s only getting worse. I am going to have to compromise and go grocery shopping more often than once every two weeks because clearly my body does not appreciate that frequency. I returned from the grocery store, shoe completely untied and threatening to fall off, my entire right arm shaking uncontrollably and both of my hands blue and purple (I don’t know why this is).

So I’m obviously just kidding, that’s not the hardest part about being abroad. I haven’t decided what the hardest part is, but I’m guessing it’s the fact that every time I do something cool or see something cool I think about my family and friends and boyfriend who would absolutely LOVE to see that or do this. But I think this is normal (shout if you disagree).

Another pressing issue: food. I eat bread like it’s going out of style! Breakfast, lunch and dinner (and sometimes snacks). But the real problem is that I’m always hungry! Even after I eat an entire meal with lots of protein and veggies and carbs, I’m still hungry. If you’re a nutritionist and you’re reading this, please help a girl out and comment with some advice. I have even tried to eat slower and finish my meal in 20-30 minutes, but that doesn’t seem to work either.

But then there are the good things about being abroad: like how I walked to Italy today and sat on the rocks overlooking the Mediterranean.  And then there’s this thought that has been prominent in my head lately: Life goes by quickly, so make sure whatever you’re doing ALWAYS makes you happy. If you’re not happy with something, change it!

Having the opportunity to be in this wonderful place makes me happy and even though there are things I may not like or I may miss, this experience is going to go by quickly, so I’m going to make sure I am truly happy with everything I’m doing!