A calming stay in Cassis

This weekend literally flew by with the blink of an eye. As it was the last weekend before the end of the assistantship, back in February, Amy, Alison and I booked a hostel in Cassis, to celebrate an amazing seven months while relaxing on the beach and by the pool. As the day we booked this excursion, it had been pouring rain and quite gloomy, we were only hoping for beautiful weather along the Mediterranean for our last weekend together.

On Friday, we went into Avignon and spent the afternoon with many of Alison’s Erasmus friends who are studying in Avignon. With a lovely afternoon lounging on the Ile de Barthelesse, soaking up the sunshine, it was wonderful to meet so many different people from so many different places around the world. After a wonderful dinner made by my British chefs here*, we went to one of Alison’s friends’ apartments to enjoy some wine and franglais conversation. That is one of the things that this weekend made me realize – I am going to miss being able to talk in a mélange of French and English whenever I want, with everyone I know being able to understand me.  

When we woke up early on Saturday to start traveling, it was quite cloudy and mild in Avignon, leading us to think that maybe our wonderful beach weekend wasn’t going to be all what we were expecting. But while we were on the train heading further and further south to Marseille, the clouds disappated, leaving clear blue skies and sunshine washing over the sea. We walked through Marseille to Place Castellane – where the bus left for Cassis. Now, I have taken a lot of bus rides through my time in France and Europe this year. This was by far one of the scariest ones I had been on, with windy roads followed by steep drops, only a small guard rail protecting you from certain death. If I didn’t have la vertige**, it would have been a wonderful ride, filled with spectacular view of les Garrigues and the sea. Either way, after a short 30 minute bus ride and 10 minute walk, we arrived at our hostel. This hostel was one of the best I have been to. It offered an infinity pool with lawn chairs, breakfast on the terrace, a beautiful garden and friendly staff. The building itself was just a villa that had been split up and put into dorms. When I return to Cassis, I would definitely stay at Cassis Hostel – was a great value for a great location. 

After dropping things off, we headed down to the beach and met up with other assistant friends Liz and Cary. It was a perfect afternoon, the sun shining intensely with the cool sea breeze making it a perfect temperature. We spent the afternoon relaxing, talking, dipping our feet in the ridiculously cold sea water and indulging in gelato from Amorino. With the stunning views of Cap Canaille in the background, I could not imagine a better way to spend my last Saturday as an assistant in the South of France, at my favorite place in France with my favorite people. 

Once the breeze proved to be a little too chilly, we said final goodbyes to Liz and Cary and went back to the hostel to enjoy some poolside sunshine. Another great thing about staying in a hostel is the opportunity to meet people from all walks of life. One of the workers there, Christian, told us about his life and gave us advice about what he has found nice in Cassis. After our lounging, we said bye to Fran, washed up and collected items for a nice picnic dinner on the beach. Even though we had to move shortly into our meal and relocate to the port, it was the best way I could have imagined spending my last Saturday night – with great food, wine, and two of the best assistants to share it with. We were drawn to reflecting that night, about the experience, about travels, and about growth within ourselves. It was wonderful to take the time with these wonderful friends to be a little melancholic – although we are excited to get home and see everyone we love, we each realize it will be hard to leave this place.

After a good night’s sleep and a wonderful breakfast on the terrace overlooking Cassis, we suited up and spent Sunday morning by the pool. The sun did get a little intense, meaning I might have the burns to prove it, but it was the end cap of a great weekend. As we headed back to Marseille then Avignon via train, all of us in a minor sun daze and thinking of the amazing place we were leaving behind us, we couldn’t help but feel a bit sad. When we all said goodbye to each other once and for all while Amy and I boarded our bus for Apt, I couldn’t help but have tears in my eyes. This experience as an assistant may have had its rough times. But above it all, you always knew that there were people here going through those same types of struggles. It is hard to say goodbye, knowing you might never see those people again, but you have to say au revoir instead of adieu, leaving it optimistic and positive for future meetings. I will never forget this weekend with my favorite people here in France. Now, my last week of teaching - c'est parti!

*Guys, they just make my cooking look bad. I thought I was pretty good at cooking/baking before coming here, but these girls are on a whole different level!

**Translation: If I wasn’t scared of heights.

A Nice weekend (and Monaco morning)

This past weekend, Liz (a fellow assistant and Michigander that lives in Avignon) and I had a weekend getaway to the Cote d’Azur. We visited Nice, a place that has been on my ‘to see’ list for a long time, and I was anxious for a weekend by the beautiful blue water of the Mediterranean. Meeting at Avignon TGV at 11am on Friday, we jumped on the 3 hour train to Nice. This train ride boasts stunning views of the coast, going from the suburbs of Marseille through Cannes and Antibes before reaching the terminus of Nice. I had taken this train before, when we visited Cannes for Amy’s birthday. This time it was quite gloomy, with dark clouds threatening rain the entire way.

Once we arrived in the city and dropped off our things at our hostel, it was off to exploring the city. As Liz had been to Nice twice in the past, she toured me around the city but also left room to wander through the narrow streets and massive places that closely resemble the piazzas that I experienced in Rome and other cities in Italy. With Nice being so close to the border of Italy and quite a bit of its history being tied to the Romans and the Savoy house, I noticed many similarities between Nice and the country to the East, in architecture, colors, and food. In Place Rosetti, we stopped and grabbed a gelato at a highly recommended shop: Fenocchio Glacier. And with good reason – we were amazed by the amount and range of flavors they offered from 8 different types of chocolate to fruit flavors as rare as passion fruit and lychee. There was even a savory selections, including avocado, tomato basil and  black olive. Needless to say, I went with two scoops of the sweeter options: bounty bar and rocher. Sitting and enjoying this gelato in this petite square of Vieux Nice (Old Town) made me feel like I was in Italy again, and I have to say it was a great feeling!

After this rest, we continued on, though the dark clouds continued to spit droplets down at us. We explored most of Nice on this day, but taking pictures was not really ideal with the weather so we planned to return the next day to each of the big sights. As we walked back from the port as the sun was setting and all the lights in the city were beginning to turn on, I remember thinking “okay Nice, I guess you’re pretty nice!” It is a beautiful city during the day, but arguably even more beautiful at night. While walking back down the Promenade des Anglais, gaping at the lit up palm trees lined up next to me, I couldn’t help but feel content to be in such an exquisite place.

Saturday morning, we woke up early and got ready for a full day exploring the town. Today, the weather was in our favor and the sun shined on us brightly all day long. We went back to all the major sights again, including Promenade des Anglais, the Negresco Hotel, Place Massena, Promenade du Paillon, a wander through Vieux Nice and Place Rosetti. We did wander to a few fairly unknown places though – one of my favorites was the little garden in the courtyard of the Musée Massena. It was a wonderful time to visit Nice, as spring has just started to blossom and all the foliage is starting to burst forth all its magnificent colors. With a little shopping and a little sandwich lunch in Place Massena, the first half of the day was well spent. Oh, and with another stop at Fenocchio Glacier. I just couldn’t get enough!

The Negresco and the Promenade des Anglais

Garden in front of Musée Massena

Getting a little wet at the Promenade du Paillon (sidenote: was not posed, the water jetted up right when the picture was taken!)

Place Massena

Just can't get enough! This time, I went for fruit flavors: mango and blackberry. YUM

In the afternoon, we continued on to a part of town I had not seen yet – Cours Saleya. With tourist shops and busy restaurants on either side, this was a bustling quarter of the city. Also, they hold the marché des fleurs here, and on Saturdays another market full of Provençal goods were lined up in the stalls. We wandered through this and then continued on to the chateau on the hill, the major panoramic viewpoint over Nice. After many steps, with some heavy breathing maybe mixed in, we reached the top and gazed at the magnificent view of the Mediterranean Sea and the city of Nice. It was absolutely breathtaking, and not just from the climb up the stairs!

Flower market

Baie des Anges

After we had taken in the view, we descended the steps and walked along the Promenade des Anglais down to the pebble beach on the Baie des Anges. It was my first time on a pebble beach and I have got to say, it is pretty uncomfortable! As I had left my bathing suit at the hostel, we just laid in the sun in our dresses and soaked in the rays and the calming sound of the waves. It was a relaxing way to spend the end of the afternoon – I will never tire of staring at that blue water.

Pebbles... which felt more like stones

That night, we went out to dinner with the two other people that were in our hostel room: Ryan from New Zealand and Veronica from Germany. We met up with Veronica’s friend Utah (which might have lead to an embarrassing moment when he introduced himself… I didn’t know whether to say my state or name…) and went to eat a nice seafood three course meal in Cours Saleya. Since this was the only real meal we had during the weekend, we enjoyed course after course with wine and champagne. I chose the mussels as a starter, a skewer of fish, scallops and jumbo shrimp with vegetables and rice as an entrée and dark chocolate mousse as a dessert. Needless to say, we spent a nice three hours eating and sharing our experiences traveling and working with each other. That is one wonderful thing about staying in hostels – you get to meet wonderful people from all over the world.

Sunday morning, we woke up extremely early. Before going to bed, we consulted bus times that go to Monaco, the chic principality of France that is extremely close to Nice. Many people in the hostel had been there before and it is always been on my travel bucket list to see this city. After seeing that the bus ride was just 30 minutes, we decided quite spontaneously to spend Sunday morning in Monaco before our afternoon train back to Provence. And what a wonderful idea that was! The bus ride itself was exceptional, passing through seaside village after seaside village, through Villefranche-sur-la-Mer to Èze. After taking in more stunning views of the coast, we arrived in Monaco, got off the bus with all of our bags and sat down in a garden to eat breakfast. It was another beautiful day, and although we only had a short hour and a half to explore, it was amazing to say that we had seen some of the sights. We saw the Casino Monte Carlo, the big pier with all the decadent, huge yachts, and even saw many Ferraris from people staying in the swanky hotels. We even managed to have a conversation with a local, an old man from a nearby village who told us lots of information about France and Monaco. He explained to us that Monaco is incredibly safe; women our age can walk around town at 2am after grabbing a drink and will have no problems like getting hassled by men. Though our time in Monaco was short, as we were taking the bus back to Nice, I was smiling from ear to ear, knowing we set out and saw something new.*

Casino Monte Carlo

Monaco

After a quick walk to the train station, we were back on our way to Provence after a lovely weekend on the French Riviera. I have to admit, I was a sad to see the beautiful blue water fade away in the distance. While sitting in the sun at Avignon TGV, waiting for the bus to Apt to arrive, I closed my eyes and imagined I was sitting in front of the Mediterranean’s clear water. It’s official: that city was just too Nice to me – I know I will be back!

*PS: I really want to go back here, guys! I have got to explore it a little more :)

A little party never killed nobody

Though today I am tired and am having trouble focusing on work, I think that shows the great weekend I had. Friday, I had planned on relaxing at home, doing some more research for the upcoming travels, and starting to write letters to close my many accounts down. That is something I find interesting here – to close nearly any type of service account (apartment lease, internet service, phone service, etc), you need to send letters to the company a month in advance to ensure everything is shut down in time. Excuse me, I have to WRITE you a REAL letter and send it RECOMMENDED mail?! Clearly, France has not entered the technological age of the 21^st century where sending a simple email or even just going into the store/business and wanting to do it in person would suffice. No – everything here has to be a process, involving copious amounts of paperwork. Eh ben… c’est la vie!

However, I did not end up starting this Friday* - I decided to take the afternoon to go into Avignon. I had planned to do this Saturday but after talking to my fellow assistant friends Liz and Nysa who wanted to go to Nîmes that day, I took the opportunity to go into town and do something that I have wanted to do for a long while: visit the Palais des Papes. The Pope’s Palace, the major tourist attraction to see when you visit Avignon, is smack dab in the center of centre-ville, meaning the many times I have passed it during my several visits to Avignon I have marveled at its façade without ever walking inside. Friday, I paid the fee and marveled at the grandeur that the seven popes had made in the center of town. Avignon was the seat of the catholic church for 70 years when Southern France was part of Ancient Rome, it was the place where the popes resided. As I walked from room to room (which there were over 20 of), I couldn’t help but soak up the history as much as I could. Especially when I walked down the ceremonial staircase… since there was no one around, I couldn’t help but indulging myself in acting like a queen walking down a staircase after being crowned. You gotta soak up the moments when you can people! I am so happy that I made myself go into town to do this – it was a must-do before leaving and now I can truly say that I visited the sights in Avignon.

 

Courtyard of the Old Palace

Where the Popes ate their meals. You know, just the normal dining room.

The Great Chapel, the biggest and most magnificent room in the Palace (if you ask me!)

View of Avignon from la Tour de Gâche

La Fenêtre de l’Indulgence - after the Pope's would get coronated, they would walk to this window to wave to the rest of the court and see the people for the first time as the actual pope.

After, I did some shopping and although my time in Avignon was running short**, I had to make a mandatory stop at Milk Shop. I think I have written about Milk Shop before, but to describe again: it is a pure safe haven of American goodies. Their specialty? You might have guessed it: Milk Shakes! Since the places that sell these delicious drinks are far and few between here, I had to stop and get an American Cookie (aka Oreo) Milkshake, which of course was delicious! They also serve food too, like bagel burgers and such, but their sweets are what make them known, like their kitkat bar cake, crème brûlée cheesecake and Nutella cupcakes, just to name a few. If I was living in Avignon, this place would definitely be dangerous for me.

Nothing says 'Murica like an Oreo shake!

I might have taken a treat home for later too.... Coffee Speculoos Cake!

After a relaxing night in Apt, I headed back out to Avignon on a rainy Saturday morning. I met up with Liz and Nysa and we headed off to Nîmes, which is known as the little Rome in France, because it holds many well preserved Roman ruins. Because it was rainy and even a bit cold, we tried our best to make it a good trip by walking around, seeing the sights, taking pictures, window shopping and of course catching up on life. After getting thoroughly wet, we decided to duck into a café for a nice sit down lunch, enjoying salads and dessert. I hadn’t seen either of them since before Christmas, so it was really nice to hear what they’ve been doing and how they feel about the assistantship being done so soon. Although I came into this whole experience alone, not knowing one soul when setting foot on French soil, I am glad that I have met people to share this experience with. This opportunity of living in France has not only made me more independent but has also allowed myself to be more okay with being independent, more okay with doing things alone and being by myself. I am grateful and happy to have met some great people who I hope will remain friends when we all return to our own corners of the world.

Cheesin' with a Roman amphitheater!

Arènes de Nîmes – it is said to be the best preserved Roman amphitheater in Europe, even more so than the Colloseum in Rome.

This theater is still in operation, hosting bull fights during the summer. This guy was sad that it was raining so much too!

centre-ville

Southern France: where you can find a beautiful church with a palm tree in front of it!

 

After Nîmes, I had planned on going home, as I had neglected to do all my work on Friday and was thinking I should be responsible. However, Nysa and Liz convinced me to stay the night in Avignon as there was a wine bar that was open that night that rarely is. Le Delirium is only open once in a blue moon and since I hadn’t been out for a real night out in Avignon thus far, I had to take the opportunity, as it will probably be the only one I have with my remaining time left here. After buying a new outfit (again, was not prepared exactly for a night on the town), we spent time with a few other assistants at Liz’s apartment and then went out on the town. It was nice to get outside of Apt for the night, and even better to be out on the town actually enjoying nightlife here in France again – it’s been quite a while! Le Delirium was interesting, having a type of speak-easy vibe in décor. But clearly, the atmosphere was directly controlled by the live band. When we first arrived, there was a rap group performing and shortly after, a new group played the Beach boys and other American rock classics. While dancing to Johnny B Goode, I kept thinking how out of place this seems: a French wine bar with a band blaring American 50’s music. You never what to expect here, that’s for sure! I'm glad I ended up staying in Avignon instead of going home for the night - very unlike me to make a spontaneous decision like that but like the title of this post says, a little party never killed nobody!

Waking up early Sunday morning to catch the bus to Apt, the sun shining brightly with normal Provençal weather returning after that horrid rainy day, I couldn’t help but reflect on time. This could be because I had just said goodbye to Maria, another fellow secondary assistant and roommate of Liz, who is leaving today to return to the States. I know that this is all going to be over soon, but I think that it has just started hitting me how soon that really is. It really feels like just yesterday I was lugging my 65 pound suitcase up the three flights of stairs to my apartment, with everything feeling so new and unknown. It feels like just yesterday when I met all my teachers and students and was so apprehensive about what to teach and how to teach it. It seems like just yesterday I was setting up my bank account, and other services, using my highly rehearsed French to ensure that no language barriers would arise. To look back on moments like these and so many more, I realize how far I truly have come with my time here: in my language skills, independence, teaching abilities, and flexibility. Although it only seems like yesterday, I know that the time has only seemed to pass that quickly because it has been well spent. With only 4 weeks left of this assistantship, I already feel the rest of the time slipping between my fingers, like grains of sand blowing away in the breeze. With this time I have left, as I have tried to do throughout my stay here, it is time to profitez-bien – these are moments I will never get back.

*Leaving me in my half-asleep state today to try and accomplish these tasks. I will be so happy when I am done with all this administrative bureaucracy!

**I was actually going into town to attempt to get some work done too, in stopping by the Virgin Mobile store and asking them what I need to do to close my service with them. However, I never ended up getting there...