This weekend I said "au revoir" to the never ending gray skies of Paris and headed down South-- allllll the way South-- to Aix-en-Provence, the bright, happy provincale town where Wellesley bases its French study abroad program. Despite the crazy cold winds, I was very happy, surrounded by yellow and gold buildings, fountains, SUNLIGHT, and my good friends. It was just SO NICE to spend a weekend with close friends from Wellesley, who I've laughed with, cried with, stressed out with, partied with, had crazy/intellectual conversations with over the first two years of college. It just felt so comfortable with them, y'know? We drank incredible mint tea and ate Calissons (amazing pastry/candy thing. I have no idea how you make them but god I love them), had an EPIC night bar hopping and clubbing (we were "those girls" at the club that get all the boys to surround them. Apparently girls don't dance all up on each other in France like they do at Wellesley... ha ha ha. The French boys loved it), did lots of exploring, ate a delicious dinner cooked by Marion's parents (who were visiting for 3 weeks), explored Marseilles, and drank copious amounts of tea at Inci's apartment.
It was strange for me, because in my mind I was trying to make a connection between Aix and something... and I kept coming up with SoCal. Why? France is nothing like SoCal-- San Francisco, sure, a bit, but not LA/Irvine/SB/SD. what was I thinking? When Inci and I took the bus into Marseilles this morning, and I got to see the Mediterranean Sea, so sparkly, and gorgeous, and bright, and calming, I gave up trying to convince myself that SoFra (as Inci called it) is not like SoCal. If my mind wants to make me feel better by associating the two, then so be it. SoFra is SoMuch better though...:)
The most interesting thing to me was to see first hand exactly how different the Aix program and my Paris program are. I could rattle off the differences in a heartbeat (Paris vs. small town, host families vs. apartments, orientation in a small town vs. orientation in Paris, etc), but it was quite fascinating to live the differences for a weekend. It was really nice to live in an apartment only inhabited by Inci and her roommate, where two good Wellesley friends (the lively Natasha and the sweet Stephanie Buhle) lived just above them, and almost everyone else lived within 10 minute walking distance. I was a bit jealous of how easy it was to see friends all the time, and how nice it was to have a truly independent living space. But at the same time, by living with a host family, I'm forced to speak French every day, I can easily have all my language, culture, and geographic questions answered, and I don't have to cook for myself. Yes it's harder to see friends when they live on the other side of Paris, or even a 15 minute metro-ride away, but at the same time it's nice to have privacy and independence by not being with friends all the time. Although I liked all the aspects of Aix's program, I feel like the Paris program works better with who I am as a person, and what I personally wanted out of a year abroad-- but it was so nice to see the green grass on the other side.
I fear that I'm no longer making sense, because I am completement epuisee (completely exhausted), so, goodnight. A bientot, Aix-en-Provence-- can't wait to go back.
PS- a million and one thank yous to Inci Atrek, the best hostess I could have ever asked for!
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2 comments:
Hey Orly!
Just catching up on your oh-so-exciting blog...it's absolutely fascinating how our lives are so different (and so incredibly far away!) yet the lives of abroad exchange students are so similar. We don't exactly have outrageous chocolate festivals over here in Ecuador (though I seriously had to run to the fridge for some chocolate after that), we do have banana expositions. I travel on weekends, I get followed by overly aggressive boys, I miss home when Obama gets elected... It's wonderful to hear about life, and I'm so glad you and Auni are hanging out across the pond! (Or so it looks from your videos...) Much love, and I can't wait to see what happens next. I'm glad you're happy.
Orly! You are so very welcome! Thank YOU for gracing my apartment with your presence and beautiful smile :-)
Also, as a response to your comment on my post, I asked my doctor if people administer the shots onto themselves, since just anyone can buy the syringe/vaccination. He said yes, but it's usually married couples that give each other the shot, since you have to do it on your derriere. :-)
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