The Next Day

Trip Start Jan 2007

Trip End May 2007

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Flag of France Aix en Provence, France
Sunday, August 5, 2007

       I don't remember at what time exactly I got up, but I know for sure that I was up later than my host mother. I eventually went into the kitchen to eat breakfast which to my surprise, she had an entire spread laid out on the table, waiting for me, and man was it a big one. She had milk, orange juice, madelaine cookies, a piece of baguette, cereal, and a piece of fruit. It was very nice of her to have put out this gigantic spread for me, especially since with my old host mother back in Dijon I normally had to fetch it from a specific cabinat. I'm not really a breakfast person, nor am I a heavy eatter (in fact, for the past 3 years I have been trying to reduce my food portions in the attempt to loose some weight) the size of the spread was overwhelming to me, but I tried to eat as much as possible. After breakfast, the both of us headed out to the car to go into centre ville.
      As we road in the car, Camille (my new host mother) explained to me which bus I was going to take to arrive into centre ville and what stops I was to use when getting off and/or on the bus. When we first arrived in centre ville, Camille took me into a tobac shop where I could buy a booklet of bus tickets to use for the bus. Using the tickets was actually going to be a temporary solution, since the housing coordinator was going to help me get a monthly student bus pass.
      After I bought my bus tickets, Camille and I got back in the car and she and I found a park space and found our "rendez-vous" point with one of her friends and her exchange student. Eventually the two of them arrived. Camille and her friend, one of the other host mothers for IAU, greeted eachother with the typical "bisoux" which is the kissing of the cheeks (twice) and I greeted the other exchange student with an awkward "hello". As we headed furthur into the heart of Aix's centre ville, Camille and Arlette (the name of her friend) began to gossip rapidly in French while I tried to converse with the other American student. The other student wasn't very shy; she (the other student) wasn't really that interested in talking to me for some reason but we got to know each other a bit. Finally, our tour began when both of our host mothers pointed out IAU (Institute for American Universities) which was on a small, narrow street. The street that IAU was on happened to face Aix' cathedral and was right next door to le Centre pour les etudes Science Politique (Political Science Center-basically a college), as well as an international intensive language school (similar to my former program, CIEF, in Dijon). After that we walked furthur through the old city and they pointed out historical buildings and monuments as we went.
         On our little tour we walked past two squares, the Hotel de Ville and we walked along the Cours Mirabeau. As we walked along the Cours Mirabeu we spied a large Antiques Market, which I later found out is held every Sunday at this spot. We took a little tour of it and admired all the great antique art, furniture, pottery, glass, records, books, etc.  Aix's Antique Market is massive, in fact, it's so massive, this it covers the entire length of the Cours Mirabeu! (Well, on one side of the street at least). Both of our host mothers also pointed out reasonable restaurants, Aix's Monoprix (which is France's answer to Wal-Mart) just in case we needed to go there to buy something. After the tour, Camille and Arlette asked us if we wanted to go straight back home or if the two of us wanted to hang out for a bit. The other student and I decided to hang out for a short bit together. So we parted ways with our host mothers, and we decided to go eat lunch together. She and I decided to go to a crepe place: I ordered a ham, cheese, and egg savory crepe as well as a nutella crepe for desert, while my new friend ordered a banana and nutella crepe. She and I talked for a little bit, ate our crepes, and eventually she decided to go home.  After she left, I stayed in centre ville for an hour longer, but not much more so. During that time period I didn't see anything special. I just walked down a few streets that had really nothing to see, except for old buildings. Eventually I took the bus and went home, since the bus was only going to be running for a few more hours anyways for my route. At first I had had problems finding the bus stop, but I eventually found it-my stop happened to be right in front of the tabac that Camille and I had visited earlier along the Rue Sextus. So, I went home, watched tv, ate dinner with Camille, and went to bed.

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