Roussillon-Languedoc Trip

So, after about a week and a half in Paris, API took us all to the South of France. 80 degrees, beaches, wine...c'est fabuleux! Anyways, we stayed in a little town called Collioure. If you know anything about art, it's one of the towns made famous by the Fauvists Matisse, Braque, and Picasso.

Quinn playing on the beach in Collioure.

We skipped out on the art history tour in favor of lounging on the beach. That night, we bought tons of baguettes, cheese, grapes, dark chocolate, and Sangria and ate to our hearts content.

Sam and our feast.

The next day was an early morning. We took a bus to Les Grands Canalettes, the largest grotto in France and third largest in the world. Turns out, even if you're in the South of France, it's 30 degrees inside a grotto. That was not fun with the clothes I packed. Anyways, the man who actually discovered the caves (the spelunker) gave us a guided tour of the whole place.

Us being bear-like.

Rocks and stuff.

Me with a stalagmite / stalachtite.

More rocks.

The tour ended in 'the Cathedral,' a huge open area full of beautiful crystals, stalagmites, rocks, etc., and there was a music and light show. A little too long for my freezing self, but beautiful nonetheless. The tour ended with a huge feast prepared by the guide's family. A pig roast, as a matter of fact. It started with fresh corn, tomatoes, onions, and bread. Then, there were 3 pork courses: 1 was an odd lumpy black sausage served with aoili (spelling?) mayonaise; 2 was like a long hot dog; 3 was just a pork steak kind of thing. Then our guide pulled out the pouru.

Me with the pouru.

It's meant to be used with wine, like he did, but for API purposes it was water. He could actually pour it from his forehead to his mouth! Needless to say, we all loved this man. He then gave us 4 rounds of dessert, and we were on our merry way.

Us jumping at les Grands Canelettes.

Kelly, Sam, Me, Quinn, Marissa.

That night we just went sat on the beach, and headed to bed early in preparation for another early day.

Fun on the beach.

The next day we travelled to Carcasson, one of the oldest medieval towns in France. There, we opted out of the tour (again) and had a tour of our own.

Quinn in Carcasson.

We had a long sit down meal where we tried the Catalonian specialty, cassoule. It's a white bean, goose, and sausage stew. SO GOOD!

Cassoule.

Right after Carcasson, we got back on the bus, drove an hour to the train station, took a 6 hour train, and arrived back in Paris. Fabulous weekend!

First Month in Paris!

So, even though I have been here for a month, I've yet to post anything on this blog. It was meant to be my link to my friends and family back home, where I could put pictures of my adventures and any musings on my days. Sorry for the delay!

I arrived September 23rd, and ended up sitting in the airport with my resident director, Melissa, for close to four hours waiting for all the others (all girls). The second girl to arrive ended up being from Millbrook (a town 25 minutes from Poughkeepsie), which was a fabulous surprise! We all piled into vans and headed off toward our hotel in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, in an area called Chatelet. We automatically jumped into orientation, so needless to say, the first couple of days are a blur to me. After about 2 days I got driven to my host family's appartment. I was terrified! But, as soon as I walked in I was blown away by the beautiful appartment and automatically felt right at home. 

My room.

The family is great. I knew there was a mother (Claire), father (Alban), a 17 year old daughter (Brune), and a 12 year old son (Carl). Turns out my host family has a 20 year old son named Erwan who showed me around the neighborhood soon after I moved in.

The view from my room.

Since moving in, I've just been going out and exploring the city with my friends. The typical places: Louvre, Tour Eiffel, Montmartre, Moulin Rouge...

Me at the Louvre.

My friends and I in Montmartre.

(Sam, Me, Marissa, Kelly)

Us at Sacré Coeur.

(Sam, Quinn, Me, Marissa, Kelly)

Quinn and I posing at Moulin Rouge.

I started classes right after I arrived here - all in French - and I'm quite overwhelmed. I get by, but once mi-semestre arrives, we'll see how I'm ACTUALLY doing. I've also had several amazing academic opportunities presented to me recently, the most important being Les Noctures au Louvre. In December, I will be presenting a painting (Les Baigneuses, par Fragonard) to the art historians of the Louvre museum, and supposedly will become certified by the Louvre for doing so. Very intimidating!

We've also been visiting lesser known places, but mostly at night. My host brother and his best friend Edward took us out a lot at the beginning of our time here.

Edward and Erwan.

Marissa and I.

Quinn, and unwilling Marissa, and myself.

I started classes right after I arrived here - all in French - so don't think I'm just out having fun! They're quite overwhelming. I get by, but once mi-semestre arrives, we'll see how I'm ACTUALLY doing. I've also had several amazing academic opportunities presented to me recently, the most important being Les Noctures au Louvre. In December, I will be presenting a painting (Les Baigneuses, par Fragonard) to the art historians of the Louvre museum, and supposedly will become certified by the Louvre for doing so. Very intimidating!

From here on in, my posts will be shorter, but hopefully less frequent. I won't be posting all of my pictures, but if you like what you see or hear about here, email me and I'll be sure to send you as many as I can!

Gros Bisous!

(Kisses!)