Finally!! I just got out of my first class, and I’m on campus, on-line, and on MY computer! It’s been a little frustrating not having any internet in the residence other than eight computers (although fewer functional) for all of the 1000 students. I’ve had a busy past few days doing things and meeting people. There seems to be an abnormal amount of students here from uOttawa. I suppose it’s because there are only three or four of us at my university, but there are a bunch of others at a different university in Aix. Three of us are even on my floor! I didn’t know either of them before, but apparently I took a Spanish class with Rachael in first year (she was the one who cooked a big steak, stir-fry and spicy rice meal for me and a few others on my first night there.) Mélissa, the other girl from uOttawa, also had been here for two weeks before I arrived because the classes at their university started a lot earlier. I’ve met some French people, although they are very seriously into their studies, and only a select few go out of their way to meet people. My neighbour across the hall, Tolin, always comes and knocks on my door to say hi.
There are many Quebecers here too. I had an adventure with Benjamin the other night when we went to the massive grocery store by bus. (There is a smaller one a block away from rez, but if I keep shopping there, I will need to pack my things within a few months because I won’t have any money left.) So the big one we went to was called Géant Casino. And there you have it, I haven't quite figured it out. The casino is called “Pasino” and the grocery store is called “Casino”. I’m in France. Things are backwards. I won’t ask questions. When we got back we made a big meal with pasta, crazy French sauce, and of course we had wine, a baguette and cheese. I’ve decided that every time I buy cheese, I will try a new kind. This time, I bought a big sphere of Camembert for 1€. The enormous chunk of Brie at the same price was very tempting, and I might give in to that temptation a little later on in the year.
Yesterday, I ventured to Marseille with another Quebecer, Wissem. It was beautiful, right on the Mediterranean ocean and therefore, had several tourists and lots of expensive restaurants right on the water.
We wandered the streets, listening to nothing but Arabic and seeing nothing but North African vendors. They have stores selling food from Morocco, rugs from Tunisia, and clothes from Algeria. It was quite esthetically pleasing, and even though it’s only 30 minutes from Aix, it felt like a completely different place.
It was quite hot, so Wissem and I decided to go swim in the ocean. However, being right downtown, all the beaches along the water were private and reserved for the bourgeois or Marseille.
As we had already been walking for a good couple of hours, we decided we didn’t want to walk another five kilometers to the nearest public beach. So we hopped a fence to where there wasn’t even a beach. It was a sort of no-man’s-land over the side of a cliff. We climbed down the stairs that you see in the top left of the picture.
Then we hopped the rocks down to the water.
It was so refreshing, but I didn’t know that the Mediterranean is known as the saltiest ocean. My shorts were stained with white salt streaks when they dried, and my hair was a little crunchy to the touch.
We walked around a little more to see the hoards of people crowded around any TV screen trying to watch the Rugby World Cup.
We grabbed a bite to eat at the “Quick”, the French version of McDonalds (although don’t get me wrong, the obviously have that here, too!). That was my first time eating there, and it was also my last. The “cheeseburger” (pronounced with a distinct French-massacring-English accent) didn’t sit too well with me on the bus ride home. All in all, including Friday night's outing to a cave-like dance club, it was a really good weekend. I do, however, need to start going to bed earlier than three in the morning!
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