My sister, Vanessa, had been doing a co-op program at high school, so she ended up getting an extra two-week break at the end of January. Our parents surprised her at Christmas with a trip to visit me on her own during that break. So only three weeks after finding out she was going to the south of France, she arrived here right in the middle of my exam time! Argh! Originally, her visit was supposed to be AFTER my exams and during the first couple of weeks of my second semester. However, because of last semester’s five-week strike, they pushed back the semester and the exams, and now the second week of her visit coincided exactly with the first week of my exams. Despite that, as soon as I found out my exam schedule (about one week before the exam period), I worked on planning out a mini trip for Vanessa and myself. Because I wasn’t sure if it would be possible to work something out at the last minute, I decided not to tell Vanessa about the trip, and kept it a surprise even when the plans became set in stone! In between two of my exams, we would have enough time for a four-day trip to Rome… by an overnight boat ride on the Mediterranean!
Her first week here, I felt bad because I couldn’t play hostess entirely. I was half playing hostess and half studying for my exams. Also, Nicolas, a friend with whom I worked at Parliament these past two summers, is starting his 3-month backpacking Europe trip and stayed with me for a couple nights before heading to stay with Philippe, a mutual friend, in Montpellier.
Other than studying, one of the things I needed to do while Vanessa was here was go to Marseille for a medical exam that I was supposed to have when I arrived in France (but simply because it’s France, I had to wait four months for my appointment). They basically wanted to do a checkup to make sure I don’t have tuberculosis and infect their country. (Well, if I HAD had tuberculosis, I would have spread it around their country during my first four months here!) So I decided that I would turn this medical exam into a day trip to explore Marseille with Ness. It started off with an hour wait in the doctor’s office, and then a 15-minute checkup: breathing, eyesight, height, weight, chest x-ray, family’s medical history, etc. When I left, they even gave me the copy of my chest x-ray! How cool is that?! I wanted to put it up in my window in my room, but I sent it home with my sister instead. Really, why exactly do I need a view of my lungs hanging in my window?
Afterwards, we wandered and explored Marseille. We headed to the Entrecastaux Fort, and then climbed (what a climb it was!) to the highest point of the city: Notre Dame de la Garde.
The weather was great, and we had a beautiful view from the top of the basilica.
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