I can’t believe I’ve been in France for almost a month...that seriously freaks me out. Oh, how time flies. I guess I’ve just been so busy doing this and that, and traveling here and there, that I’ve forgotten to count the days and the hours until I return. But I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I’ve also been a blogging fail (sorry), but since today’s Sunday, I have a little extra time. I should be doing my Resistance paper that I’ve been putting off for over a week, but I’ll get to that a little later. For now I’ll just take some time to talk about my epic weekend (which started on Thursday, consequently).
Thursday was a normal day, for the first half. We had Written Production, which was fun as usual. We had Resistance class, and I was too tired to concentrate. The usual. There was a long break in between Resistance and Oral Production, and we just lounged around pretending to do work for a while. When we got to Oral Production, the door was locked. This is not abnormal. The latest vote from the general assembly of students is that the university will remain on strike on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Thus, all doors are locked on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and it’s hard to find someone willing and able to open them. We decided to change rooms. However, while walking across the building to the next room, we happened upon a very large demonstration happening in the lobby of the school. I couldn’t really understand what was going on, but I got the gist that a lot of people were unhappy. Our Oral Production teacher cancelled class soon after, and apparently, students were encouraged to evacuate the university. (Sidenote: mama, don’t worry...we were all safe!)
Elated with the extra time, a few of us went shopping. We popped into a few shops on our way to the Rue de la République (the main street in Avignon), and then ended up in Jennyfer, a large underground store right next to H&M. It was fun browsing around the French fashion and such. I eventually decided on a little blue dress and a yellow necklace to go with it.
I arrived home, and just before Shawna and I were getting ready to go out, Isabelle called us for dinner. She had prepared an American meal, complete with hamburgers (the most delicious I think I have ever tasted), fries, chips, salad, coke, and ice cream. We even listened to country music (I tried to explain that not all American’s like country music, but whatever.) It was a very very sweet thing for Isabelle to do. Unfortunately, our meal lasted longer than usual, and Shawna and I had to book it to Place Pie, to get their on time. Also unfortunately, there was a time miscommunication, and we ended up being 45 minutes early. As we were waiting for Adrien and Nicolas to arrive, we someone got a call from Katy. Due to student/professor unrest, classes were cancelled for the next day! General merriment ensued. Around 9h30, Adrien and Nicolas met us at Red Sky, and drove us in separate groups to a club just outside of town (near the university) called Cadillac Cafe. It was much larger than our usual hang out places, and we actually had enough room to occupy two whole booths and had a table to ourselves. We laughed, drank, talked in broken French/English, danced, and in all, had a great time.
(I don’t know what I was laughing at, and Nicolas looks hilarious. Basically, a wonderful picture.)
Cadillac Cafe closed at 1h00 in the morning, and most everybody headed home. Shawna and I, however, stayed with Adrien, Nicolas, and Levy, who took us to a discotheque down the road. It was quite intense...so many people, so much music, so much movement. Wow. It’s strange noting the differences between American dancing and French dancing...Shawna and I amused ourselves for a while imitating French dancing (I hope we didn’t insult anyone). We ended up getting home at around 4h00 in the morning. It was most fortunate that we didn’t have class in the morning!
Friday was mostly taken up with attempts to do homework (mostly failed attempts, at that), some rain, and an early bedtime. In an attempt to not make this blog a novel, I will move right on to Saturday.
Saturday, I woke up early to get ready for our planned trip to Nîmes, a Romanesque city only a half an hour by train away from Avignon. Our train pulled out at around 9h00 in the morning, and we arrived in Nîmes shortly after. Getting off the train, the first thing of mention that we saw was l’Arène de Nîmes (Nîmes Arena). I don’t remember exactly when the Arena was built, but it was once used for fighting, both between men and bull fighting. We climbed way up to the top of the Arena (it was quite the hike), where we sat in the warm sun for a while and imagined what it would be like to go to a bull fight there hundreds of years ago.
(I apologize for the quality of this picture...my camera was freaking out and was letting in much too much light, therefore washing everything out.)
(From the top of the Arena, looking out on Nîmes.)
(I should clearly be a tour guide.)
The ticket we purchased at the Arena allowed us access to two other sites in Nîmes, so we proceeded on to the next, a Pantheon-like structure (called the Maison Carrée), also dating back to the Roman period. There wasn’t a whole lot to see there, other than a very cheesy 3D movie that I’m very glad we didn’t have to pay for.
(La Maison Carrée in Nîmes).
After our unsatisfactory 3D experience, most of the group went to a nearby cafe to get some lunch. Adam and I had packed lunches of our own in the best interest of our wallets, so we sat on the steps outside of the Pantheon and ate sandwiches, avocados, and gouters (a French chocolate cookie thing...basically, amazing). While waiting, we wandered around some of the shopping district, in particular the Armani store. Adam highly highly considered buying some Armani underwear. They cost 50 euro. When we walked by the display window later and found a pair of Armani underwear that only cost 35 euro, Adam exclaimed, “They’re cheap!” At this point, we decided that our perception of reality had been permanently altered. Thirty-five euro underwear is not cheap.
We met back up with the group and wandered down to our next location, an enormous garden (Les Jardins de la Fontaine), and an outlook tower at the top of a hill (La Tour Magne). Walking there, we ran into a gorgeous canal that was running randomly through the city. It was slow moving, but the water was clear, and the canal was lined with old, green trees. At the end, a fountain was splashing. Across the canal, groups of old men were playing Petanque, an old game popular among the French (the elderly French, in particular). It was incredibly peaceful.
(Don’t you wish every city had a random canal like this?)
The canal led us to the entrance of the gardens, and upon our arrival, we were immediately stunned by the beauty. Perhaps the sun was getting to our heads, but the gardens were completely delightful. I kind of went crazy with pictures.
(The golden embellished gate to the gardens.)
(The canal, running through the gardens.)
(A view of the gardens. There was so many random statues populating the gardens, sitting stoically, watching the passerby's.)
(The flowers were in full bloom. It was gorgeous.)
(Daisies on the hill that Kyle and Jenny rolled down.)
It’s hard to describe the gardens...you’ll just have to look at all my pictures on facebook (I’ll post a link at the end of this blog).
We took a meandering path through the gardens up a hill that led us to our next destination, a watch tower called La Tour Mange. We climbed up stairs and stairs and stairs to get to the top, but it was worth it. The tower was in a very opportune place - it looked out over the entirety of Nîmes and the surrounding area. However, as we could see the rain coming from the distance, we decided to head back down the flights upon flights of spiral stairs and look for some shelter.
(La Tour Mange.)
For the rest of the day, we just milled around Nîmes. We did a little bit of shopping (which was sooo hard since I couldn’t buy anything), bought some ice cream and some crepes, and spent some time sitting in another park. We watched a little blonde boy riding around in circles and circles on a Power Ranger’s Hot Wheel’s car around a fountain, and enjoyed the sun and the good weather (it never actually rained on us). We caught our train back to Avignon with no troubles, and each went our separate ways.
Saturday night was like most Saturday nights. I went to a gathering with my correspondent (Soufiane), and Catherine, and we talked a lot with his friends. My correspondent is Moroccan, and consequently, a lot of his friends are too. It was interesting to see their perspective on France, on America, and on Americans in France. Afterwards, Catherine and I slipped out to meet our friends at Red Sky. Tired from the long day in Nîmes, we headed out around midnight, and I gladly found my bed shortly after.
Today, as I mentioned, is Sunday, and I really really really need to be productive today. I need to write an essay for my resistance class on the topic of “courage,” and I’m personally feeling somewhat cowardly about it. Oh, the irony.
Goodbye for now, all, and I hope your day is as sunny is mine is in France!
And here is the public link to my Nîmes photo album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2008267&id=1417500098&l=83db4a2c61
Enjoy!
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