First week and the start of school...

The first week in France flew by. I did about as much walking as possible in the city - which is designed for foot-traffic - and covered at least all the main avenues and windy side streets. The weather was fantastic the past couple of days, and the city really comes alive when the sun is out. There is a produce, meat and cheese market everyday in the square facing the Hotel de Ville (City Hall), but on Saturdays the thing explodes. Come the weekend there is a massive farmers' market in a large open space called the Place de Richelme and the Place des Pecheurs where everything from antiques to whole rabbits are sold. It's pretty neat to see the city jumping with so much energy - everyone must blow their load on Saturday, though, because when Sunday comes you'll be lucky to find an open bakery.

I suppose I should go back a bit and talk a bit about the end of the week. On Thursday night I met up with some other American students who have been here since September. We hung out for a while before heading over to a friend's place to have some wine and meet some other kids. I managed to make friends with an Austrian, a Dutch and a Canadian in about 5 minutes. I was still feeling a bit jetlagged so I relaxed and talked to people until about midnight before heading home and crashing.

On Friday, though, I was feeling better after a good night's sleep and cruised the city in the morning. The weather was nice and people were out and about buying the day's bread and picking up other ingredients for dinner at the market. At 11 there was an orientation meeting for international student's at the faculty I will be attending. There was a quick meet and greet over pastries and drinks before the director of the international relations department gave a presentation on what to expect during the semester. He then met with each student individually to briefly discuss which conference de methode (higher level course) each was planning on taking (my tentative schedule is posted below).

On Saturday morning the international students association had organized another rendez-vous at the faculty in order to show us around the building, answer any questions and give a brief tour of the city. After we had learned the ins and outs of the Political Studies department (there are some secret passageways that make traversing the place a lot quicker) some of us went and grabbed a cup of coffee. I felt like I was drinking espresso at the UN as our group consisted of: a girl from Tokyo, another from China, girls from Montreal and Vienna respectively, a guy from Florence and another from Mexico City.  It was pretty cool to speak with everyone, and see that on a macro-level our experiences in school and in Aix were comparable.

The international association had also organized a pub-crawl for Saturday night to help facilitate and accelerate the process of getting to know each other. We met at a cafe outside the Hotel de Ville at 9 and all had some wine while we chatted. From there we made our way to a livelier bar where the music was bumping and people could dance. Although it was harder to talk and hear, it was really fun to get out and do something energetic with kids that will surely become good friends over the course of the semester.

Sunday, I woke up and puttered around a bit. I took my book downtown and found an open cafe where I could read and drink some coffee before wandering the streets to snap some pictures. Unfortunately, I didn't capture the market scene on saturday, but there will be many more opportunities before the year is up. I walked home at about 4:30 and met some friends on the way who invited me to dinner and a movie before heading home and skyping with my parents. At 8 I made my way over to my friend Manon's dorm - she's one of the Austrian girls I've met - and had dinner with her and a friend from Louisiana named Angela. After dinner we strolled downtown to the movie theater on the Cours Mirabeau (the main drag, and famous avenue in town) to see "Somewhere." When the movie ended we walked home together and talked for a while before I hit my room and went right to sleep.


*Tentative Schedule:
1. Contemporary Middle Eastern Politics (in French)
2. Gender and Politics (in English, which is kind of cheating)
3. Contemporary Russian Geopolitics (in French)
4. The economics and management of firms (in French)
5. Economics of development and the environment (in French)

The Thermes Sextius - the traditional Spa that uses the naturally hot water flowing under Aix

Cathedral across from my Faculty

The courtyard in front of my Faculty

My faculty - Institut d'Etudes Politiques (Institute of Political Studies)

The small morning market at the Place des Pecheurs on Thursday

Excellent Bakery - best bread so far in France

View from my dorm

Aix from Cite de Cuques (my university residence)

Windy streets around IEP on an empty Sunday morning

The city is full of fountains - if you walk more than two blocks in any direction you should be able to find one - all of them are beautiful and unique

Course Mirabeau on Sunday afternoon - pretty quiet, except for another antiques market in the distance