Aix and Beyond: Up The Mountain

Another week of school flew by and marked the close of my first month in France. It's pretty weird that I've already been here for that long - realizing that I'm already 1/6 of the way done with my stay here came as a shock. Although I feel like I have already done and seen a lot, it feels like the end is already starting to close in and that if I'm not careful this sprint of a semester is going to be over done with and I won't have accomplished half of the things I had hoped to.

Enough with the sentimentality, though. The last week has been great. School was school, and everything was flowing as normal until Thursday which turned out to be a great day. I had an 8 a.m. class, which is never a good way to start, but after that the soccer team had a game at 1 p.m. I got to play about 80 minutes and had a blast. We ended up drawing 1-1, but I felt good to be on the field and I'm starting to actually get to know the guys on the team which has been great. It's really nice to have some French friends who not only know the city, the country and things to do, but who can also help me with speaking and listening skills.

After the game I had to race back downtown to catch my second class of the day - a rather slow edition of International Economics. Once that was finished I made my way home to cook dinner for a group of friends. My buddy Jordi (from Mexico City) and a friend from Denmark named Anders came over and made our crew an even six as the three American girls who live in my complex came as well. We all talked and relaxed after a long day of school and it was nice to spend some time with good people. For dinner fried rice was on the menu and, in my esteemed opinion, it turned out really well. While the rice was cooking I sauteed some bacon until it was starting to get crispy and then through in a bunch of fresh leeks from the farmers' market and let them sweat until they had some color and were super sweet. In another pan I sauteed some fresh ginger and garlic until it was golden and crispy and then spooned the mixture onto a paper towel to dry. In the pan with the leeks and bacon I added some garlic and sambal oelek for some heat and let it all sizzle before pouring in a decent amount of soy sauce to deglaze the pan. By this time the rice was done and cooled down a little and I tossed it into the mixture and let it fry for a bit before adding fresh spring onions - also from the farmers market. I let the concoction do its thing for a while, stirring occasionally before dishing it up and topping each serving with a soft fried farm egg and the crispy garlic and ginger. I was pleased with the outcome, and I think everyone else liked it too.

After dinner I had to hustle to take a shower before a group of us met up again to go out to a huge party my faculty had organized for the students. The student association at the IEP (my faculty) had put together an Apartment Crawl with 8 different apartments, each boasting a unique theme. During the week cups had been for sale in the foyer of the school for 8 euros and they came with a map of the city with each apartment marked so they would be easy to find. The idea was simple and awesome - pay 8 euros for the cup/ticket and then throughout the night you could go to whatever apartment you wanted to at any time and have bottomless drinks of whatever the house was serving. We started with the Champagne apartment because some of our French friends lived there. It was a pretty small apartment, but in a great location and the place was jam-packed with kids. It was a great way to meet some French people and talk - not to mention drink some free champagne. From there we made our way to the Rock 'n Roll house and had a glass of sangria and mingled before heading out into the night to try and locate the Electro house. The apartment was too packed to get in so we made our way around the city stopping off at various places before eventually calling it a night. The whole thing was an awesome idea and a great way to spend the evening.

Friday passed like most Fridays - one class from 10-noon and then a nice afternoon in the sun. My friend Jerrica had read about a really nice park on the edge of town and a group of us rounded up some food and made our way over to Parc de la Torse to sit in the sunshine and eat. The park was pretty awesome - there was a stream running the length of it, with benches sitting under shade trees. The place opened up into a big field with a large hill on one side where we made camp and relaxed for the afternoon. We brought a bunch of food and sat on the hill and ate and talked until the evening before heading out and calling it a night.

Saturday was one of the best days so far. A group of international students (representing the USA, Italy, Turkey, Poland, Estonia, Czech Republic and Canada) made our way to Mont Saint-Victoire, the iconic peak overlooking Aix that gave Paul Cezanne his inspiration for years of painting. We met up at the massive Saturday farmers' market to load up on supplies before catching the bus to a small town up the road from the trailhead. After picking up a couple bottles of wine we set out up the trail. The area was beautiful and the weather was fantastic. With trees and shrubs hugging the side of the switch-backing path it almost felt like we were walking through a manicured maze at times. The ascent was steep with the sun beating down on you the sweat started pouring, but it was worth the trek and when the trees broke the rolling Provencal countryside came into view with the Swiss Alps acting as a distant backdrop.

At the top we were greeted by an old monastery housing a church and a large courtyard with plenty of room to sit and relax. On the far side of the courtyard the mountain broke in two and opened up into a fantastic view. You could sit in the sunshine and look out across miles and miles of France - with the ocean visible on really clear days. We set up shop in the sunlight and ate a feast of a lunch consisting of fresh avocados, three different kinds of cheese, excellent artisan bread, 3 or 4 kinds of saucisson, macarons (the excellent French cookies), tomatoes, apples, blood oranges, chocolate and good Provencal wine. We managed to eat and drink just about all of it and in the process we soaked up some sunshine and relaxed in the fresh air.

The descent wasn't nearly as tiring, but did give the knees a bit of a workout. We made our way to the bottom and took a load off on the side of the road as we waited for the bus back into Aix. It was an excellent day and a great way to spend a weekend with some of my new friends. I think everyone had a blast - it was a wonderful way to get out of the city and spend a warm spring (yes, it's spring here already) day with some pretty awesome people.

When we scrambled onto the bus headed towards town the conversation stopped and just about everyone had their eyes closed and mouths agape at some point. When we got back into the city everyone was exhausted. We said our goodbyes and went our separate ways for the night with the hike and the sun having worn us out. A few of us made our way to a coffee/pastry shop - which are rare in France, usually it's one or the other, almost never both - and had a cup of coffee and some cake and chatted for an hour before making our back to the dorms where sleep came easy.

All in all it was an excellent hike and a fantastic weekend.

Parc de la Torse - this whole plane was filled with these super old shade trees, it's going to look awesome in the summer.

Stream in Parc de la Torse

Rugby practice across the stream.

The pathway into the park was lined with benches to relax on and some majestic old trees.

Baguette with chevre and peach confiture.

Flax aux abricots - awesome thick flan tart with apricots

Building in Vauvenargues at the base of Mont Saint-Victoire.

Some grape vines at the beginning of the trail.

The group ascends.

View over Provence on the way up the mountain.

The monastery from a distance.

View just below the summit.

The crew. Left to Right: Didem (Turkey), Sara (Czech Republic), Dmitri (Estonia), Jola (Poland), Jay (Canada), Brae (USA), Jerrica (USA), Filippo (Italy), Ayse Gizem (Turkey), Burcu (Turkey), Megan (USA)