Maybe I should work backwards… hooray, the weekend is almost here again! It’s been a somewhat stressful week so far. Yesterday (Thursday), I had my first midterm ever and it was absolutely TERRIBLE. The midterm was for my class Political Economy of the EU, and the format of the exam was multiple choice + one short essay question. I am definitely not good at taking multiple choice tests, and I had heard previously from many people, including alumni from last year, that the exams are not that difficult… boy were they wrong! There were random, very detailed questions on things that our professor briefly skimmed over in class.. but anyway, I guess everyone I talked to thought it was difficult, so hopefully the curve will be low! The day before yesterday, I also had to give a presentation for my France/French Politics in the EU class, which was worth 40% of my grade! For this class, I’m only graded on this presentation and a final grant proposal, yikes!
I spent the most wonderful weekend ever in the south of France. A couple of friends and I hopped on a train after class last Thursday for Marseille, where we spent our weekend bathing in the sun and enjoying life. Southern France is truly a completely different world from Paris– not only is the temperature warmer, but so are the people. People on the streets aren’t as preoccupied and cold; they actually smile and laugh.
My favorite part of the weekend was hiking on Friday out to la Calanque de Sugiton, a fjord located in a small ville in Marseille, right next to the Mediterranean Sea. Guided by our friend, a native of Marseille (also a student at Sciences Po and in our program), we hiked forty minutes down to this calanque, where we swam in the beautiful, blue Mediterranean Ocean and picnicked on sandwich au jambon et fromage (ham & cheese). We spent most of the day there, swimming and exploring “Mont Grand Nez” (Mount big nose), a nearby miniature “island” that we climbed onto. The sea was honestly so, SO beautiful.. I have never enjoyed swimming in the sea more than I did that day. I kept diving and dumping back into the Mediterranean, hoping that I would somehow turn into a fish so that I wouldn’t have to leave. In the evening, we attended a music festival of Marsatac where we heard F
ranz Ferdinand and General Elektriks. Who wouldn’t want to be in a crowded room full of French rocking out to “mix of vintage funk, hip hop beats, noir riffs, cinematic arrangements, pop melodies and digital twinkle”?! It was a pretty neat experience, though a tad bit pricey for the poor, Parisian student I am! :(
Hiking to la Calanque de Sugiton!
a view of the Calanque Sugiton from above!
The Mediterranean Sea
The water was gorgeous.
Franz Ferdinand!
The next day, Saturday, I explored the city Marseille with my Northwestern friends, Ashley and Ryan. Our friend and guide, Richard, was quite sick, so we decided to spend the day discovering the city on our own. It was definitely nice to walk around Marseille—it definitely has a city feel to it (I think it’s actually the second largest city in France after Paris), but it’s not as cold and brutal as Paris. We walked by an open market, which was pretty neat, walked around the old part of the city, and found a popular spot for cheap lunches—one slice of delicious, goat cheese pizza for 1.5 Euros! That was probably one of the tastiest and most satisfying lunches I’ve had in France so far. Afterwards, we continued exploring the city and found a lively part of the city where there were lots of shops to shop, and I even found a French blouse! That evening, we had dinner with Richard in Aix-en-Provence, a city about half an hour away, at a nice restaurant—my first real meal at a restaurant in France! I had this delicious salmon salad—there were three layers of salmon cooked in three different ways.. mmm!
a view of Marseille from the sea
Macaroons! mmm, colorful & delicious!
The older part of the city of Marseille
On Sunday, we went to another beach! In the morning, we set out for Toulons, a small town about a half hour away west of Marseille. Richard’s grandparents live in Toulon, their house is literally a five minute walk away from the beach! The day before was one of Richard’s uncle’s birthday, so a lot of his family was already there in Toulons. We met just about the entire family—there were uncles, aunts, cousins, parents, grandparents, Richard’s siblings, and family friends there!—and we got to spend some quality time with his some of his family members when we played with a beach volleyball in the Mediterranean Sea. Afterwards, we shared a delicious, true French meal for lunch! :) There had to have been between 20 and 30 people (including all the little kids!) and there was so much food to eat! Richard’s parents & grandparents helped prepare the lunch—we had duck steak! potatoes, bread, goat cheese, vegetables, nectarines, amazingly sweet grapes, 3 different kinds of cake! (there was apple tart, pineapple cake, and raisin & sugar cake) as well as homemade lemon-flavored sorbet, and three different kinds of ice cream, as well as some biscuits/cookies! I was definitely very, very full after the meal! We played a popular French game after lunch, and split up into two teams—it was me and Richard against Ashley & Ryan. I’d like to say that Richard and I won since we won the last time we played—it was technically a tie since Ryan & Ashley won the first time, and Richard and I wont the second time :) But anyway, the game we played was a very traditional, old French game in southern France (you can read up on it on this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pétanque). After playing two round of Pétanque we said our goodbyes to Richard’s kind, hospitable family and returned to Marseille where we packed up our things, had dinner, and hopped on a train back to Paris.
a view of Marseille in the morning from Richard's home
the view on the way to Toulons
Richard's grandparents' house.
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Sounds like Southern France is a pretty neat place with the combination of nice people, tasty foods, and scenic places. Wish I could have been there too!
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