A wondeful week with my Mom and friends!

The plan was to meet my mom at the bus station here in Aix, but to make things easier for everyone and to surprsie her we decided to go to the train station and wait for them. Kelly waited on ground level and I waited on top of the staircase so we would be able to see them when they got off with the other hundred people. I spotted them on the opposite end of where Kelly was and I yelled for Kelly and ran over there. I knew I missed her a lot, but when I saw her I was surprised how emotional I got. It had been five months since I saw her and I was so excited to see her again!!!!!!!! Once we all hugged and cried a little we got all their bags together and headed to the bus to go to Aix. The bus takes about 20 minutes from the train station to get into Aix. Once we arrived in Aix we hopped in a taxi and went to the hotel. I had a lot jammed into the week they were here so we only had an hour for them to unpack a little and relax before we left to meet Karen and Alexia for dinner in the center of Aix.

We went out to a nice dinner off the Cours Mirabeau, which is the main street in Aix. At most restaurants in France there are formulas you can choose from which includes an hors d'oeuvre, a main dish and a dessert for a certain price. We all chose wonderful yummy dishes and of course, wine!!! All the ladies love the wine:-) After our fabulous dinner we went out for a few drinks and since everyone was so tired we headed back home.

The next morning we met at the Tourist Office early in the morning for a quick breakfast before we headed off to Nice. There was a planned day trip here in Aix going to Nice for the Carnavale. The bus took about two hours and everyone napped except me and since I talked the whole time which means my mom didn't sleep either. I was too excited to sleep! Once we got to Nice we roamed around the city, went to the market, walked along the beach, climbed up the colline de chateau and then walked to the square where the carnavale parade was going on.
From the top of the colline(hill) there was such a beautiful view of Nice. The water was such an amazing color, I really wish I could stay here for the summer! After enjoying the view we walked back down to the carnival. The parade was really exciting, I'm so happy that it worked out to go! There were over twenty HUGE floats that represented this years theme of blue planet. We watched most of the parade from the side of the road and then decided to take the huge ferris wheel so we could get a view from above. From the top the streets looked so packed! After the parade we walked in the direction of our bus and found a nice little restaurant on the promenade des anglais, which is the main street in nice, to get some lunch. After our fabulous we got back on the bus to head back to Aix. When we got back to Aix, we came straight to my host families house. Karen had prepared a wonderful apero for all of us. The ladies were very impressed by her cooking. I'm so lucky to live with her, she is such a great cook! Everyone stayed for a few hours, but we were tired from a long day and had a big day ahead of us so they took a taxi back to their hotel.

The next morning we met at the tourist office and got a bite to eat and then went to Paul Cezannes Studio. Cezanne's studio is so neat because everything is left the way he had left it(well at least most of it). It was cool to see the props he used in his paintings sitting right in front of us. The grounds around his studio are very beautiful, it was a really exciting experience. After our tour of the studio we went to the bus station to go to Marseille. We met my friend Pauline at the Old port in Aix, which took us a lot longer than we thought it would. There was some sort of strike going on, so the bus dropped us off in some random spot so Pauline ended up having to wait for us for over an hour! Once we finally made it we got some lunch on the water at a very classic Marseille restaurant. My mom and I couldn't really enjoy it because she has fish alleriges, and I'm a vegeatarian but everyone else got amazing dishes. Ours was good too though:-) Kelly and Chris got bouillabaise which is the most famous dish from Marseille. They both loved it! After lunch we bought tickets to take a ferry to an island Frioul. We had an hour before the ferry left so we walked around the streets of Marseille so they could get a taste of it. The ferry ride was really fun, a bit cold but beautiful. When we got to the island we had about two hours to walk around which was the perfect amount of time. We climbed around the rocks bordering the sea and got some amazing views. When we took the ferry back the sun was setting and it was absolutly gorgeous! Trying to figure out where to catch the bus back to Aix was a difficult task. It's really overwhelming feeling lost, but we managed to sort everything out after a while. We went out to dinner in Aix and had a few drinks back at the ladies hotel. Again we were all exhausted and had a big day coming up!

The next day we again met at the tourist office and grabbed some breakfast which consisted of a croissant and cafe like always, it's the only proper way to start off a day in France! Our first event of the day was to go to the big Aix market which is every tuesday, thursday and saturday. Everyone was so excited to see all the fun and interesting things being sold at the Market. Everyone bought some soap that is made in Marseille and scarves. Cheryl and I also bought some jewerely from this really nice man. I got a cute teapot from him too:-) We didn't have time to go through the whole market, but they got the feel of it. We all left with all of our purchases and headed back to the bus station to go to Avignon. The bus ride took about an hour/hour an half and dropped us offf right by the center of Avignon. We walked around the town a bit, looking in stores and all the little streets before going to the Palais des Papes(popes palace) which became the residence of Popes in 1309. With our entrance fee there was an audio guide which was really helpful because there is sooo much information on the Palace! The palace took us so long that we only had enough time to hop in an out of a few shops on our walk to the bus. That night we went back to the hotel for about an hour to relax before we met Karen and Laurent and my friend Clarisse for drinks. We end up getting a giraffe of beer to share between us. We stayed and chatted for a while since this was our last night in Aix. Laurent, my host dad, was so nice and bought all of our drinks. I love my host family so much! After our drinks everyone Karen and Laurent headed home, and the rest of us went to get dinner at a creperie. We all got different amazing crepes. I got a ratatouille crepe which was INCREDIBLE! I'm definitly going to have to go back before I leave. After dinner we went our seperate ways to pack and get some sleep before Paris! Paris trip to come....

Life in Aix

This week was a pretty relaxing week. On Monday I got home from Amsterdam just in time for my class. Monday night after happy hour we just spent the night relaxing after our crazy weekend. Tuesday and Wednesday I went to my classes and both nights we had a nice quiet dinner with Karen since my host sister Alexia is gone for the week. She is a lot of fun, but I'm not going to complain about a little time without her here;-) Thursday I met the french girl I'm going to start tutoring. She is 18 and now going to school to be a graphi designer, she wants to learn english because it will really help her in her career. We talked for about a half hour so I could get a feel for her english skills(or lack there of). She is at a very low level so we spent most of the time speaking in French, which is nice for me! We're going to start meeting every Wednesday for two hours, so I need to start brainstorming some lesson plans...

After the tutor session, Kelly and I went over to my French friend Clarisse's house. She made us dinner and we exchanged some pictures from the last month or so. After dinner we hung out until about midnight, but she had to go to bed after that because she has to study for the english exam. To study in an english speaking country you have to place a test with a 95/120 to be allowed to go to a University there. My friend Pauline has chosen UW-Madison, but missed passing the test by 5 points, and now she is going to England instead. England is so lucky!!!

Today I went to Marseille with a few kids from CEA and my program director for the chocolate fair! She somehow managed to get us free tickets to ride in really old cars from the vieux port to the fair. The cars, and owners are part of a old car club in Aix. I got to ride in a 1966 jaguar with a really awesome French man!!! We drove along the coast, and for everyone else with me in the car it was the first time for them to see the Med! We're so lucky to live right here!! Once we got into the fair it was chaos, everyone wandering around all hopped up on sugar! I tried about 6 million different kinds od chocolate:-) We all had bad stomach aches by the end. I got some really nice presents though!!! After the fair we took the metro back to where the bus picks us up and headed back to Aix. I'm home now, and I'm staying in tonight to try and finish my homework before my mom gets here because I know once she gets here I won't have any free time! I'm so excited for her, Rhonda, Chris and Cheryl to get here!!!! I'm sure I'll have a lot to write about after the week is over.

Adventures in Amsterdam

This past weekend Kelly and I went to Amsterdam. We left our house at about 7:40am, which isn't my favorite time of day. We took the bus from the bus station in Aix, which is about a 10 minute walk from our house, to the airport in Marseille which took about 25 minutes. The Marseille airport is pretty small so we got to our gate pretty quickly, checked in/went through passport check and then waited for an hour or so. Once we got on the plane both Kelly and I fell asleep for the two hour flight to Eindhoven. We both just brought a backpack, so once the plane landed we were set! Right outside our gate there was a info desk for buses to the center of Amsterdam...everything is set-up so nicely for us foreigners! We took the AirExpressBus from the Eindhoven airport to Amsterdam central train station which took about an hour and a half. We used Ryanair(a cheap European Airline) which is why we flew into Eindhoven and not straight into the city. Ryanair flights are always really cheap but you always end up in a city close to where you want to be.

It actually was nice that we got to take the bus because we got to see a lot of Holland's countryside. Lots of cute little cottages, sheep and horses. I didn't get to take any pictures because we were on the bus and it was rainy so the glass was blurry. We arrived at the train station a half hour after expected. There was a bus arrival at 2:30 and 4:45 so Evan and I planned on meeting at platform 7 at both times. We missed him by 5 minutes for the first meeting time and since my cell phone only works for calling france telephones I had no way of getting ahold of him. Kelly and I wandered around for a while but it was rainy out so we mostly stayed in the station and then 4:45 finally rolled around and we headed back for platform 7 and there he was! It's sad being away from him, but everytime we get to see each other it's so exciting! Looking forward to the next time we get to see each other almost makes up for the missing each other until next time. We're really lucky it worked out for us both to be in Europe together.

The three of us bought 3 day bus passes and then headed to the hotel. Our hotel was really nice for the price we paid. There were fresh towels and a great breakfast. I've gotten used to hostels, so this was a nice surprise! Once we checked in and got settled we went back to the center of Amsterdam and explored for a while, but after a long day of traveling we were all tired.

Over the next two days we spent a lot of time just walking around the city, looking at all the beautiful buildings and touring the canals. It reminded me a lot of venice. We went to the Van Gogh museum which was amazing, and then the Anne Frank house. I've learned so much about her and her family it was really unbelievable to actually go there and see what it was really like. On Sunday after the musuems we all went back to the hotel to relax for a bit before Evan had to leave for the airport. He took a bus right outside of our hotel straight to the airport. The public transportation was wonderful, there were buses and trams passing our hotel going in all directions at all hours. Once Evan left Kelly and I went out to dinner and then came back to the hotel because we had to leave really early the next morning.

We got ready and went to breakfast at 8am. We went through the line and found some seats when I suggested looking at our bus tickets just to make sure of the departure location. Kelly got the ticket out of her bag and handed it to me, and thats when I saw that the bus left at 8:15, not 9:15. I then looked at the clock which said 8:17, we had officially missed the only bus to Eindhoven airport that morning. We then rushed to the central station to see what our other options were and we were told there was a train that left in 6 minutes! We literally ran across the central amsterdam square to the station bought our tickets and then ran across the station and boarded the train and as we took our seats the train left. We got REALLY lucky! If we had missed that train we would have missed our flight without a doubt. I was so mad we didn't double check those tickets, but we made the train and got to the airport on time.

Our flight landed at 2:30 in Marseille, and my class starts at 3:00...talk about poor planning! Luckily my host-dad offered to pick us up and take us back to Aix because the bus would have taken forever! We made it back, and I was sitting in my desk at 3:30. I didn't quite make it on time, but close enough!

After my class we went to our weekly "happy hour" at a local cafe where I got a nice steaming cup of hot chocolate. Afterwards we went back home and ate a yummy homemade broccoli quiche and rice pilaf. So happy to be home:-)

Now I have to go do my homework....

My roommate from last semester was only supposed to stay for the first semester, but Aix is such an amazing place she decided to stay for the full year. She changed her mind about living in a home stay and wanted to live in an apartement closer to school, so Karen(my host mom) is renting her a place there. Since they just moved in last week the wanted to have a cremaillere, which is the French word for a house warming party. Her new apartment is a nice size for little get-togethers but so many people came! It was a lot of fun, but I'm sure she had a lot to clean up today. It's really weird not living with her anymore, but I'm glad she is living closer to school because now I have somewhere to go for my breaks between classes! I love everything about my homestay, but since we do live about 25 mintues by foot away it's tough to go home just for a bit. On Thursdays I normally walk to centre ville and back three times...it gets pretty exhausting, luckily I don't have class on Fridays.

Since Kelly and I are going out of town next weekend we had to go shopping today before all the sales ended! I got a pair of jeans, a dress and really cute black boots for a really good deal! Kelly also got a dress, some jewerely, two tops and a belt! My friends Anna and Ben came with us, but after a while Ben had enough and went home...big shocker! He is such a good sport though. I've made some really good friends so far this year. It's going to be hard going back to the States and seperating again. We're promising to have a reunion as soon as possible, but after all the shopping and traveling this year, it might be a year or two before thats and option.

When we came back from shopping, Karen had apple martinis and some yummy snacks for us. We had a nice time relaxing with her. Every few weeks she'll surprise us with a fun girls night. After chatting and hanging out for a while we all went to our seperate rooms until the power went out! All our computers were about to die, but Alexia(my host sister) has a portable DVD player so all four of us crammed into her bed and watched a disc of Greys Anatomy. It was a tight squeeze but we made it work. Fortunatly the electric man came out to our house, at 11:45PM!!! Everything was fixed in about an hour. Last time we had a malfunction like this, we had no heat in the house for three days!!

Well I'm off to bed because tomorrow I have a big day....my whole class is meeting in Marseille to go to the beach and hang out outside of class. Everyone in my class is so wonderful so I'm really excited!

It's official, yesterday was my four month anniversary with France and the half-way mark of my year abroad. It's unbelievable how fast the last four months have gone, but I also feel like I've been here forever. I think France and I are meant to be. I'm already planning my return...I'm always working on some sort of wild plan:-)

This week was the first week of second semester for me and the first week of classes in France for Kelly. All of my classes stayed the same with the same professers which is good for me because I'm comfortable in them and we're just continuing from last semester. I've improved so much, but I feel like I still have a long way to go. I knew there were a lot of rules in the french language before I came, but since being here I've realized it's never ending!! Right now Kelly and I have one elective together, but she is trying to change levels so there is a good chance we will have more together starting next week. It's so fun having her here, it's been a long time since we've lived in the same place.

Last weekend Kelly and I and a few friends went to Marseille for the day. We have passes so each ride to and from Marseille is one only one euro! We spent the afternoon walking around the port, exploring the shops and the fresh fish market...there was a live octopus there! We eventually took a tour bus up to the top of the city and visited the large Marseille Cathedral, Notre Dame de la Garde. We also got to see Chateau D'If where the Conte of Monte Cristo is set which was so cool. When my mom comes in two weeks we're going to take a ferry out the island and go in the Chateau, I'm so excited! When my mom comes we'll be spending four days here in Aix and surrounding towns, and then five days in Paris which Kelly will get to see the real Notre Dame!!

Next weekend Kelly and I are meeting my boyfriend, Evan who is studying abroad this year in Birmingham, England, in the Netherlands. We're flying there on Friday the 5th and returning Monday the 8th. I'm really excited to go. We are planning quite a few weekend trips to Portugal, Ireland, England, Spain and Corsica. Ryanair and Easyjet are lifesavers! You can get all around Europe for such great prices.

The last two weeks I've been showing Kelly the ropes. I've introduced her to so many people, I'm sure she is overwhelmed, but I know she is having an amazing time! We went out with a big group of friends on Tuesday which was really fun. She has gotten lost a few times around Aix, but I think she is finally get her bearings. Since we don't have the same class schedule she has done some exploring, and of course some shopping. In France every January there is a month long post-christmas sale that is mandatory. She came at the perfect time! She bought a pair of beautiful boots and got a great deal on them. She has already informed me that tomorrow is a designated shopping day:-) Sisters are great aren't they?!

Great News, Kelly is in Aix!!! She is finally here!!! I helped with all the airport pick-ups today which was fun because I got to meet a lot of the new students coming into Aix, but all I could think about was her arrival! Of course her first flight was delayed which made her miss her next flight from Philadelphia to Munich and when I found this out I was not happy! I didn't think I could wait any longer!!! She managed to get a different flight from philly to Paris and then Paris to Marseille. I was anxiously waitin for her at the baggage claim. The best part is that she had no idea I was going to be there. It was so fun to her surprised face!

I came back with her and the other kids to Aix. We got to our house and she unpacked a little and then took a well needed shower. After that we headed off to 'happy hour' in centre ville. Every monday we have an hour where we all get together and have a drink and re-connect after the weekend. This week there were 40 new students there! I got so used to the 10 of us that this was very overwhelming! I'm so excited to have all the new kids though, we'll have so much fun!

Updates soon to come about our first week together in Aix. Yaay!!

Bonjour tout le monde!

Hello everyone! Welcome to my new blog. In under two weeks I'll be at the half-way mark of my year abroad, and I figure it's better late than never to start this blog.

This weekend is my last weekend as the only Roeth in France, Kelly will be joining me here on Monday! We will be attending the same university and sharing a room with bunkbeds just like when we were in elementary school. I'll be waiting at the airport(which she doesn't know about) on Monday afternoon when she gets to Marseille and then we'll take the bus back to Aix-en-Provence.