Kacy tries a Macaroon

Posted on October 17, 2013 by Kacy Helwig

This morning I woke up at 7:30 and said no shower I am too tired and slept in until 8. I wanted to sleep in even more. My stomach was not happy this morning so I was glad to have the tums mom sent. I had fruit and skipped my roll because I just wasn’t feeling like food was the answer. I got dressed and pretended to sleep for another ten minutes. Then said I could skip this class I haven’t ever skipped it and I get two free… I could just sleep all day until my night class… But then I decided to get my butt out of bed and go. Mostly just because I knew that I would be getting my test back and I wanted to see what I got on the one I did well on.

I went and it was kind of rainy so I wore my boots. I also brought my computer along to do some homework between classes. My back hurt though from carrying it to school. I should use my backpack when I bring my laptop… That would be smart of me… oops. Oh well. I got there and pretty soon Mary came in and sat by me and complained that her shoulder hurt from bringing her laptop today and I laughed and told her I was just thinking the same thing. We talked with another girl Cooper who was there about what she had heard about our professor and how hard he was of a grader. She had heard this class was one of the hardest the university has. That scared us.

Class started and we got our tests back. I got an A! Win! I was happy. We started talking about the Sacrophages or Sarcophagus in English of Arles. They are kind of cool and it is interesting to see the significance and influence of the different cultures. We moved our second exam to a week later because he originally had it planned on Armistice Day which we don’t have school. So that was cool. After class I walked with Mary to the other building. She went to check her mail and I went down in the cave to edit my paper and hang out. I ran into Cassandra and apologized for sort of ditching her yesterday because we were making tentative day plans but then I got told I was going to lunch and then the walk so that changed quickly but luckily I was able to tell her things had changed. She is starting to try and go jogging everyday to get ready for the Color Run in her state. That’s the 5k run where each K you get pelted with a different color of dust which is maybe paint or chalk or something? The pictures from it look cool but I would fall over and pass out in a white shirt with no colors on it. So I say “go Cassandra” when she tells me she ran for support because running is really not high on the things that “do not cause me pain/ can do them” list.

We talked for a while before she headed off to go fix her paper and then go to class. I stayed and bought a 50 cent hot chocolate from the sketchy espresso machine that was probably some of the best hot chocolate ever. I’m not sure if because it is French or because It was cold and rainy out and I haven’t had hot chocolate since I have been here or what. But it was delicious. I also learned the vending machine only takes 20 cent pieces without eating them. So that is good to know after already losing a few bucks to it. I sat down there a while until Julia came down and sat and sketched for a while. Will, Risa, and Christelle were there too and were being really funny so I joined in on their conversations for a while. Then I went to get lunch at the Chinese place. I got a different chicken this time and liked it better but they use too much sauce or should have asked if I could get plain rice because that’s all I really wanted. It is hard to get plain things here I have observed, which is unfortunate because I like bland and plain things. I know I’m in France and complaining the food isn’t boring enough. First world French Problems. It is a good deal though for 5.50 with a drink. Pretty good.

I went back and ate my two mandarins that I had brought from home. They were delicious and I am glad they are coming into season here. They actually look like little oranges too not like the smooshed down wrinkly ones at home but like real little oranges that are mandarins. They were good. After that I edited my paper and talked to Morgan about it and we both agreed it was harder than writing an analysis because we both hate writing imaginative and creative things. I do on occasion enjoy it but not when I am forced to. I am not really sure mine is following the format he wants because he didn’t give us a clear format so I hope it is fine. I saved it and then went to town to try and send a package. Unfortunately for me though the post office by the school was out of world envelopes so I couldn’t send it. So I went back to school to print my paper. I also printed my History documents for the rest of the lectures because I have learned I will not read them electronically. I have to have the paper in order to take them seriously because I like to highlight as I read. It was a lot of pages but I double sided and it wasn’t really THAT many but probably 45 pages, for the rest of the semester. I see why he wanted us to use it electronically though. When I went to print the printer started spitting out like 20 copies of some girls two page paper over and over again. Finally I figured out how to get it to stop. But that was more wasted paper than anything else.

I went back to the cave to start doing some reading for that class when Christelle asked if I had read my email. Apparently we didn’t have class tonight! Our professor was sick so that means we were free! That was pretty exciting! I was like are you serious? YES! Not that I don’t like that class but given the option to go or have the night free I wonder which I liked the idea of more! I was excited I went to Paul’s (Patisserie) and bought a Macaroon Speculoos flavored. I had never had one before and figured now was a good time to try. TO give my honest opinion, I was unimpressed. For how much people here talk them up I was expecting something a lot more amazing. I mean it was good but the whole time I was thinking, “You know this tastes like speculoos but not as good, I could have bought three packs of speculoos for the price of this and been much happier.” Also it made me really thirsty and I had no water. So then I went home.

When I got home I skyped Dad and saw some of mom before she went to work. Then Madame came home and was like oh are you finished for today, oh no you have class tonight and I was like actually it’s cancelled and she was happy for me. My parents said Bonjour to her, and then they left and Madame left and I watched some Project Runway before heading out to go try a different post office.

The post office I went to is the main post office in town and is next to the tourism building so they are fully equipped with envelopes and boxes and the like. The people there were really nice even though I had to ask three people for help they all seemed to be happy to help me which was a lot nicer than when I went to the other post office. Maybe I will just go there all the time! Also there was.. a change machine! TA DAH!!! WOW! That is a GOOD thing to know about here, let me tell you. They really hate when you don’t give exact change or give them more than a euro over the cost of something. I sent my package after only a bit of confusion remedied by the friendly staff and then went on my merry way. I passed by a store that I had seen before that had Christmas decorations so I went inside to poke. It was a really pretty store. It was like a home goods store with dishes and linens and cool decorations and stuff. It is a good thing I don’t live here or I would have bought so much stuff! It was just pretty and fun to walk around in. they had lots of colored glassware which I have always wanted. I think they are so cool, and I love color.

After walking around that store for a while I went to Monoprix to look for some carrots and some speculoos cookies. I walked around there for a while and found tortillas which are good to know where they are because mom is sending taco seasoning in a package that is coming. I didn’t buy them but I remembered that they were there. I paid and left and came back home to work on homework. Madame came up and started dinner which was TWO croquet monsiuers (grille dcheese with ham) and salad. Madame only had one croquet monsieur and a tomato and salade. But oh man it was too much food. I felt bad not eating it but I forced myself. I have eaten two before when I didn’t snack in the day but because I had it was like man I want to stop. I think I slowed down so much in eating it Madame knows I can’t eat two full ones. But if not, then next time we have them I will tell her I only want one.

After that I tried to Skype Thad but my internet doesn’t work in my room for some reason so after trying for fifteen minutes I gave up. I went to the living room and Madame was like you look mad did it not work? And I said no that the internet is the opposite of last time where it works in the living room but not in my room as opposed to last time where it only worked in my room and not in the living room. But it was all good. She told me I could call in the living room and I said no I don’t want to be annoying your show and she was like what show I don’t care about this it’s just on I am reading the paper. So I said sure. She told me she doesn’t understand English at all so it wasn’t a big deal to her. I said okay and called Thad. We couldn’t get the video to work tonight but it was good to talk to him anyways.

After that I started writing my blog post and Madame fell asleep watching Castle. It was good and when she woke up we had dessert of apple sauce for me and yogurt for her and Beebow. It was the perfect dessert after a big meal like that. It is almost impossible to get away without a dessert of some kind so it is good that fruits and stuff are considered dessert. We ate some speculoos too.

Tomorrow my lit class starts on the movie for the term which is called “Wings of Desire”. It should be good. It’s a 1987 Franco-German romantic fantasy film directed by Wim Wenders. The film is about invisible, immortal angels who populate Berlin and listen to the thoughts of the human inhabitants and comfort those who are in distress.

Castles and Stairs

Posted on October 10, 2013 by Kacy Helwig

Today was way better than yesterday but it would be pretty hard not to be. I woke up at ten to my alarm after my usual 8 o clock window fixing. Then I went and took a shower and used my new shampoo/conditioner that I bought at Carrefour. It smells much more like me so I like it. I wish I had different body soap because it smells weird. It was good. I have started putting on music when I get ready in the mornings and have the house to myself. It is nice. Then I got dressed and went to do my hair. My bangs have gotten long so I decided to cut them. I think I did a pretty good job. They don’t look freshly cut which was the goal but they are definitely shorter which is good. I should have cut them just a tad more but they suffice for now. You may be thinking why didn’t you just go get all of your hair cut? Well because that’s 30+ € that I would rather just save and let my hair grow out so I can take it to my friend Joe and he can have a field day with it when I get home. Plus that is pretty steep for a hair cut! No wonder everyone has long hair here! 😉

After I did that I packed up my stuff and went to school. My plan was to finish the last 30 pages of my Game of Thrones book but then Mom was on Skype so I messaged with her instead. That was good and then pretty soon Cassandra came in and was like what did you think of the reading and I was like what? And she was like the homework for this class? And I was like oh I didn’t do that. I was so done with school by the end of class yesterday I just didn’t even care. So she filled me in on what I missed. I didn’t miss much judging from what e talked about in class but I’ll get caught up this weekend. I just needed to not do any more work yesterday after all the horribleness that happened. But class was interesting. We are talking about the German Unification now.

After class I climbed all the stairs (all but one staircase I got pictures of for you Mom, and then was sad there was no slip of paper saying I had a package. When I got back down my backpack was ringing. I was like what Is that? Turns out it was my phone and I missed a call from some number that I did not recognize. I tried calling them back but go a machine that was about 10 seconds long in French and there was no way I could understand them they were speaking so quickly. So I decided it was nothing. After that we went to the new building and sat for a while before going to our classes. Kelan noticed I cut my bangs. He won the prize and was the only one who noticed.

Literature was alright. We had read A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings : A Childrens Tale. It was a good little story but I feel like the class discussion just went WAY too philosophical that like I was wondering if the professor got our class confused with his next philosophy class in the same room. It was just like too much. I understand like analyzing but it was too much.

After that I went down to the convenience store for a juice and the cashier lady was not in a good mood. I went back and sat in the cave and finished Game of Thrones. It was very good. Except now I have to read The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky which is not going to be nearly as exciting… But I have to finish it before I can read the fourth book. It was good though I liked it a lot.

After that I met up with Patrick and Cassandra and we went to Happy Hour at Woohoo. The pigeons kept coming over because I kept looking at them and because we have peanuts on the table they thought I was going to feed them. Cassandra is araid of birds though so Patrick and I would just not tell her and then she would like turn around and it would be like RIGHT there and she would freak out. It was pretty funny J. Or at least we found it very amusing. It was chilly so after we were done, we went back to the school and I grabbed my big B.K. book and we parted ways. I came home and bought 5 days of internet because I am going crazy. Then I started reading. I am about 30 pages in. But it starts on page 16… So really I’m like 15 pages in and so far it is dreadfully boring. But it is just back story at this point so hopefully it will pick up.

I stopped when Madame came home and asked how my day was and then immediately if I went to talk to the internet people. I told her I didn’t need to because this morning the internet started working again! A little white lie but it saves me the stress and her the stress and I knew the internet was a risk when I bought it. So this way is best I think. But then we had dinner which was 2 croque-monsieurs each, (Grilled cheese with ham) to be eaten with a fork and knife, we also had salad. Toujours salade, jamais Malade, as Madame says whenever we eat salad. It was a lot of bread and afterwards I got hiccups. Madame laughed at me. It is pleasantly getting cold here which I love. Maybe tomorrow I can wear a sweatshirt! I am meeting Patrick and Cassandra to go for crepes tomorrow for lunch. Then I can check my mail again.

I have my Skype date soon with Thad which will make it just under a week since we have been able to talk. It’s at 11 my time so pretty late but Madame says she doesn’t care as long as I’m not screaming or being obnoxious. She says it’s like if I had a TV on I can make that much noise. But I am excited. It has been too long.

I got online and talked to dad about my test. He said that I need to have FUN storming the castle. 🙂

Art work featured in my class that I really liked!

La Revolution Francaise

Posted on October 1, 2013 by Kacy Helwig

This morning I woke up around ten and went and took a shower. I had breakfast and made myself a PB&J to take with me to school. I got there early and read a little of my Game of Thrones book. After a while I went outside to meet my class. Today we went on a little trip to the monument of Joseph Sec. It is one of only 5 monuments from the French revolution that still exists. The other three are in Paris and there is another one in Nantes. The last one is here in Aix! It is a small little monument with a sort of garden like thing on the inside.

Pretty much during the revolution everyone wanted to trash everything that had to do with French history before the revolution. Some people like Joseph Sec didn’t really like that idea. He made this monument and made it a sort of mausoleum but without his body so that people wouldn’t mess with it. It is super cool and has sculptures and such. On the outside it has three plaques. The middle one just kind of says what it is. The one on the left says something like : Leaving cruel slavery, I have no other master but myself, But my liberty I have no other use of but to obey the law. The one on the right says something along the lines of: I will prefer to die for these laws more than to abolish them. Basically at this time because every other country was attacking France this was France saying hey we are free from the king now but we are going to follow the laws we made, and we’d rather die fighting you than to break them and be a part of your country. Basically, France has it’s own laws and they will fight to keep them.

The monument itself was pretty cool. We stood outside talking about the different parts. In the middle there is a statue of a man with horns. My professor asked us who we thought it was and because of the horns we assumed the devil. But we learned that it was Moses and that he has horns because somewhere in translation someone mis-translated halo to be horns. Quite a bad mix up to be honest! But that’s why in a lot of famous paintings and such of Moses he has horns. On each side of him were statues of women but I don’t really know their significance or if they had one. On the very top of the monument was lady Justice with a scale. On the other side of the main wall of the monument is Jesus with a lamb. The significance of the statues is that the front and back are the old and new Testaments of the Bible and Lady Justice being on top is the French saying that Justice will win over the king who was supposedly chosen by God himself and ruled by divine right. It was pretty cool to see the monument even from just the outside.

We went inside and it was pretty much just a little garden with some more statues. We learned that the statues there were fake and that the real ones are in the museum in town. This is the museum I have already been to but I think that I need to go back later because there is so much I have heard about that I didn’t see. I think because there is a temporary exhibition there now so once that is over they will put back their regular stuff.

Inside we learned that the statues were of Noah, David with Goliaths head, Judith nailing the guy in the head, Solomon, a Prophetess, and Aaron Mose’s brother. They were all really cool looking even if they were replicas. Right after the French revolution people started to realize that they needed to have their cultural heritage guarded so the people stopped wrecking everything.

Another interesting story where the French were trashing stuff was when King Henry the 4^th was removed from his tomb. Pretty much the revolutionaries dumped the body in the sewers but some crazy guy like kept the head and now it has resurfaced and it’s a big deal. There are DNA tests going on and such but I wonder how they can do that if the rest of the body is gone. I guess probably by using his lineage and finding people that were descendents from him? Though how they would really know 100% I question because his descendents would only have half his DNA each time, and after 10 generations that wouldn’t be a lot left… But I guess it must work somehow.

I also learned that the French wanted to create their own calendar and forget the Christian calendar. The wanted it to be separate so on the middle plaque it says “the fourth year of liberty 1792” So they were trying to use the new calendar and the Christian calendar. They soon learned that the new calendar wasn’t going to work.

The whole little trip was really cool and I got to learn a lot of things about the French revolution that I wouldn’t have learned from reading a book. I want to find out who the other statues are that were in the garden and also when the other statues were moved. The ones on the top and front of the monument are the real ones from that time which makes me wonder why they didn’t move those ones as well. Perhaps because it would be too much work? I don’t know.

My literature class was a bit dull today. Instead of having a big discussion we had like little talks on different parts of the text. I enjoy the longer discussions much better though. But it wasn’t bad. We are almost done with Paradise Lost.

After class I went to the FNAC (aka best buy +books and other things) store to find a birthday card for my mom. I wandered around for a while and bought a lemon and sugar crepe. It was surprisingly delicious! I was pleasantly surprised. After that I went back to the school to read for a while before meeting Cassandra for Happy Hour. Kelan, Julia, and Patrick ended up joining us as well because Kelan saw me outside the school so I invited him, who saw Julia so he invited her and Cassandra had class with Patrick so she invited him and it was fun! We went and sat and talked about lots of different things. Julia left to go skype her parents and the four of use kept sitting and talking for another hour. After that Kelan, Patrick, and I went back to the monument so we could show Kelan but it was closed by then. It was really cool though.

I came back home and wrote moms card and then I decided to try and write to my French professors in French. And I was doing fine until I wanted to know how many fountains there are in Aix exactly. Madame came home and we tried to find the answer on the internet. That didn’t work so we consulted her dictionaries for Aix but that didn’t say either. I learned she doesn’t have a book for Aix (Christmas Present? Oui.) so tomorrow my mission is to find that out. I probably will go to the office de toursime and see if they know and if not go to the library. I really want to know though because there are so many and I want to know the exact number because I am curious like that! Aix is called the city of a thousand fountains but I bet it has a few less. After that we had dinner and then watched Men in Black. Paul came up to say hi and I forgot to do la bise or kisses so he was like standing there and I was like what until Madame was like bisous and I was like oh! I didn’t know that was a thing that I was supposed to do! But I guess I am!

Also a fun little fact: after the Storming of the Bastille some businessmen sold stones from the building and one of them ended up here in Aix in this like random building. But the people who bought the building after the guy who bought it dies didn’t know it was historic so they had it engraved with “Toilettes” and used it as a sign for the bathrooms. Oops! But after they found out it was too late. My professor said not many Aix people know about it, but because the building is under construction or something we couldn’t go see it.

Also I can’t remember if I put this in my last post or not but I learned that the construction next has been going on for 2 years! Blech! It shows no sign of stopping either!

Why does the milk taste weird?

Posted on September 28, 2013 by Kacy Helwig

Today I woke up and read a bunch. I had some cereal and discovered that milk here has a very different taste to it. I have also noticed (today) that it isn’t in the refrigerated section of grocery stores. I did some research and figured out why this is and found this:

Most milk in France does not require refrigeration because it is sterilised and not pasteurized. Despite having been the first country to “discover” and widely use pasteurization for dairy products, they now use what is called UHT steralization, another heating process that kills bacteria.

The shelf life of sterilized milk is 6-9 months when unopened, hence it’s reason for being popular. This is why French milk tastes different. Other European countries like Spain, Portugal, and Belgium also use this method.

Apparently UHT milk has been introduced in the US, but Americans, as they are with all change, were no open to trying unrefrigerated milk that tastes like merde. Evidement.

Source: http://www.exasperatedexpatriate.com/2013/04/youve-always-wanted-to-know-why-isnt.html

I found that really helpful and surprising as well. I totally agree with the American view of the milk here though it is very weird and different! I think the best way to describe it is that it doesn’t taste refreshing? Once you open the milk you put it in the fridge but it still isn’t very like fresh feeling? It is hard to describe so you will just have to come here and try it 😉

I read my book for a while and got almost done with my outline for a paper due on Monday when I decided I didn’t want to have a sit at home day today when I know that Sunday the weather is going to be bad and I won’t be able to walk around much. So I texted my friend Cassandra and asked if she wanted to go on an adventure with me to find the big supermarché or big grocery store that is outside of town. She agreed and we made plans to meet.

The best form of transportation here is public because to get a license you have to pass a test and go to driving school. It is also very expensive to get a license (over 1,000 Euros, that’s over $1,350!) and if you don’t pass the tests you have to retake them and pay the money to try all over again! Not to mention that but cars are also pretty expensive here and there isn’t a lot of space to park them. So because of this if you want to go somewhere over a mile away you need to take public transportation to get there. We ended up needing to take the bus. I had a bit of trouble figuring out which line we needed to take to get us there and the bus routes aren’t very clear. I finally found a website that you could tell it where you wanted to go and it would tell you the best route to take. What a life saver! I met Cassandra and we headed out. I had looked at how many stops the bus would make before we needed to get off so that we would be sure not to miss it but the bus stopped a lot more often than the route made it seem. I was not recognizing the bus stop names and was getting worried but then we soon passed the grocery store and stopped close by. We hopped off and began our adventure.

The store is called Carrefour and the best way that I could describe it is that it is like a Safeway and a Walmart and Half of a Fred Meyers. It is BIG. I guess it could be compared to Costco but things aren’t in bulk they is just a lot of stuff!

We went in and I had some Mac Do. I wanted a taste of home and to be able to say that I had. It was difficult to order because they don’t really do things in the same way. They do single things and not really meals. I learned later that they have machines there that you can order from and put them in different languages. This makes a lot of sense because I bet that they have the language barrier problem a lot here! It tasted pretty different as everything here does even if you think it will taste familiar. I mostly just needed to eat something or else I was going to start getting grumpy.

We started walking around looking at things. There were a lot of interesting things and a lot of things that I looked at and said “Hey so and so would like this” but then I said how in the world would I get this back to them… I also found suit cases for not a lot of Euros, only like fifty so that is a good thing to remember. I took a lot of pictures of the store. There were a lot of aisles that were dedicated to just one thing. There were three wine aisles, a cheese aisle, a yogurt aisle, a French fry aisle, and an ice cream isle. I think that they have so many choices for one thing because those are REALLY popular food staples here, everyone eats cheese and drinks wine and has desserts. I think that it was a really cool experience to go to a French grocery store. I could easily have spent hours wandering and looking at all of the things that they had. Fortunately for Cassandra, I only took three and a half.

When I got home Madame made dinner and we had a very delicious Chicken and Rice with Zuccinni. The chicken she had soaked in honey, lemon, and thyme. It was sooooo good. I will HAVE to get the recipe. After that I Skyped or tried really with my crummy internet to Skype Thad before he had to go to Lunch.

After that Madame and I started watching Master Chef which is a really cool cooking show. There was a trivia question tonight which was how many desserts are traditionally at the table for Christmas in the South of France. Madame was quick to say thirteen. After one of the people on the show said three and was kicked off, I asked her what they were. She listed off a few nuts, figs, nougat, Yule Log, fruit, etc. and she got to about 7 before she got stuck and couldn’t think of any others. So we decided to Google it and in doing so found out why!

The thirteen desserts of Christmas, or Les Treize Desserts de Noël, are enjoyed after Gros Souper in Provence. The thirteen desserts are in reference to Jesus and his twelve apostles at the Last Supper. As tradition goes, there must be at least thirteen sweet available, they are all served at once, and each guest must have at least a small bit of each dessert.

Fougasse or pompe à l’Huile, an olive oil flatbread, is eaten with grape jam made during the last harvest season. The tradition is to break the bread into individual servings with the fingers, rather than cut the bread with a knife. Legend goes that this protects one’s wealth from bankruptcy in the coming year.

The “four beggars” portion of lez treize stands for four monastic communities: Augustinians, Carmelites, Dominicans, and Franciscans. Walnuts stand for the Augustinians, almonds for the Carmelites, raisins for the Dominicans, and figs for the Franciscans. A platter of fresh fruit usually counts as one dessert, and is always served after Gros Souper. It can be a selection of oranges, apples, pears, and grapes. Any combination of seasonal fruit is welcome, and fresh berries rarely make the list, although they would be considered acceptable, as well.

Source: http://frenchfood.about.com/od/festivalsandholidays/tp/13-Desserts-Of-Christmas.htm

I found that really interesting and I wish that I was going to be here for Christmas to experience that. But also at the same time I am very happy that I will be home for Christmas with my family.

Nice and Eze

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Kacy Helwig

I woke up and had a quick breakfast before heading out to meet the bus at 7:30 to go to spend the day in Nice. I got some money for the day/ weekend/week out of a different machine and it was mean and have me a two fifties instead of smaller bills. Big bills here suck because no one ever wants to take them. A 20 is like already bad but a fifty is like oh man not so good to have. But I rolled with it and took note of that machine bing not so good and then went to find the buses. I had a bit of trouble finding the hotel but luckily I had left myself lots of extra time to get there so as not to be left behind. After some confusion of who was on what bus and which bus was which number we got on. My bus is for the advanced French students so all our information stuff is in French. Kelan is my bus buddy we decided for these trips. We got on the bus and though I tried to keep my eyes out the window I couldn’t help but fall asleep for part of the way. We stopped at a gas station rest stop and we all went to the bathroom and got snacks. I bought a little Starbucks frappuccino thing to tie me over for the day and break one of my fifties. Then it was back on the bus!

We passed by Nice and went instead to Eze which is a smaller town where we toured a perfume factory. Sounded like a cool idea but it was really difficult to hear our tour guide in the small space talking in French when the other groups were being loud and another tour guide was speaking English. It was difficult to keep the mind in French mode and she was being so quiet and the English lady too fuzzed to really hear anything. We got to sample some different like pure extracts like lemon, rose, strawberry (my favorite), coffee, lavender, and chocolate. That was probably the funniest part of the tour as well as seeing how they use the molds to make the soaps. The gift shop was kind of cool but everything was pretty expensive and I really didn’t care about buying perfume. We only had an hour total in Eze including the slow and mandatory perfume tour. Kelan and I ditched the gift shop in order to try and get to the town to take a few pictures. We took the way the bus lady told us but it most definitely didn’t go to town but to a little look out into the valley where you could see the Mediterranean. We took some pictures and then were sad that we had to go back. We waited around for people to be done in the gift shop and then got back on the bus to go to Nice.

On the way there our bus guide prattled on for far too long about nothing in particular and repeats herself way too many times that everyone just tuned her out. We all were also vey distracted by the beautiful city and coast out our windows. When we got off the bus we had to follow our bus guide to the meeting place in front of a statue of a naked guy who was vey nicely done but he was not nearly as exciting as the beach. The bus lady held us there for too long saying the same things she had already said before letting us leave. By that time we had about an hour to do whatever before we could meet back to go either on a walking tour of some parts of the city or up the side of the cliff called a chateau that had some ruins and waterfalls. We walked a bit before we found a place where we could buy some sandwiches that we could then take to the beach. I bought a piece of strange pizza and a slice if apple pie which was very cheap. I also ran down and bought a few postcards before the rest of the group got their food. Kelan and I quickly wolfed our food don because we both really wanted to go in be Mediterranean I swim. The other girl wanted to sunbathe so we left all oh stuff with them and then went and jumps in. The other girls complained that I was too cold but I thought it was really warm, warmer than Oregon and warmer than swimming pools that I am used to! A bunch of other IAU kids soon joined us and it was a lot of fun. The water is so blue that it is unbelievable. It is also supppper salty. I accidentally engulfed some water and thought I was going to throw up from all the salt. It is nice bought because the salt helps you float so you don’t really need to swim very much to stay above water. The shore was really pebbly but once you got in the water and couldn’t ouch bottom it was awesome. There were waves by they acted more like softly not like breaking waves in Oregon and you would float up with them which was pretty fun. I really enjoyed myself and it was a really amazing experience. I want to do it again!

Eventually I got out and we went to track down some ice cream before meeting back at the naked guy to climb the over three hundred stairs. We didn’t actually count but that number was thrown out. When I counted it was well over that but I eventually lost interest and lost track. We found an ice cream place and by the time we all got ours we had to run to meet at the guy. I got chocolate in a cone and it was super delicious. 10/10, would buy again. After meeting up we walked to the entrance and started climbing. It really is like super high up there. But the views were breath-taking!

My vocal cords gave me a bit of trouble when his creepy guy clearly checked me out when I passed him while he was on the phone and after words he stood up and started to follow me. I quickly went two stairs at a time and ran to catch up with the others who really weren’t far ahead but I wanted to be safe. But other than that they didn’t get too uncomfortable. The waterfalls were kind of cool and it was nice to get a little spray after climbing so much. We sat down near the top for a while to just take it all in before we had to go back down to leave.

Kelan and I quickly ran to the top where we found another awesome view and a really good deal of 7 postcards for 2 euros. So of course I bought some more. I haven’t actually sent any yet though… Oops. I figure they will be expensive to send. Though beside the point there were a ton of postcards with like half naked girls on the or random kittens. That was pretty bizarre. But we went back down and then went to the naked guy to meet everyone to leave. I was like super thirsty but because we had to be there at a certain time we didn’t stop. Long story short, our bus guide told us the wrong spot and time. So we met earlier than we had to and then walked to a location five minutes away to meet everyone else. But because there were multiple meeting places it was pretty much a crap shoot and no one knew what was going on. We didn’t leave until 5:15, which was very obnoxious because I was sooo thirsty.

We stopped luckily about 30 minutes down the road at a real rest sop to use the bathrooms really quickly. Kelan took my water bottle to the bathroom but then I decided to go as well and we both discovered that the sinks here were so short it was impossible to get water in the bottle. Luckily after waiting for the buses to be sure they had everyone (a 20 minute process even though only 15 people got off the three buses) the bus guide asked if anyone wanted to buy a bottle of water for a euro from the bus. This is actually. Really good price and I definitely jumped at the chance! The bus ride back was beautiful or is rather since I am writing this on the bus currently. I told Madame that I was going out for dinner tonight with friends because I only have 6 dinners a week. But the plan is to go home and de-salt with a shower first before re-meeting up.

We ended up going to the 24 hour restaurant which has a lot of seafood. Luckily they have other things as well so I ended up going for something that had chicken in it which ended up being fries and chicken baked in crumb or something? It was very good! Kelan is living with a girl from Sweden who came with us to dinner and she was really nice. I spent a lot of time talking to her because she was on the end and everyone was kind of ignoring her. She was really nice though! After dinner we went to an Irish pub for a drink and I tried a Tequila Sunrise which was pretty good. I liked the orange juice/grenadine part more than the tequila but it wasn’t too bad. A little spendy for my tastes but it was good. My ear has still been hurting so after one drink I decided to leave and Kelan and the Swedish girl seemed glad to have a reason to leave because they were getting bored, so they walked me home. Apparently there is like a new gang in Aix? Apparently? And also the other night this one girl got mugged from IAU 10 minutes from her house after the guy who was walking with her left. So they are really cracking down on us to be sure and have a buddy and not carry a lot of important stuff on us at night and to take taxi’s even if we live close. I live five minutes from that bar so it wasn’t a long ways for them to walk me home, and the street I walk takes a little bit longer but is much more populated.

I feel like this doesn’t like accurately depict how crazy and cool my day was but I had a pretty great day. I am really glad that I got to go on this trip.

J’ai arrive!

Posted on September 6, 2013 by Kacy Helwig

So I woke up on Saturday super early , 4 am because I got a Charlie horse in my left leg and I couldn’t sleep. The time zone jet lag was causing havoc. I decided to hop online to talk to my people while I still had Internet access not knowing if my host would have it or not. Next thing I knew it was 6 and I was staying up to Skype Thad who was still at dinner with his work group for another half hour. I was tired I could tell but too excited and nervous to sleep. Finally I skyped and then took another nap until my alarm went off at 9:20.

Then I took another shower and got water all over the floor. By then it was only a few minutes and breakfast arrived. I happily ate it though i wasn’t hungry and then packed up my stuff and headed down to checkout. From there I took the shuttle to the airport to meet an IAU representative at 11. Only I didn’t know where to meet them.

So after 10 minutes of walking around I decided they weren’t there and that if they didn’t arrive in half an hour that I was going to go and call them. But then while I was standing there an older lady on the phone saw me and came over and started telling me she was from the college and stuff and that Madame Raibaud (my host) was so sad that I didn’t come stay with her for last night and that her son in law was going to come get me but that fell through so she was putting me on the bus to Aix and paying my ticket. She rushed me on and told me not to get off until I stopped twice paid my ticket and ran away.

So I sat on the bus while we drove out of Marseille looking like a total tourist as I took a bunch of pictures. But whatever. We stopped and I didn’t get off. And then once we got to Aix I wasn’t sure whether this was really my stop because I wanted to be totally sure.

The driver said it was so I hopped out and saw an older woman and a little ginger boy holding a sign with my name! We got my stuff out of the bus and Madame insisted on carrying one of my bags. Ginger headed Paul tried to help but was discouraged that my duffel was heavy but was delighted to find that my suitcase with four wheels could be pushed around. Once he got tired of that Madame and I both pushed it around stopping to lift it out of little storm drains or holes in the ground. Madame pointed out budings to me as we walked about 15 minutes to her house. It was also really hot and my vocal cords were starting to act up from carrying this heavy suit case up hills.

Once we turned onto Rue novembre Paul ran ahead to a man that I learned was Jean-Claude who is Paul’s dad and Madame’s son in law. But not because I guess they aren’t really married yet but they say they will be. He speaks some English so he started asking me how my trip was. We spoke English a bit and then Paul got mad so we switched back to French. Paul is probably like 7 or 8? They call him “Paul the Terrible” because he is a free spirit.

When we finished lugging my suitcase to the third floor (Paul, Jean-Claude and Madame’s daughter live below us) Madame insisted that we eat. Which as really not high on my want to do list since my stomach already wasn’t handling eating breakfast well. I begrudgingly said sure. We talked while she made lunch.

She asked me what I wanted to drink and I said whatever she had was fine. Then when she came and set the table she put a one liter bottle of absolute vodka on the table. And my bought was “ohhhh no this lady goes hard I do not want to do this.” And then she says ” it’s water” and I felt so much better!!! But I was still apprehensive drinking it! 🙂

She asked about what I like and don’t like. Then made me lunch which was tomatoes and mozerella, salad; and an avocado. Not wanting to be rude I tried to eat it even though I a) wasn’t hungry b) don’t want to be picky but I really can’t stomach tomatoes well at all. Avocados either but it is easier to chew those and not taste them than it is a tomato. So after trying to eat them and getting most of the avocado down I had two bites of tomato and my tag reflex kicked in and sold me out… I literally almost threw up… Which made me feel really bad because I was trying to be good about it. But she told me I didn’t have to eat it so I didn’t. I told her my stomach wasn’t adjusting very well and I wasn’t very hungry. She sort of understood. Then we went back into town and walked around. She showed me some buildings like the office de tourisme and the marie which is like the town courthouse. We also passed by a church that was super pretty and old looking and of course a lot of fountains.

We stopped at the monoprix which is like the only supermarket place in town, otherwise everything oh buy comes from a store that is specific to a type of product. There I bought soap and face wash, lotion, an adapter for euro plugs and toothpaste. We had to go to a pharmacy to get contact solution. After walking around we came back and I was so tired that I took a nap for 3 hours. Oops…

After that we had dinner which a was pasta with stuff in it. Really specific I know but I dunno what it was perhaps spinach stuff? Again I wasn’t very hungry and she told me that if I didn’t eat more I would come back skinny and my mother would say that I was never fed! After every meal she offers me fruit or cheese or something but I am always so full. But it is nice here.

After dinner we watched a really cool game show that I can only compare to the end part of Legends of the Hidden Temple but harder and one room at a time. The concept is that there is this big castle and the wizard has a treasure so you have to collect keys to unlock it by winning them doing all these crazy things in each room. It was really cool. And had no commercials for two hours! What! I wish American game who’s were like that. Anyways at the end they won 18k € which all go to charity so it is pretty cool.

After that we went to bed and I figured out how to get Internet for my iPod. So now I have communication again! My room:

Allons-y!

Posted on August 25, 2013 by Kacy Helwig

Image from: http://old.unit5.org/northpointimc/IMC/France%20Webquest/Images/francemap.png

I’m getting ready to leave for my term abroad on Thursday this week, and I have to say that I can’t help but be nervous. I have heard a lot of things about the French that both are exciting to me and a little scary.

Image from: http://resources.touropia.com/gfx/w/france.jpg

I am very nervous to leave because I have fears that my fluency level is not high enough to really be able to express myself in French. I know that many people at my college will be able to speak English but I am scared of not being able to articulate myself. I know that this is a normal fear for most foreign language students but I can’t help but feel a bit nervous. I’m excited to be going to a less touristy part of France to do my semester. Aix is much smaller than Paris and I think that because of that I will be more accepted as a foreigner than I might be in a larger city like Paris or Lyon. I hope that because it is a bit more remote that I will be able to assimilate faster and easier into the culture.

Image from: http://imgc.allpostersimages.com/images/P-473-488-90/64/6415/TZK9100Z/posters/peter-richardson-fruit-and-vegetable-market-aix-en-provence-bouches-du-rhone-provence-france-europe.jpg

One of the things I am most excited about is the open markets that happen during certain days of the week. These markets sound to be a great way to get fresh and local produce from farmers in the area. I really enjoy supporting those that produce things close to where I live in Oregon, and I am excited to be able to do the same in France. In addition to food, there are also flower markets. I hope that I will be arriving in a time that flowers will still be around and in season. I think that going to a French flower market would be really beautiful and I would love to be able to experience the smells of all the flowers and to see all the colors together.

Image from: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Rm2txOLw0ng/UaTdmEktqVI/AAAAAAAACec/fU0DrzR-w7o/s1600/french+wines.jpg

I have also heard that the French drink a lot of wine and mineral water. I am not a very big fan of either, but I would like to be able to go there and experience them as any French person would. While I am not twenty-one yet, alcohol is not illegal for me in France. I have heard that because of this when a lot of students go abroad they have a tendency to go crazy and drink a lot. I really don’t want to follow suit in this. While I think that I will indulge in wine at dinner or the like as with the normal French customs I don’t want to be drinking all the time nor do I want that to be the goal of my trip. I hope to enjoy the customs and culture as it is.

Image from: http://recipe-finder.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mineral2.jpg

It is to my understanding that most drinks don’t come with ice in Europe. I know for some of my friends that use ice constantly in their drinks this would be a problem. But I don’t usually tend to put ice in my beverages. So I think that I will be okay with this custom.

Image from: http://www.newhorizonsforchildren.org/nhfc/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Luggage-Stuffed-Suitcase-XSmall.jpg

As far as getting ready to leave I haven’t started packing yet. I leave in four days and mostly I have just been making piles of things that I think I want to bring which I am sure will be twice as much as what I really will bring. I have been buying a few last minute things recently. I went on a mission to find a boring black purse that will be boring enough to not tempt anyone to mug me. I think I have a small fear of that happening. Today a friend of mine bought me luggage tags as a going away gift. I still feel like there are so many things that I have to get done even though my to do list is dwindling.

The past few days I have been almost apathetic about leaving. I haven’t been excited or nervous but rather “whatever” about the whole thing. It hasn’t been until today when I started cleaning and putting some personal things in boxes in my bedroom that I am beginning to feel sad to leave my friends and family. I had a small party with my friends last night as a way to see everyone before going away. It was hard to say goodbye to them and also many of my family members the last couple days. I know that I have a lot of support to leave but it doesn’t make it any easier to know that I won’t see them for quite a while.

Image from: http://i.istockimg.com/file_thumbview_approve/5853965/2/stock-illustration-5853965-question-mark.jpg

I am also nervous that I haven’t gotten any information about my host family other than their address and an email. I sent them a letter about myself a week ago and haven’t gotten a response back yet. I was hoping to know if I was staying with a family with brothers and sisters or just the single woman whose name I was given. So it has been a little disheartening to wake up every morning to check my email and find nothing… I know it will not be a big deal once I am there but I think I would feel better if I knew a little bit more about the situation I was ~~walking~~ flying into.

I am happy to be going and I don’t want to make it sound like I am not excited, but I can’t say that I am not going to be sad to leave my family and friends. It does help to know that I have support for this trip, and that if I need anything there are people I could Skype call.

Overall, I have some last minute things to do… like pack. But I know that when the time comes to get on the plane on Thursday I will be ready and excited to start my life changing experience!

WOU Students Abroad

Author Archives: Kacy Helwig