And we're in the home stretch!

I am so conflicted - I have no idea what to feel right now, as we enter the 12th week of this semester (as Mme. de Pous LOVES to remind us) which = the third-to-last week of our Nantes experience, and the second-to-last week of class. Shockingly, we're all running around like the crazed college students we are, trying to get all the work done that we are required to do...which is only shocking because it's such a normal part of school, but it's happening in a place where school doesn't really seem like nearly as big of a deal as usual. Also contributing to this is the fact that we literally have had almost 0 work all semester. Other than a few pages of grammar homework, and studying for upcoming tests...nada. rien. For me, at least...but anyway. I'm doing fairly well getting all my stuff done, and I'm not freaking out in the least. But I'm also getting pretty ecstatic to go home. The list of things I'm missing is growing bigger and bigger.

BUT the reason I got all my work done early was because my MOMMY WAS HERE. It was amazing : however, I'm not going to update on that until I have pictures from facebook, all of which she has with her, on her memory card.

Instead - I am now going to update you on our fantastic trip to Marseille. Jade and Cori had gotten there Thursday...and Hannah, Molly and I were going down Friday morning. E.A.R.L.Y. meaning...literally five in the morning. We decided it would be easier (and we'd have less of a chance of one of us sleeping through the alarm) if we were all together, so we stayed at Hannah's house. So our day of travel started at 5 am, we were on the tram by 5:45, switched trams, took the bus and arrived at the airport for our 8:40 flight...at about 6:50. Completely unnecessary, seeing as the Nantes airport was COMPLETELY deserted at that time. Oh well - we took a nap for a little while, until they called our flight. RyanAir is actually a pretty good airline, with highly amusing in-flight magazines and very cute Irish flight attendants. When we landed (after the gorgeous view flying over the Alps), we found the downtown shuttle to the train station and then meandered around and found our hostel.

The view down the street was breathtaking. I love those corners where you just have to gasp, and there are no words. We looked straight down to the 'vieux port' which was definitely the heart of the city. When we get down there, we're hit by the wall of smell - the salty, humid ocean air, mixed with a fishy but fresh and delicious smell coming from the fish market...these people had literally caught these fish within the past hour, at the most, and only about 20 feet behind where they were standing, selling them.


We found a restaurant for lunch, right next to the water, and were joined by Greg - a guy who lives in Marseille, who at some point did a study abroad exchange and stayed with one of Hannah's good friends at home. He was so wonderful, and we couldn't have asked for a better tour guide/photographer/French professor all day long. Also, I would just like to talk really quickly about the whole 'kiss-kiss' or 'faire les bisous' that are such a big part of the French stereotype....just to clarify, it is NOT as easy as it looks, and they actually DO do it ALL the time. Every French person does it differently, so you have the people who actually kiss and then the people who just do the cheek-touch and kiss the air, which completely changes the head angle so you have to figure that part out. And don't even get me started about when you're in big groups - doesn't matter how many people, every entrance AND exit you make means you have to go around and faire un bisou avec EVERYBODY there. Also, if you're sitting down, you either have to stand up to meet the other person who is most likely standing. Or, if you're the one standing, you have to awkwardly crane your neck to reach down and do it to the other person who is sitting...all of which gets amazingly awkward, amazingly quickly. However, I learned in Marseille that faire-ing les bisous is ESPECIALLY difficult when you go to other parts of the country. Greg, upon our introduction, went in for the kiss, but went to the OTHER SIDE than anybody had done thus far in Nantes. Think about it - if you're going in to kiss someone on the cheek, but you go to opposite sides...awkward things start happening, which involve noses bumping, and even, potentially, lips brushing. Let's just say some of these things occurred when Greg and I met, and it definitely started our new relationship off pretty hilariously. But seriously - faire-ing the bisous = NOT as easy as it may look. Just so you know.

ANYWAY: after lunch, Greg suggested we take the Navette out to the islands, as something fun to do. As we had no idea there was a shuttle, or even islands..we obviously took him up on it! For the best 10 Euros I have spent the entire trip, we got a boat tour of the vieux port, and then jetted out across the magnificently clear blue water to first, the Isle d'If, where the chateau is that the Count of Monte Cristo is said to have been imprisoned in the novel, which was pretty amazing. Then, we went farther out into the Mediterranean to the Iles de Frioul, which was a real archipelago of islands, which we proceeded to hike all around, all day long. It was absolutely breathtaking, and the sunshine was absolutely delicious (especially after the non-stop pluie rainrainrainrain in Nantes for a good month now) - we even got a little bit sunburned. On November 20th! Who does that?



We had a great time on the islands, but it was getting a bit chilly (read: about 60 degrees, which was cold after 75 all day long) and we caught the LAST shuttle back to land. We did some souvenir shopping, then headed to the hostel to check in and on to Greg's apartment. We had a ton of fun just hanging out, and he was nice enough to make us a "delicious" bachelor-style dinner of spaghetti and meatballs. But it actually was good, and definitely great company. After, we went to a bar to meet up with some of Greg's friends and watch l'Olympique de Marseille (l'OM - the football club of Marseile) play and BEAT (1-0) PSG (Paris Sainte Germaine - the FC Paris). It was a fantastic time, and of course les Marseillaises went nuts when they won. It was pretty awesome to be a part of all the celebration. After, the metros stopped running so we had to head back to the hostel, where we met our very interesting...I think dedicated and ambitious are good words to describe him, but also possibly a bit morbid? haha... hostel mate, named John from Seattle.

Then Sunday, we checked out of the hostel and headed back downtown to check out the last of the sights. We walked up to the big fort that was at the entrance of the vieux port, which Napoleon built...pretty much, just in case. He wasn't ever even there haha. But it was beautiful, and there was a church up on the hill that was from the 14th century, where fishermen have gone to pray ever since it was built, before they head off to sea. It was gorgeous.

Then, we headed back to town to find lunch, ended up settling on the most disgusting croque monsieurs EVER (probably in all of France - no exaggeration whatsoever) and headed back to the train station to grab the shuttle back! Of course, when we landed in Nantes, it was raining (no surprise there) but it was still nice to be home! The south of France was an absolutely gorgeous place, and shockingly different - especially to think we were still in the same country. There were HUGE immigrant populations, so it definitely had an interesting vibe - much less northern French/catholic/castle-y, but much more Mediterranean/Spanish/North African/Italian/island-y. It was cool to hear some of the history that Greg knew (especially when he told us how big the French maffia was there - who knew?!?) and learning about such a socially and culturally different region. It was an all-around AMAZING trip!