La Camargue

Two weekends ago I went to an area of Provence called La Camargue.  It is essentially one big wildlife preserve in the Rhône River delta. It is famous for its flamingos, its ponies, and its bulls.  I experienced all three.

The flamingos were kind of a surprise.  I pretty much exclusively think of Florida when pondering natural flamingo habitats.  There weren't as many as usual because some of them migrate to Africa during the winter.  Again, for some reason I never really though of Africa as Flamingo-town.

On Saturday we went horse-back riding through the marshes of Camargue.  In pricinple it should have been a really fun adventure, and in retrospect it was, but while it was going on it was kind of miserable.  It was cold and windy and cloudy.  We were riding through mud and water which made the whole experience rather wet and dirty.  My friend Brittany's horse got spooked as we were leaving the ranch and it threw her in the mud.  She got up and got on a different horse and was really none the worse for wear.  Since she is an experienced rider she declared that she was thankful it had happened to her instead of someone else because she knew  how to handle it.  My horse had difficulties staying on the trail and had a tendency to walk out into the middle of the marsh, and it took a lot of coaxing to make him return to the ranks his name was Plan-plan (sp?).  Other than that, two of the other horses decided to sit down and roll over with riders on their back; one of them did so in knee-deep water.  And, I was so terrified of dropping my camera in the water that I did not take any pictures of this particular outing.  So, you will just have to imagine my atop a white pony, freezing cold and caked in mud.

Later that afternoon we went to the cathedral in the village Saintes-Maries de la Mer.  The legend of this town is that a few close friends/followers were put into a small boat with no oars and were left to float out in the Mediterranean.  The boat came ashore at the modern site of Saintes-Maries de la Mer and it is believed that Lazarus, Mary Magdalene, Martha, and perhaps some other disciples left to settle elsewhere, butMary Salomé and Mary Jacobé (sister of the Virgin) stayed there with their servant Sarah who has come to be know as Sarah la Kali or the Black Sarah and is the patron saint of the gypsies.  There is a shrine to her in the crypt of the cathedral.

That night we had soupe de poisson (a traditional proveçale dish), some delicious chicken, some sort of divine mousse/cake item and altogether too much wine...which was followed by a few more drinks at a nice local pub and a shot of whiskey in a particularly sketchy establishment.  The music was so loud we couldn't hear anything else, it had the atmosphere of a dance club/sports bar hybrid, and all of the women looked like they hated life and all of the men had glitter on their faces.
A few of us went back to the hotel via the beach and walked on the rocks and well out into the Mediterranean on a man-made water break.  It was very peaceful, and that sea has always enchanted me.

The next day we went to a ranch where taureaux are raised.  These are the bulls that are used in French bull-fighting... which is really more like bull-counting-
coup.  The bulls are released into the ring and have threads and tassels on each horn and strung between them a rosette (a small fake flower).  There are about 10-15 men in the ring who try to snag these items in order (rosette, tassels, threads) of the face of the bull without getting gored.  It was pretty exciting, especially the acrobatics that the men did to escape the charging bull.  I pretty much spent the entire two hours being tense and super stressed, which has brought me to the conclusion that if I ever had to watch a Spanish bullfight where they are actually trying to kill the bull, I might throw up...or cry...or both, really.

On that note, for lunch we had daube camarguaise.  Daube is essentially the Provence version of boeuf bourguignon (French beef stew) and the variety made in Carmargue is made with taureau instead of regular beef.  It was amazing.  The meal also included Camargue rice, paté, chèvre, apple tarte, lots of bread, and altogether too much wine.  Although, the longer I am here, the more I am coming to accept that there really is no such thing as too much wine.  Dionysus and I are pretty much besties.



I leave for Spring Break tomorrow.  I will be going to Paris to see Luther friends and then to Normandy and Amsterdam and then to Lillehammer to see Styx (!!!) and then to Brussels and back to Paris to meet up with my parents on the 15th.   I will try to blog along the way since it will be a lot to remember by the time I get back.  Wish me luck!




In other news, my mandatory medical visit for my visa is going to be on May 12th.  Which is my last day of class, and the day before I leave France.  But, if I don't go I may be denied future French visas .
Dear French bureaucracy,
I hate you.  A lot.
The end.

Ummm...Hi again?

Wow, I am officially the worst.  For the first month I was here I was totally on top of this whole blog thing and now it has officially been more than a month since the last time I wrote.  Okay, that's not entirely true.  I have attempted to write several times, but after all the craziness and excitement of getting here and traveling, my settled life didn't seem very noteworthy.  My mother apparently thinks that anything happening in France, no matter how mundane is more exciting than daily life in the states simply by virtue of occurring in an exotic place.  This is probably true, but sometimes it's hard to see that when I'm just sitting in the sun drinking coffee.

I do feel very settled here now, and my life isn't exactly boring, but I just have a hard time considering it newsworthy.

So, here's a rundown of the past month in Aix.

Mont Sainte-Victoire
 A few days after my return from the emerald isle, I wet hiking in the foothills of Mont Sainte-Victoire, our resident mountain.  It was a beautiful sunny day and a very light-paced hike.  I enjoyed some nice conversation and fun facts about the area.  For example, there used to be a river that ran through the valley that dinosaurs would lay their eggs in and now the dry river bed is one of the most plentiful archaeological sites at which to find fossilized eggs.  Also, there are warning signs to stay away from the dig sites, but I didn't see any legit barriers.  I love the French.

That weekend, some of my fellow students and I decided that it would be a good idea to hike to the top of the mountain.  It was supposed to be about 4 hours round trip and it's really not that big of a mountain.  Yeah, I almost died.  At least, that's what it felt like.  The mountain, though small for a mountain, was still a mountain.  The paths were very steep, narrow, and rocky.  For those of you who know me well, you know that anything more strenuous than a fast walk or climbing a flight of stairs is a struggle.  Well, I struggled.  I consistently brought up the back of the line and usually by a good margin.  And, then when the summit was within reach, I rolled my ankle.  Awesome.  As we started down the mountain via a different path it began to rain.  Even better.  Two young French men assisted the group of us down the path.  It continued to rain. Turns out that the the guys didn't actually know where they were going, so rather than just walking to the bus-stop, we walked all the way to the next town.  In the rain.

By the time i got back to Aix, I was cold and wet and exhausted.  I was alone for the weekend so, naturally I took a shower, made some hot chocolate, and went to bed at 6. Awesome.  But, seriously I kind of want to do it again when it isn't raining and when I'm feeling exceptionally motivated...or fat.




Daily life
My day-to-day life is very calm.  I have class Monday through Wednesday and very little homework.  And one of my professors has only shown up for 3 of 8 classes.  I wouldn't mind except that the class is 8am on Monday and I never find out till I get to school that he won't be there.

I spend at least 2 hours a day walking around town, unless it's raining.  On rainy days I walk to the British bookstore and have a pot of tea while I read.  On sunny days, I  sit outside at cafés and people-watch.  I am constantly amazed at the pace of life here. Everyone has a destination but is in no particular hurry to get wherever they are going.  Friends never pass in the street with a brief smile and a wave.  They always stop to 'faire les bises' and chat for a couple minutes before continuing on their way.  I like it, but for the first time in my entire life I feel as though I don't have enough to do.  I feel like I'm cheating the system somehow because there's no reason why my life should be so leisurely.

I am decidedly going to have a rough time readjusting to class and writing papers and work, cuz I don't really remember what that's like.  I remember that it involves a lot of stress and very little sleep, but it's mostly just an unpleasant blur.


Aix-ventures
I have participated in some fun community-type events as well.  On the first Sunday of every month  it is free to get into all the museums in Aix, so on March 7th I went to 4 museums and an organ concert.  Now, when I hear the word museum I typically think of the Louvre or the Field Museum of Natural history or the Smithsonian, but Aix museums aren't quite like that.  I went to 4 museums in 3 hours and looked at everything in all of them.  Musée Granet was an art museum that mostly consisted of sketches from the mid nineteenth century.  there was also one picasso and 2 (?) Cezannes and a rather nice sculpture gallery.  There was a museum of natural history devoted almost exclusively to dinosaurs except for a temporary exhibit on evolution.  Musée de Vieil Aix had literally 3 rooms.  It was a collection of fancy artifacts (furniture, dishes, trinkets) from the olden days.  Which, in France, are slightly older than in the US.  And finally, the Musée des Tapisseries was located in a very old and large and fancy-type mansion that I believe the bishops used to live in.  There was a set of tapestries depicting various scenes from Don Quixote and some other old stuff that was pretty cool.  (I don't really mean to sound crass, but it's late and I'm tired and it happened a long time ago.)

A couple weeks ago I went to a gastronomie at the local casino with a couple friends.  It was my first time actually being inside a casino and it was pretty neat...and about 100 degrees...Fahrenheit.  And no I did not gamble.   We paid five euros to get into an exhibition of all kinds of culinary specialties including wine, champagne, cognac, macaroons, chocolate, smoked fish, jams, and cooking utensils. We got to go around and get free samples of the foods and beverages (unfortunately they were not giving away kitchen gizmos).  There were actually a couple wines that I would have bought, but I had literally 2 euros with me, so that didn't happen.  Then (shame, shame, shame)  we went and got a little taste of home...but I'm not sure I can bring myself to actually publish where...

On the walk to my friend's apartment in the chilly pollen-thick spring air I developed a little bit of a cough, which I thought nothing of.  I then proceeded to spend an hour and a half smoking hookah.  In case any of you were wondering, smoking isn't actually an effective remedy for a hacking cough.  So, anyway, I have now had said cough for almost 2 weeks, and I have self-diagnosed it as allergies.  WOOT!  My favorite!

And this past weekend was so exciting!  I can't wait to tell you about it! Oh wait, yes I can.