It's Nicer in Nice

What a weekend!

Nice was amazing! After my day of train travel and exploring Monaco, I was exhausted, so my exploration of Nice didn't begin until Saturday morning. I went to a cafe with Alice and Katrina, then made my way down to the beach! The beaches here are interesting...they're rocky, not sandy. It sounds like it would not be fun at all, but it's actually not bad because the rocks are very smooth. The only thing isn't fun is getting in and out of the water if you're not wearing flip flops. As you can see below, I wore flip flops.

The first day at the beach, I got a little sun, but we didn't stay out too late because we all wanted to have a nice dinner to celebrate our vacation. There were 9 of us from IES who all went to Nice together (and all stayed together at the Hotel Baccarat, a hostel by the train station), and we all got dressed up as nice as we could with the clothes we brought and enjoyed a night on the town! After dinner at an incredible Italian place (Nice is only a half hour from Italy), we went down to Old Nice and explored the night market and found an amazing gelato place that has 96 flavors! Yes, 96! Their more unusual flavors include tomato basil, beer, cactus, avocado, and rose. I stuck with cacao, salted caramel, and coffee. We walked along the Promenade des Anglais after that, then returned to the hotel.

The next day, Katrina and I decided to join Lauren and Laura at a private beach. The beach is set up very differently in Nice than how we are used to at home. In Florida, for example, no one owns the beach...everyone can walk along the whole thing and anyone can sit on the beach wherever they want. In Nice, though, there are little plots of beach and it rotates public and private. We went to Opera Plage, where you pay 13 euro for a nice beach chair, parasol, and mat. There are mats on the ground so you don't have to walk on the rocks. There is a cafe and servers who will bring you drinks and food (at an extra charge). There are showers you can use. And, of course, there is the Mediterrnean Sea to swim in, like all the beaches. The private beach experience was WELL worth the 13 euro! I got one drink and some water from the server and it was definitely nice having the chair and mat separating me from the rocks! I got a LOT of sun on that beach.

And, of course, in France there is a certain part of your body that gets sun that generally doesn't in the States. On all of the beaches in Nice, public or private, topless sunbathing is the thing to do. Most of the women are sans bikini tops on the beach. It's cool because it's not a sexual thing at all...no one is ogling the boobs that are out in the open (or if they are, they're discreet about it). People of all shapes and sizes go topless. It doesn't matter if you're fat, skinny, flat, or saggy...chances are, there's someone who is more fat or more flat than you! Everyone wears bikinis here, too...I only saw a handful of people in one pieces.

So, now the question of course is did I participate in sunbathing French style? Of course! I had to get the cultural experience, you know! It was a very liberating experience that I highly recommend to everyone. It makes you feel much more confident about your body and, of course, makes it so there's no awkward tan lines. Here's the closest thing I'm going to provide to photographic proof (and I'm mainly just putting this on here cause my eyes look cool in it)...

After the day of sunbathing, we all had to head back to the train station all hot and sweaty to catch the TGV back to Paris. Unfortunately, though, we ended up getting delayed 2 1/2 hours and didn't get back to Paris until 2:30am! The Metro was closed by then, so we had to stand in line forever with everyone else on the train to get a taxi (my first Paris taxi experience, by the way). By the time I got home at 3:30am, I was exhausted but I had homework to do. Needless to say, I did not get much sleep that night!

Only 8 days left. It's crazy how time flies!

Riley =)

Walking Across the Country

I walked across a country today. Granted, it was Monaco, so it's not a very big country, but still...how many people can say they walked across an entire country? Right now, I'm sitting in the courtyard at the Hotel Baccarat, the hostel I am staying in with about 8 other girls from IES for the weekend. We left Paris Gare de Lyon this morning at 8:05am (after thinking we were all going to miss the train cause we were all running so late) and arrived in Nice at about 1:30pm. Three other girls and I hopped on another train to Monte Carlo because we all really wanted to see Monaco (and it was only 5 euro for the 20-minute train ride).

Monaco was AMAZING! I don't know what exactly I was expecting, but it definitely surpassed my expectations. It's super hilly, which I didn't know before. We walked from Gare de Monaco to the Prince's Palace, walked through the Grande Appartements and Musee de Napoleon, browsed souvenir shops (they have a TON of Grand Prix stuff, even though that's already over for the year), and then walked all the way to the other side of the country to go to the Monte Carlo casino. We didn't end up gambling because there was a 10 euro cover to go in, but it was still cool to see. We ate dinner at a cafe on the main harbor in Monaco, looking out at all the yachts and everything. I spent too much money on souvenirs, but I figured this is probably the only chance I'll have in my life to come to Monaco, so why not?

We got back to Nice around 8pm (after a short train ride on a Harry Potter-like train with individual cabin/compartment things!) and walked down to the Promenade des Anglais. For those of you who don't know, that's a big, wide avenue that runs along the Mediterranean Sea! We walked down to the beach to feel the water. The water is very, very blue, but the beaches are all rocks, not sand! It's weird, but I am looking forward to a beach day tomorrow! Supposedly, topless sunbathing is the thing to do here, too...we'll see about that haha.

Tonight, we're all tired from all the travel and walking all day, so it's an early night...tomorrow, though, it's a beach day! I can't wait =) I LOVE being back around humidity, summer weather, and salty ocean air!

Riley =)

Professors and PDA

Not at the same time, though. Yes, that's right...more observations. In case you hadn't figured it out yet, I like to people watch and make connections.

PDA. It's EVERYWHERE! Everywhere you look, there's another couple making out in a very public spot. On the Metro, in front of Notre Dame, on the sidewalk while walking, at a cafe, at McDo, in a bookstore...there is no such thing as a faux pas when it comes to public displays of affection here. In fact, people seem to think it's weird just to see a couple walking along together NOT acting like they are completely and totally infatuated with one another. People don't just hold hands here...they basically go as far as they can go without taking any clothes off. At first, it was kind of funny...now it's kind of annoying. Pushing through a making out couple to get off the Metro is irritating. But good for the French for loosening up about something for once!

Professors. They're...different. Time is not really an issue. It's totally normal for a professor to keep his class 5-10 minutes after he's supposed to, which is NOT okay with all of us impatient Americans who are used to packing up and sprinting out right when the clock hits time. The professor also shows up to class somewhere in the first ten minutes of when class is supposed to start. So, the start and end times of class are kind of fuzzy, because it's pretty much whenever the prof wants it to happen. My French 301 professor always gets to IES at 11am, which is when class starts...but he goes and gets a coffee, picks up a newspaper, gets a cup of water, etc. before actually coming into the classroom.

I just found out that this Saturday is the Fete de la Musique, which is basically a 24-hour party devoted to free music across the whole city. The Metro runs 24 hours a day this weekend (usually it closes between 1 and 2am on the weekends), and quiet hours aren't in effect, which means people can be as loud and crazy as they want to at all hours of the night. Supposedly, there are concerts in every arrondissement and most parks. It should be interesting to check out.

I'm going to Nice in two weeks and I CANNOT WAIT! Sun and summer weather is LONG overdue!

Riley =)

Detour

So, the Metro just wasn't happy with me or something today. Usually, to get to school, I have to take line 9 two stops (Jasmin to Michel-Ange Molitor), change to line 10 (and take that to Duroc), then change to line 13 (which I take to my school's stop, Gaîté). Today, though, when I got to Michel-Ange Molitor, I discovered that all the signals were out on line 10...so, I had to go back to line 9, take it WAY out of the way to Miromesnil, switch to line 13, and then take that all the way to school. It was a LONG commute this morning...but it made me realize that I'm pretty much a Metro expert by now! I had left for school early like I usually do (cause I like to do my homework in the morning instead of at night), so that was lucky...lots of people were late to classes today because of the line closing. On my way home tonight, the train I was on on line 9 stalled for like 5-10 minutes (and, of course, I was running late for dinner with my host family) while it was completely jam packed with people.

I'm in the process of planning my first weekend away from Paris. I'm going with some people to Nice, in the south of France, in two weekends...we booked TGV tickets tonight! We just have to figure out the hotel situation (I say let's go for the cheapest...other people want a more expensive option...but I'd rather spend the extra money on something else). I found out that Monte Carlo is only a twenty-minute, five euro train ride from Nice, too, so I'm definitely going to make a trip there. I mean, I can't be twenty minutes away from Monaco and not go!! It is, after all, the only principalty in the world. And it'll up my obscure tiny country visit count (since I've already been to Liechtenstein).

Tomorrow is my first exam in France...French grammar. Eek! Prayer would be appreciated, because this grammar section that we've done is definitely NOT my strong suit... In more exciting news, though, my oral presentation at Notre Dame de Paris (yeah, the big cathedral with the hunchback...I had to give an oral presentation on its history in French) went very well!

Riley =)