First Days

The big fountain in the center of Aix.  Beautiful.

Le Cours Mirabeau (main street)

Outside my school 

There are three buildings with classrooms, but this door leads into the main building. 

This is an OLD Roman column. 

Colorado missed me... so Aix had to bring in a little snow.

Arrivée

Je suis arrivée à Aix-en-Provence hier.

After a long and mostly sleepless flight, I made it to the airport in Marseille where I was met by the directors of my program at the Institute for American Universities as well as my new host parents.  They instantly started taking care of me by holding my carry-on while I went and joined the other study abroad students who flew in on the same flight.  After finding my bag, we drove to the other airport (literally four minutes away) to wait for the other student that would be living with us.  However her flight was delayed with a blizzard at her connection in Munich.

So, we got a snack of tea and my first pain au chocolat of the trip and drove to Aix where Mireille and Robert Ragusa welcomed me to their home.  They have a cute sixth floor apartment about 15 minutes walk from school.  I have my own room with little bed, desk, armoir, and a nice big window/door.

The couple also has a dog named Poncho and their middle-aged daugher Odile (sp?) living with them.
Once back at their apartment, Mireille promptly got me some more food with sandwiches for lunch.  I then watched a little tv with Robert before starting to unpack.  I unpacked until I sat down on my bed and succumbed to a nap.

I woke to meet the other student, Cate, arriving.  She is from Tennessee and I believe we will be taking business French together as well as possibly history of Provence.  We hung out for a while watching tv (of course in French), ate a dinner of chicken, fries, and salad, and watched Mireille and her daughter make a cake for today.  She also showed us how to make mousse au chocolat and gave us recipes to keep.

After trying so hard to stay awake, we took showers and went to bed.  Today we have an open house at the school to go to where we will meet other students as well as teachers in the school.

I am missing home but I'm also really excited for what this semester holds.  My french is going well and I must have had some switch in my head that I didn't know about because I took off running with conversation.  I hope it keeps up like this!

Love you all,
Danielle

A Little French Inspiration

Well I had to do something special with my momma to get ready for France, so we dressed up as artists and went to Red Rocks for a little painting!  We may have drawn a bit of a crowd...  Got some nice compliments on the 'stache too.

My Last Weeks in the U.S.

So you may be wondering... what have I been doing with myself with my last weeks in the United States?

Well, two weekends ago I was in Winter Park!  My mom and I planned an escape to the mountains for some relaxation and enjoying the beautiful scenery.  

We stayed at our beautiful condo at the base of the Zephyr Lift.  The snow hasn't been quite up to par this winter, but the last day there, it was a complete white-out with a blizzard!  Recently, the snow has been hitting the mountains hard... woohoo!

One day we took some time to exercise and went snowshoeing!  It was my first time trying it, and it was a little hard at first, but fun.  The picture above was taken when we started walking past the frozen beaver ponds.

After Winter Park, I spent a couple days in Fort Collins where my boss gave me some time to work (yay money!).  I trained the 4 new people that he was hiring this semester.  Yeah... it takes that many to replace me... no big deal.  Just kidding.  There are a couple people leaving this semester, so some new people needed to be brought in.  I think my boss really appreciated some help getting them set up.

Then, I visited my dad in Omaha, Nebraska.  Brrr was it cold! But I had a great time... I really enjoyed hanging out with my dad (and my kitty).  We ate a lot of food, toured the art museum, checked out the city, and played card/board games.  I may have whooped his butt in some backgammon.  Now, I can't wait to see my dad and grandma when they visit me in France in April!

Here I am at the jelly bean counter at a candy store in Omaha.  Which should I choose?!

After a good past two weeks, I am looking forward to my journey to France.  I leave this Friday!  First, I have an entire list of items to get through such as getting some Euro, getting a haircut, finding a gift for my host family, and of course packing.  So much to do, but I know it will be worth it!  By this time next week, I will be living the French lifestyle.

Wish me luck!