Cezanne

Aix is all about Cezanne.  He was a post-impressionist painter that lived for many years in Aix-en-Provence, France.  His statue sits right at la Rotonde in the center of town for all to be seen.

Throughout his time in Provence, Cezanne chose Mont St. Victoire as a motif.  It was a motif of untouched nature and constantly changing perception.  During my time in Aix, I had the privilege of painting the mountain twice in my art class.   We would drive out to the middle of nowhere, onto a kind farmer's property and set up out easels and paints for an afternoon as we strove to paint what we saw.  This was definitely one of my most incredible moments of a semester as I sank into Cezanne's footsteps.

Home from Aix

Well I am now home after a whirlwind 4 months of French, food, and fun.  It was a semester that I will never forget and that continues to shape my future.
Over the next couple weeks, I will try to catch up with my blogs of what happened in the past few weeks... It was go hard, and then go home.
Needless to say, I arrived home pretty tired after a long 17 hours of traveling.  My mom mentioned that I was speaking a little gibberish... but I guess that's what no sleep and a head full of French do to someone when they suddenly switch to English.
I can tell that my French has definitely improved over the last four months... why else would I switch 3 of my 4 airplane movies over the French and read my French newspaper Le Monde during the flight?  I'm now still trying to figure out how to keep up my language.  Colorado doesn't provide as many opportunities for French speakers.  On that note, it is also strange to hear English everywhere.  On my way home, I had countless doubletakes when I heard English- speakers because I was looking if they were students in my school in Aix.  And nope, they weren't.
Well as the adjustment continues, I will continue my blogs...
I don't yet know what my next great adventure will be, but I know there will be one.  There is always more to come!

Family Visit

Last week I had a wonderful time during my spring break when some of my family flew out to visit me!  We had a whirlwind trip seeing Nice, Monaco, Antibes, Cannes, les Baux-de-Provence, and definitely lots of Aix-en-Provence!

Here are some pictures from our adventures:

First up is les Baux-de-Provence.  I absolutely loved this medieval city with a castle at the top.  It was fun to explore around the ruins.

Here I am with some of the artwork there!

 This is the castle.

...and the view from the top.  Pretty neat huh?  You can see a lot of the grape vines.

Next, here's my Dad and I spending some time in sunny nice.  It was beautiful!

 Soaking up some sun on the road to Monaco!

 Monte Carlo was all about the fancy cars.  We just happened to arrive on the day of a car show.

 Here are my grandma and I back in Nice.  We found some beautiful mosaics while wondering around at the top of a lookout.  Grandma, you're awesome!

 A stop in Antibes for lunch.  Lots of fancy yachts... and it was interesting to see snow-capped mountains beyond the yachts gleaming in the sun.

 My aunt and I had to take advantage of the red carpet in Cannes!

 This was at Santons Fouque... a specialty of Aix.  Isn't this guy neat?

 Chilling in Cassis!

 Loving the boats, the city, the sun!