{curiouser and curiouser}
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Well! I've often seen a cat without a grin; but a grin without a cat! It's the most curious thing I ever saw in my life!
Friday, May 20, 2011
Then yours wasn't a really good school. Now at ours they had at the end of the bill. French, music, and washing.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Speak English! I don't know the meaning of half those long words, and I don't believe you do either!
So after a long 24 hours full of layovers, ten degree-reclining airplane seats and horrible food I have finally made it to the beautiful city of Nice. The wonderful family hosting me is so great and the apartment I am staying in is magnificent. It is on the corner of Avenue Notre Dame and Rue Lépante, right above a quaint pharmacy. The doors are old and heavy, the floors are made of tiny grey tiles and the ceilings are 12 feet tall. I share a room with a girl from my program named Julie. She is sweet and a lifesaver. Everyone speaks lightning fast and add in all sorts of slang, which renders my two semesters worth of studying French basically useless. With her help and lots I practice I have mastered a couple of phrases—and by phrases I mean words—that have helped me get through the past 7 days. Bonjour! Merci! Pardon! Je ne sais pas! So far they have been sufficient, although I have a feeling that I should probably learn at least, like, 3 more…
We have a tour guide that is from the school that I attend here in France, her name is Blandine, and she is fantastic. On Thursday she took us to a little city called Antibes. I was able to go to the Picasso museum and it was so great. The museum had a lot of his ceramic work on display and a bunch of his sketches. It was amazing to see the process of his work. After the museum we sat at the beach for an hour or so. In Nice the beaches are covered in rocks and pebbles, the one in Antibes was sandy and we went crazy. It was nice not
having to wear hiking boots to the beach. Around the corner from the beach was this statue that was made completely of letters. It reminded me of a huge word-search puzzle. I have a to give a quick shout out to the wonderful Mower family. I was able to find a couple of words hidden in the piece and among them, with the exception of the pest of a letter "z", I discovered MOWER. Check out the picture if you don't believe me.