rainy day in paradise

It has been a rainy weekend here in Nice, and I found that I’m surprisingly helpless in the rain with no car. I had a really touristy day planned yesterday, starting with a trek across the city to the Russian cathedral (I know, another cathedral), and then walking along the Promenade des Anglais, finishing once again in Old Nice. However, I stepped outside into rain, so all of my plans were shot. You can’t very well walk across a city in the rain, not to mention that I take pictures of everything, and rainy day pictures are just not quite the same. And so, I spent most of the day in my apartment, reading and watching French TV, which is somewhat entertaining despite the fact that I understand almost none of what they say.

After a really boring day, I decided to trek to the closest Carrefour, which is basically the European version of Walmart. Except in my opinion, more interesting, but that’s probably just because I’m not from around these here parts. I finally was able to find a card reader, and thus able to post pictures, so yay for that. Also, spent another evening in McDonald’s soaking up all their free wi-fi. I went to bed unusually early, prepared for a big day of sightseeing today, and what do you know. Not only was the sky gray and gross today, but apparently the city of Nice shuts down on Sunday. I don’t mean like how Cullman shuts down on Sunday, or how the ABC store is closed in Auburn on Sunday. I mean, like if you don’t have any groceries, you starve.

Which brings me to my next issue with Nice, and really France in general. Bread is kind of a conundrum here. It’s a necessity, and a way of life almost, but only because it goes bad so quickly, in my opinion. From Tuesday to Saturday, I ate 2 whole baguettes all by my lonesome, which is way more bread than I usually consume. But I was eating it with meat and cheese, nutella, and jam, making whole meals around bread. That’s how people do here, so I was trying to adopt their methods. However, I don’t think I actually would’ve eaten so much of it if I hadn’t known that it was about to go bad. You literally have to buy bread at least every two days here for it to not be hard as a rock. I don’t understand this, because when I buy bread in America, it is usually good for up to a week. What is so different and crazy about their bread here that I must keep buying and buying?? Issue #2 with bread is that when you run out, you are SOL. This happened to me today, but I was planning on going out for a decent lunch, so I figured I would just buy some on the way home. Well, since it’s Sunday, EVERYTHING is closed, including almost every store. So I looked into my fridge, trying to think of some sort of decent meal I could eat. Well, I have jam, meat, cheese, nutella, and cookies. That does not make a meal. Bread ties all of these together. There are at least 3 boulangeries (bread stores) just on my block, not a one of them was open today. What was open? McDonald’s. And so here I am, back at McDonald’s because they were the one beacon of light in this sometimes ridiculous town. Someday perhaps I will time it right and actually get to try la cuisine that France is so famous for. Right now I’m more concerned about sustenance, however, and McDo will do for that.

I don’t know about this everything being closed business. What do these people do on Sundays? I know they’re not going to church, which is America’s excuse. They aren’t even out walking the streets (where would they go, nothing is open). So what do they do? Just sit at home? I suppose that wouldn’t be so bad if I had anything to do at my apartment, but as it is, I have no internet, only French tv, and I’ve already read every book that I brought with me. Also, I still don’t know anybody here. Luckily, class starts tomorrow, so that should solve both problems. I’m supposed to go out tonight with other students, so we’ll see how that goes. It seems weird that they want to go out the night before class starts, in America that would be called an imminent disaster. Craziness.

I’m hoping that this next week is better than the past one. Not that the past one has been entirely bad, but it would be nice to meet some people. Being all by myself has made me extremely lazy. Not something you usually think about, but if there is absolutely no one around to account for you, there is very little motivation to get out of bed. Even in Auburn, I have roommates and responsibilities, so I try to be up by no later than 11. But here? There is absolutely no one to judge me, not to mention no sunlight in my apartment. I have to physically check my phone to even have any idea what time it is. I have a window, but there are solid blinds in front of it that are apparently glued to it. So, I don’t know the weather until I step outside. Which explains why I’ve gotten ready for nothing these past two days. Oh well, the sun is supposed to be out again by Tuesday.

Ciao for now! xoxo

bonjour mes amis!

I really do promise to get better about updating this. I know it's been a while, but now I am finally in France, so I actually have something of interest to write about. Now I have SO much to write about.

I've been here for 5 days now, and have walked for most of that. Oy, I'm so tired. I will literally be in the best shape of my life by the time I get back. Between not eating a whole lot and walking so very much, there's no way I can gain weight. Not that I haven't eaten. I just haven't really eaten a nice, sit-down meal yet, mostly because I don't know anyone yet, and I don't really want to be that loser eating by myself. I have been grocery shopping a lot though, mainly because the markets here are fascinating. My second day, after sleeping for 18 hours, I bought bread, cheese, meat, and wine, because that seemed like the French thing to do. I'm always very skeptical about cheese, because I don't like to eat anything that smells weird. I got Camembert, and let me just tell you, it STUNK. But honestly, it didn't taste very bad. However, every time I open the fridge now, it's all I can smell. For the wine, I bought an inexpensive Cote du Rhone. And wasn't really a fan. It was very strong, and I don't know if that's just how that type of wine is or if mine just sucked. I wish I knew more about wine.

Another weird thing about France. THERE IS NO INTERNET. I figured I wouldn't have it at my apartment, but thought that there would be plenty of internet cafes and such to use along the way. It took me 3 days to find a cafe with internet. By wednesday, I felt so completely cut off from the world, it was ridiculous. If there's one thing I'm learning on this trip, it's to be thankful for all that I have. Never again will I take things like internet, dollar menus, dryers, or my beloved CAR for granted again. I vow never to call my car a piece of crap again. I finally found free wireless at mcdonalds. Thank God for McDonald's. I knew that I loved them. Not only do I finally get to communicate with people, but I get to eat a Big Mac.

Today in my wanderings, I stumbled upon Old Nice, which is basically the old part of the town. It was really quaint and pretty. It's basically just alleys filled with shops and restaurants, but there's something very comforting about that. It leads out to the beach, which is pretty much true with everything in this city. The beach is of course, beautiful. However, the old men in speedos in January are not. WHY?? Oh Europe, you never cease to amaze me.

I really, really want to post pictures, but of course dumb me left my camera cord in Auburn. Really? I brought every other cable I own, including the one for my old camera, which I also brought just in case, but I left my current one. Ugh. I bought a new one today but it wasn't the right size, only to find out that since my camera is a Casio, I have to have a special cable. So tomorrow I set out to find a card reader. C'est la vie.

Also tomorrow, I'm going to try to go to some museums around here. There's quite a few right over next to my apartment, so that should keep me occupied for a while. For all the walking around I've done, I haven't actually done that many touristy things. It's been more about getting my bearings, and familiarizing myself with the city, at least my part of the city. I did go inside a random cathedral today. I wish I knew what it was called, because it looked important, but that's the problem with being your own tour guide. You never actually have any idea what you're doing. But back to the cathedral. I mean, I've been in many a cathedral before, but it just struck me today how completely ostentatious they are. I don't mean to offend anyone, but aren't there better things to do with money than spend them on ridiculously ornate decorations? Is that really furthering the kingdom of God? I appreciate that they're beautiful, but it also kind of makes me sad, thinking about the billions of dollars the Church has spent over the years on appearance. But I'll get off that rant for now.

Everyone keeps telling me that in no time, I'll be fluently speaking French. Umm yeah, I'll believe it when I see it. I can basically get by and understand, but as for complete conversations? No way. You'd never know that I've taken 5 years of French. Of course, that's the difference in an American teacher speaking French and an actual French person speaking French. We'll see about this.

Well that's it for now! xoxo