un jour en Nice

I literally feel like I’m on an extended spring break. And I’m never coming home. Only joking, but really, if it wasn’t for missing people, I would totally consider staying here. So far this week, I’ve had one class. ONE. And I don’t have another until tomorrow, when I have two, one of which involves a field trip to a museum followed by dinner and wine at a cafe. This is the life. So if I don’t actually come home on June 1, you can find me at a beach in the south of France.

I haven’t really done anything terribly exciting and touristy in the past week.. it’s kind of weird being all the way here and doing mundane things like running errands, but I guess I’m actually living here, so I have to do those things too. And let me just tell you, these people here make running errands twice as hard as they should be. I had to go to the bank 4 times last week to do something that should’ve taken one time. And signed a bunch of papers that were all in French, so who knows what I’ve done.. probably sold my first-born child. Also, just in case you were ever considering renting an apartment in Nice, DO NOT rent through Giletta Immobilier. They were the company the school recommended, and they are absolutely horrible. It’s like they’ve never rented out apartments before. The first day I got here they informed my poor jetlagged self that I had to pay January AND February’s rent, along with an agency fee of 320 euros that they never even told me existed. So of course I had to use a credit card, because actually I don’t carry around 900 euros. And yesterday they informed me that they had to pay a 12 euro fee to process the credit transaction, so I owed that. WHAT?? Of course there was a fee! Credit card companies always charge a fee, which is usually absorbed by the company!! Have they never used a credit card before? Not to mention the fact that I’m desperately trying to get internet in my apartment, and am only waiting on France Telecom to come install it.. and they called yesterday to get my apartment number, which of course, I don’t even have. So I went to the real estate office to ask what my number is, because I can’t even buzz anyone in right now, and what do you know? The freaking company that rented out this apartment doesn’t even know what my apartment number is! Not only that, but they gave me a number that doesn’t even exist in this building. I hate them, and am going to tell all future Auburn students coming here to NOT rent from them. So unprofessional.

But aside from dealing with stupid things that all involve French people, I love it here. It’s bizarre, because I really don’t hang out with any French people. All of the international students just hang out together, so I really don’t mess with the French. Which is fine by me, because for most of them, the stereotypes are completely true.

As far as food goes, I can’t complain. I haven’t had anything to eat here that wasn’t completely delicious. Last week, I tried my first legit Croque Monsieur, which is really just a ham and cheese melt, but so good. I’ve also eaten lots of pizza, partially because there’s a pizza place right by my house which sells all sorts of pizza for 5 euros per pizza. Which would be an even better deal if I would eat the pizza for more than one meal, but I usually opt for eating it in one sitting. So yeah, I’m going to be a total fatty when I get back. Between pizza, gelato, and nutella, it’s inevitable. Our first holiday is in a week and a half, and I’m soooo excited!! We have a group of six girls going to Italy, and it’s going to be amazing! We’re going to Milan, Verona, Venice, Rome, and Florence, so it’s a pretty good tour of Italy. With the train system in Italy, it’s also going to be super cheap. And we’re staying in hostels, so that should be interesting. But you better believe we’re going to eat well while we’re there. Ahhhh, I can’t wait!!

But we’ve also got the Carnaval du Nice starting this Friday, so that’s really exciting too! I really don’t know much about Carnaval, but apparently it’s a big deal in a lot of places around the world, and Nice’s is one of the biggest. From what I can gather, it’s mostly just a lot of parades and such, but there’ll be a ton of tourists in town for those 3 weeks.. yes, 3 weeks. These people like to party.

For all of you people who told me that I was going to fall in love with a French boy, I have one thing to say: Yuck. French boys are the absolute worst. They’re incredibly rude, incredibly persistent, and for the most part, look like a bunch of guidos. I don’t know why they have such a reputation for being sexy, but just to clear it up, it’s not even a little bit true. They’re always trying to talk to us, and it’s really horrible. I was at the beach with some friends the other day, and one just walked up to one of my friends, sat down and starting talking to her, telling her he liked blondes and such. She kept reading her book, and he still stayed there for 10 minutes, pestering her. So rude. I don’t know why they think they have a chance.

Despite the fact that I obviously don’t care much for the French, I really do love it here. It’s beautiful, and I love that I’ve met so many new people from all over the world. It’s really eye-opening, and I’ve learned so much. And with that, I bid you adieu!

lately..

Well life has definitely picked up since my last post. In the past week I’ve started classes, made lots of new friends, and walked unfathomable distances. I mean, seriously, my legs/feet feel like someone beat them with a baseball bat.

Classes were supposed to start on Monday, but I didn’t actually have any until Thursday, so I did more exploring this week. I feel like I somewhat have a clue what’s going on now, and where things are, at least on my side of town, so that’s a good feeling. I don’t really think my French has improved at all, but who knows. Maybe I’m absorbing more than I realize.

The school schedule here is really ridiculous. At Auburn, we have the same classes every MWF, and the same classes TR. Here the schedule is literally different every day, and you have to check online to see what classes you have the next day. It’s so frustrating and impossible to plan anything. But anyways, so far all I have had is French on Thursday and Friday. Somehow, I placed in level 4, which is kind of high. Probably too high, because I feel like everyone else in there knows a lot more than I do. I’m hoping to pick it up quickly.. also, the class is for 3 hours. I will never again complain about a 75 minute class feeling long, because a 3 hour class is miserable, especially if you go out the night before.

Also, Friday night I had my first “discoteque” experience. A discoteque is basically a club, but I’ve never been to a club before, so either way, it was new. It was so very European, like something you would see in a movie. They played “house” music, which is basically like techno/dance music, and well, basically everyone dances. It was really fun, but I honestly felt like everyone there was way cooler than me, and that my American-ness was obvious. But fun, nevertheless.

So after that I got about three hours of sleep and then woke up Saturday morning to go to Monaco. It’s so cheap here to get around. It cost 1 euro to ride the bus all the way to Monaco. But on the way, we talked to a French lady who told us we should ride all the way to Menton because it was prettier and then stop in Monaco on the way back. It was good advice, because Menton was like the perfect little seaside village, so beautiful. We ate lunch at a beachside cafe, which was delicious. I had gnocchi in a carbonara sauce. Gnocchi is in my opinion, one of the more underrated foods in America. Most people don’t even know what it is. It’s basically like potato pasta, which sounds odd, but it’s delicious. I think carbonara sauce might not have been the best choice, as it was very heavy. But it was still really good. It felt good to finally be eating real food, even if it was Italian and not French.

We really had no idea what we were doing, but had fun anyways. We went back to Monaco and let me just tell you, you have never felt poor until you’re in Monaco. Literally every other car was some ridiculous luxury car. I saw my first Bugatti, which was probably the most extreme one of the day. We went to the Monte Carlo, but of course, didn’t gamble because we weren’t dressed appropriately, and oh yeah, we don’t have millions to blow. But it was cool just being there. We then trekked up to the palace, which was on top of the mountain. It was closed to the public, but we explored the little village outside of it.

Needless to say, by the time we got home, it was all I could do to walk back to my apartment. I slept for 13 hours, and am still tired. Not to mention sore. I’m not really sure why, but both of big toes feel like they’re broken. What is that about? They’re actually both quite necessary, as it turns out, so this is not good. I’m just going to take it easy today (not that I have much choice, we all know how Sundays are here), so hopefully my feet can recoup by tomorrow. I have two classes tomorrow, so that should be fun...

That’s about it for now, so xoxo!