After what feels like months of planning, I'm finally in France! The journey here was quite an adventure. On my first flight from SF to Frankfurt, a guy sitting in my row had a heart attack so the plane had to emergency land in Prestwick, Scotland. We sat on the runway for a good two hours while the medics took away the guy and the plane re-fueled because apparently we were close to running out. The Prestwick airport pretty much consists of one runway and one small warehouse-like terminal so our jumbo jet was big excitement for the locals. There were probably a dozen gathered on a grassy knoll nearby pulled over taking photos of us.
...a 15 hour flight later and I was in Frankfurt where by chance, my future roommate and I met and attempted to navigate the airport knowing not a word of German. Several hours later we found ourselves arriving in Marseille just in time for sunset. The pilot circled this island off the coast before landing and it was the most amazing view of the entire south coast of France. After 24 long hours of traveling I arrived in Aix-en-Provence.
For the first five nights here, we've been put up in a hotel/apartment while the students currently living in our future apartment finish off the semester. Spare time has already been hard to come by as they have our lives so scheduled with city tours, orientations and culture lessons. All very informative and important as I'm definitely rusty on my French. Tomorrow is our language class placement testing which should be interesting. Buying a cell phone was the most difficult task I've faced so far. More language barriers surely to come...
The city Aix where I'm living is very historic and quaint. Aix means "water" in Provencial which is the former spoken language of the Provence region therefore the city is scatted with lots of beautiful ornate fountains. Cobblestone alleyways and outdoor market places are also the main backdrops of Aix. Looking chic is a big concern here and almost everyone can be seen wearing dark jeans, boots, a peacoat and a scarf regardless of the gender. There are 40 kids in my program and a French student population of 40,000 in Aix so I can't wait to go out and meet some locals.
As day two comes to a conclusion my only concern is which internship to go for- assistant to a yoga teacher or wine tasting/dinner pairing intern. Decisions, decisions....c'est la vie :)
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