Mes Cousins

19 March

Before leaving for France my uncle Harvey had told me of distant cousins my father’s family had there. He suggested that I take the chance while abroad to meet them. After becoming a month of being in France, when I was more comfortable with my French I decided to take him up on his offer and reached out to my cousin Sophie who lives in a small village called Liausson.

Sophie was happy to hear from me and we immediately set up a date for me to come and visit. The entire way there I was a nervous wreck completely sick to my stomach. I was so worried that my French wasn't good enough and that I wouldn't be able to communicate. I could tell that my facial expression was that of complete horror, but I continued on, I already bought my tickets so there was no turning back.

When I finally reached Montpellier, I was greeted with open arms (and of course kisses, I am in France) by Danielle and Bernard, Sophie’s parents. They were very welcoming and happy to see me, which eased me a bit, until I could not understand them. This quickly made me nervous again and I lost the power to speak (both in French and English). Fortunately for me Danielle understood and slowed down, which made the world of difference for my comprehension. All was well again. From there we headed to their house making a quick stop at the local school to pick up Sophie’s daughters, Margo and Garronce.

Both the girls go to “école primaire” equivalent to an elementary school in the US. Given that they live in the country the school was very small, having only one class per year. Also, given that they live in the country the children and even the people do not often have the opportunity to meet people from other countries, especially America. Therefore Danielle took me into the school where I was sort of put on display if I may. It was actually really funny because the kids were super excited to meet me and I am no one special to meet. But I am American and therefore I am interesting (to them at least). I was bombarded with tons of questions, both in English and French (the students have already started learning some English as their second language). Of the course the primary questions being do I know various American celebrities, many of which can be found on the Disney Channel. I liked speaking to the students because they were easy to understand and on a similar language level as me (grammar wise, vocabulary no). I also met my young cousins and quickly learned that they were quite sweet and wanted desperately to help me with my French.

Garronce, Danielle, Margo and me

At the house the girls gave me a quick tour of the house and then I sat and helped them with their homework as dinner was being prepared (it was more them teaching me). At this time Danielle pulled me into the kitchen to learn how to make mayonnaise, as she said, “it is something all Americans must learn” (In French of course). So I learned how to make mayonnaise, which in concept is not hard at all, but it took me three tries to do it correctly.

At dinner, which was typical French dinner, late and light, I finally had the opportunity to meet Sophie and her husband Christophe. They were very sweet and funny (if I understood their jokes correctly) and I looked forward to spending more time with them the next day.

My reflections on the day are simple. First I really had nothing to worry about because they made it so that I could understand quite well (from time to time I did have difficulty) and they were very kind to me. Secondly, my pronunciation is horrible, which was the major difficulty because they couldn’t understand my accent. I knew my accent was bad but I didn’t know how bad before this weekend.

20 March

On Saturday, the family took me to the city of Nimes for the day. Nimes is a small, ancient city that used to be a Gallo-Roman city.

When we first arrived in Nimes we went to Les Halles, which in contrast to Les Halles in Paris which is for clothes, this one like in most cities is an indoor market for food and flowers. It was cool to see a market on such a large scale because the one in Cannes, which is partially outside, is much smaller.

From there we roamed the city center, where we would find Gallo-Roman Monuments and artifacts. One of the monuments that we came across was a Temple called the “Maison Carrée”. Unfortunately it was under going some restoration so I did not have an opportunity to go inside but it was still spectacular to see from the outside. It was a stunning ivory color (after being cleaned) and was made of wonderful roman style columns. It was in amazing condition considering it was built around 9AD. From there we went on to see the main attraction, “Le Arène” or the city’s Amphitheater that was built in the 1^st Century.

I fortunately had a chance to tour the Amphitheater (with an English audio guide) and learn of its history. This particular amphitheater is the best preserved in the world and like the others was used to put on great spectacles such as the Gladiator fights. In more present years it is used for “Les Corridas” or bullfights.

On top of having a wonderful day exploring Nimes I spoke better French that day. Both the girls, who I really enjoyed speaking with, and Sophie, said I was more relaxed in my French and I spoke much better. This made me realize how much I would have benefitted from doing a program that offers home stays, but I guess there is no going back now.

21 March

My last day with my cousins, Danielle and Bernard took me on a tour of the lake. Liausson is located on a man-made lake that is only about 40 years old. Before going on the tour we stopped by the mayor’s office so they could vote in the regional elections. Because they live in a small town of 100, there was no line and they didn’t have to show a voter’s card because everyone knows each other. (Later I did see a voter’s card and it looked similar to one from the US)

During the tour I learned how the area where they live is mostly used for producing grapes for wine and olives. The entire lake was surrounded by olive trees and grape vines. I also learned that Roquefort cheese comes from the area near by and the taste mostly comes from the vegetation the sheep eats in the area.

Following the tour of the lake we had a typical French lunch, before going to the train station. At lunch I got to meet one of my other cousins Jean Claude and his son Nicolas. It was so nice to find out I had so much family in France. No longer did I feel so far from home.

Sophie, the girls, me and Jean Claude (sorry it is blurry)

Grasse

Friday, March 12 our program advisors planned a mini excursion for us to go to Grasse. Grasse is the perfume capital of the world, so as you may imagine we visited a perfumery. The perfumery we visited was called Fragonard. Here we learned the history of perfume and the modern day process for making it. We also had the chance to make our own perfumes. I made mine with rose and vanilla. I think it smells lovely but it definitely fails in comparison to the one of a kind perfume they make at Fragonard.

Making my perfume

Antibes

If you remember reading before in my entry on Chateau La Napole I said I was going to take full advantage of my time here and make everyday an adventure. Well on Wednesday, March 10^th I kept my word.

The morning started off normal 3 hours of French class followed by lunch in the cafeteria, which would be followed by an adventure. That afternoon a few of the other girls and I decided to spend the evening in the small coastal town of Antibes. In Antibes we planned on exploring the “vielle ville” or old city, go to the Picasso Museum, try absinthe and finish it off with a nice dinner.

Once in Antibes we began our journey at the stone arches that separated the modern and medieval sections of town. Being the tacky tourists that we are, from there we followed Rick Steve’s (a travel book) walking tour of the old city. The first stop was the city’s cathedral, which as Rick put it “deserves a quick look inside”. Unfortunately, when we peaked in, there was scaffolding everywhere from restoration work they were doing, taking away from the cathedrals charm.

Cathedral

The next stop was the Picasso Museum. Given that I do not particularly like abstract art I was not moved by the works of the other artists on display, but the section of Picasso’s work is definitely worth a look, featuring some of his lesser know pieces.

After the museum we finished the walking tour and moved onto the main attraction, which is Antibes’ Absinthe Bar. The absinthe bar was so much fun. It was set up in a cellar, resembling how it would look in the 1900s. They even provided you with costumes for those who really wanted to get into character (of course I wore a hat). After getting settled the waitress explained to us (in French) the different types of absinthe, white and green, and selected a few for us to taste. We got a sample of green absinthe to taste because she said the girls don’t typically like the white ones.

Getting in the spirit

The process of preparing the absinthe was quite interesting. We were each given a glass with a concentrated amount of absinthe in the bottom of it. Using a device used to drip water (not sure of the name) we then dissolved sugar into the glass and diluted the absinthe sitting at the bottom. Once our glass was filled, we stirred it, and it was ready for tasting. The absinthe tasted like Licorice (a taste I am no fond of) but kind I had, “La Vert”, which was much more mild in taste than the others, allowing me to finish my glass.

While we were waiting for our sugar to dissolve we got a quick history on Absinthe, which disproved the common myth that it is a hallucinogen. Apparently, back in the day absinthe was considered a poor person’s drink because it was very cheap. However, the cheap absinthe was created using a process that put chemicals into the alcohol. It was these chemicals that made people hallucinate.

To conclude our evening we had a wonderful authentic Provencial meal in a cozy nearby restaurant.

Diluting the absinthe

Paris Part Deux: Day 3 & 4

Though day 2 was a whirlwind and wore me out it was necessary do that I could clear day 3 to go to Versailles.

Day 3: Musée de l'Orangerie and Versailles

Saturday, like the previous 2 days began early so that I could go to the musée de l'Orangerie with the group. The Orangerie museum, which is situated in the Tuileries garden, is a smaller impressionist museum. It is here one can find Monet’s Les Nymphéas, or water lilies. Though the museum houses other great works such as Renoir’s “Jeunes filles au piano” (“Young girls at piano”) the real sight were the water lilies. About 8 of them could be found there, each one taking up its own wall. It was a treat for me to see them not only because they are beautiful, but also because they are my mother’s favorite and I grew up surrounded by prints of them. Seeing them with her would have made it so much more special, but now I have reason to return with her in the future!

Monet's Waterlilies

After the museum two of my friends and I took the C train to Versailles. It was about a 30-minute trip outside the center of Paris and only cost us a few euros to purchase an extension for our metro pass, which was definitely worth it.

Once we reached Versailles it was only about a 5-minute walk from the station to the magnificent palace with its golden gates. I do not think I have ever seen anything as ornate as Versailles. In the front of the palace (as well as everywhere else in the palace) stood the Sun King himself, Louis XIV.

Versailles

Once inside I fully understood why the Sun King became so hated for erecting this palace. Every wall, ceiling and floor was decorated in gold, frescos, crystal, marble, and sculptures or in some cases all of the above. This was no low budget project. The palace as one can imagine took us a couple of hours to get through, guided by complimentary audio guides. The most ornate room and highlight of the visit was, as many may have guessed, the Hall of Mirrors. In this room, no feature was denied incorporating a long wall of mirrors that reached from the floor to the ceiling, gold trims, marble floors, a ceiling with magnificent frescoes, and spectacular crystal chandeliers. My family would probably joke that I loved this room because of all the reflective surfaces that I could look at myself in.

Hall of Mirrors

After touring the palace we briefly walked the gardens that reached farther than I could see. We only stayed around for a little because it was pretty cold and most of the plants were covered up for the winter months. I would love to come back in the spring when the gardens are in full bloom and the fountains are in operation. From Versailles we took the train back to the Eiffel Tower with the intentions of climbing to the top. However, once we got there the line was 45 minutes long and given that it was getting late (and my feet were aching) we decided not to wait. This was a little disappointing but yet again another reason to return to Paris. Following this we went to dinner and out on the town. (I am sure everyone is wondering how was the food in Paris and amazingly enough I didn’t eat any French food or drink any wine while I was there. We definitely took advantage of foods; such as the Mexican food we had the first night, which we cannot find back in Cannes.)

Gardens at Versailles

Day 4: Final Day and Return to Cannes

Like every other day Sunday started early with checkout at 9AM. The group taking a River tour on the Seine followed checkout. The tour we took was actually the same exact tour I took when I was in Paris for a night over New Years and I could have probably skipped it, but it was the perfect activity for me since I was completely exhausted. I just sat back and relaxed and enjoyed the scenery.

Following the tour we didn’t have much time before we had to head to the airport. So we went to the area with Les Halles (a huge shopping district) and grabbed lunch and did a little shopping. Not much was open because it was Sunday, but this was better so I couldn’t do as much damage. From there, our group of exhausted students left for “home” and we were back at the college by 7.

Despite how worn out I was by the end of the trip I am so glad I took full advantage of my time in Paris and I cannot wait to go back. So far, on record Paris is my favorite city in the world!