Student Journals: AIFS in Cannes, France

Megan Gorman
Ball State University
Collège International de Cannes, France

Hello from the Cannes, France program! Although a lot has happened over the past 2 months, I wanted to give you a few highlights of the semester so far:

Day Trips

Our program has many varied “day trips” set up for take us to nearby locations in France. The day trips are excellent and definitely a great option to participate in. One trip we were taken on was to Aix-En-Provence. The town is beautiful, and the open-air market stretches for miles. I successfully haggled a box of 3,50 euro raspberries down to 2,50 which was DELICIOUS! After the market I had coffee at Les Deux Garcons which is a famous cafe where Cezanne, Zola, Edith Piaf and many others celebrities have eaten. Then we went to Cezanne'sMegan Gorman studio which was a simple room but really cool. All the still life objects are still in contact. It's crazy to look at one of his drawings and see the bottle and statue he painted right in front of you....

Another day trip we took was to Monacco and Eze. Yay Princess Grace country! We got to see the changing of the guards and the famous Oceanography Museum among other things. After Monaco we went to Monte Carlo where I was able to play the slots (you have to be 21 to go on the floor, Ah just a few days shy). Bye bye 5 euros. But one girl in our group won 120 euros off the 40 euros she put in. We then went to Eze, the highest town on the coast of France. WHOA a lot of stairs. Needless to say, I slept REALLY soundly Saturday night. The area was GORGEOUS. just breathtaking. The town had a bunch of shops (soooo tempted to buy sooo much but everything was quite expensive...) with a garden on the top of the mountain to sit and enjoy the view.

Paris

Thursday/Jeudi:

So we leave bright and early to get to the Nice airport to head to Paris!! The little kid inside of me is suuuuuper excited for ALL my dreams to come true :) We arrive in Paris-Orly airport and proceed directly to a three-hour bus tour of the city. We swing past all the major sights: Eiffel Tour, Arc de Triomphe, Paris Opera House, Notre Dame, etc. :) :) We wrap up the tour and head to the Hotel Bastille. We unload all our things and then get all dolled up for our dinner out at Chez Clemente. Dinner was lovely and French and fun :)

Friday/Vendredi:

Woke up to a lovely brunch at the hotel and left with the group to figure out the metro to Montparnasse. Montparnasse is an area of town with a HUGE skyscrapper that gives a great view of the city. Needless to say, lots of pictures were taken. After Montparnasse, the ladies and I hopped back on the metro to Pere Lachaise. Pere Lachaise being the stop for the famous Pere Lachaise cemetery where quite a few famous names are buried (i.e. Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, Oscar Wilde, Marcel Marceau, Georges Seurat, among many others). The cemetery is huge and we actually had to buy a map to figure our way around. We pulled a "Friends" quite a few times and had to step "into" the map...

So after seeing loads of dead people, we headed to the Orangerie Museum, which is this neat little place with a lot of Monet and impressionism pieces. We then went from there to a famous second-hand bookstore called Shakespeare&Co. which is right across the street from Notre Dame. The bookstore is literally a hole-in-the-wall place STUFFED with books (oddly enough, most in english). After book shopping we went to the Louvre since it's FREE for students on friday nights after 6. Score. And yes, I saw the Mona Lisa.

After walking 5000 miles in one day, we all found a local pub/bar thing to grab food and a drink to relax for dinner. HERE'S a good story for you all....our waitress: PAS BIEN (Not Good). First off, we got there half-way through happy hour and tried to order two drinks for each of us. She spills half the first round-one of which ON Sari, and then fails to get the second order in. After waiting 45 minutes for our second drink (while eating/drinking the first one), we finally mention that we haven't gotten them yet and she says "Sorry, Happy Hour's Over." and we were like "...We place that order half an hour before happy hour was over. Fine, give us the check." Oh, but to top this whole beginning confusion off- she barely speaks a lick of English. When we get the check, we notice one drink was charged at full price. And HERE comes my newest cultural call-to-awareness: I somehow end up being the one to have to hash this out with the waitress that she's charged us wrong (again, after messing up our order... and again she doesn't speak any english...)...we're talking for a good 15 minutes, and she finaly goes "I'll get the manager for you". The manager takes one look at the check, hears the story and simply looks at us and says "Pay the half price" after very emphatically explaining to the waitress that she is COMPLETELY confused and wrong. So we leave fed, but a little more irked than before. We go back to the hotel, rest our feet for a bit more, than go out to a different bar to enjoy the city more before calling it a night.

Saturday/Samedi:

Woke up early again and headed to Montmartre. We took a walking tour of the area which is BEAUTIFUL. We saw the Sacre Coeur and checked out a lot of sites from the film Amelie. We visited the Moulin Rouge on our way to Les 2 Moulins which is the cafe from the movie Amelie. Afterwards we went to the Musee D'Orsay and saw some amazing impressionist work. To continue our miles of walking, we returned to the hotel and got dolled up once more for a night out. Two friends and I purchased tickets to see Les Joyeuses Commères de Windsor (aka The Merry Wives of Windsor by Shakespeare). The show was at the Commedie Francaise and the show was 3 hours and 15 minutes long. It was an amazing experience, but also a challenge for comprehension. Shakespeare can be hard enough, but throw a different language in there....and sitting for that long....props to some amazing actors who entertained me and made the price of admission worth it. I'm still not exactly sure why the french rendition of "I can't get no Satisfaction" was thrown into the play though... Anywho, after that we met some other friends in the Latin Quarter to see another part of town briefly before turning in for the night.

Sunday/Dimanche:

Sunday was certainly a day for rest. We slept in a little, then visited the Bastille Market. I'm ABSOLUTELY a fan of open air markets. Then we went to Angelina's which is a famous hot chocolate/coffee place in Paris. Delicious. Extremely rich. Loved sitting and enjoying the atmosphere :) and then it was back to Cannes....

Collège International de Cannes