Bonjour tout le monde! The keyboard is different here, so I apologize in advance for typos. :) I am having a fabulous time so far, and at least once a day I have to shake myself to make myself believe that I'm really here- it's SO beautiful- the ocean (la mer), the architecture, the colors... Yesterday we went to Cannes for Bastille Day (le quatrieme juillet) and it was wonderful. I explored a little and did some window shopping, tried a new kind of ice cream (cappucinno yesterday- experimenting with new ice cream flavors has become a kind of daily ritual...), and went to beach, which was spectacular. Most of the beaches that we've been to are rocky, but in Cannes they're sandy which made a very nice change for my sore toes (lots and lots of walking!). The water is the perfect temperature-- cool enough so that it feels absolutely amazing when you think you're about to melt into a little puddle of sweat because of the heat, but not too cold. From where we were on the beach in Cannes, you could see mountains on one side and picturesque Mediterannean seaside hotels and houses on the other. Then we all met up and as a group had a picnic in the grass for dinner, then watched the fireworks (feux d'artifices), which were all set to music and actually really beautiful.
I think that Cannes had my favorite beach; as of now, my favorite "cultural/historical" outing was in the Vielle Ville (Old Village) in Nice. The buildings are beautiful, we saw a Baroque church in all of its detailed, ornate glory, and we climbed about 500 stairs to the place where a castle used to be. It's been destroyed for a couple of hundred years, but there's a park at the top of all of the stairs now and the view is incredible-- it feels like you can see the entire Cote d'Azur.
I would be very happy to be here for just the food, of which I'm eating a ton-- I don't know how it's possible, but I'm actually always hungry. :) My homestay mother is a fabulous cook-- I learned to make one thing called a "tartiflette," which is potatoes with onions, a little bit of ham, two eggs with sour cream and cheese- all mixed together and baked for 10 minutes. Writing that it sounds a little odd-tasting, but it's actually very yummy. Crèpes, Nutella, and Orangina (and ice cream) seem to be dietary staples here- all of which are just fine by me!
All right, speaking of food, I'm going to go eat a little lunch and then go to classes-- because we were out late last night, we got to sleep late today... I love France!
Talk to you later,
Sarah Sanders
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