Author: Felicity Fulton

As I sit here on New Years Eve, prepping to move back to campus tomorrow, I can’t help but think of the past couple weeks. My sleep schedule is (sorta) back to normal, my cats finally don’t hate me, etc. etc. Things overall are returning to normal. No thanks to the awfulness that was the trip home from France. I didn’t even take any photos. That’s how bad it was. I always take photos on trips: at the airport, on the plane, of my lunch. You name it, it’s probably archived on my phone. I digress. Here is the horrendous tale from two weeks ago of my and Mara’s trip back to the states.

Everything that could have gone wrong, did. With the exception of the plane crashing, luckily.

I woke up at 4am that morning to catch the 6am bus so I could catch my 9am flight. Makes sense, right? Well, I woke up to a flight cancelation. The first flight. Originally, Mara and I were supposed to go from Marseille to Munich, Munich to San Francisco, and finally San Fran to Portland. Well.. now that we couldn’t get to Munich, that plan was out the window. My roommate, who was also on that flight, and I tried to figure out what to do but I ended up just going to the airport anyway to figure it out. She had been automatically rescheduled, whereas Mara and I had not been.

By the time I got to the Marseille airport, Mara was already on it with booking new tickets. Perfect. We get our new tickets after almost 2 hours of waiting, get in line, and check our bags. Insert typical airport protocol here. The only real difference between Europe TSA and USA TSA is that they don’t make you take off your boots, which was nice, because I got new Doc Martens while in Aix and didn’t want to pack them. They’re heavy. Cute, but heavy. We finally get through security and passport check, then board our flight late. Then leave late. Still, whatever, we were on our way to our new first destination: London Heathrow terminal 5.

Now, I knew that airport well after my trip to London a couple months back, so I was excited. I was gonna show Mara the Harry Potter store, we would get lunch, and board our flight. It was gonna be great. While those things did happen, I did get stopped at TSA for the stupidest reason. The guy said that we just needed to take out our laptops and ipads, and any other technology could stay in our bags. Well, I did what he said, and my bag got flagged. Thanks TSA agent. I stood for probably 20 minutes waiting for each person who forgot their acne cream in their bag to get checked just so I could tell the guy that it was my switch that got flagged. Awful.

We hit the HP store (I got a wand because I’m a stress shopper), got lunch, and took the in-terminal subway to get from the A gates to the C gates. The our flight got delayed. Then it got delayed again. And again. And again for the fourth time. Our flight got delayed for a total of almost 4 hours. The plane had a technical issue, then there was a security breach that halted all planes, then those two events took so long that they had to find new crew because some had timed out. Even after we boarded the plane, we sat on the tarmac for another 30 minutes before FINALLY taking off 4 hours after we were supposed to. At least the English Christmas dinner was nice.

Nine and a half hours later, we arrive in Seattle, our second location. The US, finally! If only we knew what we were in for. The weird thing about SEA-TAC is that for international arrivals, you have to grab your luggage and recheck it for connecting flights. Strange, but okay. So we waited for our luggage. And waited. And waited. We waited so long that we were no longer the only flight in baggage claim. Eventually, I got both my bags, but Mara only got one. Along with about half of that British Airways flight. Mara ended up missing her flight because of how long we waited, and I found out that I didn’t even have a flight. Let me explain.

So when we got our flights rescheduled, we were given little slips of paper to hand to the British Airways people so we could get our boarding passes. Mara got all three of hers, but I only got the first two. The lady said that I would need to pick it up in Seattle, since it would have been through Alaska, and not BA. I said okay, but I couldn’t help but be uneasy. I told my mom that I was confused about how the whole system would work, as I wouldn’t have a boarding pass to get through any security I’d need to or get onto the flight. She looked into it and turns out: I wasn’t even on the flight! The lady said I was but I wasn’t. I would have been stranded in Seattle had my mom not looked into it and driven up almost 4 hours in rush hour traffic to pick me up. It worked out though, because we ended up taking Mara home, but what the heck? As we were reaching hour 30 of being awake at that point, neither of us wanted to deal with flights.

I got back to my house at about 1am, my mom and her Fiancé having to work at 7 that morning. I felt bad for Mara though, since she had another hour and a half to go before she got back. We were exhausted. I think we ended up being awake for about 36 hours with very little sleep in between. I was very happy to be back in my own bed.

Travel doesn’t always go to plan. I have terrible travel luck, so I knew it had to come back to haunt me after multiple flights and trains that worked out with no issues throughout the trip. I just didn’t think it would come back with that much force. It woke up and chose violence and chaos. We can’t control airports, weather, etc. so I don’t want our experience that day to be a deterrent for everyone, but it’s good to show others the downsides of it all, especially for those about to go abroad for Jan/Spring term. Not everything is sparkling seas and rustic cups of coffee. To this day, I still don’t think Mara has her luggage.

Happy New Years,

Felicity

After three weeks of hel- I mean midterms, fall break arrived. Students had been talking about where they were going to go for months and finally the time was upon us!  Slowly but surely, the IAU students inhabiting Aix made for the airport or train station, vacation bound. I was one of the last to leave as it was cheaper to leave on a Monday than during the weekend. Understandable.

While others had elaborate plans of which 4 countries they were planning to hop to in the span of the week, I kept things simple. I was headed for England. Specifically, I was going to spend my fall break in London. The land of Harry Potter and Royals, Tea and Rain. Perfection. That’s where I was headed. So on Monday, October 31st, I set off towards the Marseille Airport. First stop: Paris.

My plane trip was pretty uneventful. I flew Air France for the first time, which was pretty nice. They gave me a Madeline as my in flight snack and within an hour and a half I was across the country in Paris. Getting from the Charles De Gaulle Airport was a bit… tricky. The subways were being worked on and even if I was to use them to get to the train station I needed to be at, there was something going on involving SCNF staff and police in bullet proof vests, so I opted for a Bolt instead.

An hour and 17 euros later, I arrived at the train station I needed to be at: Gare du Nord. Of course, I was still a bit early, so I got lunch at McDonalds across the street and then explored a bit. The train station isn’t that big, but it was a bit confusing to navigate. Especially since I needed to be in a specific part for the Eurostar trains. I went through the strictest security i’ve ever been through. Those Eurostar people don’t mess around. I went through most of security blind since I had to take off my glasses for multiple face scans. That was fun… But once I was through, I was in this whole other section I didn’t know existed. It was pretty snazzy. And when i bought Pringles at the little convenience store, they spoke English with me! Without question. I knew right then that it was gonna be a good trip.

The train ride itself was pretty average. I couldn’t see much out the windows since it was dark out, but I did buy my first alcohol on a transportation vehicle. That was an experience. I just happened to get up at the exact moment it got rough. The cider was good at least.

After two hours and a time zone change, so it had only been an hour, I got off the train in London St. Pancras. International Station. It was cold. And rainy. It was perfect. I stopped into the Platform 9 3/4 store in Kings Cross briefly, then set off with my dead battery to my hostel.

My hostel was pretty cool. It was kind of like a party hostel but not quite that intense. It was trying (probably too hard) to be hip with the kids, adding # to things and having each floor be themed to a different British pop media franchise. Mine was Alice and Wonderland. I checked in, put stuff in my locker to deal with later, and tried to charge my phone upstairs in the bar. It was pretty packed since they were having a Halloween party, but I managed to find a seat and pull a Gabriella from HSM by reading during a holiday party. I had two drinks during the night, a cider and a really fun Halloween cocktail in a “blood bag”. Fun and delicious, but kind of messy.

Moving on, the first true day of London was spent quickly hopping from place to place, but the places I went were fantastic! I just need to remember next time to space things out. I hope there is a next time. London is amazing. I started out walking in the rain to my subway station, then took the tube for the first time to the Covent Garden stop on the Piccadilly Line.

Piccadilly and I became great friends as it was my closest station and really just goes everywhere I needed to go (with a few exceptions). I had breakfast at Starbucks and went to my first event: the Harry Potter Photographic Exhibition. I tried getting a ticket for the studio tour but those were booked up through the end of the year. If you ever plan on doing that, I recommend booking months, if not a year in advance.

That’s not to say the photo exhibition was bad. Far from it actually. It was a mix of photographs from the production of the movies, stills from the films, and real props from the movie. Walking in, the first thing you see is one of the 16 flying car props they used for the beginning of the second film. It was super cool.

Walking down the stairs among floating Hogwarts letters, one is whisked into a world of production and props, all ending in a butterbeer bar and HP gift shop. I… may have bought too much on this trip. So many Harry Potter stores!

Then I caught another tube up to Marleybone and had lunch at this adorable cat cafe. It also doubles as an adoption agency for the cats, as all of them are rescues. If I lived in London, I would have adopted every one of those cats.

It was the second cat cafe I’ve ever been to and I don’t know how common this is, but I had to take my shoes off? Is that normal? The cat cafe here in Aix doesn’t make you take your shoes off. I’m genuinely curious. The food was good, the cats were cute, and it was over way too quickly. But I had another appointment. An appointment, with a detective.

A fictious one, anyway. I made my way over to the Sherlock Holmes museum at 221b Bakers Street. It was an English major’s dream. With the exception of the wax figures at the top, everything was beautiful and thought out, from the living room, to the desk set ups of both men, to the bullet holes on the wall. So cool.

Then I had Taco Bell and it was disappointing. The British don’t know what they’re missing out on. So many menu items missing…

I lounged around back at my hostel for a couple more hours, then it was off to see my first West End show of the trip: Matilda. Matilda as a musical opened on the west end on December 9th, 2010, and it’s been running ever since. Quick fun fact – the movie adaptation of the musical is coming out in the US on December 9th of this year, exactly 12 years after the curtains rose for the first time. Don’t know if it was intentional, but fun none the less.

Matilda was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. It truly lives up to its set expectations, even with the injury partway through my viewing that halted the production for about 30 minutes. I hope that actor is okay. With some scooters and swings, my first night came to a close.

Day two was a bit more frustrating. Just because this was a more tourist type day and tourists suck. They make everything kind of unbearable. It didn’t start out that way though. I started off my day how I did most of the days: at Starbucks. I was waiting for the Globe Theatre to open, because I was gonna take a tour. Located on the bank of the River Thames, it is a reconstruction of the original two globes, and it is beautiful. I’ve been to some cool theatres, but that’s definitely up there. It was also interesting to learn the history of both the original theatres as well as the new one. Super cool. I don’t normally do tours because I hate being seen as a tourist, and typically only older people do them, but this one was well worth it. And I wasn’t the only under 40 person there. Score!

Afterwards my next stop was the London Eye. I thought I could get some cool photos from there, so I paid the exhorbitant amount that it costs to do it and walked down the river towards it. The walk itself was pretty chill, but actually getting on the Eye? This is where my day took a turn. The line was SO long, and everyone was passing the time on their phones, so it took even longer since people weren’t paying attention.

Also, personal space? The people around me had never heard of it. Finally got on and everyone hogged the front window for nearly the entire time. Hello, the whole thing is made of glass for a reason! Needless to say, I was frustrated. I got some photos, but not as many as I’d like.

I got off and walked the 40 feet to SeaLife London, since I like aquariums. This’ll be cool. No. I mean, yes, but also it was all underground, chlostrophobic, and packed. There weren’t even that many animals bigger than a small fish. I got some decent photos but I can’t wait to get back to my big open aquariums and zoos.

Overwhelmed, I briefly stopped in the dream works experience gift shop, laughed at some awful merchandise, bought a build-a-bear Hedwig next door, and went back to my hostel for the next few hours.

My show that night? Book of Mormon. I knew it was supposed to be funny and good, but that’s all I knew. I did’t know anything about the story or music, just that the writer of South Park was the creator. So after some overly expensive dinner at Hard Rock Cafe (gotta catch them all, even if I’m not a big fan of it), and a quick peak into the largest Waterstones I’d ever seen, I sat down with my cider feeling a bit sacrilegious and settled in. The show. Was. Hilarious. I could not stop laughing the entire time. My favorite song has to be “Turn it Off”. If you’ve never heard it, I’d recommend. No injuries in this performance, thankfully, and that ends off day two.

Day three was the first day where I didn’t really have anything planned that I had a time stamp for. It was more a day of meandering about the city, seeing sights. Started once again at Starbucks, but I had a reason this time. The holiday drinks and merch were back. Red cup day was 11/3 and I was right there, buying myself a peppermint mocha and a holiday cup keychain. Then I went to the Disney store in Soho that was 3 floors of amazing-ness and bought a few items before moving onto my first intentional monument: Buckingham Palace.

It was beautiful and grand, though kind of sad to look at. I remember that we were eating dinner when we got news about the Queen, and it was still sort of sad. Not much going on, guards dressed in black and grey, etc. The park and grounds around it were stunning, and I’m glad I went, but I couldn’t help but feel a little forlorn.

I had my lunch that day within the park next door at the St. Jame’s Cafe which was of course fish and chips. I couldn’t go to London and not get fish and chips. It came with mushy peas, which I was lo-key kind of scared about at first, but then I tried them and I can now safely say that they are delicious. Maybe its my English roots, but they taste so good. I forgot how much I love peas. It’s been so long since I’ve had them. Delicious.

Some more shopping and a few hours later, I decided to get to my theatre early. Luckily, it had a bar that had some snacks and drinks I could get. I ordered fries and a cider and read for a while, charging my phone because it was dead. I’d had some charger issues the past few days and so any chance I got, I took. This show was one of my highly anticipated ones of the trip, that being Heathers. I went so many times when we did it last semester so I was looking forward to seeing the real thing. I’m so happy I went. I was able to compare and contrast the two shows, and honestly, I think we did a few things better. I personally think our Martha did a better job than West End Martha. I’m not saying this because she’s my friend, but W.E.M. was just a bit too fast I think. Overall though, it was probably my favorite show of the bunch, and I’m so happy I saw it. I bought so much merch too.

Day four, the penultimate day. I mainly dinked around in Leicester Square all day, bouncing from shop to shop, lunch spot to dinner spot, theatre to theatre. I did go off the beaten path slightly in an effort to kill time and ended up in Paddington Station, where I had to stop myself from buying the entire store, and a humongous Westfield mall on the outskirts of my Oyster card. That place had four floors of wonder, massive shops, and an indoor tennis court. I was astonished, to be sure.

Eventually, I made my way back into town and grabbed dinner at McDonald’s, checking England off my “Try McDonalds in every country I visit” list, and walked around a bit more before seeing my show of the night. Despite visiting The Cursed Child building, I was in for a more classic show: Les Miserables. I thought, since I’m studying in France and did a presentation on the movie for class, I should see it. It’s a classic. Well, the show itself was amazing. The costumes, sets, and casting were all spectacular. I just had crappy seat mates. A whole family in the row behind me speaking loud Italian for a good chunk of the first hour (shushed multiple times by many around us) and an old man next to me who kept taking photos. Like sir, I get that you’re older, but theatre etiquette is a thing.

One of the downside of traveling by yourself is that you’re more easily picked out by dangerous people. I was on my walk back from the station to my hostel when a homeless lady tried getting my attention. I knew she wanted money, but I didn’t have anything but my card on me, so I politely apologized  and kept walking. She cussed me out but I thought that was it. I deal with homeless people back home all the time, no big deal. I kept walking, eventually reaching my hostel.

That’s when a homeless lady appeared out of nowhere in front of me, like she had apparited from thin air. I tried to handle it like a normal adult without anxiety, but that didn’t last long. She started verbally harassing me and when others tried to help, she tried to turn it on me, like I was the one following her back. I’m thankful for the random guys passing by and the hostel security team. I don’t know what I would have done without them. I’m still shaking now, weeks later, just writing this out. A girl in my room who heard me crying when I entered stayed up with me for a while and tried comforting me. She was nice.

Final day I laid in bed for a long time. I rightfully didn’t get much sleep that previous night. Despite the strong urge to stay there all day, I did have time sensitive plans, so I lugged myself out of bed and hauled my exhausted body towards Kings Cross Station. I was meeting a friend for the first time IRL, which I was both excited and nervous about. He and I have known each other for a couple years, bonding on discord over a comic we both read. I wish that chat was still as active as it used to be. That was fun. Anyway, he lives not too far from London, so he caught a train in to meet me.

They are super nice, just like online. While it was a little awkward at first, like every first meeting, that quickly melted away. We visited the Harry Potter store, the Gays the Word book store, and a couple other stores, then somehow ended up at the National History Museum. That place was cool, but it was kinda sad that the underwater creatures area was under construction. That’s always my favorite section.

Eventually we parted ways and I met up with another friend, this time from IAU, and got dinner. I got ramen, which I had been craving for so long. There’s no good ramen places in Aix. Bummer. I also tried Takoyaki for the first time, and they lived up to their anime portrayal. Right down to their hot pocket of lava temperature.

Final show of the trip was Six, another highly anticipated show. It was also the shortest show, which I did deliberately as I had to catch a really early tube to the airport. Not that I ended up sleeping anyway. Regardless, Six was amazing. I would love to see it again at a different angle, since I was pretty high up. West End may be cheaper than Broadway, but I bought 5 shows. Money needed to be saved somewhere.

I anxiously walked back to my hostel, packed, and after staying up all night, took a 3am tube to Heathrow Airport. Surprisingly packed tube for it being the dead of night, but I digress. I caught my flight which was occupied by quite a few other IAU students funny enough, slept though it, and arrived back in Marseille two hours later. Both sad and glad to be back, I made it through the impossibly long customs line, grabbed Starbucks, and hopped on the bus towards Aix. 90% of us on that bus were IAU kids. It was funny in my sleep deprived state, but looking back on it now, it’s really not.

Fall break was a blast, despite some of its downsides. Not every vacation can be perfect. Especially with my luck. It was a fun way to reward myself for finishing midterms, and it made me realize that my love for London that I’ve had since I was a kid thanks to things like Paddington, Harry Potter, and House of Anubis was rightfully warranted. I would gladly go back. Honestly, I would live there. It reminded me of home in all the good ways while still being unique. Plus the access to all those museums and theatres? I was in heaven. I am broke now though. No more trips for the rest of my study abroad journey.

Felicity

21st birthdays are interesting when studying abroad in a country that has a legal drinking age of 18. It doesn’t really feel… special at all. Just another birthday for the books. My birthday just sort of came and went. Since it was on a Saturday, the majority of my friends were out of town traveling. Some on school trips, some off galavanting across Europe. In a town as small as Aix, it was slim pickings as to what to do for my birthday.

I honestly don’t remember what I did that morning. I remember not sleeping well, like always. It’s been worse since getting back from London, which makes no sense, and as I sit here writing this at midnight, I don’t see it getting better any time soon. I did get a tattoo later on in the morning:  my first one.

It honestly didn’t hurt that much, but it’s healing kinda wonky. I’m taking care of it as I’m supposed to, so I’m just gonna chalk it up to my skin being sensitive.

Aside from food, the only other thing I actually did on my birthday was attempt to go bowling. I say attempt because when my friends and I got to the bowling alley, it was packed and booked through midnight. Jokes on me I guess for not making a reservation.  But in my defense, their website is impossible to navigate. So needless to say, we did not go bowling and ended up just going to a bar. It was fine in the end, with plenty of memes spread and tinder profiles swiped. Though it was small, it was a nice way to end my night. I know if I was back in the states I would have gone out to dinner with 7 or 8 of my friends and it would have been a lot.

That Sunday was sort of a continuation of the previous day, getting Indian food for lunch (which was delicious) and seeing Black Panther in theaters. I couldn’t help but laugh when the French subtitles appeared on screen. I don’t know what I was expecting since the movie was in English, but apparently not that.

A few days later, my friend Ash and I had a bigger group of friends out for drinks as a joint belated birthday party. His birthday was during Fall Break so everyone really was gone. It was interesting trying to find a bar that wasn’t packed shoulder to shoulder with bundled up men and the occasional woman huddled over a singular tv. It was the first France game of the World Cup that night. Interesting to watch. Not the game, but the people watching the game.

Between my birthday and Thanksgiving happening a few days later, it really sunk in how lonely I feel. Study abroad, as fun as it is, is an isolating and lonely experience. It doesn’t matter how many friends you make or how busy you keep yourself: that feeling of loneliness will never go away. Especially with big milestones or holidays. You’re by yourself in a foreign country, away from everyone who you rely on for comfort and safety. Traditions are broken. Events are missed. I know I’ve had this feeling all semester of not being able to do anything for my myriad of clubs back home. Of hopelessness.

Studying abroad is a totally worthwhile activity and I recommend it completely! I’ve had experiences here I’d never be able to do and met people I’d never meet otherwise, but it is a really mentally taxing activity. I think, now hitting the 3 month mark, I’m ready to come home.

Felicity

It’s December, which means a few things. A (really cold) chill in in the air, Christmas decor is sprouting up in every home, and the most dreaded weeks are coming up for students: Finals.

Despite the last week of classes being labeled “Finals Week”, finals for me started last week, and trickled into the weekend before. We had finals on Saturday, which felt bizarre. Also very uncalled for.

I only had 3 scheduled finals, with my 4th one being something I’ll get to later. My English Lit class was easy enough: write two in-class essays in accordance with the two questions given in each sentence. It was just our midterm with new questions and different books.

Photography took a bit more prep but was overall easy: edit photos, submit said photos, submit 1 page paper talking about process, show photos and Q&A day of final. My professor was also super sweet and took those of us who wanted to go some vin chaud (mulled wine) afterwards. She even paid. How kind.

I haven’t taken my French final yet but it’ll just be my midterm with new material. I’ll study later for it. Now,  the last final I have is the bane of my existence. It’s for my music of the Mediterranean course, and this project… I’ve got some issues:  basically, we have until December 23rd, which is after we go home, to create a 2-minute song using sounds from around town that we have to record.

Sounds simple enough, except the program she wants us to use, I can’t because my laptop broke back in early November.  I had two options- either work in the computer lab for hours on end and hope to get it done before I leave, or see if she has any alternatives I can do. I went with the second option, since I have other things I need to do this upcoming week. She let me use my iPad, which at least gives me an opportunity to work from anywhere and even from home if I need to. I have about 20 seconds currently. It’s not a fun final. Easy class the entire semester, brutal end. Would not recommend.

Speaking of December, all of the cute Christmas decor is really getting me through this month. Aix as a city seems very cohesive with their decor, decorating all around town with white and gold lights, along with orange and red ornaments – the town’s colors. Lights started going into trees and onto buildings (turned off) as early as October. My type of people. They don’t have Thanksgiving as a fall back, so it makes sense.

Holiday festivities around town really started back mid November, but it’s all in high gear now. The Christmas Market is in full swing, shops are decked out, and the lights are turned on all over town, including on the Rotonde, encompassing the whole thing.

The Christmas markets are actually really cute, and I enjoy walking through them every time I go to the bus stop. Little booths span the entirety of Cours Mirabeau, selling many artisan goods by locals. Some sell food, others crafted goods. Loads of lavender and vin chaud to be had. At each end it transforms from quaint wooden booths to rainbow carnival, hosting lots of rides and amusement attractions for children. It’s really sweet to watch. I’ve gotten a few things from the Christmas markets and my only gripe is that they don’t take credit cards at most booths. I don’t carry much cash, if any. I’m not quite sure why they do it, but I know if it was in the states, there would be a square or clover at every booth!

All these reminders of Christmas only cement the fact that I’m not at home for the holiday season. It’s both a blessing and a curse to see all these French families enjoying all the festivities. Christmas is my favorite season, along with my mom’s. It’s something we’ve always shared together, even if I was stuck at my dad’s. I should be using it all as motivation to pack and get ready to leave, but it’s making me sad and halting my process, not aided by any means by finals.

I am really excited to leave though. As of today, Sunday December 11th, I have 4 days left here in Aix. Well, really 3 and some odd hours as I fly out of Marseille pretty early on Thursday. I really enjoyed my time here, both the ups and downs. I think I’ve really matured, and I’ve certainly gotten better at traveling by myself (as much as I hate it still). Whether my french has gotten better is certainly questionable, but I’ll blame that mainly on my anxiety more than anything else. France has been such a unique experience, one certainly different than the US.

Things I will miss:

• The cheap bread and pastries. A whole baguette is like… 1 euro, if that.
• Take-away pasta places. Not like Olive Garden door-dash, but like little pasta fast food places.
• The public transport being clean and not difficult to use (and inexpensive).
• My roommates and the other friends I’ve made since arriving here.

Things I will not miss:

• Their love of thon (tuna). My least favorite fish. It’s so gross.
• Everywhere closing super early. I miss my late night delivery.
• Sundays. Everything’s closed.
• Stairs. Everything’s upstairs or uphill here. I miss elevators. I miss my car.

After today, I just need to pack, take one final, and attend our closing ceremony on Wednesday. Then back home I go. I can’t be more ready.

See everyone stateside 🙂

Felicity

Ok I’m finally caught up lol

Two weeks ago I went to the cutest cat cafe I’ve ever been to. Granted, I don’t think I’ve actually been to one before that Tuesday so there is not exactly a high bar to reach to become the best. It was unassuming looking from the outside, with some Halloween decor (a rarity here) and some pastel colored seating, which confused me as why would anyone want to sit outside where the cats couldn’t go but I digress. Step inside the first doors, and get let in through the second set however, and you’re blasted with cute cat paraphernalia, pastels, cat items, and most importantly: cats.

I went with my friend Ash, who within the span of the previous week had already racked up three stamps on his carte fidelite (stamp card).  He walked in with confidence and sat down, where as I was instantly distracted by this beautiful orange cat named Dexter who was perfectly sitting on a pink shell chair that when I sent a picture to my mom was more interesting than the cat.

The food was delicious. I had a blackberry tea and a grilled cheese, and it was overall a really fun time. The cats kept wandering around the entire time, going from table to table looking for pets, to which we happily obliged. They knew why we were there.

Eventually, after about probably an hour of being there, I had to get to class and Ash wanted to go back to his homestay and take a nap, so we got up to leave. Not without some more pets and a swipe by the youngest one from a cardboard box way too big for her. I got my stamp card, and I definitely see myself returning there again.

Then on Wednesday the 12th, our school’s GSA hosted a “Coming Out Day Expo” in response to National Coming Out Day being the day before.  I joined the GSA the week prior, and that was the week we decided to do the event, so we planned an entire event in 5 days. I’m proud of us.

We hosted the event for a few reasons. We wanted to provide students with a safe space that they could feel comfortable celebrating who they were, ally or part of the community. We also wanted it to be an event where allies could learn more about the LGBTQ+ community and ask questions. We had a few of the obvious annoying people as all events like that seem to attract, but otherwise I think it went super well! We got so many more people than I think any of us were expecting, and one of the guys I know stood at the table I was running for 15 minutes, reading the Trevor Project page I had pulled up and asking questions. It was super sweet. Its people like him that make us want to do events like that.

The rest of the week was just midterm after midterm. I have so many. I don’t know how they expect us to do work and also travel. I feel like traveling is one of the biggest perks to Studying Abroad, but with so much homework and studying, I don’t know how anyone has time for anything lol. I don’t travel nearly as much as some of the others in my program, and wow. I don’t know how they do it.

Of course, instead of doing homework and studying this weekend, I lounged on my bed all Saturday, and Sunday I took a day trip to Marseille. Now, this isn’t the first time I’ve gone to Marseille, but it’s the first time for something I’ve wanted to do. We don’t count the Marseille Beer Festival in this house.

I went with Sophia of Disneyland Paris fame and the whole reason we went was to see an orchestra play Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts music, and wow we were in for quite the treat. We left earlier than we needed to because Sophia wanted to go to the Lego Store. Luckily it was only about a five minute walk from there to the concert venue. So off we went. The bus ride to Marseille takes anywhere from 25-40 minutes depending on traffic, and today it was on our side. What wasn’t on our side was the distance of our destinations from the Gare Saint-Charles. The Lego Store was a 25 minute walk from the train station, to which neither of us wanted to do, but we also didn’t know how to figure out the bus system in Marseille, so we started walking.

To the surprise of us both, the Lego Store ended up being in a massive mall, which neither of us were expecting. There are no malls in Aix, with it being a small town, so the only large shopping structure I’ve seen so far before that point was the one we stumbled across in Paris, which funny enough was also because of a Lego Store. There was the first food court I’ve seen since getting here, a million shops, and a blessed Starbucks. Why are there no Starbucks’ in Aix?

The Lego Store was a pretty decent size for the mall, and both of us ended up leaving with a set. I don’t know how I’m going to get all of my stuff back, but we’ll figure it out. That’s a December me problem. After walking around for a bit, we made our way over to the concert venue, which was an old silo and was aptly named as such. Super cool inside, very industrial feel, and even though we had seats on the side, our view of the stage was pretty good.

The concert itself was amazing. I didn’t know what to expect really going into it since I never attended any of my high school’s orchestra concerts and thus had never been to one. I don’t think my high school orchestra had electric guitars, fog machines, or color changing lights. I now know why they call themselves the Neko Light Orchestra. Movie music medleys, tributes to the most beloved professor, Umbridge (-_-), and a beautiful tribute to Robbie Coltrane were among some of the many sets they played, and honestly, I don’t think another orchestra will top it. What other orchestra has you on your feet clapping along to a rap version of “Double Double Boil Trouble”? Exactly.

Aix was dark when we got back. We had missed the bus we were supposed to get on and the next one didn’t leave for an extra 15 minutes after what it was supposed to. So I walked back by myself. On one hand, I like the cool night air and the peace, but at the same time… I’m a girl. I don’t really feel safe walking around by myself during the day, nevertheless at night. I was fine, but even in a relatively safe city like Aix, I can’t get rid of these feelings. There’s not a light switch I can simply switch on and off.

I did make it home without being kidnapped thankfully, and despite how exhausted I was from walking everywhere, I proceeded to stay up until 2am building my Lego set. It’s not exactly a Christmas scene per say, but I’ve always contributed Hogsmeade to Christmas time, and in these stressful midterm weeks, I could use the bit of happiness. I mean, look how cute it is!

I’ve got another week of midterms to do, but my next post will be a massive one, since it’ll be about my week long trip to London! I’m doing a solo trip for six days, so look forward to all my pictures. Since writing the majority of this, I did go on an overnight trip to Paris with one of my classes, but I don’t feel like writing about it, so here’s a few pictures, and I’ll write again in a couple weeks.

I have so many more photos but that’s all for now.

Felicity

This is an early, mid-September update.

Classes started off pretty easy, with the exception of the English class I transferred into that made me do the homework for day one despite my not being in the first class. I digress.  I could’ve gone to Monaco before then, but I didn’t sign up fast enough.  So, we went to Saint Tropez instead.  Beautiful, expensive Saint Tropez and its hike of a beach trip.

When we came back from Saint Tropez, however, was the real interesting part of the day. I enjoy sipping rose and slushies on the beach as much as the next person, but what other city practically sets itself on fire for fun? I was slightly nervous, given our experience with wildfires in the past couple of years, but my roommates and I had been seeing it set up for a week, so we couldn’t NOT go.

Beforehand, since it started once the sun set, we got delicious 2 euro pizza that I’m definitely going back to at some point, and walked around. So many metal structures ablaze with fire. It was beautiful. It started at a local theatre, which had all sorts of little things set up. I believe there was more inside but we didn’t go in. I was too enamored by the outside.

Then we began walking towards the Rotonde, my roommates and I, along with a classmate of mine and a friend of hers. There was fire everywhere, but they had workers all over the place equipped with equipment if the breeze blew a little too strong. Finally reaching the fountain, we saw the big center point of the festival.

It. Was. Amazing. I mean, I did have a bit of a panic flashback moment to Phantom of the Opera and its ending, but aside from that, it was brilliant. The fountain looked ethereal under the flames and smoke. PotO be damned, nothing would ruin that fountain’s time in the spotlight. I couldn’t take my eyes off it. I may have been in a summer dress at 8:30 at night, but I wasn’t cold in the slightest. There was so much fire all around us that it didn’t feel like the sun had gone down. It was a good test of my new phone’s night mode.

As amazing as it was, that wasn’t the only thing that happened in September (aside from classes of course). There was a fun bowling night put on by the school that I attended with my friend Ash. I was really worried how I’d do with house equipment, as I have my own custom stuff back home, but I did shockingly well.

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The last thing I want to mention is my trip to Arles, France. I went with my photography class and despite the fact that it was pouring in the morning, it was super beautiful and a pretty fun time. I’m not really huge on photo exhibitions (I much prefer museums) but those were pretty cool too. There was one on Red Cross photography that was particularly impactful.

I also got to know some of my classmates through that trip, and I talked with one about Disneyland Paris for like… 10 minutes over sorbet. Seems that both of us wanted to go at some point but couldn’t find anyone to go with 🙂

Felicity

The early start program I participated in was really fun, and I am glad I did it for the bonds I made with my fellow students, but wow I was exhausted.

The first day started off as most first days at a new college starts: sitting in a chair stupidly early listening to people introduce themselves and talk about the same thing we talked about during the pre-orientation meetings. My roommates, Grace and Eshen, and I were almost late that day because our app took us a completely different direction than the school.

After that, and each morning after, we had French class, although I was put in the wrong one so I had no idea what the professor was saying half the time.  I was too anxious to bring it up though, so I just had to sit and suffer. I partially blame the people who put me in that class, but also my French hearing comprehension has failed me miserably this whole time. I am so thankful that Mara was in that class too because she helped me a ton.

I know you want to hear every single itty-bitty detail about my time sitting in an uncomfortable wooden chair talking about visas, but I will skip most of the other “orientation” orientation stuff and get to the good stuff:  all the fun activities.

So Tuesday, August 30th, was the first real day I was out on the town. We were almost late that morning too, but that’s besides the point. In our French groups, we did rotating groups doing two different activates. We did a tour of Aix, which was beautiful. So many areas I hadn’t explored up to that point, including the main monument of the town: the massive “Fontaine de la Rotonde”. I’ll be mentioning it in the future, but I’m just going to refer to it as “the Rotonde” for future reference.

We are told to not be the drunk American stereotype, but one of the reasons why our tour guide rushed through the beginning part of the tour, was to be able to show us “Bar Street” as everyone calls it. Needless to say, that’s a popular spot. Fun fact: the busiest day to go out here is a Thursday night. Another fun fact: one of our alumni fellows this semester is a graduated English major from Linfield! Isn’t that nuts?

The other event we did was a wine and cheese tasting, and that was interesting as I don’t like wine. This was the one event my mom was jealous of when I told her, so I instantly sent her a picture when I did it, to which I got an annoyed response.

Fast forward a day and we have our first excursion: a trip to Ile de Porquerolles. The beach! This was probably my favorite excursion we’ve gone on since I’ve gotten here. We took a bus to an island that we had to ride a ferry to get onto and then we were on this beautiful Mediterranean island!

The food was delicious, and oh my gosh the water! Obviously we go to school in Oregon, so the water is cold. I’ll swim because I’m crazy and used to it, but most won’t. This water was so warm and blue, and while it was a lot saltier than I expected, I did not care. Swimming in the Mediterranean sea is what really made it sink in that I was in France.

Around this time, COVID decided to rear its ugly head and while I did not catch it, one of my roommates and almost all her friend group got it.  It actually spread through quite a few of the ESP kids, causing us to be uninvited to the ESP/Regular student mixer that Sunday. Oops 🙁

The last day of the program was  a picnic in a nearby park after French. It was a really chill way to end off the chaotic week of cooking classes (which is ironic because most of us can’t use the kitchen in our home stays) and library visits.

You’d think we’d be at classes now, but nope. There was one more thing in the way: regular orientation plus it’s excursion. We were banned from the regular orientation because of COVID, but were allowed on the trip to La Ciotat, another beach town. While beautiful in it’s own right, this trip required more hiking and overall, more busywork than our gleeful splash through Ile de Porquerolles. The ocean was colder there too, but just as salty. I still had fun though.

Felicity

I’m very behind on these blogs, so let’s go!

I’ve never been out of the country before (sans the one time I went to Canada when I wasn’t even a year old), so tackling a journey like this, with a collective 15 hours of flights and even more hours of layovers, was nerve-wracking to say the least. I flew Portland (PDX) to San Francisco (SFO), SFO to Frankfurt, Germany (FRA), and finally FRA to Marseille, France (MRS).

My flights were interesting, to say the least. PDX to SFO was routine enough. I had made the same trek down not two months prior, for my visa appointment. There was a funny moment when getting beverages though.  I asked for cranberry juice and I guess the guy couldn’t hear me well through my mask, but he gets me my juice and then asks “did you say you wanted vodka with that?” I hadn’t said anything remotely close to anything alcohol, and I’m not 21. I just laughed and said no, but I appreciated that he thought I was older than I am, and it got some chuckles out of my seat mates, who proceeded to order a white wine and a tomato juice respectively. Tomato juice guy wasn’t asked about alcohol.

We didn’t have a lot of time on the layover between our first two flights, but the international terminal in SFO was shockingly bougie. They had a Gucci and Hermes store in the airport.

The longest flight I’d ever been on up until that point was a 6 hour flight from NYC to Portland last June, so my 11 hour flight from SFO to FRA was rough. It was my first time on those massive planes with a middle set of seats, which I thought was cool, but Mara, who is also here in Aix-en-Provence, and I were separated and I sat next to a couple who didn’t speak a lot of English. This meant that the entire trip, I felt like I was third wheeling as the two cuddled and watched movies. I also can’t sleep on flights, so I didn’t do more than nod off for increments of 10-30 minutes. That flight wasn’t my favorite.

In contrast to the SFO International terminal, FRA was huge! We got off in terminal Z. Z! I’ve never been to an airport where there were so many gates. And I swear 90% of the gates I saw were Lufthansa.

We had a 5 hour layover in Germany, and I didn’t see a different plane until probably hour 3 of what ended up being 6 (our flight got delayed). They had a whole departments store full of perfumes and alcohol and toys that we walked through directly after going through customs which baffled me. Parts of it felt like we were in a mall instead of an airport. Neither Mara nor I had breakfast when they came around (lady passed right by me after giving my seatmates food. Rude) so we got pretzels. They are as delicious as their reputation entails.

Eventually we got to MRS, and despite us rushing off the plane and collecting our baggage as quickly as possible, we still ended up missing the bus we were supposed to take by less than a minute. We saw it drive away as we were approaching. We had to catch the last bus of the night, which was technically the first bus of the morning. I ended up getting to my homestay after a 40 minute bus drive and a 10 minute taxi at like… 1:30am.

Needless to say, I crashed. My roommates didn’t even know I arrived because I slept in so late. I was so glad that the early start program I was participating in didn’t start until Monday because I needed Sunday to recuperate. 

If only I knew what I was in store for with the ESP.

Felicity