Hotellerie Du Couvent Royal - Hotels & Preference Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume

Really beautiful train ride along the coast (which in a way it is a shame that the railway is right on the beach) Marseille is a bigger city and not so quaint but the port area is nice. Flew out of Marseille to Lisbon. I know not quite geographically logicall

... even a few unaccompanied women sneak past.

After I've had enough excitement for the evening I walk back to the station to wait out the rest of the night. Its only 2am, so I've got some time to kill. I end up talking with an old man who is standing in front of the station smoking a cigarette. After a brief chat, he invites me back to his place to wait for my train. He seems friendly enough, and the prospects of waiting in the cold for three more hours aren't ...

... on Sundays, when nothing really opens – the French here observe their ‘dimanche’ a lot more than we do at home, which I think shows a great respect for tradition, even if it is religious, and for the importance of spending time with family. But there’s still one French tradition I can’t get used to: men kissing each other on the cheeks...God knows what would happen if they put mistletoe into the equation!

Charlotte x

Late start today but I managed a quick refreshing dip in the river before we set off. I said to Kim give me 5 minutes she reckoned I would only need 2! She was right. Easy drive to Lac du Ste-Croix which is a huge blue lake. We found a fantastic park overlooking the lake, alongside several ...

... and instead went out to a great classic Provencal dinner, and got some good wine. But then, we started to see a couple kids in costumes, or rather just kids in sheets. I think one of them had a mask. But on our way back from dinner, we found the bar scene. Mostly it was just people out on a normal Saturday night, but we had to at least go check it out. We were somewhat impressed with the Halloween scene, and probably could ...

... write her address and draw a map I realized that something was terribly wrong. She drew a map of Corse (Corsca) - a little French island I the Medeterranian. We were headed to Corse, not Italy! The victim of not having an Italian map and too little internet time. Who knew? Propriano certainly sounds Italian to me…

We weighed our options:
1) continue on and cycle across Corse (2700m altitude ...

... in a bit of culture. Before it closed, we made sure we went along to the Cezanne/Picasso exhibition, originals and all. The pieces were amazing up close, and we were able to recall some French cultural studies lectures...even though, of course, Picasso wasn't actually French, but we could recognise his influences! Definitely worth noting that the only reason we knew where the exhibition was taking place, was because we'd previously been on the little tourist train ...

... because she and one of the other host families were going to take myself and another IAU student on a tour of Aix and of IAU's location. So far, this move had worked out just fine, and Camille had turned out to not be as bad as I had feared. Even though I had only been in Aix for only one afternoon, I felt much more relaxed and happy. My life was just starting to change for the better, and hopefully that would continue....

... thinness. One slice of ham- I think of the sandwiches we eat back home- if it is not more than half meat and cheese, we are 'cheated'. Here, 95% bread, the meat is a flavoring; the bread is the thing. The portions are small, and so on. I also like that the French, on the whole, are short (ok, my size) as I felt like a pygmy in Holland where everyone, especially the men, all topped six foot and more. Here I am exactly average, in fact, a little tall depending on ...

... Unfortunately meredith had her purse stolen in the shoe shop - so we had to go sort that out. By the time we got back we had missed our contiki bus to monaco. Had a ladies night in instead - watched a strange thriller french movie, tried on our new clothes, ate chinese takeaway and gelato. Got to bed quite late in the end - when the others arrived home and michelle came into my room to find out how my day was. The day was different to what i expected, but still a very good day!