1st week down, 3 months to go

One week down! I'm slowly but surely getting use to the way of life here.  So much has happened within this past week that I need to be updating this baby more before I get my days/nights mixed up or forget great times. 


Sketchy situations

This story needs its own little section. So the first Friday we wanted to go out, and so we did the normal routine, pregame on the beach, hit the town. Expect we hadn't really explored so we didn't really know where we were going. We were trying to find a certain bar, but of course things wouldn't go smoothly, and I'm direction-challenged and we got lost. Finally, when we get there, we went in and it was a little small lounge with purple walls and a 40 woman was djing. Shannon and Bridget had a weird feeling about it but we were trying to be open-minded about it. Finally, we knew we were at the WRONG place when we looked at the menu and realized we had stumbled into a gay bar. Whoopsies, see me never.


Screw the pony, I want a yacht

Last Saturday, our group headed down to the pier to take a boat to the Île Sainte-Marguerite. I love living on the beach here in Cannes, because there are boats EVERYWHERE and when I say boats I mean sailboats, speedboats, and YACHTS. Huge yachts. On our way to the island, a yacht pulled out and literally it was never ending. Get on a yacht - putting that on the bucket list. On the island, we took a tour of a fort and then went to the beach there. There was a sandy beach and a rocky beach, and we decided to go to the sandy one. Little did we know, the "sandy" beach wasn't so sandy and God knows what the rocky one was like. Also the water was very clear and perfect but not the dead jellyfish everywhere. Thanks but no thanks, I think I'll stick to the beach in Cannes.

Lesson learned in the roughest way possible
We have french for THREE hours in the morning everyday. It's a lot easier to pay attention in class knowing that you have to learn the language to use outside of the college. In my class, there are students who are from Switzerland, Holland, Sweden, and then some Americans. The worst thing about being American in class is that everyone can do that weird thing with their throats but when I try, I feel like I'm gonna hawk a loogie or choke to death. A typical weekday here starts with breakfast, class, lunch, beach/town, dinner, courtyard, sleep. We only have 2 classes but in 3 weeks our other seminars start so we are taking advantage of our free time to nap on the beach. Also, if I don't lose some lbs something's wrong because it takes 75 stairs to walk up and down to our room with no elevator. They're worst than the quads and my view that spiral staircases are cool has taken a complete 180. Wednesday night there was a beach party that one of the Swiss boys organized so around 10 we all headed to the beach and sh*t got real reaaal fast. The main lessoned I learned this week is do not get bombed during the week because it's impossible to focus on french when you have to puke. However, it was great time meeting people from literally all over the world. ALSO, I have a weird urge to jump in the sea when I've had a little to drink. Thanks to all my babysitters for not letting me drown ;) 

Antibes - control your pigeons
Saturday we took our first excursion to the city of Antibes. It's a 20 minute train ride from Cannes. When we arrived, we hiked to a castle when I realized my body is not made to live in hot weather. I could turn pages in a book using just my arm, THAT's how sweaty I was. The castle was cool, beautiful views and whatnot but damn it's hard to enjoy history like that when you know nothing about it and you can't read the plaques. After, we wondered the small town and grabbed lunch an outdoor restaurant. Our table was outside in a huge tent and I feel like the twins have never been so scared eating a meal in their lives. Why? Because an old lady kept feeding the pigeons by our table and they would come swooping down in this tiny tent. Not okay. Kate, this would have been the perfect situation for your "does this look like a circus? back offff" rant. Then we went to a Picasso museum which was great because it was air conditioned but I question some of the pieces Picasso has because a lot of them have cute smiley faces that resemble the ones I use to send to my crushes in 2nd grade. When we went outside, Bridge, Shan, and I were trying to figure out which scupture to take a picture with. Bridget pointed to one saying we should take a picture with this because Picasso is known for it. Then we read the plaque and it wasn't even made by Picasso. Seriously, I question art sometimes.


Real life Coyote Ugly

Finally the weekend came and now that we knew more people and places to go, we were very excited to go out. Friday, we pregamed at the beach. As we were hanging out, a pizza man, or so we thought, walked by and of course being the fat Americans we are, we had to try and take his pizza. He wasn't really a pizza man, but a Parisian, and gave us his pizza and conversed for a little bit. Then we all headed to Au Bureau, and five seconds later I was being carried onto the bar by a huge bouncer. I've never been so boggled in my life but this bar was something straight out of a movie. I'd turn to my left and there was shots being poured into people's mouths and I'd turn to the right and somehow the bar would be on fire. Way to crazy but definitely entertaining. Saturday night, we went to La Station with the group. I seriously apologize to everyone in that bar for Shannon and I's Celine Dion performance. I was intoxicated and still knew we sounded like nails on a chalkboard, but worst. Afterwards, we managed to find a sandwich place, ride some parked bikes, and of course I had to jump into the sea. It's literally always a beach in my bed. Why do I do this to myself? Sunday, things got sketchy when we tried to take a bus into town because the bus driver wouldn't take my money but wanted me to pay and it was just another awkward encounter. We had lunch at McDonalds and they have these cool kiosks ordering machines outside which I will be using all the time so I don't have to look like an idiot trying to order fries in French. Later that night, a group of us went to Morrison's pub for ladies night. There was a drunk 40 woman dancing on the stage but her dancing looked like she was having a seizure with every swag she made. Another girl was kicked off of the stage, that was humorous. And the boys here dress sooo cute I can't even take it and the women here are so beautiful even I catch myself doing a double take. Yup, that about sums it up.

Everyday in Cannes, Antibes, or where ever we may be, is something new. I hope everyone is enjoying themselves at home, going to football games, working, and whatnot . I'm definitely missing and thinking of you all. Sorry for making such long posts but I'll separate them so you can kind of pick which part you want to read about, if anyone even reads this. But who knows, maybe one day this blog will be printed and have its own museum, along with my hand-traced turkeys I made in 4th grade. xoxo