Livin' it up on the southern coast of France... and crazy improvised BBQ's

If you look closely, there is a cat in the doorway of that facade

Bonjour a tous! I wanted to do another post to relate all my fun-filled adventures that I've had since I last wrote. As I mentioned in my last post, this past weekend, I went on another excursion with my program, this time to the southern coast of France! Specifically, we went to Nice, Orange, and Eze. We visited Orange first. There, we visited this enormous Roman theatre that was very well preserved. My favorite part was the wall of the theatre behind, around, and above the stage. It was very  The facade looked like the ancient city of Petra in Jordan (it appears in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade). There were also a ton of wild cats running around, which made me happy.

The lovely Mediterranean Sea

We ate lunch there and then afterwards, we drove for 4-5 hours to Nice. I gotta say, I missed the sun so much. Grenoble has had an unusually wet and dreary winter/spring, according to all the locals I've talked to, so sun has been very much lacking. However, my weekend with Nice was gloriously clear and sunny. It was also the first time I had been completely warm for more than when I was working out. All of us just basked in the sun the whole time we were there. I also started to get some color cause I tanned a little bit. :)

One thing that surprised me was the Nice's lack of a sandy beach. Instead, it was covered in medium sized rocks that were a pain in the ass to walk on. But, we still enjoyed being on the beach. We had a free night so we were on the beach for a good portion of the afternoon and then I went and got dinner. I had some amazing salmon and then gelato afterwards. I think Nice is the city of ice cream and gelato. Every corner had a gelateria or glacier. I loved it! I had ice cream three times in the 2 days that I was in Nice, twice in one day! My favorite was the Speculoos ice cream. I don't know if any of you have heard of it, but speculoos are these amazing cookies and they have an even better spread of it that is addicting. I am going to buy a jar or two and bring it home because I have never seen it by me, although I do know the US does carry them some places.

Meddie and me, imitating statues like usual

Anyways, Saturday morning, we went to one of the hill neighborhoods that was actually where the ancient people of Nice used to live, which is pretty cool. I am all about history. We went to this old monastery and around it, there were these beautiful gardens and olive trees. Did you know that green and black olives are grown on the same tree? Green olives are just picked earlier. Weird, right? The old palace of Queen Victoria is also just down the road from this area too.

Nearby, there was the remnants of another ancient Roman establishment. Nice has a very long history dating back before Roman times and it was cool to be able to see traces of this during my trip. Also in this same area, there the musee d'Henri Matisse. He was a very famous painter and sculptor who died in 1954, I believe. So, I got yelled at in the museum because I didn't see a "no photos" sign and I took a picture with my friend Meddie with one of the sculptures  It was worth it, though, because the picture was totally cute and funny. The security lady was such a crab, but it didn't put a damper on things.

I want a garden like this

For lunch, a few of us got things to go and ate on the beach and sunned. We then met up with our tour guide again and went on a tour around old Nice. I wasn't too interested and I just wanted gelato the whole time. We went into a church that was really pretty. I also just realized that I cannot even remember how many churches I have been in because I've gone to so many. My favorite part was our last stop, which was to see this museum that used to be an old house for some nobility. It was super fancy and it was fun to imagine living there back in the day.

Afterwards, we got ice cream and hung out at the beach some more. Then, dinner, ice cream (again!) and then beach again. That was our MO for that weekend, apparently. We all just were so excited to be at the seaside that we spent all our time there.

Gorgeous Eze

The next morning, we checked out of our hotel and went to Eze. It was a 25 minute bus ride down the coast. We toured a parfumerie and got to try a bunch of perfumes which was pretty cool. I bought a bottle of nice perfume for myself since I've never owned nice perfume. I always use the cheap Victoria's Secret stuff. I also got some nice gifts for people. I am trying to work on that since I only have a month left and I still want to find presents for quite a few people.

In Eze, there was also the cutest Medieval style village that curved up this hill. It was so beyond adorable and French and I loved it. There were some great views of the ocean, too.

Couldn't resist a little ballet in Eze

Unfortunately for me, my trip home was not fun. Firstly, the air conditioning wasn't working and so we were all melting in the back. Then, I started feeling sick and I realized I had food poisoning. By the time I got home, I could barely stand because my stomach was in so much pain. I was sick for two days. Just my luck. Overall though, my weekend was amazing!

This week, I also had another noteworthy event. My host brother had the great idea to do a BBQ so we hiked up to a park near the Bastille and made a fire and cooked burgers, sausages, and hot dogs and, of course, S'mores. It was really iffy at first because the winds that night were crazy strong and I was freaking out about starting a wildfire. But it was all good. It ended up being one of the most fun nights and I am so appreciative of all my awesome friends here.

My crazy group of friends and me, celebrating a successful BBQ

Well, that is all for now. I am heading to Rome tomorrow for the week. I am taking a 10 hour train trip. Fun. Haha. Then my bus home is even longer. I am taking the train by myself because I couldn't buy the bus ticket in time to go on the bus with my friends. Lame. But I am so incredibly excited to go to Rome. So expect a blog post and pics in another week. Have a good week, everyone!