You say Goodbye, and I say Hello!

June 12, 2010
Day 45


In the morning I woke up around 8:30 and said goodbye to Betsy and Andrea. I then went and used my computer in the lobby for a little while until Professor LeBras told me I should check out as soon as I was ready. So then I went and got my stuff from the room, brought it all to the lobby and checked out. I then sat in the lobby with Sister LeBras for about an hour as she talked to me about everything (she likes to talk). Around 11:30 I said goodbye to Sarah and Paige and a little while later the LeBras’ left too so I sat in the sunroom with Jessica and Isabelle. But they too left eventually (they were leaving in the evening so they went into town for the day) and I was left for another hour alone to myself until my taxi arrived at 1pm. The taxi was a rip off (the charge started at 12 euros so I ended up paying 25 euros to get to the airport, which was only a ten minute drive). But the driver was nice and talked to me a little bit. I was able to easily communicate where I wanted to go and I understood his directions to go down the stairs to the bottom level to find the baggage claim area to meet my parents. Luckily I understood him and his directions were clear.

At the baggage claim I had to wait an extra hour because my parents’ plane was delayed. While I was waiting I sat next to an old lady who leaned over and asked me the time and started telling me how her family was supposed to pick her up but they were an hour late or something and had forgotten her! It was funny though because it was hard to hear her because of the noisy surroundings and she didn’t speak exceedingly clearly so there was a lot of miscommunication--we both couldn’t really understand each other. This was kind of sad because I should be able to understand French by now, but it was difficult to hear her too. Eventually her son came and picked her up (it sounded like there had just been a mix up of the correct pick up time so he hadn’t actually forgotten her) so it all ended well. She even said goodbye to me twice as she was leaving with him (“Au revoir Mademoiselle!). It was really cute. She was the sweetest little old lady (only about 5 feet tall, a little hunched over with age and she shuffled when she walked; white hair, little old lady skirt suit and old lady heels and purse, and she spoke cute little French). Adorable.

Finally, around 3:15 I spotted my parents coming out of the terminal (after two hours waiting in the airport with all my stuff). I was so excited to see them! It’s been six months now since I’ve seen any of my family, which is the longest I’ve gone so far. So it was really great to see them again.

We walked over to the car rental area and waited in line for a while. Luckily we didn’t wait in the big line because it was really long and in the sun (it was sunny and humid out, not great line conditions) and it took half an hour with Dad only waiting behind one person in the “already checked-in”-line. However, he eventually got to the desk and I stood with him to help in case he didn’t understand. I didn’t think it would be a problem because I expected a car rental place would speak English. But Dad had trouble understanding the guy’s French accent, so it was a good thing I was with him.

Rental Guy: Do you have your passport Monsieur?
Dad: What?
Guy: Your passport?
Dad: What?
Me: Passport. He wants your passport Dad. Same word in English.
Dad: Oh....

This happened a few times...

Finally, after revalidating a bunch of paperwork, which took longer because the guy serving us was new to the job, we got our car and left the airport. It took a couple rounds to actually get out of the airport and onto the main road, but we did it. We also took a couple wrong turns getting to the hotel, but that too was eventually found in time. Once we got checked in we put on our suits and went to the beach. Dad chose the private section with swimming pool, and a sandy beach with sunbathing chairs. Normally it would cost 12euro a person but the beach was only open another forty minutes and I was able to negotiate with the guy (who was pretty cute) to get in for free. Mom said we only got in for free because he thought I was cute. That would be nice. He definitely got excited when he learned that I spoke French. And I did a decent job too. I think I hid my incompetency fairly well, haha.

Side Note: I was really happy to be in a huge room
with such big comfy beds...

After our half hour of lounging and Dad going for a swim in the Mediterranean, we changed quickly and got dinner along the boardwalk at a buffet place (a real buffet, because its French!). The dinner was decent (the best part was the green beans and the casserole dish of lasagna). Again, I avoided eating the bread!

We missed each other

When we finished dinner, we took a little stroll and then went back to the room, watched my baguette fight movie, and went to bed.

The Final Test

Friday June 11, 2010
Day 44

Yesterday was a lounging kind of day for me, although it didn’t start out that way. I woke up around 8 to study for my test, which was just a twenty minute interview with Dr. LeBras at 10:40am. Unfortunately he asked me about the one subject I knew the least about so I don’t think I did very well, which is frustrating because I really did try to study. The problem was that I don’t have a book because I shared with Marissa, so I couldn’t start studying until she was done, which was around 1am. Certainly I could’ve done more to prepare farther in advance, but it was an unfortunate situation nonetheless.

However, even though I wasn’t able to say much, it was quick and not that hard (he talked a lot himself luckily). After finishing my test I hung out in Sarah, Paige and Betsy’s room on and off for most of the day. I also did a load of laundry and some preliminary packing. It will be nice to have clean clothes for once. It has been two weeks now since I’ve done my laundry. The only thing I really ran out of was underwear though, which I just handwashed in our sink. Because its been so nice and sunny here in Nice I’ve been wearing the same couple outfits (my new white shorts from Camieu in Paris, and a few different tops, and I wore dresses a lot). Then around 6 I helped Meridith walk her bags down to the bus stop to go to the airport. That was kind of sad. But its okay because we’ll all see each other soon in the Fall at school so its not that heartbreaking.

Unfortunately Betsy, Paige and Sarah had a written test that took a long time so I couldn’t really hang out with them, and I didn’t feel like going to the beach (I’m still pretty sunburnt) so it was a lazy day. Around 7 o’clock, Sarah, Betsy, Marissa and I went out to a cafe down Avenue des Anglais for some pizza. We planned to meet up with Paige at the beach at 9 because she still had to finish her test. The pizza turned out to be really good, surprisingly since French pizza is not that great. And our server was really funny. We think he was Italian because when he came over he started in French, realized we spoke English and then the rest of the time he spoke English to us, kind of. I don’t really know how to describe his funniness. But he was just goofy and playful with us about the language and just really friendly. It was quite refreshing from the cold Parisian service I’m used to. I ordered a Marguerite pizza which is basically just cheese pizza with olives on top. So I took those off (I tried one and it was gross) and when I had finished I made a smiley face with them on my plate. When I showed the waiter he laughed and told me that I was allowed to have dessert but the others couldn’t. It was fun. I’m happy to know that not all of France is snobby and elitist--even if he wasn’t French (although we didn’t get a chance to ask him where he was from, dang it).

Betsy & Sarah

My happy meal, French style

After dinner we met up with Paige and then walked back the way we came to find some gelatto. I ate passionfruit flavored gelatto that was really good. I wanted to try a drink of theirs that was called Noisette (hazelnuts) because I have a new obsession with them. But I decided against it. When we finished our ice cream we walked back to the residence, getting “Bonsoir”ed by every group of guys we passed---at one point the guys whistled so I whistled back, haha. We also passed by a small cafe/shop thing where the guys started calling to us even as we didn’t stop to chat. He asked where we were from so I shouted back “Les Etats-Unis” and he said something nice about it or us I don’t remember and wished us a good night, so I responded likewise. It was kind of funny--I was feeling very gregarious, probably because it was our last night.

Sad to say goodbye...

Back at the residence we worked on our baguette movie and FINALLY finished it! Yeah!!! Its almost ten minutes long. Oh la la. But its good and I’m really glad we did it, it was so much fun and such a good souvenir!

Sadly, I didn’t really say goodbye to people before they left. I said goodbye to Meridith obviously, and Joy but that’s about it. Oh well. Goodbyes are awkward anyways...

Blown away by Nice

Thursday, June 10
Day 43

Today Marissa and I took the bus to the Musee Massena, which was an old mansion house from the 19th and 20th centuries that has been turned into a museum. The museum is really beautiful, situated amidst a lovely garden overlooking the Mediterranean. The interior of the home is rich and elegant. I especially admire the beautiful gold inlaid doors that led to the other rooms such as the Salle a Manger and the Great Hall. The museum houses an array of old portraits and items, including a vest worn by Napoleon and his wife Josephine’s tiara and cloak. I also enjoyed looking at the old photographs and advertisements from Nice in the early 20th century. There was even a poster setting forth rules for bathing at the public beaches in Nice--it was required to wear appropriate bathing attire at all times, a custom that seems to have been lost over the years in France, if you know what I mean.

Napoleon's vest

The weather was crazy today because it was so windy. The wind was so strong that it blew things from the trees into the streets, and a huge bushel of pine needles or something was blown down onto my head--hard. It actually hurt a lot, and of course all the sand and leaves on the ground were blown against our bear legs, so that stung a little too. The wind also affected the sea, and the waves were so big and wild that they closed the beaches off from the public! The waves were crashing over the docks and the rock outcroppings. It was a beautiful and majestic sight. But I can see why it would have been dangerous to be out there--especially due to the short shelf here. The shelf ends a couple meters out and just drops off so that you can no longer touch, so it would be very dangerous to be out there in wavy conditions.

Getting blown away

However, Marissa and I braved the windy streets to find the shopping center. We eventually found it and went to Zara’s where I bought an adorable skirt and a tan belt (that was only 9,95e!). Then it was about 4 o’clock so we headed back on the bus to our residence where we met up with the class later for dinner at 6:15pm. Once everyone was present (at around 6:30) we took the bus and went to a nice little restaurant for our last class dinner together in France. The meal was pretty good. The first course was salad that had tuna fish, a weird piece of fish that I took off, and lots of different vegetables (celery, tomatoes, red and green peppers etc.). It was okay. I liked the peppers a lot. I tried the tomatoes and actually gagged. They were gross. I’m really trying to like them, but they were too big and too raw. I still only like them cooked. That was the worst I’ve been about food the whole trip--I actually gagged and made a face with every bite of the tomatoes. I gave away three to Andrea and ate two myself. Ew.

The salad

The second, main, course was beef with gravy and onions and a side of potatoes with cheese. It was good--very American really. And the dessert was a choice between lemon meringue, apple, or strawberry tart. I chose strawberry and had a couple bites of Marissa’s lemon. They were decent. I wish I hadn’t had it though because after dinner Professor LeBras took the whole class out to a really good gelato place that gave us three scoops each! Luckily we walked the whole way (and it was pretty far from the restaurant) so I could digest a little bit, but I was still so full! But the gelato was really good, and it was located in this cute little square with an old church, old buildings and a fountain in the middle. I had speculoos, hazelnut and some sort of fruity flavor (I don’t remember which one I got). They were all really good. The interesting thing about this place though was that there were tons of different flavors and many of them were really strange. It was the Italian gelato version of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans! They had black olive flavor, tomato basil, avacado, roses (Betsy had it and it really tasted like roses), pepper, and even beer! So bizarre.

Crazy gelato flavors

Sarah, Me, Paige, Marissa and Betsy lying across us
(It was quite a production getting Betsy into position)

After we finished eating we started walking back to the residence. It was about a half hour to forty minutes walk back. We ended up getting split up a bit so I walked most of the way back with Sarah, which was nice because we got to have a good one on one conversation. We talked about our first impressions of people, how we liked the program, our experience in London (we each went, but with different people). She and I agreed that we liked London, but we now loved Paris better because we knew it and we using it as a comparative. I told Sarah how I had remembered meeting her before the initial interviews for the program in December, and that I didn’t recognize her until several weeks into our trip in Paris. We also compared our impressions of Paris and our favorite parts and talked about school etc. It was fun. We also ran into Richard and Jessie and walked with them for a little bit.

Eventually we got back to the residence and I tried to study a little bit for the test, but I shared with Marissa so I didn’t get it until 1am and so I didn’t really study that night. I worked a little on our movie, wrote a few journal entries and skyped for a little bit. I ended up going to bed around 2:30 and decided to get up early and study before my test at 10:40am.

Casino Royale and a real Royal Palace

Wednesday, June 9
Day 42
MONACO

After class this morning, I went with Betsy, Paige, Sarah and Marissa to Monaco, which is about a forty minute bus ride from the station in Nice. The bus ride is very windy and bumpy but the scenery is beautiful as the route follows the coastline from Nice to Monaco. We got off at the Monte Carlo Casino, which was designed by Garnier, the famous architect of the Paris Garnier Opera House.We went inside and paid the 10 euro to go look at the casino and the theater (there is an opera house inside the casino) but unfortunately the opera theater was closed! So we kind of wasted 10 euro, but it was cool to go in and look at all the gambling tables and reminisce about James Bond (they filmed the casino scene here!).

Paige, Betsy, Me, Sarah
in front of Monte Carlo Casino (Casino Royale)

Monaco

From the casino we walked down the hill along the pier admiring the beautiful harbor and grabbed lunch at a cafe there on the walkway. Unfortunately there wasn't anything on the menu within in my budget that didn't contain bread so I had to break my "no bread" rule and have a sandwich. It was my first bread in a week though so I'm pretty proud of myself... After eating we continued on and went up the opposite hill to the palace, which is still used as the official residence of the Monacan royal family. That was a really neat experience to visit a palace that was still in use. I didn’t even mind listening to the audio guide (because it was of my own volition and not required). The palace is really pretty, of course, and the history was interesting too. It was funny to learn that a lot of the old masterpieces that were once kept here were lost during the French Revolution. For some reason I seemed to think that the French Revolution only influenced areas in and around Paris, but that is incorrect. Even Monaco lost priceless collections in the Revolution.

On the way to the palace

The Palace of Monaco

We walked to the cathedral down the street from the palace after finishing our tour. There we saw the graves of past monarchs of Monaco, including that of Grace Kelly, the famous American actress turned princess. I also bought a couple handmade souvenirs from the nuns there, who were really nice and spoke to me in French (for the most part) for which I was grateful.
By this time it was about six o’clock so we had to start heading back down to the bus stop to go back to Nice. But it was a good day, we were able to see a lot of Monaco and appreciate its beauty and history. It was really cool to learn that it only has 30,000 citizens (the size of BYU) and the prince of Monaco is only 23 (and single) which Marissa was anxious to point out. She already called dibs though. But she told me I can have the Italian missionary--not sure if that’s a fair trade...

Fun in the Sun

Tuesday, June 8
Day 41


BEACH DAY.
I got up, ate some breakfast, and then headed to the beach where I spent the entire day in the sun. I slept a little, swam a little in the Mediterranean--because I'm cool like that-- and hung out with my friends. Paige, Sarah, Betsy, Marissa and I took pictures on the rocks and then did a short video scene on the beach to add to our baguette movie. It turned out really well too. I also got a mean sunburn, especially on my back and shoulders and a little bit on my legs. I didn’t notice how bad it was until later that night when it kind of hurt to sleep on it. I'm just hoping it will turn into a nice tan in a couple days...

Me, Sarah Bowers, Betsy

Me and Sarah

Our Class

Betsy and I

In the evening I hung out with the girls in their little apartment because they get internet (since they’re above the lobby) and hung out with them. We watched Youtube videos and Glee. Funny videos on youtube that I was introduced to include the “Canadian Border Patrol,” “Tickle Me Emo,” “I Threw it on the Ground,” and the Literal Music Videos. Good times.

Basically the entire day consisted of me lounging in the sun...so it was a good day I'd say!

An Old Chateau, an Israelite Cemetery and a Russian Orthodox Church...oh, and the beach

Monday, June 7, 2010
Day 40

I left with Meridith, Ryan, Paris and Marissa right after class (did not stop by Vincent's room) to go through Old Nice and see the Chateau and Rocher. It was a lot of walking for flip flops, but other than that it was a pleasant walk along the seashore and I enjoyed seeing the Mediterranean architecture. It is so different from Paris with all the yellows, pinks, browns and oranges of the houses and the eclectic feel of the small streets and shuttered windows. We passed through an open air antiques market and saw the Opera House and church. From there we continued a short walk to the Rocher which we climbed up and saw the ruins of the old chateau. At the top the view of Nice was incredible. The city itself, with all its vibrant colors, is beautiful, situated in the valley and hills sloping down into the azure blue Mediterranean. Its obvious where it gets the name Cote d’Azure.

View of Nice from the Chateau

From the top of the hill we made our way down and walked through an old Israelite cemetery, which was interesting, and then kept walking downhill into town. The walk was really fun because the entire city is so stereotypically picturesque and quaint. We went through these narrow winding streets and alleyways between brightly colored old apartments. There was even laundry hung out to dry above us from the windows! When we made it to the bottom of the hill we explored for about another fifteen minutes until we finally found the Russian Orthodox Church. Its famous because it is the largest Russian orthodox cathedrale outside Russia. We paid 3 euros to go inside, which was pretty cool, but I think the outside was the best part. One funny thing we did see there was a matching Russian couple. They were both wearing blue and white sailor striped shirts and white pants. Marissa figured out they were Russia because she stalked them, I mean, watched them as they put back a Russian copy of the tour guide...and then she followed them outside and took a picture. Kind of made my day.

Falls by the Chateau

After we finished looking through the church we then headed back to the train station--along the way Meridith lost 2 euros which were eaten by the public toilets machine, so then she was out 2 euros and couldn't use the bathroom--and went back to the residence. Once there I changed into my bathing suit and went down the hill to the beach to spend the rest of the afternoon soaking up what little sun was left (it was pretty overcast).

Around 5:15 I left with Meridith and we picked up some drinks for our Family Home Evening and then had a class FHE in the lobby of the residence. It was nice. Beth gave a good spiritual thought and then we celebrated birthdays, including mine! And the best part was the LeBras' bought really good high-end pastries from a shop they like so I got a really good strawberry tart for my birthday cake. Mmmmmm.....Bon Anniversaire to ME!

Fast Sunday on the French Riviera

Sunday, June 6
Day 39

Sunday morning we met as a class in the lobby and walked to the bus stop down the hill. I was stupid and wore my green dress and heels (because you need heels with that dress) so my feet were hurting by the time we actually got to church forty minutes later. We took a bus and then had to connect to another bus and we had left a little late so we missed the first two hours of church and made it for Sacrament Meeting. It was Fast Sunday so we listened to testimonies. It was nice and I understood most of it, although I was a little tired. I used one of the Elders’ mini hymn book but his companion was cuter (unfortunately he was also fresh out so not as attractive). Anyways, not really important.

After the meeting I lingered with Betsy, Paige, Sarah and Marissa and Betsy and I tried to make ourselves approachable because we wanted to practice our French. Unfortunately no one seemed to want to talk to us--but they had no problem talking to Giles or Marissa and Paige. I don’t know why they hated Betsy and I, who were the only ones who were seeking a conversation. We did end up talking to a sister missionary, but that was in English and she was American, from the University of Utah. She was very nice though. While we were hoping for a French conversation a lady stopped and started talking to us briefly, asking if we were with the BYU class etc. She said she had known the LeBras for quite a few years because they had been back each year with the program. But she seemed to want to make it a quick chat and we had immediately moved closer to her to engage her--it was a funny image because it was three of us and we towered over her (she was really short, even if I hadn’t been wearing heels, which made it worse) so it looked like we were cornering her and I think we scared her a bit with our enthusiasm, haha.Anyways, we ended up not really being able to talk to anyone and then we went and shared in the potluck dinner in the cultural hall. It was pretty good!
After eating and staying to help clean up we then left (Giles, Marissa, Sarah, Paige, Betsy and I) and headed over to the Matisse Museum. Its just a short distance from the chapel so we walked there. Not to be insensitive but the best part of the museum was how small it was. Apparently Matisse is some sort of great artist, but his work did not engage me. I’m not sympathetic to the modern art movement and his work did not strike me as very tasteful nor, frankly, very good. There were a couple pieces that I liked, which were more conservative in appearance and less erotic, but for the most part I wasn’t to impressed. The cool thing about seeing Matisse is that I can tell people I saw it. That is about it.

After the Matisse Museum we walked around and saw the ruins of an old Roman arena and then caught the bus at the station across the street to get home. We got back around 3 or 4 ish and I went to the beach where a lot of the rest of the class was already out sunbathing. It was really nice and relaxing to rest in the sun (and yes, that is my justification for having a beach day on Sunday--I think it works).

Then, in the evening I had a lovely dinner of cold couscous and later went into the lobby to use the internet and that is when I had my little experience with Vincent, the French boy...