saturday started at 745am. rawr. we got up to catch the first bus to cassis, a small fishing village just up the coast from marseille (la ville de merde) and an almost reclusive spot with a small but bustling tourist industry. we finally got there around 11, and started off towards the famous calanques .. a corsican word meaning inlet. there are a dozen beautiful calanques in cassis- you can visit them on a boat tour, or be adventurous and climb them. we opted for the free route. it was an absolutely beautiful day- we were loaded up with like 3 baguettes, 2 bottles of wine- in plastic bottles, and this amazing new discovery- speculoos. its like peanut butter met a bunch of teddy grahams. it is absolutely delicious. since we first started making coast trips .. we've downgraded a bit .. it used to be bottles of champagne and nice cheeses and tarts .. but now we're looking for plastic bottles and less fancy picnics. nonetheless, sitting on the rocky coast of crystal clear blue water is a fabulous way to spend the afternoon. we laid there all day, taking cat naps, chatting about our lives and soaking in this amazing life that we live. we hopped on the last bus back to aix where i got home just in time for a delicious dinner of raclette, which is a swedish tradition. you take a piece of cheese and stick it in this little easy bake oven thing .. once its melted you pour it over tiny red potatoes and deli meat and bread and it is absolutely amazing. afterwards we all sat in the family room and watched dancing with the stars, french style, where i proceeded to fall asleep on the couch. so sweet.
sunday was a really early morning too. i had signed up to catch a bus to nice. the driver is a friend of our directors and gave us all a really really good price. 25 euros, when its normally 30 euros for a one way ticket. im so glad i had the motivation to get up and go because the people who signed up and didnt show up, still have to pay the 25 euros and our director was not happy. not to mention carnivale de nice is the biggest and best in all of france and some say , in all of europe, and my host family said i was stupid if i did not go.
the colors were astounding. huge floats and giant sculptures everywhere celebrating 'le roi de la mediterranee' or the king of the mediterranean. seriously the most beautiful and ornate floats i have ever seen. my friend, kalok and i raced off the bus to find food, ended up finding this sweet little stand selling socca, the nice specialty, and we people watched and just soaked up the atmosphere. afterwards, we were walking along the sidewalk, just taking in all the sights and i ended up seeing my friends and fraternity brothers from USC, joseph and claire. Joseph is studying in barcelona this semester and claire is on spring break from USC visiting him and they came down to nice for the weekend. So random, so wonderful and so crazy! I love how amazing life is! It was so great to see them!!
since it was such a beautiful day, kalok and i decided to spend it on the beach, soaking up the sun with a bottle of wine and some more speculoos! i seriously could not have asked for a better day. watching the funny people of the south of france and getting rid of my pasty white skintone while smelling the salty beach air, it was all i could ask for.
