The Dirty South... of France

Two weeks later and I'm finally updating this thang about my Aix-en-Provence, France trip. Here are some revelations I had while I was there: 

• French is the most beautiful language I've ever heard. I'm taking it next semester so I can attempt to sound that sexy for at least a minute of my life. 
• French people are super nice, intelligent, and fun. (Obviously there are Frenchies that are not, but everyone I met gave me this impression.)
• It is my goal to meet and marry a Frenchman, have French babies, and raise my French babies in France so they can grow up well-educated and cultured and worldly. 
• French people know how to eat. and party. 
• I love France. Especially the dirty south of France. 

So I left super super early Thursday morning and got to the Marseille airport at 915 am where I was pleasantly surprised by the one and only Arnaud Allibert and his friend Sebastian. What a great welcoming party :) Thursday was a very cultural and fun day... I went to the open-air market with Arnaud and his grandmother (who is one of the cutest people I've ever met, by the way). The market was awesome-- all these spices and fruits and veggies and breads and cheeses and different kinds of soaps... and then there was an antique area with some really cool relics from WWII; Arnaud's grandmother showed us a ration book with stamps used for bread and other kinds of rations during WWII. 

And then Arnaud bought me a stick to chew on. Not kidding. It was a licorice stick so it was pretty tasty, don't worry (except for the occasional bark bits that lodged themselves in between my teeth).

After the market I went to lunch with Arnaud and his grandmother and then his other set of grandparents. We ate at this cute little Italian place and I ordered the 4-cheese pizza (oh and I ordered in French) -- one plate of pure cheesy goodness, I tell you. It had bleu, goat, mozzarella, and some other cheese and it was AWESOME. Arnaud ordered beef tartare and I tried it-- SO GOOD. For those of you who don't know what beef tartare is, it's raw beef and you put some different sauces and spices on it and it is absolutely delightful. 
After lunch Arnaud took me to Les Deux Garcons, which is a cafe that was around in the 1790s and was where the French revolutionaries would hang out and write and discuss all their revolutionary thoughts. It really is the place to be. What you do is just sit outside and sip your espresso (I tried it without any milk or sugar and actually enjoyed it!) and smoke your cigarette (if you're French) and just watch the world go by. It was so fun just people watching with Arnaud-- he's so funny! We'd be watching a group of French fashionistas walk by and he would take on a hoity-toity french accent and say things like "Oh it's just so haaard being this beautiful." One time while we were sitting and sipping our espresso a crazy drunk woman came by and danced for us. too funny. 
After experiencing Les Deux Garcons, Arnaud showed me around Aix. He took me to the city hall, the museum, the cathedral, and a TON of fountains. He was the perfect tour guide! Seriously though, what an intelligent and fun Frenchman. 

Thursday night I met Arnaud's parents-- Dominique and Patrick were wonderful hosts! We had dinner with them and Arnaud's grandmother (who was also staying for the weekend). After dinner Arnaud and I just hung out and Arnaud's friend Sebastian came over and we had fun watching some Summer Heights High episodes, which is one of the funniest shows I've ever seen-- I highly recommend it! 
Friday was chill-- Arnaud and I spent more time at Les Deux Garcons and then he took me to a lookout above the little town of Venelle where the view is gorgeous! 

Friday night was SO MUCH FUN. We went to the club, DiViNO (some of you may have heard the Justice song titled DVNO-- Justice first performed at this fun little club). I met a lot of Arnaud's friends who were all SO nice and welcoming and really fun to dance with. 

Saturday: a very chill day. Really enjoyed just hanging out with Arnaud, catching him up on Jersey Shore (I was definitely corrupting his classy french ass!) and he showed me the hilarity of Summer Heights High (seriously one of the funniest shows I've ever seen). 
Sunday morning was bright and early because we drove Arnaud's grandmother back to her little town in the French Alps, Grenoble. Arnaud and I really were hoping to ski but unfortunately the weather did not permit us to do so, but instead we ate and slept. Not kidding. Arnaud's grandmother made amazing French food for us and we literally ate and slept all day. Well, we went into town for a little bit after lunch to see the cathedral and the museums, which were cool, but otherwise the entire day we ate and slept. Fine by me! 

Arnaud's Grandmother's cute cozy house

Monday we enjoyed a little more time with Arnaud's grandmother, and of course another delicious meal, and then Arnaud and I drove back to Aix. We took the longer, more scenic way back to Aix, and it was gorgeous! Lots of snow-covered trees and mountains! 

The rest of Sunday we just hung out more and made delicious crepes... 
and then Monday I went back home to Sevilla (wait, so weird to say that...). Such a great long weekend, thanks Arnaud! :) 

The ABC's of Granada: Alhambra, Baclava, and Caves

Oh wow it really has been too long. But in reality I really have been too busy! So much has happened in the past 2 weeks (I seriously can't believe it has already been 2 weeks and now it's already MARCH!). One of the highlights: our program had a group excursion to Granada, a city in the south of Spain known for La Alhambra, a Moorish palace that has some of the most amazing architecture I've ever seen.
So I know this is somewhat lazy, but I think I'll just list out my favorite parts about Granada because I have so much catching up to do in my life right now.

• After dropping off our luggage at our hotel in Granada (which was super legit, by the way), my friends Natalie, Leann, Catherine, and I set off on foot to explore the city.  Leann, Natalie, and I were really lucky to have Catherine with us because she lived in Granada a few summers ago and knows the city pretty well (not to mention Catherine pretty damn cool and fun, anyways). So first we walked along the main street and stopped to share a bottle of wine at a cafe with a view of La Alhambra. After some great people watching and conversation, we set off once again to find Catherine's old school. 

Leann and I with La Alhambra in the background

• We stumbled upon this garden-y place and took some goofy pictures. Definitely our most tourist-y moment of the day :)

• After finding Catherine's old school and apartment, we decided to scale the mountain in search of caves and the cave-dwellers. Well, we found them! And we also found a lesbian rock band jammin out on the mountain. that was cool. and when we got to the top. oh my god. the view. So goigeous. Snow-capped mountains, green meadows, old ruins, horses grazing, Spaniards picnicking. Absolute perfection. 

• One of my favorite parts of the trip was when we found the "arab street" with all these arabic restaurants and pastry shops and tea/hookah joints. Baclava in Granada can really give any baclava I've tried in Turkiye a run for its money (except Babanne's of course :). I even bought extra to bring back to Señora Ana, my host mom. 

• So going out in Granada was rrrrullll fun. We pre-gamed in the hotel, then bar-hopped a little, then ended up at Camboria, which is a discoteca in a cave. Literally, a cave discoteca. It was pretty fun, the only downside was that it was basically ALL americanos and american music. They played some unexpected stuff, both good and AWFUL-- (i'm still a little emotionally scarred from the nickelback song they played, during which I was forced to stop dancing and sit in protest).

Natalie, Leann, Catherine, and I being all cozy before we head out for the night! 

ME! in a cave discoteca!

Samantha and I at Camboria! 

• The next morning was a little rough-- we had to meet in the lobby at 945 to leave for our visit to the Alhambra. The only good part of waking up that early was the breakfast at the hotel. HOLY SHIZA. Lox, tomatoes, croissants, eggs-- anything and everything you could want, all super fresh and delicious. 

• Best for last: La Alhambra. Anyone who can appreciate architecture should visit La Alhambra once in his or her lifetime. Wow. It was seriously my most favorite architectural visit thus far. I prefer to show pictures rather than attempt a description that does not do it justice. 

As you can see, it was a beautiful and fun trip to Granada!