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! :)