Aix-en-Provence "Wahoo!"

Last weekend, the CEA group and I took a two night trip to Aix-en-Provence. It is situated in the center of the southeastern Provence region of France and is known for its small town, French vibe. It also has the most fountains of any other French city and maybe the most in all of Europe. It looks truly French with the fountains, the many cafés that once served famous painters, the close proximity of the French countryside, and the characteristic cobble-stone streets, however with a closer look one can see that it is crawling with internationals. There are a ton of international students and tourists who come to Aix so it was not completely uncommon to hear English or to see obviously tourist spots. It actually has quite the large collection of CEA students who study French and International Studies (but not Business) at many universities there; this is also why we choose to go to Aix, so we could meet other CEA students, so our director could spend time with their director, and so we could exchange stories about living and learning in France.

We got to our lovely hotel which had a TV!!! I am completely deprived of a television and didn't think that it would matter much, but I really miss just sinking into a chair with the television spoon-feeding me daily news. It is so much nicer than actively seeking news on the Internet from a dozen sites everyday. Well, we got to Aix, walked around looking at cathedrals, fountains, looking into a small "History of Aix" museum, and going to the CEA office. The museum was really neat because it explained a lot of the architectural regulations in Aix that keep the city looking so beautiful. Apparently, they were through a massive renovation series that encouraged true French architecture and the elimination of anything "ugly" from sight like garbage bins, drains, and hanging laundry. It's hard work keeping up such a touristy place. American tourist like to come to France for everything that is beautiful, but aren't truly interested, most of the time, in the way that the French live.

The best part of the first day was most certainly going out with other CEA kids. Even though we were super tired, we went to an international bar called "Wahoo!" in the center of town. It was Sidnie, Patrick and I who were joined by five CEA students from Aix. They showed us around, told us what to order (St. Omar is delicious!), and gave us the run down on living in Aix. The bar/club even had a wall for collecting international currencies; I talked with the bartender about the collection for quite a while especially since they had a French franc, crazy currencies from Zimbabwe, China, and India, and some other outdated bills. We greatly enjoyed talking with the other students and found that Aix was actually a great place to study despite its small size.

More later. Bisous!