La Côte d'Azur

It’s currently Carnaval, and since Nice has one of the biggest Carnaval celebrations in the world and is only about 5 hours from Grenoble, the CUEF decided to take a trip there; API is going the last weekend in April, but since half of us aren’t in the extended program and will be gone by then, we got to go on this trip instead as a sort of “make up.” Although I was really excited to be missing 3 days of class and to be there for Carnval, I do wish that Cecilia and Shana could have come too; though I did get to spend a lot of time with Sarah, whose company I enjoy more and more every day. The bus ride down there went more quickly than expected thanks to my iPod, frequent naps (catching up on sleep from Geneva), and the French countryside, which is every bit as beautiful as portrayed on film. I did learn a few fun facts from our tour guide/trip organizer, Vincent. For example, of the 3 mountain ranges that surround Grenoble, only the Belledonne are Alps; the Vercors and the Chartreuse are technically “pre-Alps.” Also, the autoroute that we took to Nice is the most heavily traveled highway in the world. It was dark by the time we got to Nice, so even though we couldn’t see it in all its glory, it was still pretty at night. We went to a restaurant that Vincent knew and everyone got the menu, for simplicity’s sake (there were about 30 of us). It actually ended up being really good with a salade Niçoise (salad with tuna, eggs, tomatoes), steamed veggies, bread (of course), fries (lol), chicken, and a super chocolaty éclair. Afterwards, some of us just walked around looking at the Carnaval stuff until we found a bar we wanted to go to (ironically, it ended up being the “American Bar,” but since there were more non-Americans than Americans, that’s not why we picked it haha). Sarah, Brittain (another girl from AIFS intensive), and I shared some wine, which was so relaxing and prompted me to go to sleep as soon as I got back to the hotel. The next morning we ate the hotel’s continental breakfast (which included a ton of “pain au chocolat”) and everyone took a bunch of food to eat later haha we drove by the Mediterranean to get to the autoroute, and oh man was it beautiful. We drove along the road that follows the cliffs and the coastline, which offered so many great views. The little town of Eze is on the way to Monaco, so we stopped there for a couple of hours to eat lunch and look around; we toured a perfume factory, which would have been more interested had it not smelled so strongly that I got a headache. Afterward, Sarah and I just walked around the town and up to the “fort,” which is where a lot of the little streets are; the best way to describe Eze is “charming.” Then we continued onto Monaco; most of the group went to the Musée Océanographique, but Sarah, Tamela, and I decided that we wanted to spend what time we had there looking around and not in a museum. We walked through this beautiful park (it was pretty warm and the sun had come out!) which was next to the water, so the views were amazing; I kept thinking how much my Grandma would have enjoyed seeing it…then we saw the royal palace (where Princess Stephanie lives, represent!) and the changing of the guard. We spent the rest of the time walking through the streets and just enjoying the weather. We got back on the bus and went to Monte Carlo for about an hour and a half; it was “très riche” like the rest of Monaco, so it was an interesting juxtaposition with quaint little Eze. By the time we got back to Nice (what should have been a 45 minute drive took a lot longer because of traffic), we were all tired and really hungry; I would have eaten anywhere, but Tamela and Brittain were looking for something more specific, so it took longer than I would have liked. However, the place we went ended up being really good, so it worked out fine. Afterward, we just went back to the hotel and to sleep after a day of tons of walking. The next morning was the same deal with the breakfast (and stealing it haha), and then we got on the bus for Cannes. We had about 3 hours there, so we spent most of it at the fort/church on top of a hill and on the beach. I liked the city of Cannes a lot, but it was a little anticlimactic since I was hoping for more about the Film Festival; it was only the building and a “walk of fame” of sorts with a lot of people I didn’t really know. The hill provided some nice views (despite it being cloudy), but my favorite part was the beach; we spent a lot of time walking on the sand and sitting out on the rocks nearby, which was really therapeutic. We got back to Nice around 1 before the parade started at 2:30 (it was, after all, Mardi Gras!); before we even got to our seats, we were assaulted by confetti and Silly String and all sorts of crazy costumes. It was such a fun atmosphere with music and dancers and people and such an amazing and beautiful parade; I’m so so grateful that I got to experience that. Easily one of the coolest things I’ve seen. All of the floats had some sort of underlying political message, and there were even balloons of Obama and the Statue of Liberty; I never want to hear anyone say that the French hate us again because I have so much evidence that they don’t (but more on that later!). After it ended, we walked around looking at the various Carnaval-related things (like an actual little carnival) before getting a coffee. We went out on the beach (which is made up of millions of smooth, beautiful rocks and so different from what I’m used to) for a while and decided to have a picnic the next day for lunch (my idea, btw lol). We went to the same row of restaurants we had been to the night before and found the best little restaurant; the food was amazing, it ended up being cheap since Sarah and I shared a pizza, our waiter was such a fun guy, and I laughed my ass off at Sarah’s hysterical self. Yet another good life decision! I watched some TV and took a shower since Lexi wasn’t in the room and then went to sleep again before she got back. Sarah, Tamela(Brazil), Brittain(Iowa), Kaïsa(Finland), and I decided to get up kind of early so we would have time for our picnic and the bastille before the Bataille de Fleurs (“Battle of Flowers”). Unfortunately for all of our plans, the long-promised rain had arrived, so our picnic was already out of the question; we still all managed to climb the hill, which afforded a nice albeit cloudy view, and spend some more time on the beach. The Bataille de Fleurs ended up being cancelled, which was disappointing, not because of the 10 euros it cost, but because that would have been so cool to see. Mais c’est la vie. Even though we had 2 ½ hours before the bus left, I was so tired and frustrated and my feet were soaked, so I headed back to the hotel. It ended up being pretty fun because some of us in the group played Uno (which was interesting in French haha), and Sarah and I bought snacks/food for the bus ride home so we wouldn’t have to pay more for them later. The bus ride was pretty routine; lots of sleeping on my part, and once again it went by quickly. When we stopped for dinner, the Olympics were on so we watched some; it’s funny because I feel so detached from the rest of the world over here. Not that France doesn’t have access to all the things the United States does, it’s just that my lifestyle here doesn’t make things like news and TV shows and all that as readily available as back home. I really did have such an amazing time, despite the weather, but I would love to go back when it’s warmer and sunnier; I took a ton of pictures, and none of them do the amazing scenery justice. France as a whole is such a gorgeous place; not necessarily more beautiful than the US, just novel to me, which is nice (haha get it?). And weirdly enough, I missed Grenoble after only a few days; I’ve already formed an attachment to it as “home,” so it was nice to be back “home.” I also missed Shana and Cecilia, who I haven’t not seen for more than a day since I met them; though it was really nice to meet some other people from other places where, once again, our only common language is French (well, most people speak English too).