Nouvelle Ville, Nouvelle Famille!

dimanche le 26 juin

Nice est très agréable!
My host mother, Valérie, and her son Noé, found me at the train station right on time.  They actually live not even a 5 minute walk away from the train station which was very convenient... especially because I have so much luggage with me.  Even if I hadn't learned anything else here, I have at least learned how to pack for long trips like this one... Because I definitely brought way too much. 

Last stop:  Nice!!!

Valérie is extremely nice, and I am staying in her son Eliot's bedroom.  Her children are going on vacation with their father for the summer, so she takes in students while they're gone.  This is her second year accepting students, and next Sunday a student from Austria will be arriving to stay for three weeks, through July 23rd.  The cat is surprisingly nice, and acts like a dog.  She loves attention and follows me around meowing to pet her, and sometimes she'll roll over in front of you, trying to get you to pet her belly.  I don't think I've ever met a cat so agreeable!

My bedroom has a large desk over which my bed is lofted.  It's quite nostalgic, sleeping in a bunk bed!  I think I always wanted a bunk bed while I was growing up... now I now why my parents never bought one for me.  It's surprisingly loud and creaky, though I'm sure it would be more fun if I were younger.

I'm excited that Valérie's sons have TONS of children's books for me to read!  I'm thinking a couple books a week should put me on the track to learning faster.  It's surprising how much vocabulary is necessary just to read a book meant for a 7 year old!  I dream of having a 7 year old's vocabulary...

Well, today I finally wore shorts, a tank top, flip flops and my sunglasses... IT'S SUMMER HERE!  The beach is a 10-15 minute walk south of the apartment in which I am staying, and though it's not sandy, it is surely beautiful.  I sat right down on the soft, water-smoothed rocks that make up the beach and soaked up the sun for an hour without getting sand in ANYTHING.  Nearby there was a beach volleyball court with a game in full swing.  The sounds and spirits of summer were all around me, and it felt good! 

My first view of the Mediterranean!

Beach Volleyball court on the beach!

Gorgeous water at Beau Rivage beach, Nice, France

I explored Nice for a few hours, went shopping in the touristy shops near the beach, and headed back toward the apartment.  The apartment is located right off of the Avenue Jean-Médécin, where there are 2 grocery stores, a big mall called Nice Étoile, and all sorts of other designer stores in between.  I looked in a few and realized that, unlike in the States, there aren't ever any sales.  I am always guaranteed, when I go to the malls in CT, to find sales in the back of nearly every store.  But not here.  Nothing is on sale, and the dollar is so weak that everything is expensive. 

Spending a few hours in the sun really took a lot out of me, and so I headed back toward the apartment.  I did not pay to have dinner cooked for me while I am here, so I will be on my own for dinner.  So I stopped at the cheapest (though still overpriced) restaurant on the way home and had a sandwich.  I'll have to ask Valérie if I can put some food in the fridge.  When I received my host family assignment from the school, Actilangue, they said that I was not allowed to go in the kitchen, but perhaps that's just a general rule.  Valérie seems extremely accommodating, so I don't think she'll have a problem with me storing some bread and deli meats in her kitchen!

After dinner, I returned to the apartment to change for church.  There is a church only 5 minutes away from the apartment, l'Église Notre Dame.  I think there's a Notre Dame in every French city... Anyway, the sermon was much easier to understand than the sermons at Saint Seurin in Bordeaux... I would say that I understood nearly 40% of the homily...!  That's quite an accomplishment for me.  I think the accent in this city is simply easier to understand.  The French in Nice seem to separate their words a lot more, whereas in Bordeaux all the words seemed to be connected which made it nearly impossible for me to distinguish between the words.  In fact, I can nearly understand everything that my host mother says.  I think that this will be a good place for me to gain confidence in speaking and understanding French. 

While I was out today, I was sure to pick up a map of the center of Nice so that I can find my way to school tomorrow... New school, new people.  Tomorrow will be busy.  Unlike Alliance Francaise, I didn't take a test for this school, so I am guessing that I will take a test tomorrow to be placed in a class.  We shall see, and you will hear all about it!

À demain!