I can't be bothered to put the album for this entry in order, but you can imagine that it's all very logically arranged and I will be very grateful. We left early for La Ciotat and walked along the old port. We bought lunch at a boulangerie and breakfasted on some amazing brioche before taking the bus to a beautiful park with a secret garden in it, where we found our way up tiny paths to the Calanques. The Calanques are basically coves weathered by time an...

I've uploaded pictures from my apartment in Aix, where I live with Alex, a 24-year-old, self-employed French girl and her cat, Castagne. Life here is great and my language continues to improve. I hope that all of you are doing well and soon, there will be photos from Marseille and Avignon. I wish I had taken pictures during my first 5 weeks, but now that I've started, I'm making up for lost time. I'll post more later. Miss you, Jodi

Avignon was absolutely adorable. It's much more accomodating to English-speaking tourists than Aix: they even accept US dollars at some cafés! Not so Chez Moi; it's nearly impossible to manage without speaking French. And forget about using dollars! I was comforted by the degree of tourism--I knew I would seem much more acclimated than most people, which was nice. The waiters were pleasantly surprised when we conducted our business in French, and we...

I had no idea what to expect when I boarded the minibus to Marseille. Actually, I expected a large, dirty, diverse city--that was what I had heard at parties held in mansions in the wealthier suburbs of the city. When I finally explored centre ville by day, I was blown away. I really, truly fell in love. Marseille is the second largest city in France (sort of tied with Lyon) and boasts an absolutely beautiful panorama of the Mediterranean and the Alps. T...

I leave tomorrow from Philadelphia, and I will arrive at my "host family" around 3pm Aix time. Packing is still going on (of course), but we should be fine. My host family turns out to be a single 24-year-old woman named Alexandra (who mysteriously writes her emails from an account under the name Pierre-Jean), and I'm excited about a child-free summer. Still, I miss gearing up for 2 months of young ones, hence the photograph. Memories! I still feel like I'm ...