24 juin

24 juin

Marseilles! Marseilles! Marseilles! I love Marseilles! (Pronounced Mar-say)

I woke up still having that hungover feeling, but got up and showered hoping that it would go away when I talked to a real person for the first time in 3 days.  I successfully found church!  The beach is apparently right down the road from the church because everyone and their mother were in their beach gear with picnic baskets heading that way.  I found the missionaries at the bus stop and they helped me get off at the right bus stop.  Church was overwhelming but good!  Today wasn’t a super good speaking French day partly because of my hungover-ness and also because my mouth felt weird with the French words because I hadn’t been speaking it for 2 weeks.  But it will come back I hope.  There’s just one ward in Marseilles and everyone is super friendly…meaning I did the bise about 20 times today with complete strangers.  But that’s just how it is here which will be weird getting used to.  It just weirds me out to see a 20 year old girl give the bise to the bishop.  But Americans do weirder things probably.  I was relieved to find Jared who is another BYU student that is doing the same internship as me this summer.  His parents are the senior missionary couple that is in charge of the YSA program.  I started meeting the YSA people and completely forgot all of their names about 1 second after they told it to me.  Sacrament meeting was the last hour of church.  You know you’re in France when the sacrament bread is a delicious baguette.  A brand new missionary bore his testimony.  He has only been in France 5 days and I was so impressed with him getting up there and doing that because that takes so much courage and self-confidence!  He stayed up there longer than I expected he would and read from a notebook some pre-formed sentences and then did his best to communicate his thoughts.  He turned to the bishopric every so often to double check the translation of a word.  It was cute.  There seem to be a lot of neat people in the ward so I’m excited to get to know them better.   Singing the hymns was my favorite part as always.  After sacrament meeting, I was introduced to a bunch more people.  The typical conversation went like this: 

*bise*

Hi what’s your name

Melissa

Oh nice to meet you, are you visiting?

No I’m here doing an internship with les petits frères des pauvres

How long will you be here

2 months

Where are you from?

United States

I know, but where in the United States

Arkansas

(blank stares)

Don’t worry, Americans don’t even know where it is

Oh okay, how did you learn French, did you serve a mission?

No, I just studied it in school

You speak French well

Thank you but not really

That last part of them telling me I speak French well is not very flattering because it really means “I can tell it’s taking a lot of effort for you to carry on this conversation but you’re getting by just enough that you merit a compliment of encouragement.”

Jared took me up to the Institute room where I used the Internet and watched cute French children fight over a drawing game on an iPad. 

I made friends with this girl, whose name I forgot of course, but she is from Madagascar but has lived in Marseilles most of her life.  We bonded over both being 19 and feeling super young.  She loves English and was very encouraging and patient with my French.  She wants to take me out and show me the city and she spouted off all these things we could do like go to the beach and such.  Yay I have a friend! 

My roommate Stephanie, the other BYU intern, is not here right now…and I have no idea when she’ll get here.

I spent the afternoon/evening unpacking and organizing the apartment.  It feels a lot more homey and less cluttered than it did before.  Then I spent about 5 hours reading my Jerusalem book and then studying some French. 

All the grocery stores are closed on Sunday and so I had a lovely dinner of leftover travel snacks that consisted of an orange, cheese and crackers, and some trail mix.  I am looking forward to having a kitchen and being able to cook all my meals instead of having to eat out.  I plan on eating lots of delicious fruits and vegetables along with delicious bread and cheese.  

22-23 juin

22-23 juin

I am still alive believe it or not! Here’s a recap of the last few, slightly miserable days.  The night of the 21^st as I was in the Tel Aviv Israel airport, my flight to Belgium, that was supposed to leave at 1am, got cancelled.  I proceeded to wait in line from 10:30pm until 1:30am to talk to a Brussels Airlines representative in order to be given a replacement flight.  The people with this company were extremely unorganized and so they made an already miserable process a wretched one.  On top of that, Israelis are super pushy and will push right in front of you without a second of hesitation.  I was not feeling very aggressive at 1 in the morning, and so I just let all the pushy people get what they wanted and then I went back up to have my turn when most people were gone.  Brussels Airlines gave me a flight to Rome and then to Milan that left at 5:20am which was about 4 hours away at this point.  I had high hopes of getting through security and then snatching an hour or two of sleep.   But no, security at this airport is the most insane thing I have ever seen.  And of course, I was put in every single additional inspection line since I was by myself and not with a tour group.  I waited in line to have my check-on baggage go through the metal detector, then I waited in line to have my check-on baggage thoroughly checked.  They made me pull every single item out of my meticulously and strategically packed suitcase.  They rubbed a little cloth over every single surface of every item and then checked the cloth to make sure there wasn’t any whatever they were looking for on it.  Keep in mind that it is 2:30 in the morning…and I am not very coherent or logical.  I think all the workers thought I was mad at them, but really I was just half awake and pep talking myself to stay awake and scared out of my mind to not do what security told me.  Then I got personally escorted over to the check in counter where I checked in for my flight.  Then I waited in line to go through regular security.  And guess what?  They wanted to wipe down everything in my carry-on luggage with that dumb cloth and then they ran the cloth through the machine.  It’s about 3:30am now.  This is a person who needs at least 8 hours of sleep every night to be able to function…I was a zombie.  It is a huge blessing that I made it to the right gate and onto the right flight and didn’t leave my passport somewhere because even now, I have a hard time remembering what happened since I was not fully there.  I boarded my flight as soon as I reached the gate at 4:30am.  I sat down in my seat, put my seat belt on, and fell asleep.  I woke up once to eat a roll that was on a tray in front of me, then I fell back asleep…I woke up when people were getting off the plane so I got off too and walked into Rome.  I got in another line to have my passport checked.  Then I got in another line to go through another security check.  Then I got in another line to board the plane to Milan.  It’s about 8am now.  I slept the entire hour flight to Milan.  In waiting to get my luggage on the carousel, it went around about 3 times before I realized that it was mine passing in front of me, ha.  I bought a sandwich then got on the shuttle to go to the train station. 

Because of the rerouting of my flights, I had missed the trains for which I had tickets and so I got in the long line to talk to the trenitalia people to see if they would refund or exchange my tickets.  I finally get to a train attendant and he looks at my tickets and shakes his head.  Great.  He informed me that there was a strike in France today and none of the trains were operating there.  He gave me a couple options of what to do…but I didn’t really understand what he said.  And so I went and sat down and cried for a few minutes because I was so mentally and physically exhausted.

 I used my last ounce of energy to think of what to do next.  I just decided to call it a day and try again the next day to make it to France since the strike would hopefully be over by then.  I walked to the hostel where I had stayed in Milan a few weeks earlier, but they were full for that night.  I had visions of me wandering the streets asking at millions of hotels and all of them being empty.  Where’s a cave and a bed of hay when you need it.  Luckily, the next hotel I went into had a room open for that night.  I told them I’d take it before I even asked the price.  My Maslow hierarchy of needs was at the lowest level.  I went into the room, took a freezing cold shower, emailed my parents to tell them I was alive and to notify them of my change of plans, then I fell asleep at 4pm and slept until 7am the next morning.  I got up in the morning feeling like I hadn’t slept at all.  I imagine that I felt a bit like one does when one is hungover…my eyes just felt glazed and my head heavy.  But I had to press on or else this miserable journey would never end.  I bought some food and then got on a train for the 3 hour ride to Ventimiglia.  I saw lots of beautiful Italian Mediterranean beaches on the way!  Then I went the hour to Nice, and then the 2.5 hours to Marseilles.  As soon as I was in France, I felt like I had finally gotten home because I could finally understand what people were saying and what the train announcer was talking about.  On the train to Marseilles, I watched To Catch a Thief which is a Hitchcock movie with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly that takes place in the French Riviera.  It was cool to be watching the actors in Cannes as the train was driving through Cannes.  In Marseilles, I took the metro to my apartment and luckily found it without any problems.  Then I set my alarm for the morning and collapsed into sleep. 

                So I’m pretty sure it’s a miracle that all of me and all of my stuff made it to Marseilles.  I know it’s because of my many prayers for a rational brain and also because of all the prayers of my family back home.  I do not think I ever want to do such a logistically complicated journey by myself ever again!

11 juin

11 juin

Today was an alone day, but an enjoyable one it was.  I ate breakfast at the hostel, then left my stuff at there while I went and explored for a few hours.  I went and found this canal area that had lots of shops…it wasn’t super exciting but it led me to a really pretty area with lots of parks and fancy looking buildings.  I love this picture of a park because it is all old men hanging out there at the playground area. 

I took advantage of being in Italy and enjoyed some absolutely delicious Foccacia that had olive oil and rosemary on it….I need to figure out how to make delicious stuff like that. Ordering at bakeries and restaurants makes me miss France though where I don’t look like a pantomiming mute tourist.  I also bought some pasta to take to Susan in Israel.  Then it started raining and so I claimed sanctuary in this beautiful red brick church pictured below.  I loved all of the arches.

After stocking up on food at a grocery store, I went and got my luggage, then walked to the train station.  Then I took the shuttle bus to the airport where I stayed at a Holiday Inn.  It was such a nice room compared to the hostels that I’ve been used to staying on this trip.  I didn’t immediately think of all the other people that had been there when I walked into the room.  I was planning on doing some good reading, but ended up watching two movies in a row.  I watched Hunchback of Notre-Dame and loved it so much because I knew exactly what every street or area of the church looked like in real life.  That is a really depressing movie too…but I loved the music and the Parisian-ness of the movie as a whole.  Then I watched An Affair to Remember.  My outlet for movies in Europe is renting them on iTunes.   Older movies cost only about 2 dollars which is totally worth it to me.  An Affair to Remember is the old movie that Sleepless in Seattle is based on.  After eating a dinner of rice cakes and nutella and oranges I went to bed early so I could get up early in the morning.

Sunday in Milan

10 juin

We were proud of ourselves that we were able to find the church building to go to sacrament meeting.  We found out when we got there that about 5 countries in Western Europe were having a regional conference with some of the General Authorities that was being broadcast from Salt Lake.  The good thing was that it was in English!  

 After church we went to see the main castle in Milan.  Lots of people were out in the piazza hanging out.

We kept wandering after the castle and found this beautiful arch with a great park by it.  

 We had a winner lunch at an outdoor restaurant called Pizza...OK. There were lots of family gatherings happening at the restaurant.  The kids in this Italian family here each had their own big pizza.  I love the cute little girl on the left trying to fit the pizza in her mouth. 

 This pizza was sooo good.  Heather got pineapple and gorgonzola pizza while I got a four cheese spinach, tomato, pepper pizza.  The crust was really thin and was more like delicious flat bread or a thin pita.  We followed the people around us and took sections of pizza and rolled it up like a burrito and ate it.   

Milan

9 juin

I got about 4 hours of sleep last night as we had to get up super early to make it to our early train to Milan.  It was sad saying bye to France, but I am just so glad that I get to come back and don't have to wonder when my next time back will be.  I keep speaking French here though to everyone!  It's a problem, and I'm having to work very hard to not say oui or ca va or merci to everyone.  I had forgotten how annoying and sometimes frustrating it is to not know the native language--you are completely at the mercy of how much English someone knows or at the mercy of pantomiming.  Nonetheless, Heather, Chloe and I have had fun being here in Italy.  Heather has a handy Italian phrasebook that we are using to learn some practical Italian.  It's so fun to speak with an Italian accent.  Just take any name of cheese or pasta and say it in an Italian accent and it sounds legit :)  

 We went and saw the incredible cathedral called the Duomo.  I had forgotten how big this thing was.  It is massive!  And so beautiful with all of the spires on the outside.

This is the glass covered arcade on the Duomo piazza that is filled with high class shopping.

Chloe's guidebook took us to a delicious Italian bakery with delicious pizza...oh man so good.  

That night we went to an opera in the Teatro alla Scala, the most famous opera house in Italy.  We got 12 euro gallery tickets.  The opera was called Luisa Miller by Verde.  I looked up the synopsis before hand so I could better understand and enjoy the opera.  Just being inside the breathtaking opera auditorium was worth the price of the ticket for me.  There were six levels of balconies and everything was covered in gold leaf.  We were on the top balcony level on the side and so we could not see the stage which ended up being fine because there wasn't an elaborate set or elaborate costumes.  There was an English translation of the libretto on little screens in front of our seats.  The orchestra was incredible, the singers were incredible, and it was an inspiring night.  During intermission, I went and walked around and found lots of the audience in this grand room that had a bar at the end.  Everyone was in their fancy clothes was sipping champagne and being super classy speaking Italian.  One of my favorite parts of the opera experience was the audience.  After each scene, the audience would cheer Bravo! or Brava! and clap and whistle!  It took me aback at first but then I remembered I was in Italy, not France.  I'm pretty sure a French audience would not react as boisterously.  

Our hotel in Milan has a crickety pully-operated elevator with folding manually-operated doors.  I got up a small white spiral staircase to get to my room and am created my a roaring porcelain white leopard at the top of the stairs.   

Marseille visit

8 juin

Today made me even more excited for the second half of my summer adventures.  I went to Marseille where I will be living from June 22 until August 18th.  I will be doing an internship with a non-profit organization called Les Petits Frères des Pauvres which means the brothers of the poor.  This organization works with elderly people and as an intern, I will be making daily visits to elderly people in their homes to check on them and to be their friend.  I'm very excited but nervous at the same time.  The train to Marseille took 2.5 hours because they stop at lots of cities along the way.  But the train went along the coast for most of the time and was gorgeous.  I took the metro from the train station and then went to the office in Marseille where my work headquarters will be.  I met with Marie-Jeanne and she showed me up to my studio apartment where I will be staying.  She is letting me leave one of my suitcases there in the apartment so that I don't have to carry it around Israel.  I will be sharing the apartment with another girl from BYU that will be doing the same internship.  The apartment is very small, but will be fun.  There is just one big room with huge glass windows that look out over lots of chimneys and rooftops.  Then there are two twin beds then a little kitchen in the corner and a small table with two chairs.  There is a nice bathroom and also a closet.  So it will be cramped, but we will make it work.  I love the area of town where my apartment is.  There is a huge park just a few minutes away as well as a metro stop.  Just down the road from the apartment is a grocery store, post office, bakery, and fruit stand so I will be set! As I was walking with Marie-Jeanne from the apartments this old man cross-dresser comes up into the office and greets us.  Marie-Jeanne greeted him and then after he left said aside to me that he is a special one but is very nice, haha.  I will definitely be meeting lots of interesting people from all different walk of life.  All the ladies at the office seemed genuine and sweet so I'm excited to get to know them more.  Here's the site for the organization: http://www.petitsfreres.asso.fr/

I had about 2 hours before I had to be back to the train station and so I took the metro to the Old Port in the main part of Marseille.  I immediately smelled the yummy fishy salty sea air.  There were hundreds of fishing boats out at the dock that go out every morning to fish, at least I think.  The buildings in Marseille were a bit like Nice, but a bit more like what I picture Spain to look like.  Marseille is the second most populated city in France (after Paris).  So a good way to describe Marseille is the style of Nice and Paris meshed together as there is the coastal feel as well as the big city feel.  

  

 I walked down a side of the port looking at all the boats and fishing nets.  Up on the hill there is the Notre Dame church that is really pretty in pictures I've seen of it up close.  There were also big old fortress walls at the end of the port.  I saw boats that advertised going to Chateau d'If, the prison featured in count of monte cristo, so I will definitely go there! 

After about an hour of wandering around, I walked back towards the Metro station and went to this carousel and I saw the missionaries!  They were standing out in the main square contacting and it made me really happy!  They were both American and informed me about all of the YSA activities in Marseille.  They said there is a strong YSA group and they have weekly FHE and YSA activities from time to time.  They let me know the best way to get to church and which buses/metro to take so I am all set!

My train back to Nice got delayed by 1.5 hours...but that's life.  It gave me time to have another delicious tomato and mozzarella sandwich.  It was sad saying bye to everyone in the study abroad group.  I have definitely made some life long friends.  I've loved participating in the program with great people and great teachers.  I loved the complete integration of learning that was able to happen.  I feel quite possessive over France now, like it's "my" country and I hope I'll always retain that!


I took a nice long walk home from the train station along the water promenade.  The waves were especially strong today but beautiful still.

Becoming a Gourmand

7 juin

Today I took my final for our classes and finished up all of my assignments for the two courses I've been taking on the study abroad.  I just have to write a research paper that is due in September and then I will have completed 6 credits toward my French major!  The final was an interview in French with our professor where we talked the set up of French government.  I spent the rest of the day buying groceries, repacking my things, and figuring out travel plans for the upcoming weeks.  

Love this ad about Orangina...who knew a price could be sexy?

 We had our final group dinner at a cafe in Old Nice.  I want to give lots of different kinds of seafood a chance while here in south France.  I ordered oysters...and those were no bueno...they were cold and slimy and chewy and tasted like the unbearably salty mediterranean sea water.  Oh well, now I know not to eat them again.  But I tried someone else's mussels and I liked those so I'll have to get those sometime.  Then I got a big piece of fish..in English it is a John Dory fish, but I don't remember what it was called in French.  I also tried my friend's foie gras.  It was in paté form.  Foie gras is a French delicacy and is either goose or duck liver.  Foie gras is a controversial dish for animal rights activists though because they usually force-feed the ducks or geese so that their liver will be a lot larger. I ate it with some bread and didn't dislike it as much as I thought I would.  But I will still be very content with my life if I don't have a chance to eat it again.  For dessert, I had white cheese with honey.  It basically tasted like yogurt and honey, super yummy!  I walked down the promenade along the beach and watched all the lights turn on as the sun went away.  Happy memory.  

Nice Ville

6 juin


More of beautiful Nice today! We started out in the main area of Nice called old Nice.  Every day here they have a big produce market called Cours Saleya and also a flower market called Marché aux Fleurs.  Below is a fish stand and then an olive stand.  I love all those tubs of different types of olives!

Then we were starving and Emily was having a spaghetti craving, so we ate at an Italian café.  Emily, of course, had spaghetti.  Heather and I had a delicious cheese bruschetta along with socca which is a chickpea crepe.  We made friends with an adorable French girl all dressed in pink that was there with her mom.  

 Next we went and found this candy making museum/factory/store.  We were given a tour of their candy making areas and they explained to us how they made the candy. Then we went up to the store and got to sample lots of things and bought some candies/chocolate.  Yes I do have a picture on a toilet on here, but there are candy wrappers in the lid... :)   I loved all of the scents that they had made into candy flavors.  I got some violet candies!

 These are candied rose, lavender, and other plant leafs.  They are fresh picked every morning and ten are candied.  

These are candied fruits! Oranges and pears and grapes and other fruits.  It is a 40ish day process to complete these. 

 Chocolate orange slices.  The word dégustation means tasting, but I always do a double take when I see it because it looks like the word disgusting.

I found a cute blue glass necklace at a flea market by the candy factory.  We walked home along the sunny beach and averted our eyes at the topless European women...oh Europe.  It was another beautiful sunny day on the French Riviera!  I love this place.