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.