Life on the Riviere...

This weekend was probably the most relaxing thus far. Yesterday, Erin and I went to la bibliotheque, for the second time and since its on the far end of Vieux Nice, we ended up doing some shopping and then relaxed on the beach for the rest of the afternoon. I returned my Desperate Housewives en francais and got some DVDs and books from the ado section. Claire had told us that we should start out with books for les jeunes, but they all seem so boring. I ended up getting the skinniest books with the most colorful covers. We stopped by Fnac, the Best-Buy of France, where one of the etages, or floors, is basically a bookstore. There were so many interesting books- I bought one called God save les Francaises, which was originally written in English by a British journalist. It came with an extra flap on the cover that says "A (new) year in ze merde," which means "A (new) year in the s***." I could totally imagine my Langue Orale professor saying that-she has said some vulgar stuff in class and when she speaks English, she pronounces all of her "th-'s" as "z's"-its hilarious. Anyway, as we were culminating our afternoon of window-shopping, we stopped to watch a group of break-dancers in the zone pietonne on Ave Jean Medecin, and then headed over to la plage, or the beach, to get some sun. There was a manifestation going on on the Prom--people were wearing Nice 2018 shirts and waving flags to support the city's bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics. There was even a giant ice sculpture that I later saw melting on the Prom, lol. We ended up seeing some of our Maryland friends at our usual beach-spot, chatted until it got cold, and came back home for dinner. Since Lotte had returned to Belgium that morning, and Luisa, who's from Mexico, had already left last weekend, it was weird seeing their empty room with the door open. The third student, Eliane, who's from Venezuela just left for Paris this morning. Theyre all going to other major cities in Europe and the US to continue their language studies. Im kinda sad that I only really got to know them during the past few weeks--Erin and I have only been in Nice for 7 weeks, and our "host-sisters" are leaving. :( But I am excited to meet the new students coming today. Kinda bummed that for the rest of our stay, the other students are all gonna be temporary, but at least we get to meet more people!

So this morning, I woke up at a record-late 11 AM. I immediately got started on my literature paper (thats due tomorrow, eek!!) only pausing for a short cereal break. In the afternoon, we decided that we needed a break, and went out to the Prom (le Promenade des Anglais = the boardwalk), to enjoy the weather. It turns out that the Paris-->Nice cycling race for le Tour de France was taking place on the Prom this morning! We got to watch the end of the race, and see the winners receive their medals. All the trucks, cars, and bike trailers for each team lined the street, which was blocked off for the race. It was really exciting seeing the cyclists close up. These are probably the same people who will be competing in the major Tour de France race in July. Living in a beach-town/city is lotsa fun--Nice is small enough that we feel comfortable walking everywhere, but its still fairly urban with lotsa tourists. Mediterranean beaches are a few blocks away and the mountains are only a 1Euro bus ride away. I love randomly meeting other Americans and even Canadians in the local cafe or even sitting on the beach. Next Saturday, Im going to St. Tropez for a school excursion. Finally get to see what all the hype is about...