Monday- In Which We Take a Walking Tour of Cannes and I Miss People

Bon soir mon amis. This is where I go to school.

Today we went on a walking tour of Cannes, given by one of the school administrators and entirely in French. It began in Le Suquet, or the old part of town, which apparently, if you walk through at night, you will be robbed, raped, and murdered in. However it was very quaint and pretty and quiet during the day. Our tour guide told us lots of interesting and useful information, including the legend of some monk and how he rid the island of snakes by praying so much there was a tsunami which killed all the snakes. I'm pretty sure that's the also story of St. Patrick's Day, but that's the legend of Cannes. In my understanding.

Cannes itself is basically made up of three relevant streets, La Croisette, which is a fancy fancy shopping district with all the haute couture fashion houses like Gucci and Louis Vuitton, Rue d'Antibes which has all the normal stores, and then another street with the gare (the train station). Also the waterfront.

While the guide was talking a lot of the time, there were literally chainsaws going on in the background (the city is preparing for a festival! The festival of games! Because Cannes is the city of festivals!! It said so in the tourism video from the 90's they showed us that reminded me of the video before you get on Indiana Jones at Disneyland.) Thusly we were trying very hard to listen and translate for each other and simultaneously take pictures and beat box. Sometimes these are very important things to do.

Savannah at right taking pictures. Below Alex and Nick beatboxing/attempting to rap in French.

After the tour ended a group of us went to Monoprix, which is basically the equivalent of Target, to purchase basic essentials, and also to an electronics store called Orange to get cheap PHONES! I now have a cell phone in France, and it's very awkward because we all have the same one. It's a little black plastic bar phone that would have been the shit in 7th grade. We were all playing with them and reminiscing. I must say though that it's kind of been nice not having a phone. It's one less thing to worry about, although unfortunately annoying because there's no way to contact your friends or roommates, and we aren't living in a giant pile in the same way we were in London. Thusly having a tiny, simple phone with a tiny, simple plan is just enough, and although I miss my fast powerful Android phone, it's sort of fitting to life studying abroad in France to have this phone. Simplifying. Ya dig?

After we had run our errands, we sort of wandered around Rue d'Antibes. We got coffee and crepes at this little cafe by the movie theater (which I later realized was the one Trisha told me was the best ice cream in Cannes - PS. It is.) where we've slowly become loyal customers. The guy that owns it is really cool and also rides around with his baby on his moped (like in Bruno, but apparently it also happens in real life.)

Slowly, very slowly, we're starting to figure it out here. I definitely feel like there's a ways to go though. Today gave way to much discussion with my roommates about how the south of France is "overrated" in the sense that it's often imagined as a paradise, this magical beautiful romantic land, but actually living here gives way to the reality that this is well--just a place. Life is basically the same everywhere, and while a much needed change of scenery is always in order, it's a big revelation to realize that you'd be no more happy here than anywhere else. It's beautiful here, and really nice, and I can already feel this as being a huge growth experience, but visiting a place and attempting to live there are really quite different things entirely. There's no questioning the value of it, and it's a very new and interesting thing to experience.

Yesterday one of the people from the College gave a little speech about the different emotional phases of study abroad, and how it's all part of the experience, and to not ever think you're alone in feeling lonely or homesick or ungrateful or just plain weird and out of it. That was very comforting to hear. I go through like three phases a day of being happy or weird or sad or missing of people and confused and regretful and not and blah blah blah, and I think I'm going to make it a part of this blog also to add any thoughts I have on that regard. Today's phase was missing Chapman a lot, specifically where I live and 4th Floor South and all of the ridiculousness that goes on there and also the less ridiculous parts and the people, and I just want to say that if you're part of that and reading this that I miss you very very much and to know my time living with all of you was the happiest I've been and the hardest I've laughed at Chapman so far. I hope you're having lots of iPhone strobe light dance parties and taking shots of birthday soda in my absence. Or at least taking shots of birthday soda to cope with the unbearable pain of my absence.

Which I'm sure is definitely the case.