Salut tout le monde!
I would write in French, but not everyone who will be reading this blog can understand so I will stick to Anglais, maybe with a little francais thrown in here and there. I've got a few glasses of wine in me, so forgive me if I stop making sense! I got to Aix at about 1 p.m. on Thursday, so this is my second full day here. Everything is going pretty well so far. I'm in a dorm that is located about 10 minutes from the center of town.
The dorms here are so different from at IU! We have to buy our own toilet paper because there is none in the bathrooms! I've also come to appreciate toilet seats more than I ever thought I would- there are none of those, either. The showers go off after about 30 seconds, so you have to push the knob in all the time. We have sinks in our rooms, though, which is nice. I also have a bidet in my room, but it's kind of scary-looking and I haven't attempted to use it yet. It gets really hot here during the day and there's no AC, so that is taking some getting used to.
So far, we haven't really done anything all that interesting. We've had a few meetings, and there are about 35 of us- some from Indiana, some from Wisconsin, and some from Michigan. There are 29 girls and 6 boys in my group. Yesterday we had a guided tour of Aix, and we saw the building where we get our mail and where the program directors have their offices.
Then, we went downtown and saw all the fountains (Aix has over 40!) and shops. Our school is smack dab in the center of town, and there isn't a whole campus like at IU. There are just a couple of buildings and the rest of campus is way across town. So far I've made it everywhere I need to be without getting lost!
Today a few of my friends and I went downtown because they had "les marches" today. There are booths all over the place with fresh fruit and vegetables and all kinds of yummy stuff. I ate the best peach I have ever tasted in my life! We had breakfast at a little cafe with tables outside facing the market. Afterwards, we went to Monoprix, which is kind of like Target but bigger, to get groceries.
I dont' have any pictures yet because I keep forgetting to take my camera with me when we go places! I start my "cours intensif" on Monday, which is like an introductory/review class to help us prepare for classes in a few weeks.
I hope everyone is doing well! I miss you all!
A bientot,
Meredith
This picture on the right is the Parc Jourdain. It's really pretty during the day. People go there and have picnics, and we saw a guy singing and playing his guitar there this afternoon. At night, though, it gets kind of scary. There are supposedly a lot of drug deals that go on there. 
