Cuisine diploma

I went to my last coocking class last thursday. I was given my "cooking diploma" wich says that now I can cook french cuisine. I really just ate everything every time I went to the class so I think it is more like an eating diploma but whatever. Danielle, the woman who teaches it, said I can come back for Christmas or come once a month if I want. I think I will. I really enjoyed the class. We had so much fun. I have some good ideas for meals too. So I will cook for everyone when I get back.

St. Victoire at last!!!!!!

Left is Yiupo and the right is Cricket

This is how far up we were!!!

This weekend I didn't have any organised excursions so Melissa, Cricket, Yiupo, and I went on our own. We went to hike the well known mountain in Aix called St. Victoire. I loved it. We were so high above everything and the view was awsome. I think it was one of my favorite days since I have been here. At the top is a monistary were people can sleep and have a fire if they want. There is also a huge cross that was put there some time in the 1800's. AHHHHH it was so much fun. We took about an hour to get to the top and then we ate lunch and hung out for about two hours at the top. You can see everything from the top of this mountain. People climb it all the time. Although today my legs hurt today, I loved it!!!!!

Paintings!! This is for Aunt Martha

Of cours we had to get ice cream in Avignon. I had passion fruit ice cream.
I talked to this painter for a little while cause he had some really great ones.


This post is for Aunt Martha!!

All over Avignon people had their painting out for sale. They were al so good I loved them. I think before I leave I am going to get a bunch of paintings from different people of all my favorite places and things. Do you have any favorite French painters?

Avignon

This view is looking through the top part of the bridge where the water would flow downward.
All throughout the city they have these fake windows with paintings of different people in them.
You can walk oh the bottom half of the bridge.
This is Le Rhone river and the bridge

That gridge is the Pont D'Avignon. It was broken some time before and the King never repared it so the bridge doesn't go all the way across the Rhone river. On the other side if the road is the wall that goes all the way around the center of the city.


Saturday we went on another excursion to a town called Avignon. It is such a beautiful town I loved it. They have a really nice theater there so I got the dates of all the concerts and ballets, I don;t think I would like opera. The center of the city, which is huge, is surrounded by a giant stone wall because everyone ised to run inside for protection during times of war or battle. Avignon is also known for its bridge across the Rhone river, and there is this other bridge called " Le pont de Gard" This was used to transport water to cities from a long distance. The bridge is so tall becasue it has to be at the right angle for the water to fall downward towards the cities it was supplying. The water was transported through the top of the bridge. It is so cool and I can't believe it is still standing, with some help of cours, but still that is crazy!

cours de cuisine # 2

This is me and my friend Cricket. She loves to cook too. On our plates is what we had for dessert. It was like a custard with caramel and a kind of meringue on the top. mmmmm..
This is my friend Hildur from Iceland. SHe has a great accent.
This is a special bowl used to make a garlic mayonaise typicaly from the south of France.

This is the second cooking "class" at this lady's house. We had fish and vegetables and tons of other stuff that I will have to tell you all later cause I can't remember the name.
We had fun though.

Cassis!!

This is me drinking wine and eating a cookie while on the hike. Weird hu?
MMMM... Italian ice cream is the best!!! They have it all over in France since Italy is so close.




This last weekend I went on yet another excursion to a town called Cassis. It is a small beach town with beautiful clear blue water. The ocean does not really have waves fun it is so calm and sunny and blue, I loved it. It was a little too cold to go in the water but we just hung around for a while and ate lunch. Then we got some ice cream that was soooo good. The ice cream here is way better than in the US. After we all relaxed on the beach for a while, we went hiking around in the nearby mountains. We had a tour guid who taught us alot about the weather conditions and plants around Cassis. It was really interesting. Cassis is also well known for it's wine, so of course , being in France, the tour guid ,George, bought some wine and cookies for us to have while we were taking a rest on the hike. I tohught it was a little strange to drink wine in the middle of the hike, but it was good. I'm still getting used to drinking wine every once in a while.
Anyways, it was a really good day, I would like to have more time on the beach so I am going to go back to Cassis soon.

French cooking!!!!

Thursday nights this French lady named Danielle, the one to the right of me in the above picture, has cooking courses at her house for anyone that wants to learn. ( and pay) It is a good price though considering after you learn how to make the meal, you stay and eat it, and get wine, and get to learn about the french culture, and she sends you the recipe of everything that we made that night to you via e-mail so you don't have to remember everything. So I went with my friend Christina ,who is Melissa's rommate, and there were three other foreign students who were there also. I had so much fun. We made all kinds of stuff. This beef and potatos dish, a special kind of deviled eggs, but not like grandma's, and we even made a chocolate cake from scratch for afterwards. Once we were done preparing all the food, Danielle's husband came home to eat with us. I guess he always does that so he can get a good meal too. We also had a taste of a Provincial wine before we started eating, and another kind during. I loved it. I am going again next thursday because when you pay, you pay for three courses. I'll let you all know what I made exactly when Danielle sends me the recipe. NOW I CAN MAKE EVERYONE FRENCH FOOD!!!!!!!!

Arles

half was redone and the other was left as it was. strange hu?

Arles

This weekend we had another excursion with our program to a city calles Arles. It was so pretty you would not believe it!! As you can see in the pictures, we went to an old collosium wich was so cool to see and hear about. Our guide, George, said that at one time most of the city was living inside of this stadium during war times for protection. It was so amazing. Throughout the town there are ruins of old buildings and walls. I loved it. Then we went to another place close by that had an exhibit of a famous painter's work in France. The painter's name is Paul Cezanne. He was from Aix and everything in Aix is named after him because he was such a great painter. If you live in Aix you MUST like his paintings. They are really good though. Anyways, so we went to this giant rock which you can walk into. Rooms and stairs were cut into the rock so no other material was used to make the "building" except the rock itselfe which was already there in this mountain. It used to be a rock quarry, and then they continued to cut out the interior for this exhibit. So inside this rock it is really cold and they have projectors which project a painting of Paul Cezzane's work on the rock wall. The entire place is dark and there are tons of these projections all over the place. The colores from the paintings light up the walls and reflect all over the place. His painting are really something!! It is a huge room and the demensions of the rock walls make the paintings look 3D. The projections change all the time so the paintings are always moving. It is a little hard to explain but I hope you can start to imagine it. Some of the paintings are projected onto the ground so you can walk on them. This place was so amazing. The entire city is stratigically placed on a mountain ontop of massive rocks.
We also stopped on the way at different things like a windmill to see the view of the country side. It was a great day. I hope I explained it okay for you all.