I have decided that it is completely redundant for me to keep apologizing for not writing often enough at the beginning of each blog, so I won’t. (I have only typed one sentence but already it feels really weird to be typing so much text in English.)

The last two (nearly three) weeks have been busy. I just finished finals yesterday—yes, actual finals! Did you think that this was just a big vacation for me?—and I am sufficiently pleased with the results of my ten weeks of toiling in the trenches (yeah right; when did I ever toil here?). Moreover, I feel accomplished and more confidant in my French after having completed my language course. I’m not perfect in speaking and sometimes my brain refuses to allow me to understand French when hearing it but overall, I’m not so bad. Finally, I’m ready to really live in France because I’m not such an idiot when it comes to communication but alas, I must depart…

Highlights of last two weeks:
Thanksgiving! Yes, I had a Thanksgiving here amongst the French. It was actually quite fun. U of C divided all of the students into small groups of 15-20, gave us an incredible budget, a kitchen, a place to eat and we made it happen! My group was great, overall we made really tasty food and we ended up having a huge, amazing party. My French professor, who is absolutely adorable and crazy (her name, Foltête, actually means “crazy head” in French), had her first Thanksgiving dinner with her wonderful language students. She’s so awesome. She checked on us constantly throughout dinner to make sure we were having a good time, then she left with us and made sure we got to the Métro with no problem—Madame Foltête has been like a (grand)mother away from home.

By the way, I was planning on baking a pecan pie for the festivities but there was no corn syrup to be found in this country. So I disgustedly ended my search and decided to just make a goofy box cake type brownie thing and add pecans to it. It wasn’t great but it was chocolate and people have a way of being blinded by chocolate so they don’t make sound decisions. That was Stacy-speak for “it went over pretty well.”


Aix-en-Provence. The week of November 28th was rather uneventful until the weekend when I went to Aix-en-Provence for art history class. Like Giverny, it was another overnight trip but because of its placement in the week (right at the beginning, December 5) we had the option to arrive early (the class met officially Monday morning). Most of us decided to go Sunday morning so we could have a full day there before class. Aix is gorgeous! It was almost like being in another country. In some way it felt like Amsterdam because of the arrangement of streets, shops, etc but it was so much more adorable. They celebrate Christmas like crazy. All the decorations are up in the center of town and on weekends they have a special outdoor Christmas festival with American Christmas music blaring on loud speakers up and down the streets. It was so festive but slightly odd because not only was there no snow but the temperature was a little warmer there than it was in Paris. Still, it was very cute.

Monday, we visited a beautiful church near the center of town and then a somewhat random but interesting museum that was full of porcelain and really old beautiful books. Aix is the hometown of Paul Cézanne, so our trip primarily focused on his greatness. Everywhere we went in Aix, we walked so after lunch we walked to Cézanne’s studio and then we spent the end of our day wandering around trying to find a special path where Cézanne used to go to paint Mont Sainte-Victoire. Our teacher was so excited for us to see it at sunset and we did in fact see the majestic mountain from various angles before sunset, during sunset and after but never from the exact point Cézanne used to visit. I felt sad for her because she was so eager to get there and we never found it. On the other hand, we ended up having a surprise hiking/semi-climbing adventure. While in search for the “little path on the right”, we ended up at a very hilly section of the forest on the outskirts of town and we were climbing up a hill in pursuit of our very lost instructor. It was great! There were decent paths to walk around the hill but none to go up and the ground was wet so of course there was some sliding involved. I got a little dirty but it was so much fun. It was hilarious when both our professor and our U of C chaperon pulled out their cell phones in the middle of the woods, trying to figure out where we were—it was urban hiking at its best.

U of C reserved an apartment in a hotel for the eight of us for Monday night. It was very interesting and huge. There were 15 beds in that crazy place! Again, like in Giverny, we had a great time. There was ballroom dancing, break dancing, a yoga stance or two but by far the most hilarious part of the night was the Human Knot. On our last trip we played Mafia for hours and exhausted it completely so the Human Knot was the next best choice for a group activity. The best part of it was when Jane, our chaperon, knocked on our door and we, being faithful to the knot above all else, walked over to the door to open it. My, was she surprised to see us all tangled up and what not (no pun intended)! Of course, being U of C students, we absolutely had to make a knot that was impossible to untangle. When will we ever learn?

Tuesday, we had a special lecture from a guest professor, who is a painter, art historian and a Cézanne expert (What more could you ask for?). After the lecture, he led us on an amazing hike through the woods near his home and we went to the exact places where Cézanne painted. It was spectacular. The woods were beautiful. It was so remarkable to look right at one of Cézanne’s works then look up at the exact tree or climb up one of the rocks that he painted. All along the paths were beautifully fragrant plants, like thyme and other herbs. We also went to Bibemus, which is the Roman rock quarry from which Aix gets its orange tinted stone. We were on restricted property and John, the guest professor, would periodically stop walking, gesture for us to be quiet, then, look ahead to see if we could possibly sneak by the workmen that were around the quarry. It was so fun; we were like spies—not really. When I get back to Chicago, I definitely am planning on taking up hiking or something very natural and outdoorsy.

NB: I would be remised if I did not give a special kudos to my dear friend, Diana, who, despite being dressed in what many would not classify as appropriate outdoor gear (what do they know?), was able to keep her light tan slacks absolutely spotless in the muddiest of conditions. It was remarkable. Now, I’m actually beginning to wonder if her pants were cleaner before the hike or after. Her stainlessness was humbling.


I have been having such an amazing time in and around Paris. The homesickness of the last entry has dissolved into a passion for the new home that I am leaving. I don’t want to go yet! I have formed a community with a spectacular group of people that was right under my nose in Chicago. My emotions are so mixed about leaving. I miss Chicago and family, friends, etc. but what will I do without my Paris? What will I do when I can’t walk down the street, buy a baguette from the boulangerie and a wheel of Camembert from the Fran Prix for lunch? Where will I go when I cannot hop a Métro to Champs-Elysées and enjoy l’Arc de Triomphe and la tour Eiffel in a single afternoon’s walk? Besides, I feel that I have evolved so much through this experience; I have another direction for my life now; it has been like a new beginning for me. My hope and prayer is that the person I have become will find a niche in the life that I left behind.