It’s been an exciting few days here in St. Laurent du Var! Sunday, we drove to St. Tropez, which is known as a vacation destination for the rich and famous, even more-so than the rest of the Riviera. We had the whole day to ourselves to explore the city, which actually didn’t take that long, as it’s not very big. The harbor, which contained a menagerie of yachts bigger than my house, was jam packed and rimmed with artists. Just steps from the yacht gangplanks lay a labyrinth of chic streets lined with designer shops. We spotted some 2000 euro sunglasses in one along with a 3000 euro belt in another. Some stores, guarded by men in black suits, were so foreboding that we did not even dare enter, for fear of breaking something and having to pay 1/3 of the cost of the trip on a handbag. Overall, it was a fun and enlightening excursion. 
Monday afternoon the weather took a turn for the worse, and we ended up sitting in our classrooms for hours as thunder crashed outside. We just ended up playing games or watching a movie, a bit different than the original plan to go to the beach. The important thing though, was that the weather cleared up by Tuesday afternoon, which was when we went to Nice and went parasailing. I had never gone parasailing before, but love anything involving flying, so I was super excited. After waiting for what seemed like forever in line, my friend Emily and I were up. It was a blast! 
The feeling of weightlessness and the view were great, while it stayed interesting when we were flying on the surface of the water and getting wet. Afterwards, we went tubing, which was a total thrill. Holding on for dear life, all you could hear were shrieks of joy as we got dragged along by a boat. We had to stop several times when people fell off, but it was the thrill opposed to the calm of parasailing. Afterwards, we had free time, and I stayed at the beach and floated in the crystal clear water. We then quickly searched for our favorite macaroon place and bought some of the French delicacies. It was definitely one of the best days so far! 
Today we had class in a café, and then had preparations for the spectacle, or show, we’re putting on tomorrow-that should definitely be interesting. For my elective, we went to a photography exhibition in Nice, which included a movie about the story of the “Afghan Girl” photograph, which was the work of the featured photographer. We had to pick photos and try to draw them, which I was not very good at, but it was enjoyable. 1 week left! 
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