Bonjour tout le monde from Aix-en-Provence! It’s hard to believe that our trip is finally coming to an end… Aix feels like home for all of us now. It will be strange having to shift back to the American lifestyle after living for so long in France.
The past few days have been so fun! The highlight of Wednesday, in my opinion, was the iron chef competition. Three cooking groups were assigned a dish to make and were then judged as to which was the best. We were encouraged to be creative and original with the recipes. After this, everyone went to the art exposition showing all the pieces that the art students created throughout the program.
On Thursday, after classes, everyone went to see Cezanne’s house. After listening to a tour in French, we walked around outside and walked back to the residence. After this, we were allowed a stipend dinner, during which the counselors gave us money and we were free to go to any restaurant of our choice to eat. This is one of the students’ favorite activities because it allows so much freedom and opportunity to explore the city.
Friday we had our last French class of the program. The class was spent learning common French slang phrases. That night, we had a talent show. The instructors assigned themes for each group to do a dance, sketch, and song. After a very amusing show, we were given free time to walk around the town or go to the night market.
All in all, after all this time, Aix-en-Provence still has the same charm as it did near the beginning of the trip.
-Kristen