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Parasailing and Musee Matisse
by Student, Eliza S. , North Carolina

Yesterday, Thursday July 9th, we participated in one of our most exciting activities yet… parasailing! I was so excited for this activity even before I came to France, because I have never done it before and it looked amazing. Before we went to the beach, we had classes, lunch and free time, the usual, but all I could think about was how excited I was for the activity to come! When we finally arrived at the beach after a long bus ride, we immediately ran on the rocks and got in line for parasailing.

My group, Ainsley, Anna, and me ended up being the third group that was able to go. The process was actually very simple; we just buckled our life vests, put on our harnesses, and attached them to the parasailing bar/parachute! Lift off went really quickly, so there wasn’t really and time to worry or get nervous, which was great!

Once we were up in the air, everything sailed smoothly and beautifully. When we glanced down at the ocean we could see an array of beautiful blues below, and the beach displayed a rainbow of bright colors and very small people. It was so pretty up there, I’ve never experienced anything like it! It felt like a very short amount of time and it moved quickly, so I was sad to have return to shore. After everyone was done parasailing and beach time was over, we finished out the wonderful day with some gelato and returned home!

At the house we ate dinner with our host family, and had a very engaging conversation, definitely the most fluid yet! I can definitely see my fluency, vocabulary, and grammar improving as I talk with my hosts!

 

Today, our group ventured into Cagnes-sur-mer, and went to the Musee Matisse and a cool jazz festival at the Cateau Cagnes! Getting to the museum was a bit of a challenge, but a couple of van, train, and bus rides later, we arrived to a beautiful red building with green shutters that appeared to be the museum. When we walked inside, amazing paintings, sketches, and sculptures by Henri Matisse surrounded us. He has such a wide variety of work, and many of his pieces don’t even look like they could have come from the same artist. This, though, is the reason that Matisse is one of my favorite artists, because his mind was so creative and has work was all so beautiful, but in entirely different ways. If fact, it is impossible for me to choose just one favorite painting because they all differ so much. After the trip to the museum, we went to a jazz show in Cagnes at a chateau, which was absolutely beautiful and very fun to explore!

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