Je ne parle pas français

Bonjour! Time to share all about my time in France, a country ruled by pigeons and crepes. Although my travel expenses ended up being more than I had hoped for (lesson learned: don't wait to book flights or trains), I was ecstatic to be spending the week with fellow-MI trombone (Bone Babe) and friend, the one and only Andrea. Getting to hang out with her was like a little taste of home, albeit while sightseeing and such in the middle of Europe!

Beginning April 7
Tuesday: Twenty-two hours into my 24-hour transport to Aix-en-Provence, I reached a point of stir-craziness that resulted in me getting up and dancing to my Ipod music in the middle of the train compartment for a solid fifteen minutes, followed by an additional ten minutes of simply pacing back and forth. Despite a delayed train in Lyon and a cancelled train in Marseilles St. Charles, I made it to Aix in one piece at 10:50pm. Fortunately Andrea was right there to take me back to her host-family's house, where I could finally lay down and sleep.
Wednesday: Andrea and I took a bus to the town of Toulon, where I saw the Mediterranean Sea for the first time. We did a lot of wandering around and also found a neat little "Old Toulon" museum. Sadly I couldn't find a Toulon-specific patch in any of the shops. Since Andrea's host mom doesn't serve dinner until 9pm or later, we were able to spend a good amount of time in Toulon, take the bus back, and have a quick Skype call with our friend Tim before eating some sort of egg-meat concoction plus baguette bread, goat cheese, and jelly (very good, very French).
Thursday: While Andrea had her classes, I siezed the opportunity wander around Aix-en-Provence. Even with Andrea's map of the city I got myself a little lost, but after ending up back around her host family's apartment I found my way back to the university. I also searched earnestly (both in southern France and in Paris) for the rosemary soap my Professor requested I find for him, but to no avail. Andrea also showed me the town cathedral and made sure I enjoyed a crepe (nutella crepe...so good). I sat in on her last class of the day, in which they were talking about Ancient Greece, making me very eager for week two of my spring break. The day ended with an episode of Law and Order: CI...love Goren and Eames.
Friday: I got to sleep in a bit while Andrea went to her morning class, and then we hopped on a train to Paris! The evening was marked by gyros and the beauty of the lit-up Eiffel Tower. At night on the hour the Eiffel Tower sparkles! While Andrea and I were waiting around to get pictures with the sparkling Eiffel Tower two Tunesian guys, Item and Akarem, came up to us and we ended up talking with them for a while. Although they spoke English, they were impressed that Andrea was speaking some French to them (I was impressed by her newly-gained French knowledge the whole week). The French metro was absolutely packed, and to get in and out you have to insert your ticket and go through a turnstile/gate. This experience was pretty intense compared to the hop-on hop-off easy-going transportation in Vienna, but I was so elated by the sparkly Eiffel Tower that I didn't mind.
Saturday: The day began with a very nice continental breakfast and was filled with walking all over to hit the main sights in Paris. Sacre Coeur/Montmatre, walking around the Louvre (not inside), Notre Dame, Luxembourg Gardens, and Moulin Rouge (after dark, but before the crazies came out). We also ate dinner in a nice little French cafe-restaurant, and Andrea was able to help me with the necessities like ordering water to drink. I also fell a little bit in love with the night-receptionist at our hotel, so if I ever decide I want to marry a Frenchman I'll go back there and find him (All Seasons).
Sunday: Another nice breakfast followed by Arc de Triomphe, more gardens, and a picnic by the Eiffel Tower (Andrea needed daytime pictures). Much too soon it was time to depart, and I found my way out to the Paris Orly airport. Since I had not yet purchased the cliche baguette, I bought one in the airport! Upon my eventual return to Vienna (via Bratislava...what a cute little landing-pad of an airport) I had to unpack, repack, and, of course, put up my French pictures before forgetting what all I saw.

Posaunezahl: Sadly still 10. No French trombones.

I know I'm in Europe because:
1) I experienced French rudeness first-hand on multiple occasions, both in the north and the south. Not all of them are this way, of course, but in some cases it's as if your mere presence offends them.
2) knowing no more than five or six words of French, I felt the helplessness of not being able to understand or communicate in one's surroundings. I didn't know that one of my trains was canceled until it didn't show up, because I couldn't read the information board or understand announcements. Fortunately I had a ticket that transferred to a later train.
3) I could have bought an authentic Parisian dress for next year's formal. Didn't, but the opportunity was there.
4) I ate French french fries.
5) there were protests abound. The French university teachers haven't been teaching all year and we had to walk through Tamil red-flag protests multiple times.