Aix-en-Provence: First Impressions

Salut mes amis, 

I've made it to my temporary home in Aix-en-Provence! It's been less than 5 hours, but so far so good! Here's what I've been up to since leaving the City of Lights:

After a sleepy TGV ride from Paris, and a short connection in Marseille, Ash and I arrived into La Gare Routière here in Aix right on schedule. Tout d'un coup, a spunky-looking women jumped out and asked if I was me, to which I said "oui!?", before being whisked away in a whirlwind of French. I hardly had time to say goodbye to Ashlynn, let alone find the restroom! 

In my head I was sure that this woman was probably my host mother but, according to my phone call with the program coordinator, I was supposed to be picked up by a student. I don't even know how she recognized me so quickly, having never seen a photo of me (except for perhaps the red-headed I.D. photo I sent the university)! Either way, this confusion mixed with adrenaline stacked with fatigue made it hard to say much of anything at all; I didn't even catch her name the first time. Despite everything, my new mère d'accueil was cordial and smiley, and helped me wrangle my bags into her haphazardly parked vehicle.

Once in the the car, she explained gingerly that she had been having computer problems, and was unable to receive my email until that morning - she was pleased to see how much effort I put into it, was impressed with my level of french and was sorry to have not gotten back to me. The drive was short, so not much else was said before we dragged my luggage to her 3rd-story apartment. 

After monuments, the metro, and this apartment, I never want to see another stair again!

The next steps run together a bit: the tour, the smalltalk, but it was all positive. The apartment itself is beautiful, and very comfortable. My room is spacious and cozy, with plenty of storage! Most notably, Cathy is an absolute delight.

She served up a lovely quiche after letting me decompress, unpack, and take a much-deserved shower... Last of all, we went across the hall to meet Amanda, a fellow CEAer and my new neighbor! 

All things considered, I am extremely happy to be here. I have a feeling things will continue to move in a positive direction as I get accustomed to living with my new host IN FRANCE! For now, I'm just glad to have a web connection to talk to my family!

Thanks for reading!