Friday after dinner Louie (the guy we met a school who grew up here and loves America/English) came by and met us. Then the group of us - Hope, Mike, Jeffrey, Me, Anna, Michael, Brooke, and Louie - went to a brasserie near the train station where they sell crêpes. After our almost slump on Thursday night we decided to do more fun things with our time (provided they don’t cost too much). So we started by deciding to get crêpes on Friday. They were delicious! Then we all walked around town and relaxed and hung out. It was good to hang out, and Louie told us how he takes horseback riding lessons so me, Anna, and Hope might go with him sometime! That would be so fun.
Saturday morning Anna and I woke up early to go to Marseilles for the day. We had a little issue with our Eurail passes that ended up costing us 18,50 Euros each so that was a bit of a bummer. The man who helped us make our reservations booked us in first class for one train and our passes are only good in second class so we had to pay the difference. It was still way cheaper than paying full fare, but we definitely want to avoid that in the future. I checked our other reservations we have for after school’s done, and we’re going to have to go change two of them.
We arrived in Marseilles around 10:30, figured out how to get to the beach by the métro and set off. When we got out of the métro we were in the middle of a fish mart, and Anna and I both hate fish. Ick. But cool besides that, they were just selling fresh fish from the Mediterranean! WE walked until we foung a beach and set up for the day. It was a smaller beach but all we needed was the beach and the Mediterranean so we were happy. And it was free, I was afraid we would have to pay, so that was great too!
After between 4 and 5 hours in the sun (don’t worry we actually wore sunscreen, and reapplied a few times too!) we decided to see what the town had to offer. It took us a while of walking through deserted streets lined with restaurants to find the shops. But we eventually did. The street was lined with all the mainline stores but when we turned onto the next street there was an open market like the one we found in Paris. It was great! We bought a couple little things and then found ourselves at our métro stop…perfect!
We took the métro back to the train station and then decided to find a place close by for dinner. There was a cute little restaurant right there that was pretty cheap so we decided to eat there. The guy who worked there was very nice, and like everyone he asked us where we were from. Unlike some people, he continued to speak to us in French because he didn’t know much English. He was really nice, I think his family owned the restaurant. It was just a sweet little place, I enjoyed it. Everything in France is just quaint and cute. After we finished eating we just sat at our table outside and soaked up Marseilles until our train left.
We had a stop over in Lyon for about 50 minutes so we left the train station to find the US soccer game. We came to a brasserie where the game was playing and sat down with the only man watching. He wanted the US to win too. One of the guys who worked there gave us a hard time. He was from Algeria and said he cried after that game and now he’s just rooting for Africa, so Ghana in that match. It was fun to talk to him briefly and watch a little of the game. Then we saw my roommate walking by outside so I called to her and she joined us, she was taking the same train as us back to Chambéry so we just waited together. It was good to get to talk to her, I didn’t think I knew her that well before and now I do.
We got home a little after 11 and I was tired so I talked to Matt quick and then it was bedtime!
Church this morning was different than last time, but still good. We went to the church we were at two weeks ago but this weekend was their church camping trip so a lot of people were missing. It was a smaller group but God is still present. We sang songs that were more like hymns today, even though I don’t usually prefer them I found it very comforting this morning. Just another reminder from God that He’s here with me.
After church Anna and I made lunch (SO good) and then met up with some others for the pool. WE didn’t realize it but the pool is less than a block from our apartments. We just walk to the end of the street and cross the road, easy as that. With our “ID” cards from school (our cafeteria cards) we got a student discount so the pool was only 1,90 Euros (which is cheaper than the lake that just started costing money because it’s summer). We layed out for a while and then went to get in the water. It was not a problem for us girls, but the lifeguard wouldn’t let Mike in the pool. If you’re a guy you can’t wear swim trunks, you HAVE to wear a speedo. Something about it being cleaner…Poor guy, it was hot today!
We weren’t in for long and then we just sat out, I read some of my book and we all just talked and relaxed. The fête de l’eau was going on today so there were a lot of people and some entertainment acts. There were some acrobats that were insane! And these guys dressed as mad scientists walking around and being goofy. They spoke to us in English because they heard us speaking English but when we continued to respond in French they switched back. It was fun.
After baking for long enough we went back home and relaxed until dinner. I did laundry for the first time since arriving…impressive, I know. But Katelyn warned me that laundry in Europe is no picnic so I brought lots of underwear and planned to avoid it as long as possible. And it cost 3 Euros just to wash, with no dryers available! Bummer for me…My clothes will be hanging for a while.
The rest of night wasn’t too eventful – dinner, quick burger, O’Cardinals for part of the Mexico-Argentina game (because my roommate’s from Mexico and I wanted to be supportive…). Then we just came back and now it’s bedtime, I've got a busy week coming!
Pictures from the trip so far
stupid speedo rule. im never going to forget that
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