“Do you speak Arabic? Inchallah !”

As part of my program here in Marseille, we went to Fez, Morocco this past week to experience first hand some of the cultural, political, and religious differences of North Africa and of course to try to use the little bit of Arabic that we’ve learned this semester! Throughout the week, we had a few conferences with professors at the university in Fez (to talk about the cultural and political situations of Fez) and with Muslim women who wear the veil to discuss how the practice of Islam affects their daily life. Each day we also went on various tours to see the Medina (the older part of the city where all of the markets are), the Volubilis (Roman Ruins), and a monkey infested forrest in the highlands of Morocco! :) 

During the week, I stayed with a host family that was wonderful and very welcoming! (We were each paired with a “correspondent” student studying French at the university in Fez and their family was our host family.) My correspondent, Atika, lives with her parents, her 4 brothers and 2 sisters…needless to say there was always a lot going on at their home! Atika, her dad, and one of her sisters spoke French fairly well so I was able to communicate pretty easily with them, but the rest of the family spoke Arabic so I learned some useful Arabic words and phrases :) but there was also a lot of “charades” to understand each other. Here are some words that are used ALL the time in Morocco:

-          Chukran (“Thanks”)

-          Inchallah (“If god wants it” or “god-willing”)

-          Asalamoualieekoum (For “hello”, literally “peace with you”) and the response is alieekoumousalama (That's not confusing, right? :))

-          Kol (“Eat!”)

-          Khubz (“Bread”)

Part of the welcoming nature of the Moroccans is that they want to feed you everything (hence the phrase “kol”…I heard that a lot throughout the week!)…I’m pretty sure that I’ve never eaten more bread and drank more thé à la menthe (mint tea) in my whole life than I did the past week in Morocco! But my host mom was a great cook and throughout the week I had some delicious couscous and tangine!

It was great to be in a host family because I got to do some interesting and “traditional” things with my family. One day I went to the neighborhood hamam (Turkish baths) with my host mom and we were there for two hours! (The Moroccans know how to do baths :)) Another day, my host sisters and I did traditional henna on our hands (see pictures!). Also, my host dad was a photo journalist so he invited me along to the events that he was attending throughout the week. We went to a concert of Soufie (sacred music)…the sofies are the traditional dancers with the big white skirts that twirl around in a circle for like 15-20 minutes and then when the music stops then stop all of the sudden and just walk off the stage normally…they aren’t dizzy at all! It’s quite amazing! We also went to a ‘community’ wedding with 25 couples! Since marriages are quite a big deal - there 3 days of celebration and it can get quite expensive – if a couple can’t afford their own celebration, the city of Fez offers ‘all-inclusive weddings’ :) where they provide the catering, music, dresses, everything for the couple. It was cool to see how there are different traditions than occidental weddings, for example the brides are carried into the room in a palankeen (see photos!) but there are other traditions that are exactly the same like cutting the wedding cake and the first dance :)

Here are some pictures from my week in Fez: http://picasaweb.google.com/erichards20/Morocco?authkey=Gv1sRgCJmB24bCs8uoew&feat=directlink

Skiing in the Alps!

So while some Marseillais headed to the beach to sunbathe this weekend, my host family and I headed up to the mountains for some spring skiing! My host family has a small house (that's 150 years old!) near Serre Chevalier in the Alps...we spent the weekend there with two collegues of my host dad (2 other math teachers) and some family friends (one family had two daughters 7 and 4 years old...soo cute!). It was my first time skiing anyplace other than Colorado, but after Colorado the Alps aren't too bad :) I think I still like Colorado snow better, but the Alps (at least the ski area that we were at) seemed huge! The runs seem to be a little more open and we were able to go up to the top of a lot of different peaks which had wonderful views! It's also interesting that they label their runs a little differently...they have green (easy), blue (intermediate), and black (difficult) runs but they also have red which is in between blue and black, but no black diamonds, double black diamonds, etc...I was trying to explain the diamond system to my host dad and he thought that was kind of funny :)

The town at the base of Serre Chevalier is also known for its natural hot springs and so we went to the "bains chauds" (or "hot tubs"!) after skiing. There they had two different warm pools with lots of jets (like big hot tubs) and a hamam (turkish bath...like a really really hot sauna)...they also had "les trois bains" which are three bath: one really warm (40°C) which you are supposed to spend 20 minutes in, one lukewarm bath (24°C) which you spend 10 minutes in, and one freezing cold bath (7°C) which you are "supposed" spend 2 minutes in :) (yeah right, i only made it like 10 seconds in the really cold bath!)

Here are a few pictures from the weekend: http://picasaweb.google.com/erichards20/SerreChevalier?authkey=Gv1sRgCKv8mszD2smSAw&feat=directlink

More travels...

So, I like the French system of breaks...during this semester, I have a winter break AND spring break (and a few random 'holidays' in the middle of the week just because!) which makes traveling around a little easier :) This past week for winter break, my friend Emma from Colorado College (who is also studying in France) and I went to Nice, France. We stayed the full week in Nice - there is a ton of stuff to do! We went to a few museums, some cool parks, hung out on the beach, and shopped in the marchés. It was also the week of Carnaval (which is quite popular in Nice) so there were parades in the afternoons and at night. Its kind of funny that silly string is so popular at these parades...not only do kids run around spraying each other but adults will spray other random adults with silly string and just laugh at each other! Throughout the week, we also took a few day trips to some other cities (and a country!) that are close by...Cannes, St. Paul de Vance, and Monaco. (Monaco is actually a lot smaller than I realized...Emma and I walked across the whole country in just one day! :))

Here are some pictures from my week...the first few are in Nice, then Monaco, St. Paul de Vance, Cannes, and then some more from Carnaval in Nice :) http://picasaweb.google.com/erichards20/NiceWinterBreak?authkey=Gv1sRgCLXm1uiJ_IaLIQ&feat=directlink

Vive la grève!

So, only a few days after I arrived in Marseille, I got to see a French strike (grève). After working at the Democratic National Convention this summer, I thought that I had seen some pretty big protests in Denver, but American protests are nothing compared to the French “manifestations”! La Canebière, the main street of Marseille which leads into the city from the Vieux Port, was completely packed with protestors, but it was interesting because it wasn’t only adults – there were whole families, students from elementary through college, and even older retired people, who were all there just to watch like it was a parade! The protestors were singing, dancing, and chanting, while carrying banners and flags…I even saw a group of young students doing the Macarena…I’m not sure how that expresses a concern for the rising unemployment in France…maybe something was lost in translation :) Anyway, it was fascinating because it almost seemed like a celebration, but then I realized that maybe it is a way for the French to celebrate their rights and express their opinions :) It was also kind of cool because in Paris, the strikes can get a little violent and out of control, but they are really calm here in Marseille! At night the protestors just all went home (and probably watched all of the craziness in Paris on T.V.)!

So far I have really enjoyed Marseille and my host family! I’m not quite sure exactly what I expected Marseille to be like, but it really is a mixture of cultures…on my walk to school everyday I pass through narrow streets that remind me of tiny European towns, walk down huge boulevards with buildings that remind me of Paris, and pass by a small North African market! I have a host mom and a host dad who have been so welcoming and helpful…we’ve had some great conversations because they are very interested in my views on American politics. They are also very active…in fact, my first day in Marseille, my host dad took me on a 3 hour mountain bike tour of the Calanques (the mountain range that runs along the coast of France). They’ve also told me all about the good places to ski that aren’t too far from Marseille, so maybe we can try to go skiing while I’m here and I can compare France snow to Colorado snow!

Since all of my classes are in French and our program has a language contract that we will only speak French with our host families and the other students, I’ve been doing (or attempting to do!) everything in French! It’s a little weird, but “au fur et à mesure” (“little by little”…they love this phrase here!), it’s gotten to the point where if I hear something in English (or even as I’m trying to type this!) it feels pretty strange.

Also, here’s a link to a few of my pictures from Marseille and the small towns that my group visited last weekend in the Luberon region!

http://picasaweb.google.com/erichards20/Marseille?authkey=kkrK-nJf6T0&feat=directlink

A plus tard!
Beth :)

Why Ireland is so green...

Here are some Ireland pictures!
http://picasaweb.google.com/erichards20/IrelandTrip?authkey=_af9xHIkMwc&feat=directlink

“Raining Between the Showers”

It’s a really good thing that I remembered to bring my rain jacket to Ireland this week! At the beginning of the week, we hopped onto a tour bus that took us around the countryside and to the Cliffs of Moher (also known as the “Cliffs of Insanity” where the Princess Bride was filmed!). As we set off from Galway toward the cliffs with a steady drizzle of rain outside, our tour bus driver said that the forecast for today would be “raining between the showers”…But despite all of the rain, I’ve actually had a very nice time being in Ireland the past week :)

I started the week off in Dublin with some friends, where we did the obligatory tour of the Guinness Storehouse :) It was actually a pretty interesting self-led tour that shows everything that goes into a Guinness and the company’s history (and of course at the end of the tour, you get to drink a pint of Guinness at their bar at the top of the factory, overlooking Dublin!) We also spent time walking around Grafton Street (a big shopping street with street performers…when it’s not raining!) and the Temple Bar area (where a lot of Dublin’s best pubs are).

Then we took a bus across the country to Galway and stayed with my friends who are studying at the National University of Ireland, Galway. Throughout the week, we’ve done some shopping, relaxing, and took the tour bus around Galway. I also went to an Irish Step Dancing class here at the university where I learned 3 different steps (I’m on my way to Riverdance!). Also, Obama is quite popular over here so we watched the inauguration at the College Bar with the rest of the student body which is made up of Irish and International students. It was definitely more of a subdued reaction to his speech than I would have seen if I was at school or at home!

Well, I’m leaving Ireland tomorrow and I will take the TGV down to Marseille over the weekend where I’ll meet my host family and begin my classes! I’ll put up some more pictures of rainy Ireland and will hopefully update you once I’m down in Marseille!

A plus tard!
Beth :)

Paris Pictures!

Click this link for a few of my pictures from Paris :)
http://picasaweb.google.com/erichards20/BethMarseille2009?authkey=6eCv2PDaK0g&feat=directlink

I Love Paris in the Wintertime…

So after weeks of worrying about student visas, plane tickets, and packing, I finally made it to France!

This past month in France was just a short orientation in Paris through Colorado College…it was technically a ‘half block’ to give us some extra credit back at CC, so it was led by a CC professor and there were 3 other girls in my ‘class’ :) (I use the word class loosely since most mornings that meant that we just met for breakfast over coffee and croissants while we discussed poems by Charles Baudelaire and Victor Hugo!) The best part about the class was that we would discuss a place in the morning, for example the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower, and talk about its history and significance to Paris; then in the afternoon, we would go visit these places and compare them to poems and texts written by nineteenth century authors. It was pretty nice because it gave us a little deeper insight into some of these traditionally ‘touristy’ places. Also, our class and discussions were all in French so we really got into a French mindset. For example, one night, after discussing the Bohemian Revolution at the end of the 19th century, we went to the oldest cabaret in Paris, Le Lapin Agile. (Don’t worry! It wasn’t at all like the traditional cabarets that you might have heard about! J It was mostly a lot of French musicians and singers that performed their own music and tried to entertain the crowds with audience participation!) Although it has kind of turned into somewhat of a tourist attraction, all of the singing was in French, so we were able to understand and sing along with this one hilarious old man who was singing about bubble gum…I’m not quite sure that the Japanese tourists sitting next to us understood what was quite so funny, but they seemed to be having a good time too!

It’s good that we were walking all around Paris though, because in the meantime we ate…a lot! It was all so delicious though, so here are some of my favorites :
- Chèvre Chaud: This was the very first thing that I ate in Paris…it’s warm goat cheese usually on a piece of toast and on top of a salad. We learned that the Parisians like to put eggs or goat cheese on just about every meal :)
- Crêpes: Of course, this sounds like a pretty cliché thing to eat in France, but we found this Greek man at one crêpe stand that made the most amazing nutella, banana, and coconut crêpe. It was perfection!
- Escargot: So I guess this is also cliché French but the escargot really wasn’t too bad at all! I guess the fact that they had covered it in butter and garlic helped a bit too!
- Berthillon Ice Cream and Ladurée Macaroons: The whole time that we were in Paris, we were so amazed by how much more flavorful everything is! Berthillon Ice Cream is a specialty ice cream manufacturer that opened up its first store on the Île St. Louis (on the same island as the Notre-Dame, right in the middle of the city). Just a few bites of their ‘chocolate blanc’ was so rich and creamy. We also went to a Restaurant/Patisserie right on the Champs-Elysées called Ladurée. We were told that Ladurée was famous for its bite-sized macaroons and they had tons of flavors, so I tried the most off-the-wall flavor that they had which was ‘rose petal’. It was so delicious…I really don’t think that you could get anything closer to that taste with out eating the actual petals of a rose!
- Vin chaud: Of course all of the ‘vin’ or wine that we had in Paris was amazing, but since it was really cold every day that we were there, our favorite drink to order was hot wine. It also went perfectly with the chèvre chaud!

It was really cool to go around and see all of the landmarks and famous places in Paris, but my favorite times during the trip were just while we were walking through the city and ‘people-watching’. We heard a man playing the accordion on the Metro, I saw a countless number of Parisians wearing berets, and each evening we saw people walking home from work with a long baguette in hand. It also seems a little silly, but I also really enjoyed just being surrounded constantly by the French language. I love hearing it, reading it on signs and menus, and even trying to more or less communicate in French :)

So, right now I’m actually visiting a few friends in Ireland before my program officially starts for the semester in Marseille. It’s been really nice to relax for a few days, but I’m missing Paris already! Maybe I’ll have to visit Paris in the springtime…I’m sure that I’d love it then too :) I’ll be arriving in Marseille and meeting my host family on January 24th and then I will be there the whole semester until I leave on June 1st, so I will try to keep everyone updated on any of my travels and cool things that I experience in Marseille between now and then! (Hmm, it doesn't seem to be working right now, but hopefully I'll be able to put up some pictures between now and then as well!)

A plus tard!
Beth :)