I drank a cassis and pomme (black current and apple) flavored Capri-Sun in Cassis.

Behold! I return!

Miss me?

I'll start with the fact that that heat wave that all of you had last week is apparently here (temperatures well over 90°F). There is not a single cloud in the sky and I needed suntan lotion just to walk back from school. Despite my best attempts, I think I got sunburn anyway. All I do is get sunburn. I think I may have "tanned" slightly. I don't like it. Maybe it is just freckles.

Moving on.
Tuesday night I had the brilliant I idea to go to town after dinner to watch the France-Italy soccer match. After walking around searching for a table for some time (there were many venues, but no tables), one was found off to the side of a café/bar. It was a table in a place with a television, so it was fine. The establishment was in a plaza that had several other cafés and bars with televisions set up, too. The crowd got really agitated at two events during the game, otherwise it was pretty quiet because the game was just bad. The two events: a red card to the French and the first Italian goal. I really would have liked to have seen the French score. Alas, I just get to say that I watched a soccer match at a café in France. I also had some kir, which is apparently Cassis white wine (Cassis = town on the Mediterranean Sea), cassis liquor (cassis = black current), and blackberry, raspberry, and peach flavorings. It's supposed to be a before-dinner drink. Oh, well.

After class on Wednesday I took an adventure to Cassis. A lot of other people decided to go there, too.

I swam in the Mediterranean. I was caked in salt to prove it. The water was extremely cold, but entirely worth it. I went in twice, which was a bad idea since the second time was around 5 p.m. and the temperature had dropped a bit already and the waves were getting more vicious.

This was where I discovered that PNC put a stop on my bank account because of international charges. That was especially fun since I only had enough money to get back to Aix. I didn't want to eat anyway. In reality, I wasn't alone, so I could have eaten if I really needed something.

Aside from having my credit card rejected, another fun moment was waiting for the train from Cassis to Marseille (naturally, the first train we wanted to get on was cancelled; I see a pattern). I was looking in awe as a TGV was coming from Marseille and headed for Toulon. The train à grande vitesse really is fast. While I was marvelling in it, another one passed in the opposite direction. I was probably about ten feet from it, and I almost was blown over by the wind it made as it passed. The near-stumble may have been in part because the train scared me, since I didn't realize it was coming. After that, I saw the sign warning of the TGV passing through the station.

In Marseille, there was a giant fire. The bus I was on to return to Aix drove a block behind it. All I could see were plumes of smoke exitting a building (no flames). I can't find any record of this fire.

Apparently, worldwide there is a music festival on Saturday for the beginning of summer. Here, the Fête de la Musique is held in the only park in Aix that requires me to walk completely across town (or nearly). I'll be attending that tomorrow.

The really great thing about Aix is that there are free concerts the week before and the week after called Musique dans la Rue (Music in the Street). Last night was some less than stellar world music and tonight is tango, but it's something to do.

With that, I depart with my hostess on an adventure that I have no idea what it is. She told me, but I only understood about half of it. I think the word for dance was used.