C'est Nice

Bonjour, mes amis! I know it's been a long time since the first (and only post), but in my defense, the internet here is about as predictable as the french electorate! (Hey-O!) Anyway, to quote Batty Koda from Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest, "I'm back! And I'm flapping free! Now let me tell you a little story that's all about m--" Then, of course, beginst the famous "Batty Rap," which, in the interest of the welfare of humankind, I will not recite.



So here's how it's been going down: The wee kiddies arrived Thursday, and things have been more or less nonstop ever since. Friday morning we did student orientation, which was more or less painless. Two students signed up for the writer's group that I want to start, which is a much better turn out than I was expecting from these aristocratic sonso-- i mean, lovely young men and women. True, it'll be more of a writer's trio, but that's cool. I'm down.

Friday afternoon saw me playing tour guide to a group of students, who I dragged around Nice. Afterward, I took my first trip to the beach avec three of my other RAs... all I can say about the Beach in Nice is: it's intense. The sun is super strong, the water is super salty, and the pebbly beach is super painful to stand on. It's still a very nice beach--the water is bright blue... almost turqouise--but could use some... simmering down. We're going to go to a few sandy beaches while we're here, so hopefully i'll do better there.

I walked around Nice at least three or four times on Friday, first for the tour, second to go to the beach, third to sit at my station for the Scavenger hunt, and fourth for Town Duty, which involves two or three RAs prowling the mean streets of the Vielle Ville looking for students, hopefully to put them on guard against any rulebreaking. It was fun, though, hanging out with my co-Town-dutyers. We got ice cream at the unbelievable Fennochio--really, really delicious... better, I'd venture to say, than "Dino" in Barcelona (I know, a tall claim, but I just call 'em like I see 'em). Let's just say I've had several moments over the past few days where I'm forced to look around and ask myself, "wait, i'm getting paid for this?"

On Saturday we went on our first excursion, popping in at the towns of Eze, a perched village, Monaco, a principality of France and home to the Monte Carlo Casino, and Menton, a smelly armpit of tourism wedged between the side of France and the arm of italy (only 1km from the italian border).

Eze is a perched village about twenty minutes outside of Nice. It's got that whole medieval village placed precariously on a mountain-top feel to it, complete with castle ruins at the peak. The town itself, while charming and windy, is sort of nothing to the views, like this one. Ridiculous, right? Anyway... we hung out here for a brief amount of time... I learned, with my co-RA Sabina, that someone from Eze is called an "Ezacs" or an "Ezaques" or something like that. Oh! And I (finally, about twelve hours after everyone else) realized we had our first Program couple, a grand total of 30 hours after they arrived in France. Of course, by now, a good two days later, it's over... fleeting puppy love. Heh heh heh.

From Eze we went to Monaco, which, can I say, is totally out of control. In this picture, you see only half the city, although all the way on the right side you can see the green dome of the Monte Carlo Casino. I took some students to see the Prince's (admittedly ridiculous) car collection... it must have been a hundred or more cars from the 1880s all the way up to the 1990s (nothing newer, interestingly enough), replete with Lamborghinis, first genereation Renaults, Fiats that one can fit in one's pocket, the BMW that seats two people and the door opens in the front of the car, and a Trabant. After that, the kids all disappeared into Monaco, and I walked over to the Monte Carlo, and while I was neither dressed nor moneyed appropriately to enter the main gambling hall, I did have an opportunity to urinate in their very fine bathroom.

I was actually kind of bitter about the Monaco trip, having had my students abandon me, and not having run into any other RAs, until I was almost back at the meeting spot (just outside the Musee Oceanographique) when I witnessed these kids jumping off this staircase built into a cliff into the water a good twenty-five or thirty feet below. It was kind of insane to watch... unsettling, even. None of them smashed their brains open on the rocks, though, so that was nice. It actually looked like a lot of fun... not that i would ever be able to do it... je suis un chickenshit.

Lastly was Menton. The plan was for us to have dinner in our RA groups... I'll be honest: while I like several of the guys on my floor, some of them are cliquey in that sullen, passive way that only guys are able to accomplish. I tried (in vain) to split them up and get them to talk to new people, but they were resistant. I may have to have a "little conversation" with them later. Of course, the quotation marks means corporal punishment... JUST KIDDING! Hahaha. Violence is funny. After dinner, I hung out on these lawns near the beach, and watched the sun set, and chatted with some of the kids. Here's the sunset:

I'm running out of time, here, so I'll have to fill you in on the rest of the weekend some other time. I've got a staff meeting in a few minutes, and don't want to be late for that.

A bientot!