Living the Provençal life
- tmatson
- Nov 5, 2014
- 2 min read
Arriving in Aix, I received a warm welcome from family of one of my best friends, Becca Young! Alice, Becca’s aunt, met me at the train station and treated me to a wonderful lunch right in downtown Aix. While we ate our Provençal pizza, I learned a little bit more about her, her family and her work as director of language studies at a nearby university. After a guided tour of old town and the ancient cathedral (parts of which date back to the 6th century!) we headed back to her home in Jouques.
Jouques is a small commune about 20 minutes away from Aix. Its central street is quiet, and narrow streets meander up the hillside to the ruins of an old chapel. From there, you can watch the sun’s fading pink light descend behind the not-so-far-off mountain range.
Nestled in the country between small fields of lavender, Alice’s house was exactly the comfortable respite I needed after back-to-back travel days. The terracotta façade and floor gave it a warm and homey feel despite the gusty windstorm during my stay, and I imagine that the small pool in the back was perfect for hot summer days. The country home feel was complete with two goats, two dogs and five cats.
I stayed with Alice for two nights, and both nights, she treated me to a delicious home-cooked dinner. During these dinners I had the opportunity to practice my conversational French with her and her husband, Jils. For most of my stay in France, I had been mostly speaking to people in the tourist industry: restaurant servers, hotel concierge, museum curators, etc. However, during dinners with Alice and Jils, I got to practice holding an extended intellectual conversation in French. From Jils, I learned a lot about the history of Aix and the region. I was also curious about his work as a museum curator at the Natural History Museum. They recently found dinosaur eggs!
I was also extremely happy to discover that Leah Seagull had just moved to Aix! I met up with my sorority sister the second day of my stay. When we stopped at a café to catch up, I also found out that she had studied abroad in Morocco! Our rendezvous couldn’t have been more serendipitous. She described some of her experiences in Morocco, and I asked her all sorts of questions I had about moving there.
“Couscous Fridays!” she reminisced. “So amazing!”
After treating me to the “best baguette” in Aix (and yes, it was warm and delicious!), we parted ways; she was headed to Paris and Belgium for holiday, and I was off to my next stop in the French Riviera.
Комментарии