#ceaaix

[cesjoursaudacieux]

A day in Marseille. 

11/16/14

[cesjoursaudacieux]

A weekend in Paris. (parents included)

11/7-11/9

[cesjoursaudacieux]

Aix's Christmas Celebrations are in full swing. 

Top: Paul Cezzane enjoying the beautiful Christmas lights by the Rotonde Fountain.

Bottom: Aix's famous Santon Christmas market where you can buy Provencal santons which are small figures used as Christmas decorations. They either depict the nativity scene ("la creche" in French) or daily Provencal life. 

[cesjoursaudacieux]

The glorious stupidity that occurs when you're stuck between two languages.

There is this sort of glorious stupidity that emerges from being here in Aix, surrounded by native French and English speakers. I find myself in the midst of a conversation in English (on the phone with my parents or in person with an American friend) and I'm stumped for a full fifteen seconds or more, trying to search through the back of my brain to find the word I need to express what I'm attempting to say.

Sometimes I have the French word in my head and can't figure out how to translate it (see conversation with my mother: trying to translate "voie" into "train platform" took a good minute-long, roundabout description).

But, other times I only have the image of what I'm trying to say in my head and its a matter of ten or more seconds to find the word in either language.

It's not an issue of me being suddenly fluent in French (I've still got some work to do) and its not an issue a lack of use of English (fortunately and unfortunately I have plenty of American friends to speak English with). 

And of course, I am always stuck searching for French words that I know somewhere in the back of my head but take too long to find and I end up using adjectives, basic verbs, and similar nouns to try and go about explaining what I'm getting at. 

While I may come off as an idiot who has forgotten basic vocabulary (in either language) there is this sublime feeling that overcomes me that tells me that I'm learning. The struggle that occurs in these situations is a marker of improvement, I am somewhere in between two languages, native in one and on my way to fluent in another, and somewhere in there those wires get crossed resulting in a loss of words. 

So I'm adding to my list of things learned while abroad: the struggle is real (don't hate me over that awful line) and from that struggle emerges a glorious feeling of things accomplished with even more to come. 

[cesjoursaudacieux]

Local treats (from top to bottom): Ratatouille, baguette and chèvre (goat cheese), quiche lorraine, and pain au chocolat and café au lait. 

These are just a few of my favorite foods to eat here in Aix.