Nice and Cassis... Jacques Cousteau!

So I've finally gotten around to writing about Nice and Cassis, the two coastal towns I visited this past weekend.

On Saturday, we all piled into a bus and headed towards Nice. It's about two hours away from Aix, and it was just about the prettiest drive I've ever done. Leaving Aix, we went south east, passing the long part of Mont Sainte Victoire. That mountain is enormous. Climbing it next weekend, as I hope to do, will be quite the adventure. It's pretty tall, but what's most impressive is that its cliff face must stretch for three miles! Very impressive. Then we wound through the countryside, passing by small french town after small french town, and loads of rolling hills, all covered in beautifully scraggly brush and dwarfed, stunted trees. We passed by Cannes, where we got our first glimpse of the Mediterranean, and soon arrived in the aptly named Nice.

Upon arrival in the French Riviera, we got paninis at an outdoor cafe, and walked over to the pebbled beaches, where we met up with some of the other IAU kids. Most of the early afternoon, we floated in the clear blue water. It's impressive how far down you can see, and how steeply the shore drops off. You can get about 50 feet out and you're in 20 foot deep water. The really amazing part is that you'd really have to try pretty hard to drown, not only because of the total lack of waves and current, but because the water is so salty, should you get tired treading water or swimming, you can just relax and end up with all 10 toes out of the water, floating on your back.

After a couple hours of sea side play time, we decided to climb up to the top of the hill and get a good look at the city. So we walked up the maze of stairs and walkways leading to the top of a shockingly steep hill on the eastern edge of the city, where we found vast views and a waterfall. I was puzzled at how a waterfall could start at the top of such a steep hill, and nobody could really give me an answer, but there it was. After some serious photo taking, we wandered back down, through the market in the old city, and back to the bus that took us back to Aix via a restaurant.

The next day we woke up bright and early to go to Cassis, a coastal fishing village, still unspoiled by foreign tourism. After checking out the harbor and the shops for a half hour or so, we went with the same people we had explored Nice with on about a 90 minute hike to the west, to explore a series of inlets in the cliffs, known as "les calanques," each with it's own little "hidden" beach. There we spent the day picknicking on baguette sandwiches, lounging by the beach, and, at the suggestion of a funny elderly french couple who had docked their yacht in the calanque, jumping off the tall, white cliffs. It was pretty great. Eventually we had to tear ourselves away from our little paradise we had discovered, and walk back to the boat.

After the excitement of this weekend, this week has been pretty slow. I'm learning a lot about drawing, tho, between the advice I've been getting from my teachers and the help on the side that all the other students can give me (they pretty much all have previous training in drawing). So I'm learning helpful technique tidbits from my fellow students, and from my teachers, i'm slowly learning how to create a vibrant and cohesive world of my own on the page, instead of just copying down what I see. Every day I spend here, I get happier and happier with my decision to come here. As I told mom yesterday, I really think I'm going to grow a bunch here. I'm trying very hard to buy into the whole attitude they have that, regardless of my previous experience (or lack thereof) I became an artist as soon as I started at Marchutz, and I think the more I'm able to get myself to think that way, the more success I'll have in the program.

That's all for now, but I'll have more to say soon, as we leave for Oktoberfest in 24 hours!