Study Abroad Week 2: Chapelle de la Garoupe & Day Trip to Italy!

Left: A view of the old Roman wall and part of the Grimaldi castle the Musée de Picasso is housed in (way in the back.)  Right: Works by Germaine Richier in the plaza of the musée.

Last Sunday, January 12, the day after the French Riviera tour I posted about, CEA had an optional excursion to the Musée de Picasso and then to a lighthouse on a hill.  The museum is one of only a few museums in the world devoted to Picasso's works, because Picasso worked in Antibes and donated his works to the museum provided it became a museum devoted to him.  The museum was interesting- built in an in old Grimaldi castle- and after getting a little bit of history on the tour it seems Picasso was a despicable man.

Left:  La Vierge folle by Germaine Richier (1946).  Middle:  Sculpture by Arman, I believe it's Composition à base octogonale en tour montée (1982).  Right: Regrettably, I cannot seem to find the artist or name of this work.

There were some works other than Picasso's in the museum, which were simply stunning.  My favourites were some statuettes whose backs look over the museum onto the street below.  Their twisted bodies are visible from the street below, and just a week prior we had been wondering what they were, and now we got to see them- bronze and brown patina sculptures by Germaine Richier.

Left: That tiny little lighthouse is where the church we walked and hiked to is at.  Yes, this photo is taken at the starting point.  Middle: A portion of the Roman road that leads from the foot of the hill to the church.  Right:  A portal into the faery world.  No, really.  It's an arch in the Roman wall leading to a small park.

After the museum we walked along the beachfront to a lighthouse on a hill.  A distant lighthouse on a hill.  I still can't believe we walked all that way.  And to make it even better, to get to the lighthouse we had to hike up a Roman road.  The road was beautiful and well-preserved, along with large portions of its wall.  But man, was it STEEP!  Once we got to the top, though, there was an old church built in the dark ages that made it all worth it.

Left: Approaching the church from the Roman road.  Another fey view, from an archway of the church entrance.  Right: A postcard of the church I made for my grandma.

After the walk to the top we had a brief lunch there, and then headed down the same road- much easier this time around!  We found a cheap little bistro by the beachfront as well, and sat down to a real meal on the French Riviera.

Left:  Crêpe creme marron (crêpe with chestnut cream) and cafe au lait.   Right:  First bite!  Yummy!

Well, that was last Sunday.  Saturday and yesterday I had more adventures, but a bit more quiet!  It's been raining all week on the Riviera, and Saturday I went to Ventimiglia, Italy with three friends: two guys in our program and my roommate.  We nearly missed the invitation due to me wking up late , but we met up with them on time...then we missed our train.  But it was okay, because we caught the next one.  

That beautiful Italian river after the rain.  Gorgeous swimming ahoy!

It was also raining in Italy, which unfortunately dampened our exploring a bit, but we did get to explore the marketplace and the portion of Ventimiglia immediately surrounding the train station.  We had an authentic Italian dinner, which was what we were all excited for, with a red wine a friend treated the rest of us to.  I bought pesto to bring back with me, as it was MUCH cheaper in Italy than in Antibes.  My friend and I were able communicate rather well with Italian speakers using our Spanish, and vice-versa.  We were also all VERY happy to note that in Italy, they were playing Italian music, as opposed to the American and Spanish-language (mostly Caribbean) music played in France.  In two weeks I've old heard French music twice.  I cannot for the life of me understand why, it's beautiful...and we're in FRANCE.  Well, mini-rant over.  

One of my little hobbies is to occasionally look up Disney songs in other languages, particularly Japanese, Italian, Spanish, and French.  I went crazy on that with Frozen when I saw it right after The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug last month.  I totally fell in love with Frozen.  And yesterday I went to see it in French.  Now I don't speak French at all, but I most definitely do not have the bulk of Frozen memorized, especially "Let It Go" in 5 languages.  NOPE.  

Au revoir!~

P.S. Psst.  I have been doing some cooking here, mostly improvisation of recipes.  I try to have my camera around it as often as possible and take notes, so if you're into cooking check out my crafting blog as well.  Thanks!

Study Abroad Week 1- The French Riviera at a Glance

The whole group for the day one CEA program orientation.  Photo courtesy of the CEA Study Abroad- French Riviera Facebook page.

Here is the first of my posts regarding my study abroad experience.  Last Sunday, January 5th, I arrived at the Nice airport in France and was picked up by the program staff and driven to my housing in Antibes, France in the French Riviera.  The CEA staff, Kristin and Syvlie, are extremely nice- not only did they drop us off and give us keys, but they also showed us how to open our gate, walked us to our exact residence, and gave us orientation packets with a map of Antibes, bus routes, train routes, travel information, and everything you can possibly think of.  Monday we had the program orientation at a cafe they reserved for us, and we got the French take on the rosca de reyes for the Epiphany.  Kristin and Silvija then took us around the beachfront of Antibes, which is largely spanned by the remains of a beautiful Roman wall that surrounded the whole town until the 19th century.

Left: The gallete de rois for the Epiphany.  Right: The view of our street from the town square.

Tuesday was our school orientation at SKEMA Business School, and the rest of the week was spent on school until Saturday.  That was the best day of the week.  We toured the French Riviera by bus, first by a drive through Nice and a walk through the market place and the town square, followed by a stop at the Fragonard perfume factory in Grasse, which was, according to the tour guide, the perfume capital of the world.   I purchased a souvenir for one of my sisters there, as she is very much into perfume, while I am not.

Soap stall in the Nice marketplace.

After the perfume factory we went to the hilltop village of Éze, originally built as a fortified structure to protect against various invaders, such as the Romans and the Vikings.

A walkway in Éze and me posing with a statue outside the chapel.

After that, CEA took us into Monaco, where we had lunch, saw the Palais des Princes de Monaco and the changing of the guards there, and then toured the Cathedrale de Monaco.  Then came what we had all been waiting for: the visit to Monte Carlo.  That proved to be more disappointing than anything, as while I had indeed been expecting it to be classy, the casino was so quiet and so high class that it just felt stuffy and uncomfortable.  There are no cameras allowed in there, but the place was gorgeous and ornately decorated.  Most of us only remained for 5-7 minutes, although a pair did gamble before they lost approximately 50€ in 2 minutes.  I would have liked to have a drink in the Monte Carlo so that I could truly say I'd been there, but those were too pricey as well.  Taking pictures outside the Monte Carlo and the shopping square was an entirely different experience, though, and I had a lot of fun posing for these photos!

Top left: The changing of the guards at Monaco.  Top left: The Chapel of Monaco. Bottom left: Monte Carlo from the fountain.  Bottom right: The view to the left of Monte Carlo.

Au revoir!

Just a block or so off the Monte Carlo.

Minorities in Academics

The semester has been busy, and I did not update this blog as I had planned to in preparation for study abroad. Today was full of errands, but eventful in providing food for thought.

Study abroad pre-departure orientation is mandatory, I expected a general focus on health and safety. Instead the focus was on stereotypes of Americans on study abroad programs, perceptions of Americans in other countries, and culture shock while abroad. Having grown up in the United States in a decidedly Mexican household, I am no stranger to culture shock. My house, my family, my various neighbourhoods, and my schools were all principally Mexican or Latino, or had a significant proportion of Mexicans or Latinos. College and certain classes in high school are when I've been "cast out" into surroundings where Mexicans and Mexican culture weren't all around me to take for granted. The culture I grew up in and hang out in is always mainly Mexican. Americanization mainly shows in food choices and which language, or mix of language, is used to communicate. But the culture is very preserved, so the orientation session alienated me.

First of all, when I entered I was the only non-white student. As the session filled up with late tricklers, there were about 35 students, with only 5 non-white students including me, and only one male. The video they showed us on American stereotypes and differences in cultures marked to me why I was a minority in this country, and why I will always be a minority in this country, even though I was born in and grew up here. Among points addressed were:

• Americans are too loud (I've only heard this stereotype in regards to people of my culture) -do not drink to pass out, because in most other cultures drinking is for social mingling (this part of American culture is one of the more alien to me, and I always grew up seeing drinking as a social activity as well. Tipsiness in my culture okay, yes. Passed out drunkenness? Not so much.) 
• Americans are too invasive of personal space (compared to what I grew up in, Americans have a too large bubble of personal space) 
• Americans hug more than in non-European countries (but less than what I expect among other Latinos)

Those are just the ones covered in the video, but they were enough to make me feel alienated from the larger gathering, and the fellow Latina I'd wound up sitting next to kept shifting uncomfortably as well like I was doing, at least until we were given time to mingle. My own fidgeting stopped after that as well.

All this after having watched two videos that also made me see my place as a minority. One on women in STEM, as I am, and how they are still held to standards of beauty and asked about their fashion and life choices despite it having nothing to do with their work, and the other a Pantene advertisement of women in the workplace. The latter was a Filipino advertisement with remarkably light-skinned models, some who looked white and not at all Asian, which a discussion into the homogenization of beauty. It's a lot to think about, and I'll write on it when I've had more time to reflect on it.

To those interested, the videos: