Italia and Saint Honorat

I have done a lot of traveling in the last week - since writing last week I've been on an island and in Italy...and my travel time to both of them was less than an hour! I have to say that public transportation in Europe is incredible. When I first got to college I thought it was fascinating that I could take a train into Boston...but the train and bus systems here are something else. Traveling anywhere on the "Lignes d'Azur" bus line is only 1 euro, and free with a bus subscription. It's so easy!

On Saturday my host mom and I drove to San Remo, Italy for the marché (market). On a side note I should mention that I have found new meaning for the term road rage and I've really learned my lesson about driving here. Between the honking, screaming, cussing, and racial slurs, I've made the decision to never drive in any cars with the French again. I was actually using my fake break pedal that parents of young drivers usually use to brace themselves. Needless to say I didn't feel very safe. Anyways the market was lovely.... There is an indoor food market and also an outdoor clothing/cashmere/leather market - the food is much more interesting to look at :)

Thousands of different types of pasta and tapenade...only in Italy!

The most interesting veggie I've ever seen...the sign said broccolini but this looks like something else entirely.

Inside the food market

I can only imagine the size of these parmesan blocks before they're broken into smaller pieces.   

The next day (after safely making it back to France) our Sweet Briar group caught a train to Cannes and then a boat to Ile Saint Honorat. There are actually two islands off the coast of Cannes and we explored the further of the two. Saint Honorat is an oasis. Only 25 monks of the Abbey de Lérins live on the island but they allow tourists to explore it during the day. On the island the monks make all different types of wine, liquor, olive products, and jewelry (of course available in the gift shop) as part of their commitment to prayer, hard work, and fraternal life. The island has a religious history dating back to the year 410 when Honorat landed on the island to start a community of monks. After a turbulent 1600 years of pirate attacks, Spanish occupations, a French actress who bought and remodeled the island, the island was finally returned to the monks in 1869 - and has been theirs ever since.

dangerous jagged rock "beach" and the monastery in the background

Me on the 5th floor of the monastery, construction started in the 11th century and was not completed until the 19th

looks like they might need some of my Dad's tile...

View across the Mediterranean 

Vineyard 

Église Abbatiale de Lérins (the church)

This past week I started going with my host mom to her choir group! I haven't been in a singing group  since elementary school so I was a little nervous on Wednesday and not sure what I was getting myself into. Another girl from my Sweet Briar group came along too and everyone was very interested in "les jeunes americaines". The choir is made up of 3 parts - sopranos, altos, and the 8 men who can sing the lowest. Singing in French is pretty difficult because I obviously don't have the necessary Niçoise accent. Every verse is almost like a tongue-twister and so I'm hoping that this weekly choir meeting will help my accent and speed of talking.

Yesterday I took a break from speaking French..and English and hopped on the bus to the beach in Beaulieu (the only sandy beach around).  After relaxing for 3 hours I started to notice clouds, and not  nice fluffy white clouds, but dark ominous clouds. Within 5 minutes the storm had hit. Everyone ran from the beach and violent rain, thunder, and lightening were suddenly upon me. The storms here are very strange, almost like the daily rains that fall in the afternoon on Hawaii. One minute it's totally gorgeous and sunny and the next its raining cats and dogs. I'll know for next time I suppose...

I'm starting to feel a little stir-crazy in Nice and have been looking at all of my travel options for the next few weekends. I can fly to Lisbon, Portugal for $74 roundtrip or Morocco for $250! Traveling in and out of Europe is incredibly easy and inexpensive - I feel like I should really take advantage of this and go everywhere possible. My ultimate plan of flying to India to meet up with Raffi proved to be a bit out of our budget...we can dream right?

Wish me luck as I start classes this week!!!!