Orientation

After 3 days in Nice, it's starting to set in that I'll be living here for the next 5 months. Yesterday was the first day of orientation, and it was great to meet everyone on my program. Including me, it's 10 people in total (7 girls, 3 guys) all from different American universities. Seems like a fun group so far; I'm getting along well with everyone! And the director of our program is also great. She has a LOT of energy and a lot to say but she seems really dedicated to the group of us. Here's a picture of the group on top of a small mountain where we walked up to a famous chateau:

We've been going around the city a lot these first few days and I feel like I'm getting to know my way around. There's a tram really similar to the Houston light rail that's really convenient, and you can pretty much walk anywhere which is great!

I also had a meeting with the director today to choose the courses that I will be taking in the French university here. I will be trying out a few French literature courses, along with a few other courses that I thought would be interesting like a music history course and a history of theater course. She also talked about the possibility of doing something with her husband who works at some sort of music history museum that has lots of cool instruments, so that could be potentially interesting.

Right now it really feels like a vacation (especially with the beach), but I think that will change once classes start. Today a few of us went to a little café for lunch to get sandwiches which we took to eat on the beach. The coast is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen, and it's just unbelievable that I'm getting the chance to be here for 5 months. Here's a picture of me on the beach with the two other guys on the program, Jeremy and Colin.

Everything is going great with my host family also! I think I really lucked out: not only do they live in a big house (compared to most of the host families who live in tiny apartments) but they also have two sons (20 and 23) whom I get along great with and my host mother cooks great food (just finished tonight's dinner which was delicious salmon and gnocchi). Last night we had a great dinner conversation about food because my host brother was talking about a hamburger restaurant here that has a challenge to eat different levels of giant burgers. I told them that I was surprised to hear such things existed in France, and then proceeded to explain the show Man vs. Food (or "Homme contre la nourriture," en français)

More updates hopefully after this weekend!

A bientot,

Joey