After my adventures in Cannes it was back to the daily, or Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, grind. I honestly have no idea what I did that week. I think I just did some readings for class and hung out with friends in between. I was definitely still exhausted from the week before! But, I did have a rather exciting trip with some other program people to an Liquoristerie, which is a place just outside of Aix that is famous for its production of... Absinthe! We took about a 25 minutes bus ride to this little town where the place is located. The guy who owns the place, Pascal, is a really curious fellow.
A few fun facts about Pascal:
1. He is the man that got the 84 year ban of absinthe in France lifted with his new recipe and brand "Versinthe"
2. He has a really awesome cane that he hollowed out and placed a glass tube in. Inside this tube he keeps absinthe. The top part of the cane screws off to become a makeshift shot glass!
3. P. Diddy really liked Pascal's cane when they met in Las Vegas for an alcohol convention of some sort.
A few fun facts about Absinthe
1. It really shouldn't be shockingly green
2. It was once more widely consumed in France than wine! Gasp!! Yes, it's true.
3. It only caused hallucinations when there was too much of a certain chemical inside of the alcohol... or when they stored it in lead tanks.
Anyways back to the story...
We got a tour of where they make and flavor all of the alcohol. It's actually not a very big place, but I think it is because they don't actually bottle the absinthe there, or grow the plants and things on location. After the tour we did a tasting of a few different kinds of liquor and then 2 kinds of absinthe. The liquors were flavored and generally pretty good. I think I liked the melon one the best. It had a really refreshing flavor to it. The absinthe itself was interesting to watch while it was served. They put the absinthe in a glass and then put a sort of slotted spoon with a cube of sugar on top. Then, they turn out a little spout of water and let it drip over the cube of sugar and into the glass. After the cube disintegrates, they stir it up and serve it!
This is the little absinthe apparatus! The prince of Monaco bought one of these from Pascal! 
This is where they sell the absinthe and different liquors, candies, books etc. I bought a small bottle of absinthe and a few other things for souvenirs! Pascal actually gave all of us 10% off so everything ended up being really inexpensive. Always a nice surprise!So, what did I think of it? Were there any green fairies?? Hm. I definitely did not dislike it. I definitely do not need my very own absinthe cane for fear of not having any on hand... We tried a different absinthe called Versinthe Blanche (white) which was distilled a cooler temperature. I think I liked it a little better. I can't really see myself going out of my way to drink absinthe though, but a fun experience nevertheless!
The rest of the weekend was pretty quiet. During the week I had a lot of things to take care of, as usual, and that is always really stressful. Classes are going pretty well. I can't say I've really gotten used to a four hour class... but oh well! That class, medieval literature and iconography, is actually really interesting. Not for the full four hours, but still. The other day, we sat in the class and in the entire four hour period the profs did not manage to make it around to talking about our assigned readings. Geez. Thank goodness I actually did the reading... The other classes are going fairly well. I like my industrial revolution class and oral expression. My other history class is a bit more difficult and the professor talks really fast which stinks. My roommate and I have an oral presentation this coming Thursday about an
My unbelievably absurd methodology class got cancelled on Friday, and I could not have been happier (unless someone had emailed me and told me I could take that ridiculous excuse for a class as pass/fail). It is such a waste of my life. The class is designed to teach us how to do well in French university classes... despite the fact that we are already enrolled in French university classes. We have to write the French version of essays (on these insanely mundane and useless topics) and give an oral presentation in the class. This would have been helpful about a month ago... now it just annoys me to no end because it's on Fridays and a huge waste. Oh and we only get one absence before he starts knocking our grade down what amounts to about 10% an absence. Swell. The prof is extremely weird too... he leaves the classroom about every 15 minutes or so to go smoke and rambles unlike any person I have ever encountered. Awful.
Anyways, this weekend was pretty cool. I was quite boring on Friday night and stayed in to do research for my upcoming presentations. Saturday morning I got up bright and early to head to Glanum, Arles, and Point de Gare with the program. It was definitely a fun trip :)
Glanum is an archaeological site about an hour from Aix that hosted the Gallo (I think) people, Greeks, and Romans. The ruins in the picture on the left are from the Romans. The picture on the right is a reconstruction of the original structure. It was a pretty neat place. We kind of had a rushed tour, but I did manage to grab a piece of stone from one of the walls to keep! After toured Glanum it was back to the bus to head to Arles.
This is the Roman Theatre in Arles. It is a lot bigger than it looks here. The picture doesn't quite do it justice. You'll notice the modern iron railings and such because the people in Arles actually still use it for outdoor plays and such. I thought this place was pretty neat, even with the touches of modern crap thrown about.
Here I am at the Arles Arena! My friend, Meredith, is pictured below. As you can see from her expression and white-knuckle grip on the railing, the arena goes pretty high up! This place was originally a gladiator arena in the Roman period... I felt just like Russell Crowe!!! In the medieval times they added a few towers and stone walls to the area for protection. There were about 212 homes inside the arena area at one point. In 1826-1830 all of the houses were destroyed and the arena was built. The first bullfight in the Arena was in 1830! Good news though- in Arles they do not kill the bulls!
We then climbed to the top of the tower and had an amazing view of the Rhone and some of Arles! We made it down the many stairs of the arena and decided to go see what else Arles had to offer. The first place we went... well I honestly have no idea what it was... but some sort of modern art studio perhaps? There were some really strange structures made entirely from bottles as well as some completely useless collection of clay "people" (really just ovals with circles on them). Despite that crap, there were some really neat paintings and this series of sculptures of a woman running into water. Each piece in the series was smaller and smaller until the last one which was just the top of her head. Great effect!
Right across the street from this place was a huge church called St. Trophime. When we walked up to it I had to laugh because I recognized a lot of the religious iconography discussed in my medieval lit class. Meredith noticed it too and so we checked some of that out a bit before heading in. The church was really ornate on the inside and had a bunch of rooms with sculptures and paintings. They had two displays of religious relics and a lot of them looked very old and very expensive. We walked around the church for a bit and then it was about time to leave so we decided to head back. At this point I decided it would be a great idea to use the public facilities across the street. This decision led to one of the worst public bathroom experiences of my entire life. I'll spare you the details but Meredith and Kim had to hear alllll about it. That place was just so nasty. Yuck.
So we boarded the bus for yet another one hour commute to the next place- Pont de Gare
This a Roman Aqueduct that is really, really cool.
The area around it is quite beautiful. This a view from the "other" side of it, not the entrance. You can actually walk on the lower part of the structure. There are trails to panoramic views and such on the sides. We also saw this pretty cool cave. It was such an amazing view!
It was really a great trip and I am glad I got to see all of the ruins and such. After the bus ride home I went to Monoprix (grocery) and then just collapsed into bed! It was such a long day.
This week Chen will be here again on Tuesday!! Yay! Wednesday is our required medical visit in Marseille, which is honestly a hugely inconvenient and I am annoyed that I have to go. France is really dumb sometimes... Thursday is the presentation day and then Friday.... Barcelona!!!!!! I'm taking a bus Friday evening to Barcelona to meet Nathan and Chen! It will be my first European country outside of France and I am very excited :) I get back from Barcelona Monday morning and the following Friday it's off to Germany! Should be an exciting few weeks!
I hope you're all doing well
Miss you and love you,
Liv
