Le Premier Jour

What a day!

I started off the morning by sleeping through my alarm and waking up an hour before I had to be at the Center. So between getting ready and having to walk 20 minutes or so, there was no time for breakfast. Whoops. But I remembered the way to the Center from my walk last night and got there with no trouble.

All the students have arrived except one, who we expect tomorrow. There are 14 of us, 12 girls and 2 guys. I didn't expect it to be so few! But it's a good group. Everyone is good-humored and fun. I think I'm going to get close to quite a few of these kids--of course, when there's only 14, that's not hard.

Sylvie, the program director, went through all the orientation stuff, where she emphasized heavily how important it was to speak French among ourselves, even though we're all American and it's much easier to speak English; and then Giselle, the administrative assistant, talked to us about living in France. After that we took a quick break, and a few of the other students and I went to a nearby patisserie for croissants (breakfast for me!). We all came back and socialized for a bit, then it was off across town to lunch. Across the Rhone river from Avignon is an island, Berthalasse, so we took a ferry across to go to a restaurant called Le Bercail. Tomato salad, lamb chops, potatoes, and some divine mixture of vegetables in a savory marinara-type sauce. And ice cream, of course. Don't worry, I took a picture.

Then we began our tour of the city. Avignon (within the walls) is not a big city, and takes only about 20 minutes to walk from end to end. We saw all the main sights, like the Papal Palace, la Place de l'Horloge (the main square), and countless other picturesque quartiers, churches, boutiques, and gardens. After all this, around 4:30pm, we returned to the center to wrap things up, and then I was free to make my way home. Feeling a little hungry I stopped at the supermarket to pick up some things I could snack on the rest of the week, like oranges and yogurt. And now here I am.

Classes don't start till Monday. Tomorrow I think I'll just explore the city, figure out where things are. There are a few events in the city this weekend, but it will remain pretty quiet here until the international theatre festival starts in July. Better figure out the city now before it's flooded with les touristes.

Love and miss you all,
Natalie