So as you could tell, I have lost track of days here, to say the least. But I did make it a priority to update my blog specifically today, because I just returned from an impromptu weekend in France.
A friend of mine, D, lives in Nice, so I contacted her on Facebook, and she invited me to spend the weekend at her place. I figured, why not take a 3-day break from school, especially since France was just a 50-minute flight away from me? I booked a trip via Blu-Express (clearly not the company I spoke of earlier, so there's your hint, it's NOT Blu-Express that wronged me so badly), from June 3 through June 6. Both flights were direct, without a concourse, and were the cheapest around, so I was excited. On June 3rd, I hitched a cab, and got to Fiumicino airport, just in time to catch my plane.
(Spoiler alert: both planes there and back were equally late about an hour)
I landed in Nice, and D met me at the terminal. I was happy to see her after not having seen her for about a year. Before a year ago, I haven't seen her in over 7 years. So, needless to say, we had a lot of catching up to do!
D lives at a single studio near the promenade (the French boardwalk), just a block away from the shore of Cote D'Azure. We grabbed some food at the local store. D cooked some incredible meat for dinner (either that, or I was starving, but I think it was both). We exchanged stories of the past nearly decade over some beer and steak, and reminisced about elementary school, which now seems way back when. We made plans to take a train to Marseilles the following morning. We passed out after watching Scott Pilgrim and a few episodes of South Park, and woke up rather early the following morning, so as to not miss the Marseilles train.
In under three hours, we rode around what we thought was 500 km, but turned out to be just 200 km, from Nice to Marseille, by train. Despite the semi-cloudy weather, the trip was great: I enjoyed sights on the way to, at, and on the way back from the infamous city of soccer aficionados. I witnessed a diverse culture that makes up France: from tourists like myself snapping pictures left and right, to immigrants from the middle east selling fake Ray Bans and Rolexes, to authentic Frenchmen annoyed with all of the above. I saw unbelievable architecture, and the fact that I've studied French for nearly a decade prior to this trip made it all the better. Everything that teachers told me in the classrooms about France was true (with the exception that they don't frequently touch each other during conversation at cafes, and that they aren't as big of creeps towards women as I had thought). Roaming the streets of Marseille was as much fun, if not more fun, than roaming the streets of Rome. But time was of the essence, as our train back was around 6pm.
We got back to Nice just as it started to rain. I got to experience the crazy Nice drivers, who have more room to work with than bus drivers in Rome, but they compensate for it in speed rather than precise handling. It was already late. D and I decided that the following morning we would roam the streets of Nice.
The following morning the streets of Nice weren't roamable due to rain. Instead, D and I watched Mulholland Drive on her computer, and talked about life and such. We were stuck indoors most of the night. I crawled out into the night around 11pm to check out the boardwalk, but wasn't roaming for long. I snapped some pictures, turned around, and called it a night. It ended with more South Park.
I woke up the next morning, and it was almost time to head back to the airport. After all, this was only a 3-day trip, and my flight back was scheduled for 14:30 (for those who don't understand, do the conversion, don't be lazy). Of course, as you already know, it was delayed an hour (Surprise! Cheap airlines).
I got back to Rome just fine, hitched the Leonardo Express train to downtown from the airport, and walked to the Colosseum to see what it was like during sunset. OK, I admit it, I got lost. But the Colosseum looked awesome at 7pm. I was home, with groceries in hand, by 8pm. It was Tortellini night for dinner tonight.
This trip wouldn't be possible if it wasn't for Facebook. Interesting, isn't it?
For no particular reason, I dedicate this song to her: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qsgBF7ZIsk
