Couchsurfing in Aix

Hello lovers, family, and friends,

I have just returned from a weekend of couchsurfing in Aix-en-Provence.  I've never been couchsurfing before, but it provides you a free place to stay and an opportunity to explore a new place.  Friends of mine have had great experiences couchsurfing, and after checking out the profile of our prospective host, Baptiste (fake name), I figured it was worth a try.  Plus, if anything went wrong, I'd be with my friends Australia and America, so we'd have a good time nonetheless.

So Saturday afternoon, my friends and I met up with Baptiste.  He gave us a quick walking tour of Aix, we got groceries for dinner, and headed back to his house.  Baptiste lives about 10 minutes outside of the city, close to Mount Saint Victore (made famous by Cezanne's painting, and in my own personal life, made infamous by an 11th grade English assignment (whaddup Mr. Feldman) during which I got a 6/10 on my description of said painting).  Together, we made dinner (took about 2 hours), and during this time, Baptiste "proposed" (informed us of) his idea to stay in while his friends had a jam session at his place, instead of going out in Aix as had been previously agreed upon via email.

Aus and Am and I tried to express that we weren't really pleased with Baptiste's idea, but he assured us that we would enjoy it.  It's difficult to disagree with someone who is offering you a room in his house, a home-cooked meal, and who is also your only viable transportation.  Especially when that someone is inflexible and not really interested in your point of view.

So we resigned ourselves to our fate, and continued helping Baptiste make dinner.  The topic of religion came up, and I was excited to learn that Baptiste was a Jew!  I love meeting other Jews in France.  Usually.  Baptiste made an ill-advised Holocaust joke, and then when I didn't laugh, asked me: "Did a lot of your family die in the Holocaust?"  Um, I'm sorry ?!  It's been 24 hours since this comment, and I still don't have the words to respond.

Our night only got more interesting when Baptiste's friends came over and lit up cigarettes, told us that they made too much money (but not enough to donate any), then got out their musical instruments and their wigs.  When we woke up this morning, we weaseled our way out of crepes and lied about what time our bus was.  (When we "missed it," by two minutes Baptiste insisted on speeding down the road to see if we could catch up....We couldn't.)

Needless to say, in future couchsurfing endeavors, we will be much more choosy when selecting hosts. Or we'll just pick a hostel.

Nonetheless, we got a few fun pictures!

Australia (in a wig) and America...what is going on?

In front of the dam at the Mount St. Victoire!

Beautiful view

Aix, the city of fountains

Cezanne and I aren't friends (I don't hold grudges...)

Mucho amore,
xoxo
Samantha

Ah, French boys...

Hello beloved blog readers!

First of all, just to clarify, I do not lie on my blog.  Everything that I post on here is true, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF MY LAST POST.  I do not, I repeat, I do not have a French boyfriend.  The last post was just a caricature of the typical French man.  I did receive some wonderful responses however (from the indignant friend via gchat wanting to know why she didn't know about the mystery man earlier, to my French friend who said, "yeah I read your post but it doesn't tell me anything ABOUT this guy"...)

Now, back to the real French men that I've had the divine pleasure of meeting....

Ok, full disclosure: this story did not actually happen to me, but it happenned to my friend Sam.  But since we have the same name, it pretty much happened to me ...

Sam was talking with this kid, we'll call him François.  Now, François is French (Le duh).  And François, unfortunately, thinks he's 1) Zeus's gift to women, 2) charged with INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT task of teaching any Anglophone that he meets the "secrets" of the French language.  Unfortunately, many of what he thinks are "secrets" are ... common knowledge.  The first time I met him, he also asked me (in front of 20 people), if I wanted to date his friend (one of the twenty people who was there), so we know he's really good at managing social situations (aka making people uncomfortable).

Anyhow, François wanted to "help" Sam out - by teaching him about sarcasm ("sarcasme", in French).  After explaining the concept, he gave an example by describing the girl standing next to them: "Julie is not very beautiful" he said, "Now you try!"  Sam, feeling pressured to kiiiiiiind of hit on a girl that he'd only just met, said he'd rather say something about François instead.  Also, Sam is a genius.  He said: "You are very funny and interesting to talk to."  "No", said François, "you don't understand..."

...I wish I could have made that story up.

MORE LATER, LOVERS
XOXO
Samantha

French Boyfriend

Ok all, in response to the overwhelming flood of emails regarding my French dating life, I feel obligated to give you some more details about my new boyfriend, Jean-Pierre le Vicomte de la Ville.

• He only owns white t-shirts with blue/red horizontal stripes.  He always wears them with blazers.  And a beret.
• He usually carries baguettes wherever he goes.
• He exclusively drinks red wine.
• He is a cheese connoisseur.  
• He smokes.  Like a chimney.  
• He has a mustache which curls up at the ends.
• He does not expect me to shave my armpits.
• But he does expect me to go topless at the beach (and wears short bathing trunks himself).
• He does however, bathe.  I would never date someone who didn't.  

xoxo,

SF

Check In

Hello all !

Sorry for the delay in posting - life has been a bit crazy.

Some exciting things that have happened over the past few days:

• I bought a pair of sunglasses that have a heart on them
• I got my first real message on okcupid (not just "hi ;)" - he seemed nice enough until I learned that he believes contraception is morally wrong
• I was told that my students were studying Orwell's Animal Farm and was asked to do a lesson on any of the following "related" topics: wild/domestic animals, American national parks, or totalitarian regimes
• I learned about a suspected affair between two of the teachers at my school
• I attended a Zumba class in French
• Some students got in a fistfight in my class (over the game of scattergories)

Ok well I'm off to a potluck dinner (SINCE I AM SUCH A SOCIAL BUTTERFLY), and I have to go prepare my famous macaroni and cheese.  I'll leave you with the following video, which gives you some insight into my fabulous French persona: 

Thanks again for reading,

xoxo,

Samantha

Beautiful moments in my French Life

Even though I am really the perfect woman in every way, I sometimes make mistakes... Also sometimes mistakes just happen to me.  I am human, after all.  And being in France tends to complicate things ...

Here are a few of the recent highlights:

• I tried to make a joke on the phone.  The response I received: ".............pardon?" 
• I was asked on a date.  I didn't know it was a date.  Until I got there.  And I offered to pay. 
• My date's aunt and uncle happened to be eating at the same restaurant.  
• I accidentally suggested we go to the most romantic spot in Toulon (a lookout over the water, under the stars) by casually mentioning that I liked the views ... 
• I thought I was going to dinner at my French friend's house.  Instead of wine (since I still know next to nothing about wine), I bought him a manly flower as a thank-you gift.  In fact, we were going to a restaurant.  (This was not the date).  
• I offered my students kisses as a reward for winning a game we were playing.  They wanted to take me up on it.  (KIDDING HAHA JOKES ON YOU I DID NOT DO THIS NOR WILL I DO THIS EVER DONT WORRY)

LATER LOVERS THANKS FOR READING

XOXO

CAPSLOCK

SAMANTHA

Back2France

Sup devoted blog readers!

Happy 2012!!!

I'm back in France, safe and sound, and getting a new roommate!  More details on all of that later, when jetlag decides to leave me alone :)

xoxo
Samantha