Les Adieux et le Bonheur

Well, it’s official, I am all packed up and ready to head home. I had my last class ever with Pascale and was very very sad! I’ll miss class with her the most. I received my diploma today as well and got to see my grades. I ended up with all A’s and moved from A2-2 to B2-1 so I moved up about six levels in French over that past four months which is preeeeeetty good. Usually they say you move up three.

At the pause I got a picture with Pascale and then Amanda and I talked about how much we are going to miss class and Cannes and just everything. Our second half of class consisted of us watching a video of people who try to dress like they think Japanese girls do, but they just imitate Japanese models and as we all know, no one actually dresses like models do! Pascale talked about how she’ll have an entire new class next week and that made me sad too, but it was good. I’m glad I had the opportunity to have her as a teacher, she’s definitely one of the best teachers here.

Lunch was actually rather delicious today. We had duck with mashed potatoes and chocolate pudding for dessert. It was yummy! After lunch I decided to head out on my own to see the Musée de la Castre because I have been wanting to go for a while and today was my last possible day to go and see it.

I was able to go up into the tower to see the panoramic view of Cannes and it was absolutely gorgeous. I almost started crying up there, but I held myself together because I know I’ll come back one day. I have to. After that I spoke with the guards in French after they asked me how I liked the view and I said it was very gorgeous and that it’s my last day here after four months, so it’s hard to say good bye. They understood and they wished me luck with my trip home.

I returned to the collège along the seafront and then joined Hanna and Jennifer on the beach for the last time before our farewell drink. We had about an hour of beach time all together one last time before having to go in.

The farewell drink was nice, but it was also sad. It was a bittersweet ending to a great four months spent here in Cannes. We had champagne and snacks and Nick had everyone sign his flag. After the farewell drink though I had to check in online and print my stuff off and then the real fun began. I made sure all of my things were packed up and in order while finishing a bottle of champagne with the roommates as a last little farewell drink between ourselves. We took a break from the packing when we went to leader price for the last time and ordered Mister Pizza for dinner for the last time.

As you can tell, today was filled with a lot of “lasts” but there will always be the firsts and the memories that come with both and in-between. I wouldn’t trade my time here in Cannes for anything in the world. It was truly a wonderful experience and I am so glad I decided to study here. I missed out on a lot of things at home, most importantly the birth of my baby niece, but I still wouldn’t take it back. Coming here has made me stronger and I’m thankful for Cannes and all that this trip has taught me and I cannot wait to return one day.

Final Seminars, Clone Wars and Farewell Dinners

Today in class we reviewed the different verb tenses and when to use them, along with relative pronouns and when to use “il y a, depuis que, pendant, etc.” which are things that say it has been this long since, during, etc. Once the review was finished it was time for the pause, aka break and it’s pronounced like “pose”, so I sat with Hanna and Jennifer on a bench until I saw Pascale heading back once the bell rang signalling that the pause was over.

Pascale stopped to talk with Marie-Hélène, my French Civilization professor for the second half of the semester, who pointed at me and said (in French) “She’s a very good student” and Pascale said I was and she said no, she’s very good in my class and Pascale said I was good in my language class also. I just smiled and said “Merci” because I didn’t know what else to say. They continued talking and Marie-Hélène says she wishes she could clone me and Pascale said it’d be nice if we had twenty Jessica’s for the AIFS students while putting her arm around me and laughing. I know it sounds dorky, but it really made my day! I always try really hard in all of my classes so it was nice to hear them say those things, because French teachers don’t give out praise very often. I told Marie-Hélène that I have three sisters, so it’s almost like I was cloned, and she asked if any were learning French. I told her Julie is and she said that I should send her to Cannes too because she’ll love it just like I do.

Once class started again, we just discussed an article we read about a girl who had a head injury and had to be home schooled during her recovery. We then shared our accident prone stories from school. I had the most accidents (big surprise there) but the two main ones I told them about was me running into the tree and stapling my finger. Céline decided I had the strangest things happen to me and I told her it was just me being clumsy more than anything else. Pascale’s son came with her today so he kept drawing pictures of the words people didn’t know on the board like candles and forehead. It was funny and I was happy I could understand him when he told us his story, because even though he’s much younger than us, French is his native language so he was talking fast like most French do and telling us about how he broke his arm in school.

After my language class, I had lunch and then got ready for my last seminar ever in Cannes! I was really hoping that François wouldn’t make me stay for the whole time since we already had our final, but he said that an AIFS student complained 5 years ago when a teacher let her go early so he had to keep me the whole time, but would give me two breaks. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention that I WAS THE ONLY ONE THERE! CJ of course skipped class and Robin isn’t in the AIFS program, so she took her final early and had already left. I got an A+ in the class though, so I guess I can’t complain. François also said since I was taking notes that since I’m such a good serious student he should talk to his lawyer and specify in his will that all of his power point slides should be left to me. He let me out of class 20 minutes early today too, but I was really tempted to just leave after the first break, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Sometimes I wish I didn’t care about my grades, life would be so much more enjoyable haha.

The roomies and I at the restaurant.

After my seminar was finally over I started to get ready for the AIFS farewell dinner =(. I seriously cannot believe that it’s already the end of my stay and that I only have 3 days left until I’m home; it feels like the welcome dinner was last month. We ate at Maema Plage, which is a restaurant on the beach, and I had the Caesar salad, prawns, and chocolate fondant.

Gambas! (aka Prawns)

Before dinner we went out to the little sitting area outside and took pictures on the beach. It was a chilly day today and it’s supposed to rain on Friday, but I hope it decides to be nice instead! While we were waiting for our food inside, they brought us out our drinks. I ordered a glass of white wine to go with my meal and it was very good. There were many farewell toasts made and Nick came around to each table to tell us all good bye and it was just sad!

Brittany and I sat next to each other so we took pictures together with sad/happy/loving faces. She was the first person I met on the trip because she sat across the aisle from me on the plane trip to London. Hanna and Jennifer sat across from me and they have been my roommates for the past four months and I just kept thinking about how weird it is going to be to not see all of them every day.

Brittany and I at dinner.

It started raining during dinner and we decided the man upstairs was crying because we were leaving Cannes. The food was delicious though so that helped lighten the atmosphere. The salad had chicken in it which was to die for, the prawns were yummy and the chocolate fondant was just delicious! I am definitely in a food coma though after eating all of that! We did it in French style though and didn’t get out of the restaurant until two and a half hours after the meeting time. I’m kind of looking forward to the American restaurants where you don’t have to wait FOREVER for your food, but I’ll miss the French way as well.

The roomies and I with Sandrine and Aude!

It’s now past midnight here, so technically I only have two more days left in Cannes. I plan to enjoy it as much as I possible can while I still have the chance.

Ile Saint-Marguerite (May 30th)

Well today was the last Monday I’ll ever spend in Cannes (while 20). I had my morning language class with Pascale, lunch and then my last AIFS excursion ever. We went to the Ile Sainte-Marguerite. It took us about ten minutes to get there by ferry, but if you include the walking to the port, it was about 40 minutes there and then back.

My first close up shot of the island

Brittany, Joelle and I followed Aude to the fort, along with some other AIFS students, but the museum is closed on Mondays, so there wasn’t really anything to see. The excursion was supposed to be on Friday, but the cinema teacher moved the final to that day so we had to go on Monday, so it wasn’t Aude or Sandrine’s fault that the museum was closed.

At Ile Sainte-Marguerite

After seeing the fort we were given free time to explore the island whose perimeter is about 8km. Brittany, Joelle and I just walked to the other side to see the beach that Aude told us about, took pictures and then decided to head back to Cannes because it was EXTREMELY hot on the island!

This path reminded me of Forrest Gump!

Once we got back to the Collège I started to pack up my things in preparation for Saturday. My desk and closet feels extremely empty now, but I weighed my one bag that I have packed already and have 13 pounds of wiggle room, so that’s good! It had been my carry-on on the way here though, so I’m still nervous about the big bag. I have less to put in it than Hanna and Jennifer have in their bags, so I should be okay. I’m going to weight it on Friday just in case though!

My desk before everything was packed up =(