Musée Océanographique

I have to say that last night and this morning were quite relaxing.  Since I didn't have school in the morning, nor a roommate I stayed up 'til midnight listening to music and watching Youtube videos.  Then I didn't have anywhere to go until 11 this morning so I had a slow morning.  I feel like I needed this break.
At 11 I went with Nicholas, a student from my school that lives just above me, and the guy he lives with to Monaco again.  Nicholas is from Austria I believe, but he's spent the last 4 or 5 years in Boston going to school.  Since he wasn't there when we went to Monaco the last time, he wanted to see it, and I wanted to go to the aquarium that was there.
We took the train and it was packed!  I had to stand the whole way, but not only that, I was smashed into a corner the whole time.  There was no personal space there.
After the train ride we walked around Monaco for a little bit, then I went to the aquarium and Nicolas and Michele went to do something else.
The Aquarium was nice; it wasn't anything grater than any other aquarium, but it was nice.  It wasn't as much fun by myself, but it was still had a good time.  I think it was a good language learning experience because all of the signs had French, but not all of the signs had English.  I was exposed to a lot of fishy words.
After dinner my host family and I went with Nicolas and Michele (The guy Nicolas lives with) to a Chinese buffet.  It was kind of funny/annoying because when we got there my host mom wanted to show me around the buffet before we ate to explain how it worked.  I told her that it was ok and that we had buffets in America, but she showed me anyway, and had to explain everything.  Sometimes she's like that, but at least she's friendly.

Camme

Sorry that I didn't post anything yesterday, but the reason for that I will explain later in this entry.
Yesterday there wasn't school because it was Ascension, so we went over to Camme.  Apparently every year in Camme they have a big film festival and celebrities come from all other the world.  It was definitely set up for having all sorts of celebrities, but I didn't see any personally (I wasn't really looking though).
Truthfully there wasn't much to do in Camme, unless you were going to see one of the films.  We went to an anthropology museum which had a lot of things from Ancient Iran.  Truthfully I wasn't too impressed with it.  I feel like they needed to post more about each artifact, and to make it into a story rather than a showcase for a bunch of random objects.
After we got back to Nice my stomach was hurting really bad.  I couldn't eat much for dinner.  I told my host family about it and my host mom gave we two pills.  I think she said one was for calming my stomach and the other to give me diarrhea.  I tried to explain that I didn't think I needed diarrhea, but somehow we couldn't quite communicate what we wanted to to each other.  I was so confused as to what it would do, but I took it anyway.
I went to bed right after dinner wondering if diarrhea was suddenly going to hit.  I fell asleep, and slept pretty much the whole night diarrhea free.  I don't know if I just misunderstood my host mom, or if I just got lucky.  Anyway I felt betting in the morning, but that's why I didn't blog yesterday.
Today's been kind of a relaxing day.  After school all of the girls, including the teacher from UVU left for Rome.  My roommate decided to go to another city in France for the weekend, so I ended up the only one from UVU staying in Nice.  When I first found out about it I was a little put off, but now I kind feel like I can relax.  It's been kind of nice being away from everyone and having some time for myself.  I don't know how I'll feel by Sunday though.
After school I went to Lunch with some students from my class.  It was nice doing something with different people.  We talked a lot about how things were in our countries.  I was surprised to find that Spain is in a really back recession, and that Southern Spain has a 30% unemployment rate!  I don't feel like the United States got that bad when it went under.
Also I learned today that French citizens didn't have the right to vote until the 1940s!  We learned about that in class, and after everyone was talking about when there countries got the right to vote, all of which were around the same time.  My country's citizens had the right to vote since 1776 but I didn't say anything.  Being here has definitely caused me to see how great of a country the United States is.
Afterward lunch I was going to go swimming in the ocean, but it's been really windy and the waves were huge, so I decided not too.

 Most of the students from my class.

The Beach

Today was pretty fun.  We went to a beach that was said to have sand, but it turned out it had really small pebbles.  I still had a lot of fun though.  I love swimming here because the water is so easy to float in.  I feel like I could swim forever.  I swam pretty far out a couple times today, but that's always a little scary because for every stroke you take going out, you have to take going back.  There were some boats tied up at the end of the harbor that I aimed to swim to, but no matter how much I swam they seemed to stay the exact same distance away--only the shore seemed to get farther away.
I decided I really like living next to a beach, especially such a pretty one like the côte d'Azur.
In case you're wondering there is same nudity at the beaches here, but not as much as I thought there would be.  There are usually a couple women who are topless whenever I go, but most of them have tops.  It's really quite scary though because these topless ladies aren't usually super models;  More often them not it's old or fat ladies that go topless.
After I got back from the beach I was on Facebook, just relaxing, and Jullie (a girl we lived with) saw that I had a Facebook and told me to add her. Then we showed each other our pictures on Facebook and talked about them.  She showed me some pictures from a summer camp she worked at, and also some of her siblings.  I showed her pictures of my Arches National Park trip, and from my mission.  It was really neat to share those things in French.  Although I was far from perfect I feel I did pretty well.
After we showed each other some music we liked, and youtube videos we liked.  I feel it was a good cultural learning experience, but it was a lot more casual and fun.

Modern Art

Today was pretty warm here in Nice, but it's ok because we spent most of the day inside.  We went to the Modern Art Museum and also the library.  They were both pretty neat to see.
I was surprised to see that they used the Dewey Decimal system here in France.  I think I like the Library of Congress better, but at least it wasn't foreign to me.  It's amazing how much more interesting libraries become after you've worked in one.  It's amazing how much you can do in a library.  I know you're all wondering so I'll say it, even though the library was pretty big and impressive here, I think the one at UVU was nicer.  We're very lucky to have the library we have at UVU.
I really liked the modern art museum too.  There were some pieces I found really fascinating and others I found boring or even bothersome.  I guess the purpose of art is to get a reaction out of you, so it worked.  My favorite piece was of a dissembled table (I'll post a picture of it).  Even though it wasn't in the shape or a table, your brain automatically knows what it is and puts it together.
Another piece I liked, I'm pretty sure wasn't even supposed to be there.  There was this face drawn on notebook paper and posted on the wall with scotch tape.  We stopped and were examining it, then we realized it didn't have a plaque.  I think someone just put it up, but it still got us to stop and consider it.
I feel my French is getting better.  I can for the most part understand when people talk to me, and I'm getting much more confident in responding back--even though I'm far from perfect.  I like the class I have here because it goes through all of the grammar very quickly, but I remember it quickly.  It's like I just needed a little reminder

Matisse Museum

Well today I forgot my camera, so I didn't get any pictures, but I'm hoping some of my classmates will send me theirs and I'll post them when I get them.
Today after school we went to the Matisse Museum.  On Saturday we visited a chapel he decorated the inside of, and today we saw more of his art.  His art is very abstract.  I decided I really liked it because you get the gist of what's going on in the piece, but you have to use your imagination to fill some things in.  Sometimes I feel abstract things capture one's emotions better too.  Something might be a little fuzzy or unclear or overcast in your memory, when in reality it was as clear as anything else.
We went and saw a cathedral too, but I've decided if you've seen one cathedral you've seem them all.  They are all very, very similar.  This one had a big public garden though, which was very pretty.
I played tourist again today a little bit, but I'm too tired from staying up to skype with my sister to worry about that today.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Sunday

Today was definitely a Sunday, but I feel I probably learned just as much, if not more, today than any other day.
I got up early today to go to church.  The night before I told my host mom about it and she said she wanted to go with me, but when I told her it was 3 hours long she changed her mind.  My professor was going to go though, and since she lives close I wasn't going to have to travel alone.  Last minute though my professor had to do something else so she just gave me some quick directions and a good luck.
I got to the bus stop early, and within a minute or two the right bus number showed up, but not the right name on it.  I was so confused that I just sat there, and it went by without stopping.  I wasn't sure if that was the bus I was supposed to take or not because it was 5 minutes early.  I ended up asking an older lady at the bus stop.  She was very nice and willing to help, but it was kind of hard because I didn't really know where I was going.  I told her I was trying to get to the Mormon Church, and it turns out that she had visited there before. She gave me a bunch of advice on how to get there and mentioned several buses.  She mentioned the bus she was taking too, so I thought I got lucky and I'd be able to travel with her.  Her bus came though and she told me it would be better if I waited the the 22 bus, the one I was supposed to get on before.
So she left and I went to look at the bus schedule because my host mom told me that not many buses came on Sunday.  It turned out that by that time the next 22 bus was only ten minutes away, but then within a minute it was there.  Either all the buses today were really early, or really late.
I got on the bus and knew I had to wait about 20 minutes before my stop.  The trouble was I didn't know where my stop was.  I figured I'd wait about 15 minutes before asking anyone.
A few stops down from me a girl from UVU got on.  She didn't know any better than I where we were going, but at least I had someone to be lost with.
A few minutes later, Laura, my friend from UVU, noticed that there was a couple dressed up and had three kids.  She suggested that maybe they were Mormon and going to the church.  I didn't want to just go up and ask them, so instead I turned my Livre de Mormon I was holding so the words faced them.  The next time I looked at them the lady waved at us, and it turned out we were right.
Two other members of the church got on the bus before me got there.  They were all very friendly with us and willing to help.  They showed us to the church and directed us where to go.
I don't know how it happened, but I ended up with the High Priests for Priesthood.  At first I just assumed that High Priests and Elders were together, because that's how most of the Spanish Branches on my mission did it.  It's not a branch here though, it's a ward, and they have their Elders and High Priests separate.  I didn't realize until a little into the class though.  They didn't seem to mind that I was there though, even though I was a lot younger than they were.
While in church I was reminded of how I had a Spanish institute class when I first went to UVU.  It was my goal in that class to share/say at least one thing each class.  I decided that here I should have the same goal.  In Priesthood I did share a little bit, but in Sunday School it was a little harder.  I had somethings that I felt I could say to contribute, but it was harder to follow the flow of the lesson, and I didn't want to jump to a part of the lesson we had already past.  We were talking about temporal and spiritual riches, but there was this old guy that looked like Bill Cosby that talked a lot, and I couldn't understand him at all.
Obviously in Sacrament meeting I didn't say anything, but I understood all the speakers except for one, who was another old guy.  They also had six missionaries in their ward.  After we talked with the sister missionaries and they invited us to the Young Single Adult FHE they have in the ward every Monday I think.  That might be fun to go to.
Everyone was super nice at church, and very welcoming.  There were a lot of people that spoke English (they even had an English Sunday School class (the idea kind of reminded me of the Spanish Sunday school class we had in Benton City on my mission)).  I wonder if they got enough English speakers that they'd start and English Branch--that's kind of a weird thought.  Mostly everyone spoke to me in French though, and I was glad for that.
My Professor and her daughter ended up making it for Sacrament Meeting.  They, Laura, a girl named Klarissa, and I were the only ones from UVU that came.  It seems kind of strange to me that a group from UVU would only be 50% Mormon, but it is.
After church the five of us went over to Lu Mai Nice Festival that was close to the church.  It was a neat little festival they have every Sunday in May to celebrate Spring.  They had people dressed up in traditional French clothing, traditional music and dancing.  I was getting the nerve up to try to do some of the dances when the others wanted to go.  It remind me a lot of Pirates, even though my Professor said it was traditional French culture and not Pirate culture.
After that I went back home.  I was thinking about going out and trying to find someone at the park playing batanque that would let me play with them, or going to a Catholic Mass, but I ended up falling asleep instead.
This evening Devin said he wanted to go out and do something since he'd been inside all day.  We decided to go for a calk along the promenade, and we invited our host family to come too.  Josie and Jullie came, but Jaque didn't.  It was a beautiful evening walking along the sea.  Josie insisted on getting us ice cream, so we got some ice cream, and walked back home.
I really liked today because I wasn't a tourist, I was more with the people doing what they do.  I liked going around this week and seeing all the different sites, but truthfully it got a little boring after a while. The rest of my time here I'm going to try to spend more with the people, because that's what I'll enjoy most, and that's how I'll learn French.  Looking at how I learned Spanish I realized that I was never immersed in Spanish.  It really has nothing to be with being immersed in it, but what you choose to do, and who you choose to do it with.  I realized you can very easily go to another country and never learn any of the language.  I don't want that to be my experience though.