I cannot believe how fast time is flying! It feels like our semester here in Nice just started, and here we are wrapping up with our final projects and assessments. In only a few weeks, we will be writing our final exams. In the meantime, we have been making the most of our time here in the south of France and took a couple day trips to neighbouring cities. Èze - Le 9 novembre 2017 Last week, we went on an afternoon trip to the town of Èze, located east of us and about thirty minutes away by bus and not far from Monaco. Our Canadian professor proposed this excursion to us, and seeing as it was free and just up the coast line from us, a bunch of us decided to take advantage of this opportunity! Èze is a small medieval village with gorgeous panoramic views from the top of the hill. It is perched on a rock 1,400 feet above sea level, and the village surrounds the ruins of a 12th-century castle. This quaint village was built on top of the rocky outcrop for security reasons and its stunning views over the Mediterranean Sea, but in earlier days it was a strategic location for detecting and protecting themselves against intruders. We first took on the challenge of climbing all the way to the top of the hill, which in total took us just under an hour - not bad for amateur hikers! The climb was well worth it, as the views were just as beautiful as our prof promised they would be. We spent the afternoon walking around the village and admiring more of the views and architecture it had to offer. Later that day, we met up with some more Canadian students and headed to the Fragonard Parfumerie. At the parfumerie, we had the chance to go on a guided tour through their facilities, l'usine. We even got to play a little game where we tried to match the scents up to the photos - easier said than done, but a great way to step inside the life of a professional perfumer, parfumeur/parfumeuse. This was the first time I had the chance to take a closer look at the perfume making process, and I learned that if a bottle reads parfum, that means it has the highest concentration of parfum/odeur. Following behind parfum is eau de parfum, eau de toilette and last eau de cologne. We all had a fun time checking out the various scents at the boutique at the end of our visit. A few items may have been purchased... Marseille - Le 18 novembre 2017 Marseille was also another fun day trip for us! It was organized by UNIA (Université de Nice Inter-Ages). I have really enjoyed day trips like these for the simple fact that we get to explore a new city for a day without having to leave the country we are studying in. More ways to interact with the francophone community! Like Nice, Marseille is a port city, so we had the chance to walk around Vieux Port and see the multitude of boats. It is the second-largest city in France after Paris, the capital, not to mention France's largest city on the Mediterranean coast and the largest port for commerce, freight and cruise ships. Marseille is also a very sports-focused city. From football to swimming, canoeing to kayaking, we saw lots of groups of people training for marathons, triathlons, you name it! The museum we visited, Mucem, even had an exhibition "Nous sommes foot" explaining the history of football (soccer), and the impact it has had on various individuals, whether they be from Marseille or another part of the world. It was clear to see how large of an impact sports has on the entire city, and how it has become a part of their identity. There was also a Christmas market (un marché de Noël) set up while we were visiting. We stopped at a few booths of the local vendors, and I ended up picking up a few things in my travels to bring back to Canada with me for the Christmas holidays. We saw lots of booths with soap ornaments and decor - Marseille is famous for their soap creations. The designs were both practical and beautiful! The weather was so beautiful during our time in Marseille, so of course I had to take advantage of the prime lighting for a mini photo shoot! ;) There were so many things we could have done in Marseille, so we may just have to return. Until then, it's back to studying for me!
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What an incredible past 10 days it has been! I can hardly believe that our time in four beautiful countries has come to a close and that we are back to the reality of school tomorrow... Budapest, Hongrie - le 26 au 28 Octobre 2017 Our first destination was Budapest, Hungary. Personally, I had no idea what to expect during our trip here, as I had never been this far east in Europe, and I was truly blown away by the beauty of this city! We spent some time just walking around the area, and it seemed like around every corner there was something new - a park, a monument or a cute cafe! Our day started off with a walk down Andrassy street, which made me realize how poor I truly was. Once the rain hit, we sought refuge in an indoor market, which mostly filled with Hungarian cuisine. We ended up staying indoors and went to The House of Terror as the rain wasn't letting up, but I was thankful that we did. I hadn't known much about communism and fascism pre and post WW2, so it was very beneficial and educational for myself to take a tour of the Hungarian Nazi headquarters and later torture chambers in the later half of the 20th century. What an eye-opening experience! I think it is so humbling that this museum exists, as it is also a memorial to the victims of these regimes, including those detained, interrogated, tortured or killed in the building. Chills went through my entire body as I took a step back into history. We also took a walking tour to Heroes Square once the rain let up, and then to one of the outdoor bath houses, Széchenyi. Even though it was around 10 degrees celsius outdoors, the water was nearly 30! It was the perfect way to end a full day of walking in the cold rain. Fun fact: this particular bath house is the oldest one in Budapest and is the largest in Europe! On our last day in Budapest, we took a walking tour of the city to see both sides: Buda and Pest. Our hostel was located on the Pest side, so we were eager to see what was across the Danube river in Buda. In unrelated news, we also got to try Chimney Cakes, which were oh so delicious! Definitely got our sugar fix in Budapest! We started at St. Stephen's Cathedral, named after the first King of Hungary. Then, we made our way to the Budapest Eye (a spin off of the London Eye), the Michael Jackson tree, Chain Bridge, and all the way up the "hill" to Budapest Castle. From here, we got to see an entire view of the city. We could see Parliament in the distance and Gellert Hill. Even though the weather was a bit overcast, and quite chilly, the views and architecture made it completely worth it. It was incredible to see how influenced the buildings' architectures were influenced by communism. Personally, I could see many similarities between Russian architecture and Hungarian architecture. I'm not much of a history buff, so I could be completely out in left field, but after visiting the House of Terror and walking around Budapest, it made me think of how much power Communist Russia had during its reign. Bratislava, Slovaquie - le 29 Octobre 2017 We passed through Bratislava on our way to Vienna, so it was a short stay. During our one day here, we got to see the quaint village centre and the beautiful Bratislava Castle. We battled some pretty intense winds during our walk around the castle, but powered through it all. Bratislava was one of my favourite destinations, because of its quaintness and relaxed atmosphere. It wasn't nearly as overwhelming as the big city of Budapest was, so it was a nice break for us all. We even managed to squeeze in some time for retail therapy, too ;) although, I had to watch what I all bought, as I was running low on space in my luggage... Overall, Bratislava was a great way to see a more rural area of Europe on our way to Vienna. Although it wasn't our favourite hostel, we had a lovely traditional Slovakian meal at a restaurant close to the village centre: potato dumplings and homemade chicken soup! Vienne, Autriche - le 30 au 31 Octobre 2017 Our first day in Vienna was not as smooth as it could have been, to say the least, but we made the best of it! Even though we found ourselves in a hail storm and later a laundromat, we had some great time to bond and make some unconventional memories ;) The evening ended on a high note - literally! I attended the Mozart Orchestra at the Vienna Musikverein. What an evening that was! I've only been taking French courses during my time here on the exchange, so having an evening to soak in some classical music was quite refreshing and well-needed. So glad to have had the opportunity to engage in music with an incredibly talented group of musicians. Our second day was much more positive! We embarked on a bus tour of Vienna, which was a great way to see everything that the city had to offer. We went to the Museum Quarter, Schönbrunn Palace, Belvedere Palace, the Opera House, as well as the outskirts of Vienna. One of the girls on our trip had family ties back in Vienna, so we took some walking tours to find her grandparents' childhood homes and family's business. It was neat to walk around, trace back her ancestry and see the residential areas as well. Although Vienna proved to be one of our most frigid destinations, it is definitely a city I would love to visit again. It is rich in music history and culture, which is something I wish I had more time to engage in and appreciate! I did, however, get to briefly see the building where Mozart's grave was, so that's one more thing checked off the bucket list ;) Prague, République Tchèque - Le 1 au 4 Novembre 2017 Last stop was Prague! An immensely anticipated destination for all. We experienced the best weather of the trip while in Prague. Beautiful clear skies, some sun and temperatures of up to 15 degrees! Best part was, it only rained on us during the night. We started off by heading to the city centre, which they call Old Town Square. There, we saw the Astronomical clock and St. Nicholas' Presbyterian Church. This was the first Presbyterian Church I had ever seen and visited while in Europe. It was another beautiful building with an extraordinary chandelier upon entry. Something else we stumbled upon in Prague was one of their markets, where we found lots of kitschy, unique souvenirs, as well as beautiful flowers and puppets! Later that afternoon, after trying some mulled wine, we headed to Charles Bridge, which proved to be the tourist centre of Prague! Of course, we got right in there and snagged a bunch of touristy pics ourselves. I could not believe how many bridges across the Vltava river there were - each of them so unique and beautiful! After the bridge, we walked through Kampa park. We were told that there were statues of 3 babies here, and that if we kissed and/or slapped their butts, we would be granted good luck. The locals say it is a yearly tradition for them, so of course we had to try it ourselves! Aside from the many laughs we shared here, we also saw more views of the gorgeous river. Fall is truly a beautiful time to visit Prague! We took it easy on our second and third day in Prague. I think many of us were beginning to feel a bit worn out by this point, but we pushed through. There was still so much of the city to see! We embarked on the classic tourist walk of the city, which started in Old Town Square and the Jewish Quarter. We then made our way to Letna park, where we saw a giant metronome statue at the top of the hill. Although we weren't exactly prepared for all of the hiking that this walk entailed, we did end up finding a swing at the top with some great views of Prague. So, we obviously couldn't pass up this photo opportunity! After that, we headed to Prague Castle. We weren't entirely sure what it all entailed, but after going through a security checkpoint and doing some reading, we realized that Prague Castle was still functioning to this day as the seat of the President! It was a beautiful establishment, which included St. George's Basilica. I honestly cannot get enough of all of the churches here in Europe. Their architecture and design is truly incomparable to anything else I have ever seen! I wish we would have gone inside, but we were on a bit of a student budget. Something to add to the bucket list for when I return! Last stop on our walking tour was the Petrin Tower. To get there, we took the funicular to the top. None of us had been on one before, so it was neat to experience it together. Again, so many beautiful views to be seen! The Petrin Tower was also a beauty within itself, which the locals call their own Eiffel Tower. I am so incredibly grateful to have traveled alongside 4 beautiful women! They made my time so much more memorable and enjoyable. None of us can believe that is already November... in just under 2 months, we will be returning to Canada for the Christmas holidays! Until then, lots of final projects and assessments are on the way...
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