Dear Parents,

Well we've just finished Tuesday, which is a little hard to believe since in many ways it's starting to feel like the group of us have known each other for much longer - it's funny how a trans-Atlantic flight, 3 days in Paris, and a flight to the south of France can bond a group, n'est pas?

Everyone seems to be getting acclimated to our home in Aix. The city is simply beautiful and with more water fountains than we'll probably have the chance to see in 3 weeks. I would love to show you pictures of Aix, but that will have to wait. All the pictures I've posted today are of Paris, since being in Aix has kept me on my toes. The picture above is of Sacré-Coeur, the basilica that we saw during a walk through Montmartre; the one below is of the Arc de triomphe, which got to see before it began raining. Part of my job as Coordinator is to prep for the "Atelier cuisine" (cooking workshops) which happen most nights and so the majority of my time has been spent trying to learn the ins and outs of grocery shopping in our neighborhood. Out of the three meals we've cooked, the favorite dishes - by unofficial polling - seem to be the "Champignons de Paris Farcies" (stuffed mushrooms) and Ratatouille Niçoise from Monday night, though the three types of cheeses we had tonight with our Salade Niçoise were a close second - at least in my cooking group.

Each afternoon the students have 3 possible activities to choose from, and tomorrow I'm taking a group to the Fondation Vasarely - a modern art museum that features the work of 1970's artist Victor Vasarely best known for his optical illusion art. Fred will be leading a trip to the Musée Granet, where some regional artists are featured, and Amine will be offering the first part of his course on Franco-Maghrebine culture and the Arabic Language. Not all the activities are this cerebral - in fact, Fred led a session of pétanque on Monday and two of our students even challenged some of the locals to a game...sadly we lost, but nonetheless it was a good effort.

It'll be a full day tomorrow, but at least we'll be able to relax in the evening with a meal at "Les Agapes" - a restaurant in Aix where everyone put in their order tonight for either daube provençal, filet de dorade, gnocchi's aux cèpes, or entrecôte poêlée aux herbes. Being that no French meal seems complete without dessert, we all got to choose between nougad glacé, fondant chocolat or charlotte aux fruits rouges. A fun time should be had by all.

Hope this entry wasn't too long for you all, but we seem to have experienced almost a month's worth of activities already. I'll make sure to add another entry within the next few days, and hopefully by then I'll have had some time to get some photos for you - or at least to have scanned and posted the winners from the Photo Contest activity that happened on Tuesday!

Take care,
Zach