Thursday April 12th and Friday the 13th - Arles and Chambéry

I have had a really busy week with one exam and two presentations plus lots of classes, which is why I haven't finished my vacation update. So first, in real-time, I would like to say that I did well on my Monday exam for Introduction aux Achats et à la Supply Chain, which I did study considerably for, and I also did well on my hour-long presentation in Techniques de Vente, even receiving a compliment from the professor about my ability to communicate in French, and put together an interesting and informative presentation. So that was good. Likewise my presentation yesterday, Thursday, for my "innovative project" in my Marketing class went quite well. We had to define an innovative item that doesn't already exist in any market and then use the 4 P's of marketing, plus the market positioning and target consumers to describe how our new item could be integrated and covered by a company. We were in a group of 5 people and though communication between the French students and their foreign student counterparts was lacking in all the groups (I was complaining with numerous other foreign students because we didn't receive information from our groups about meeting times or idea development, etc) in the end I did my part of the presentation and I was even charge of editing for spelling mistakes (and I changed 6 out of just 12 slides!) The French have a hard time writing their own language because everything sounds similar when spoken orally. Whereas since I learned the language as a set of grammatical rules, it is easier for me. So I did find that kind of funny. Now I just have to crack down this weekend and study so that I am ready to pass my two final business exams on Monday morning. I still will have 5 more exams to take (Econ, Mythological and Biblical Culture, 18th Century Lit, and my two FLE classes, French civilization and language perfection) but I will be done with the business classes after Monday. Woot!!

Also, since David is back on the Mediterranean coast (that makes two weeks in a row for him) I won't be nearly as distracted as I normally could be. I was originally hoping to go along on this excursion (which comes paid-for through his study abroad program fee) but it would have cost around 220E for three days and two nights and we have a lot of traveling expenses coming up so he is just taking advantage of the trip on his own. On the other had it is a good last opportunity for him to hang out with his ISEP program friends before they all start heading back to America. He'll be seeing Nice, Cannes, and Monaco and I'm sure he'll have a lot of stories when he returns. As for me, I'll be studying. Yay.

Ok so onto the final part of my vacation with Mom. In our last two days we visited Arles, a city still very very south in France which is known for its surrounding marsh lands (called the Camargue) and its ancient city which has very well-preserved Roman architecture, as you will see in the pictures below. Unfortunately due to weird bus times we were unable to make it to the camargue, but that ended up working out for the better because we had a wonderful time in the ancient city exploring Roman artifacts.

A picture of my mom and I by one of the ancient "doors" into the city. In other words, the tower represents a break in for fortified city wall through which people could enter the ancient city. I also particularly liked the lamp. We also commented on how cool it is that people used to be able to literally "keep the bad guys out" with something as simple as a wall.

Mom took a stealth picture of David and I exploring the Roman thermal baths. We wondered what the little columns were for, but then we found a sign that explained that the heated water ran through them, but not all the way to the top, leaving room for the steam, and then there were benches built above them, with another accompanying pool of water which was a more pleasant temperature. 

David and I on the "walkway of sarcophagi" which was basically the ancient form of the graveyard by the church called "Eglise Saint Honorat" at Alyscamps. It was a really cool kind of creepy totally deserted ancient church. I am not sure exactly when the church was constructed but the "nécropole" as it is called in French began it's collection of "caskets" in Roman times (in other words around the year 0) and was still being doted upon until the years 300. Other than that I need to do more reading to get more information.  

Here is the church at the end of the walkway. By the way, you can search Van Gogh paintings and you will find some of this church and walkway. 

This is the ancient Roman amphitheater which is the tenth largest of its type preserved in the world. Unfortunately it was difficult to get a great picture from the inside because there was a lot of temporary seating put in for the yearly "running of the bulls" that they do in Arles. Don't worry though, theirs it more of an idea-based running, and no bulls are hurt or killed. 

This is David and I inside one of the back and upper walkways that surrounds the "arena" as they call this one in French. It truly was amazingly large... and I can't believe that it was built so well that it still exists today. 

This is David and I in the cloister part of the St Trophime Cathedral, because the two are annexed together. Unfortunately there was some restoration going on in the courtyard so our view wasn't quite as impressive or beautiful as it could have been, but ti was still a neat sight. The church part also dates back to Roman times, and its current facade was finished in the 12th century. It's bell was replaced in the 13th century, which just goes to show they made stuff better back then. 

This is my attempt at a photo of the ancient Roman Cryptoportiques. It was really really dark and dank down there, but we got to walk the ancient underground traffic passageways, once again built by the Romans. There were even rooms attached to certain hallways, and it was quite a long walk. Also, we think there was another floor of these beneath us because there were lights in certain spots in the floor, and we could see around the edges and you could see a floor a good... 15 feet down I would estimate. No 12. I don't know, but not like 3 feet or anything. 

Once we left Arles, we returned back to Chambéry, where we showed Mom around our town, our grocery store, and our campus. We got some good classic photos from that as well.

This is David and I in front of David's main school building on campus. You can read the ISEFE sign which is right below the building marker 14. 

David and I at the famous elephant statue in Chambéry. It is kind of a weird statue, honestly, and when it first got sculpted a lot of the town people didn't like it very much and they called it "the four without butts" though they used a different word for butts. However, the statue slowly grew in fondness and certainly maintained its uniqueness and now represents a main square in the downtown city. The biggest collection of bus stops in Chambéry is called "Eléphants".

David and I at the entrance to the chateau which is right across from our apartment. There was a cool little exposition set up inside with some very interesting documents, including one of the original selling deeds from the 1100's (...I think) and also the family tree of the royal family, a really ornate tapestry-looking thing.

Finally here is a goofy picture of David and I with the other facade of the chateau (we live on the other side) but we found these cool cement pillars that we could stand on and so we took advantage of the photo opportunity. Thanks to Mom for photographing such funny-looking people.

Ok well I guess that means I am finally caught up, and I will try to give you an update after I take my exams on Monday. Until then, I hope everyone enjoys the final segment on our travels, and has a good weekend back home!