Hiking

We left Menton at 8am Saturday morning, for a hike up to the summet of a mountain. We climbed over 600 steps up above Menton, where there are 2 cemeteries and roads to access the mountains.

View of Menton and the bay from the cemetery above Menton

The Peak we climbed

Menton from the top of the mountain

My day in Paris

All the first-year students and exchange students from Sciences Po in Menton went to Paris for the day yesterday. We took the overnight train (with upright chairs the first night...so horrible...but we got beds the 2nd night). 11 hours on the train each way. We had a welcome ceremony at Sciences Po Paris and a class there in the afternoon. In our free time, I packed as many things as possible into the day in Paris.

This is my school! We had breakfast at a cafe, then a tour of the Cathedral de Notre Dame.
La Seine
The Louvre

Yes, that is the Eiffel Tower behind me. I couldn't make it quite that far yesterday.

Nice

Yesterday, I ran to Italy. It's less than a mile to the border, and it's a beautiful jog along the beach.

Then, 9 of us went to Nice (4 girls from Morocco and 5 Americans) We walked around, saw old Nice as well as the big shopping areas like the Rue Jean-Medecin.

Here we are waiting at the train station in Menton.
This church is in Nice.
And yes, Dad, it is in fact a REFORMED church.
At the beach in Nice

The huge town square. We watched breakdancers and ate delicious bread and goat cheese here.

Sailing in Nice
My first Cathedral. Beautiful.
The busy square in front of the Cathedral

And today, I went to my first French mass at the church in Menton.

I started orientation today! Most of the students are foreign...from Morocco, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Spain, etc. And, it turns out that there are 6 exchange students I didn't know about. 5 girls from Georgetown, and a guy from Detroit. This really helped when it came to filling out all the immigration paperwork today! Dozens of pages of paperwork, all complicated with all the instructions and orientation talks in French. And we all went together to get bank accounts, which was very complicated also! Tomorrow is French written and oral exams, and then we have the weekend to prepare for Arabic oral exams. So after a long long day of tedious details, we had a French buffet (wine and hor'dourves) and then we all went to the beach and took a lovely night swim in the Mediterranean! My French is improving drastically already! All day was switching back and forth, in French, then English, then Franglais, but more and more French all the time!

Menton at night

In the middle of Menton: so many gorgeous views!

La plage. I swam here tonight!
So beautiful!!!
My room, still messy...the others aren't unpacked.

Menton, 1st day

I'm Here!!! And Menton is Amazing!! I took this picture from my balcony (yes, that's right. I can step right outside my room onto my huge balcony overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and all of Menton!)
The town is mostly old people, and tons of tourists. It's beautiful, warm, and very colorful.

This picture is the edge of Menton, toward Italy

Yes, that is a giant trampoline. Right on the beach.
I swam in the Mediterranean today!
I explored Old Menton this morning.

The old part of Menton has narrow streets with tall old buildings on either side.
Many of the streets in Old Menton are stairways up the hillside between the buildings.
And a look from my balcony at the church steeple and the sea.

My French is terrible, but improving. There are actually several French students who have been living in America, as well as 2 students from D.C. at Sciences Po.

That's all for now, but more to come!!