Beginning of October

It was a fabulous first day in Nice. Mary-Beth (the only assisitant I knew coming into the program) and I arrived a day before the program's scheduled start date to explore and soak in the brillant sun. Mary-Beth found us a perfect little hotel, with a crazy red-haired, petite French landlady who chatted with us for about an hour about her experiences with hypnotism and cats.

Saturday afternoon, while Mary-Beth rested for a couple hours after her long international flight, I took a two hour walk to orient myself to the city. I explored along the rocky coast, through major shopping districts and down winding little alleyways, with flowers spilling out of windowsill boxes and laundry fluttering from close lines. Both still jet-lagged, we found a cheap place to eat and then went out for a coffee, before finally relaxing in our tiny but clean room. The morning started with sunlight streaming through our lace curtains and quiet, deserted streets, since everything is always closed on Sundays. We wandered off to the morning market, which was a sea of flowers, bright laughter, pungent cheese, vegetable stands, vibrant paintings and colorful fresh fruit.

After buying fruit for our breakfast, we hiked up to the park on top of La Colline du Chateau and then wandered, by accident, into the lovely Vieux Nice, or Old Town. Exhausted from exploring all day, we arrived at the International Hostel to meet everyone else around 6pm and spent the night chatting and socializing with assistants from over 20 different countries.