On Saturday, we visited the Picasso museum in Antibes. Beautiful views of the ocean outside accompanied with interesting thought-provoking art pieces inside. After lunch, we made our way to the beach for an afternoon in the water. We went paddle boarding and kayaking. I especially loved paddle boarding because I got to see people expressions as the fell off there boards, including myself. We made our way back to St. Laurent for dinner on the beach. Staff members ordered us interesting pizza combinations that I had never tried before and was pleasantly surprised by most. That evening there was an Italian Market going on on the boardwalk. We walked and looked around until it was time for us to head back to our home stays.
Visiting Cannes was breathtaking. We allowed sleeping in Sunday morning so we had a bit of a later start than usual. We walked up many stairs and had a pretty good work out but the view at the top of the hill near the Suquet was absolutely beautiful. You could see all across Cannes and over the ocean. We had lunch at the top of the hill and then we split up into groups. One group went to Îles de Lerins, and one group stayed in Cannes to walk around and shop. I stayed in Cannes and walked around. Some of the other students and I went to this adorable little restaurant where we sat down got a cup of coffee and split a couple of salads and desserts. I really enjoyed my time and thought that I got to see a pretty good amount of Cannes. For the rest of the day, we had dinner with our host family and stayed in for the night getting ready for the start of a new week.
Today, Monday, we went back to our regular classes in the morning. For lunch, we stayed in our normal cute little park area in the shade. After lunch we had electives, today I went to the photography class. I have had my camera for about two years now and I have never really known how to use it properly. From just one afternoon in this elective class, I have learned the basics of the manual settings, which are more complicated thought-provoking they sound.
Example of what we got to learn in the elective (focusing on the foreground and having the background fuzzing and unfocused)
Although this class was very fun and informative, I got a terrible sunburn from the strong St. Laurent sun. I’ll have to make sure to apply more sunscreen next time. We had dinner with our host families again tonight. We were also allowed to choose between spending the rest of the night with our host families or doing an activity with the group. My roommates and I choose to stay in with our host family. At the dinner table, we taught them how to play a card game called “Tongues” which was pretty hard to explain in french but we managed. We had a wonderful time with them!
Very excited for the upcoming week!