On Monday, we continued our French lessons. Instead of visiting the market at Cours Saleya or shopping at Place Massena, we were able to tour a confiserie. This classic candy store diverged from the candy to which we are accustomed. It was like visiting a classic ice cream or soda pop shop. Confiserie Florian specializes in candied fruits, their most popular being clementines, and chocolates with flowers encased in them. The day continued like any other, with lunch followed by electives, free time, and dinner. However, with evening activities came problems. We were given the options to either go on a run or play pétanque, bocce ball. A few, not I, chose to run. Majority were supposed to play pétanque; however, that did not happen as majority of the the students of Abbey road opted for more free time, which continued to be an option from there on.
Tuesday continued routinely with morning lessons and lunch. In the afternoon, our activity allowed us to venture outside of Nice to Beaulieu-sur-Mer where we were offered free time. As in most places, free time was spent either shopping or at the beach. I, along with two other girls, decided to take part in the Abbey Road coordinated activity, visiting Villa Kerylos. Villa Kerylos is a mansion that was built in the early 20th century and fashioned to model a noble house from 2nd century B.C. Greece. We returned to Nice for dinner, picnicking on the beach with the students of the Saint-Laurent-du-Var trip. We finished the evening with free time. For me, that meant ice cream.
Wednesday was a very “by the book” day. We began with morning lessons, ate lunch, went to our electives, had free time, and finished the day at the residence. Wednesday was the first time we played an active role in cooking our dinner. We made crêpes. In pairs, we took the batter Cyril & Sean had prepared for us and our desired ingredients to our rooms and used the stovetops in our kitchenettes to cook our crêpes. I cannot speak for everyone in the group, but I loved this activity. Everyone had their doors open and various rooms had music playing in them so the residence felt alive. Laura and I goofed off in the kitchen. We had my music blasting while I attempted to flip the crêpe in the air.
Thursday began remarkably well. The morning French class started late in honor of Bastille day. After class we went to Place Massena, where I spent the morning in the café at Les Galeries Lafayette. We had lunch at the residence as usual and left early for the afternoon activity: parasailing. Parasailing was fantastic, we got to feel like we were flying and the view was mesmerizing. All of us went in groups of three, so Laura and I got to go with a little French boy, Antony, who wanted parasail but had no one to go with. Throughout the ride we communicated with gestures, broken French, and the universal expression “Yippee.”
Parasailing in Nice
Free time was ours after our rides. Tired from the day, I went back to the residence to draw, leaving my door open and music playing. It was very relaxing. We went out for dinner and then headed to the beach to watch the fireworks.
-Serena C.