La Cote d'Azur!!!

   Brace yourselves...this is going to be a long one, deal with it.

    We arrived in Nice around 10 pm Thursday night, so obviously it was dark but I saw palm trees and beaches and was immediately pumped. We luckily stumbled upon our hostel when I suggested we go down a random street and it was right there, so that was nice because we literally had no idea where we were going. The hostel was actually really nice. Everyone who worked there was Australian which was cool...the pillows/beds were more comfortable than the ones here in London, the bathrooms were better, there was a free cereal bar every morning (but the milk was warm and that grossed me out) so I tended to have toast, and there were free computers and internet. So overall, really good choice, a very reasonable price, and not the least bit sketchy.


   Woke up at 9 am the next morning, which as many of you may know is not my preferred time of day to wake up, but I did it and it was well worth it. We went to a flower and food market which was awesome, minus the array of fish (including octopus). London doesn't really have those types of markets so I was really excited to go to it because it is very European. Then we went to the top of this really tall hill that overlooked 360 degrees of Nice and there were ruins and old buildings up there too; needless to say, it was amazing. I could be a bum the rest of my life and sleep on a bench up there with my dog and be completely happy. So we got kind of lost trying to get down because we were going in all different directions exploring, and we ended up wandering through little side streets, again just exactly what I always expected of Europe but haven't really seen in London. These streets brought us through residential areas to "La Vieille Ville", the old town, which is basically where all the nightlife is and there are lots of great restaurants, pubs, gelato/crepe shops...so clearly we spent a lot of time there. My impeccable sense of direction was very helpful in Nice, and even impressed me, because there were so many side streets to get lost in. I was also glad I went here instead of Paris because I got to practice speaking French, although I may have made a fool out of myself a time or two. But anyways, so many Parisians speak English or just hate Americans so it's not worth trying to speak to them and the people in Nice really appreciated when I spoke French to them...so that made me happy.

   On our 2nd day in Nice (Saturday) we decided to take a day trip and Katie had gone there before her program so she had some suggestions and after speaking with one of the girls who worked at the hostel, she suggested Eze and Monaco. There's a 1 euro bus that goes there so it was extremely cheap. I had never heard of Eze but she said it was a Medieval town so I was totally into it because I love old architecture. So not knowing what to expect, we get to Eze and have to walk up a huge hill. We get to a somewhat flat part and it's unbelievable. It's hard to explain but it's literally stone buildings built into the hill one after another, with beautiful vines and flowers everywhere and incredible views down into the valley. I could go on about Eze but I won't...however I will be going there for my honeymoon because most of the residences are actually hotel rooms, who cares if it's about $1000 a night?

    So we reluctantly left Eze after my friend Clare got a crepe and I got a coffee milkshake (coffee ice cream's hard to come by). We then boarded another bus to Monaco. On this bus we met some hilarious Floridians in their 40s who were trying to get back to Monte Carlo to catch their cruise ship but spoke no French so I had to attempt to translate for them. They were taking a 2 week Mediterranean cruise which, the woman shared with us, is usually $12,000 but they got for $3,700. I could not be more jealous. Anyways, they helped us find the Monte Carlo Casino. Ferraris, Rolls Royces, Lamborghinis...they were all there. Went into the casino, I was tempted to gamble for the first time in my life but I resisted because I'm broke. The casino was really cool though, smaller than I imagined it would be. So then, we walked around and made our way to the port in hopes that we would meet one of the owners of the dozens of ginormous yachts that were around...no luck. So we kept walking, found some cool cliffs, walked up to another level of Monaco, not really sure what it was? But there were incredible views there too. Then we bought a baguette, cheese, pesto, and a bottle of wine and had that for dinner. It was awesome, and cheap.

    To sum up my experience in the French Riviera, I am seriously contemplating moving there. No one can be mad at me because you'll all want to visit and I'll let you stay in my place for free. The weather is perfect, it's astonishingly beautiful, and the people are nice. Think about it....

   We returned to warm, sunny London weather surprisingly. It was kind of nice to be back...however my new professor is like then Ben Stein of British people. He's so boring and monotone and says "ya" or "right" or "okay" in his annoying British accent after every 2 words. Internship starts tomorrow...SO nervous. Going out to buy a nice blazer now because I haven't spent enough money yet :)