Punch every identity thief in the face.

So yesterday, I decided not to bring my computer to school because I felt like I had been spending too much time on the internet and not enough time out in the real world.  I had a nice day, and after class, I went to H&M with friends to buy a sweater for my trip to Paris.  My card was rejected.  I went out to the street to try it in an ATM.  No dice.  I went home to call my bank and see what the problem was.  In my first attempt, my cell phone ran out of credits.  I had to use my host mom's phone to call the bank.  In my call, I was a little annoyed at first because I called my bank weeks ago to notify them that I would be in France, and I figured that some purchase I had made in Marseille had caused them to freeze my account.  Needless to say, I was somewhat embarrassed to discover that my bank had actually caught a real fraud.  My identity had been stolen.  This jerk had been attempting internet purchases with my card all day.  Fortunately, only $63 got through before my bank froze the card, and I will get all that money back.  I was really lucky, and my bank is UPS-ing a new card as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately for me, that debit card was my only way of making purchases while in Europe, and I'm leaving for Paris on Friday.  I couldn't even put more minutes on my cell phone.  Not only that, but it took me a few hours to finally get in touch with anyone from home.  Also, this is a four-day weekend in France, so it is difficult to say when UPS will get my new card to me at my host mom's apartment.

Summary:

Cash in wallet: 1,27€

Money in suitcase: $130

Cell phone credits: 0

Miles from home: 4415

Leaving for Paris: 2 days

New card arriving: ??

Fortunately, some really awesome people have come to my rescue!  My mom is wiring money to my host mom, who has already lent me enough money for my weekend in Paris.  Also, Anna took me out for dessert last night, which made me feel a heck of a lot better about things.  I'd venture to say that a blackberry tart and some rosé heals all wounds!  Today, I managed to turn my $130 into a measly 83€ (which is better than nothing!) and recharge my cellphone with credits.  It wasn't easy, however.  

After discovering that the Avignon branch of the Bank of France, where you can exchange money without commission is currently defunct (not doing exchanges), I went to what I thought was la Poste.  The post office in France is also a bank and provides a variety of other services, including exchanging money for a fee.  That building had some homeless dudes on the steps, though, so I went to the Institute to eat lunch and go back later because I was feeling exasperated.  Upon arriving at the Institute around 11:40, one of my friends warned me that la Poste is actually over by the train station and that they stop exchanging cash at 12.  So I sprinted to la Poste and got a ticket just before 12.  At the post office in France, you take a number and wait for a cashier to call you up to the counter.  It's actually a lot less hectic and unpleasant than American post offices.  It was also really clean, bright, and modern.  Unfortunately for me, I didn't realize that you have to have your passport with you to exchange money (D'OH!).  Luckily, though, the counter didn't actually close until 5pm.  So, I went home and grabbed my passport, then went to class.  After class, I made my way directly to la Poste, and on this third and final effort, I got my money!!  And I managed to get more credits for my cell phone.  All in all, feeling a lot more secure at the moment.  Also, I am happy to say that I managed to conduct all of these transactions on my own hundreds of miles away in FRENCH.  Thank you public school education!  I'm a big kid now :-P

Moral of the story: Bring more than one form of payment abroad and have an emergency stash of cash.  Identity theft is real.

Marseille=Amazing.

(see the previous post for my pictures from Marseille!)

In my young adulthood, I've certainly had some adventures that fell flat.  Being a suburbanite, I don't always have the best luck with my forays to metropolitan locales.  In Chicago, it almost always seems to be raining, or the museum we planned to visit is closed/expensive, or some other unforeseen factor sours the adventure.  You'd think that I'd learn to plan ahead or come up with a plan B, but I'm still too much of a stubborn romantic!  And besides, sometimes you have a day that justifies a more spontaneous approach.  Our visit to Marseille was definitely one of those lucky days!  We saw so much neat stuff and had so much good luck!

First of all, the weather was gorgeous.  It was hot and dry with a nice breeze.  After getting off the train, there was some consternation as to how exactly we should go about getting to the Vieux Port.  Eventually, some of us just started walking and following signs, which miraculously led us to exactly where we wanted to go.  I was able to ask for maps for everyone at the tourist office and find out which buses to take to the beach.  (Score 1 for Emma's French skillz!)  After we had eaten some lunch, we were at odds as to what to do first.  We started to walk in the direction of La Cathédrale Notre Dame de la Guarde, but it was the hottest part of the day, and just as we were starting to have some second thoughts, we found the ferryboat out to the islands off the coast of Marseille.  Within a few minutes, we bought our tickets, found some bottled water, and hopped aboard.  (Many "I'M ON A BOAT!!!" jokes ensued, of course!).  The coastline was gorgeous, and the view from the water was phenomenal.  

After a short ride, we got to the Château d'If.  This military fortress-turned-prison was really interesting.  It is essentially like a much older French Alcatraz of sorts.  Plus, it is one of the settings of Alexandre Dumas's Comte de Monte Cristo (the Count of Monte Cristo).  Edmund, the main character, was imprisoned for eight years on the island in the story.  Marseille also plays an important role in the plot.  The views from the prison windows are breathtaking, which makes it hard to imagine what it must have been like for the religious and political prisoners who were held there.  We took tons of photos and enjoyed the crazy Mediterranean wind!

Once we had returned ashore, we realized that we could take a bus up to the cathedral.  Within about 15 minutes, we were on a bus!  We managed to get in and out of the cathedral and have a look around within an hour; we even got back to the Vieux Port on the same bus ticket.  After a quick turn around at the Vieux Port, we were on another bus out to the beach.  We were there just long enough to take a quick dip without me getting a sunburn!  (Hoorah!!  Perhaps the greatest success of all.  Emma's skin: 1.  Mediterranean sun: 0).  

We had just enough time for a quick dinner at MacDo.  This was my first French McDonald's experience, and I think French MacDo is better than at home!  In my Happy Meal, I actually got what looked like a Capri Sun pouch of apple sauce that you squeeze into your mouth.  It was so cool!  You can also get chocolate mousse for dessert.  And oh yeah, Daniel ordered a beer!  Too funny.  Gotta love regional McDonald's options!

All in all, we had a lot of good luck and a really good day.  Not to mention the fact that I got to spend time with some totally cool people.  I love Marseille!

Marseille!

Stories soon to come, but for now, check out pictures from beautiful Marseille, France!

Arles

Check out pictures from my day in Arles!

Arles is a city in the south of France (about 20 minutes from Avignon by train, see map!).  When we arrived there, we went to visit the "arènes," the Roman amphitheater.  This was, I think, the first Roman ruin I've seen in real life, so it was really exciting!  The cool thing that I've noticed about ancient structures in Europe is that, in many cases, they are still functional in spite of the fact that they are hundreds of years old.  For example, this amphitheater is still home to bull fighting, concerts, and theater productions, and the Palais des Papes plays host to huge theater audiences during the Festival d'Avignon.  We also saw another "vestige romain" (Roman ruin) during the course of our day.  We happened upon some Roman baths.  My photos don't really do them justice, unfortunately, but it was a big brick structure with multiple chambers, so the baths could be heated to different temperatures by wood-burning fires.  Those Romans!  Sounds like it would've been a pretty sweet hang, they just needed a swim-up bar and some tiki torches... or not :-P

We also visited St Trophime, a Roman church.  Because it was really hot and sunny, we spent a lot of time in the cool, shady cloister, which has some interesting carved columns and a big courtyard.  Apparently, these columns in the cloister and the carved tympanum (the decorated arch over the entry to the church) are some of the finest examples of Roman sculpture(see photo album!).  We also took a quick look around the sanctuary, which is cavernous with huge Roman pillars.  They also had a chamber filled with relics from the Crusades.  

Arles is also home to a pretty sizable open air "marché."  We walked around the crowded market, and they were selling everything from meat and cheese to clothing to produce.  There were vendors selling Provençal soaps and fabrics as well as herbes de Provence and other wares.  Unfortunately, I was really hot and rather hungry, so I didn't spend a lot of time in the market.  Instead, some friends and I went to a nearby café to get lunch.  By the time we had finished, the entire market had been disassembled and the streets had been cleaned.  It was like the whole thing just disappeared within an hour.  Talk about Swiss movement!  

Definitely check out the photo album, and thanks for reading!  xoxo, Emma

More Photos!

Click here to see more photos from my first week in Avignon!

Photos from Day 1

Click here to see photos from my first day on Facebook!

Ma Première Bêtise :-P

Today, we had our orientation and a tour of Avignon.  At lunch, we went to a restaurant outside the wall called le Bercail.  To get there, we had to take a little boat across the Rhône and had a great view of the Pont d'Avignon.  I happened to sit at a table with two of the French teachers and Isabelle, an assistant from the Institut.  We had a very pleasant conversation.  I learned about French superstitions, and learned the words for landscaper (paysagiste) and weeds (les mauvaises herbes).   Just for you, mom!  

Anyway, at one point, we started talking about organic food.  I began to describe the book I'm reading, In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan.  I made an attempt at an eloquent description of Americans' attachment to nutrition over food, but I got stuck trying to come up with an adequate description of "processed foods."  I said something like, "euh... vous savez, c'est quand la nourriture est pleine de... de... préservatifs, c'est ça."  Unfortunately for me, "preservatives" is a false cognate.  Instead of saying that the foods is full of preservatives, I said that "uh... you know, it's when the food is full of condoms!  That's it."  I got a bit of a funny look from Isabelle.  She said... euh... tu veux dire les conservateurs, je quoi.  And I realized my mistake as my friend Derek had a good laugh at my mistake.  Isabelle went on to say "yes, so you don't want to carry 'conservateurs' in your purse and 'preservatifs' in your food.  That might give boys the wrong idea..."  Won't be making that mistake again :-P  In other news, there are condom "distributeurs" in the street on the outside of pharmacies, in the wide open.  I guess it's good that they want people to be protected!  Gotta love the French.

Le Voyage

Wow, now that was an epic journey!  Got to O'Hare at 1:30pm, flight left at 4:15 pm.  Had a cute little glass of red wine on the flight, but I still didn't fall asleep.  Landed in Düsseldorf at 7:15am.  Waited around Düsseldorf airport a few hours.  Took some photos with goofy German billboards and browsed at the duty free shop.  Also realized that German people, from our observations, seem to be quite tall.  Flight left for Paris around 10:45am.  Got in to Paris around 12ish.  Waited in the train station at Charles de Gaulle until our TGV left at 4:52pm.  The US totally needs TGVs... I love trains.  Made it into Avignon at 8:10, where I met my host mom.  That's about 24 hours of transit, and I have been awake for about 32 hours.  Holy jetlag, Batman!  

But I am here safe and sound, and my host mom is totally great!  She lives about two minutes away from the Institut on foot, right on the main street.  I have my own room with internet, and she couldn't possibly be a nicer host!  Over dinner, we talked about our families, the difference between French and American diets, even Weight Watchers!  (Yes, they have Weight Watchers in France... her dad and stepmom are on it and have lost 20 lbs a piece).  We also talked about Obama and the recession.  Okay, so I know talking politics on the first night sounds like a mistake, but we really saw eye to eye, so it worked out (phew!).  Dinner was yummy, and I got to have French bread and my pick of cheeses.  Feeling surprisingly at home. 

The Packing...

Thanks for checking out my blog.  I'm hoping to update it periodically from l'Institut in Avignon!  Look for stories and pictures soon!

The past week has been crazy!  I've made the transition from my Music 314 final (ultimate brain drain) to saying good bye to some of my most favorite people to celebrating my mom's birthday to seeing Andy off to prom to packing.  Oh yeah... packing.  I'm supposed to leave for the airport in less than two hours and I'm not packed.  So I should probably cut this post a bit short.  Ah well, what fun would adventures be if we were always prepared for them?