The second I flew into Paris and found Xavier in the airport.
His family was waiting at home for me with a lovely lunch and
I had the opportunity to meet his younger brother’s girlfriend before they move to Austria. We had a lovely lunch, I tried to adjust to being sleepy following months of internal medicine rotations. It was bizarre to switch languages when my mind had been so intensely immersed in sleepless rotations full of medical and scientific english in America.
The next day, Xavier and I went to Paris and went to a small café to work on his dissertation some before going to our friends home for the night.
We went to have dinner with and stay the night with Julie and Marouane, the friends who introduced us. We went to a lovely neighborhood restaurant and all caught up on our lives.
The next morning, we took the train to Marseille and went to Xavier’s work to for their team picnic. They called it a ‘barbecue’ because they were grilling various foods (my Virginian roots had a heart attack) and you'll laugh hearing that the ‘hotdogs’ were spicy german sausages in baguettes. I had the opportunity to meet more of his coworkers.
Later that day, we made one of our usual giant salads for dinner and enjoyed being back at our place.
The next Day, I returned to the calanques- my favorite place in Marseille.
I hadn't been in a while, and I couldn't wait to finally get some sun and exercise.
I ran the trails to the calanques, had a quick lunch, and enjoyed some much needed sun.
That night, we took a picnic dinner to Vallon des Auffes-the place we went together our first night that we met- and watched the sunset.
Once we were back in Marseille, we heard that Xavier officially got the post-doctoral job he was hoping to get in Atlanta!!!!! He has been working for so long to accomplish this step in his career.
I joined Xavier at his lab and we worked together on his PHD dissertation. Xavier has a great English vocabulary, but it’s of course difficult to write scientifically in another language. Additionally, as we learned through many debates, the french use a LOT less commas. I spent much of my time this break editing Xavier's PhD.
We went climbing after work with our friend Hachedrien at la boite à grimper. The climbing is all "à tête" (lead climbing, where you take the rope up with you as you go) and on an overhang.
Friday, Xavier and I left for our weekend trip in Provence. We rented a car and drove to Les Baux de Provence.
the Picasso exhibit was incredible. They use the space of an old limestone mine to have art exhibits and did a video presentation of his work. There were paintings projected on the walls, ceilings, and floors and the paintings were moving ever so slightly to "come alive" and look like you were inside the painting. There was an entire sequence of music along with the art.
The "opening act" was a compilation of 70's music from America and many of my favorite songs.
Following, we had dinner and stayed with several members of Xavier's family. We had a lovely dinner and told them all our news!
The next day, Xavier and I drove to his grandmother's village of Les Baumes de Venise and had a walk/hike where he used to go growing up. There was a beautiful view.
Our next stop was l'isle sur la sorgue:
And we drove to the tree house we had rented for the night:
We had a lovely celebration dinner in L'isle sur la sorgue that night at a restaurant with umbrellas hanging from the ceiling!
The next morning, we drive to Gordes. Gordes is perched on a hill in the region of Provence, and it is absolutely gorgeous.
We then drove to Roussillon and took a little hike on the sentier des ochres, which is pigmented clay they use to make beautiful fabric dyes and inks. The whole town is built from the earth and beautiful.
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| the clay and its bright color |
Back in Marseille, we were back to work. I would visit Xavier's lab and work with him on his Dissertation, then we'd cook dinner together or do something fun at nighttime like rock climb or run. :)
We took the train to Paris that weekend to be with our family and enjoyed Montmartre like tourists.
We walked around the restaurants by the Seine and had pastis next to the river while the sun was setting.
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| oh, paris... |
We had a lovely dinner and Xavier insisted that I needed to try
Profiteroles- an amazing dessert that is basically pastry puffs filled
with ice cream and bathed in melted chocolate. We hunted around the
banks of the Seine looking for a restaurant that was open and serving
them.
This was the hardest airport goodbye yet, but only 3 months until there won't be any more goodbyes and we live together!
