The weather here has completely been living up to expectations, with a dominance of sun and heat, and the rare appearance of cloud every time we plan a beach trip. The 1st May was a jour férié, which meant that most of France was closed for the day, so we decided to go and have a look around Marseille! Alex drove me, Helen and Thierry, and we spent the afternoon wandering around the city centre and climbing the hill to the church of Notre Dame de la Garde, which gave us some incredible views.
When we had seen everything we went for we kept on driving to one of the local calanques.
Unfortunately we found out that calanques are closed to cars on bank holidays, so we couldn't go down and explore the coastal town, or find somewhere to eat. So instead, we decided to return to one of my favourite places: Cassis!
We found a gorgeous restaurant there right by the harbour, and enjoyed a sunset on the beach before finally heading home.
The day after Alex's parents arrived for a weekend to benefit from the heat, and I had a great time meeting them! The language was a slight issue, but I amused them with the few German phrases I have managed to pick up, and they did their best to speak English to me, so between us we just about managed. A tour of town and a lovely meal on the first day was followed by a trip to the beach and a wander around Arles on the second.
The week after I met another set of parents! This time it was Hugo's, who had kindly invited me to their house for the weekend, which is in a village not far from Montpellier. They were very welcoming, and his mum's Spanish roots were immediately obvious from the quality and quantity of her cooking, which filled me up for a good two days after leaving. On the first day Hugo introduced me to his kitten (as yet unnamed), and his turtle Kurt, before taking me sunbathing down at the local river.
On the second day Alex joined us, and we spent a day in the heat relaxing by Hugo's pool and catching up. We spent our last morning at the market in a nearby town, and bought some delicious French bread and traditional sausages, which did not last long.
Wednesday was "the last supper" for Philly, who gathered a bunch of us together for a final meal before her family arrived to take her home. My perfectly perfect chocolate pudding managed to dull the sadness a little, and our post-meal trip to Rebuffy was improved when we realised they were giving out free sweets. But even so, it's sad to see her go, and to have to face the reality that is the end of our year of slacking.
Thankfully I was distracted on Thursday, as me and Alex decided to go back to Saint-Guilhelm-Le-Désert to finally try our hands at canoeing. We ambitiously opted for the 12km stretch of river, which ended up feeling a lot further than that! But the peace and the views were more than enough to make up for it.
(Apologies for the lack of pictures of the actual views. Canoeing and photography are not two hobbies I'm willing to combine just yet!)
As for today, I finally have a full set of results back from Paul-Valéry, and am very pleased to announce that I have passed my exams and never have to return to that institution again! Relief is not a strong enough word for it, although at the same time it does feel weird that it's all over.
In just over a week I'll be gone!
Sarah
xx
