And the travelling begins!

The last few days have been very eventful for me. On Thursday, I celebrated my 20th birthday in Aix. I didn't do too much during the day since I didn't have class - I took the opportunity to walk around Aix some more and take some photos. That night I had some friends over in my room beforehand and then we were off to the Sunset Cafe for some drinks and dancing. I even received some lovely gifts from my new friends! Although it was a fun day I must admit I felt a bit homesick as it was a different kind of birthday. I have never NOT had a family birthday dinner! Still, it was a relaxing day and I enjoyed myself.

Friday was relatively uneventful. I did some errands during the day, and watched 'Roman Holiday' with some friends in the evening. We wanted to have an early night as we were planning to visit Arles the next day.

The next morning we got to the bus station nice and early to catch the 10AM bus. 10:30 rolls around and still no bus... so we decided to double check the time. Turns out we missed the little "D+F" notice, which stands for Dimanche et fériés (Sundays and holidays). Since it was a Saturday, there was never a 10 o'clock bus coming! So, since we had each purchased the "Cartreize" (a card available for anyone under 25 that enables you to travel anywhere within the Provence/Bouches-du-Rhône area for just one euro) we decided to just hop on another bus and travel somewhere else in the area. We decided on a bus going to Pertruis. Once there, we went to the Tourism Office and decided on taking another bus to the Lourmarin. There, we visited a beautiful Chateau and strolled around the town. It was so beautiful and so calm - we saw more cats than people! It was exactly what I pictured the south of France to be like. It turned out to be a really great day considering we completely winged it!

On Sunday we caught the bus to Arles we meant to catch the day before. Once we arrived we made a stop at the Tourism Office to get some suggestions on what to see, since we had just under 5 hours until the last bus to Aix. We decided it would be best to start at the Roman ruins. First we went to the Theatre, where they preformed plays, which promoted language and culture - even propaganda. Then we went to the Amphitheatre, which hosted gladiators and CONTINUES to host bullfights. It was HUGE - it's capable of holding 20,000 people. We then went to an old hospital where Van Gogh checked himself in as a patient once upon a time. We were even able to visit the garden where he spent a lot of time painting! After that we just strolled around a bit and then headed back to the bus stop to head home to Aix.

All in all, GREAT WEEKEND! Excited to have started to do a bit of travelling, and loving how inexpensive it is. The most expensive part of my day in Arles was the sandwhich I bought for 5 euro! We have already booked a trip to Saint-Tropez (BEACH!) next weekend and a trip to Barcelona the weekend of October 16. Can't wait to do more traveling!