Mia and her (past) travels and other various interests of hers.

So I’ve been in France just over a week now and I realise that I haven’t posted anything about it. But seriously if you were here you wouldn’t want to be inside blogging!

My first week back with the Seguin’s (my host family from my high school exchange) was really great. Not much has changed there except that their eldest daughter (she’s my age) has just moved into an apartment by herself about 25 minutes away. Near Avignon. She goes to school there and works in Eyragues which is where her apartment is as well. The apartment is tiny with the kitchen/lounge-room just in one space and the bedroom up on a small mezzanine level. I think she’s happy there though because her boyfriend lives in that town too.

I’ve been having a nice time. I cruised around Avignon for 2 days seeing the sights. Some I had already seen and wanted to re-see, like the Palais de Papes. Which is the oldest Gothic palace in the world and has housed 9 popes in it’s time:

 

 I was there by myself so there aren’t many photos of me!

It was really nice, also, to go back to Nimes and have a look at my old school and walk around where I walked around so many times and get lost in the same places that I always used to get lost in!

Right now I am in Cotignac with Charlotte (my parent’s close friend’s niece). Well actually she’s out practicing for her boat license which she’s going for on Monday. For some reason I’m sitting inside doing this on the most glorious of glorious days! So glorious in fact that we dared try to 16°c pool!

I actually did go in but the computer overwrote the pictures with some other ones! Seriously!….no you don’t believe me do you….

Tonight we eat at a very traditional French restaurant that Charlotte used to work at in the village. Oh yeah the village, by the way, is the one of most adorable things I’ve ever seen. 

 

It’s set in a valley in between some mountains and it’s most famous aspect is a huge rock on the side of one of the mountains which was, once upon a time, sculpted by a river that ran through it.

 

It has remains of castles (about 400 years old) still built into the rock. The rock is 400 metres long and 80 metres high and gives the village a distinct, historic feeling.

 Charlotte’s house is around 300 years old and very very Provincial. It’s lovely.

Plans over the next few weeks:

Back to Seguin’s Tuesday

Leave for Barcelona Wednesday morning (oh, yeah!!)

Maybe going skiing with Charlotte one weekend

Go to Lyon on the 17th and 18th November for The Cat Empire

Go to Rennes to visit Pauline and Pascal