Getting Into the Swing of Things

My view of the courtyard at the Palais Des Papes

We Are Study Abroad --EIU!

This is New Student Week! for us foreign students, and it's generally been a lot of fun! And my student ID gets me into the dining hall and discounts in lots of places, likes stores, museums, travel and more.
We toured city sites and met each day for social activities as well as to finish our registration. Friday morning topped off the process when we took our placement exams. This determines our class schedule the rest of the semester. Yeah! I've got no 8am classes this semester! Classes are starting.



The weather here is great. It's the south of France after all. True, the Mistral winds do blow cold in winter, but the sun is warm and the skies, very blue!

I went to the Palais des Papes and the Pont d'Avignon with the rest of the exchange students. The entire trip was a bit confused. Apparently, it was not very clear where and when we were supposed to meet up, so we ended up going in two groups.

The Papal throne, ca. 14th century

 The Palais interior was a bit less impressive than I imagined. You can definitely tell it was built to be a fortress. The walls are thick and high! I didn't get to learn as much of the history as I would have liked, but it is free the first Sunday of each month, so I shall have to go back.

The interior is not in particularly good condition. The structure is still fine-- massive stone buildings tend to last after all, but the interiors seem to have been damaged. Many of the frescoes and tile are gone or badly damaged, and it looks as though anything that wasn't part of the building is basically gone. There is no furniture, no rugs or tapestries or anything else you might expect to find in a place where some of the the most powerful men in Europe once lived. I would guess it all fared badly in the Revolution. All of the statues around the doors to the Papal chapel  have been beheaded!

Surviving fresco, the Papal apartments

Decapitated figure, entrance to
Papal chapel

I  want to go back to their gift shop! They have working toy wooden crossbows and hand crossbows, along with other cool things. I want one!

The fast moving Rhone river at the
Pont d'Avignon

I also went to the Pont d'Avignon, which was interesting enough. It has a very nice view of the Rhone river. The river seems to be quite fast moving, and I would imagine it is very dangerous to fall in!

Impressions, My First Week

 Getting Around in Avignon

Yesterday I went walking around the main shopping district. The city here is the old city. It's almost completely surrounded by fortress like walls. I read that it's one of the best examples of  the fortified old cities remaining in France. There sure are a lot of different kinds of stores; some are big global chains that we have at home as well, but others are little, unique small businesses, and some are national French brands. It seems like everyone goes shopping on Saturday afternoons here. I went walking down along Le Place d' Horlogue and Rue de La Républic. It was quite busy.

La Place d'Horlogue, Avignon

The view overlooking the city

I also went to the public gardens behind the Palais des Papes. It is quite lovely, and has a wonderful view of the surrounding area because it is quite high up,  higher even than the Palais, which is built on a cliff overlooking the Rhone river.

Another surprising sculpture in the park.

The very attractive park near the
Palais Des Papes

I can't  believe I have only been here a week! I have set up a bank account, registered, paid my tuition, settled into the Foyer, learned my way around somewhat and discovered that I will learn more French here!

New Student Week!

Today starts new student week-- for international students. Sounds funny when I say that-- I guess that means me!  There will be a movie later tonight. There are a pretty lot of other students; some are here for the whole year, some are studying a semester.  I met a couple nice girls- there seems to be distinctly more women than men here-- today I've made the acquaintance of a Briton, a Chinese, an Australian and a Romanian who are like me, all here to study French.

The very functional University buildings

The elegant University of Avignon

Oh and also, I 'm getting more used to these French keyboards, though I still cannot find the apostrophe key!