Bonjour from Villefranche!

Houston, the Eagle has landed. Here I am on the otherside of the world feeling like I am home. I love this place. I love that everyone speaks French and I don't hear English much at all. I love that it even feels French. Ahhh, I just love it. :) I have settled already and am loving my new home (even if it is only for 4 weeks). It's getting close to dinner time here on Sunday afternoon meaning it's almost 3 am Monday morning at home. I'm feeling pretty tired but have switched to French time already and am looking forward to school tomorrow.

Villefranche-sur-mer is a gorgeous coastal town just out of Nice and is full of locals and the normal French hustle-bustle. There are cafes everywhere you look and a gorgeous bakery and fruit shop just down the road from my apartment. Here are some of the restaurants down by the water. I took this photo yesterday afternoon (Saturday). The cafes are quiet as it's not yet dinner time and the people are all down at the beach with icecreams. :)

I took some photos of my apartment but just thought I'd share the important ones for now - my delightful balcony and the stunning view from it! The apartment is old but full of everything I could wish for. It even has a dishwasher! I have a desk for my laptop, a couch, a tv, a bed, a fully equipped (albeit small) kitchen and the usual bathroom with a washing machine in it. I'm all good to go! I haven't quite got the hang of the shopping hours here yet, I found a little supermarket but they seem to be open early and late and shut for the whole afternoon. I'm sure I'll work it out eventually but for now I know they are shut at about midday and also at 4:30 pm. Seems odd but the good news is that I think they will be open after school so I can buy food if I need to cook dinner. Not that I'll ever need to with so many places to eat around here.

I think my apartment has the best view possible (see left). I'm stoked with it but unfortunately I am quite a way down the hill from the school. When I say 'quite a way down', I don't mean that it's a long walk - it took me about 8 minutes to walk there today (including the time it took me to get down the 3 flights of stairs and through the 3 locked doors/gates to get out of my apartment building, plus the time it took me to stop and look at the map before I set off)... but it is a steep walk. I think it was 5 minutes of stairs. Let's just say I was puffing when I got to the top. Hopefully by the end of 4 weeks I'll be zipping up them in no time but for now I'll just have to remember to leave a bit earlier so I have time to stop panting before I walk through the gates to the school. Ha ha. ;)

It's 7 pm now and I'm about to go for a walk back down to the restaurants to have dinner. I'm going to go via the grocery store to check if it's open... wish me luck!

M. x