Le Jour Quatorze (Day 14)

Blah, it was cool and cloudy today! We woke up relatively late and went down for breakfast. We all took our time and then just walked around the shopping area until lunch time. There were the CUTEST shops here, and I probably could have gone in every one of them and came out with a ton of stuff, but I contained myself and bought nothing. It was just fun to look….slash it’s hard shopping with boys. Granted, our guy friends like to shop, which is so humorous, but it’s still different. Haha, one of the funny events of today was whenever our friend Garrett straight up ran into a glass door at the lunch place we were at because he thought there was no door there; it was so clean! It was super loud, and literally EVERYONE in the restaurant busted out laughing, including us. But bless his heart, he had a knot on his forehead and his knee! I also paid 50 cents to go to the bathroom in the mall. In Europe, if you have to use a public restroom and it’s not in a restaurant (which most of the shops and restaurants don’t have), you must pay. Europe has accumulated a total of 1 Euro from me since I’ve been here. I’m so glad we don’t have to pay to go to the bathroom in the U.S.

I’ve been very much so enjoying talking to the locals in every store I walk into, trying to be encouraging and intentional as much as I can and trying to learn their ways and thoughts. The lady in the lunch place today told me that she moved to Nice to be a part of a jazz dancing company, which was super interesting!

After we ate lunch, we were all pooped and ready to just go to the beach already, even though it was cloudy! So bathing suits on and bags packed, we strolled across the street to the pebbly beach. I got out my towel, hat, and ipod, plopped myself a little ways from everyone else, and gently fell asleep to sweet music, praising Jesus and thanking him for this opportunity, praying how I can be a light here, brainstorming ways and jobs I could apply for to come back to Europe, and the sound of waves…. It was bliss, and I finally was feeling like I was getting alone time; something I haven’t had this entire trip, so that rejuvenation was much needed.

I was awaked by Garrett tickling my feet, and it was already 5:00! Where did the day go? They all left and went to the hotel to shower, and I took my time gathering my stuff, looking out into the Mediterranean one last time for the day, and headed back up on my own.

Kelly and I rested for a good hour in the room. I was feeling fresh and ready to take on whatever the evening may hold, but Kelly is still dragging a bit from her cold so she wasn’t quite as excited as I was to go out, so I reminded her again that we’re only in Europe once and I feel like I’m…missing out on some things. We agreed to go do our own thing for a while and have a Kelly-Ashley date: shop, people watch, discuss cultural differences, bond, interview a local, and eat dessert crepes. We shopped this morning, but because we didn’t buy anything except food and saw all these girls with new cute clothes from Zara (which is the European version of an upper scale Forever 21), we wanted to treat ourselves to something new, feminine, European, and fun. We found Zara and caught it just in time because it was closing in 30 minutes. The perfect amount of time! Give me a time limit and I can be the best professional shopper you’ve ever seen. I was on a mission: mild retail therapy. We grabbed the items we liked the most and tried them on at the same time so we can approve the other’s choices. A beautiful, sweet girl from South Africa thought we were funny and fun, so it was cool chatting with her. She moved here to study French at Nice University and had THE coolest accent I’ve ever heard: mix between British and African. Music to my ears and a slight hint of jealousy as I responded with my Texas twang; boring. She even told me I looked like I was from Texas. Just what I wanted to hear as I’ve been trying this whole time just to fit in...

Anyways, I purchased the cutest floral shortsleeve blouse and sea foam colored skinny jeans; the two together looked awesome, and I was a happy girl! Mom, I finally found me colored pants! The search is over. Thank you Europe.

After the kicked us out because it was closed, we hit up the crepe and smoothie shop. I had the most amazing yogurt, strawberry, orange, banana, and pineapple smoothie in the world and a nutella, banana, and coconut crepe with powdered sugar on top. Angels were singing in my ears. We decided to interview our sweet little waitress. Her name was Tsveti, and she was from Bulgaria, she’s 21, and she’s here to study law at Nice University. We asked her what she thought of when she thought of America or Americans. She said she thinks of McDonalds, New York, and that Americans are always SUPER friendly and always excited, and apparently we all love nutella. But it was refreshing to hear that she thinks that Americans always try to immerse themselves in the culture and respect the French ways; interesting.

What I’ve learned about cultural differences so far: Europeans love their leisure time, they are more reserved when it comes to their emotions, family, or work life. They are not extremely motivated to succeed and live an almost simpler way of life. Everything here is small: portions, rooms, and personal space. They are much, much quieter and soft spoken than we are, and they LOVE their European ways. They walk everywhere and that’s how they all get their exercise, and “getting fit” or “buff” is definitely not on their priority list like it is in America. I have not seen one gym. The desired look here is simple and elegant, like many other things, and I admire that a lot. In fact, I love almost everything about the European ways. I shall be back!

After the interview and crepes, we met Drew, Garrett, Brady, and Landon at the square to walk back and meet up with a larger group. They are always so sweet to wait on us and make sure we are taken care of; they’re precious to us! We ended up running into like half the study abroad group on this random street, and most of us somehow ended up on the beach in a huddle beside this tent that was playing great dancing music… so, we did what any typical American college student would: DANCE PARTY ON THE BEACH! It was a blast, and it was so great getting to hang out with some of the girls we don’t really know very well yet who are AWESOME! And my sweet Victoria friend was there too. Soon enough, we had a huge crowd of an audience from the street above videoing and taking pictures of us. Guess we were the entertainment of the night; whatever, I embraced the “Loud Americans!” view for tonight, as it was our last night in Nice I suddenly realized. Kelly and I agreed our new goal is to be more lively, spontaneous, adventurous, and social. Ah, this was last night of the French language and culture, which I’m so sad about. I LOVE FRENCH PEOPLE!!!! Dear France, you captivated me and will forever have a place in my heart.

Goodbye Nice; HELLOOOOO Verona, Italy! EEEEk!