My Year as an Aix-Pat
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FeaturedDay Trip: Martigues
During the February week off, some Erasmus friends and I went on a day trip to Martigues. We took the 39 bus from the main bus station in Aix to the end of the line where it finished in Martigues – using the same resident card as the bus to Marseille for a 4 euro… Read more
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FeaturedHalf way!
Being now halfway through my year abroad with just four months left to go, it’s an appropriate time to make an update of the best and worst of going on an Erasmus exchange. I’m at Aix-Marseille University in the beautiful town of Aix-en-Provence right in the heart of the south of France. I must confess… Read more
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FeaturedAssessment System
The assessment system at Aix-Marseille can sometimes be a mystery, other times not – depending on how organised the class is and how much the teacher communicates with you. This here is an overview of how I was assessed for the modules I took for the first semester. Français langue étrangère C1 Unlike the B1… Read more
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FeaturedMonaco
I walked into a lecture and realised after 5 minutes that it was on every other week, beginning next week rather than this one. Rather than getting up with great embarrassment and leaving, I used the two hours to write another – if rather belated – blog post. Before Christmas, my dance partner Denis and… Read more
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FeaturedMontpellier
The journey from Aix to Montpellier is approximately three hours long and includes a comfort break in Nimes. When getting Flixbus to Montpellier, the coach stop is quite far out of town at Parking de Sabines, but we were able to get a tram directly to the centre on ligne 2 with a return ticket… Read more
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FeaturedFréjus and Saint-Raphaël
During the October holiday I travelled to Fréjus by Flixbus to visit my friend Anne-Marie. Flixbus is a coach company that offers very good prices for travelling around Europe, which I knew about from when my friends and I travelled around Central-Eastern Europe in 2018. Anne-Marie is incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about the history of… Read more
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FeaturedEncounter with Gilets Jaunes
On Saturday 16th November, the French protest movement gilets jaunes celebrated one year of protests. Ever since the first demonstration in November 2018, protestors have been demonstrating outside symbolic governmental sites in both major and minor cities, notably in Paris. It began in response to French President Emmanuel Macron’s proposed reforms which would cut taxes… Read more
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FeaturedBookshelf Picks
What literature student would I be if I didn’t share some books I’ve had the pleasure of reading since I’ve been in France? The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet – David Mitchell A historical thriller set in early 19th century Nagasaki, this novel not only looks at the relationship between the Dutch East India… Read more
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FeaturedTwo Afternoons in Marseille
The best piece of information you’ll ever discover as a resident of Aix under 25 years old is that with the free special card, the bus to Marseille is only €2. One Friday I took my first ever trip into Marseille, as my lessons are over by midday on Fridays – the perfect start to… Read more
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Quest for the Holy Croissant: Part 2
Having spent now over two months in France (one in Aix) doesn’t mean that my croissant eating frequency has decreased by any means! It is a welcome treat after a long week of assignments, but the drastic increase of workload has meant that, having covered all the nearby boulangeries, I need to go further afield… Read more
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FeaturedDo you ever do any work?
Although anyone on an Erasmus year will go to all lengths – whether it be an immaculate Instagram or a chirrupy year abroad blog – to posit the year as a highlight, I can guarantee you that they don’t share even half of the struggles, and often tears, which go into it. Erasmus isn’t all… Read more
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FeaturedLife Sketching
One of my favourite things to do whenever I go somewhere new is to spend some time people-watching during the day. On holiday this is easily done- it’s a welcome break from intense tourism and allows you to absorb life going on while relaxing. When “normal” life returns again, it’s hard to put aside time… Read more
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FeaturedEating Out in Aix
Angkor Restaurant This restaurant is situated in one of the main restaurant squares near the clock tower in Aix, where I had a lovely sunset view and watched the starlings fly around once again. After a month of eating purely European food, I desperately was craving something Asian so Grace and I went to this… Read more
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FeaturedHike up Sainte Victoire
One bright Saturday morning after injuring my head on a cupboard the previous evening, Jessica and I walked to the bus stop by Pasino to meet the Erasmus coordinators who had organised an ESN trip to hike up Montagne Sainte Victoire. Confusingly, there are approximately nine bus stops around Pasino (a casino, not to be… Read more
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FeaturedJoining a Dance Group: the Saga Continues
At the end of the bonus dance class run by AMU at the Centre Sportif Universitaire, I tried asking the teacher whether she ran any other classes for non-beginners – to which her answer was no. However, I realised that the couple who demonstrate the routines to the class would be training somewhere, so I… Read more
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FeaturedQuest for the Holy Croissant (Part 1)
Croissants are undoubtedly one of my favourite parts of French culture. One of the viennoiserie typically eaten for breakfast, they are made by layering butter and dough and laminating it (as anyone who has seen Bakeoff Creme de la Creme will know). As such, I thought it only right that I begin my search for… Read more
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FeaturedProgramme of study
Since arriving at Aix-Marseille, my Learning Agreement has taken many drastic turn in various directions. I was at one point signed up to study Catalan and Hindi until my Year Abroad tutor in Birmingham told me I wasn’t allowed to. So what am I even studying this semester? My degree programme at Birmingham is English… Read more
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FeaturedJoining a dance group
November 2018 One of my friends in BALADS helped me to research which French universities in the south had ballroom and Latin dance classes. Aix-Marseille was the only one with an official-looking club, so I selected this university for my year abroad. March 2019 I sent a long message to the AUC Danse Sportive email,… Read more
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FeaturedA Day Trip to Avignon
In a burst of wanderlust-induced spontaneity, three Erasmus friends and I booked a train trip to Avignon for the next day. We rose at dawn to walk into the centre of Aix to catch a taxi to the Gare TGV, which is 13km outside of the city. From there we got on the TGV to… Read more
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FeaturedWelcome week: England vs France
As one of the modules I’m taking is a study comparing contemporary European societies, I thought it relevant to do a comparison of the most infamous week of the English university calendar with the French equivalent. Registration At the University of Birmingham everything administration-related is done online with high-speed servers on one single website. Here… Read more
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FeaturedViolès
Although in the Côtes du Rhône region, Violès itself is a tiny village fairly unremarkable for anything except its wine. We based ourselves here for a week, using the house just outside the village in the countryside as a useful midpoint for moving around the area. On our day of arrival, we’d just returned from… Read more
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FeaturedOrange
On our way towards Orange, we stopped at the market in Carpentras – finally one that we had the correct information for! French markets are hubs of colour, smell, and noise; this one was no different. Carpentras market There is no breakfast my family loves more than yoghurt with a spoon of honey – a… Read more
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FeaturedGigondas
Gigondas is a village founded by the Romans in the Côtes du Rhône Villages region, originally named Jocunditas. It seemed thus only right that we make our way there by stopping at some Roman ruins nearby. An afternoon in Vaison la Romaine Our original plan was to go to a market in Violès, however, due… Read more
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FeaturedFinding accommodation for my year abroad
This was something I was very concerned about for a long time, not least because my very organised housemate had successfully gotten hold of a houseshare/flatshare with some coursemates for his year abroad. Meanwhile I had heard precisely nothing. As a precaution, I joined the student university group for Aix-Marseille where people were advertising flats… Read more
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FeaturedVers Pont du Gard
Vers Vers Pont du Gard Please excuse my terrible French pun as I regale you with the story of our journey towards Vers Pont du Gard. In short, this was a stop at Tain-l’Hermitage. Why? For the wine cave, of course. We had an early start that morning, leaving Meursault in time to ensure that… Read more
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FeaturedMeursault
While the name of this village in Burgundy may trigger memories of Camus’ L’étranger for some, the infamous Meursault was named after a bottle of wine. Meursault wines are famous, are usually a guarantee of good quality, and often come with a price tag to match. Camus clearly had some spare cash at the time… Read more
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FeaturedHeading off to Aix
Becoming a double subject cliché A joint honours student of English Literature and French, it was only a matter of time before a blog appeared. Whether it was to document a year abroad, give my unwanted opinions about books, or to replace my so-called ‘unhealthy’ TripAdvisor obsession, you’re lucky enough to read it all. Following… Read more
An Aixpat-en-Provence 