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 …
Tag Archives: France
Hike 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 …
Quest 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 …
Programme 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 …
A 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 …
Violès
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 …
Orange
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 …
Gigondas
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 …
Finding 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 …
Vers 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 …
An Aixpat-en-Provence 