That time I went to Aix and took pictures of windows.

Maybe I was just a little over Aixcited, but as I went through my photos from my weekend in Aix, I realized most of them were just of windows. Aix is beautiful. All the buildings are washed in this yellow-gold color I call "Cezanne's sunlight" and the rickety wooden shutters are a periwinkle lavender blue. It's so pretty-it's no wonder this part of France served as inspiration for so much good art!

It was my first full weekend in France, since I had arrived in Digne at night the Sunday before, but rather than stay all alone in the dormitories (it will just be teaching assistants on the grounds every weekend, which is going to be super eerie and I can't say I'm dying to experience it), I accepted my friend Anne's gracious invitation to crash at her place in Aix. Technically, it was her AirBnB, since she hadn't moved into her apartment yet. Anne is another teaching assistant I met in DC this summer; she was my partner in CAVA crime on Tuesday wine nights at their Eastern Market location. (God, I miss the crazy feta...)

Anyway, a shortish bus ride from Digne and a shuttle from AIX TGV station-->AIX Centre, and I had arrived! I fell absolutely in love with Aix in the time it took me to walk to Anne's place. Cute shops and café-bars abounding, good looking young people EVERYWHERE, and lots of lavender perfuming the air. (Anne did a blog post on les marchés aixois and how they really do smell like herbes de Provence and lavender sachets, and I was like Yeah right, it can't be that picturesque-YOU LIE. Turns out, she was right. It's magical. You can see Anne's adorable blog for yourself! www.hardlysnarky.com)

Seriously though, look how pretty: THE WINDOWS OF AIX

Ok, I guess I did take some other photographs, too.

The famous Cours Mirabeau, lit up at night. The wide boulevard sort of seems like Provence's take on the Champs-Élysées, with its overpriced cafés and ritzy air, but it's a lot more tolerable. 

It's easy to walk down little streets in Aix and stumble into restaurant-filled squares like this one, which was particularly bustling

Saturday morning marché! Lavender and herbes de Provence every where you looked

Calissons d'Aix, the city's special treat: essentially a paste of candied fruit and ground almonds, topped with royal icing. The vendor here told me most people don't know that calisson meant smile, and they were named for a woman!

Bright blue lavender cheese! Probably more for the tourists than locals, but I still think it's awesome. The dubious French couple next to me, however, did not agree. They were very freaked out by the color

Pretty buildings on pretty buildings on...a calisson candy shop!

This boulangerie deserves to be mentioned because I pretty much lived off of their baguettes while I was in Aix. The place is tiny, super authentic (hot and bare bones inside, often with a line of Frenchies out the door) and makes some of the best bread I have ever had. They keep cranking out baguettes all day, so no matter what time you go, you can often get them fresh out of the oven! It's heaven. 

 I wasn't just in Aix to eat baguettes and take pictures of windows, I was also there to party make friends. On Saturday night a ton of language assistants and friends (some Frenchies, an Erasmus girl, etc.) met up at La Rotonde in centre ville and went out together. It was nice to have some human interaction and go out with people my age, but it was also just really cool to have people from all over the world in the same room, makin' friends. Not everyone could speak English, so French was our unifying language, and we spoke French the entire night out. I was just really impressed by the whole thing-it felt awesome. Digne is a bit of a trek away but I am hoping I'll see them again sometime soon!

In this picture alone, the following countries are represented: Spain, France, Egypt, England, Germany. Madness.

Aix is amazing. I want a window there of my very own one day.