South of France (Day 6)

We spent our last two days in France in Cassis.  Cassis is a small town on the Mediterranean famous for its cliffs and calanques (inlets).  It is a popular tourist destination in the summer.  In late November it was eerily quiet.  A lot of the shops and restaurants were closed and we seemed to be the only people wandering around.   It was a beautiful area and we really enjoyed being on the Mediterranean and hiking along the calanques.  But it was cold!  I would like to go back sometime when the weather is better.

Because of the narrow streets, our bus had to drop us off about a half mile from the hotel.  That wouldn't have been a big deal if we didn't have 12 pieces of luggage to take with us.  We had some helpful students who had packed lightly and were able to take an extra bag, but I still ended up with 2 backpacks and 2 suitcases and Chris had a 50 pound duffel bag on his back.  I think if we ever travel like this again we are going to do our best to figure out how to do it with minimal luggage.

Within a few minutes of checking into the hotel, some of the students were changing into swimsuits and planning to swim in the Mediterranean.  I had packed our suits on the off chance we'd have good weather.  We didn't.  But the kids begged us to let them get in.  Isaac was mad we didn't let him actually swim but the tide was really strong and I had no desire to have to go in after him.  A few students swam out which made him jealous and me nervous.

I thought I'd be okay in a skirt and not have to
put a swim suit on but I got pretty soaked.

The sand was more like small rocks and was
really painful to walk on.

Chris doing his best to stay dry.

Me giving up any hope of staying dry.
The brave swimmers are behind me.

Libby trying to dry off and warm up.

After going back to the hotel and getting dry and warm we did a little sight seeing around Cassis.  Our favorite spot was on the back side of the lighthouse watching the big waves come in.

Even though it was actually the second to last night of the program, we had our closing dinner.

One of our students took this and it
captures Luke's entire study abroad experience.

Saying good-bye to good friends.

Back at the hotel Chris and I both had some final thoughts for the students.  We thanked them for being such a great group.  We knew we were doing study abroad for at least 2 years.  That gave me a lot of time to plan ahead and think about potential problems (which we were aware there could be many).  It was such a relief that we had no major problems and that our students were friendly to each other and kind to us and our children.

This was the beginning of the long good-bye.  Since it wasn't really the last night we saw everyone the next day and had to do lots more good-bye-ing.  It was kind-of like the last night of girl's camp.  People were crying and writing each other notes and taking lots of pictures.  It was all amplified since we all had neighboring rooms in the hotel.  We finally had to get our kids into the room and close the door and lock them in so we didn't have to say good-bye any more.  Enough all ready, we'll see you tomorrow and then back in Utah in a few weeks!

Thanks to my sister-in-law Natalie and her graphic design skills for putting this together.