Our Monday began at 8:00 AM in the morning, the time we left Nice, France for Florence, Italy. Nice is a beautiful city on the Mediterranean Sea and we had a lot of fun walking and sitting on the beach. 

As we spent our last week in Aix-en-Provence and our beautiful cozy house in Vauvenargues, we enjoyed the sunshine, the picnics, the broken dryer, the excursions, and the art that we are proud to have created.

 Proctor Academy's theater department will show Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, a comedy by Christopher Durang. The play premiered in 2012, and has since earned countless awards. Set in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, the play chronicles the lives of three adult siblings, all single, and explores, in a hilarious manner, the dynamics that exist within all families. 

On our first day in Madrid, the group flew in around 5:00 pm for a 6:00 pm check in at our hotel, Petit Palace. After everyone got situated in their rooms we met in the lobby to embark on a walking tour of the area. We ended the night with dinner at a family restaurant serving tortilla de patatas.

This week has been anything but short of entertaining. We started off with a sleep-in on Monday morning in attempts to rejuvenate our minds after a late night watching the Super Bowl until 4am our time. However, once we all did manage to crawl out of bed, we were greeted by freshly cooked pancakes courtesy of our pancake master, Annie.

(Sketching at the tomb of Paul Cézanne)

In a week where the south of France saw many more rainy days then it usually does, our European Art Classroom crew continued to make the most out of every day.  Our Mondays and Thursdays here in Aix-En-Provence, are our only days where we truly have a set schedule. We begin the day with French class, followed by a well informed art history class by Dave.

As the TGV sped along the French countryside under a darkening sky, I sat back and thought about the past week, a week we’d spent in Paris. Even on the train ride back to Aix, none of what I’d just experienced seemed real.

By the second week, we are getting used to life in France, what a thing to say! The town of Aix is starting to become more and more familiar by the day. Everyone in our group is finding cafes and restaurants that they like and are trying to become regulars at.