Aix-en-Provence
21:27
I officially arrived at Université Aix-Marseille on January 15th but, due to the semester clash that I talked about in one of my previous posts, it's taken a while for me to feel like I've really settled in. Still being enrolled in another university and having to revise for exams there is a surprisingly insurmountable obstacle when trying to find your feet in a new place. After over a month of being an officially enrolled student in Aix I finally feel like I live here, and I'm extremely happy about it.
Aix (pronounced like "ex") is about double the size of Pavia but still fairly small, especially in comparison to its nearest big city: Marseilles. Unlike Pavia, which I generally just referred to as "near Milan" because even some Italians weren't familiar with it, a lot of British people have actually heard of Aix. This is almost certainly due to the popularity of Provence as a holiday destination for pasty Brits who want to escape the constant downpours and grey skies that come with life in the UK. Even when I arrived here in January, the sky was blue and cloudless. My decision to come here for the good weather has already been vindicated.
This decision wasn't made without its risks. As mentioned in a previous blog post, I don't get along with very high temperatures. I'm hoping to escape the potential for 35 degrees+ by leaving France at the end of June but there is still a risk that it'll heat up before then and I'll spend my last month here sitting in front of the open fridge. In the summer I have what I like to call a strawberries-and-cream complexion (mostly white with patches of red) so I've already started putting money aside for a sunscreen budget. However, you will not hear me complain. After years of not having a real summer, I would like it known that I will not moan about the hot weather in France unless I am dehydrated to the point of hospitalisation.
Unsurprisingly, "it will be hot there" isn't regarded by Bristol tutors as a good argument as to why I should be allowed to go to my French university of choice. This meant that I had to do some research on the area before I completed my application form as, up until this point, all I knew about Aix was that it was near Marseilles, pretty and full of British tourists. Whether we admit to it or not, we all secretly know that information from Wikipedia will suffice in around 75% of situations so that's where I went. It turns out that Aix was founded by the Romans around the same time as Pavia and steadily invaded by a number of different groups for the following five or six centuries. It has been prestigious for art since the twelfth century but its most famous artist by far is Paul Cézanne. The French like to celebrate the achievements of their local heroes by naming things after them and the Aixois are no exception; Cézanne has a road, a cinema, an estate agent, at least two bars, a pizzeria, a garage, a hotel and a mill that bear his name in Aix. This is in addition to his workshop and father's house which are open as museums to the public, a statue in one of the busiest squares in town and the Cézanne Trail, a series of arrows found on the pavements of Aix which lead you to places that were important to Cézanne's life. If my masochistic streak kicks in and I decide I'd quite like to be beaten up, I'll just admit to an Aixois local that I actually prefer Manet.
Technically Universtié Aix-Marseille is only two years old but some of the universities that merged to form it date back to around 1400. It has around 70 000 students and is the largest university in the French-speaking world. Its buildings are a stark contrast to the classical beauty of Universita degli Studi di Pavia, although the layout is similarly labyrinth-like and I spend a lot of time wandering around the corridors trying to remember where my classroom is. The reputation of the university seems to make up for its less than stellar buildings and it has produced four Nobel Laureates and several government ministers. Personally, seeing as the Faculty of Literature and Languages reminds me of the monstrously ugly Bristol Student Union building, I see it as a comforting reminder of home.
Marseilles is just a twenty-minute, 2-euro bus journey away. The French seem to hate the place and will explain in great detail how dangerous it is so when I arrived I was prepared to have to fend off a potential mugger as soon as I stepped off the bus. I've been a few times now, admittedly during daylight hours, and have experienced no issues at all. In fact, I quite like it. The last time I was there I saw a brass band playing in the street near the port. It's hard to find a town threatening when it features public euphonium-playing. Despite its reputation, I think Marseilles is just like any other large city: you'll be fine if you stay out of trouble. Having walked the streets of Bristol, London and Manchester at night without incident, I'm fairly confident that I can survive a few more day-trips to Marseilles without having to invest in a stab-proof vest.
So, now I'm here for good and not having to flit back and forth between countries, I can confidently announce that I'm very much looking forward to the rest of my semester here in Aix-en-Provence. Sometimes making decisions based on the weather pays off.
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