30 Jan - 5 Feb aka: Yeah, It's Been Awhile, Too Busy Experiencing France and Traveling, My Bad (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Blog)

30 Jan - Wednesday
  Ended up not going out to that bar Tuesday night, just hung out with friends at their place then headed out to see other bars. Classes were good, had my International Business Management class and my history class (France during the German Occupation of WWII). They seem like they should be good so far. Nothing too exciting for the rest of the day. Did some homework and rested at home.

31 Jan - Thursday
  More classes: business and my political science class. The latter is about the European Union which seems like it will be a really interesting class but a lot of work. We have to give a 45-60 minute group presentation about an issue that the EU faces. Thirsty Thursday so another night out on the town.

1 Feb - Friday
  French again at 8:30 am. Sucks to have to be up so early... and it was my only class of the day. After class I just hung out, did some homework for class Monday since I'll be gone all weekend. Went out with a friend that night but just had a few drinks since we had to be up very early the next morning for the French Riviera! It was a good time :D

2 Feb - Saturday

 Nice

  Set my alarm for 7 am, snoozed it, woke up at 8, threw clothes into my duffle (what a strange word if you stop to think about it) bag, ran to the bus and made it by 8:30. Pro skills. It was a school trip so everyone went. It was a 2 hour drive up from Aix up the French Riviera corridor to Nice, where we spent the better part of the day. Nice was a really nice (hah) place. I went with my group of friends to the beach, cracked open a couple bottles of Champagne (the real stuff from Champagne) and celebrated our arrival. The beach wasn't like a typical beach; instead of sand it was large pebbles and the waves looked like it would bash you to pieces since the banks of the beach was so steep in many places. These next two pictures were taken prom steps that led up to the hill from the above picture. There were remains of an old Cathedral that they excavate during the summer. There's also a very awesome waterfall that can be stood above.

The sweet waterfall

  

Up above it is a plaza area that overlooks the entire area.

The Cathedral

So after all that we drove to Monaco. We were spending the night at a youth hostel that was probably nicer then I suspect most hostels will be. We got situated, dressed all up, ate dinner, drank sangria, and all drove to Monte Carlo!

 The Welcome

  The public area is much smaller than one would suspect, there's only a few rooms with slots and such with a larger room that has craps, blackjack, etc. Most of the space was private high stakes rooms (which unfortunately I was short a few million euro for a buy-in). I got the most expensive drink of my life (a 17 euro Bloody Mary just to say I did) which was very good then joined a blackjack table. I put in 20 euro that I thought I would lose quickly since the dealer was on a heater. In the end I turned out victorious and won a net gain of 30 euros, 5 of which I kept as a souvenir in the form of a chip. Super stoked about that and in the end had a great night. And of course the parking lot was loaded with amazing cars. 2 Ferrari's, several Bentley's, Rolls', AMG's, etc.

3 Feb - Sunday

  Woke up the next morning, breakfast then went out to see the actual city of Monaco. Spent the day touring the city. Ate a smoked salmon pizza, visited the palace and cathedral. There were some sweet gardens near the cathedral. The views from the city was just amazing. You could look out on the harbor and see the largest yachts ever then look at the city and see what are probably the most expensive apartments, flats, and lofts ever. It would be so amazing to live there.

  On the way home we stopped at Eze, a small medieval town along the coast. During it's existence it had been raided many times by pirates. There was a perfume factory there (wasn't that into it for some reason...) but the town was crazy awesome. It just felt so awesome to be walking around a city that was so ancient. The streets were tiny, and there were remains of an old castle at the top. There was a small cathedral from the 1760's that was cool to walk through. There's a 5 star hotel there that is open during the spring and summer called Le Chateau de la Chevre D'Ors with terraced gardens behind it that went down the steep hillside.

It's insane to look at

  After Eze, we hopped the bus back to Aix, worn out from all the walking and exploring.

4 Feb - Monday

  It felt weird to be back in Aix a little. I'm so used to getting back from a trip to someplace (relatively) boring like Colorado but then I realize I'm in Aix, the most awesome place to be living. Classes were hard to go back to but they were fine. But French still drags on for 2 hours. They should have shorter class periods, it's just so hard to pay attention for so long. 

5 Feb - Tuesday

  Class comes so early but I managed to get up this time at 7 so that I could make myself breakfast and get to class. It was a relaxing day but I'm going out tonight with friends! Tuesdays are free champagne nights for ladies so it's a popular night to go out. I really want to open a bar/club in Fort Collins that's styled after french bars and clubs, I think it would be very popular. Then have a French styled Boulangerie (bakery) and cafe above it for business during the day. I can dream.