May 4

Well, it has been quite the week in Nice. On Monday, I was excited to finally sleep after a few days on the road. Hostels are a wondrous place to meet fellow travelers. You might be minding your own business, watching shows on your laptop, but then people will go right up to your bunk and introduce themselves with a handshake. It's an incredible thing. So if you stay in hostels or CouchSurf or any other money-saving method (besides sleeping in a train station), you are never really traveling alone. There are always people to meet and the vast majority of them are worth meeting because, like you, they are becoming better people by traveling.

Old Town was nice. There are bars and restaurants galore, though all of them are unfortunately overpriced. The cheapest pint you get get is at a place called Akathor near the beach, and that is still 5.50 euros. Most drinks will be more in the 8 euro range. This would be expensive in dollars, but euros are currently 1.4x the dollar amount. 

This is why, in my six days in Nice, I never bought a drink at a bar. I went out a few times, but I just stayed with those who were drinking and shared a lil' with them. It takes a lot for drinks to affect me anyway, so I'm not about to pay for one.

I have also eaten baguettes and cheese for almost every meal while I've been here. I pick up a piece of fruit from markets when I walk by, but most of my sustenance still comes from bread and cheese. 

Anyway, after the Canadians left, a girl from Texas who was a French student went with me to a chateau where they made their own wine. It was very much a bucket list experience and I couldn't get over it the whole time we were there. It had the most well-preserved Roman cellars complete with Roman arches and casks of wine that we weren't to touch because even a slight temperature change could disturb the delicate flavors of the wine. We also saw how the wine was made and got to taste the white, red, and rosé as our guide described the flavors and which particular blend of which particular grapes were responsible for which particular flavors. Truly a wonderful experience, and it only cost €15. In addition to all of that, we hitchhiked to the bus stop on the way back. It was only like 3/4 mile on a winding road, but it was awesome. 

That evening, we went to Monaco to meet up with the Scottish girl (she, like many, was looking for work on a yacht). Monaco is an untaxed city, kinda like the Vatican in that it's a bit of a country on its own. So rich people go there, and if you aren't rich (like me), it's actually quite boring. I wen to the fancy casino and lost €.20 on the slot machines and then called it a day. 

The next day, the three of us went to Antibes and laid out on the beach there. A foolish mistake for my skin, as I have now had the pleasure of nursing it back to health ever since. However, the view (which was of a distant Nice) was great and it is one beach I wouldn't mind going back to, however small it may have been.

Then the group dissipated as I changed rooms and I suddenly had a new group to hang out with. That night, I just stayed in and watched NetFlix (made possible by a Chrome add-on that makes it look like you're watching from the US). The next evening, however, I hung out with a Slovakian, two Texans, and a German. We all went out, my one semester of French wowing the Texans, and one of them bought most of a drink for me (so I did finally have my own drink at the bar). The downside was that I learned from these Texans why Europeans (particularly the French) don't like Americans/Texans. The convention is to say "bonjour" when entering a bar, restaurant, or shop because it's like entering an extension of the owner's home. However, when I explained this to my Texan companion, his reply was "f*** that". And they also weren't sarcastic when talking about living out the stereotype of loud Americans. Also, it was all about getting drunk. Drinking for taste is apparently only for the French (and me).

Once they left, it was just me, so I went to Cannes by myself on Saturday. They are having a film festival later this month that they are famous for. It wasn't as pretty a place (relatively speaking), but there were a few lil' carnival rides and nice beaches around. I returned because the hostel had spread rumors of a free champagne night. However, these rumors appeared to be unfounded, for I was left with nothing to quell my rage. Or my apathy. Or whatever. Today, I checked out of the hostel for the second and last time and went to catch a train to Toulouse, since I'd received an invitation to visit there via CouchSurfing. However, all the trains for the day were booked. I was hesitant to use a day of my Eurail pass anyway, so I opted to try using blablacar.com instead. It's a rideshare website where you pitch in for petrol money to get a ride somewhere. So since I would have had to find a connecting train in Marseille to get to Toulouse anyway, I am currently in a car to Marseille. I wanted to see the city anyway, so it's a nice thing. It's something like €11 for the ride, I believe, which is well worth it when compared to the €30 train or bus ride which would take longer.