We just had our second week of vacation and I went to Marseille with three friends from IES Abroad. Many people visited multiple cities during the week but we stayed in Marseille the whole time to have a more relaxing week. We rented an apartment downtown in a young neighborhood, which was great except for the six flights of stairs we had to climb to get to it. It was great to have a week to repose and not feel pressed to do too many things each day.
My favorite thing we did was definitely visiting the calanques, which are coves surrounded by rocky hills. We took the bus to the Calanque de Sugiton and ran into a Brazilian exchange student who was traveling alone. We ended up spending the day with him as we climbed the hills for a stunning view of the bay and then went down to the cove and swam in the (very cold) water. We also jumped off a 20-foot rock into the water after a bit of convincing from another swimmer and his fearless ten-year-old child. It was a lot of fun!
The rest of the week was spent exploring the city, sitting in cafes, playing cards, visiting museums, and doing a lot of fromaging (our new term for eating cheese). It was a great week with great friends!
