Arles has a licking problem and the animal uprising.

This past weekend we took a trip to Arles, Tarascon, and Camargue. It was pretty awesome, it seems like every excursion we go on gets more and more incredible.

Saturday morning we left pretty early and drove to Tarascon where we went to a Suleado factory, where the fabric is made. That was pretty interesting, but nothing too exciting. We saw a chateau, but I’ve decided that when they’re not really decorated to look like they did when they were being lived in, they all kind of start to look the same.

Chateau


Artsy Fartsy in the Chateau


This is how Chateaus can make you feel


We left for Arles to grab lunch before heading off to a bullfight. This particular arena was one of maybe 2 in the area that didn’t kill the bulls during the fight, which is why I chose to go, plus it was already paid for. The fight was pretty fun to watch for the first few minutes but after that it was no longer interesting and my attention was turned to my impending tan lines and my ipod.

So Close


Back to Arles to check into the hotels where Anjuli, Brigette, Jamie, and I dropped off our things in our room and headed off to explore the city, which was beautiful at dusk. It was during that time that we saw the café that van Gogh painted in Starry Night. We rendez-vous(ed) at the hotel to walk to the Bohemian restaurant where we enjoyed a meal complete with serenade and flamenco dancer. That was pretty incredible but also awkward because it’s always weird looking into someone’s eyes when they are singing The Gypsy Kings to you (who by the way, ARE from Arles). The night ended with girl time in the hotel room with Madame Maribeau and her taro card readings.

van Gogh cafe


Old Ampitheatre


Flamenco Dancer


Madame Maribeau


My cards, not bad.


Sunday morning we awoke to a lackluster breakfast: carbs, carbs and coffee. The bus drove us to a bull ranch where we saw the bulls herded and enjoyed the most incredible meal I’ve eaten thus far: salad, ratatouille, Camargue rice, fromage du chevre, apple tart, and du café. Once we were all filled to the brim with delicousness, we took the bus to St. Somewhere in Camargue where we stayed for about an hour and walked around until the bus took us to a horse ranch to go horse back riding in the marshes. I absolutely love horseback riding, but I’ve come to discover that I don’t think the horses really like me. Maybe it was because it was the end of the day, or maybe it was because the horse was part of the animal uprising conspiracy (thank you Jamie), but my horse was anal and ended up trying to roll while I was still on its back. Thankfully I’m not afraid of horses and I’m used to being abused by them so I just jumped off and everything was fine.

At the bull ranch


A real life cowboy


a bulding in a field


Anjuli and I waiting to see the bulls


Sepia toned


This how I feel when I close to bulls with horns


Camargue


Me and Joe, the demon horse


Overall this weekend was incredible and it only emphasized the point that CEA is the most incredible study abroad program ever created.

In other news, my translation professor died last Thursday due to crise cardiaque (heart attack.) He was the happiest French man that I’ve ever met and we’ll miss him and his British accent thoroughly.