Not so Nice!

The beautiful Mediterranean Sea!

Fountain in the main square of Nice!

           After our first finance midterm on Friday, a group of about 30 of us headed to Nice, France. We caught the train from the Capalago station around 11:30 in the morning. I was traveling in a group on eight instead of with the larger group. This turned out to be very convenient, because it was not a hassle to try and figure out where everyone was all of the time. On the way there we were riding in the regional trains, which turned out to be a very interesting and not so comfortable experience. The longest train ride was a little bit over three hours and it was by far the most annoying. When we first got on, there were absolutely no seats, so we ended up standing for about 20 minutes. While I was standing, a little boy kept climbing on me and the parents did not say a word to him. This was extremely shocking, because he was only about three years old and easily could have been hurt. People watching on the regional trains is very interesting. I saw a lot of young teenagers traveling by themselves, which is very different than in northern Virginia. I also heard a lot of different languages, so it is clear how easy travel is within the European countries. The train arrived in Ventimiglia about five minutes late, so we missed the connection to Nice. At first I worried, but after talking to the information desk, I realized how easy it is to catch another train. It was almost a blessing in disguise to miss the train, because in the future I will not panic if I cannot make a connection. 

                Finally, after hours of travel, we arrived in Nice and eventually found our hostel! The hostel was far nicer than I expected it to be. I was in a room with 14 beds and 12 of them were girls from the business school. The other two girls were from Austria and they were extremely nice considering we were probably very loud and obnoxious. When we checked in, the girl at the front desk told us that she rarely ever sees groups larger than two or three people. We definitely stood out right from the start of our stay. That night we hung out in the hostel bar and then went out to a few different places in the town. Some of the people in the hostel were really interesting to talk to. There were a lot of people in their young twenties who just graduated from university and decided to travel for a couple of months. This idea seemed to be very popular amongst Australians in particular. 

                Around midnight, a large group of us went down to the beach just to see it for the first time. Little did we know, there were gypsies watching us. We left our stuff with one person in the group thinking that it would be okay, but clearly they outsmarted us. When we came back to our things, there were about four people missing belongings, myself included. I searched the beach for a few minutes, but I knew that my purse was gone. A few minutes later, Kacey and I found our purses thrown on the steps that lead down to the beach. They cleaned us out. At the point, I felt sick to my stomach, because my iPhone, wallet, and camera were all taken. Luckily I had made the right decision in locking up my passport and EuRail in the hostel before we left. Right when we got back to the hostel, I called my parents and they were able to sort everything out for me. So as unfortunate as it is to have my possessions stolen, I have learned that everything is replaceable. From now on, however, I will not be letting my bag out of my sight. 

                On Saturday, I felt weird having to ask people to borrow money, but luckily everyone on this trip was so understanding and willing to help me out. In the morning, we visited the Fruit and Flower market. It was beautiful. There was fresh fruit and gorgeous flower arrangements everywhere. For breakfast, we went to a café in the main square. I had a delicious crepe with nutella! We spent the afternoon in Cap D’Ail. It was only one Euro and a forty minutes bus ride away. We walked down countless steps and came across a beautiful cove. The water was so clear and people had their yachts anchored out in the water. There were two outdoor restaurants with beautiful furniture and food that looked delicious. The entire time we were there I felt as though I was in a picture from Pinterest. It seemed as though many of the people on the beach were European and have seen this beach a thousand times. That afternoon was definitely the highlight of my weekend. 

View of Cap D'Ail from one of the restaurants!

Group Picture at Cap D'Ail!

Cap D'Ail!

Cap D'Ail again! Absolutely gorgeous!

Outdoor restaurant!

Fun sign!

                For dinner, we attempted to find a French restaurant that we looked up on Yelp, but failed and ended up eating at an Italian place. It was a debacle to try and pay separately, because apparently it is not often allowed. The food was not too expensive considering we were students. My pizza was 10 Euros, which with the exchange rate is about $12.50. That night Stefanie turned 21 at midnight, so we celebrated at the hostel and then went to a few unique places along the main road in Nice.  All in all the second night ended on a much higher note than Friday did. 

Waking up at 8am on Sunday was difficult due to the lack of sleep the past two nights. Check out of the hostel was by 10am, but we wanted to do a few things before heading back to Riva. We returned to the market and bought some delicious fruit, which we ate while sitting and just taking in the beautiful scenery around us. In an attempt to find the gelato place with 96 flavors, we came across a café with a similar name and went in soon to find out we were in the wrong place. The service was horrendous and the waiter was extremely rude. Everyone else had ordered food, but I had no money so I simply asked for a glass of water. His response then consisted of a frown and shaking his head no. Another person at our table, asked for a special type of coffee which they definitely had, but he claimed that she could not order it. Frustrated, we left the café as soon as we could and made our way to the train station, stopping at a few shops along the way. While in Nice, I did come to realize that the French in general seem to have a different attitude towards everything. I got the impression that they are very critical of others. When 13:55 rolled around, we hopped on the train and made our journey back to Riva. The train ride back was a lot smoother than the one there. The longest of the trains was four hours and it was an InterCity one. We had our own compartment with six comfortable seats and air conditioning. While traveling back, we knew that all of the places to get food would be closed in Riva, so we got on one stop early in Mendrisio with hope of finding food. Fortunately we found a pizzeria! 

Fruit and Flower market!

Sign to the market

Beautiful caption

Yummy!

Arriving back in Riva was such a wonderful feeling, because I felt as though I was home. It is definitely a place in which I feel safe and love the people I am around. On the first day of orientation, Daniela mentioned that CESA is a family. Now I am truly starting to see what she means by that.