Aix-en-Provence 14th September 2008
The wind is changing. When I awoke yesterday morning, something was different. The warm and humid air had been swept away by the Mistral a cold, often violent and dry wind. The name comes from the Languedoc dialect of the provençal language and means “masterly.” After 2 weeks of terminology classes, I am afraid I had to disobey the master-wind yesterday.. but I am gonna come to that later.
Besides my preparatory classes, I am now participating in the European Law Moot Court, an international legal competition, in which students from mostly European countries engage in a simulated proceeding before the European Court of Justice. Representing the European Commission or an EU Member State, my teammates and I will have to prepare Memoranda for both parties and then travel to some country not yet disclosed to us for the regional finals. If we do well, we get to go to the finals before the real European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. The case is interesting and my teammates are fine people. However, most of them are Germans from Tübingen. We all hope for many French participants joining our team.
In the past week I rearranged the furniture in my room (the desk is now under the window) and managed to get to know Aix-en-Provence a little better. I strolled on the splendid Cours Mirabeau wandered through the narrow alleys of the old town and paid €4.50 for a Cappuccino at “Les deux Garçons”, where famous painter Paul Cézanne probably paid less when he met up there with the novelist Émile Zola back in the day. I also visited the Musée Granet, a wonderful art gallery which has recently been reopened after 3 years of renovation and expansion. In most of these activities my friend Julian joined me, who drove with me to Aix from Tübingen and lives in the room next to me in the dorm. Almost every night, the Erasmus students and friends around them hang out in the park or go to parties in town. Luckily, everyone keeps speaking French in order to practice. Sometimes we also do something together during the day. Like yesterday, when we disobeyed the Mistral…
The first day I came to Aix I saw a massive white mountain, the Sainte Victoire, towering over the lush landscape surrounding the little town. I decided that I would climb this mountain, which had already inspired Cézanne, one day. The day before yesterday the upper half of Sainte Victoire was covered by rainclouds and its rough silhouette could only be surmised. Yesterday then the Mistral struck and the clouds fled to the sea. The blue sky was speckled by thick white clouds which were furiously being blown away from the master-wind and reluctantly gave way to the sun.
Fresh or rather cold air made me and my friends shiver when we gathered at the entrance gate of the dormitory compound. On our way to the mountain we stopped at a supermarket and stocked ourselves with loads of food: Baguette, cheese, ham, fruit. When we got to the foot of the mountain the distinctive mix of dry badlands, lush forests and dramatic cliffs typical for the Provence had already filled us with awe. When we then looked up at the mountain there was no way perceptible upon which we could get to the summit. But there was a path and we decided to see where it would lead us.
Very quickly it led us to the little Réfuge Paul Cézanne, were we happily enjoyed a marvelous brunch. Stuffed we continued our way up surrounded by the smell of rosemary and other herbs of the Provence. The view became more spectacular with every meter we ascended. The slope became steeper and at some point we had to start climbing. Some of my friends decided to turn around and the others kept walking and climbing up – the wrong way. Eventually we realized that we were on the wrong way. Me and Julia from Canada made our way up a steep slope covered with loose stones and dry, thorny bushes. We got to a point where we could either do some 30 meters of freestyle climbing or had to turn back for good. After much contemplating and after agreeing on the fact that the cliff we had to climb looked so dangerous that our plan seemed entirely unreasonable we decided to do it nevertheless. After a terrifying 15 minutes Julia, Julian and me made it up cliff. From there it was only a short and pleasant walk to the summit where we were rewarded with a magnificent view. In the evening about 20 people squeezed into my room and looked at the pictures of the day.
My classes are starting this Tuesday. I am very excited and curious about French Law School. My experiences are limited to the introduction for the Master Program on Friday – the first time I attended any lecture together with French students. Tomorrow I will work on the Eu-Law case and on Wednesday Anna announced that she will come and visit me. Those of you, who received my letters from Brazil in 2004/05 know that she is from Sweden and was working with me in the Street Children Organization in Recife, Brazil. In fact I haven’t seen her in a long time. Anyhow, I haven’t heard from her in a week or so. Ever since she has been to Brazil she has something Brazilian about her. So let’s see, when and if she will ever come to Aix 
