J’adore Cassis

By Pavitra Antony

My first weekend trip during my study abroad program in Aix-en-Provence was to one of the most beautiful villages in France with a couple offriends. “J’adore Cassis,” my host mom said and now I do too.

We are in the south of France! It seemed silly to not visit a beach when it was so close by. The school trip to La Ciotat, a town on the coast of Mediterranean, only increased our desire to lounge at a beach and read. It ended up being one of the best decisions we have made.

We found a place to stay a couple minutes from the port, I would recommend that place to anyone, it was very cosy and artistically decorated. It even had a bookshelf of books by French authors like Moliere, Dubois, Racine and Balsac. As a cherry on the top of this cake, it had ‘Le Petit Prince,’ the same copy that is available at the SJC Santa Fe bookstore (but in French).

The first night there, we walked through this beautiful village filled with lights while surrounded by the dark night to find really good food and another favourite vine. The next morning we saw a completely different village, it was filled with colours and looked like a place in an anime. We strolled along the coast to find a perfect spot to have a picnic. The shades in the water, the warm sun and the cute neighbourhood made it seem like a scene from a movie.
We tried to prolong our weekend for as long as possible. We had a Sunday brunch sitting on the rocks near the sea, looking at a lighthouse, and conversing about the horses made by the sea waves. Homer’s description finally made sense!

Reminding ourselves that we still had a lab reading to finish, we packed and caught the bus back to Aix, promising the sea that we would be back.