Hello Nice
Last Monday I arrived in Nice. As I’m normally uploading every Tuesday I was planning a lengthy description of my trip here and my first days. Unfortunately, my internet access was limited so I ended up writing on Wednesday and being unable to upload it even then. In addition, Nice is rather interesting and sunny so I ended up more interested in lying on the beach than in finding a wifi spot to upload my scribble. Excuses aside, it’s a bit outdated now so instead of a review of my trip and my first couple of days; here’s a description of my first week in Nice.
About my trip here there’s really nothing interesting to mention. My sister, brother-in-law and father brought me to the airport and we had a final cup of coffee there. Then we hugged goodbye and from that point on things just went really smoothly. As I was sitting in the back of a taxi on my way to pick up my keys I just kept staring out of the window wondering how it was possible that all of a sudden I was now here in this crazy beautiful sunny town. With the same amazement I picked up my keys and found my studio, which is located insanely convenient in the middle of the city centre and I absolutely love it. It is painted a happy yellow and it’s tiny and old but pretty much perfect. As I said, my only real struggle here has been internet so while I wait for that all I’ve really been doing is going to the beach a lot, reading, walking around and writing. So much for interesting stories.
Well, I have in fact tried socialising a little bit. The thing about this town is that there’s a lot of tourists and foreign students so it’s not difficult to find people who speak English, but as I am supposed to be fluent in French before my classes start next week, I had to find some French people as well. Therefore, last Wednesday I went to a language exchange in the old part of town. I hadn’t been there yet and I was slightly amazed. My first impression of Nice had been one of slight confusion. It’s an amazing city but there’s also a lot of contrast. Once you move past the promenade and high street you find very squarely arranged streets with a lot of very old buildings. The shops go from overly expensive to dingy tourist shops and small restaurants. In any case, when I went to the old part of the city I wasn’t expecting all the tiny little streets with pubs and restaurants around every corner. The entire atmosphere of the place breathes holiday. It’s all about enjoying the good weather with good food and cold drinks. As I said, I went there for a language exchange but despite that I ended up speaking English most of the evening. This was partially because a lot of people wanted to practice their English and partially because every time someone attempted to speak French to me our conversation pretty much limited itself to me staring blankly in the distance wondering how to answer a question I didn’t understand.
In conclusion, I wanted to tell more about Nice as a city but the truth is that I think that more time is needed to get to know this place. As a holiday destination I can wholeheartedly recommend it as it has everything necessary to make for a good vacation as far as I can tell, including a whole load of culture. But that info can be easily found using a search engine. I am more curious about the hidden things. About the chair alongside the road, with the text; ‘for seniors who get tired’ and the people who are left behind when the endless streams of tourists leave by the end of the summer. There’s a lot still to see and do here so I’m sure that if I don’t upload this right now I will probably want to change my assessment again next week. So, here’s my first impression and, if the internet allows it, I will be back next week.