Hi All, 

I successfully completed my Italian language lessons on May 4, receiving a certificate stating "Nadia has a basic understanding of the Italian language and if spoken to slowly, she will understand the general points of the conversation". Too bad I have yet to meet ANY Italian person that speaks slowly.

I left Italy the following day to spend a week vacationing in the Cote d'Azur. I arrived in Nice during the early morning to find the sun already shining on the crystal clear waters...I was in love. My friend Valeria joined me for the weekend and two other friends from the program in Italy arrived the same day to begin their 6 week French language program. Between the four of us, I was the most fluent in French...imagine my delight going from the absolute beginner in Italy to the leader of the bunch in France. 

Having spent the previous weekend in Barcelona where the night life began at 2 am, I was a bit unsure of what to expect in Nice. However, on our first evening, I quickly learned that things in Nice were more similar to Italy. We went out for dinner about 10 pm and found ourselves in a nearly deserted restaurant. 

After finishing dinner, we decided to try one of the local discotheques.  My friend Valeria asked the bouncer if we could enter...implying, is there a list to enter. He mistook her and replied "yes, are you 18?" When she replied yes, he asked for identification. Before Valeria could even retrieve her ID from her bag, the bouncer looked to me, then looked back to Valeria and said "I'm sorry, you girls are too young, come with me, you have to leave the line." He opened the velvet rope and escorted us from the line. It was the best rejection I have ever received!

We spent the following day exploring old Nice, took in an early dinner (we're quick learners) and returned to have a quiet evening at our hotel bar. We ran across some Americans from San Francisco and Philadelphia but the hotel bar was closing shortly. We left the hotel, in search of a bar, and quickly found that all of Nice is shut down Sunday evening. We did find one place open though....a gay bar that was hosting their monthly drag show. Oh what luck...see the attached pics. Local regulation requires that a bar closes at 2 am. However, instead of being asked to leave, at 2 am, the bar tender brought the outside tables and chairs inside, dropped the security gate and proceeded to lock us inside the bar. To an outsider, the bar would look closed, but on the inside, the women (used loosely) carried on signing classic French cabaret songs while the patrons cheered them on. When we finally decided to leave about 4 am, the bar tender cracked the door...just enough to let us army crawl out and not enough to alert the authorities that a raging party was still going on inside. 

The rest of the week included lazy days at the roof top pool of my hotel, where we only broke away for one day when we rented a car to visit Monte Carlo/Monaco and the artist village of Saint Paul de Vence. Nice was the perfect location to relax after completing the intense Italian immersion program.

I am in the last leg of this journey. I arrived to Italy on Friday, meeting a few wonderful friends from home, to begin a 10 day tour of Venice, Florence and Rome. While I made some good new friends from the Italian program, it was just amazing to see some familiar faces after a month and a half.

I have attached some pictures. In addition, at the close of my travels, I will provide a link to access all my email updates and images from my trip, since my younger sister has surprised me by creating a blog of my travels. Officially the closest I will get to social media. 

Oh man my sister is just so amazing!! (yeah Sarah wrote that).

Love, Nadia

Valeria and Nadia with the Mistress of Ceremonies at the drag show.

 

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Enjoying the view of the sea in Nice.

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Sabrina, Anna and Nadia o our road trip to Saint Paul de Vence.

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Valeria and Nadia on the infamous evening they were denied access to the club for being too young.

and

Another pic from the night we we rejected from the club

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Anna and Nadia enjoying a coffee in Saint Paul de Vence.

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Anna, Nadia and Sabrina in old Nice after dinner.  

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Nadia, Sabrina and Anna on the steps of an artist's house in Saint Paul de Vence.

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Nadia in Saint Paul de Vence.

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Sabrina and Nadia in Saint Paul De Vence.

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I have no idea who this guy is...he was at the drag show....i just love the guy behind me who we met at the hotel bar. He's a Philly boy...and boy did he get into the show.

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Valeria with our new friends at the drag show.

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More from the drag show.

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After lunch at the Hotel Negresso in Nice we were shocked to see that a cappuccino cost 8 euros. 

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Condom machines on the street in Rome....which is odd enough....but how would you explain the dog parking sign on the bottom right corner of the wall unit?

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