Sooooo nice to be in Nice!

Day 1:

Our very first travel weekend approached, I felt a mixture of excitement and some nervousness. Not knowing how much or what to pack and how all the train transfers would work out. The trip sounded perfect, a much needed break from the first week of class.

So 30 of us had all booked our trip to Nice, France. The train rides getting there got a little hectic because 30 of us had to catch 4 different connecting trains! But we all made it with no one getting left behind :) We actually had a great time on the train all hanging out, drinking wine, and sharing stories. It made the 6 hour train ride go by really fast.

After arriving in the Nice train station, we headed out to check in to our different hostels. Kristin, Allie, MG, Emily, Angela, and I stayed at a hostel called Villa Saint Exupery Beach Hostel. It had really nice accommodations with a very central location to everything in Nice. We settled into our rooms, got ready and then headed out to the main, center part of the city.  

First thing was first… where can we get some food?? We stopped at this small place off the main center and grabbed sandwiches (not the best, but pretty dang cheap) After getting food in our bellies, we headed out along the Promenade des Anglais. (Equivalent to South Beach Miami) Along one side of the street were bars and restaurants and along the other was the beach!

Needless to say, we all had a good time that night. We went into one of the bars on the strip and had a couple of drinks (I had to try Sex on the Beach just to say I did). We met new British friends that would do their American accents as we would try out our British accents for them haha it was interesting to talk to them and get their perspective on things. We then headed into one of the nightclubs in Nice called High Club. Unlike anywhere I’ve ever been, it had a crazy atmosphere with great songs and dancing. What made it even better was meeting up with other people from our travel abroad group, so about 12 of us experienced it together. It was all around an awesome, fun night with good friends and good laughter!

Day 2:

Woke up early and headed into Monaco!! Unfortunately the 6 of us got split up because of the bus system in Nice, so I spent the day with Allie and Kristin. It ended up still working out great as the 3 of us had a great time and other 3 did as well.

Let me just say that is the most high-end place I have been to. From the ginormous Monte-Carlo Casino (where Casino Royal was filmed) to the Valentino and Gucci shops along the street to the Lamborghini, Bentleys, Mercedes, etc you could tell not your average person got to stay in Monaco.

 

Our first stop walking through Monaco was the Monte-Carlo Casino!! A beautiful building with elegant fountains lining the long walkway to the doors. And all lined up infront of the casino were some of the crazy expensive cars I mentioned before. For this casino, if you didn’t look the part there was no way you were getting in.

It was really interesting to get to see it and be in that type of surroundings. Our next stop was the main ports and docks just to the back and left of the casino. No ordinary boats were in these docks… they were all yachts! And not just small yachts, they were large and luxurious.  Something I can only dream about.

Our last stop in Monaco was to get food!! Haha we went down to the dock area and there were a bunch of little restaurants lining the dock so we all had yummy panini :)

Next part of our day: NAP TIME!
 

After waking up we then got ready to go out on the town again. Our hostel had a really good happy hour deal and if you bought one of the drinks during happy hour, you got a free pasta dinner! Hey, works for me! So I ordered a delicious strawberry daiquiri.

That night a lot of us got to hang out together! It was actually really fun being in a group because we got to know each other so much better this trip.

 

The nights festivities included: Heading to a bar called Nice Cube and chilling there for a little bit before going to the main event of the night, Wayne’s Bar. From the outside you might not expect what your about to experience when you walk in. In the front is the bar and tables… but just beyond that is a stage!

Every night Wayne’s has a cover band perform a bunch of known English and American songs! There were tables and stools all set up for people to stand on to dance and sing their hearts out!! It was such a highlight of the trip, so much fun and a really friendly atmosphere. It also helped that everyone there mostly spoke English. Ending the night, we all talked about how great the trip had been so far and our plans for the next day.
 
Day 3: 

Our last day!!! And we definitely made the most of it. We woke up and headed to the city’s local Fruit and Flower Markert, outdoor along the Cours Saleya. The market was lined with fresh fruits, flowers, handmade soaps, candles, olives, and little trinkets. To myself I kept imagining the locals coming to this market everyday to pick out their ingredients for that nights dinner… it seemed so peaceful to me.

After walking around for a bit we grabbed some food from the markets… for me I couldn’t resist the fresh fruit. I had some grapes, pineapple, cantaloupe, and my favorite food: watermelon!!

We took our food with us and walked just a couple more blocks to be on the Nice beaches!! So different from American beaches, the ones lining Nice’s shores had no sand but smoothed, small rocks. Andddd it was acceptable to be nude on the beaches (but only a handful of girls had their tops off, not full on nudity thankfully)

So the 6 of us relaxed on the beach for a bit. We took turns going into the water since Nice has a high theft rate. But no problem for us, we were cautious of our belongings and able to fully enjoy our time on the beach! 

   

When Anegla, Emily and I got into the water we were like “I can’t believe were swimming in the French Riveria!! The Mediterrean Sea!” 

 

 

The day ended as we walked to an overlook of Nice, France and got a stunning, panoramic full view of the city.

The train ride home definitely felt longer than getting there, as we were all tired. But none of us could have been happier with how the trip went. Literally the perfect first travel weekend to start this experience off!

So excited for my future ventures!