Nissa la bella

BY ONEIKA RAYMOND


So after taking a variety of planes, trains, and automobiles (okay, so maybe I didn’t take any trains), here I am, writing to you from the not-of-this world, French Riviera paradise known as Nice. The plane rides over here were fairly uneventful, though the little girl sitting beside me(!) started retching near the end of the Toronto-Paris flight(there was turbulence) and I nearly got vomit on my pants, which was mildly traumatising. Ugh.

When I stepped off the bus to meet my friend Nita, nearly self-amputating my foot with my heavy suitcase, I was struck my the sheer beauty of the place. With the Mediterranean right at your fingertips, bright, hot sun, and humidity that is welcoming and not oppressive, Nice embraces you like a warm hug, and makes you want to stay forever. Which is what I felt. When I stepped off the bus and was greated by that view, I thought to myself, “good Lord, what have I done? Why am I moving to Hong Kong when Nice/France is home?” Truthfully, I still haven’t found the answer. I love being in France. I love the language. And the food. And the fashion. And the people. And… well, you get the idea. I love the travel opportunities, knowing that a place like Milan, for instance, is just a 4 hour and 15 euro train ride away. I ate a sandwich with stinky French cheese yesterday, and revelled in the sheer deliciousness that exploded in my mouth. I love the simplicity of life here, and love that this is a walking culture (which I desperately need to do since I put on tons of weight these last few weeks in Canada).

And Nice is a land of familar faces (both friends and strangers) and places. I am staying with my Italian friend Nita and her French boyfriend Jean-Michel, in their beautiful apartment which is located right next to the school I used to work at when I lived in Nice from 2005 to 2006 (the picture above is the view from their balcony. Gorgeous). As for familiar strangers, I ran into a bouncer from a bar I used to frequent here, many moons ago. And, in a fit of randomness, when I was at the internet cafe yesterday an African guy approached me, talking how we met two years ago. I thought he was just feeding me a line when, before I could even respond, he told me how he knows that I am Canadian and that I used to teach English in the city. Wow!

I also love the culture here, and how everyone speaks a ton of languages, gliding from one to the next effortlessly. Case in point, my girlfriend Nita, who is Italian, and her boyfriend, who is French. We all went out to eat last night and another girlfriend of theirs, also Italian, joined us. It was awesome as the two girls and Jean-Michel spoke to each other in a mix of French, Italian, and Sicilian (Nita and her girlfriend are from Palermo, Sicily, and speak dialect). I only speak about 15 words of Italian, but could sometimes follow their conversation, and would speak to them in Spanish whenever I wanted to participate without shifting the convo back to French. Nita’s friend, who is an Italian teacher here, kept on teaching me words and phrases in Italian, which was great (Io sono Oneika, una ragazza canadense é Io parlo italiano molto bene)!

All in all, it was a lovely evening and has been a lovely time in Nice, thus far. But this morning I am also dog- tired. Hello, jet lag!

I’m on my way to the beach right now with Nita (yay, me!). Tonight we are supposed to be going out dancing, then bright and early I will get up and board my plane to Budapest, Hungary, to start my Eastern European 10-day vacay. Wish me luck!

SHARING IS CARING

40 Comments

  • I went to Nice for the first time towards the end of the year I spent in Paris and LOVED it. I regretted not visiting earlier but definitely plan to go again when I return to Paris next month! What a beautiful, magical little city! Enjoy! :o)

  • I've been avoiding France, but you make me so want to go to Nice. I'm glad you made it safely and are already having a magnificent time. How cool that you've met up with familiar strangers. Again, so proud of you!

  • stacy: yes, nice is so nice! love it! it has such a laid back vibe… so different from paris. you should definitely plan on coming back here.

    ms. bp: why avoiding? france is the bomb, and is basically the home of the west african diaspora, so you are constantly among people who look like you, which is super cool, lol.

  • Hey, I've been reading your blog intermittently since I found your post on teaching in Mexico. I absolutely love your blog and look forward to your updates. You are so lucky. Have a great time in Europe.
    PS: How do you get to travel so often and to all the places you do?

  • Hey Aritul,
    Thanks for reading! I'm a high school teacher, so I have tons of time off (2 months in the summer, 2 weeks at Xmas, 1-2 weeks for March Break/ Easter). I have also taught in two international destinations so far (France and Mexico), so I always make sure to take advantage of that and visit all the neighbouring cities and countries! And mostly, I make travelling a real priority, because I love different languages and different cultures and figure that you only live once!

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