Bonjour! Bonsoir! Je suis une femme!

Hello! Good evening! I am a woman!

I've just taught you all the French I know. Except for le pomme est rouge and le chat noir (which mean "the apple is red" and "the black cat" and are pretty useless unless you're describing things to a child). I also know how to say crepe, baguette, macaroon, brie and croissant quite well. Getting the food vocabulary secured was my first priority.

Carousel in Arle, France. I think my edited Instagram picture looks much more magical. 

Last weekend, we went on an excursion to the South of France with ISA. Since traveling to Paris in 2010, I fell in love with France and was excited to explore smaller towns with a different feel than the big city.

We spent two nights in Montpellier and spent our days visiting Arles, Aigues Mortes and Collioure. 

Vincent Van Gogh spent a lot of his life and was artisically-inspired by many things in Arles, France. During our walking tour, we got the chance to see a couple of the locations that inspired Van Gogh.

After the tour, we stumbled upon Arles' Saturday morning market and, of course, I left with a couple treats. 

I went for a blackberry macaroon. 

Next stop: Aigues Mortes. This medieval town is still enclosed and has a very...quaint feel to it. It was quiet and not much was going on (except the unbearable heat).

We bought a baguette because the bread is delicious and it seemed like a very french thing to do.

This stop was my favorite. A GIANT chocolate store! 

Exhausted from a long day of sight-seeing in the sun, we spent another night in Montpellier before heading to Collioure, France.

Collioure is a beautiful coastal town with views of the mountains and the sea. The views were so surreal.

At lunch, I ordered what I thought would be a safe, mediterranean salad with some olives and grilled shrimp. Well.

Yes, those are shrimp with their heads fully on. I wasn't prepared and I have no idea how to take the heads off the shrimp (I tried, and some red goo started coming out that told me to just set that one to the side). The toast is topped in caviar - and is surprisingly bland. My favorite part was the pieces of smoked salmon.

So, of course, since I got a salad for lunch I just had to treat myself to a crepe before leaving France.

Yes. Chocolate and banana. 

The towns we visited were way different from Paris, but I still loved them. France has yet to disappoint me! Next on my list to explore in France? Bordeaux, Nice and the countryside.