There are 360 streets in Aix’s city center. I know because I counted last night on a map of the centre ville while I was watching “Miss Congeniality” dubbed in French.
Here’s a map. That tangled web north of the Cours Mirabeau is the old city. My school is on Rue du Bon Pasteur. Can you find it?
This may explain, perhaps, why I’ve gotten lost every single day in different parts of the city. Yesterday, for example, I decided to take a new route to school, since I thought I was getting familiar with that part of town. I discovered that I did not. In fact, looking at the map now, it looks like I took the right street until about 2/3 of the way there, when I turned in the completely wrong direction and got exhilaratingly lost among the rues.
Really, though, I’m never lost. I always have a vague idea of which way to walk, and I can find my way from familiar streets and cafés. To be lost implies the opposite: no sense of where you should go, not even a sense of where you want to go. It’s an overwhelming feeling. But I’m just wandering, winding my way to some destination.
I identified with J.R.R. Tolkien’s quote, “Not all who wander are lost,” long before I came to Aix. I have never known exactly what I want to do with my life or exactly who I want to be. I have no destination with a roadmap showing the fastest way from Now Me to Future Me. Sometimes I wish someone would give me one. But until then, all I can do is what I do in Aix: take streets I’ve never seen before, stop in some stores with sales, and wander with purpose. I don’t know where I’ll end up, but I’ll get there eventually.
Oh my God, you’re your mother’s daugher!!!
You’ll experience this A LOT in Europe! It’s quite a change from our very “square” street blocks that are easier to maneuver. Roads in Rome looked like they’d go one direction and all of a sudden they would just turn and go in the complete opposite direction. A trick that worked for me, when I had WIFI before trying to go somewhere with intent… I would mapquest my directions and zoom in to screenshot multiple pictures of the route to follow it so I wouldn’t get lost so much. But getting “lost” is sometimes fun… Wander, girlfriend! :]
Did you connect with Audrey Grisoni yet? She would love to show you around Provence and has a lot of theatre friends and relatives. Make time to meet her. She probably needs a brush up on her English. And find out if she is still with her hunky French guy, Jean-val…