22 April 2024 – Marseille
By Lidia Karanfilovszka Zikic (Creative Writing and English Literature/Year 1)
It was Monday. A good day to start the week. However, this time, I was not going to go to work or the Uni for a three-hour seminar; instead, I was going on a free holiday organised by the Uni and generously funded by the Quintin Hogg Trust. I was so looking forward to this date. In my mind, this trip was standing as a light beacon at the end of the dark tunnel of gloominess, of the unusually cold, rainy spring in London, of the reading and researching, of the exceedingly long hours on the laptop, of the never-ending drafting and redrafting…
I was fuming with fed-upness and was possessed with the desire to just breathe and spread my wings. Marseille and, most importantly, France was a promise of sunshine, of sea, of fresh air. I have never been to France, but it has always been my dream. Mostly because of De Beauvoir, Sartre, and The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain. Provence also lured me because of the Côte d’Azur and the famous painters. When I saw the email from the Uni presenting the two Humanities trips, I immediately knew I wanted to go to France. So, pushing my light suitcase, I went on the bus that would take me to the tube, which would take me to the airport, which would take me to the land of my dreams. I arrived first, of course, even before the organisers. I had no idea who was coming and didn’t know anyone I thought I could recognise. A few minutes later, the trip leaders, Heather, and Saskia, arrived, and the others also started to arrive. There were fifteen students and two teachers. Most of us hadn’t met each other before, so there was a lot of shyness. We passed through passport and security checks and were off on the plane. It was a beautiful sunny day as if London were giving a nice overture to Marseille. Approaching Marseille, we had amazing views of the seacoast.
We landed on time and headed straight to the hotel. A bus took us from the airport to the centre of Marseille. Hotel Ibis was a good 20-minute walk from the bus station. Downhill. The slope was very abrupt and offered a splendid view of the city. Pushing our suitcases, we sounded like a motor gang. Everyone started to relax with each other with every minute. When we arrived at the hotel, we had to choose our roommate, which was a bit awkward considering we still didn’t know each other. But we sorted ourselves in a quick manner. I got Mariam as my roommate, a linguistics student from Greece. We hit it off straight away. We got room 704, right at the top. We prayed for a beautiful view. And there it was. Rooftops, clear skies, and if you put your head further out the window, you could see the breathtaking Basilique Notre Dame de la Garde. Perfect!
We agreed to meet in an hour to go and eat somewhere and have a stroll around Marseille.
It was the odd hour of four, too late for lunch and too early for dinner, and as we were told, the French really cared about this thing, hence the different working hours of the restaurants, so we ended up buying food from the supermarket and went to explore Marseille on foot. The hotel was a 15-minute walk from the centre and the harbour. The harbour was huge and so many charming little streets led to it. On the way back, Saskia, one of our trip leaders, suggested a climb up to the Basilique Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde, fondly known as “la bonne mère” to locals, which is situated high above the harbour. I would usually have loved to go, but I decided to go back to the hotel and rest after the excitement and adrenalin of the day.
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