(Maybe you've heard of Evian? that's water from the French mountains...) Almost all the water bottles here are French brands either bottled from the mountains, or from hydrothermal vents. Both kinds of water are very rich in minerals.
In Italy, the cost of a bottle of water is about the same. The difference there is that the tap water isn't drinkable, so everyone buys water bottles. Even in restaurants there isn't "free tap water" available.
I've grown to be obsessed with croissants and fresh bread. You can buy fresh baked goods like these everywhere. They're made fresh everyday, and the price of a croissant anywhere is usually 1 euro ($1.20) and a fresh baguette is about 2 euros ($2.40).
It took a while to notice, but many people actually listen to American music here. We heard a lot of American rap and pop music, especially.
The First few weeks were spent learning the local history. This area of France/Italy is called the La Côte d'Azur (Coat daz-yer) which means "The Blue Coast", named after how blue the sea looks here. So we visited a lot of historical churches and local landmarks. Parts of the city of Nice date as far back as the year 1000. In the nearby town of Ventimiglia, Italy, they have buildings and a cathedral that was built in the year 600!
