Destination: Paris

Hello all!
I am sitting at my computers, just using up the time before I know I need to start my walk to the Tram.
Today, I am going to Paris!
I am going alone, which makes me a little nervous, but thats only because since coming to France I have not done any major traveling by myself. But this is going to be a great adventure.
I have planned it all out, I know where I need to be when, so its really not going to be that scary :)
I am not, however, going to take my computer with me. I don't want to have too much luggage, so I am going to leave it behind, and take my journal. But don't feel left out, when I come back I will fill you all in, and with pictures! :) So look forward to that!
I am so excited. I have been looking forward to this for over a month now. Abby and Malcolm are going to arrive tomorrow morning, so not only do I have that to look forward to, but we will be in Paris, a city I have been wanting to go to since I knew where it was :) Its going to be a great great time.

Well, now that I have made you terribly jealous of me, I think I should go and finish cleaning my room before I leave.
Miss you all and hope you have a great adventure this week too!!

Its been too long...

I sorta feel bad that I have not written in a while. I have done a lot of things since the end of school.... which was last Thursday :)

After school ended I tried to organize a trip for myself (and any boys who wanted to come) to go to Italy for a week. Unfortunately none of the boys wanted to go, and with my money situation being what it is, i decided to put the trip off to a time when I had more time to organize and perhaps convince the boys to come with me.

So that means that this week I have all the time to do WHATEVER I want! True, I had hoped not to spend this week in Bordeaux, but I am finding that there is a lot here that I like doing.

On the 13th I went into town with other students from our class. Rika, her husband, Su, Vesta, Amina, her daughter and I went to this "Exposition de Chocolate" at the Hotel de Ville. The way that it was described to us when we were making the plans was that it was going to be a party for chocolate. From this we assumed that we would be able to get yummy kinds of chocolate to eat. Turns out it was more like a presentation of all these sculptures that were MADE of chocolate. It was SO funny!

Then on the 16th I went to Amina's house with Vesta. We had a ton of fun, eating Moroccan food (Amina is Moroccan) speaking in broken French. I learned a lot of new words and talked about my family. It was a wonderful time and I am very thankful to have made friends in both Amina and Vesta.

On the 18th I went to an open market with Johanna. It was so awesome! And the food is so cheap. I loved it. Then Johanna and I spent the rest of the day together. She helped me a ton with just speaking french. I keep on forgetting that its just a language... and if I just want to communicate, I can! I just need to relax and stop over thinking it.

The 20th has been the best day so far. I went back to the market and got some wonderful fruit, and then I found this now favorite cafe where they had great (and affordable) coffee. I ended up walking around the city for a few hours and am now incredible sore! I loved it. It was a great day.

Now I am continuing my plans for Paris this coming week. Abby and Malcolm arrive on Tuesday which means I only have to wait until Monday to go up and be in Paris! I am so excited!! And don't worry, there will be LOTS of pictures from that.

Well, I think that was a rap up of this week. Its been good to relax and feel at home more here. Next time we have a break I am really going to go somewhere else. I am not sure where yet, but it all depends on how long the break will be. I will let you all know just as soon as I know! Yay!

Even the ducks were happy

I have to share my joy. I am almost overflowing with it!

I have spent the majority of today in Bordeaux center city.

After taking my time getting ready to go out, I got on the Tram determined to find the Public Garden that is on my map. I knew I would be able to find it, it just took the courage to get on a new tram line and wander through unfamiliar territory. It was not nearly as bad a journey as I thought, but I will start at the beginning.

By the time I was out the door it was almost noon. I had hoped to get out sooner, but my vanity kept me longer than I would like to admit. It was a beautiful day though, so I figured it was better late than never.
Once in Bordeaux I decided to go to le Marche des Grands Hommes and get lunch. It was a simple lunch that I knew I wanted to make a picnic out of. I got a baguette (well, half of one), a small bundle of cheese, fruit juice and a small bag of dried apricots. I could have made it a bit more french if I added some wine and perhaps a bit of sausison (I am not sure how to spell it, but its like summer sausage), but I didn't want to spend too much.
Once I had my food I made my way to another tram line that I have never used. I realize it might sound silly, but it was completely strange to be boarding at the stop! The trams all look the same, they take the same time and ticket, and yet the simple fact that this was NOT tram B totally shook me. I stood by the door anxiously, even though I was only going one stop. As the doors opened I walked out quickly, determined to look familiar with the place. I don't know if it is true, but I figured that no matter how safe the neighborhood, I would be safer if I didn't let on that I was completely out of my familiar surroundings. This is also funny, since the Jardin is only one stop further than I have ever gone. You can practically see it from one of my favorite walks! None the less, it felt completely new to me, so I was being extra careful.
The area surrounding the Jardin is anything BUT dangerous. It looks even more safe that my previous favorite streets. The houses are all big and clean and there are less shops. The streets are wide and beautiful, and I could see the Jardin gates from the tram stop. I walked confidently, happily, through the gates and immediately felt at peace. The walks are gravel and wide. The grass is green and there are flowers blooming. The sun came out and I was able to take off my coat (something I have not really be able to do since arriving in Bordeaux)! I found a little bench off to the side facing the pond. It is a cute little pond. I almost couldn't tell if it is a pond or a river, since it winds around a bit, but it is really a pond. In the middle is a little island that reminded me of the french version of Duck Island (like, in Boston... is that the right name?). It was beautiful.
I laid out my lunch, and commenced to enjoy myself. I am reading the book "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert, so after opening up a cheese piece I opened my book and read while I ate. Its a really great book in just this situation. The book (in case you don't know) is about a woman who travels to Italy, then India, and then Indonesia to find a fresh start to her life. Where I am right now in the book, she is still in Italy (meaning I am not that far). While in Italy her goal is to enjoy pleasure, and by pleasure she means good food :) So I found it quite fitting that I was sitting there, deeply enjoying my simple (if not very french) meal there in the Park, while reading of a woman who is finding herself through the enjoyment of food. I would suggest the book to anyone! I am finding it almost therapeutic during my time of self discovery in a foreign country.
I stayed on my bench for almost 2 hours, eating and reading and listening to the ducks. There was one duck in particular who, every time it sang, sounded as if it were laughing! It was the craziest call I have ever heard from a duck. If I could replay it or describe it well, I would! I would also like to somehow figure out what sort of duck it was. At this point though, the best I can do is say that it was brown, pretty small as ducks go, and it honestly sounded as if it were laughing. A sort of mocking laugh, which I didn't appreciate, but laughing none the less. He made me smile and it felt like I was not the only one enjoying the day.
The sun again went behind clouds, so I left my bench to wander a bit more around the garden. I walked around the whole thing, trying out ever path, every viewpoint. I felt a lot like a giddy tourist doing it, but I figured that is exactly what I was, so there is no shame in it :) I stopped every few steps to take more pictures, though I am always a bit disappointed. No matter how good my camera, it cant really capture the FEELING in the area. Either that, or I am just a terrible photographer. I did take pictures though. I took them for me, and I also took them because, no matter how incorrect they feel for me, they do allow me to really share the experience here with those of you who are not here. So I hope you enjoy them as well :)
Oh, but the smell! I wish I could capture that in a picture. Fresh earth, moist grass and the passing sent of water, all mixed into the delicious aroma of a park that was laid out who knows when. It had the feeling, smell and taste of what I would expect a Medieval garden. One that was devoid of pollution and full of life. I don't feel at all able to express the exact smell that surrounded the garden, but it took me back to Sarver, early in spring, in our back yard, swinging on the rope swing as soon as it had stopped raining. Another happy memory from my childhood.
I wandered until I found another bench that seemed pretty. This time facing the other side of the pond. I decided I would try to write a few letters. A good plan, I know, but the wind was against me and I soon decided to walk a bit more, then head back to Bordeaux center and find a cafe to finish my letters.
As I was making my way back, I realized that without thinking about it I was heading to the same cafe as I have always gone. Its not that they are particularly cheap (though they are not that bad) or that their cappuccino is very good. Its mostly because I have been there before, and it has a beautiful view of the Cathedral. So while those are not BAD reasons to be there, I bet I could find a cheaper cafe with better cappuccinos. If I wanted to. Right now, I like being familiar with the place. When I have explored the city more, and filled myself with wandering, then I shall look for another cafe.
I have been near the Cathedral de St. Andre many times, and have been inside once, but today I had the most amazing urge to spend some time just sitting inside. So I went.

Let me just side note for a second. The ability to "just go" is completely new to me. I don't know that I have ever been STOPPED from doing something I wanted, but here there seems to be an added... I don't know, expectation? It seems as if the feeling here is: If your not doing what you want to be doing.... then whats the point? I don't know if this is just for me, or that it comes from being in a new situation, but there you go. I have been delighting in my ability to just go and do what I want. I don't mean this in the way that now I will try and get away with anything. Rather, I am really feeling the freedom to go and sit in a cafe for 2 hours, or to go to the Cathedral and admire the stained glass. Its what I want to do, so I am going to do it!

But back to the Cathedral. The last time I went in I was with the boys. They seemed a bit impatient to be gone, so I only had the briefest moment to admire the architecture. This time, I took my time. Looking around I realize how much I DON'T know about the reasons why it is built that way. My one course in Art History did teach me appreciation, and then there is always comparing it to the BA Cathedral that adds the ability to appreciate. But the ability to appreciate is VERY different than understanding. And that is one thing that I wish I did have. There were a good number of people there, sitting or standing by different saints and lighting candles. I am not one to pray through a saint, but I got a new sense of how important it is to some people. I don't know the denomination (if there is one) of this Cathedral, but it houses little sanctuary type things in a semicircle behind the alter. Each sanctuary is for a different Saint of some sort of another. Though I took pics of my favorite parts of the Cathedral, they didn't really turn out, since the lighting is pretty bad in there.

After leaving the Cathedral I came back to the dorm. I had been walking a while, and Dibb needed me back so that we could do laundry (I had the "jetons pour la laver). I did stop at our local super market to get some food for tomorrow though, which is always fun. Just like the woman in my book, I think I really enjoy the simple pleasure of eating the French food. I do make a lot of American style food back in my dorm, but it always has a French twist. Grilled cheese sandwiches... with sausisson! Or soup and bread.... but the bread is a baguette! So, I love it.

Tomorrow we have school. I had an interesting time calling Vesta (the Russian woman I went to the museums with) to find out the homework that is due tomorrow. Not only did I forget the word for "homework" but the moment she started to say numbers my mind blanked. We made it through though, and with a friendly "tout a l'heur" we hung up. I have now done the homework and am feeling a TON better prepared for class. I have to say though... as I wandered the streets and talk to random store clerks and cafe servers, I feel like taking a day in the city is better education than the class. My dream would be to have a friend who could not speak English, but who was fluent in French who would have the patients to take me everywhere and go with me where I wanted and just talk! Maybe I will make such a friend, but not so far.

Well, that is all that happened today! Tomorrow (after school) I hope to go to town and work out some bank stuff, and then explore the garden that I realized is even closer than the city! Who would have thought that Peixotto would have a public garden :)

Ok... but now in French

Yesterday was Saturday. And as I mentioned on Friday, I went out with people from my class to a few museums! It was really cool.This is a barg that passed while I was sitting

I started the day out by going to Bordeaux to wander a bit before meeting up with the others. I wanted to get a book at the bookstore, maybe a few presents for family, a croissant, and then go to the river and eat and read. So that is what I did! Since on Friday I bought an "unlimited" tram pass, I felt completely free to come and go as I please.
It was wonderful. The bookstore was crowded as usual, but it was fun. There is only a small section for books in their original language, but the section holds an amazing assortment of new and old, popular and random books from mostly America, Britain or Spain. I found two cheap books, and walked out of the store a happy camper.
I then took my favorite walk to a small "Champion" store to get some croissants and perhaps lunch (which would turn out to be a part of a baguette and cheese). Its really interesting how they have stores set up here. They are usually the first floor of EVERY building, but in this case it was a building all on its own. It is a circular building that seems to only have MAYBE 2 floors, but when you get in... you realize it is MUCH bigger than it seems. Going a few floors down and up, it probably has 4 floors, though I have only really been on 2. It is more of a small mall, since there are many little shops, each with a different item to sell. There is a produce market, a wine seller, a chocolatier (how do you spell that?), a pastry shop, a cheese shop, a cafe, and I think something like the equivalent of a Sprint store. There are more, but I have not been to them, so I don't remember. But most of the lowest floor is the "Champion" where it is very cheap to get decent food of all sorts.
Anyway, after getting my food, I walked down past the Grand Theatre and to the river. As it was Saturday, there were lots of people doing the same thing. The river walk was full of families and individuals enjoying the scenery. There is a part of the path that has been made especially so that the bikes and rollerbladers who wish to ride by the river do so, quietly. Seriously! I don't know if it is just particularly smooth, but you can't hear a thing when they pass. Unless the bike itself has issues, but that is unavoidable.
I found a small bench that faced the river not far from the building (more like a Palace) where the King used to stay when he visited Bordeaux. It was beautiful. The gardens along the river are all precisely placed. Each row of every kind of flower is so carefully tended that, even though it is winter, it makes SUCH a pretty design. Then the walks are all gravel (the walks in among the flowers, not by the river itself) and also well tended, so everything seemed perfect. It was cold out, so it was only completely enjoyable when the sun was good and out, but none the less, it was a beautiful setting.
I sat there for a while, reading my book and eating my croissants. After maybe an hour more clouds came, so I left my bench and decided to head towards the meeting place that I had arranged with the others.

On my way I found a few shops that still had all of their merchandise on sale. I have to say, if there is one thing that Bordeaux has really gotten me into: its shopping. I don't even buy very often, but to just look and enjoy the French fashion... its so fascinating. Its such a completely different world inside the store than out. Outside you have sculptures and cobblestones. Inside you have silk and cotton woven in such modern designs that I don't understand how your supposed to wear the thing! Its the funniest. I confess that this time I did buy things... but they are presents, so it hardly counts :)

After that I went and met up with the other students. I thought it was supposed to be a largish group, but it turns out that only Vesta (a woman from Russia) and I were able to make it. I am glad of it though, because we were by far the most enthusiastic of the class to go and see the museums, so I knew that we would enjoy it.
The best part about it just being the two of us though, was the fact that we could only speak in French. She has VERY little English, and I have.... yep, NO Russian, so French was the only language we could use. I thought at first that I would really not be able to communicate anything, but as the day went on, we were able to have more and more conversations that consisted of more than just "Oui, j'aime beaucoup le cafe!" or "ou est le toilette?"
We went to 3 museums. First we went to one that housed a fine collection of interior decoration. It consisted mostly of the private collection from the Duc de Bordeaux's family. It was all in French, so I may be wrong about that. It was lovely though. Each room had different furniture, metalwork and ceramics. Also a bung of piano fortes that were just gorgeous! I have decided that if I ever get a set of porcelain or china dishes, I want them to be white with blue and green vines and flowers, just like one set there. It was SO pretty.
After that we went to the museum of art. I was not sure what to expect, but it was amazing. A huge building that is the very image of a classic art museum, it had a wonderful collection of classic art. I say classic, because I am not sure what all genres the museum had, but it was mostly HUGE oil paintings that were painted a hundred or hundreds of hears ago. It was the sort of thing that you had to take your time over. There was SO much detail (or lack of detail) that you could never take the whole painting in at one glance. They had benches placed in intervals throughout the whole gallery to allow for more time to be taken while examining the paintings. I would say my only complaint was that the lighting was such that I could not get at all close to a painting and not have a glare. I know, your not supposed to be TOO close to a painting, but I wanted to see a little more detail, and I couldn't! So that made me a bit disappointed.
After the art museum we went to the Natural History museum that I have gone to before. This time I remembered to take my camera with me (and yes, we are allowed to take pics, though without the flash). We didn't take as long to go through as I did when I was alone, but it was fine. We were both tired, and our feet hurt (as we communicated to each other by saying "ma pied....." and a face of pain) and we were both ready for a break. So we took one.
Outside of the museum there was a cafe that seemed very inviting, so we decided to have a drink. It was just about 5pm by now, but I had not had anything to eat except the croissants, so while Vesta ordered a large beer, I stuck with the cappuccino I had been craving for the whole day. It was delicious. Over our drinks we tried our hands at ever more complicated conversations. And we did alright! She talked more about her reasons why she is studying here (since she is 30 and one of the oldest in our class) and I talked about my siblings. She is an only child, so to hear about 5 sisters and 2 brothers was a whole new experience for her. Since my vocab is limited, I mostly just talked about who was visiting me, and (now don't get a big head hun, its just an easy subject) how Nils played a bunch of sports in high school and how I am unable to play many sports now. It was really nice, since we had more conversations we were able to really speak. It was quick, it was understood, and it had at least a bit of depth to it. I was REALLY glad for it. A few more conversations like that, and I think I will improve in my French a great deal.The Duc de Bordeaux as a young boy












After the drinks Vesta and I parted ways. This was good, since Dibb had called and they were going to a bar to watch the Rugby game between France and Ireland. I met them there and we spent the rest of the night watching the game and then trying to figure out just what the rules in the crazy game are! Have you ever sat and watched a full game? One of the coolest sports I have ever seen, and yet the whole time I was expecting them to carry each player off the field dead. Johanna kept saying it was less violent than Football (American style) but I have a hard time believing that. They don't even have padding!!! One player did get bloodied up, and I almost wanted to cry. It was SO intense. We plan to go back and watch another one next week, so that should be fun.

Well, I think I have caught you all up on my life here. Tomorrow I hope to catch the tram and go to the Botanical Gardens that are close to the city center. I will see if I can drag some others with me, but I might just go and do it by myself... we will see.

I love you all! Have a great rest of Sunday :)

How long is a month?

Today I celebrate not being in the States for a whole month! I would say being in France for a month, but technically we didn't arrive in France until Saturday, though we left on Friday... but I wanted to celebrate now :)

This past week has gone faster than any before. I am realizing that that is a trend I should just acknowledge. As we get into the lifestyle here we don't feel the time passing NEARLY as much. Its actually pretty nice. We are getting stuff done and I am really feeling like I am a part of the school here.

Not a lot has happened this week. We went to school, went out at night and generally had a French week. We did go to a protest (or Manifestation as it is called here) which was a VERY French thing to do. It was SO crazy. We met at a square called Victoir with at least almost a thousand other students and marched with signs and banners and everything to this building where the main office of all the Universities in Bordeaux is and stood there and yelled. Then we marched to Hotel de Ville (City Hall) and stood there and yelled. Then a man came out and started to talk, all about how they heard what we wanted and they were still working it out. This didn't seem to please the people who actually knew what was going, so we all (the whole crowd of a couple of hundred people) sat down right there where we were standing. I assume that this was to show that we came to hear more, and so the man talked some more. I don't know what he was saying, since it was hard to hear and very foggy over the megaphone (not to mention he was using longer French words that I don't know). After a while the man stoped talking and we all got up. I thought that the people would just wander away, but appernently the Manifestation was not over. They all got back in a line and continued to march!
The main part of the manifestation being over, we decided to get on with our day, and so left the parade.

That was about it for the week. And Saturday I hope to go out with some people from my French class and see a few museums. We will be tourists together :)
I will let you know all about it :)