Yes, it's true. Here's how it works: Girl gets really homesick. Girl starts to feel better once things start looking up. Girl walks home/to school. Girl nears mysterious field of nothing. Black cat runs at girl with a look of purpose. Black cat rubs itself all over girls legs with it's amazing lovey-dovey softness. Girl feels pretty much completely better.
This has happened four times now. It's really awesome, and kinda incredible, how the pattern works. I'm not even lying about that part. Such a friendly kitty!!!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Berkeley
Whenever I tell French people that I go to school near Sacramento (because I figure they won't know where Davis is) they always think I go to Berkeley. It's super sad when I tell them no, since I can tell they're kind of excited that they've just met someone from there. I guess I'm flattered they think I'm that smart. :)
Monday, December 13, 2010
Logement, Holidays, Finals, Homesick
There's nothing like the stress of the end of the semester and being away from loved ones during the holidays to make a girl homesick. GEEZ. I honestly don't think I've been this homesick since being here. It mostly has to do with the overwhelming to do list that needs to be finished by next Monday, which leads to me thinking about home way more than I should.
On the top of this to do list right now: Survive finals and find a place to live for the next five months (which is proving to be way harder than I thought). Top choice right now is living with a couple and their two young daughters (5 and 10) and another girl from California in a "colocation." This is different, however somewhat similar, to a homestay. Living with my current homestay hasn't been the greatest experience so I am super iffy about living with another family. I think that it's really just the people I'm living with though. This place shouldn't even be considered a homestay; they didn't make any effort to include me and the two other Californians here in their family, which is what a homestay is all about! My ideal spot would be an apartment with some French students or Erasmus (the European exchange program) students. Bordeaux isn't like Davis though, where you can't escape the hordes of ads on bulletin boards and craigslist of students looking for someone to help pay the rent. Also, I don't think it's very common in France for people to share a room, because the ads I have seen are for one room, unshared. I only have a few more days to decide, and I'm really considering just taking the easy way out and living with that family. One of the directors of the Center of California is really pushing that one on me, and although it might not be ideal, it will probably end up working out since I like kids and all. I won't have the college apartment feel that I want, where I can invite people over for movie nights and shindigs, but at least it will be somewhere to live, and not with the Pommaredes!
In other news, I'm looking forward to a very exciting Christmas break! In a week I'm leaving for Morocco to visit Agadir, Marrakech, Casablanca, and Fes with my friend Madeleine from my program. Then on the 28th I'm flying to Rome to celebrate the new year with Kim, also from my program.. From there, we're taking the train around Italy until Jan 12, when we'll fly back to Bordeaux to prepare for the new semester. Some stops we'll be making: Pompeii, Florence, Pisa, Venice, Milan. Any suggestions of places to hit up are much appreciated!
Back to studying time, I suppose.
Bonne journée! (Have a good day!)
A song for you:
On the top of this to do list right now: Survive finals and find a place to live for the next five months (which is proving to be way harder than I thought). Top choice right now is living with a couple and their two young daughters (5 and 10) and another girl from California in a "colocation." This is different, however somewhat similar, to a homestay. Living with my current homestay hasn't been the greatest experience so I am super iffy about living with another family. I think that it's really just the people I'm living with though. This place shouldn't even be considered a homestay; they didn't make any effort to include me and the two other Californians here in their family, which is what a homestay is all about! My ideal spot would be an apartment with some French students or Erasmus (the European exchange program) students. Bordeaux isn't like Davis though, where you can't escape the hordes of ads on bulletin boards and craigslist of students looking for someone to help pay the rent. Also, I don't think it's very common in France for people to share a room, because the ads I have seen are for one room, unshared. I only have a few more days to decide, and I'm really considering just taking the easy way out and living with that family. One of the directors of the Center of California is really pushing that one on me, and although it might not be ideal, it will probably end up working out since I like kids and all. I won't have the college apartment feel that I want, where I can invite people over for movie nights and shindigs, but at least it will be somewhere to live, and not with the Pommaredes!
In other news, I'm looking forward to a very exciting Christmas break! In a week I'm leaving for Morocco to visit Agadir, Marrakech, Casablanca, and Fes with my friend Madeleine from my program. Then on the 28th I'm flying to Rome to celebrate the new year with Kim, also from my program.. From there, we're taking the train around Italy until Jan 12, when we'll fly back to Bordeaux to prepare for the new semester. Some stops we'll be making: Pompeii, Florence, Pisa, Venice, Milan. Any suggestions of places to hit up are much appreciated!
Back to studying time, I suppose.
Bonne journée! (Have a good day!)
A song for you:
Friday, December 3, 2010
"My Bordelaise Life"
I can't believe it...I've been living here in Bordeaux for about three months and one week now. I have done so much, learned so much, experienced so much. It's been an amazing time. One thing I have been wanting to do is start a blog so everyone back home can know what I am up to...but it's been harder to start than I realized. I decided tonight that it is time, though!
Last weekend I went to Scotland to see my friend from high school, Ainsley. Two other friends came too: Ali, who is studying abroad in Italy this semester, and Ainsley's friend, Anne, who is volunteering in Dublin this Fall. We had a really nice weekend! Saturday was spent in St. Andrew's, the town where Ainsley is studying. It snowed for a large part of the day, which was great obviously. We walked around the town, saw some of the sites there, including the ruins of St. Andrew's Castle and an old cemetery near the beach, and at night we had a Thanksgiving feast! Sunday we went to Edinburgh, where it was also snowing. Once again we walked around exploring, went to the castle (which was closed due to severe weather), ate Haggis, drank tea in the cafe where JK Rowling spent a lot of time writing the first Harry Potter book (and vandalized the bathroom walls like so many before us), walked around a Christmas Market and drank mulled wine, saw the 7th Harry Potter movie (so incredible!!!!), and drank whiskey at a pub called "The World's End". Monday morning I was supposed to fly back to Bordeaux...but when we arrived at the airport at the bright hour of 5am our flights had been canceled. So Ali and I headed back to Edinburgh and spent the day wandering, joined by Anne later when her afternoon flight was canceled. We did get to see some things that we hadn't, like the statue of Greyfriar's Bobby and the National Museum of Scotland. The snow was even more beautiful that day...truly a Winter Wonderland! Tuesday morning I headed back to the airport at 4:30 am. This time my flight was only delayed, but a few hours later they told us it was canceled. I met up with Ali and Anne, whose flights had been a little later than mine and were also canceled, and we spent the day in the airport together. I managed to get on a flight to London Gatwick at about 5pm, where I made a transfer to London Luton Airport, which took a few hours due to the busses and trains not running. Crazy weather! It was lucky I had to make that transfer though, because 1) I was able to make a detour and see Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station (which kind of made the whole ordeal worth it) and 2) Wednesday morning, when I took my flight back to Bordeaux, Luton was open but Gatwick was closed due to weather. The airline (EasyJet) paid for my hotel and breakfast in Luton, and I was able to walk to the airport that morning I was so close to it!
So I finally made it back to Bordeaux Wednesday afternoon and spent the evening resting up. But then Thursday morning I woke up and saw snow out my window! I was so surprised it had followed me here. It was pretty much melted by late afternoon, but it was exciting none the less.
Today, Friday, I had no classes, so a few of us went into town for a movie and lunch. I saw my first French movie in a theater (Pieds Nus) and actually understood it for the most part. Lunch was delicious. We found a little restaurant, where I ordered Moules (mussels) with an amazing cream sauce, followed by a Tarte au Chocolat. After that we went to the Christmas Market that is in Bordeaux this month and walked around looking at all the booths. It was pretty cute, but there were a lot of repeat things, like lots of bohemian type jewelry and clothing.
It's starting to get really cold in Bdx...I need to start layering up more. It was 36°F this evening! My San Diego body is so not used to this.
So that's that; definitely not so bad once I got started. I'll be posting various topics on here as time goes by...feel free to give me suggestions on things you want to know!
Next topic: Travels!
A song for you:
Last weekend I went to Scotland to see my friend from high school, Ainsley. Two other friends came too: Ali, who is studying abroad in Italy this semester, and Ainsley's friend, Anne, who is volunteering in Dublin this Fall. We had a really nice weekend! Saturday was spent in St. Andrew's, the town where Ainsley is studying. It snowed for a large part of the day, which was great obviously. We walked around the town, saw some of the sites there, including the ruins of St. Andrew's Castle and an old cemetery near the beach, and at night we had a Thanksgiving feast! Sunday we went to Edinburgh, where it was also snowing. Once again we walked around exploring, went to the castle (which was closed due to severe weather), ate Haggis, drank tea in the cafe where JK Rowling spent a lot of time writing the first Harry Potter book (and vandalized the bathroom walls like so many before us), walked around a Christmas Market and drank mulled wine, saw the 7th Harry Potter movie (so incredible!!!!), and drank whiskey at a pub called "The World's End". Monday morning I was supposed to fly back to Bordeaux...but when we arrived at the airport at the bright hour of 5am our flights had been canceled. So Ali and I headed back to Edinburgh and spent the day wandering, joined by Anne later when her afternoon flight was canceled. We did get to see some things that we hadn't, like the statue of Greyfriar's Bobby and the National Museum of Scotland. The snow was even more beautiful that day...truly a Winter Wonderland! Tuesday morning I headed back to the airport at 4:30 am. This time my flight was only delayed, but a few hours later they told us it was canceled. I met up with Ali and Anne, whose flights had been a little later than mine and were also canceled, and we spent the day in the airport together. I managed to get on a flight to London Gatwick at about 5pm, where I made a transfer to London Luton Airport, which took a few hours due to the busses and trains not running. Crazy weather! It was lucky I had to make that transfer though, because 1) I was able to make a detour and see Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station (which kind of made the whole ordeal worth it) and 2) Wednesday morning, when I took my flight back to Bordeaux, Luton was open but Gatwick was closed due to weather. The airline (EasyJet) paid for my hotel and breakfast in Luton, and I was able to walk to the airport that morning I was so close to it!
So I finally made it back to Bordeaux Wednesday afternoon and spent the evening resting up. But then Thursday morning I woke up and saw snow out my window! I was so surprised it had followed me here. It was pretty much melted by late afternoon, but it was exciting none the less.
Today, Friday, I had no classes, so a few of us went into town for a movie and lunch. I saw my first French movie in a theater (Pieds Nus) and actually understood it for the most part. Lunch was delicious. We found a little restaurant, where I ordered Moules (mussels) with an amazing cream sauce, followed by a Tarte au Chocolat. After that we went to the Christmas Market that is in Bordeaux this month and walked around looking at all the booths. It was pretty cute, but there were a lot of repeat things, like lots of bohemian type jewelry and clothing.
It's starting to get really cold in Bdx...I need to start layering up more. It was 36°F this evening! My San Diego body is so not used to this.
So that's that; definitely not so bad once I got started. I'll be posting various topics on here as time goes by...feel free to give me suggestions on things you want to know!
Next topic: Travels!
A song for you:
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