Current exchange rate $1.48 to 1€
UGH.
I took out 50€ from the bank today and it turned in to $73.54.
I was thinking about going to the store...but then I remembered I have a sack of potatoes and some rice so I made by. Maybe tomorrow, for the basics.
Today for lunch, a group of us went to Café St. Projet because a lot of us haven't seen each other in a while, since a lot of people went out of town for the break. We all got the menu midi for 11.50 which comes with a salad, plate, and dessert. I got a pizza with some German name made with créme fraîche, lardon, onion, and seasoning along with a crumble aux pommes. The pizza was really good, but it unfortunately didn't satisfy my craving (must have been the lack of tomato sauce). The crumble was okay. It's SO hard to say crumble in French, along with brownie!
After lunch, went to Bordeaux 2 for study time and got a little bit done. Not as much as I had hoped... but maybe tomorrow will be more of a success. Maybe.
Travel news!
I might be going to Rhodes, Greece and Turkey in a couple weeks.
I've figured out how to get a ticket for the Rock Am Ring music festival (in Germany in June) and who to go with.
Angelique and I have bought all our plane tickets and booked most of our accommodations for her trip here in June. We'll be going to Santander, Bilbao, Madrid, and Barcelona, Spain with a pit stop in Porto, Portugal as well.
I'm so excited for all these!!!!
Oh, almost forgot. The reason for the title. I had some incredibly intelligent conversations today about
1. Child Development and Adoption
2. Images of Masculinity and Homophobia/Feminism
3. How many combinations you can make between strawberry jam, butter, and rhubarb jam on a piece of toast, and if things like layer order and design should be taken into consideration. I know this one seems a little iffy, but it was so mathematical and nerdy that it definitely counts.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
Seafood Sunday 3/ Easter
Yesterday's seafood choice: Paëlla from Marché des Chartrons.
Also bought a baguette ancienne and some delicious apple cider (3€ for a whole liter! needless to say I finished it by the end of the day)
Easter wasn't really anything special. I didn't even eat chocolate or ham. I went to mass at Cathédrale St. André in the morning, before going to Marché des Chartrons to eat my now weekly seafood lunch and meet up with Autumn. There was a giant cruise ship on the Garonne, so there were plenty of English speakers about. I was confused as a cruise tourist by many of the vendors. Oh well, at least I know French and I can aw them by responding in their own tongue. :-P
Friday night I went to an amazing Ratatat concert with my couchsurfers. Couldn't believe how awesome the imaging was. And the energy the guys gave off while banging their drums, WOW!! I definitely need to get back and see them again. Afterwards we went to the quai to drink some wine and chat, before heading home where I made grilled cheese with goat cheese and lardon (smoked bacon) for everyone.
Also bought a baguette ancienne and some delicious apple cider (3€ for a whole liter! needless to say I finished it by the end of the day)
Easter wasn't really anything special. I didn't even eat chocolate or ham. I went to mass at Cathédrale St. André in the morning, before going to Marché des Chartrons to eat my now weekly seafood lunch and meet up with Autumn. There was a giant cruise ship on the Garonne, so there were plenty of English speakers about. I was confused as a cruise tourist by many of the vendors. Oh well, at least I know French and I can aw them by responding in their own tongue. :-P
Friday night I went to an amazing Ratatat concert with my couchsurfers. Couldn't believe how awesome the imaging was. And the energy the guys gave off while banging their drums, WOW!! I definitely need to get back and see them again. Afterwards we went to the quai to drink some wine and chat, before heading home where I made grilled cheese with goat cheese and lardon (smoked bacon) for everyone.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Nomnomnom
Tonight I made pasta à la carbonara and it was soooo good! Topped it off with a beet salad and a baguette, and some friends chipped in with wine, beer, and dessert (raspberry beignets with crême fraîche, rice pudding, and raspberries). I will definitely be making that again. :)
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Un jour gourmand
Here in France, we like to eat. And boy do we eat well :)
A day of food:
Lunch at Marché des Chartrons:
----Six large oysters from Cap Ferret, dribbled with lemon juice, along with a glass of white wine and some bread (complet, kind of an all natural and more healthy bread)
----Followed with about 500 grams of fresh Spanish strawberries, shared between Kim and I
Tradition of Seafood Sunday has been started. Two Sundays in a row, baby! I love oysters so much. Something about the way they are served and eaten is just mmmm. Pick up the shell, top it with a little lemon juice, cut the oyster from the muscle attaching it to the shell, put the shell to your mouth and slip the oyster right in there. Then there's the amazing taste of salt water (reminds me of home every time), lemon, and fruit de mer, chew to your heart's desire, swallow, take a sip of white wine, follow it with a little bread maybe. Oh, and can't forget to detach the muscle from the shell. Very creamy and good as well.
Hung out a little on the quai with Kim and a couple of her French friends before heading back to her place to watch the second half of Gladiator, which we had started last night. After the movie we made brownies, instant ja jang myun (type of Korean noodles), and started on some tea eggs (man, I love tea eggs). Now I'm back at my place wondering what to make for dinner...
Saturday I did a little shopping, bought a cute pencil case from Virgin Megastore and a saucy pair of earrings at a bijouterie.We wanted to do more but got started a little too late and all the stores were closing. So tomorrow we're setting out a little earlier to do the a little more!
Oh did I mention, IT'S SPRING BREAK, BABY!!!!
I'm going to see this guy in concert end of May :)
A day of food:
Lunch at Marché des Chartrons:
----Six large oysters from Cap Ferret, dribbled with lemon juice, along with a glass of white wine and some bread (complet, kind of an all natural and more healthy bread)
----Followed with about 500 grams of fresh Spanish strawberries, shared between Kim and I
Tradition of Seafood Sunday has been started. Two Sundays in a row, baby! I love oysters so much. Something about the way they are served and eaten is just mmmm. Pick up the shell, top it with a little lemon juice, cut the oyster from the muscle attaching it to the shell, put the shell to your mouth and slip the oyster right in there. Then there's the amazing taste of salt water (reminds me of home every time), lemon, and fruit de mer, chew to your heart's desire, swallow, take a sip of white wine, follow it with a little bread maybe. Oh, and can't forget to detach the muscle from the shell. Very creamy and good as well.
Hung out a little on the quai with Kim and a couple of her French friends before heading back to her place to watch the second half of Gladiator, which we had started last night. After the movie we made brownies, instant ja jang myun (type of Korean noodles), and started on some tea eggs (man, I love tea eggs). Now I'm back at my place wondering what to make for dinner...
Saturday I did a little shopping, bought a cute pencil case from Virgin Megastore and a saucy pair of earrings at a bijouterie.We wanted to do more but got started a little too late and all the stores were closing. So tomorrow we're setting out a little earlier to do the a little more!
Oh did I mention, IT'S SPRING BREAK, BABY!!!!
I'm going to see this guy in concert end of May :)
Thursday, April 14, 2011
La fin de l'année scolaire!
Les vacances d'été sont presque là, donc ça veut-dire que c'est le temps d'aller chez mes parents, oui? Non. Je reste deux mois plus en Europe! Il est bizarre que quatre sur six de mes cours sont finis, sauf les examens et les dossiers. Pour moi, il semble que je devrait preparer à déménager et partir de la France. En fait, je serai là jusqu'à la fin de juin. Je suis contente que j'ai choisi cette date (28 juin), mais encore, c'est bizarre parce que généralement je pars de Davis quand je finis mes examens et c'est tout. Mais il sera bien d'être à Bordeaux sans les cours, et je suis vachement enthousiaste de voyager en Grèce en mai, et aussi d'assister la festivale de la musique et voyager avec ma soeur en juin. Il est un jour comme aujourd'hui, quand je dois travailler beaucoup, que la California me manque le plus fort. Mais Bordeaux est une belle ville, et je l'adore. Aujourd'hui j'ai mis des vêtements de l'hiver dans un sac; c'était le premier étape de partir, je crois. Dans les deux mois prochains, je vais faire beaucoup de choses, tout que je voulais faire pendant cette année. On peut regarder la liste que j'ai fait... Je suis triste que j'ai pas travaillé, ou fait plus d'amies français, mais c'est la vie. J'étais trop paresseuse, trop timide peut-être. J'ai plein de souvenirs et peut-être c'est mieux que mes nouvelles copines viennent de Californie, parce que je peux les voir encore dans le futur. Quand même j'ai rencontré beaucoup de personnes avec qui j'ai fait des connections et partagé les cultures et des histoires, et ça va rester dans ma tête toujours. C'est comme j'ai dit plus tôt...c'est bien quand tu rencontres quelqu'un avec qui tu as une connection, mais pense pas de ce qui pouvoir passer dans la vie, souviens les bons moments et laisse-le comme ça (c'était un peu bizarre en français, je suis sûr). D'accord, je vais laisser ces pensées pour le moment, et peut-être je vais revenir, peut-être pas. On va voir.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Il fait beau!
With the arrival of Spring and nice weather, Bordeaux has become an even greater city to live in. I can't believe how much I take for granted here, so I've been trying to really notice the things that I know I will miss when I leave on June 28. There's crazy amounts of people out in the streets of Bordeaux at all times of the day. Winter clothes are being put away in favor of light Spring dresses, shorts, and sandals. It's been close to 30°C the past few days (that's about 90°F). Gelato stands are emerging again. The quai is filled with picnic-ers, tourists, lovers, musicians, runners, and groups just enjoying life the best way you can: with friends, a bottle of wine, and an incredible atmosphere.
Last night I was walking around town after seeing a movie (Tous les Soleils, definitely recommend if you can find it with English subtitles) with Charlotte. There were so many people out, young and old--more than I've seen since it became cold. Something about the French way of life... going out at 10pm to eat dinner; sitting around at cafés and salon de thés; hanging about by the river sippin some wine out of plastic cups... so cool. This town is amazing; I really can't believe how comfortable I have become here.
Last weekend it rained a little bit, but despite that it was nice. I had a couple couchsurfers over and we went to a boîte (club) with a bunch of people until the early morning hours. After sleeping in on Saturday, I went out and donated blood, which was a great experience and I am so glad I did it. -Only in France would they provide you with a whole meal of quiche and tarts and other delicious foods after giving away a pint. I missed my free t-shirt, but I walked out of there feeling stronger than usual and really needing to pee. Besides, everyone was so nice and impressed that I was a foreigner donating. I had next to no problems speaking with everyone, and I understood the questionnaire completely. After I had finished my nurse started speaking to me in English telling me that there was food on the other side of the tent, I shouldn't drink or do sports, etc etc. Getting englished used to make me kind of frustrated, but now I realize that people probably just want to practice their English, just like I want to practice my French (although I wouldn't really call it practicing anymore). I was actually surprised how much she knew, since we had been speaking in French up until then.- Sunday I walked around Bordeaux, and lucky I did, because it was the one day a year that the Bordelais empty their attics and have a city wide garage sale. I didn't buy much, but I saw a lot of cool things and got a bande-desinee (TinTin au Congo, 1970) in great condition for 2€. Another book to add to my old book collection! There was also a Nature and Bio market happening, and I talked with a couple who work on a snail farm and sell escargot. They showed me some pictures about how they harvest the snails and said I could come out and check out the farm if I wanted to. Definitely want to try to do that if I can!
School news: Finals are arriving at the beginning of May, so I've started preparing for them. My anthropology class already finished, I just need to do the paper for it. My two sociology classes end next week, and then I have the test for one and the paper for the other. Spring Break is the week after next, but I've decided to stay in Bordeaux to prepare for finals and to save money for Greece in May and southern France in June. I enjoy Bordeaux the best when there aren't classes so I don't feel bad at all about missing this travel opportunity (and lets face it, I've done a lot of that this year already).
I pretty much finished my sculpture in last week's sculpture class! I'm going in next week to add some more bottle caps but then it's done. :) All I have to say is that it's amazing how things like this take shape (and I mean that quite literally). I started out with a completely different idea, which eventually turned into this:
What I did:
-connected a bunch of yogurt cups into arches
-covered those with bottle caps collected from pubs
-attached the arches
-filled in the blank spots
-and voilà!
Donnes-moi ton coeur, et je te donne ma vie.
Last night I was walking around town after seeing a movie (Tous les Soleils, definitely recommend if you can find it with English subtitles) with Charlotte. There were so many people out, young and old--more than I've seen since it became cold. Something about the French way of life... going out at 10pm to eat dinner; sitting around at cafés and salon de thés; hanging about by the river sippin some wine out of plastic cups... so cool. This town is amazing; I really can't believe how comfortable I have become here.
Last weekend it rained a little bit, but despite that it was nice. I had a couple couchsurfers over and we went to a boîte (club) with a bunch of people until the early morning hours. After sleeping in on Saturday, I went out and donated blood, which was a great experience and I am so glad I did it. -Only in France would they provide you with a whole meal of quiche and tarts and other delicious foods after giving away a pint. I missed my free t-shirt, but I walked out of there feeling stronger than usual and really needing to pee. Besides, everyone was so nice and impressed that I was a foreigner donating. I had next to no problems speaking with everyone, and I understood the questionnaire completely. After I had finished my nurse started speaking to me in English telling me that there was food on the other side of the tent, I shouldn't drink or do sports, etc etc. Getting englished used to make me kind of frustrated, but now I realize that people probably just want to practice their English, just like I want to practice my French (although I wouldn't really call it practicing anymore). I was actually surprised how much she knew, since we had been speaking in French up until then.- Sunday I walked around Bordeaux, and lucky I did, because it was the one day a year that the Bordelais empty their attics and have a city wide garage sale. I didn't buy much, but I saw a lot of cool things and got a bande-desinee (TinTin au Congo, 1970) in great condition for 2€. Another book to add to my old book collection! There was also a Nature and Bio market happening, and I talked with a couple who work on a snail farm and sell escargot. They showed me some pictures about how they harvest the snails and said I could come out and check out the farm if I wanted to. Definitely want to try to do that if I can!
School news: Finals are arriving at the beginning of May, so I've started preparing for them. My anthropology class already finished, I just need to do the paper for it. My two sociology classes end next week, and then I have the test for one and the paper for the other. Spring Break is the week after next, but I've decided to stay in Bordeaux to prepare for finals and to save money for Greece in May and southern France in June. I enjoy Bordeaux the best when there aren't classes so I don't feel bad at all about missing this travel opportunity (and lets face it, I've done a lot of that this year already).
I pretty much finished my sculpture in last week's sculpture class! I'm going in next week to add some more bottle caps but then it's done. :) All I have to say is that it's amazing how things like this take shape (and I mean that quite literally). I started out with a completely different idea, which eventually turned into this:
-connected a bunch of yogurt cups into arches
-covered those with bottle caps collected from pubs
-attached the arches
-filled in the blank spots
-and voilà!
Donnes-moi ton coeur, et je te donne ma vie.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
100 cities
So when I came to France I had this little dream that I would be able to visit 100 cities before I left. Even though I have since realized how impossible that is, I figure I'll get at least halfway by the time I leave. Here's what's been happening so far.
100 cities!!
1. London, England
2. Pessac, France
3. Bordeaux, France
4. Arcachon, France
5. Paris, France
6. St. Emilion, France
7. Biarritz, France
8. St. Jean de Luz, France
9. Versailles, France
10. Dublin, Ireland
11. Killarney, Ireland
12. Doolin, Ireland
13. Galway, Ireland
14. Inis Mor (island), Ireland
15. Carcassonne, France
16. Toulouse, France
17. Amsterdam, The Netherlands (Holland)
18. Edinburgh, Scotland
19. St. Andrews, Scotland
20. Agadir, Morocco
21. Marrakech, Morocco
22. Ouazazate, Morocco
23. Zagora, Morocco
24. Casbah Ait, Morocco
25. Casablanca, Morocco
26. Fes, Morocco
27. Rome, Italy
28. Scafati, Italy
29. Pompeii, Italy
30. Florence, Italy
31. Fiesole, Italy
32. Venice, Italy
33. Milan, Italy
34. Vannes, France
35. Quiberon, France
36. Mont St Michel, France
37. Bayeux, France
38. D-day beaches, France
39. Reims, France
40. Laon, France
41. Oxford, England
42. Reading, England
Hopefully soon I'll follow this up with a little log of travels since day one.
100 cities!!
1. London, England
2. Pessac, France
3. Bordeaux, France
4. Arcachon, France
5. Paris, France
6. St. Emilion, France
7. Biarritz, France
8. St. Jean de Luz, France
9. Versailles, France
10. Dublin, Ireland
11. Killarney, Ireland
12. Doolin, Ireland
13. Galway, Ireland
14. Inis Mor (island), Ireland
15. Carcassonne, France
16. Toulouse, France
17. Amsterdam, The Netherlands (Holland)
18. Edinburgh, Scotland
19. St. Andrews, Scotland
20. Agadir, Morocco
21. Marrakech, Morocco
22. Ouazazate, Morocco
23. Zagora, Morocco
24. Casbah Ait, Morocco
25. Casablanca, Morocco
26. Fes, Morocco
27. Rome, Italy
28. Scafati, Italy
29. Pompeii, Italy
30. Florence, Italy
31. Fiesole, Italy
32. Venice, Italy
33. Milan, Italy
34. Vannes, France
35. Quiberon, France
36. Mont St Michel, France
37. Bayeux, France
38. D-day beaches, France
39. Reims, France
40. Laon, France
41. Oxford, England
42. Reading, England
Hopefully soon I'll follow this up with a little log of travels since day one.
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