"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!

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