Back from Bordeaux

Back from Bordeaux. It is Monday afternoon, and I decided to just stay home today. I’ve been watching a lot of TV shows and doing laundry. I have a French class today, but it is just a class where you sight-see Paris and don’t really learn much, so I just didn’t go. I mean the class is only 1.5 hours… it isn’t worth it to travel 3 hours round-trip for a 1.5 hour class; sorry, it just isn’t. Also we are supposed to be told where in the city to meet, and I had no idea where we were meeting today anyway. I emailed my school asking, but they just told me the classroom, and we don’t meet at the classroom; we are supposed to meet at a location.

I didn’t get home until 12:45am last night (technically this morning) and waking up at 6:30am… is was all too much. I deserve a lazy day. But now I have finished most of my shows, so I am worrying about life i.e. my future, and how I am supposed to stay in France next year. It is a daunting task. I have thinking I need to do about what I want to go to school for (I mean if I really want to go to school). I think it is a smart move because most students have their Master’s, but I never planned on doing that. I don’t know what schools to apply to; I know nothing about French schools, so I am starting at square one. I know that need to get recommendations and all that, and I hope I have enough people I can ask. Gah need to move on from this slightly depressing topic.

Well now to Bordeaux this weekend. I remember I just wanted Friday to come, so I could just board my train and travel to a new place. I arrived in Paris at 7:15pm well before my 8:30pm train to Bordeaux. However, it took a while to get to the other train station, and I learned it was MASSIVE and had tons of other people; it was overwhelming because it is so much bigger than my usual train station. I wanted to get food before I boarded, so I did that, and boarded the train with a few minutes to spare. I hate time crunches, but it all worked out.

So I stored my small suitcase and found my seat (first class), which basically looks nicer, has a plug, and maybe the seats are a little bigger, not too much of a difference. After 5 minutes of just settling into my seat, a group of young people my age came and were sitting all around me, and I could tell one of the guy’s wanted my seat when he spoke to me (although, I didn’t know this by what he said, but one can guess situations). I just gave him my ticket, which told him this is my seat biatch, and him and his friends seemed all confused, but they just shrugged and he sat across from me.

THEN the little butt signaled a conductor when we walked by to talk about the situation. Wtf. I thought we had settled matters? He told them the situation, and they talked for a long while, and I eventually gave him my ticket, and he walked away for some time. When he came back, they discussed further and my ticket was given back. Then the conductor asked me a question, and I just said in French I don’t speak French. The guy across from me asked if I spoke English, and then asked when I purchased the ticket. I told him, and they discussed further. I don’t know what happened, but eventually the guy had to pay a fine (I guess), and he left his seat for somewhere else. He looked kinda pissed, but in a way that shows that he didn’t get away with whatever he was up to, so I don’t know how he tried to cheat the system, but he did and didn’t get away with it. Then sometime later, a new guy came and sat in the seat. I stayed in my seat the whole time, and I am just glad I didn’t screw up and do anything wrong.

During the ride, I just watched like 2.5 episodes of Dexter, and then I was there in Bordeaux. We arrived about 10 minutes early, and I just waited outside the station for Jérôme who was picking me up with one of his friend’s cars. While I was waiting (it was like midnight), a girl came and asked me if she could sit with me because she didn’t feel safe. She had to translate to English, and I learned she had a bf in Bordeaux she visits every weekend because she lives in between Paris and Lille, and I told her I had a bf and that I studied in Lille. Then I said goodbye because Jérôme had arrived.

We eventually found each other and drove back to his friend’s place. It was a house outside (but basically in Bordeaux) that Jérôme used to live in when he lived in Bordeaux for a few months for an internship. It was pretty big. I am used to small, cramped Parisian living, and this was a legit house with a lot of land and such.

Two of the roommates were awake when we arrived, and we just chatted for a bit and went to bed. We used English (sad to say) when they talked to me, but it is just that I can’t have a real conversation in French, so that’s what I did. 

The next day, we took our time getting ready, and I met the rest of the roommates. Jérôme and I then borrowed another car (a real clunker, which was funny) to have lunch at his cousin’s house, a family of five with three girls. I was nervous about this because of the French thing, but they took the time to speak slowly, ask me questions, and make sure I understood, so I felt really welcome there.

I just feel so weird when I am with French people that don’t try to talk to me because I just sit there. I can’t participate in a conversation when I don’t understand what is being said. It sucks, but I am such a baby because I really do need people to make the first step with me right now with French; I am not confident enough to make the first step. Maybe that is a downfall; I don’t know.

Anyway, lunch consisted of fois gras (duck pâté), which is considered a real delicacy, but it smells like and looks like cat food to me; it’s not bad, but I don’t think I will ever love and appreciate like I should apparently. Also bread, wine, raw duck and pork (maybe), and mandarins. It was a good meal. It is funny because two months ago, I wouldn’t have touched raw meat, but it is no biggie now. It is thinly sliced by the way, so it isn’t so bad. Not bad at all actually.

After lunch, we took a tram into the city center. Trams are nice because it is like a metro, but you can see the scenery! Bordeaux (mainly the surrounding neighborhoods) really reminded me of an American city in Florida. It had a beach town feel , and the houses looked like they were from Florida. The city just had so much space and was spread out like an American city with proper sized big buildings and parking lots, and the construction was new. American city. Actual Bordeaux was a classic, old French city though.

We walked around the city center for hours exploring. I saw churches and lots of pretty old buildings. We walked down the main street. Which is straight, so you can see both ends. We walked by the river. At one point, we stopped at a café, and I got my favorite—pineapple juice because I was just parched. There was a carnival nearby, which is exactly the same as a state fair in America, except that all the rides have sexy girls in bikinis painted on the displays with the names; kinda weird. I mean a carnival is for kids! C’mon.  We rode the Ferris Wheel, which was nice to see all of the city from above. After, we got these special, small cakes called canelés, which are famous in Bordeaux. It is just a little cake with a chewy crust and gooey inside with a unique flavor. We then headed back home.

Also, we had great weather most of the day. It started off rainy, but turned into a perfect day. We lucked out for sure.

I just took a couple hour break and went for a run and showered. I have to leave in a few minutes, but I am happy I ran. I hate running isn’t a daily thing anymore; it is really sad. I don’t have too much time to myself here other than sitting on trains, but that doesn’t count because I am not doing something I want to do like running. I do like reading, but I always just half sleep on trains. I am glad I didn’t go to Paris today i.e. ride trains. They are so much a part of my life now.

Took another break to pick up each kid. I was thinking during my drive that I am incredibly lucky with my kids. They are so good. They listen to me too! They don’t talk back ever. I am not sure because I can’t speak French yet, so they can’t wine and complain as easily, but I think they really are just good kids. Sometimes the girl will give me an exasperated look, and I’ll have to talk her into doing whatever, but overall, they really are great. I couldn’t deal with little monsters all the time. This job is hard enough as it is.

Back to Bordeaux. So we headed home and chilled out for a bit with Jérôme’s friends. I can’t really remember, but me and Jérôme went back to the city later on to have dinner. We had to wait in line for like thirty minutes, but the restaurant was smart and lines people up at a bar, so you can buy drinks if you want. When we ordered our food, it came in like 15 minutes; very good service. It was funny because there was a couple next to us, and we ordered the same exact thing as them by accident. I got a pizza with raw ham and vegetables, which was very yummy. Pizzas here are annoying because you have to cut the pieces yourself and use a knife and fork the whole time. It’s hard and takes time to eat!

After dinner, we went to a bar called Le Petit Bois to meet up with Jérôme’s friends (The Little Woods), and it was so cool because it had cute, fake trees growing from the floor to the ceiling, and it was a wine bar—parfait for me. When you ordered wine, you got to choose from a sucre or sale side (sugar or salt). The sugar dish was little pieces of cake (coconut and chocolate) with whip cream in the middle, and the sale was slices of cheese, ham, and bread. It was a cool concept.

We walked to the bus and got home around 2am I think? And stayed up at some late hour chatting. I go to bed too late during the weekend; never catch up on sleep. The next day, we set an alarm for 9:30am, but didn’t get out of bed until 10:45am. We got ready and went to have lunch on the river. I had a fish dish, and Jérôme got a steak that came with bone marrow, which I tried, but it tasted really weird, and I don’t think I’ll ever eat it again. While we walked to the restaurant, we passed through a market that sold all sorts of food. They had kebabs, pastries, fois gras, bread, etc. So many different smells! Then we headed home and ended up watching some Canadian movie, which was in French, but they added subtitles for me. Half the movie was in Arabic though, so the subtitles were in English, so I felt bad, but everyone could speak English at least a little better than me. It was called Incendies and was a messed up movie. The ending was a pretty shocking revelation. I don’t know how someone could come up with it. Look it up if you’re interested.

After the movie, we had to head to the train station. It was sad to leave; I didn’t want to! We got there with 10 minutes to spare, so we were rushed, but everything worked out. The first hour, I read and Jérôme slept, and then we watched part of HP7 Part 1. Love those movies (Part 1 and 2 at least). We were in Paris before we knew it, and I had to make my long way back home. I had to take a sketchy RER at 11:45pm to the far away train station. Uhg I was sketched out; sketchy characters in the RER so late. I am so happy no one messed with me. I got home at 12:45am and headed straight for bed.

Bordeaux was a great city. The actual city center is small, which means walkable, but the areas around it make it a big city. It was like a mini Paris with the cute, old buildings, but it had its own flavor too. The river is much wider than La Seine, and it just has a different feel; more laid-back, maybe that is where I am getting the “beachy” feel to it. Hopefully I go back one day!

As for Friday, I had lunch with a lot of girls after class. I have made two British friends, Clare and Hester, who are great and British! Love the accents and the way they say things sometimes, like Clare once asked a girl where she lived, “Where abouts are you from?” Love it. Meghan and Paige joined us along with another American, Hester knows who was very nice as well, and a Mexican girl, who is really cute. I like the girls in my class, so much nicer!

I also met a girl in my class whose parents live in my small mountain town!! AHHH crazy, small world. I told her the shop my mom works at and where I used to work, and she knew of them. We probably have seen each other before in the past; weird to think about. I want to get her info tomorrow because I think we could be friends!

Dessert we had tonight: Tarte aux poires bourdaloue. Trés bonne!