I FAIL

Well since I obviously fail at blogging, I am giving up on acting like I will update this.  You can see pictures of my adventures on my facebook, or just ask me what I have been up to. But I return to the States on December 30th. See you soon!

The week of September 6th

Monday, September 6^th, we had our DEFLE (department of international students learning French) placement exams. (The DEFLE is where I am taking most of my classes).  There were a bunch of students all in this giant amphitheater.  The people of an Asian origin clearly outweighed the 65 Californians. The test included listening and writing and a one-on-one oral component.  It wasn’t as bad as expected and I tested into the second degree (which means nothing to any of you).

This day became known as “messy Monday”.  Almost all of the Californians (except some of my friends and I) decided to start drinking after the DEFLE test, which ended at like 12:30pm.  We still had class that afternoon, so people had come to class buzzed/ drunk.  By nighttime, I got back to the dorms from dinner and everyone was WASTED!!!! It was hilarious to hear about some of stories later.  Obviously, some of them never made it to class the next day because they were throwing up/ too hung-over.

Most of this week consisted of classes in the morning and some meetings here and there.

Thursday was an end-of-ILP dinner (which means it was the end of our intensive language program dinner).  We were finally going to get to try real French food that none of us would ever get on our own… like duck.  That was another glorious drunken night for the Californians (minus my friends and I… we somehow keep not getting the memo).  During the dinner, one of the program coordinators told us that the French believe that one should drink, but in moderation...which means that she could tell that the Californians were already drunk.  The next day I heard tons of crazy stories about the drunken people.  After the dinner, we went to the reflecting pool where there were tons of Erasmus students.  Erasmus is like studying abroad for European students.  So we got to meet some new people. YAY.

Friday, I moved into my permanent residence.  I rent a room in this ladies house.  So I live with a mom and her three teenage sons (14, 16, and 17). My bed is a futon so it is incredibly uncomfortable, but at least I have my own shower and big French windows.

That night, my landlord Cecile invited me out for drinks with her and the girl who used to rent my room, Gale.   At the bar, I asked the bartender for a coke and all the French people just laughed at me and called me and talked about how American I was.  Then the bartender proceeded to give me white wine mixed with the French equivalent of sprite. When I finished that, he gave me a coke with lemon, which was nice… Then he got inspired and tried different mixtures of drinks. I tried coke mixed with red wine which sounds gross but wasn’t bad.  Interesting night out with my 45 year old landlord and Gale who is 27.

Biarritz

Saturday, September 4, 2010 at the butt-crack of dawn, I got up to catch a train to Biarritz (a beach town on the France-Spain border).

We got there and caught a bus to the center of town and just kind of wandered until we figured out what direction our hotel was.  The hotel was unimpressive and small, but I seriously didn’t care because it wasn’t expensive and it was a place to sleep and change in between all the fun.

After checking into our hotel, we explored the town a bit and got lunch at a Basque restaurant (Biarritz is Basque country).  The meals were fine, but the Basque cake was especially good.

Biarritz is known as a big surfing beach… when we got to the beach, the waves were so huge that none of us not-so-fabulous surfers dared to surf.  So we went to just swim or whatever. Unfortunately, the swimming zone was ridiculously small and there were like 200 people in the zone.  Little kids were running into me left and right! We were scared to body surf because we would run into/ kill people/ ourselves. I was actually scared of going under the water for fear of someone being on top of me so that I couldn’t get up.  Nevertheless, the water was AMAZING!!!

The beach was so great. I actually fell asleep on the sand for the first time ever. Then we played Frisbee on the beach, like the Americans that we are.

We went back to our hotel to change for a night out.  We got dinner at an Italian restaurant (which is oddly common in our group) and then met up with other Californians who were in Biarritz that weekend.  We went to their hotel and people pregamed… then we began the hunt for a hoppin’ bar.  While searching, we got these coupons to get a free drinks at a bar… needless to say, we decided to go to that bar.

We thought that we could choose our drinks, but the bartender just gave everyone Sex on the Beach cocktails that most of us could’ve sworn did not have any alcohol in it.  The DJ in the bar could tell we were Americans so he decided to play American music. So of course the American girls all started dancing… we pretty much got the party started at that bar.  Throughout the night more people came and girls started talking to guys and blah blah blah… Overall, it was a fun night. And, I had my first cocktail… fancy that.

Sunday, we got coffee at a café and pastries from the farmers market.  Then we went back to the farmers market and bought strawberries and probably the most legit Basque cake ever.  We went to this place that overlooks the beach and ate cake and strawberries (one of the greatest decisions we could’ve made that day).

We couldn’t stand not getting in the water on more time so we ran onto the beach, changed into out bathing suits (on the beach… we are in France, people are topless on the beach), and ran into the water for 30 glorious minutes.  There were less people in the water and the waves were smaller so it was great.  After, we quickly changed back into our clothes and ran to the bus stop to catch the bus to the train station.  We took the train home and chilled out the rest of the night.

Sorry for the delay... First week of September

So I pretty much fail at this blogging thing because I am well over a month behind in updating it but, here we go!

The whole week mostly consisted of going to class from 8:30-12:30, getting lunch after, wasting time watching shows/movies on my laptop, getting/ cooking dinner, and watching more movies… school does really suck the interesting things out of my life

Phonetics Lab

But Thursday, September 2^nd, the entire EAP group went on an excursion to some vineyards.  They were gorgeous!

ya that's someones elbow

I tried my first wine (also my first drink ever).  Everyone said that it was really good, expensive wine, but all I could taste was the alcohol… I was not a fan

On Friday, I signed the lease to my logement (my room in some lady’s house).

August 29th and 30th

Sunday, August 29, 2010 I spent pretty much the entire day in my room alone watching tv online and searching for apartments to rent. Lame… I know… but I wanted to finally chill out before classes started on Monday.

Monday, August 30^th was the first day of our two week language intensive program before classes officially start.  I, like a failure, tested into the first group.  It was pretty good review and class was only from 8:30am-12:30pm with a 20 minute break somewhere in there.  After class we went to one of the Cafes on campus that finally opened and got the token ham and cheese sandwich… (jambon et fromage tous les jours!)

That night, some of us got Pizza at an Italian restaurant in the center of town.  But apparently during my Sunday of solitude, I missed out on tons of craziness.  On Saturday night, a girl named Larissa, on her way back to her, saw some random naked guy masturbating in one of the communal kitchens in the dorms.  So everyone was now making a big deal about locking the front door to our dorms so that creepers like that couldn’t get in.  Also, the next day, this random old guy was trying to get into our dorm building to meet up with a friend.  The only people here in this building are from California so that was total BS.  Larissa wouldn’t let him in, but he got in when someone else was entering the building.  Larissa called the program coordinator who came with the security guard and escorted the man out of the building.  Later on, he came back and was yelling at her about having him escorted away and he kept telling her that he “knew who she was”.  So this poor girl Larissa has been threatened and is just seriously not having the best luck here in the dorms.

the longest day of my life... August 28th

Saturday, August 28^th was like the longest day of my life. We had a planned excursion today with all of the EAP students.  We went to an oyster farming town somewhere by the Atlantic.  We saw how the oyster farm which wasn’t really a particularly interesting trip.  It only got interesting around lunch time when they made us try raw oysters… I would totally try escargot, but there is no way in hell I am trying raw seafood… especially since I don’t eat any seafood ever anyway.  I got my friend to eat some of mine so that it didn’t look rude to not eat the oysters.  Then they just kept feeding us ham, cheese, and bread, followed by an apple tart with red wine glaze which wasn’t amazing or anything…

Then we went to the world’s largest sand dune and climbed it… once again, I am shown that I am more out of shape than I thought.  I thought that it would be a cool idea to climb the sand rather than just take the steps up the sand dune…(yes it is so large that it has its own flight of steps).  France keeps handing me my fat butt by making everything so hard to get to.  Even the thinnest people here were out of breath after climbing a huge sand mountain.  Nevertheless, it was soooo worth it! Gorgeous view

Sand Dune

After, we went to Arcachon to go to the beach… it sucked because they only gave us one hour of beach time.  I would have rather not eaten oysters or visit the oyster farms and have spent more time at the beach.  The water was perfect but it didn’t last very long.

On the bus drive home, the driver decided to take the streets rather than the freeway for some reason.  It took FOREVER! And we were listening to weird American radio with the occasional French pop song.  There was this crap Bohemian Rhapsody cover that was playing and I immediately felt insulted… way to ruin a good song. It was like jazzy and stuff… insanity.

The Real Bohemian Rhapsody

I had an appointment to look at an apartment at 6pm but I called and canceled because I didn’t think we would be back in time.  But the guy said that I could come at 8pm… he told me this at 7:15.  I had 45 minutes to get dressed, catch the metro, and walk to this house.  I had just gotten back home at 6:30 then I took a shower and put sweats on… so much for relaxing. I got to the house at 8:07ish and I really liked it, but the guy told me that one girl had come before me to see the house… which means that now there is a good chance that I wont get it… AWESOME!

I left the house kinda bummed and waited at the metro stop for my friends who of course didn’t get there until 40 minutes later and then I still had to find them because they got off at a different stop.  I was not happy.

We got dinner at a fast food pasta place which is pretty much the coolest idea ever.  Instead of a vat of boiling oil, they use a vat of boiling… water? Plus, it was really good… the Italian in the group agreed.

Once again, we went to the river and people drank… but because I was only with a couple of girls, they bought flasks of vodka and some chasers and very classy-like drank them on a bench by the river.

The big party group in the program eventually made their way downtown and we met up with them… only to get more alcohol and return to the river… the exact same thing that we had done the previous night, and earlier this night… needless to say, I was not happy… I was bored of all the drunken Americans.

Then the group split and half of us randomly walked to a metro stop.  We got on and it was SOOOO crowded.  Probably the craziest bus/metro experience of my life… plus everyone was speaking in French.  We got off by the train station which is a relatively sketchy part of town.  We were lost while trying to find some club that some people had heard of from somewhere… very specific, I know.

The club had no cover charge and played electronic/house music.  I actually had a really fun time.  Those guys stare, grab, and try to dance with you even when I was not dancing sexily at all.  And they kept trying to talk to me, but it was too loud and I don’t understand enough French so it was pretty much useless… I kept seeing girls from my group making out with random French boys… it was just a seriously crazy night

We caught a taxi home and didn’t get back until 4am… longest day of my life!

August 27th

Friday, August 27^th, we had our DEFLE test at 9:30am.  The DEFLE test was the first placement test that we have to take to determine our level for the language intensive program before classes start.  I didn’t think that this test was too bad… that is, except for the oral section.  We had to listen to recordings and answer questions about them.  One of the recordings had the people speaking so fast, I would be surprised if all French speakers could understand what they were saying.  The entire test room looked so taken aback by this recording.  But of course, you still have those people who understand enough to answer some of the questions…

Later, we had our lodging meeting for those of us who were planning on renting an apartment for the semester.  I didn’t want to live in a homestay so I went to the meeting.  (Once again, it was in French… I’m sure there was important information that I will never know because it was in French).  They gave us a list of apartments for rent with names, addresses, and brief descriptions of the places.  I could feel the level of competition rise so much once that list was handed out.  Unfortunately, with that list, came the pairing of people to search for apartments together… which means I got stuck finding a place by myself… those bitches… (I wont give too many details about my apartment search except that my friends kept getting the apartments that I wanted but I eventually found a place in future posts)

That night, a bunch of us bought bottles of wine and went to the river.  They all very classy-like drank a bottle of wine each… out of the bottle, not from a glass.  They were being the typical loud Americans.  Then we proceeded to a bar where people continued to drink and some of the girls fawned over some guys… not a particularly interesting night.

Oh those classy Americans

26 Aôut 2010

Thursday, August 26^th we had our program orientations (all in French) which was annoying because I couldn’t understand half of what they were saying.  I feel that all of the important stuff should be said in English to make sure we know what we are doing. But whatever…

Later that day, we had a walking tour of centre ville (the center of town) in Bordeaux.  We split off into two groups and saw the beauty of Bordeaux!  This city has all the beauty and history of Paris minus the tourists.

 

I got really behind in these blog posts so I don’t remember what I did that night.

August 25th (day two in Bordeaux)

Wednesday, August 25, 2010, Valeria and I went to the grocery store Carfour to get stuff for breakfast.  We got chocolate croissants, boxed orange juice, and nectarines to last us for the week.  Then we got ready because we had a “pique-nique” with everyone and the directors of the EAP program in Bordeaux.  Then we had our first and last meeting in English.  It was about safety and scheduling and stuff…

Afterward, a bunch of us went downtown.  We all of course split apart because it is hard to keep everyone together in a group of like 20-25 people.  My group wandered, went to a phone store, got ice cream, picked up my black and white film, went into a bunch of stores and did some minor shopping for necessities like bath towels and such, and then proceeded to get sandwiches for dinner in the park.   

While eating dinner, we saw this major fight break out.  A man and a woman were hitting and kicking this other woman and yelling stuff in French.  Dogs were barking like crazy and both girls were bleeding down their faces! It was insane! I immediately told the girls I was with to get up and leave.  I didn’t even want to risk the chance of being involved in that… especially since they kept moving closer and closer to us.

As soon as we got back to our dorms, people were leaving to go back downtown… so of course Valeria and I went with them.  We met a bunch of the EAP people at a bar downtown.  We hung out in the bar for like 20 minutes and then everyone decided to leave… besides the fact that half of the group left the bar when we got there or didn’t even bother to go inside.  We decided to just catch the tram back to our dorms… unfortunately the tram wasn’t running in that direction anymore.  By that time, there was a group of like 30 trying to figure out how to get back to the dorms.  We ended up calling a bunch of taxis to take us back.  I’m not sure that much effort to get back to the dorm was worth the 20 minutes at the bar. :/

My first day in Bordeaux

Tuesday, August 24, 2010 we got up early to catch our train.  We got a taxi to pick us up from our hostel… which was totally hilarious because he had to drive up and down steps.  GOODBYE PARIS! HELLO BORDEAUX!!!

The train ride was like 3 and a half hours… alone… but I caught up on some sleep and listened to music to pass the time.  We caught another legit taxi, except the taxi driver totally seemed like he hated us.  It wasn’t until the end of the ride where we told him that we were from California did he seem to get nicer.  French people really do like Californians apparently.

We checked in and got our keys to our rooms.  Of course, there were no elevators so we had to somehow drag our heavy bags up two flights of steps. That was fun…

I was being very friendly and meeting like everyone.  One guy that I met looked awfully familiar.  I asked him where he was from and he said Santa Monica. I was like okay there might be a connection there… so I asked him what middle school he went to… he said Wildwood. No connection there… so I asked him where he went to elementary school and he said Canyon. YES! THAT WAS IT! I am totally in France with a guy that I went to elementary school.  Heck, I am amazed that after all this time, he still looked familiar.

A group of people that I met here, and I went to downtown Bordeaux for lunch and got kabobs. And I found a place that would develop my film in 1 day.

A girl named Valeria and I were the only two from that group that lived on the second floor so we hung out in my room and went on facebook and watched tv online.  We got a free 24 hour trial to the WiFi in our building.  She had a mutual friend with me.  It turns out, that she lived on the same floor as a bunch of my friends from UCLA (Kelly, Mimi, Jen, Jacob, etc… I’m talking about Fir 4).  WHAT ARE THE ODDS!?!?

Me and Valeria

After hanging out in my room for a couple of hours, we went back to the first floor where our group lived.  Our hanging out in the hall talking to one guy kept growing.  It turned into a hallway party with like half of the people studying abroad in the hallway.  We were proud that it all started with us, but it got ridiculously loud.  Hours later, people were finally back in their rooms and it was quiet.