Bonjour tout le monde!
Another week has gone by and I have been stressed over figuring out classes all week. I took the bus for 35 minutes into Pessac from my house Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to try and figure out classes, all at around 8:30am. It was ridiculously confusing and disorganized. Just the French system I have to get used to…
I still haven’t figured out my classes, but have a bit more understanding on exactly what I am supposed to do. I have to attend about 13 classes next week to figure out which 4 I need to and I find that annoying, but I guess you have to be flexible. Most of the departments have been really nice, but uninformative. It’s not their fault though, it’s just the system. Tant pis.
After walking around to many departments, waiting for hours and days for schedules and descriptions of classes to be posted, nothing much has really been accomplished since Monday. I shall see though what classes look interesting, but to do so, I have to attend classes (with overlapping times-which will be another challenge) and ask the professors which I am a little nervous about.
I went into town on Tuesday, not even bothering to go to the fac (university) because I was so annoyed by their disorganization and because I knew it would be no different than that Monday, and went did some errands. I bought some gifts and mailed them, so it was a more productive day (in my opinion) than if I did go to the fac.
This weekend was fun though. Friday, I went to watch a Rugby game (France vs. Ireland) at Chatrons on a huge screen. It was insane! There were so many people just standing around, watching the game on a screen over the river Garonne and drinking and smoking. It was a little difficult for me to breathe though since I get irritated easily by smoke. I was breathing through my sweater the entire time, but it was absolutely disgusting. They definitely need some smoking laws here…gosh, I miss CA laws. Unfortunately, I was also wearing my Ireland t-shirt that I got in Ireland, which turned out to be a pretty bad idea. Last week, there were TONS of Irish fans everywhere and so I didn’t feel that bold wearing my Irish shirt in France. However, it seems as though all the fans have returned home because at this past game on Friday, there were barely an Irish fans! I constantly had to cover my shirt up with my sweater when walking through the crowds just so I wouldn’t have to be confronted by any hardcore French rugby fans who may have drank too much. It was a little hard to see because I am vertically challenge and the people in front of me were pretty tall, but I found my way around people and it wasn’t so bad.
Afterwards, we my friends and I went to a pub called the Houses of Parliament. I met some French guys who go to Bordeaux 1 there through a mutual friend and so we talked with them and just chilled. I had to leave early because I had to catch my bus and so my friend Jon helped me to the tram so I could take it to my bus stop. I got home alright, but walked around for 40 minutes in the neighborhood trying to find my house since I did not know exactly where the bus dropped me off. All good though.
On Saturday, I went to the downtown area to go shopping. I bought a sweater at Zara’s (and was looking for jeans, but couldn’t find my size-btw, it took me forever to figure out what size I am so find out beforehand so you don’t have to bring 4 pairs of jeans with you to the dressing room all the time!) and a nice top for clubbing at another shop. I also went to this magazine Chinois (Chinese store) and bought some main ingredients I need to cook my food (and chopsticks! They are called baguettes here, but they don’t sell them anywhere except in a magasin Chinois). I returned home and made and had dinner. I talked with the mom for a while about school and things and then afterward, I went dancing with friends at a bar in the downtown area. The mom was so nice that she dropped me off in the downtown area because it would have taken too long for me to take the bus…so that was really nice!
Sunday, I stayed in the house until about 2, just doing some researching online for trips and hostels, and then went to the downtown to check out more museums, since they are about the only thing open on Sundays. My friends and I went to the jardin public (public garden) and the Natural History Museum there. It was pretty tiring walking around the museum and so we got some Ben and Jerry’s and sat on the steps and watched people play soccer (they are so hardcore about it! Even when it is just a bunch of friends playing around on a nice day…they are so aggressive and competitive. Maybe it’s just the Europeans…).
I just had my first real class today. The tram took forever though! It was insane…I left an hour and I still was late. I think an hour and a half should be better. After getting off the bus, I had to wait for the tram and 3 trams passed by because they were too full that nobody could get on. It was ridiculous! Anyway, I had a cours de methodologie that morning at 8:30am, but since everyone was late (hey! Give us a break! It was our first day…we were bound to be late!), the teacher cancelled class. It was a bit bête (annoying) though because I had gotten there early for that class which we didn’t even had. I don’t know, I thought it was stupid. But I just chatted in the Centre de Californie with other students until my histoire d’art class. I met a nice Italian who is in the Erasmus program before class and so he sat by me. It was funny though because we were freakin’ out about an exposé that the teacher was assigning to everybody and we weren’t sure what to do…if we were supposed to do it or not. But we asked the teacher in the end and apparently he doesn’t have to do anything, but I have to write a paper on the subject instead (just for Californian students…).
The histoire d’art class is a French Gothic Architecture class (something I’m semi-familiar with now…thank goodness) and it went pretty well. I had problems with vocabulary though, but other than that, I think I got the jest of it. I will definitely need more detailed notes though. I kinda kept falling asleep too..my bad. But I guess I was really tired. I need to get back into “school” mode.
Anyway, another tiring day of class tomorrow…this time running from class to class trying to figure out a description of what the class is really about so that it will count for my regional specialization. Bugger. It will be a crazy day…I know.
A bientôt!
Sherilyn
Another week has gone by and I have been stressed over figuring out classes all week. I took the bus for 35 minutes into Pessac from my house Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to try and figure out classes, all at around 8:30am. It was ridiculously confusing and disorganized. Just the French system I have to get used to…
I still haven’t figured out my classes, but have a bit more understanding on exactly what I am supposed to do. I have to attend about 13 classes next week to figure out which 4 I need to and I find that annoying, but I guess you have to be flexible. Most of the departments have been really nice, but uninformative. It’s not their fault though, it’s just the system. Tant pis.
After walking around to many departments, waiting for hours and days for schedules and descriptions of classes to be posted, nothing much has really been accomplished since Monday. I shall see though what classes look interesting, but to do so, I have to attend classes (with overlapping times-which will be another challenge) and ask the professors which I am a little nervous about.
I went into town on Tuesday, not even bothering to go to the fac (university) because I was so annoyed by their disorganization and because I knew it would be no different than that Monday, and went did some errands. I bought some gifts and mailed them, so it was a more productive day (in my opinion) than if I did go to the fac.
This weekend was fun though. Friday, I went to watch a Rugby game (France vs. Ireland) at Chatrons on a huge screen. It was insane! There were so many people just standing around, watching the game on a screen over the river Garonne and drinking and smoking. It was a little difficult for me to breathe though since I get irritated easily by smoke. I was breathing through my sweater the entire time, but it was absolutely disgusting. They definitely need some smoking laws here…gosh, I miss CA laws. Unfortunately, I was also wearing my Ireland t-shirt that I got in Ireland, which turned out to be a pretty bad idea. Last week, there were TONS of Irish fans everywhere and so I didn’t feel that bold wearing my Irish shirt in France. However, it seems as though all the fans have returned home because at this past game on Friday, there were barely an Irish fans! I constantly had to cover my shirt up with my sweater when walking through the crowds just so I wouldn’t have to be confronted by any hardcore French rugby fans who may have drank too much. It was a little hard to see because I am vertically challenge and the people in front of me were pretty tall, but I found my way around people and it wasn’t so bad.
Afterwards, we my friends and I went to a pub called the Houses of Parliament. I met some French guys who go to Bordeaux 1 there through a mutual friend and so we talked with them and just chilled. I had to leave early because I had to catch my bus and so my friend Jon helped me to the tram so I could take it to my bus stop. I got home alright, but walked around for 40 minutes in the neighborhood trying to find my house since I did not know exactly where the bus dropped me off. All good though.
On Saturday, I went to the downtown area to go shopping. I bought a sweater at Zara’s (and was looking for jeans, but couldn’t find my size-btw, it took me forever to figure out what size I am so find out beforehand so you don’t have to bring 4 pairs of jeans with you to the dressing room all the time!) and a nice top for clubbing at another shop. I also went to this magazine Chinois (Chinese store) and bought some main ingredients I need to cook my food (and chopsticks! They are called baguettes here, but they don’t sell them anywhere except in a magasin Chinois). I returned home and made and had dinner. I talked with the mom for a while about school and things and then afterward, I went dancing with friends at a bar in the downtown area. The mom was so nice that she dropped me off in the downtown area because it would have taken too long for me to take the bus…so that was really nice!
Sunday, I stayed in the house until about 2, just doing some researching online for trips and hostels, and then went to the downtown to check out more museums, since they are about the only thing open on Sundays. My friends and I went to the jardin public (public garden) and the Natural History Museum there. It was pretty tiring walking around the museum and so we got some Ben and Jerry’s and sat on the steps and watched people play soccer (they are so hardcore about it! Even when it is just a bunch of friends playing around on a nice day…they are so aggressive and competitive. Maybe it’s just the Europeans…).
I just had my first real class today. The tram took forever though! It was insane…I left an hour and I still was late. I think an hour and a half should be better. After getting off the bus, I had to wait for the tram and 3 trams passed by because they were too full that nobody could get on. It was ridiculous! Anyway, I had a cours de methodologie that morning at 8:30am, but since everyone was late (hey! Give us a break! It was our first day…we were bound to be late!), the teacher cancelled class. It was a bit bête (annoying) though because I had gotten there early for that class which we didn’t even had. I don’t know, I thought it was stupid. But I just chatted in the Centre de Californie with other students until my histoire d’art class. I met a nice Italian who is in the Erasmus program before class and so he sat by me. It was funny though because we were freakin’ out about an exposé that the teacher was assigning to everybody and we weren’t sure what to do…if we were supposed to do it or not. But we asked the teacher in the end and apparently he doesn’t have to do anything, but I have to write a paper on the subject instead (just for Californian students…).
The histoire d’art class is a French Gothic Architecture class (something I’m semi-familiar with now…thank goodness) and it went pretty well. I had problems with vocabulary though, but other than that, I think I got the jest of it. I will definitely need more detailed notes though. I kinda kept falling asleep too..my bad. But I guess I was really tired. I need to get back into “school” mode.
Anyway, another tiring day of class tomorrow…this time running from class to class trying to figure out a description of what the class is really about so that it will count for my regional specialization. Bugger. It will be a crazy day…I know.
A bientôt!
Sherilyn
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