Week 2

Hello All!
Just to make a correction, I wrote Week 10 at the top of blog for my last week in Cambridge, but I only did that out of habit because of the UC system. It really was week 8, but I was so used to the end of the term being week 10, I guess it just came naturally when I was writing about it. My bad.

Anyway, this past week in Bordeaux has been alright and I am slowly adjusting to the atmosphere and style of life around here, especially the lack of technology here. It is quite frustrating so I would recommend you not using a computer made in the last 5 years or internet or microwave for 2 months at least right before you come here, just to get used of it. Hehe. But anyway, we started our DEFLE classes last week for our LIP or Language Intensive Programme. It has been going alright, although grammar sheets, analyzing poetry, and rewriting paragraphs in the past tense is not my idea of spending 4 hours each day...but hey! It's worth 4 upper division units and that's pretty cool! It just means that I will have one less minor class to take for French studies.

We also went to a wineyard last Thursday and I was able to try some wonderful Bordeaux wine! It was really sweet and MUCH better than any wine I tasted in America OR England. There definitely is a difference! I also went out with my girlfriends last Friday to a bar and then dancing in the downtown area. It was a lot of fun and nice way to wrap up the week. I went to look a room to rent from a family and got lost taking the bus for a while (only because I took it on the wrong side of the street and noticed it was going the opposite direction that I needed it to...but then realized that and tried to get off but didn't know how to stop the bus because there was no cord to pull until I saw a button which read "stop"...I know, i'm brillant) and then finally made my way to the house where I am not going to be renting out a room. Its not in the best location, about a 25 minute bus ride from school, and its in the suburbs, so I'm not close to the city center at all. But I guess I have the bus and its cheaper than a lot of the other places I was looking at. Besides that, i get my own room, access to a fully furnished kitchen, washer and dryer, AND wifi...thank goodness. So not too shabby. The daughter whose room I was taking is studying abroad in England for a year and I was able to talk to her and her boyfriend for a while who were very gentils!

On Saturday morning, I wnet back to the open market at St. Michel and bought a cool bag which I bargained down to 10 euros versus 15. We also got lunch there and ate our baguettes and cheese next to the river, like we did the week before. I also was able to visit the cathedral there and it was quite beautiful...nice early gothic but with 19th century stained class and some colored tiles from a neo-gothic stage. Anyway, we celebrated another friend's birthday last night with pizza (yum!) and ice cream...chocolate and I finally got my SIM card at Auchon, a kind of Walmart-like superstore in the more modern part of Bordeaux. Alright, I don't have much time on the internet...only about an hour...and I need to go to the post office which has awkward hours as well...! So, I will write later!

A bientot!
Sherilyn