Sherilyn's EAP (Cambridge & Bordeaux)

Quinzieme semaine

2007-12-21T15:47:00.000-08:00

Salut tous!

Sorry, I’m a little late on this blog, but I had finals this week and as you all know, I am sure, it was a very stressful time. But anyway, they are over and that’s all that matters. Fortunately, my exams were spread out pretty well, except I had short notice on the subject for the last one. My dissertation for histoire de l’art was due the first week of December, and so I completed that with two other girls in my program. My next exam was my harmonie écrite class. I had a “devoir sur la table” or, what they call in music, a “mise en loge,” for four hours last Friday. I hope it went well, but I always think I have checked my work over a million times, but then realize that I have made a bunch of “bete” (stupid) mistakes. Also on that day, I had a geography dissertation to turn in on “les échanges extérieurs de la France.” On Thursday, I had an oral exam (singing) for my solfége class (which I think I passed…which is always a positive thing, even though I studied the wrong song) and finally Friday, today, I had to turn in my final exam for histoire du cinéma. The only problem with that exam was that I was given the subject late Monday night and I couldn’t find the book I needed to do the paper until Wednesday (I was running back and forth between the library of Bordeaux and the university library and it was quite annoying…especially when I couldn’t find the book that was supposed to be at the library because someone stupid hide it…boooo those people). But I got it done and even was able to go to the newly formed ice skating rink in the downtown area and make a fool of myself (because I’ve never skated before….I fell twice! But the second time it wasn’t my fault….I was pulled down in the chain we formed…haha). But it was fun and relaxing (although I still am an embarrassment to penguins everywhere). It was also very sad because it was the last time that I was able to see all my friends before I leave France!

So yes. It is true. It’s my last week!! Actually, I leave Bordeaux Sunday and I am siiii triste (sooo sad). I can’t believe time has passed by so quickly! I feel like I’ve only been here a couple weeks!! Well…actually, I take that back. I know I’ve been here longer, but it hasn’t felt like long enough…I wish I could stay the year! Or forever. Forever would be nice…

Anyway, last weekend I stayed at home and worked on my geography dissert, having been stranded due to a transportation strike in Bordeaux (no trams or buses circulated ALL weekend and Friday). Classes that week were fairly normal and I can’t remember anything significant that happened to me…this past Wednesday we had a cocktail night with the Centre de Californie to say “goodbye” to everyone and wish everyone “happy holidays.” I was so tired from running back and forth between libraries that day that I was completely exhausted by the time I got to the cocktail and all I could think about was food….which was actually, very good (oh cream puffs you are heaven). I also found a vachement (really) cool songbook of Judy Garland songs and now I have tons of music to practice when I get home..!! Sooo excited! Here I come Middle Earth!

I am getting ready for my winter break travels with my friend from Cambridge and so have been doing a lot of research and trying to figure out the pronunciations for Czech (not an easy task!). I will let you know how my trip went with my last blog when I come back to the states….ahhhh crazy! I can’t believe I’m going back! I don’t want to!! I wanna stay!!! But, I guess I have responsibilities that must be taken care of, so there. I hope to return to France next year (but of course it depends on what kind of job I find), or at least Europe. It hasn’t really sunk in that I am actually leaving France and all my new friends…but I know it will soon. I’ve been organizing (and throwing away many papers to try and lighten my bags) all my luggage to figure out how I am going to fit everything into my two bags (not an easy task). I leave on a train to Paris Sunday night, stay with an old friend from my hometown who lives in Paris that night, then take a flight to Prague the next morning. I stay in Prague for Christmas and then leave on the 27^th for Berlin for two days. After Berlin, I fly to Brussels and then take a train into Paris on the 31^st, ready for the New Year. I fly to Salt Lake City on the 2^nd to visit a friend and will be back in the Bay Area that next night. I then move to San Diego on Saturday and start classes on Monday. Oh lordy. This will be a fun time. I know my culture shock when I get back is going to be bad and I still refuse to speak in English (although I have a feeling that will be hard to do in America). I have exciting news that I was accepted in I-house for the coming quarters and so will be rejoining the ERC/I-house community shortly!! Sooo happy!!

I wish everyone happy holidays and a great and safe New Years…!!
See you soon!!! (unfortunately…and I mean that in the best way possible…)

Sherilyn

Quatorzieme semaine

2007-12-10T10:46:00.000-08:00

Bonjour tous!

I hope you are all doing well and getting through your finals week without many “noirs blanches” (all-nighters). My finals aren’t until the third week of December, the week before Christmas, and half of them were due last week or this week in “dissertation” form, so that has relieved the weight-especially after the strike.

This past week has gone by quite fast, just like this entire experience in Bordeaux (I’m so sad to leave!), and since it was our first week back after our 3 week strike, there was a lot of catching up (rattraper) to do and classes seemed shorter. In fact, the blocage students tried to block the university again on Wednesday afternoon, where, apparently, they held a vote that nobody knew about (that’s democracy!). When I came into my class on Thursday morning, I was met with a massive crowd of students standing in the courtyard because they couldn’t get into the buildings (they were blocked again). After about an hour of waiting around for the President of the uni to make a decision, they were able to unblock the buildings. I remember on Tuesday when the blocage students went through the halls of the buildings screaming, singing, pounding on walls and just making all sorts of disturbances because they were angry that we voted to unblock the university and (I guess), wanted to “express” themselves (politically)-yes, by having a tantrum (which is what it seemed like). But anyway, the uni remains open, although they are having problems handling the “rattrapage,” (catching up) of three weeks worth of work. Apparently, they had decided to have their first semester final exams in May, after their second semester exams…does anyone think that is silly? Or is that just me? Well, it definitely est nul (sucks) for them because I surely wouldn’t remember anything if I had learned it 4 months ago! Well, anyway, I guess UFR- the administration, is deciding, but in the meanwhile, I have 10 extra hours of class each week to try and rattraper (catch up) the time lost. Not a fun result of something I (and the majority of students at Bordeaux 3) didn’t want to begin with.

Other than that, I finished my dissertation on Giotto for my histoire de l’art class (which wasn’t an easy task…) and got owned in my harmonie écrite class (apparently there isn’t na equal phrase to “got owned” in French) on Thursday. I have been setting up my finals exams with my professor and I actually have my final exam this Friday for that class. I made Christmas cookies with friends this past weekend (which were sooo good…ahhh…ate so many “biscuits de noel”) and I was planning on going ice skating at the newly formed ice skating rink in the downtown, but decided to stay in and write my geography final due this Friday. On Thursday, I went karaoke-ing with some Frenchies at an English pub downtown which was quite fun- even when the power went out because of the electricity sucking but quite beautiful and oh-so-holiday spirited Christmas lights which now adorn the streets and trees of Bordeaux. I also have been getting all my plans ready for the end of this month since I am traveling after my program with my friend who is coming over from England, so I have spent a lot of time searching for hostels on the computer. And I’ve also discovered www.watch-movies.net. Dangit.

Bon courage on finals!
Sherilyn

Deuxieme/Trezieme semaine

2007-12-02T17:17:00.000-08:00

Salut!

Sorry this blog is a week late…! I have been a little stressed and so I totally forgot about writing my blog!

Well, the blocage continued, through Thanksgiving as well, and the Centre de Californie had a meeting last Wednesday to discuss what would happen to us students if the blocage didn’t stop. We unfortunately found out that it was possible for us to receive “aucune de credit” (no credit) for the semester if the teachers wouldn’t be able to give us a grade. If we started an independent research project with our director, Professor Chandeller (of the Poli Sci Dept. from UCSD), we could, at most, get 4 units or we could try and contact the professors to ask to write an essay instead (but it’s hard to contact them when they don’t always give out their email addresses). So, we weren’t too enthralled to hear that news (at least the people who actually needed the credits-like me!) and so we were getting a little bit anxious. The vote that was supposed to happen on Thursday was blocked by the students who were for the blocage saying that it wasn’t fair to have the vote on a day when there was a manifestation (protest) in the downtown for the university students. So, nothing got done that week and the vote was put off until Monday.

Thursday night we had a Thanksgiving dinner at a high school in the downtown area with the rest of the California students and some other community members helping with the French-American alliance. It was nice to see everyone again (since it had seemed like forever since I saw all of us in the same room) and it was a good FREE dinner (well, I think we did pay for it in our fees, but still…). We had turkey, French fries…haha (first time having French fries on Thanksgiving I think…maybe not actually…), pumpkin pie (yes! Tarte à la citrouille!!), and a bunch of other stuff. It was pretty filling and we had some French students at our table that we chatted with.

Over the weekend, I went out with my friends to go do free things because I’ve run out of money. So, on Saturday night, two other friends and I went to a free book reading by a Lebanese author. It was pretty cool and they had a guy playing music as well. We even stayed for a Moroccan singer afterward, accompaigned by a Russian pianist. I remember seeing a movie sometime that week (I think) with my friend Megan too. We pick the best movies…haha. We just pick random movies with interesting French titles (that’s our lovely system) and so we picked this one called “Faut que ca danse” which turned out to be a love story between this elderly couple and a weird sideline plot about a 40 year old pregnant daughter….yeah…..again, we pick the best movies. I think we knew it was awkward when we walked into the theatre and we were the only people under 50 years old. Interesting….nevertheless, it was in French and it was a cultural learning experience (that’s my excuse for everything…even bad movies. Well, it wasn’t that bad actually…it was cute, but not something I would probably pick by myself).

The vote that happened on Monday sucked and the blocage continued until Friday. I was fed up with it and wasting my time doing nothing around the house (I was sooo bored….I have been watching Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin on YouTube for the past 2 weeks…I LOVE them, but still, I should be having a better French-ified experience…), and so I got my reservations on the train for Paris (for that first time! That one time changing train stations for my trip to Nice doesn’t count….) for that Thursday. I met with the two students I’m working on a paper about Giotto with for my art history class on Tuesday, used Wednesday to get organized for my trip, and then left early before 7am on a 3 hour TGV ride to Paris.

I thought traveling alone would make it a kinda glum trip, but it wasn’t that at all, mostly because I knew how to keep myself busy. As long as I’m busy and have things to do, I barely notice or care that I’m by myself. The first day, after checking into my hostel which was pretty far out of the way, I tried to find a Tourist Office but found that they were all closed (don’t ask me why…it was Thursday, it’s Paris…but then again, it’s also France). So I wandered around and followed signs that looked like they had important buildings written on it. I tried to use my metro map (the only map I had) to find monuments and was able to find my way to the Arc de Triomphe and les Champs des Elysées, Notre Dame, and La Sainte Chapelle. I also got to see a bunch of other things on the way walking around, including half of the Eiffel Tower (it was very very foggy that day…which was the reason why I didn’t climb it that particular day).

The next day I got up early, ate my free breakfast and found a map (at my hostel...yeah lame. They should have given it to me before), and went to the Sacre Coeur…a GORGEOUS basilica. I absolutely loved it! It was sooo pretty AND was where they filmed a scene in Amélie…which is always cool. After the lovely sunrise at the Sacre Coeur, I headed to the Eiffel Tower, climbed all 700 steps…or however many it was (I know it’s more than 650…), and took many pictures of beautiful Paris. I was really lucky too because the line was really short when I got there (no wait at all!), but when I came down, it looked like it was at least a half an hour! Perfect timing on my part. After the Eiffel Tower, I went to the Musée D’Orsay, got lunch on the way (did the whole supermarket sandwich bit since I’ve already tasted French cuisine and I have no money), and then went to check out the line at the Louvre. Since it was Friday, I knew that people less than 26 got in free after 6pm and so I walked around that area until 5:30pm, and then went back. I stayed there until 9pm (a good three hours), and got dinner at an expensive café inside (I didn’t want to go out and I was sooo hungry). I saw the Mona Lisa and the Lady Liberty painting as well as something from the workshop of Giotto, which was cool since I am studying him in my art history class. I got through the majority of it and because I had walked sooo much that day, I didn’t feel guilty not staying until it closed. I went back to my hostel, exhausted and got up early again the next day.

That morning, Saturday morning, I went to the Basilica of St. Denis. This was another basilica that I studied in my art history class and so I was pretty keen on going. I felt like it was worth it, even if I didn’t see the other half of it and the crypt because that cost money, and it was very beautiful with very early stained glass windows! After St. Denis, I went to La Defense, the modern part of Paris. I wanted to check out all the huge corporate buildings there to see which one I liked best and wanted to work in. Haha. That’s not a joke. I actually sat there and wrote down every single company name of the huge skyscrapers and I plan on researching them online to see what they are about and if I can get a job there. La Defense is pretty cool and I loved the modern city-like feel. They also had a Christmas market going on and so I walked around there and saw things that I couldn’t afford and watched people make crêpes that I couldn’t buy….after that, I went inside this awesome Centre Commercial (mall) and got lunch (yes supermarkets!) and ate it in front a large life size gingerbread house. Christmas comes very early in France because they don’t have to wait for Thanksgiving…so decorations start going up the last 2 weeks of November!

After La Defense, I took the metro to check out Chinatown, walked around a bit, smelled the really really good food…oh yum, and then went to Place d’Italie. There was another mall there and I chilled for a bit and then went back to reclaim my baggage I left in the baggage room (I checked out that morning). Then, I went to meet my friend who is studying at UC Paris from UCSD for an early dinner before my train left that night. So, we had dinner…went to a crêpe place after our falafel dinner didn’t work out, and chatted a lot. It was super nice seeing a familiar face again and catching up and it was very interesting to compare our programs because they are so different and we get such different experiences out of them! Then I got on my train at 7:50pm and went back to Bordeaux, getting in at around midnight from the night bus. Today, Sunday, I just caught up on all my homework since I found out that the university REOPENS tomorrow (Monday)!!! Yay!!! The blocage is over!! So happy! So I have school tomorrow and everything should be back to normal…sweetness. I never thought I would be this happy about school starting again, but the past 3 weeks of doing nothing and paying so much money for nothing and not seeing my French friends that often or getting the experience that I came all the way over here for to get, has been horrible and I hope I never have to do it again. Lol.

It’s late, better be off…
Sherilyn

Onzieme semaine....is that how you spell it??

2007-11-19T13:24:00.000-08:00

Bon soir tous!

Well, at least, it’s “bon soir” for me. I have just gotten back from a 12 hour traveling day! It has been quite a week!

Last Tuesday, the university “voted” and decided to do a “blocage,” that is; the students decided to close the university and go on strike. They had an assembly in the courtyard and at first, had people raise hands for the blocage and against the blocage, and then, after that didn’t work (of course..! Are they ridiculous..? They DID actually try to count everyone one-by-one), they divided people up by sides. Pretty much they said, “well, it looks like there is more people on this side and therefore, BLOCAGE!” Yeah, lame. I know. I was and still am against the blocage because I don’t want the university to close! Number one, this is where I get my French experience, see my friends, and speak and hear French! Number two, the French students aren’t paying UC fees like we are…I pay good money for my education (theirs is obviously free…they can’t argue, but I can!) and I want to go to school! And although they link the blocage to whether you are against Sarkozy or for Sarkozy, they shouldn’t. Because preventing people from learning and annoying others isn’t, in my opinion, the best way to show you don’t want higher education fees or the privatization of your university. But whatever, it’s hard to argue against them. They have a different mentality (although I found plenty of French students with similar thoughts to mine!) So after they made the decision to block the school, the students kicked out all the students and teachers from the buildings (completely disrupting any class that was in session) and started piling up tables and chairs in front of the doors, blocking their access. I almost got locked in because I had gone inside to check with the Centre de Californie for a little bit and I couldn’t find an exit! Luckily, there was one in the building still open and I could use that. Then they chained the doors shut and now there are students living outside of them, not letting anyone in.

Classes were cancelled until Friday when they had another vote. I actually wasn’t here for that vote, being on a random train to Nice, but they voted to keep the university closed until Wednesday when they will vote again. For the rest of the week, I studied and tried to get some more work done at the Bibliothèque Municipale de Bordeaux (main library in Bordeaux) for my paper on Giotto for my art history class. I also went shopping with a friend for someone’s birthday and then just met up with other friends for coffee. Although it seems to be nice not having school, it isn’t. I like school. I hope it reopens soon. We have exams coming up!! And the professors have nothing to do with the blocage…they were kicked out of their own classrooms by the students! It’s kinda scary because the students have so much power over the university…! They seriously dictate whether the university remains open or not. The police haven’t even come yet, although my friend said they probably would. I’m sure they are busy with all the grèves at the train station. Which is a nice lead in to my next story…I tried to go to Nice this weekend, and although I succeeded, it wasn’t easy (or that nice…haha. Yeah I know, I’m not punny).

I had been planning on going to Nice for the past 2 months when I bought my train tickets (for really cheap too!) and was meeting my friend from UCSD there (she was flying from Sweden with her friends). Unfortunately, while about 12 other universities, including mine, were on strike in France, there was another grève starting. A national train strike. Oh fun times. Joyous. So, SNCF, the train company here in France, went on strike starting Tuesday night. Now, train strikes here don’t necessarily mean that all trains are cancelled. I know, it’s weird. It’s a strike, but not. Some trains run and some don’t, but you never know which ones will or when the grève will end. They vote everyday at 5pm to see whether they want to continue their train strike…oh so organized and you don’t know which trains are running until the morning, or maybe the night before. But anyway, I had no clue whether my train would run or not but soon found out that night before my train was supposed to leave. It was cancelled. But I found another path to Nice. I could take a train from Bordeaux to Paris at some ungodly hour in the morning, and then change train stations in Paris and take another train form Paris to Nice. So, that was my plan. To add to the adventure, my French dad let me know that there was (and still is) a metro strike in Paris….oh great. This will make things even more fun. I only had an hour between my trains to change stations and without the metro, it had to be either the bus or a taxi (and I’m really poor right now so that wasn’t making me any more happy). So, I stayed at a friend’s house in the downtown area that night and then woke up at 4am, took the first tram to the train station at 4:45am and got on a train to Paris at 5am. I got to Paris a half an hour late (they are on strike…they don’t really care) and so I only had a half an hour to change stations. So, taxi. But the taxi didn’t come until 9:13 and my train left at 9:34 and if you have ever been to Paris, traffic is not light! I got there at 9:30, my taxi driver rushing like mad the entire way, ran around the train station finding my platform and just barely made my train, totally out of breathe and exhausted (and out 13 euros for a taxi ride).

I got to Nice, found my hostel, found my friends and we had a grand time. We went to the beach, I saw the cool Russian church I wanted to see, the Musèe Matisse and the Archeology museum, including more ancient Roman ruins (I told you…they were everywhere!), the Chateau (had to climb an extremely large hill to get a pretty pleasing view), some more beautiful churches (although we went at the wrong time on Sunday since they were all about to start mass and I didn’t really get to walk around and look at the art) and saw some of the night life as well (bars and live music). It was on Sunday where things started to get stressed since my train back wasn’t running either and the people who were at the train station told me that the only train that was going to Bordeaux was not until Monday from Marseille at 6am. I asked explicitly about a Paris to Bordeaux train and they said there were none, just the Marseille one. So I went to the bus station and found the schedule to get a bus to Marseille (the only way to get there) for that night. The schedule for Sunday said the last bus was at 20h24. Since it was Sunday, no one was working at the bus station (the office was closed) and so I couldn’t ask anyone to verify it for me. But I was pretty sure I could read. So, I went out, had a lovely day, and then went to the bus station to find….no bus. A bus from Marseille arrived and I asked the driver when he would be leaving again and he said he was done for the night. When I confronted him about the schedule at the office, he just shrugged it off saying that he just drives when he was told and he doesn’t know anything about that schedule. I asked another guy there if I was reading the schedule correct and he said he agreed with me that the bus should have been here…so, I have no clue what happened. Actually, I know what happened. They are wrong. That’s what happened.

So, I thought it was too cold to sleep out on the streets (the train station closes at 1am and the airport was too far away), so I went back to my hostel and asked if I could stay another night. Luckily the guy let me, but after a frantic text message to one of my friends in Bordeaux to find information on trains to Bordeaux on the internet, I found out that there was another train to Bordeaux the next day! She gave me a plan and I would have to catch a train at 7am the next morning. So, I forfeited my deposit on my keys (therefore, not only wasting money on an extra night I didn’t plan in Nice, but giving up my deposit because of an early train I didn’t know about and apparently, the people who work for SNCF didn’t know either), and caught the train to Paris. My friend texted me that I could take this train to Paris, change train stations, and take another train to Bordeaux. It was the exact same route I took to get to Nice. Ridiculous. I got into Paris (late again, of course), and even though I had 2 ½ hours between my trains, I just made it to my second train in time after a long bus ride through Paris (I didn’t have money for a taxi...just enough to eat once for the day!). So, I got in around 7pm, took a bus home, and now am sitting in my PJs, showered, warmer (but still cold) and exhausted (even though I managed to sleep a lot on the trains).

I guess the trip had its ups and downs, but I have just learned from my other friend that there will be a tram strike in Bordeaux tomorrow and possibly one with the buses. So, I might be stranded at home. Well, I don’t have school, so it doesn’t matter…and I guess I would rather be stranded at home, warm with food, then in Nice, poor and hungry.

A plus,
Sherilyn

Neuvieme/Diexieme semaine

2007-11-12T14:13:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!
Sorry, I haven’t written forever! Or, more like two weeks…I think. Anyway, I’ve obviously have been very busy and I had my petit vacances the other week as well, so that was a factor in the missing blog. Also, when I got back from vacances, I had to rattraper (catch up on) all my homework, including an 8 page dissertation! But now things are calming down (not by a lot) and I can write to you more leisurely…kinda. Hehe. So, let me catch you up on my life…shall we?

So, I think the last time I wrote you was the week right before vacation. Nothing much happened that week except for me trying to finish my dissertation (French gothic architecture on the Cathédrale Saint-Maurice d’Angers), which didn’t happen unfortunately…I really tried! Trust me! I also faintly remember going to SNCF-the train company here, to try and get all my tickets in order for my trip, including making a couple mistakes for my train in Switzerland, but then getting that cleared up. I also bought a winter coat (finally! I have been absolutely freezing here!) and some more sweaters (I was so afraid of the cold in Switzerland!). After class on Friday (I had my geography TD in the morning), I packed and got ready to leave. My uber nice French mom offered to drive me to the airport and so we left around 3. Unfortunately, I am the stupidest person in the world and forgot my Eurail pass and so we drove back to the house after I remembered about halfway there and I got it…I felt sooo bad! I kept apologizing endlessly!!! I am soo stupid! It was just that the vacation came up on me really quickly or else I would have had more time to organize all my plans…and ohhh…I felt sooo bad! Well, anyway, I got on my flight from Bordeaux to Geneva en Suisse and got there around 7:30pm.

Now, I was absolutely starving when I got there, not having eaten anything since noon and my baggage took a really long time to collect and soo….I missed my train from Geneva to Interlaken (most likely the result of me stopping to get something to eat…but I was so hungry and I knew I would arrive in Interlaken at 11pm where I was pretty sure nothing would be open…!), but yes…that was my downfall. Food. Boo. Anyway, I was really stressed and angry that I missed my train and thought I would have to sleep at the airport that night, but luckily, after explaining in exasperated French to the women at the ticket office, found out that there was another train I could take about 45 minutes later. So, I took that and rode for about 2 hours to Berne and then 3 hours from Berne to Interlaken. I got in after midnight, tired, cranky (having tried to do my music homework on the train ride but…that didn’t work out very well), hungry, and with my contacts very dry….also, slightly confused as I found that I had entered the German territory of Suisse and French would not help me much. Because it was so dark and I couldn’t really see because of my dry contacts, not to mention that I couldn’t pronounce half of the streets names on my googlemap because they were all 14-15 letters long and in German…I couldn’t find my hostel; I tried to find my way around but I couldn’t find any street signs…!

So, I walked into the only thing that was open with any sort of light on at the time and that happened to be a Best Western hotel restaurant. Inside, I found a really nice guy (half Filipino and half swiss!) who walked with me around the town, searching for my hostel with me. When we found it, I was enthralled…except, it was locked and all the lights were off and …yeah, there was no one home. Because my cell phone didn’t have network in Switzerland-it kinda had one in Geneva (only because I was so close to France I think), I couldn’t call them. I had warned them ahead of time that I would be coming around 11pm because that was when I thought my train would get in, but because I missed my train and had wandered around for a while, it was nearly 1am. So, the really nice worker and I walked back to the Best Western where he used his own cell phone to call the hostel, speak to the owner in German, and get him to open the hostel for me. He was soo nice! It made my night! Especially after I was so tired and hungry and exhausted from traveling…it was just nice to find someone who was this generous and kind. So, I got into my room finally and crashed.

Next morning, I met the people who were in the room with me. 2 Americans from Virginia, just having graduated from college and traveling around Europe for 2 months. We went down to breakfast together and then they left on their trip to go hike up a mountain. Now, I was supposed to meet my friends there originally, but plans didn’t work out and they wouldn’t come until that evening and I, unfortunately, would be leaving early the next morning for Geneva because that was where I flew out of. So, I was alone. Luckily, I introduced myself to a group of people who looked rather friendly at breakfast and they allowed me to hang out with them for the day. They were students at a hospitality school in Switzerland…2 from Singapore, 1 from Hong Kong, and the other from Indonesia. They were really nice and their English was great so we had no problems communicating. That day, we just walked around town (because it was their first day in Interlaken too) and shopped for souvenirs. Even though the main language was German, most people spoke English and in fact, really good English, so it wasn’t a problem. I tried to speak French to them (in order to keep my real immersion program feeling), but I could tell they weren’t comfortable with it all, so I guess English was a better bet. Anyway, my new friends decided to go to Lucerne in the afternoon after lunch and because it was too expensive for me (they had Swiss railpasses), I went to Lauterbrunnen instead. It was 18 francs roundtrip and I got to go into the Swiss Alps!! Well…not “up” and into….but more like, just “into.” See, to get some height, it costs a lot more…so I saw the Alps…from the bottom. But it was pretty cool…and there were pretty waterfalls! I walked around for nearly an hour and a half, going into the mist which, of course, kept moving away from me…but I got some really cool pictures and got to bond with the cows! I saw Swiss timbermen too! It was gorgeous and not that cold (just about as cold as Bordeaux…which actually, is pretty cold) and I saw the supposedly highest peak in Europe which had snow on it…so that was cool.

I returned to Interlaken in the afternoon, showered, packed, got food, and ended up watching Dr. Who on BBC in my hostel room which was now just me. Later that evening, 2 people from Taiwan came in and I talked with them for a while but went to bed early since I had an early train at 7am. Now, I totally could got have gotten more sleep if someone told me about the daylight savings time here in Europe, but no…since my phone didn’t have a network, my time didn’t change automatically and so I arrived at the train station at….6am, looking for my train which left a little after 7. However, it wasn’t a problem since there was another train heading to Berne and then to Geneva at that time and so I just took that and arrived in Geneva an hour earlier than expected, which wasn’t a bad thing.

Geneva was gorgeous and I had a really nice hostel which gave me a map and list of things to do as well as a free travel card that I could use to access all means of transportation (tram, bus, and even one train trip to the airport from the central train station). It was not bad traveling alone this time since I had a list of things to do…and so….I just did them. First, I walked to the jet d’eau, a huge shooting jet of water from the lake. Afterward, I walked around and found my way to the old part of Geneva and had some coffee at a small café outside the cathedral while I waited for it to open. After visiting the cathedral there, I had lunch at a restaurant nearby, and then went walking in the park to visit the Luther Reformation Wall. There was a huge life-size chess set there as well and it was cool to watch the intense old men playing chess and just kicking each others’ pieces aside. It was a gorgeous park as well and all the leaves that littered the very clean ground were brown and golden red…I really liked Geneva, especially in the Fall…and also because people speak French and not German and therefore, I can understand them…

I then took a bus back to the hostel and got into my room (I had to put it in luggage storage before because it wasn’t time to check in yet). After I got into my room, I took the tram to the Red Cross Museum and the United Nations building. I got half price tickets at the Red Cross Museum because of my hostel which was great since everything is so expensive in Geneva! After that I went to the downtown area to try and do some souvenir shopping but since it was Sunday, there wasn’t much around. That night, after I showered, I told myself that I had to get fondue for dinner since Samantha Brown of Passport to Europe on TravelChannel did that and therefore, I must do it too. So, I found the most inexpensive fondue I could for one person, (which was 24 francs) and got that for dinner. It was pretty sad eating fondue by myself, but it was really good (3 kinds of melted cheese with white wine) and I didn’t mind eating alone. I returned to the hostel and went to bed, ready to leave for my flight the next morning.

My flight was stupidly (yes, it was stupid) 40 minutes late and since I got them super early, like all international flights tell you to, I waited around staring at ads for watches until they announced my gate. All went well though and I got into ROME alright. Yes! 2 countries off my list…! I actually flew into Rome Ciampino and then took the metro into Rome, which was quite a confusing process since there is absolutely no information help around (people or machines) and also, I don’t speak Italian. But with the help of other confused English speaking travelers, I found my way into Rome and using my googlemaps, found my hostel. My friend from my program who was supposed to meet me in Rome was already waiting in the hostel and it was perfect timing that I arrived there only minutes after she had got back from walking around. We left straight away for the Coliseum after buying our Roma Passes (travel passes for 3 days on transportation and 2 attractions for free…a great deal actually!).

So Megan, my friend, and I saw the Coliseum…but didn’t get to go this time since it closes at 3:30! We walked around the Roman ruins though and went into one of the oldest churches in Rome (we think…oh gosh we were so bad at history!) and walked around more. Oh…so much walking. Then we walked up the main street back to our hostel in order to make it on time for dinner…we got free pasta dinners at the hostel! I picked a good hostel…so we had dinner and then went to visit the Trevi Fountain, went on a search for good gelato, and ran into the Pantheon (which we didn’t realize what it was until we saw the word Pantheon...it was more, “oh…this looks familiar. I wonder what it is…? Oh! It’s the Pantheon..! Go fig!”). The next day, we woke up early to head to the Vatican and see the Basilica. We tried to go see the Sistine Chapel but the line was extraordinarily long and it began to rain and we were unprepared, so we ran back to the hostel to get umbrellas. We went back to the Coliseum and saw that as well as the other Roman ruins, the Circus Maximus, and the walked around on the other side of the river. We found a cute restaurant to dine at and saw people filming an Italian movie! That night we stayed in and watched Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck’s Roman Holiday with girls from the hostel.

The next morning, another early rise, we went to try the Sistine Chapel again. The Pope was speaking that morning so there were a lot of crowds, but we hoped that would mean less people in the Sistine Chapel…not really. We ran through the Vatican Museum to the end, saw the beautiful artwork of Michelangelo and then went back through the museum leisurely. After that, we got a formal Italian lunch and then walked around. We found ourselves at the cool Castle di Sainte Angelo which was a mausoleum, a castle, fortress, opera house…and a bunch of other random things. It was enjoyable and we got in for free, which always makes it better. We then went on a search to find my Italian souvenirs and I had some amazing hot chocolate! OMG…hot chocolate in Italy is the best ever! It’s so thick! Like thick chocolate melted pudding….yummmm….anyway, I found some souvenirs, nothing for me though (I tried to bargain but I refused to pay more than 20 euros for at track jacket…so, yeah. That didn’t work. Lol.) Then we went to the Spanish Steps and another beautiful church. We found some more gelato after that and then returned to the hostel to shower and have dinner. It was Halloween and so some girls we met at the hostel and Megan and I went to a wine bar to celebrate. Italian wine is really good! Very different from French wine…more full bodied. Megan and I went our separate ways the next morning as my train left for Torino to go see my friend and she went to Florence.

My train ride was 6 hours long and I was in a compartment with a family in which the mom spoke French, the dad Italian, and the little 6 year old girl both. It was amazing to see the little girl distinguish between the two languages so perfectly…I was jealous. I wish I could be raised speaking Italian and French…! I tried to do my homework on the way, but it was a bit distracting in the car and I wasn’t in the most comfortable position. After I got to Torino, I met one of my best friends from high school who was studying there. It was a happy reunion! I stayed with her for the night and she showed me around Torino a bit, we got amazing gelato (as usual) and some good pizza as well! The next morning, we left together for Lyon in France for the Michael Bublé concert (of which we purchased tickets for in February). We checked into our hotel (after getting a bit lost finding it) and then went to go find the theatre and eat. We went back, showered, dressed, and left for the concert, extremely excited because…WE GOT TO MEET MICHAEL BUBLE!!! Sigh….it was amazing! Absolutely amazing. My friend, Alyssa, had won a contest and we got to meet him right before the show! We had a little trouble getting in since the box office messed up our tickets and only gave us the backstage passes and not the tickets, but after I explained ourselves (in French, bien sûr), we got in and sigh…got to meet him!!! EKK!! It was SOOO COOL! And I totally freaked out afterward…wish I could have gotten that on camera. But anyhow, the concert was absolutely PHENOMENAL!! Sooo good…no wonder his tickets were so expensive….but so worth it! No doubt! He puts on such an amazing performance! So much character and personality…gènial!

The next day we had to ourselves in Lyon and so we wandered around, tried to find the tourist office, found ourselves in old Lyon and found the Roman Ruins, amphitheatres and a really cool church (as well as many others). We ate baguettes and chevre (goat cheese) on the steps of the Palais de Justice and took the metro everywhere, getting confused where the entrances and exits were all the time (or just me, Alyssa was pretty good at it). That night, I met up with my friend from UCSD who is studying in Lyon doing the same EAP program I am and we went to dinner at an awesome crêpe place we found in our guide after finally finding the office of tourism. It was really good and we tried to get gelato afterward, but we couldn’t find the select place that my other friend had in mind. We went back to our hotel and had hot chocolate in the bar and talked and then said goodbye to my friend and went to bed. We left the next morning on different means of transportation: a bus to Torino and a train to Bordeaux…my train, however, was 2 hours late and so my 8 hour train ride did not get into Bordeaux until 11:30pm on that Sunday night (I had class the next morning). The night bus didn’t come till after 12 and I arrived home around 12:40…unpacking and washing up and getting to bed around 1:30…exhausted.

I just had regular class that past week and worked on my dissertation for my art history class. I had a 3 hour final in my history of theatre class which is now turned into a history of cinema class starting tomorrow, and kept being confused and bored in geography, and felt dumb and embarrassed in my music classes…but that’s okay. I actually just realized this past Thursday how much I love being here in France. It’s really cool because on Thursdays I have my music classes and we all go to lunch afterwards. It is such a chill atmosphere, being able to have lunch on the grass next to the Maison des Arts, speak in French and listen to our wonderful guitarists play and sing and just…chill. It’s nice to have French friends, and it’s also good for me because they don’t study English and therefore, don’t speak English. I went to go find the Bibliothèque Municipale de Bordeaux (the main library of Bordeaux) and bought, yes bought, a library card for 9 euros, (it’s not free here…although education apparently is nearly free) and tried to find the movies I need to watch for my history of cinema class, but found them all checked out. I also bought new boots that past week and saw these really cute Tiger PJs at the Disney store that I am very tempted to buy…

Friday was my 20th birthday and it was amazing to be able to spend it in France. My family celebrated with champagne for me and the mother gave me a set of jewelry and the father a CD of a cool Italian jazz pianist. It was really sweet of them seeing that earlier that day I had gotten my key stuck in the front door and because they couldn’t get it out, had to take it apart and change it to a new lock…(again, I felt soo bad!). I went to dessert and coffee with my friends that night which was fun and relaxing. I had planned to go to Paris for my birthday but since I had so much homework to catch up on, I felt it was best to stay for the weekend. And that’s exactly what I did all weekend. Homework and saw a really bad movie…Les Portes du Temps which is called Seeker: the Dark is Rising in America...and don’t see that movie! It’s bad in French and I’m sure it’s even worse in English!...It had a good trailer…I felt so misled.

I turned in my dissertation today…felt great…until I realized that my dissertation wasn’t due until NEXT WEEK…dang it. But that’s okay, because I’m going to Nice this weekend and probably wouldn’t have had time to do it anyway. That was my vacation and I can’t believe I only have 6 more weeks of school left and then only one week more until I have to leave! I am now fully adapted…took a while…and I really love it here..! Don’t want to leave!! I will try and make it last and I need to find some time to do some real job searching because the UCSD’s career center job search in France sucks…seriously…I only found 4 jobs and they were all for biotech peeps…dang, I wish I was one of those peeps. I could live in France then. I will continue to search and if not…the business school in Toulouse is amazing…we shall see.

There might be a grève (strike) tomorrow for the university…oh these political French students, but I hope not…if they block the school, who knows when it will reopen?

Much later,
(wow, my English doesn’t make sense…sorry)
Sherilyn

Huitieme semaine

2007-10-23T12:33:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!!!
I heard about the wildfires in San Diego!!! It was in our LOCAL newspaper here in Bordeaux!! Insane! Also, everyone’s facebook status was like…. “I’m running away from the fire”….so, yeah, I got the news alright. I hope everyone is safe and doing okay!!! I can’t believe it! That’s ridiculous!! Please take care and watch out! I feel even more sad because I can’t be there to support you guys through it…I’m there in spirit…!

This past week wasn’t so bad. Classes were long and semi-interesting, but I have found that almost every other lecture I get. That is, I didn’t understand the first week’s lecture, and then the second week it was better, and then back to confusion, and then not so bad…and now this week…yeah, confusion again. I don’t know why it has taken this pattern. We are doing exposés in my art history class and I have the hardest time trying to understand all the students who are presenting. Number one, sometimes they are just not good speakers in general and so they either pause a lot, speak really fast, drop their voices at the end of the sentence or a bunch of other common speaking malfunctions. Number two, it’s in French. Duh, problem. And number three, some have weird accents as well, which makes it more complicated. So in other words, my art history TDs have been a frustrating experience where I keep saying over and over again in my head, “what are you saying??? Speak FRENCH!!”

My geography class is going okay since we are now getting into the economy part and are departing from the climatology part of the course (where I was and continue to be totally lost). Music theory is hard still, but I am learning and trying to build my confidence. My harmonie écrite class is plus compliqué and the teacher speaks extremely fast. Fortunately, I have a friend in that class who is a real sweetheart and is helping me learn all the rules by explaining them to me. We spent nearly 2 hours in front of the Gare St. Jean, drinking coffee, and got through about 3 pages in our packet of harmonie écrite. It was tough. But I like it…it’s good for me.

I had my first exam in my Histoire du Théâtre class on Tuesday. The teacher wrote a question on the board and we just answered it on these packets of paper she gave us. I was a little confused because I saw people writing on regular sheets of their own paper and wasn’t sure if I was supposed to write on my own paper or THAT paper the prof gave us. So, I followed the other students…but then, 15 minutes later they all switched to the test paper. I can’t believe they actually do rough drafts here! So…I wasted 15 minutes rewriting the same stuff. The prof is new and so she doesn’t know exactly what to do with international students, so she is just making them take the tests with the rest of the students. I wrote ETUDIANTE ETRANGERE in huge letters on the top of my page (foreign student)…so, I hope all went well. I knew limited information about the question (only from what I read)…and tried to make a comprehensive essay…but I don’t think it showed very much critical thinking. But I don’t think it matters because there were 3 girls in front of me who were using their notes throughout the entire test! And I asked the guy sitting next to me if we were allowed to use notes and he said, “jamais” (never) and then I asked WHY those girls were using their notes then…and he said something about them being cheaters. So, that was stupid. I can’t believe the professor didn’t do anything…I’m sure she saw it! But nevermind that, I can’t believe the students would openly cheat like that! It wasn’t like they were hiding their notes…they had them up on the table and were searching through them openly…incroyable! Today, during class, too, everyone was talking and pissing me off. I can’t believe the behavior of these students! And the teacher was up there APOLOGIZING…saying that she was sorry the material was so boring but to bear with her…and I was thinking…WHY should the teacher be apologizing at all?? That’s ridiculous!! It isn’t hard to pay attention…it really isn’t. You either want to be here or you don’t…it’s not like she takes role. So, anyway, I was mad at the class today because the students were being ridiculously loud and rude (even in the first 3 rows…it didn’t matter, they talked the entire time and didn’t even look sorry when she confronted the class). The universities here have a much different expectation from their students I think.

I have booked a lot of trips for coming up and I just went to SNCF (the train station here) yesterday and got a bunch of train tickets for upcoming travel plans. I can’t believe vacation starts next week!! I am leaving for Switzerland Friday! Imagine that! I need to get warm clothes!!! I think I’m going to die! Ahh…coldness here. It is SOOOOO cold here! In the morning, it is normally around 40 degrees when I leave for school and stays in the 50s throughout the day. In the very early hours of the morning when I wake up, its in the high 30s…I am very scared of what December will feel like….I need to buy more warm clothes but I just don’t have time to go shopping! So much homework and reading! And planning!!

My family’s oldest son came to visit this past week. He was sooo cute!!! He is 22 and goes to a University in Holland which is pretty cool. His British friend came to visit too and spent half the week with us. It was a lot of people living in one house, but it was nice having some younger people around to talk to…even if they didn’t talk that much (the son was extremely shy!!). There was a lot crying this weekend too because the older brother and the little brother kept rough-housing and therefore, the little one would keep getting hurt. So crying, rough-housing, shouting…along with a lot of blood (bloody noses too….dang). I tried to get work done this weekend and only went out once to a friend’s house to watch the final Rugby game…boooo England lost. Oh well I guess. Good for Afrique de Sud I guess. I talked with my friend’s host mom for a long time too while at there house and she was soo funny! She had the best conversation topics...and her oldest daughter (13) was looking through a Toys ‘R US catalogue and making her Christmas list…I am so tempted by the Spiderman toys and Harry Potter ones…hmm…

I think I am pretty set for next week’s vacation and almost for winter vacation. I am going to wrap up plans before I leave for Suisse. I have to finish my art history paper before I leave this week so I need to get cracking! I have two to write, a geography exposé, harmonie écrite music to fill in (we’re filling in 4 part harmony…it’s hard stuff…too many rules!), memorize songs for solfége, and study for my midterm for histoire du théâtre which I have to take when I come back from vaçances (vacation). Ridicule! Examens après les vaçances…je ne peux pas le supporter!

Bisous !
Hope everyone survives the fires !! And your houses too!! And our BEAUTIFUL university…I would CRY so hard if it burned down…

Sherilyn

Sixieme et Septieme Semaine...

2007-10-14T12:20:00.000-07:00

So, I am sooo sorry!! I totally forgot to do my blog last week and I didn’t even realize it! I must have been so busy and stressed about school that I didn’t even think about it. My bad! I feel horrible!! I can’t believe I’m late…I never thought that I would be late for my blog. Darnit! I’m sorry once again! And so, I guess, this means that this update will be double the normal size and that’s usually long anyway. Whoops…my fault. I feel horrible…

Now, I don’t even remember what I did last week. I remember getting mad because my wine that I sent to my parents got sent back because apparently, you cannot send food to the United States. If I had known that rule, of course I wouldn’t have tried to send it. But the girl who worked at la poste totally allowed me to send it…took my money, stamped it, packaged it…she knew it was wine, and she still sent it. It is outrageously stupid that postal workers don’t even know their own rules. If I had known before, of course I would have chosen something else to send to my parents for their birthday (yes, it was a birthday gift on top of that!) and therefore, it wouldn’t be late. But now they receive nothing. And I feel even more horrible. The week before last was not my week…I just remember that. Maybe that’s why I didn’t write…

Classes went alright I guess. Except, I found out that I had been going to the wrong TD-like a section, for my geography class. The schedules are so unorganized and I thought I picked the most logical TD for my cours majestral (lecture), but I guess I didn’t. Since the first week I thought they didn’t have class, I missed one of the TD’s for the one I was supposed to be in. And then the second week, I finally realized that I was sitting in the wrong TD for 2 hours and that I am not in Population and Development, but in Amenagement and Territoire. So yeah…now I have class on Friday mornings which really angers me because I really wanted 3 days weekends for travel. I don’t think I will be able to travel that much since it is so expensive and I won’t have much time anyway to really see the sites if I have to be back by Sunday night. Especially if I plan on taking the train since the train takes so long.

Besides the wine fiasco and the geography class mix up, I met some really cool frenchies who are studying English and Spanish and we met for coffee that week. They are soo funny and are really nice. It was so cool being able to talk with them. They spoke in English, well, at least the guy did (the girl was sooo shy she wouldn’t even speak one word of English!) and my friend and I spoke in French. I was able to recharge my aquipass (student card) so I have money on it for food which is good. And also money for making copies at the library…but that was a bit complicated. I didn’t know that there were two accounts on your student card, one for food and the other for printing. I actually could have just used money to upload my card with money for printing, but nobody told me that. They just told me I had to have money on my card and since I didn’t know there were two accounts, I just went to one of the restaurants, tried to charge my card, couldn’t because I don’t have a carte bleue and then waited another day to go to administration which is only open between 11 and 1 to put money on it. But since it wasn’t the same account, I had to do it separately at the library for my printing account…and bah…it was just complicated and a mess and quite annoying.

I also met a really cool guy in my Solfège class (music theory) who has half citizenship in America. His father actually lives in California, LA to be exact, and so he visits every 3-4 years for a couple months during the summer. He loves it there…however, I think he’s gotten a skewed impression of America only seeing LA. He keeps telling me how much better the system of education in America is compared to the French system and wants to go to music school there after he finishes his studies in Bordeaux. He is a first year and his English is really good…and he studied music in CA and so he can help me translate some of the music terminology that I’m not familiar with (which is almost everything). So we had lunch after my placement test which didn’t really go that well, but I don’t really care, and talked.

I’m trying to remember other things that I did that week…but nothing extraordinary seems to come to my mind. I went to a movie on Friday night, “99 francs,” which was a movie about drugs. It was very French, but very interesting. Not my type, but well done. It was a little too violent/sexual/awkward for me I think…but nevertheless intriguing. Saturday night was another rugby game at Chartrons, a place in the center of the downtown where they have a huge screen that everyone watches the game on. It was France versus New Zealand and France won and it was insane. OMG….so many drunks, so much smoke…so much glass on the ground. People were singing and dancing and chanting…firecrackers everywhere, flags waving, music blaring…chaotic. We made the mistake of going to Victoire to meet some friends where it was even more chaotic. The trams had stopped because all the people were in the streets singing and chanting and so no one could go anywhere. All the bars were full so we couldn’t find a place to sit which was annoying as well. And also, people were getting so crazy that they started hitting cars which were passing in the streets and trying to turn them over when they slowed down as to not hit people who were recklessly walking around. Glass was shattered everywhere on the ground and people were getting out of hand…one guys picked up this one girl and started dancing with her, then running with her until he fell, she fell, and hurt her head. Fortunately, there was an ambulance on site to treat anyone who was injured. But it was definitely a night of celebration for France. I, unfortunately, didn’t have that great of a time since I didn’t have the best company and so retired home early.

Sunday I stayed in and tried to study and work on my architecture paper which hasn’t been coming along at all. I only have a month left now…eek! 10 pages…in French…about something I don’t quite understand. I’m scared.

Now, this actual past week that I recall a little better, wasn’t too bad. I’m starting to understand my classes a little more after reading the recommended books like crazy. Since I now have a small foundation for vocabulary, I have found it a lot easier to understand what the professors are saying, but still, there is a lot that I am missing. I still have my Italian friend in Art History which is cool and apparently he had a really bad weekend which didn’t get much better since the trams stopped that morning. Yeah…trams stopped in the main centre of Bordeaux all the way to university…in the morning…on a school day. On a Monday in fact. Now, that’s just a problem if I ever knew one. Everyone was late, including professors, and people were just angry at having to walk or take crowded buses everywhere. Luckily, my bus drops me off at a close walking distance from the university so it didn’t affect me that much. And that morning, while walking, I met some nice British students from Erasmus that are apparently in my Histoire du theatre/cinema class. That class, by the way, isn’t going that great. I think that is the class that I understand the least in and I actually have an exam this coming Tuesday…eek! And since she is a brand new teacher, she doesn’t know what to do with international students so she told me just to take the exam with the other students. It is going to be a composition (essay) based off notes, but my notes aren’t that great and I have been trying to read the books she recommended for us (that I bought and cost me around 40 euros!) but the don’t seem to be helping since they are also complicated and I’m looking up vocabulary words every sentence. So I’m scared. Ahh!!

Geography went better than the week before since the week before. That week, he was just rattling off statistics the entire time and it was really hard for me to catch all the chiffres (numbers) and to process them from French into English. I ended up copying some of the numbers from the guy sitting next to me which was really nice of him. This time was better though, although the TD for that class is all based on climatology right now and I am absolutely clueless on that subject. Thankfully, the teacher knows that I’m clueless on the subject (because I explained I’m an economics major and not a geography major- I don’t even think we have geography majors at our university), and so he doesn’t expect much from me. But I’m trying! And I’ve been reading the books he recommended as well which are, in fact, really easy to read, but not about climatology.

Solfège was fun, as usual, although a bit annoying because of communication problems with the schedule. We were supposed to have an 8am harmonie écrite (written harmony) class but the professor was sick and didn’t show. Even though it wasn’t his fault, I was still angry since I had to leave before 7am that morning to get to class on time (the stars were still shining brightly when I was walking to the bus stop…it was ridiculous!). Then I thought we had class for Solfège at 11, but it turned out my group wasn’t until 12:30….oh the extra sleep I could have gotten. We have to write the music (notes and rhythms) for this song entitled “Claire Fontaine” which apparently everybody in that class knows…except for me, for next week. It is a French children’s song that everyone learns when they are about 5 years old…seeing that I grew up with Old McDonald and Baby Beluga, I was puzzled. Luckily, I found an mp3 online that I can listen to and try to write the music, in Sol majeure, using that.

Thursday night, my friend from our program had a dinner party which was really fun. I brought a salad and we had pasta and lots of desserts! And wine! Of course. It was a mixture of Americans and Frenchies (and a Mexican, Brit, and German) and so we all had fun talking and getting to know each other. I found a really cool guy who is as nerdy and geeky as me and so we were talking the majority of the night. Friday I had my geography TD (boooo Friday classes!!) and I had lunch with one of my French friends at one of the university restaurants (the one who is studying English and Spanish). Unfortunately, I left my UCSD sweater in his car though, so I have to be sure to get that back. Friday night we went to a carnival that is in Bordeaux at l’Esplanade de Quinconces. It was actually really cool (French carnivals are just as fun, if not better!) and the food is amazing…you can’t find food like this at our carnivals back home (Crepes, mascottes, gaufres, kebabs!!...ahh, so bad for you. I love their “American” sandwiches too…they are so NOT American..and that is why it’s so lovable). They also had a huge copyright problem with Disney symbols on all the rides for little kids. They were Disney characters everywhere but you definitely know it was not trademarked…so it was funny to see all the wanna-be pictures of Jasmine and Ariel everywhere. We went on one ride (that was all I could afford…3.50 euros) which was a crazy turny ride which was really fun. I totally forgot how much fun rides like this could be…it was a nice memory from the time before I came to the university…I think it was called, “before MMW” (jk jk). Then I stayed over at my friend’s house since I missed my bus because we got back pretty late after going to bar and dancing for a while (it was goth night…so heavy metal was playing all night).
Saturday was the BIG rugby game: France vs. England. And oh lordy…it was bad. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a rugby game so brutal before! No mercy…oh man. And France lost on top of it, which sucked. It was such a different feel than the week before when France won. We were actually with a couple Brits and so we still got the celebration afterward. It was really annoying though because after the half time, people would cram into the center trying to steal the seats of those already seated and it was chaotic. We spent a good 15 minutes trying to tell people to sit down, yelling in French, and swearing at them. There was a family sitting in front of us and the little kid (must have been around 7 years old, maybe younger), kept getting up and yelling at them really loud and poking them with his blowup toy…it was hilarious. In the end, I just had to stand up because no one would sit down in front because they were too crowded together to sit. This, of course, made the game pointless for me since I couldn’t see anything. The last half of the game…I really have no clue what happened but I had a feeling that France didn’t win when I heard my Brit friends screaming at the top of their lungs after a while.

Today, I tried to catch up on homework but didn’t happen. My family was uber nice and invited me to a luncheon (they have lunches with friends every Sunday…it’s really cool) and so we ate for 3 hours (oh those Frenchies…). It was really good though and I felt full, but not overstuffed. So that was a summary of my past two weeks. Sorry for the length and the lack of details from the week before. I really didn’t realize that I hadn’t written until I looked at my blog again…I guess I just wasn’t having a very good week that week.

Hope you are all enjoying SD weather...it is freezing here! But my family says that this isn’t cold...it hasn’t even begun. Oh bugger…I’m gonna die. Eek!

Sherilyn

Cinquieme semaine

2007-10-02T10:54:00.001-07:00

Cou cou!!
(Ah….I love that phrase…)

I hope everyone is doing well and has had an amazing Welcome Week…I wonder who won the UNolympics…I hope ERC got something…!! Make me proud!

So, last week, I had my first week of real classes. It was a bit annoying because I had to go to about 13 classes to figure out my 4 classes that will work for me (in other words, upper division, more than 4 units, and having to do with France or something French). It is pretty hard to do that here, especially because the French university system likes to break up classes into smaller classes…in other words, one class may be split into two parts and each part is worth 2.5 but together they are 5 units. Unfortunately, UCSD doesn’t accept classes like that, at least for my major, and so I have to find really big classes (a lot of hours) which is extremely hard to do. But I managed…it did take a while though.

So my first day, I went to a music class in the morning that didn’t work out because it wasn’t about France. I just asked one of the students before class if it was a general class or not and he told me it covered all regions. It was a history of music class. So then I went to my art history class which I am actually enrolled in. That worked out well and I met a cool Italian named Dario from Erasmus. The next day, I tried to go a class at 9, 9:30, and 9:45. It was lucky because the class at 9 didn’t work out so I could leave right away and the class at 9:30 seemed pretty promising (History of Theatre/Cinema) and so I didn’t bother to go to the 9:45 one at the Science Po. I still need to talk to the other professor though (because it’s a two part class) to see whether the cinema aspect is about French cinema/European cinema, or world cinema. I hope it’s the first one. Wednesday I went to a Solfége class (music theory), but for second years. I was very confused (especially because of a lack of knowledge of vocabulary), but it was still really fun. I talked to the professor and he recommended coming into the Solfége License 1, first year music theory. Then I went to my geography class where I barely understood the professor, especially with all those numbers he was rattling off, but met some cool Irish girls. It seems to be a lot easier to meet international students than the French students. Not that I haven’t tried! I tried to talk to the French students, really I did, but they are either not interested in conversing with me, or have their own friends to chat with. Even in the first year classes…it was kinda sad. I really thought that first years would be more open to make friends and talk to people on the first day…but no. They don’t really care.

Thursday I went to the Solfége 1 class and the theory was a little easier, but I still struggled with vocabulary. I mean, afterall, I don’t use musical terms on a daily basis in French…you know? And there was a girl sitting next to me who was really really good and so that didn’t help my self esteem because her sight reading was perfect and mine definitely was not. I have to relearn notes again! They use different names for the notes…I’m not used to that! I feel like I’m in elementary school again…learning the names of the notes, and the rhythms…ahhhh….I feel like such an ignoramus. Bugger. I tried to talk to the first years in that class too….and we went a whole 10 minutes without them even asking where I was from. Again, they just don’t care about international students. But one guy was pretty nice and so I was talking to him the majority of the time. It took him forever to actually ask where I was from, and even so, he did it indirectly. But I saw him the next week standing outside a classroom and waved and said, “Bonjour…ça va?” which he responded to with a smile…so I think that means....”friends.” Or at least, “I recognize you” (which is totally fine with at this point). We had to sing individually in the class at the end which I was nervous about and I totally rushed my rhythms…soo bad! But I was scared and nervous! My prof was really nice though and allowed me to chante en anglas (sing in English) instead of French…because the French say different letter names than we do. That was very nice of him, but we have a placement exam this week and I don’t think it’ll be that easy…so I need to get crackin’ on French music theory!

I went shopping in the morning on Friday and bought 2 pairs of pants at Zara’s…yay, French style! And got some food for lunch, went to the fac to continue my research for my architecture paper. I am having trouble finding sources on my topic though (Cathédrale Saint-Maurice d’Angers) and there is this one book that I’ve found at the art history library which is pretty good, except I can’t take it out. I could photocopy it, but I need to get money on my student card before I can do that and I can’t do that until I can go the administration office because I don’t have a French bank card…ahhh complications. It amuses me so. Not really actually…kinda makes me mad. Anyhow, I went to dinner that night and then to hang at a pub with my friends later that night which was fun, especially because this pub has been dubbed the Centre de Californie because all of the California students hang out around there, apparently. Them and English/Irish/Australians. We met a cool Brit there from Brighton and were talking with him for a while until some of our French friends showed up.

Saturday, I stayed inside and tried to research and study…but was pretty unsuccessful. I can only look up every other word so many times, just too tedious. I wanted to go out that night, but was unsuccessful with gathering a number of people to go. Fortunately, my family was super nice and was having a dinner party with their friends and so they invited me! We drank wine, talked (Spanish and French!), ate good food, and had fun. It was quite a nice evening. Sunday I stayed inside as well since everything is closed in France on Sunday and tried to finish up the book I had for research so I could return it on Monday.

Monday, I went to the fac early to study at the library, since the library is not open on the weekends (ridiculous! I know! What…students don’t study on the weekends…!?), and got some café at the student cafeteria and read the paper. I had a TD (travaux dirigée) for histoire de l’art and sat with my new Italian friend and talked. Then I went to lunch and because my art history class (cours majestral) was cancelled, I tried to go to the administration office to get money on my student card so I could finish my research and make photocopies, but it wasn’t open. I did, however, meet two really nice French students (first years) who study English and Spanish. I was with my other friend and the Frenches were really excited that we were from California (their exact response was “oh là là!”). So, we exchanged numbers and said we would call each other the next day so we could meet up and they can practice their English and us, our French. That made my day…I love making new friends!

Today, class pretty boring and apparently I fooled some girl sitting next to me into thinking I was French because she kept asking to see my notes (which I nervously showed her seeing as I don’t have very good ones (obviously I can’t understand everything the prof says)). During the break I talked with her and it was only when I told her that I was a foreign student did she realize it…it was pretty amusing. I’ve found out that freshmen die in 3 hour classes, especially history of theatre ones, and they start falling asleep about 1.5 into the class….then get really distracted during the last half (after the cigarette break…yeah. It’s NOT a bathroom break…it’s definitely a cig break…). After class, I went to lunch with a friend and we tried to meet up with those French students we met the day before to converse in English, but they were unavailable. We’ll try again tomorrow I suppose. I went home early, practiced music, went to the mall with my family for a little bit to look at coats, and here I am now…still practicing music but need to move on to reading my books. Insane.

Anyway, I am getting a bit upset because my parent’s birthday present I sent home seems to be taking a little longer than I expected and I need to it to get there in time…oh well. Boo French post. Tant pis.

À toute à l’heure!
Sherilyn

Quatrieme semaine

2007-09-24T12:04:00.000-07:00

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

Troisieme semaine (Week 3)

2007-09-17T16:42:00.000-07:00

Salut tous!

I hope everyone has had a great week! I know many of you are getting ready to move down to SD (if you haven’t already) and are looking forward to the start of the new year! I just want to let everyone know how much I am going to miss Welcome Week…oh, that is the best week ever! And I’m not going to be there…how sad. But seriously, enjoy Welcome Week! It is definitely something that I miss and that we don’t get here in France.

Anyway, this past week went by really fast. I had class all week as we summed up our LIP (Language Intensive Program) on Friday. I did my presentation on Ethnic Restaurants in Bordeaux on Tuesday and then gave a presentation on Maurice Chevalier, a famous French singer/actor/entertainer from between 1920-1950, and on Nice, France. It went pretty well and I was glad to get them over with. Classes were rough only because we had so much of it at one time, especially on Monday because we had the DEFLE test in the morning and class in the afternoon.

A few friends and I went to dinner on Wednesday night…I think it was Wednesday…it seems like all my days are one big blur now. But we went to dinner in the downtown area and my friend found a cute restaurant called Les Petites Cassolettes. It was a restaurant which served little plates of food for a good price and you could mix and match them with larger plates. It was very good and there were a lot of good choices! I got turkey curry, lasagna, and apple crumble. Yum. It was amzing. One of the first good meals I have had in a long time (since I have been eating sandwiches for the past 3 weeks I swear…ahhh…sandwiches!) and I finally felt full. On Thursday, our programme treated us to dinner (for the end of our classes) at a nice Mediterranean restaurant. It was fun to talk with everyone and relax a little bit. The fish was amazing! I haven’t had fish in such a long time…Salmon grilled with sesame seeds…oh so good. Then Friday, I actually moved into my new place. I am renting a room from a family in Begles. It’s a bit far, about a 30 minute bus ride, but it seems nice and everything is included except for meals. I get full use of a washer and dryer, kitchen facilities, cable television, and wifi. Plus, I will be able to converse with a French family…! So, that is always a plus. It was a nice way to get the perks of staying with a family without the responsibility.

The mother was actually born in Texas, but she went to a university in Paris and never went back. She has three kids: a 9 year old son, a twenty year old daughter (whose room I am staying in while she is studying abroad in Birmingham, England), and a twenty-two year old son who has already moved out and is studying in London but is currently in Ireland…I think. The step-father is French and plays the saxophone which is where he is right now (playing with his band which plays music of Les Pays-Bas). They are very nice and they even let me have dinner with them last night (which was really nice especially because I am not paying to have dinner with them) and I tried duck heart’s for the first time. The mother said that they eat a lot of duck, goose, and rabbit. It will be very interesting…hehe. I am excited though! I DO want to try new things!

After I went grocery shopping this morning (the supermarché is only a 5 minute walk from our house), the mom took me to a poisonnerie (fish market). I bought les petits rougés, these small red fish. The mother is going to teach me how to cook them. We also went to an open market to buy fruits and vegetables. It was very enjoyable and I was able to see where the locals buy their foods. She also bought some huitres (oysters) which people are very fond of here. Afterward, we returned back home and I took a bus into down to meet a friend. She brought along another friend and we went to visit the Grand Theatre, La Musée d’Aquitaine, and La Palais de Rohan. It was a special day when you could get into all these government buildings for free and so we took advantage of that. It was fun, but very hot. It usually gets really hot in the afternoons, but it is really cold in the morning…so, its kinda misleading. I just got back…I was a bit stressed because I thought I was going to miss the last bus and would have to take the night bus which would drop me off somewhere where I have no clue how to get back to my house and I would hate to find my way by map in the dark. Fortunately, I was able to catch the last bus and was able to find my way.

On Sunday, I went to grocery store again to do the rest of my shopping (I still can’t figure out how to use the shopping carts…they are attached to each other by this chain and I don’t know how to unlock them…someone said something about putting money in it and then when you return the grocery cart, it gives you your money back…I’m not sure). But anyhow, after that, I made lunch (chicken curry stir fry!! YUM!-finally some good Asian food!), and then was planning on going downtown with my friends again. Unfortunately though, my bus was cancelled and I had no way to the downtown area. So, I was stranded at home. I took advantage of their internet though (which is still not working properly…it is supposed to be wifi, but its not connecting tom my computer) and so spent the time clearing up my inbox (it’s finally clean! YAY! I feel so relieved!), and chatting with friends. Then I showered, talked with their cat (who I am allergic to), and ate more candy (ahhh…so much candy!).

Today, Monday, I woke up early to go to the fac (university), but realized it took me a little longer. The bus was 10 minutes late which was kind of annoying since I wanted to get there before 9am so I could register for classes at 9am, but it wasn’t a big deal since I had no clue how to register anyway. After much confusion and frustration with the French university system, I was able to inscrire (register) in one class: a history of art and archeology class which focuses on 8th-15th century French Gothic Architecture. I thought it would be a nice addition to the Cambridge Architecture class that I took this past summer. I need to go back to register for geography on Wednesday and Cinema/Theatre still hasn’t posted a schedule or a description of their classes. The description of the music classes are very poor and I went to the department to see if they had a better one, but they don’t. I’m still deciding about my other classes and unfortunately, until the other schedules/descriptions come out, I am not going to be able to register for my other classes.

Anyway, we had lunch there and then I went downtown to get my parent’s birthday gift which I sent with a card. I did a little shopping and then visited a friend’s new apartment. I was really tired and so fell asleep the entire bus ride back. At home, I showered, made and ate dinner, and then relaxed, spending the evening looking up flights and train fares. The little 9 year old asked me to play ping pong with him which was very fun and I talked with the mother afterwards while she was eating dinner…it’s always good to get my dose of French conversation everyday.

That has been my third week…a lot more interesting thank goodness! Hopefully with classes starting next week…my blogs will only get better. Lol.

Have fun moving in everyone!!
A bientôt!
Sherilyn

Week 2

2007-09-11T07:27:00.000-07:00

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

France! Week 1

2007-09-05T10:17:00.001-07:00

Bonjour à tous!

So, I guess from now I will be throwing in some Franglais…lol. Anyway, this past week has been pretty nice…just getting used to the French atmosphere and making new friends (always a plus!). So I don’t really remember when the last time I posted (since I haven’t had access to internet for so long! Well…at least it seems like it, it’s actually been around 13 days…I think, but it seems like longer).

So the first couple of days we had meetings about our program and different aspects of it. I had a housing meeting about finding apartments the other day and they gave us a sheet with some numbers on it we can call. It’s a bit hard for me to do that without internet to find where the apartments are and without a mobile to call them. Besides, I’m still deciding on a homestay or not. It might be easier to do a homestay I’ve found, just because I’m a semester student, but it’s bit expensive and I really didn’t want the responsibility of a family. We’ll see…

Anyway, I mostly hung around and took the tram downtown a couple of time to walk around and explore with friends. We tried this Kebap place across from our university…lol…it’s supposed to be Kebab, but its spelt Kebap….it sounds like a discotech…hehe. Anyway, the past couple of days, we’ve been scrounging around for food most of the time and trying to entertain ourselves before the classes start.

I went to a movie Friday night after the test with some friends and we saw “Les 3 Amis.” It was trés bonne and quite comical and random. I couldn’t understand everything, but got the just of it. Besides, comedies are always easier to understand; facial expressions help a lot. It was very “French,” which actually means a lot of sex and synthesized funny “happy” music. Lol…not at the same time though... After the movie, we walked around downtown a little bit and got ice cream. The next day was a free day and so a new friend and I got up early and took the tram downtown. We checked out the cathedral, Saint-Andre, which was gorgeous and full of many gothic features (go French flying buttresses and rounded east ends!), and we also climbed a very tall tower next to the cathedral. We got some beautiful pictures of the centre-ville and Bordeaux (I got to see the modern part of Bordeaux for the first time…well, besides our university). After that, we walked around looking for an open market that my friend heard about on Saturdays. We checked the bureau de tourisme and found that it was in Saint-Michel. So, we walked along the beautiful river (brown river actually…however, it wasn’t brown that day! It was quite pretty, I think it was the high tide). Anyway, we finally found it and it was a huge open market! Lots of diversity! We bought some baguettes (flutes), du fromage (cheese) and fruit. We then found a nice bench next to the river and ate our lunch there! It was gorgeous and we felt trés Françaises! Then we took the tram back to the downtown area and I tried to find a SIM card. Unfortunately, the company Orange doesn’t work with my phone, even though I got my phone unlocked in England. However, I tried SFR and that company does work with my phone…so be careful! Even though you unlock your cell phone to other networks, there are still some networks which won’t “marche bien” with your phone. SFR looks okay, but I would have preferred Orange since it seems that everyone has that company and it would make calling people within my network a lot cheaper. It is really expensive to call people here! And there’s this weird plan where you have a certain number of prepaid credits that you must use within a time limit. It’s kind of annoying…I definitely prefer the English cell phone plans. Well, anyway, after that, we were pretty tired, so after getting my 2 month tram pass, we went back. I have been organizing my music and photos like crazy since I have no internet in my room and so I continued to do that all night. I went to dinner at the supermarché Géant which was about a 20 minutes walk from the tram stop a little ways past our university towards Pessac with a couple of friends. It was a huge supermarket in there and I got a piece of pizza and these chocolate crepes which were to die for!! Ahhh…sooo good.

The next day, we had an excursion with the programme. Ahhh…I’ve been spelling program with two “m’s” ever since England…crazy! Anyway, we went to the pier to take a tour of the Oyster Museum and learn about the cultivation of oysters. And then…the best part, we got free oysters!! Yum! I’ve actually never tried oysters before and so it was a first for me. I like them though! Although I’m not crazy about them like the French…lol. We were sitting with the adults because they ran out of tables which was actually pretty cool because we got to practice our French and we got extra huitres (oysters)! Then we traveled to the largest sand dune in Europe…don’t ask me…and climbed it. Lol. Actually, it was really cool and at the top you got a gorgeous view of the ocean and it looked exactly like the Caribbes!! Seriously, I thought we had traveled to the Caribbean because it was sooo pretty! Blue water…palm trees…white sand…lots of it…lol. Ahhh! We walked all the way down the dune…which was a really really really long way…and then were kinda bummed because that meant we would have to walk back up it. It was all good fun though and some people tried rolling down the dune…didn’t work out too well. Worked my calves walking up in the sun though…I felt like I was in a dessert with all that sand. After our dune experience, we went to the beach (la plague). It was quite pretty and I got some good photos. It was too cold to swim though…the water, as well as the weather was a bit too chilly because of the wind, but it was nice walking around on the sand and seeing a REAL ocean again for the first time in a few months! (Ahh…San Diego…please, enjoy the ocean!! You won’t know how much you miss it…well, until you get to England. Lol.) But Bordeaux is very beachy… well, this part was and we had a great time, even though we were only there for a short time. Then we retuned on a bus back to the dortoirs (dorms) and rested. I showered, and then we went to dinner with a new friend in downtown Bordeaux. We found a Chinese restaurant and ate there. I tried les grenouilles (frog) for the premiere fois! Asian frog legs…quite interesting. It’s a lighter meat than chicken, but not quite fish…somewhere in the middle, which is, well I guess, how one would describe a frog. Not quite a fish...but not quite a land animal. Lol. Nevertheless it was an enjoyable night and our new friend had already been there since last Spring and so he showed up around the town.

We had class this morning (our first DEFLE class). DEFLE is the department here for foreign language students…that’s us! We take classes here just for 2 weeks and then take a test to place us in university classes or DEFLE classes for the year. My class was okay, although dictation isn’t the most interesting thing, but our professor is trés sympa (nice). However, people were very shy and there was a lot of silence…which I felt was my duty to fill…lol. After class, we had a meeting about homestays and then I tried to find dinner with another friend. Making so many new friends!! Yay! Lol. But we were stupid and can’t read maps nor have any directional sense whatsoever, so OF COURSE, it took us 20 minutes to find a restaurant that turned out to be closed anyway. We ended up at a new supermarché that I wanted to visit and went shopping. Then afterward, we met some girls from Belgique on the tram and talked with them for a bit. It’s soo cool meeting international students..! Especially those that are learning French just like us! Anyway, we went to a Kebab place for dinner again and I have just gotten back. So, that was a round up of my first week. Not too bad? I have had some difficulties with the language barrier actually and I seem to be very intimidated when I am talking to adults in French I’ve noticed. I’m usually confident with the other students, especially the Americans, but when I go up to a mérchand, I get scared. I guess I just need more practice. They’re not mean anyway, usually very helpful…so all good! I had some trouble figuring out laundry this morning though but will try again tomorrow….

Anyway, must write to others…I think I got wifi tomorrow…I hope! Not in our dortoirs but in a room at DEFLE….still, it’s better than using the computer room which is always packed with étudiants (students) and French keyboards which are a pain, I’ll tell ya!

Au revoir!
Sherilyn

Week 10

2007-09-05T10:16:00.000-07:00

Hey there!

Okay, I know, I know. I’m late on my blog. My bad. It has just been a very hectic week, especially with finals last week and all the papers and studying I had to do. Then, the fact that I didn’t have internet until now…because internet in Bordeaux is very hard to come by, especially at the university…but yes. Here it is: enjoy.

So my last week in Cambridge was super fun, but I am so sad that I had to leave!! For the most part of the week, I was studying for my Economics final and writing the paper. I tried to get some last minute souvenir shopping done in Cambridge since I hadn’t done any at all…I know, it’s been 8 weeks and I still hadn’t bought a sweatshirt or postcards. I’m ridiculous. Anyway, I had my final on Thursday and then that night, we had our last formal. There was a party afterward as well that was themed the Roaring Twenties and so we played Texas Hold’em, listened to live jazz and danced in the cellar with glowsticks. We also met with all the Japanese students as well and took lots of pictures and said many good-byes. That Friday, I tried to get errands done such as sending off some very expensive souvenirs…expensive because of the sending I suppose, and took my last minute pictures of Cambridge and some of the colleges. I also went out to dinner that night with a friend for some good Italian. Then I went back to pack everything up, ready to leave for London the next morning.

We left for London around 9am and got in around 11am. I was with another girl and a guy. We said goodbye to the girl who met her Dad at the train station. It was so sad! Then my friend and I continued to our hostel. After dropping our stuff off at the hostel, we hit the British Museum (which had cool mummies and random beheaded statues), Westminster Abby (with beautiful fan vaulting..! Yay!), the National Portrait Gallery (which didn’t have Daniel Radcliffe’s portrait displayed at the time…I was sad), and the Imperial War Museum (which had the biggest exhibit on the Holocaust that I’ve ever seen). After that, we headed over to Soho, London’s Chinatown, for dinner and got Japanese and then Piccadilly Circus for shopping. We were pretty exhausted from walking around all the time and so, turned in early at our hostel.

We woke up the next morning and got breakfast in Notting Hill while watching the setting up of one of the biggest carnivals in England. After that, we visited Hyde Park and the Peter Pan statue and Kensington Gardens to see the Princess Diana memorial fountains. Then we went to Camden for shopping and got early dinner there. We shopped around for quite a bit, looking for my “British” shoes, but I didn’t find anything! We had dessert in Leicester Square and then met up with some other friends who were traveling after the program. We tried to go to the oldest pub in London to find that it was closed and so ended up taking pictures in front of St. Paul’s Cathedral. My friend and I headed back to the hostel after that because he had an early flight the next morning.

After I dropped him off at Heathrow the next morning and said our goodbyes, I went to meet up with my other friends from the night before. We got a packed lunch from a grocery store and had lunch in front of Buckingham Palace, listening to the Royal Band play from inside the gates. Afterward, we went shopping at Oxford Circus and then went to Kensington to see Harrods. We spent quite a bit of time at Harrods, mostly looking at the huge TOY department (ahh…I love toys!!), and then my friend went back to her hotel. I went back to Oxford Circus to exchange some money and but some CDs at HMV. Afterward, I went back to my hostel to meet another friend who was staying in my friend’s bed who had just left on the plane that morning. We met and then reunited with my other friend for dinner and went to the London Eye. I didn’t go on it, but they did and I walked around the Thames…it was a beautiful night! Everything was lit up and so pretty! Afterward, I went back to my hostel because I had to catch my taxi at 4:30am for Gatwick.

After getting into Gatwick, I took off for Bordeaux at 7:55am and arrived about an hour twenty after. I met two other girls in the program who were on the same flight and we got a taxi together and got to the university. All we had to do was check-in and so we did that and I spent the rest of the day unpacking and trying to adjust to the change in weather (it was sooo hot and humid!! So different from the pouring rain of Cambridge! I miss the rain!!). Anyway, that was that day…and I went to a supermarché also and got some food to eat because we don’t have an eating plan here.

The next day, we had a meeting at noon and then afterward, I went with a couple of other girls to an internet café in the downtown area by taking the tram. Then we got food at another supermarché and went back to eat. I spent the rest of the night trying to delete programs and clean up my computer because I finally ran out of disk space!! Eek!

Today, we had a meeting in the morning and then met in the downtown area for a historical tour of Bordeaux in the afternoon. After the tour, I got money from my bank and then got some information on the SIM cards here. I spent a half an hour in a café having a pastry and reading the booklets on SIM cards over, trying to understand them before I bought anything. The rates are outrageous here! I think I know why texting is so popular! Then after, I met for dinner with some other new friends I’ve met and have just got back right now. It was a good day, but I have to study for our exam tomorrow for placement for the LIP programme Ahh! Scary French grammar!

Til then-
Sherilyn

Week 7

2007-08-20T07:21:00.000-07:00

Well, this has got to be the sadest week ever! Ahh...the last week! I don't know what to do! Oh, wait...study! Yeah finals...forgot about that. Or, not really actually. Well, anyway, let me recant my semi-boring adventures from this past week.

On Monday...I slept. I think I slept. Actually, I feel as though I must have been sleeping because I don't really remember what I DID do and therefore, I must have been sleeping because you don't really remember things when you're sleeping, you know? But anyhow, I had class and then I slept a lot. Tuesday...I had class, and went to the library to get some book for my paper and tried talk to the Chapel Clerk at King's College Chapel, which is the gothic architecture building that I am doing my paper on. Actually, I'm pretty sure I just sat in the Chapel all day Tuesday trying "understand" things, but really just trying to figure out my quasi-complex book that I got from the library. It wasn't a very successful day obviously.

Wednesday...wow, this week must have been horribly boring, because I don't recall anything midly interesting on that day. Dinner was good? No, that's got to be false. I think I had class and continued to do research for my paper. I met with some of the Japanese students who are doing a study abroad program here as well. They are from Waseda and they are really nice. We had free wine and cheese after dinner on that day! I talked with some of the girls and their english is so impressive for how long they have been learning it! I wish I could speak French like they speak English. The boys were a little shy. I learned some Japanese though which was really cool!

Then Thursday...more paper? And Chapel researching?...You bet! We also went to Corpus Christi College Chapel and St. John's for my architecture seminar. I got to see where they supposedly filmed Harry Potter! Oh...that was the sad highlight of my day...Then on Friday, we went to St. Botolph's and Great St. Mary's because the Catholic Church we were supposed to go to was occupied. I worked on my paper that afternoon (and actually got work done) and then I hung out with a good friend for the night. Saturday, much of the same...and I actually finished my paper that morning! That night we watched Monty Python in my common room of my hostel because one of my friends hadn't seen it yet, and we also had banana and nutella wraps...ooo, sooooo good. Yummers. And Sunday, I studied for my final exam that I had today, Monday. I just got out of it actually. It wasn't that bad! I got a pasty this morning too which made me super happy...except, it was a bit disappointing. I tried a different place called Pesto, but I think I like the Cornwall pasty place much better. Thought I'd try!

Anyway, that was my horribly NOT entertaining study filled, paper writing, food eating week. Anyway, we move out Saturday and I just booked my hostel for London until Tuesday when I fly out to France! Ahhh! I need to get all my paperwork for France together...so scary! I hope it goes well. Anyway, wish me luck on my Econ paper that is due Thursday and which I haven't started...and my final for Econ that I seriously need to study for...! Outties!
-Sherilyn

Week 6

2007-08-13T23:50:00.001-07:00

Hello all!!
And so my adventures have continued! Last week was pretty chill; I mostly stayed in Cambridge and we went to see Hairspray on Tuesday because we get a really good deal on tickets at the Grafton Center; so that was fun. I also went to High Tea and Croquet at Pembroke College which was cool, especially because the food was free! Yay free food! There were amazing cakes, sandwiches, and many assorted teas to choose from....what more could you want? And I got to talk to the Australian guy in our program which was awesome...! He also speaks French! He has dual citzenship! I thought that was really cool...

Anyway, I went to a lecture on graduate school at King's on Wednesday night and attempted to start my paper for my gothic architecture class which is due Monday. It's not coming along so well unfortunately. I think I have things organized now, but it's taken a while. On Thursday, we had another formal hall. After formal hall though, I went straight to bed, ready to wake up at 2am in order to catch a 3:30am bus to Stansted airport. Three other friends and I were catching a lovely 6:30am flight to Dublin, Ireland for the weekend. It was very early, we were very tired, and it was crazy. But we got to Ireland fairly safety, except I lost about $25 worth of items that I couldn't take in my carry-on....freakin' security. AND on top of that, it cost me about $50 to REPLACE all that stuff...and they were only half the size! PLUS $20 to check-in my luggage! Absolutely ridiculous...and there was a shortage of soft contact lense solution in Dublin which made it extremely difficult to find solution to store my contacts that night (that was one of the items that they threw away).

Anyway, after getting into Dublin and getting a bus to our hostel at DCU-Dublin City University, we took another bus to the downtown centre and took a train to Malahide Castle. However, the trains were messed up that day and the train station thought it would be a wonderful idea not tell the passengers that their trains were changed...and so, of course, we ended up on the wrong train and ended up going in the wrong direction. Upon noticing our mistake, we got off and waited about 20 minutes in the middle of nowhere to take a train back to the main centre and try again. We got to Malahide Castle eventually though, and then after that went to Trinity College and saw the Book of Kells. Trinity was gorgeous and their library was absolutely amazing! Sooo beautiful...it was like my dream library!

After Trinity, we went to St. Patrick's Cathedral for eveningsong. It was quite nice and the choir was very good. The cathedral itself is a lovely early gothic piece and it was a nice way to see the cathedral and get in for free. After that, we found some food (which was harder than you think because everything closes so early in Dublin surprisingly!) at Burdook's Fish and Chips...it was actually really good and they are supposed to be world-famous! Then we went shopping for a little bit and then headed back to our hostel.

We woke up early the next morning, got a picnic lunch from the grocery store near our hostel and got breakfast at our hostel. We then trooped down to the downtown centre again to catch a bus to Glendalough, a small town outside of Dublin with, as we heard, spectacular nature and views. The bus ride was about an hour long and it was raining when we got there. Actually, it had been raining the entire time...so no biggie I suppose. We ate our lunch standing up in the most complex way possible that one could while holding an umbrella, and then did a hike to the top of the mountain. It was two large mountains covered in green and trees, surrounding a gorgeous lake. It was quite picturesque and exactly what I pictured when I thought of Ireland. We visited the monastery at the bottom after we did the trail and the graveyard. I have some beautiful pictures, although some were ruined by the rain. It does make a cool effect at times though; however, my shoes are permenantly ruined and I must get new ones now. After we took the bus back into Dublin from Glendalough, we got dinner, went shopping, and then went back to our hostel, only to wake up at an unreasonable time to catch a 4am taxi to our 6:30am flight back to Stansted. So, that was Dublin. Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed by the city itself-very industrial, ridiculously expensive, not very pretty, and too big to walk everywhere. However, Glendalough was beautiful and I would recommend doing that instead. We missed going to a couple of museums and galleries that we wanted to because of a time constraint, but overall, it was a pleasing trip. AND our hostel was really nice...for a good price! 2 single bedrooms sharing a bathroom and a kitchen! For about 20 pounds a day...which is pretty good here.

Anyway, yesterday, I slept majority of the day, the same as I did on Sunday when we got back, and missed a class because I was sleeping! Actually, I didn't even know I had class at all...they changed the schedule yesterday and ahhh....I can't believe I missed a class! I didn't mean too..but ironically, I was sleeping while class was going on. Bugger. Anyway, must go to class now and work on my paper.

Sherilyn

Week 5

2007-08-06T00:23:00.000-07:00

Yo peeps! How's all?

So, I got back from Bath/Stonehenge/Salisbury last night and it was a wonderful trip! First things first though...

I started new classes this past week as Module I is done and I am now onto a new class, "Minds and Markets," in my Module II class. We had a formal hall on Wednesday which was quite nice and we all got to dress up. Since I didn't have anything else to wear (I'm such a girl...isn't this horrible??), I went shopping at the center marketplace for a nice top (which turned out to be waaay too expensive...of course, I bought it anyway). After formal, we went clubbin' at the Cambar, a local bar/club right next to my hostel. We danced to bad music, complained about the bad music, attempted to change the bad music and got yelled at, and just chilled with friends. Then on Thursday, I went to see Mary Poppins, the musical, in London. We got a great gorup rate to take the train into London and went shopping at Covent Garden (I was looking for a Cambridge sweatshirt, but apparently it's trade-marked) and then had a dinner at a Greek restaurant that my friend recommended from her "Book of Knowledge," also known as her London tour guide book (but, "Book of Knowledge," definitely sounds better). Then I saw Mary Poppins while my other friends saw Spamalot. Mary Poppins was amazing and i absolutely loved it! They said Spamalot was pretty good too...can't wait til I see that!

Then on Friday, I just hung around, tried to get some work done, and then watched Blood Diamond on my laptop with a friend. The next morning, we left early for Stonehenge/Bath on a coach with about 50 other students. Stonehenge was very cool....I mean, how many pictures can you take of rocks from different angles? Apparently, 45. :) Then after Stonehenge, we left for Bath and arrived there around 2ish. We dropped our stuff off at the hostel, went to find food, and go see the Roman Baths. They were pretty amazing and I took a lot of pictures. Then we checked out Bath Abbey, and had dinner at a pub. We went on a tour of Bath which really didn't hold a lot of historical information because it turned out to be a comedy tour. It was hilarious though, completely random, and a lot of fun. Being tired after walking around, we went back to the hostel and slept.

The next morning, we had breakfast at the hostel and then walked around, trying to find nice parks and checking out Paltney Bridge. We got sandwiches and ate outside since it was a beautiful day (no rain...amazing!!) and then left for Salisbury. We arrived there and I got to go to evensong. We were also scheduled to have a tour of the Cathedral, however, due to a miscommunication (not really though, it was totally their fault), we ended up tour guide-less. However, our wonderful TA came to the rescue and gave us a tour. It was quite comical, especially when he pointed out the tombs of Jack Nicholson and Britney Spears, and described the roof as "marshmellows and meringue." I love our TAs.

We left Salisbury around 5:30ish and then drove back to Cambridge, stopping only for 15 minutes for people to get food and stuff it down their throats (I did a 10" pizza in 11 minutes...). After getting in, I went back, did some homework, and went to bed....very exhausted. Nice trip overall though, and I got to meet some new people which is always nice.

So, that was my fifth week here in paradise...I'm calling this paradise now. hehe. This week I will be off to Ireland..so, I will definitely let you in on my adventures when I return.

Peace out!
Sherilyn

Week 4

2007-07-31T03:24:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!
Sorrie this Blog update is a day late, I just got back from Edinburgh last night and I had a midterm today (eek!) to study for!

Anyway, week four has passed and I mostly spent the time studying for my final. We had Module I exams on Wednesday and Friday for me. It was for my economics class and I had in-class essays to write on Wednesday and then problem sets on Friday for my exam. They went okay, although I know I got the last problem wrong on Friday!! My work is all right...I just have a wrong answer...I hope they give partial credit here at Cambridge! Ahh....I don't want to fail...I need this class for my major.

Anyway, besides all the studying, we had a Pub Quiz on Thursday in which our lovely TAs asked us random questions about science, geography, or themselves! Quite fun...especially, when I didn't know any of the answers! That's okay though...we weren't last at least...only, second to last. Whoops..! Oh well, all in good fun. I also got to see Transformers on Friday after my exam at the cinema which is only a 20 minute walk from the college. I left for Edinburgh the next morning, bright and early at 7am. It was a 7 hour coach ride, two stops, and not horribly bad. I guess I'm used to being on a bus for a long time...lots of band trips have toughened me up.

After dropping our stuff of at the hostel, which was really nice...up to the point where we had to take showers, my friends and I went exploring around the Royal Mile, the main street of the old-part of Edinburgh. We found some good Indian food...yum...and then went shopping around for souvenirs. We also went on a ghost tour because, if you didn't know it already, Edinburgh has a very dark history. I didn't know this, so I was surprised at all this focus on ghosts, underground vaults, and gothic shops. It was really fun though...I love to be scared! And we went down underneath into the underground vaults where there were "reported" sightings of ghosts and paranormal activity. We also had a very animated tour guide with an awesome Scottish accent, so that was a bonus. Afterwards, we retired to a bar and then spent 20 minutes trying to figure out how to work our shower in our hostel.

The next morning, we decided to get up early and go the Elephant House which is the same cafe that JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book! It was very good...and I tried Haggis (which isn't bad at all!) and then we headed to Edinburgh Castle. The castle was very beautiful and we took many picturesque candid shots. It had a great view as well...and lots of exhibits. After the castle, and a rather interesting meeting with a Pigeon that i have now named Prince Henry the VI, we went to the National Gallery. The Gallery was bigger than I expected and I enjoyed the Renaissance art of the 1500s a lot. They had impressionists like Monet on the top floor and then Scottish painters on the bottom. After seeing all the works and analyzing them to the extent that I fully can, we went shopping in the new town area of Edinburgh. We ate at a reasonably priced pub that turned out to have really good food. Afterward, our group split and I went with three other girls back up the hill to old town Edinburgh. We shopped some more, as us girls tend to do, and I got a cool video of a 12 year old boy playing the bagpipes on the streets. It was so adorable!! And he was really good! I've always wanted to play the bagpipes..and the accordian. Hmm...well, anyway, I decided to go the Jazz Festival that they were having in Edinburgh, so I left to go get stand-by tickets.

The venue was located near Edinburgh University, so I got to see some parts of the buildings. I saw the Ken Mathieson Jazz Band and they were fabulous! Playing a lot of General Morton songs, they delved into the beginnings of Jazz around the 1900s and then played the classics up to the 60's. There was also an amazing clarinet soli! They did a "battle" type duet and it was very intense and musically euphoric. I loved it!

Afterward, I bought a couple things around the area and then went to explore more of the new town Edinburgh. After walking around for a while, I found some food on a stand and went back to my hostel to eat. The rest of my friends met up with me after I finished eating and we went on a mission to find desserts and coffee. After settling down at a chain Italian restuarant which was one of the only places open that late, I shared a massive sundae with my friend Kristen. OMG...soooo good. Vanilla and toffee ice cream, caramel, bananas, chocolate wafers...yummy. And it was enormous too...which made me extremely happy. After our sugar rush, we went back to the hostel.

I woke up early to get coffee with my friend before the bus left and we found a place called Chocolate Soup. After boarding the bus, we headed back to Cambridge, but made a stop to Fountains Abbey on the way. We found a dilapidated old church, dating back from the 12th century. Using my architecture knowledge that I know possess...my friend and I tried to figure out the parts of what now remained and we took many hilarious pictures. Then we boarded the bus again, and went back to Cambridge. We got in around 6pm and ate dinner. I went off to study for my Architecture midterm, chatted wih a friend, and then went to bed. That was my week four...yay!!

Have a wonderful week everyone..! I just realized how much money I've spent already...and my gosh, it is not a pretty picture. I need to get crackin' on Campus Tours when I get home...!

Sherilyn

Week 3

2007-07-23T13:43:00.000-07:00

Well, another week down. Unfortunately, this one has been full of ups and downs. Let's begin, shall we?

After getting sick two Thursday ago and losing my voice, I finally got it back on Tuesday (thank goodness). However, my cold/flu conditions didn't get any better. I had a midterm/paper due on Thursday which was about 7 pages long on economics. Difficult only because I wasn't well informed on the subject, I spent the rest of the week finding sources and perfecting my paper (which actually isn't worth anything and is more like a test to see what the grading system is like).

On Thursday, after turning in the paper, I was more relaxed and went on a King's College Chapel tour. Our chapel, if you did not know, is absolutely amazing and we studied it as part of my gothic architecture class. It is my favorite so far and I am planning on doing my paper on it, if I haven't told you already. Anyway, this tour was better because we actually got to go on the roof! We walked up the side torrets...towers, whatever they are called...actually, more like climbed. It was so cool! Number one, because it looked just like Harry Potter...! But also because the stairs that we were climbing were stone and you could see the indentures on it from many years of peope climbing up. It was also very narrow and there was nothing to hold onto except a robe that someone had put around the middle column, probably because of a safety regulation. The stairs went up...and up....and up.....my legs DID get tired. Then finally, we got to the top and were able to stand on top of the stone vaulting and touch wooden beams that had been there since the 1500s! It was very dark, very creepy, and very haunting. I loved it. You could barely see anything as you stood up there, balancing on the shallow floors of the rippling fan vaults and ducking your head from bats, spiders, and whatever else might have been up there. There were two small windows on each end, and Father Peter, who was giving the tour, told us that there would have been open windows on the top before they built the wood ceiling on top. Anyway, we continued up...or actually, across. We got to walk aross the stone vaulting on a middle plank and it was quite scary trying to balance in the dark and duck your head under the wooden beams...and take pictures. :) Once you got across, you could go up a couple more circling steps to the roof. You were outside...on top of the chapel....I have no clue how far up we were, but if you had fell, you would most definitely die...unless the chapel is truly blessed and a miracle occurred. We walked up the slanted roof...and stupidly, I had worn flip flops which I must tell you...is NOT the best footwear for walking on an extremely slanted roof with a flat plank, possibly three inches across the top and hundreds of feet in the air. In the end, I took off my shoes as my feet felt much better, and more sturdy, walking around up there. It was an amazing experience and I felt so privileged and happy that I was able to do it.

Later that evening, I met with four other friends of mine to plan our trip to London the next day for the Harry Potter Book Release. Fortunately, I was able to secure tickets to the Biggest Harry Potter Party Ever in Piccadilly Circus at Waterstones. This Waterstones bookstore is 6 stories high and is the largest bookstore in Europe! Out of around 2500 people, I was able to get tickets to a Harry Potter podcast for around 800 people. Anyway, we dicussed our plans and train tickets that night while in the bar and I was able to have my first "British" beer. Seeing that I don't really like the taste of beer, it was an interesting experience and I actually found that it tasted much better than what I was used to (I had the bartender give me the one that, and I quote, "doesn't taste like alcohol," because that was what I requested...hehe).

After the bar, I went to a potluck party held in my common room in my hostel and tried to watch "The Departed," while eating random asian foods and trying not to cough on anybody. The next morning, I woke up early and packed for our adventure to London. I grabbed breakfast at the dining hall, and then we walked about 30 minutes to the train station after meeting at Pembroke. We got on the train from the Cambridge station and got into King's Cross about 50 minutes later. Amazing! Last time...it took about 1.5 hours just to get to Liverpool...I guess the Express train really makes a difference. We got off at King's Cross, took many Harry Potter related pictures (as we were on a HP themed day trip), and set off towards our hostel, only a ways from Piccadilly. We split up and two of us went to Leicester Square to get HP movie tickets to watch at the Odeon-exactly the place where the London premiere was held, and the other three of us went to check-in at the hostel.

After meeting up again, we ate a quick lunch and saw the movie. Unforunately, again, at this time...about 20 minutes into the movie, my left eye got very irritated and started welling up with tears. I made it through the entire movie, but discovered afterward when I went to the toilets, that it was red and infected. I went back to the hostel to take out my contacts. This event has happened before, and at the Odeon, but two Tuesdays ago at the Premiere. On that occasion, after going to sleep that night, I found in the morning it had gone away. I assumed it would be the same this time. We continued to PIccadilly after I returned from the hostel and got dinner. Then we went to the party! And oh man...what a party it was!!

There were already a hundred people who had been sleeping, camping, living outside of that bookstore...dressed up in the finest robes and hats and carrying signs which said that they were from Norway. We took many pictures of the crazy fans inside and continued into the store. We went to check out the floors where the podcast was going to be held and find our seats, that is, if we were able to get in early. I was extremely lucky to get there early enough to find two of the podcasters walking around, arranging things, and got to meet, talk, and take pictures with them. Also, while waiting on the stairs, (the podcast was two levels), I also met another podcaster...but unfortunately, did not take a picture with him (something I seriously regretted after realising my mistake). Anyway, time passed...we went to the podcast and it was so fun and full of laughter, joy, theory, and unity.

Afterwards, I got my pillow signed (they gave us pillows to sit on, on the floor) by all of the podcasters who hosted the show and got pictures. Then we joined the enormous queue outside. There were actually two full queues...four kinda. Each one about two blocks long. There were sooo many people..!! I wasn't surprised, I had expected it...and I was more excited then annoyed or tired. We waited for about 2 hours..enjoying the costumes, entertainment, and meeting other fans from around the world. Finally, the clock struck midnight...and we began moving. Slowly...but moving nevertheless. There were still cars coming through the streets, which was the stupidest thing ever, because every time a car passed, everyone had to get back on the curb, crushing and pushing and shoving those on the curb already...like me. It was a mosh pit! However, I am very good at mosh pits..and so, I didn't mind and I enjoyed the chaos...slightly amused by the fact that this huge queue was for a BOOK. Just....a book. (of course, I am aware it is not JUST a book...but in a way, it is.)

We got our books around 1:30 am...I had expected worse, so we were pretty happy. After finding that we couldn't take a bus..we had no clue where and how and if there was a bus that we could take...and unable to call a taxi...it would have taken 40 minutes anyway...some nice gentleman at the bus stop gave us directions to the street where our hostel is...apparently, we could walk to it as the tube was closed.

We walked...we walked...it was long, we were tired...slightly lost..but asked the policemen everywhere we went for directions..and finally got home. By the way, at night...around that time...London seems to be extremely dangerous. Walking through Leicester Square was a bit frightening and if there hadn't been 5 of us together, we never would have done it. Police were breaking up fights, people were throwing bottles and cigarettes, and it was very very sketchy (dodgy..as the gentleman warned us at the bus stop). However, all of us had our wits about us and we got back to the hostel fine.

The next morning, I found that my eye had not gotten better, but worse. We were going to Leicester Square to look for musical tickets and then to Covent Garden. After realising that I could get tickets to Mary Poppins, the musical of my choice, much cheaper during the weekdays than the weekends, we retreated to Covent Garden while two of the girls saw another musical they wanted to see. 15 pounds...not bad for them! Mary Poppins was over 50...and the seats weren't THAT great anyway...I knew I could get a deal later if I just waited. I had 4 more weeks anyhow.

Covent Garden was nice and I was explicitly looking for the marketplace where they have cheap clothing. Unfortuantely though, they don't hold the marketplace on the weekends and there was an arts and crafts market there instead. My friend and I retreated to a cafe, as it began POURING rain...it had been doing so throughout the day and was flooding the tube stations on top of it...and began reading my Harry Potter. A bit uncomfortable because of my inflammed eye, of which I could barely see out of, I ended up staying in that cafe for 4 hours while my friends came and went, shopping and seeing musicals. Finally, we went to get dinner and got back together.

We went back to Cambridge and got in at 11. I had decided to go the the emergency room and so I went with a friend to the hospital in Cambridge. After waiting for 2-3 hours, I got treated and was giving an antibiotic for my eye.

I stayed inside all day Sunday, even forgetting to eat, while finishing my book (I DID finish!!!) Today, I had class...so I tried to do the rest of my forgotten weekend homework..and prepare for my final exams..one on Wednesday and the other on Friday.

That is my update as of now. My eye has not gotten better, however, the pain has subsided.

I hope all is well in SD and wherever you are!...and the weather of course...it's raining here..DUH!

Laters!!
Sherilyn

Week 2

2007-07-16T03:33:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!
It's been another week and I have been having a fabulous time (of course!!!). I got a new phone, which cost me some money....but, I have to have a phone!! I have done Scottish barn dancing which is very tiring, but tons of fun and we went night punting on Tuesday night and I actually got to try and be the punter. Appparently, I seem to have a knack at it because I did really well. Hehe. But it was a lot of fun getting lost, on the river cam and going horizontal. It is harder than it looks!

I went to the Grafton Center on Wednesday which is a mall about 15 minutes walking from my hostel. It was nice, except a lot of shops close earlier than I am used to. Shops and stores usually close around 5 or 6pm here, which is a lot earlier than our stores back at home. Still, it was a nice walk and I got to see part of Cambridge I hadn't been yet.

My friend Rowena came to visit on Thursday and she stayed with me until Saturday. It was quite fun and we got to see the new Harry Potter movie together with people in PKP. It was the most awesome movie yet!! I was so happy afterward but unfortunately, had been getting sick since Wednesday and lost my voice finally that night. I haven't been able to speak properly since Thursday! It still hasn't come back and I'm writing on Monday. It's quite sad.

Friday, I showed her around and did some errands (buying a lot of medicine) and also we went to some good Indian food near the train station. Afterward, there was a party in our common room of our hostels, with our TA's/RA's (they definitely know how to party!), and went to bar to hang out. I love this atmosphere-it is very chill and so different from home! Saturday we did a day-trip to London which was fun and got to go to the National Art Museum and see paintings from Rembrandt, Michelangelo and da Vinci! It was stunning! My friends and I were also able to get some good Japanese food in Chinatown-London AND we got to see Othello play at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (although we stood the entire time for 3 hours...!! Which wasn't as bad because the show was amazing!) I attended eveningsong at St. Paul's Cathedral (my favorite cathedral of all time!) and did a riverboat cruise down the Thames. It was a pretty tiring day and not being able to speak did pose some problems, but overall, the day was very satisfactory. I will be returning to London for the 3rd time this Friday for the Book release!!! (You know which BOOK!!)

School has been rough as I figured out my Economics II class is a corporate finance class and I haven't taken anything in that area and am kinda confused. I have a 8-10 page paper/midterm due on Thursday that I haven't started on and so I need to do some research! I think I will go to the library to study for the first time today after lunch. My architecture class is amazing! We got to check out the King's College Chapel which is absolutely gorgeous (I am thinking of doing my paper on it) and enjoy the men's choir one more time before they left.

Besides that and the coming back of rainy days after a beautiful weekend last weekend (which is probably why I got so sick!), it has been very enjoyable. We are having another formal dinner tonight, followed by kareoke (which I will probably not be partaking in) and our official PKP picture.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer as much as I am!

First week

2007-07-09T03:50:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!!
So, this first week has been completely amazing!! My flight was great...didn't even have to use my air sickness patches! (like you really care...) and I got to Cambridge alright with a couple of fellow travelers along the way.

My room is gigantic! About 3 times the size of the singles in ERC and comes with a minifridge and wash basin. I'm staying at a hostel right across the street from King's College, so it's not far at all. And the best part is that I'm in the market area so I just walk a quarter of a block to my left and I'm in the shopping center! I can get fresh fruit at the farmer's market or coffee at the independent coffee shops. I can get all kinds of food and go shopping everyday before class! I love Cambridge...haha

Fresher's Week, like Welcome Week, has been extremely exhausting because of all the activities but lots of fun. I've met tons of new people and we have participated in formal dinners, Pub crawls, clubbing, punting on the river in the back of King's, and I've already gone on a field trip (excursion to be fancy...) to Ely, about 15min. train ride to see the cathedral for my gothic architecture class.

My Economics I class was super easy because it was introductory so I switched into Econ II. I've already missed a full week of that class, so I hope its not too hard!

I met some fellow Harry Potter fans and we went to the London Premiere on Tuesday! We took a train from the Cambridge station and got a great group rate along with an all day tube pass. There were soo many people...and we would have gotten there waaaay earlier except we still had class in the morning. However, it was the most incredible experience I have ever had and we got tons of pictures...check facebook if you're my friend...lol....and got to scream in the POURING rain for 2 hours. OMG! There is soo much rain here! It's cleared up now though and looking quite nice, but the first week was heavy storms. I love rain though, but its kinda awkward when I think that back at home, it's over 100 degrees!

Unfortunately, I had my cell phone stolen at a club on Saturday night. I just got a new one though and I got a fairly good deal...although with these exchange rates, its not a good deal at all.

I love my TA's (they're like RA's except British...lol) and they are very friendly and CUTE!!!

Hope to write at least once a week to update you on my travels...Bye for now!! Cheers!!

Preparation

2007-06-27T12:30:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! I am very excited and getting ready to leave this Saturday!! My flight is at 4:30pm but I think we will probably be leaving around 11:30am to go get brunch or something. I had my VISA appointment on Monday and it went alright, except, I was sooo nervous that when the guy asked me to sign my name at the bottom of the document, I couldn't read french anymore and signed the wrong line!! And then he saw where I had signed and said, "you know, it says "signature" right here," and he pointed to a box that said "signature." I was sooo embarassed!! Anyway, besides that, I got my visa, took about 45 minutes and then that was all set! I have gone shopping for certain appliances like my converter and adapter, lots of batteries (for my camera), digital memory (for my digital videocam), and other probably unnecessary items. I have been trying to see everyone before I leave and have had two "bon voyage" parties, one for each side of my family. I cannot wait until Saturday, but I still need to make a list of things!!