New semester, Italy, et beaucoup d'autres choses

Salut y'all! thought it was time to jot down some recent occurrences. Time passes so quickly, I always forget how long it's been since I last posted. It is currently a rainy and very very cold day in Bordeaux, so obviously I am curled up under the covers (and not in class). I have never been so cold in my life than I am here. I kind of feel like this:

Anyyyyway.....

Lauren Cope comes to France
My friend Lauren Cope came to visit me in France !! She stayed with me for 2 weeks and we had a grand old time. I showed her all around Bordeaux. It was fun being the tour guide and pretending I know a bunch of facts about this country. But in reality I just made up a lot of information. I think she caught on to me.  It was also hilarious to witness the language barrier from an outside perspective, although I was also victim to that in Italy (you'll read about that later).

We also squeezed in a weekend trip to Paris. We went to the Louvre, which I was super stoked about. Not only because it's the largest and maybe the most famous museum in the world, but because last time I went there (8 years or so ago), I was really sick and kind of had to lay down on benches the whole time. So needless to say, the 2nd time around was much more interesting and fruitful. We also cruised down la Seine, saw the Eiffel Tower and partied with frenchies. All in all it was a successful trip to Paris.

After we returned back to Bordeaux, I had to start school (more on that nightmare later). Before we knew it, it was time for Lauren to head back home and start her new semester too. It went by too quickly but we had a great time.

Place de la Bourse in Bordeaux

Shenanigans in Paris

Jardin de Tuileries

Second Semester in Bordeaux
Ok, can I just say that I CANNOT believe it's already February (almost) and spring semester is already like 3 weeks in. I know I always say how fast time goes by in my posts....but for real, I am trippin out!!!! So I finally have my emploi du temps all figured out. You may think registering for classes would be slightly easier second semester, since I did it before. No. Pas du tout. It was an excruciating process filled with hours of waiting, confusion, uncertainty and being made fun of for my terrible accent. Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a little- it wasn't thaaaat bad. I made it out alive! But the disorganization of French...everything...never ceases to amaze me.

So I'm taking French literature, a French film class, methodology (where you learn how to be a French student) and ... drum roll.... PSYCHOLOGYY!!! yay! i am very excited about this because I really missed learning about psychology, the most interesting thing on the planet.  It gives me a break from learning about French culture all day. My one psych class is Developmental Psych, all about the development of the brain from infants to adulthood.  And, I feel like I really have come a long way cause I can understand about 80% of the lectures on a good day. Oh and another added bonus is that I go to a separate campus for psychology, which is 18923748932 x better than my other campus (which looks like a post-war zone). This is me in front of la belle fac à Bordeaux 2:

Italia!!!!
Last weekend, I jetted off to Rome to meet up with my friend from Davis! She just happened to be spending a week in Italy, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to rendez-vous in Roma. It was such an incredible weekend. I've never been so moved by art. I feel like I witnessed the culmination of human kind's finest achievements, right before my eyes!!!! Several things I saw literally brought me to tears. Here's a recap: I arrived Friday and miraculously found my friends (without the aid of technology). The first thing we did was go to  a photography exhibit at a really cool gallery. The photographer turned out to be Steve McCurry, a famous photographer for National Geographic. It was a collection of hundreds of his most famous photos from all over the world- New York City to Africa to India to Europe. Here are some of my favorite :

I was amazed at the emotion he was able to capture in each photo, without needing an explanation. Mind blowing!!!

Next on the list was to see the Trevi Fountain. We managed to find it at night and man was it beautiful!!! I threw a couple coins in for good luck.

The next day we were the ultimate tourists. We took a 4 hour tour of Vatican City, including the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica. Again, I could not believe that I was physically standing in the presence of such amazing, world-renowned works of art! It was exhausting but well-worth it. Our tour guide was a jolly American who I found out was from San Francisco! Le monde est petit. He was full of interesting information and really added to the tour. When I got to the Sistine Chapel, I felt as if I were in a dream. Though there are hundreds of tourists, the security guards make you be silent, as if to reinforce the holiness of it. Everyone has their heads tilted to the ceiling, taking in this  spectacular sight. Every square inch is filled with detail- Michelangelo really was a genius. I was humbled and in awe.

Following that, we went to Saint Peter's Basilica, the largest church in the world. If it was possible, I was even more amazed by this. There is just something about churches that I love. When I stepped in I was overwhelmed. I just kept thinking, the fact that humans can create such a thing- and so long ago, with limited tools- seems so unreal. We walked down into the catacombs, where the Popes are buried. Upon leaving Vatican City, I felt so deeply touched by art and history. It still gives me the chills!

After a much needed nap, Sarah and I hit the town for some debauchery. I'll give you a hint how the night went:

Sarah and I:

We met some ... interesting... Italians, then went out with a new friend. It was a crazy night that produced many funny stories, that aren't necessarily blog appropriate ;)

One thing I noticed was how difficult it was not speaking the language. Though I am nowhere near close to a fluent level in French, I can easily communicate important things, and even hold semi-interesting conversations. In Italy, I was limited to "ciao", "bella", and the combination- "ciao bella". Maybe throw in a "buon giorno"and that was the extent of my vocabulary. I felt disabled and alienated at times... it put things in a different perspective for me. the language barrier can be impossible, but we made it through- and it made for hilarious, awkward interactions!

Rome is an amazing city and I recommend that everyone visits. Just drop what you're doing and buy a ticket! Except finish reading this blog, of course :)

Bordeaux Life
I have been adjusting quite well to living on my own. I've started expanding my cooking horizons, and my friends and I decided to have a dinner party once a week to practice our cooking and just relax over a good home-cooked meal. Last time I hosted it chez moi, and made poulet à la crème- SO GOOD! By the time I come home, I'll be full of yummy French recipes that I can just whip up :)

I'm past the halfway point of my year in France. It's hard to wrap my head around, but in just 4 months I'll be returning to California. It's bittersweet for me, but I know I have many more adventures to come. Til then mes amis, I'll try to keep ya updated via my blog! Hope you enjoy! love and miss you all!!!

That one time I was in France for the holidays

Bonjour!!! Ooooh lalalalala, these past few weeks have been so amazing. I feel like I've been living in a dream! I am one lucky fille to have this experience. So here's a recount of my Christmas and New Year in France - j'ai beaucoup à dire!

To begin with, my mère came to visit me for Christmas! We had a wonderful time traipsing around Paris and Bordeaux. It was really nice and comforting to see her, especially for the holidays. Living so far away can be hard sometimes, so being able to spend time with my mom was awesome. She arrived in Paris, so I met her there and we spent a few days soaking in the beauty of Paris at Christmas time. I also made a new Parisian friend :) and I got to ride on the back of his motorcycle !!! That has been one of my French cliché dreams for so long, and it was finally fulfilled. Besides my girly dreams coming true, my mom and I did lots of fun things in Paris. We ate at really nice restaurants, saw the Eiffel Tower at night, visited the Musée Rodin AND the Musée D'Orsay, and re-visited the Notre Dame (one of my favorite sights). We were very tourist-y looking, but I had to take pics:

The Thinker by Rodin

In front of Notre Dame!

It was very cold and gray, but we still had a great time.

After our little séjour à Paris, we headed back to Bordeaux. I had lots of things planned to see and do, but we kind of took the relaxing route and just chilled at Erika's a lot of the time. That was fine by me! However, I did show my mom the must-sees of Bordeaux, like the fountain at Place de Quinconces, the St. André cathedral, and of course Rue St. Catherine. We even got a drink one night at Charles Dickens (and got harassed by drunk French mecs) ! All part of the experience though. Erika and her daughters left for the campagne for Christmas, so the Americans had the house to ourselves. It was really nice- my mom cooked a delicious dinner on Christmas Eve which we spent  with my roommates Laura, Deyuanne and her sister and brother, and our friend Hannah.

Our American Christmas dinner in France

It was really sad when my mom had to go back to California, and I was a little nervous she wouldn't make her way back home without my French-speaking assistance, but she is an intelligent and capable lady so there were no problems :)

The next exciting thing that happened was that I moved into my new house!!! It is so amazing. It's right down the street from Jardin Public, my favorite spot in Bordeaux. The weather is ugly right now, so it's not at its prime, but I'm still enjoying the fact I can walk 5 minutes and be in this huge beautiful park. Can't wait for spring time, when I'll be pique-niquing there every day! This picture doesn't even do it justice, but take a look:

Also, the house is really really cool. I wanted to take pictures but my camera is currently dead and I'm too parasseuse to charge it. More pics will be posted soon. But it's very modern, with a metal grate-type winding staircase and a spacious living room. My room is awesome too, and my colocatrice Arielle is so nice! I'm really happy with my situation. And I'm finally walking distance from downtown, so no more worrying about catching the last tram. Oh and I'm learning to cook! So far I've made spaghetti and an omelette! I know I know, I'm no Rachel Ray yet...but you gotta take baby steps. Anyway, I love living on my own, and life is good :)

Next order of business: I went to Nantes with Edouard, mon ami francais, for New Year's!! It was a blast. His family is so nice, and let me stay with them in their cute home. I was spoiled with delicious home cooked meals grâce à Ed's mom. She is Australian so we spoke English with each other, but I also spoke a lot of french. I can tell my speaking and comprehension is improving, albeit slowly.

Ed took me around the city of Nantes, which is very modern and artsy. First we went to super cool graffiti exposition at a contemporary art museum, called Faire le Mur, which means to sneak out. They had quite some interesting and unique pieces.

Apres, we saw a real castle from around 1400, complete with motes and everything! (no alligators though).

We also visited a beautiful cathedral. Downtown Nantes is really nice too, it reminds me of Bordeaux a bit. Oh, and the coolest thing was this giant moving mechanical elephant! The city just decided to build it for no particular reason, but it was truly amazing. It was like a sign :)

Really made an impression on me.

The highlight of the trip to Nantes was that I got to go to a classy French new year's eve party! Ed's sister Claire invited us to her friend's apartment, which was la classe. Unfortunately I don't have pictures (or maybe it is fortunate...) but it was really great. There was foie gras, saumon, champagne...everything to make a true soirée. We rang in 2012 in style (sort of) and I get to say I spent new years in France :) The next day Ed and I went back to Bordeaux and I began the process of moving into my new place.

Since then, things have been easy breezy... school starts the 16th so I have a nice long break. Most of my friends are traveling or back in California for the holidays, so i've kinda been extremely lazy. I'll be taking psych classes this semester though, so that's probably gonna kick my fesse... gotta gear up for school mode soon!

Well mes amis, that pretty much sums up the recent happenings of my vie francaise. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday wherever you are! Happy New Year, I miss all y'all more than I can express in a blog.
Gros bisous :)

End of the semester

Waaooww it's been a while !!! ... I feel like I've been starting my posts with that too often :( but it's a rainy morning in Bordeaux so I figured what better time to whip out a new post. And my blog-savvy friend Sara told me I need to put more spaces in my blogs, so that my giant paragraphs of storytelling aren't intimidating. Oh and ps, thanks for reading this cause I feel like I'm just posting these to cyber space and no one really cares about what I have to say. SO merci:)

Ok so the weather is actually terrifying. It almost prevented me from sortir-ing hier soir. Almost is the key word there. This is the aftermath of ce mauvais temps:

except I don't look nearly as glamorous as that girl. I look a lot more soaked and haggard and wet-dog-like.

Anyway, besides the torrential storms, la vie bordelaise is amazing as usual. OH my god I can't believe first semester's over. It's insane and scary how fast time is going by. These last 4 months seem to have been compacted into a whirlwind blur... Time really is a TRIP.

One sad thing about this fact is that our friends who chose to spend only 1 semester here are leaving. This is immensely triste because we've made some great friendships , and Bordeaux just won't be the same without them. But I'm lucky to have met them and I know this isn't goodbye forever. We've already planned a road trip when we all get back to California :)

To say au revoir, we went out to a nice lunch at a real French restaurant. This is a rare occasion since we're all poor foreign students, and our lunches usually consist of cheap kebabs or fast-food pasta. But we decided to class it up at a cute restaurant downtown. The food was delicious and it was a great way to have one last get together.

Of course, lunch wasn't our only last hurrah. We had to go to our favorite pub, Houses of Parliament (aka our second home) one last time! There were lots of Californians from our program there, getting in their final Serbian iced teas or Long Islands (both very dangerous!)

A picture's worth a thousand words, right? ; )

So for the holidays, my friends Sara and Marina are lucky filles and get to go back to California. I'm jealous they get to have a taste of home, but what's even better is that my mom is coming to France! I really thought it wasn't gonna happen, but she pulled through at the last minute. I am leaving tomorrow to meet her in Paris, then taking her back to Bordeaux. I am so excited to play tour guide and show her everything I've experienced here. And I really miss my mom! You can't beat spending Christmas in France, and having your mom with you too is just the icing on the cake :)

Mama Menagh is leaving before the new year, so my french friend Ed invited me to spend new years with him and his family in Nantes!

Nantes:

Needless to say, I am very excited. I'm lucky to have nice French friends!


Another little piece of news is that I'm moving! I spent an interesting first semester living with Erika, my host mom, in her home, but it is time to déménager. I will miss living here with my great roomies Laura and Deyuanne. And I'll miss those chickens too I guess. I snapped this pic of a silly poule standing on a cement block:

But I found a great room to rent downtown in a lovely house, right next to my favorite spot- Jardin Public. I'm so excited for all the picnics that will take place there in springtime! And I'm looking forward to a more independent living situation.
(Just for reference, this is a typical French picnic for me and my friends) :

I know we're classy, you don't have to tell me.

Ahhh, it feels like just yesterday I was frantically packing my bags to leave for France. Now one semester is behind us, and a new one is waiting. So many crazy things have happened already, I can't imagine what another 6 months has in store. But I really can't wait to find out !

Ohhh.. just realized that I have mentioned school approximately 0 times in this post. I assure you, I actually am studying here!!! Finals were interesting... all I have to say is the French university system is a piece of work. I made it out alive though! Over all, my classes were interesting and I learned a thing or two. I really enjoyed my littérature class. The professor was a little wacky, but those are the best kind! He was very interesting and kind to us foreign students. My Linguistics class sucked, besides getting a good laugh out of the hilariously grumpy and frazzled professor. Phonetics class was definitely helpful with pronunciation, although I don't know if it actually made a difference since my accent is still notoriously Californian. Oh and I can't forget Dragons, aka Middle Ages class! I don't really have a comment for that one, actually. It was.... interesting. All in all, this semester was a good introduction to the French university way of life. I can't wait to get back to taking Psych though, which I'll be doing next semester.

Ohh, lala lala lala, guess it's time to wrap things up. Im not sure if anyone actually cares about the ongoings of my life that I post here, so if you made it through til the end, merci :) As always, I'm thinking about my homies back at home and missing everyone dearly! I'll be back in June - c'est booon ca! ; )

love all y'all, bisouuss!

London, Paris, We live in Bordeaux!

Bonjour y'ally y'all! wow I have been seriously lackin on this blog. but now I have new and exciting things to regale to you! I just got back from a weekend in London. I went with my 4 friends from California and it was so amazing!!! It's such a beautiful city with tons of cool things to see and do. We got really lucky with the weather- it was cold as balls, but clear skies and no rain! unfortunately, we didn't have much time, and we are all broke students, so it was kind of limited. But, nonetheless, we made it an excursion jam-packed with fun and craziness! Ok so first, we arrived on Friday at like 6pm. and i thought we were gonna die between the janky plane/bus ride. And then when the bus dropped us off, we asked how long it would take to walk to our hostel. we were told one hour, but since we are young wild and free, (and poor) we said why not!!! and walked, and walked and walked..... and then finally arrived. Throughout the weekend, we walked an insane amount. We actually didn't take public transportation or a cab once. My butt and legs are well-toned.
        So first thing we did: stop for a little break and eat some fish and chips! They were definitely not top-of-the-line, but I still got the experience. After we refueled, we settled in to our hostel. Our auberge de jeunesse was really cool!  and in a super-posh neighborhood. Ferraris, Bentleys and Rolls Royces rolled by us on the regular. I mean, obviously very fitting for us. That's a joke, because if you saw us 5 trudging down the street with our stuffed back packs, hunched over with  exhausted facial expressions, you might think we were homeless. Once we arrived, we chilled and got ready to go out. We planned to go to the club G-A-Y, which if you couldn't gather, is a famous gay club in London. So not long after claiming our bunk beds in our hostel, we set out again on a 2+ mile walk (I told you we walked freakin everywhere!) Eventually we got there (after taking a few breaks) and it was definitely worth the hike. It lived it up to its crazy, flamboyant reputation! We danced up a storm and saw some interesting sights/people. Since the next day, Saturday, was our only full day to see the city, we headed home fairly early...well, early on our terms. We got home around 3 AM after walking the marathon back. Needless to say, I passed out and was semi-well rested for our adventure the next day!
        Saturday morning, the absolute MOST important thing on our list was to eat a traditional English breakfast (something that we sorely miss in France). We stumbled upon a charming restaurant called Henry's that boasted literally 'a traditional English breakfast', complete with toast, ham, beans and hash browns. We were sold. It turned out to be the most delicious thing EVER! And for broke college students who don't get to eat out much, it was worth the splurge. Here is a picture to prove how delicious our breakfast was :

Yumm!!! Call us pathetic, but we considered that one of the top highlights of our trip. ok i'll move on. So for the rest of the day, we decided the best way to use our time was to take a tour bus that stopped at all the famous sights and locations in London. It was definitely a good idea, because otherwise there was no way we could have gotten everything in. We took a traditional double-decker bus and had a great view of all the beautiful monuments- even if my face was almost torn off by the bitter cold and wind. Our tour guide was a gregarious, interesting man who knew a lot about the city. He also used to work on cruise ships going down the Californian coast, so he was glad to have some natives on his tour! We saw everything from Big Ben to Buckingham Palace to the Tower Bridge to Westminister Abbey. Here are some highlights of the tour:

 Sara and I on the bus

 Trafalgar Square

 Westminster Abbey

 Big Ben

 Houses of Parliament

 The River Thames

Buckingham Palace (the queen wasn't home)

By the afternoon, we were all pretty cold and tired. But we had to stop by a traditional English pub and have a pint. So we found a famous pub called the Albert, which had a charming and cozy feel inside. I tried mulled wine, which is like warm red wine cider. So yummy!!!!! after a few drinks, we braced the cold and started our walk back to the hostel. On the way home though, we HAD to visit the world-famous Harrods. Since we couldn't afford to even look at anything, we grabbed some dinner at the food court there. It was surprisingly cheap! So I still felt classy that I could at least eat at this amazingly beautiful mecca of shopping. Look how beautiful it is at night:

Amazing, right? Oh oh, and after we ate we went to STARBUCKS!!!!!!!! which i have been desperately missing. I got my usual mocha and it was the best one I've ever had. That expression 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' really applied to this situation. Is it sad that the best parts of our trip involved the food we ate? Well whatever, it was really really good. We were all pretty wiped out after all these adventures, so we made it back pretty early since we had to get up at the ass crack of dawn Sunday morning to walk to the bus, take the bus to the airport and head back to Bordeaux.

        Though it was a very quick trip, I really had a great time. Traveling (even on a tight budget) is so much fun and such an interesting experience. I wish I could do it all the time! But I'd definitely like to go back to London and see more things. It was great company and an awesome weekend : )

Alright, so besides this weekend, the French life has been chuggin along. I have almost hit the half way mark of my time here!! it is insane how quickly the time has passed. I'll be spending Christmas here, and hopefully my mommy will be able to visit me and have christmas in Bordeaux! I'm in the process of looking for an apartment for the second semester. it's not as easy as one may think. School is getting a little easier too. I feel like I'm getting the hang of France's crazy university system, slowly but surely. And I really think my French has improved- French people have confirmed that, but who knows, they may just be being polite. It was a trip being in England where everyone was speaking English! I could actually understand conversations! It made me a little homesick- i guess the reminder of my native language got me thinkin about everyone I miss at home. But before I left for the weekend, I received a HUGEEEE care package from my darling and sweet mother! it was filled with layer upon layer of necessities like warm clothes and candy. I was so grateful to have a treasure box of things from home! Oh, and last week, my two friends from high school came to visit Bordeaux. They are actually currently both living in Europe- Anthony's in Ireland and Elliot's in Lyon, France. I got to play tour guide and it was really fun! they were impressed with Bordeaux, and I felt proud to call this my home.  So I got my fill of California! Hmm quoi d'autre... oh it was Sara's birthday right before we left so we properly celebrated that of course :) It's so crazy that my friends here who are only staying 1 semester are leaving in 1 month. I cannot imagine going back home at this point! I'm really gonna miss them : ( but never forget them!

      Okay I know this post is a doozy so I'll call it quits. I really do miss and love everyone and anyone who might be reading this. and thanks for being interested in ma vie francaise :) now it's time to do what I actually came here to do- study!!!! à bientôt mes amis!