Ça veut dire quoi?

Don't believe that actually exists? Well here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thundersnow

Yeah, it just happened. I was sitting in my room, when suddenly there was some intensely loud thunder for like 45 seconds, so I decided to look out the window to see what's going on, and it was SNOWING. But not even like the light, peaceful kind, it was pouring SNOW. It was the strangest thing! It only lasted for about 8 minutes, but it was still crazy. I always connected thunder with rain; i mean it makes sense that it could happen in snow, but in my mind snow is just so synonymous with quiet-ness it didn't make any sense. Crazy Europe.

Another amusing event from tonight was "Taco Night." Yes, you read that right, I had taco night in France. With my French roommates. It was hilarious. We made "burritos," but they put fajita sauce in with ground beef. It was close though. It worked out well though because I had bought salsa from the foreign section of the grocery store just because I was excited to see it, not because I had anything to eat it with. Too bad the salsa was actually really sweet, and definitely not medium heat. There is nothing spicy here. It's terrible. I taught them about using sour cream and tomorrow night we are going to make quesadillas. hahahahaha. They already make fun of me for my sub-par cooking skills; I wonder how this is going to work out.

In other news we have another roommate! Her name is Jennifer and she is one of Anne-Sophie's friends from home/Paris. She is really quiet, but very nice, and randomly likes American Football. It's kind of awesome that she is here now though; mostly because of her we got a new, bigger refrigerator, and  hot water for the kitchen sink! And maybe if we are REALLY lucky, a washing machine!!! We will be in a pimpin' log cabin in no time!

I have also taught my roommates about peanut butter. Anne-Sophie bought some at the store the other day, but it became very apparent that she has no idea what to actually eat it with since it sat there for like 4 days untouched. I went to the store and got some of my own and started putting it on all this stuff and they were amazed! Nutella + peanut butter. Peanut butter + Jelly. And what they now both really like: apples + peanut butter. So funny.

Tomorrow's forecast: who wants to guess how long I will have to wait for the bus/tram tomorrow? Thundersnow is definitely not conducive to prompt public transportation...

So since no one has been to Bordeaux, nor is it very helpful when you google image-search it, here are some photos of the city! I figure it would be helpful to get a better idea of where I am actually living.

 

 

  

So this week was the first full week of school! I have officially been to all of the classes I picked out, but because I have really specific blocks of time to fill, it is the schedule I have for sure. I was thinking about switching out of one class, but as of now I have no patience for trying to find another class to full that spot and I didn't find anything else in my initial searches so that's going to stay. I have decided to drop one of the classes I was taking at the "students learning French" part of the university because I am taking one in Bordeaux III (the "real" French university) on the same thing. So here it is:

Monday: NO CLASS!
Tuesday: 10h30-12h30 = Lecutre Art History: The Renaissance; 13h30-15h30 = "Le Roman Français"; 15h30-18h30 = Methodology
Wednesday: 8h30-12h30 = "Art et Histoire Litteraire"; 13h30-16h30 = "De Luther à Voltaire" [aka EVIL DAY]
Thursday: 8h30-10h30 = Section Art History: The Renaissance
Friday: NO CLASS!

Basically it rules. I don't know how consistent the Methodology class is actually going to end up being and most likely we will get let out early; considering we got out early every other time we had class. Wednesday is a rough day. 7 hours of real French university classes. The art and literature one is pretty easy, it's divided in to 4 parts and the first 2 professors divide the 4 hours in 2. They are all lecturing on their respective specializations too, which makes it pretty cool. The second professor was a little difficult to understand though, so it became tough to concentrate. Then after only one hour break I have to go sit through 3 more hours of RELIGIOUS HISTORY. It's a long day. But I liked the professor a lot and it's not complicated material so I'm just going to stick with it. I need to learn MEDIEVAL vocab. hahaha. I have no idea where to find it!

All the teachers were really nice too about the fact that we were foreign, and I get a separate test in all my class! Such a plus. Basically this also means I am going to have about 2 weeks free at the end of the quarter since I won't be taking finals during that time. WIN. Can you say Istanbul!? Because I am totally going.

Last night we had a dinner at this nice restaurant called the Automobile Club with the whole EAP group. It was a lot of fun! And there was a lot of wine! It's so funny that it's normal for that to be included in a school function. We ended up leaving with like 2 extra bottles. Whether we were actually supposed to do that of course is def up to debate. Whatever, it wasn't that good. After we went to this salsa bar that was empty because it was like 10 pm, and eventually we made our way to a Jazz Club down by the train station. This place was awesome. They had a live band playing and a really nice lounge and bar; apparently Bordeaux is known for being a place for jazz in France. I had no idea. I ended up leaving a little late for my bus from the train station though and had to take a cab to my other stop for the night bus back to my neighborhood. It was still great though, we are definitely going back.

Tonight: Year students are having a party at their apartment. Perhaps going dancing after?
Saturday: Perigueux, medieval walled city with a big market. Maybe?

I think so.