Ça veut dire quoi?

Or maybe I should say "Barthelona." Well, regardless of pronunciation, this city is freaking RAD. Since I have already had some experience with the feel of Spain, I was very excited to go back and Barcelona definitely didn't let me down. First off, it was SO WARM. I know Vanessa will disagree with me on this point, but considering it was still around the 40s in France when we went, having it be around 60 degrees everyday was GLORIOUS. I only wore a sweater. YEAH, JUST A SWEATER. It was awesome.

We flew in Friday and checked out the surrounding area of our hotel a bit, which was right next to placa Catalonia, the biggest one in the city. Then I went and got my haircut! By a French guy. hahaha. I was so excited to get all the dead hair off; it just did not handle winter very well. Then we went and had some tapas, paella, and sangria! Standard. Saturday we were on the tour bus all day, stopping a few times like at the Gaudi Park, which I forget the real name of, but it was really cool. So many people were there and there were a lot of musicians, performers and vendors around. Vanessa, Elen, and I went out that night and it was a lot of fun! Started off walking in to a bar with only drunk English men there, who of course proceeded to make a huge scene. We didn't stay long. haha. We then went to a night club that a few people had recommended, which I also forget the name of, but when we got there it was still half a restaurant. We were really confused by this, but soon after people started breaking down the lounge we were in and later the whole wall opened up and all the tables were moved. We met a guy from UCSB randomly, some very drunk Danish people, and these Dutch guys who were on our bus; all adding to the entertainment of the night. Great night.

Sunday was a late start after the long night so we went to check out the Sagrada Familia for real and then the Gaudi apartments. the Sagrada Familia is probably one of the coolest things I have ever seen. I don't think I have ever been that shocked by something at first glance before. It is sooo big! And I had no idea it was that unfinished! It basically is being constructed on the scale that gothic and medieval churches were back in the 1400s! It has already been under construction for over 100 years and you still can't walk through the center of it! So cool. We went up to the top and got a cool view of the city and the crazy staircases. Everything Gaudi did was directly influenced by nature too. It was so amazing, the columns were modeled after trees and the windows were shaped after some helix structure. SO COOL. I'm def planning on going back in like 20 years or something; I want to see how it grows!!!

Monday Elen and I went down to the port through Las Ramblas, the main street in Barcelona, and the market, and the gothic section of the city. We were wanting to rent vespas, but the guy at the rental place said he would only rent them to us if we knew how to drive already since drivers in Barcelona are crazy. Glad I didn't attempt that one. I did touch the Mediterranean though! Met up with Annette and Vanessa and had a nice lunch at the port then went back to the hotel to rest and so I could pack. It was a great weekend! I am so glad I got the opportunity to go! [THANK YOU ANNETTE!!!]

Such a great weekend. Now here's some pictures! More on Facebook!

So I lied: this post is not going to be about Barcelona. But we have far more pressing matters on our hands: I think I forgot how to do research and I need to talk it out.

Thursday marks the first time in France that I will have real school work due. I mean I have had to do reading for my French novel class and write little introduction paragraphs and plans for essays and stuff that my teacher looked over but I never had to do any extra work or find information outside of what I already know; minus vocab in French of course. But now, I have to write an essay of probably around 4 pages (1.5-spaced), in french, which is going to be my only grade for the entire class, and I feel like I can't remember how to research or how to set up my space and get a good strat going for attacking this feat. And really, it is going to be a feat. Not only is it the longest paper in French I have ever had to write, but it will also be the first time I have written a whole paper since November. That is such a long time!!! Seriously, WTF am I supposed to do!? I have a plan/outline written out, but I literally can not remember how I would usually start out papers, that's how long its been. This really is not ok. I mean I have 3 months of time between doing work in Spring and Fall, why am I having trouble now?! I know part of it is the idea of it all being in French, but it really isn't that different, and I know exactly how to organize it, I just can't freaking research properly! as;ldkjfalsdkjf;ajksdhf;ajhsdhfhajdjhjhjkahjskhkjdk

It would probably help if I didn't hate school here so much. The system really is just the worst. The students are so uninterested, as well as the teachers, if not more. It's kind of depressing. And since all my classes are 2-hours or more in one sitting, it's IMPOSSIBLE for anyone to remain engaged for the entire period, or for someone lecturing for that long to even attempt to be interesting the while time. Which, believe me, they don't. Also, this is way too long of a time to have the same teachers; I don't know what I would do without the quarter system.

Ok, enough whining. I just need to read over what information I have found and then I can figure out what information I want to include, then I can start writing. And I need to get at least half finished tonight and/or tomorrow morning so I can show my methodology teacher before class tomorrow. I just have to stop being an asshole and stay off facebook.

JE VAIS AVOIR DU SUCCÈS!

So everyone knows about Paris. Everyone knows the monuments and museums and art. I mean the fact that I could figure out easily how to get around the city and which buildings are which just based on memory makes that pretty obvious. Granted I have been to Paris before, but let's be honest, visiting as a 9th grader, aka 6 years ago, makes it pretty easy to forget what I saw. But, after all those art history classes it was pretty sweet to see what I have studied.

Anyway, I won't bore you with all the details, but I went up to Paris two weekends ago on Thursday afternoon and was picked up from the train station by my friend Amber. We went back to her boyfriend Paul's apartment (where I would be staying for the next two nights), had dinner, had some wine, and made our way to Amber's favorite club where it was "Erasmus Night." Erasmus is the name of the study-abroad program for all the students in Europe so at the club they have a booth where you can get a sticker of the flag for what country you are from. I got Ireland. Obviously no one would question me, I'm a GINGER. It was a lot of fun; I was really in to the "I'm from Ireland" story-line and since I was, well, not entirely sober, I'm not sure how many people I told this fact to. Overall, a great night!

Friday just consisted of picking up another friend from the train station after a late start that morning, getting some Laudrée macarons (BEST EVER), and going to the Eiffel Tower for pictures. Saturday we walked around a little in the morning and then I went and met Annette, Vanessa, and Elen at their hotel near Notre Dame (6ieme arrondisement)! It was so great to see them! We got some food, checked out Notre Dame and the surrounding areas then had dinner and planned the next couple days. Sunday was climbing the Eiffel Tower and Musée d'Orsay on Vanessa's birthday, then having a lovely dinner. Monday we went to the Louvre and walked around the Toulierie gardens then crepes back near our hotel and a nap. I was so tired after that weekend, but it was great to get to Paris. I'm so excited to be able to go back in April and May when it is warm and beautiful! This trip was at the same time as the trip I took in 9th grade, so being cold was mostly expected. Another interesting observation was that there were a few people I talked to in French that couldn't understand me; and I'm talking proper nouns and they couldn't understand me. It was very strange. It was fun showing of my French skills though; I'm so excited they have improved so much.

Alright, now pictures! There are more on facebook though!

To all my avid readers: I am very sorry for taking so long to post again, it really does take a lot of time (and sass) to produce a great post, and I have been very busy having awesome European adventures! I also promise to post more often so I don't have to make freakishly long posts here again. haha.

Well first thing first, and (supposedly) the thing I am here to experience: school. I have now begun week 5 of classes in France and they are going just fine. I think I really lucked out on the amount of work I have for my classes because for the most part, I don't have to do anything. The reading for my classes is optional and not really necessary as long as you go to class (except for my French novel class - Proust now, awesome), and since we are foreign, and I guess they assume we don't understand anything, all my finals will be separate from the French students; for my Renaissance class I have to type out an presentation that I just turn in, I won't actually be presenting it. Basically, everything is easy. It's nice because it makes it easier for me to travel and not have a lot of studying to worry about, but it's also weird having school be kind of a joke. Whatever, I'd rather travel anyways, hahahaha.

So now the more important info: where I have been in the last 20 days! The weekend of the 12th and 13th I went to Carcassonne and Toulouse. The trip to Carcassonne ended up not being as eventful as I thought it would, as I had my visite medicale for my visa that morning (8h30, nice and early!) and it took longer than I thought it would, so I had to take the later train. The old part of city is one of the biggest medieval cities in France that has been fully renovated, except since I got there so late my friends had already gone there (a 30-minute walk), so I didn't get to see that part of the city. It was also around 5pm and had snowed earlier so we wanted to get to our hotel, also a 45-minute walk away. We ended up getting lost on the way there so it's a good thing we left when we did. We did go to dinner at a small restaurant near our hotel and stayed there for around 3 hours talking; it was really great. The next day we took the train to Toulouse, another cool city that is pretty old. It was nice walking around in the morning, and we went to this really old church with all these relics. It was really cold though later in the afternoon so I decided to take the train back to Bordeaux that night. It sucks that the weather is actually a factor when you go traveling outside of California, hahaha; it was nice to get out of Bordeaux for awhile nonetheless.

Now the real adventure was going to San Sebastian in SPAIN the weekend of the 20th. It was absolutely beautiful! And Spain just had such an amazing energy. It also helped that it was about 10 degrees warmer than Bordeaux the whole weekend. It was an amazing experience, and definitely made me feel a lot better about my French skillz. I mean I was able to bust out a little bit of ANCIENT Spanish, but mostly I would just default to French and sound retarded. Also, since we didn’t know the language it was really intense getting around, and mostly involved pointing and wild hand gestures; pretty much everyone we encountered only spoke Spanish, even at the train station! Which made no sense, considering it was right on the border with France. But we did make it there and Candy, Collin, and I were insanely excited. It was a little cloudy and as we started walking to our hostel began to sprinkle... then there were some really big drops.. then it was POURING. It was actually really comical, and even though we all got wet we were still stoaked to be in Spain! I did have to buy some boots though because the weather in Bordeaux was so sunny and nice, I got thrown off and wore flats, which were the only shoes I brought. Luckily they were on sale; ironically they are the same kind of cowboy-esque boots that all the french girls wear.


Our hostel was really nice, clean, and warm, so we waited there for the owner, Miguel (coolest guy ever), who only spoke Spanish. We think this other guy worked in the hostel, but he was from Scotland so he translated for us a bit. It was funny that Miguel could speak Spanish to us though and we could pretty much understand him. We got a map and walked around the city a little bit more, then met up with some other friends who were in the city as well to celebrate her 21st birthday! We walked around the old part of town for quite some time before finding the tapas restaurant we wanted, then proceeded to wait for an hour for our table (there were 8 of us). At this point it was around 10pm, the Spanish eat so late, but it was kind of awesome how many people were out walking around and eating dinner; such a difference from Bordeaux! The food was awesome! I didn't actually know what a lot of the things I was eating were, but it was still all really good. After dinner and 3 pitchers of Sangria, we went to a small bar and basically started the dancing there. We finally headed home around 2 am I think, which was a nice walk by the ocean! I didn't realize I would miss the ocean so much! Definitely take that for granted.


The next day we woke up around 10am, got out of the hostel around 11, and started walking around the city. After lunch we hiked up the mountain behind the old part of town where there used to be a castillo and where there is now a huge Jesus statue. We then met up with our friends again at a pastry shop/ café, as our friend Kaylee decided to stay the second night with us. Walked around a big more, attempted to find some dream shoes, failed, then went back to the hostel to drop stuff off, went back to the bay to take pictures at night. I got splashed and soaked by a huge wave in this little view point, we went back to the hostel to get me dry clothes and a dinner recommendation. Miguel suggested this place owned by one of his friends and it was DELICIOUS. Paella is freaking so good.  I had no idea! Miguel was also nice enough to call ahead for us so we didn't have to embarrass ourselves with bad Spanish and so the paella was ready by the time we got there. The owner welcomed us in immediately, I guess it was pretty obvious that we were American. hahaha. So after eating a TON,  we walked back to the hostel, taking a detour to loiter in a playground and be obnoxious. It was a great night. SO WARM.

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.