Y fait frette

Y'a pantoute de neige icitte mais quand même y fait frette!

Italian

Today I had my last class of Italian. Everyone in that class got to know each other pretty well and I really am going to miss all of them. The teacher was one of the liveliest that I've had and always made the class enjoyable. Once she made it too enjoyable... she couldn't get herself to stop cracking up at each funny mistake everyone made. Oh man, when this guy said "autocaro" to say car (which is "macchina" in Italian) she laughed so hard that her eyes started tearing up. Then she controlled her laughter and apologized but another giggle slipped through and again she continued to crack up and had to put her head down on her desk.

The teacher was super sweet too... she spent a good fifteen minutes of class wishing me a good farewell today. Thanks to her, I know that maybe I too will be missed. I'm not sure if I will continue studying Italian (the attempt to become trilingual is hard enough) but I sure can't wait 'til my next trip to Italy.

It's Almost Time to Say Goodbye to Bordeaux

So my four-month journey in Europe is almost coming to an end. I've had trouble updating my blog because I've managed to slip in something negative each time I start a new entry... making the entire entry sound negative. I've really liked France though at the same time it isn't easy and always fun living here. But overall France is a wonderful place and I feel very privileged having gotten the chance to live here. I wrote about Madrid but I repeated that I wanted to stay there and not come back to Bordeaux... I really felt at home there and so I wanted to point that out but I didn't post the entry because I made French people seem very cold... when they aren't... they're just not as welcoming as Spaniards in general and I guess I really missed being surrounded by a hispanic culture. I'm actually really going to miss Bordeaux especially because I know that I won't be back for a long time... I've also made French not just a language that I'm learning but a part of who I am. I didn't think that 4 months would have made me feel like a real Francophone but it really has become a distinctive part of me.

All Saint's Week - Rome and the Vatican

Ray, Virg, and I got off the airplane at Ciampino, picked up our bags, and then bought bus tickets to the center of Rome. We were pretty surprised how warm it was in Rome compared to how cold Paris was. It was a nice change. BUT, then we had the worst bus ride ever. It had no airconditioning whatsoever and none of the windows could be opened. Everyone was sweating and the traffic was worse than in L.A. Then, I asked Ray, who had already been to Rome, "why didn't you warn us that Rome looked like Tijuana." I was surprised how different from France it was. Then we got to the Termini train station where we had to catch the metro... where it took us about twenty minutes to figure out how to get to our destination. Then when we tried to get on the metro everyone was really rude and kept shoving their way in and not letting more people on. I was really confused as to why people rave about Rome...

But then we got off the metro, walked down Via Nazionale (a shopping boulevard) and then we turned onto Via Firenze, where our hotel was. This part of town was like another world compared to the outskirts of Rome and the Termini train station. On Via Firenze, we passed a hotel called Hotel Paris, which was funny to see since we were just in Paris earlier that day. We checked into our hotel and thank goodness our room was really nice. It even had a statue carving on one of the walls. We ventured out for lunch (I had a yummy calzone) and to the Spanish Steps. It was about a 15 minute walk away from the hotel but we ended up taking a longer route since we were distracted by all of the amazing buildings and the churches that were everywhere left and right. We stopped in front of one of the Catholic universities, where Ray chatted away with one of the priests about who knows what... I had never seen so many priests and nuns walking along like any other pedestrian. Even as the priests passed by restaurants the waiters would try to get their attention, "Padre, un cappuccino?" We finally got to La Piazza di Spagna, we climbed the Spanish Steps and I felt so relieved at that point that Rome really was beautiful.

It still took me a while to get over how different Italy was from France. The buildings were in lively colors, or many of them were rustic, others were classical in style with huge columns. It also took me some time to get used to how Italians are much more friendly and easygoing than the French are. Italians can also be less formal than the French are... which I liked because at times the French try to be so formal that they become rigid. I also really, really liked that no one looked at me with squinted eyes when I spoke to them in English or Spanish mixed in with a little bit of Italian. The French look like they're going to die when you make a few mistakes or you throw in some English.

Later on our first day in Italy we saw the Trevi Fountain, we all made a wish, and then we had Gelato (which you can't get anymore this time of the year in Bordeaux... for obvious reasons). The next day, we saw the Colliseum and the ruins that lead up to it. There was a pretty big student protest going around that time... it was actually the biggest protest I've ever seen and it was interesting to hear them chanting because it almost sounded like they were Roman gladiators, which went well during our visit to the Colliseum.

The following day we went to the Vatican. Naturally I knew that I would really enjoy my visit... but it actually ended up being quite an emotional visit for me. I grew up Catholic and I'm not sure whether I believe in God or not anymore... but while I was there I really felt something special. It was also overwhelming to see Pope John Paul II's tomb under St. Peter's Basilica... it really irritated me that the tourists wouldn't remain silent. After seeing the tombs of the popes that had passed, we climbed up to the cupola of St. Peter's Basilica. It was 534 steps (if I remember correctly) to climb! It felt like we were in Alice in Wonderland as the walls started to curve in once we were near the top. Then the view from up there was unbelievable... the Vatican's gardens, the columns in front of St. Peter's Basilica, Castel Sant'Angello a few blocks up ahead from those columns...

We closed our trip with a visit to the Pantheon. Seeing the sister city of Paris was truly amazing.

All Saint's Week - Paris and Versailles

I know, I know, an update has been overdue...

So two Sundays ago, bright and early in the morning (well actually not so bright, it was cold and still dark), I headed to the train station. The train was right on time and smooth all the way through to Paris. As soon as I got off the train I headed out quickly, dodging the people through the gigantic Montparnasse station, eager to see Paris again. I stepped outside and breathed in the chilly air as if I was smelling a freshly fabric softened sweater. Then I headed into the underground serpent that would slither my way to the Pyramides stop. Since I was really excited for this trip, I had memorized the directions to the hotel, which was near the Louvre. But then... Ray and Virg weren't at the hotel yet as expected. An hour had passed and they still hadn't arrived. I was afraid that they maybe weren't getting there that night. Another hour later the hotel staff rang me up and let me know that Ray and Virg were still at the airport, claiming their lost luggage. I hadn't eaten anything yet so to kill the time I went to a little sandwicherie nearby and then I took a little walk around the Louvre. I came back and took a nap... suddenly the phone rang loudly and the hotel staff told me that my friends had finally arrived. I jumped up and headed down to the lobby to greet them. I was so happy that they made it that day, but I didn't feel so happy that their bags hadn't made it along with them. They were informed though that they would be getting their bags the next day... so we still had a great time that day.

We didn't have a strict itinerary but we had planned to go up to the top of the Eiffel Tower on the first day of the trip... Virg had asked me earlier, "hey Alex the first time that you came to Paris didn't you think that the Eiffel Tower was smaller than you had imagined?" I actually thought it was pretty tall and funny enough as we were on the second elevator that goes all the way up to the top Virg kept repeating "oh man this is really high, so high..." The wind was really strong up there too so it definitely felt high.

The next day we went to the Louvre, where Mona Lisa followed us as we saw Egyptian scupltures and mummy tombs, Picasso paintings, a dungeon, Greek sculptures and a million other amazing masterpieces... the Louvre is enormous and 'til this day we're still trying to find the exit! At night we went to see the Château de Vincennes... we knew that it was already closed but I still hadn't seen a castle yet so for that we still went to see it. I'll never forget that visit because as we started to encircle the castle it suddenly started to rain so hard that we had to hug this giant tree for some sort of protection. We hugged that tree for over half an hour, thinking that that rain was never going to stop pouring.

Day three: Versailles. We were all still a little overwhelmed by the Louvre so we decided to skip the main palace and head over to the domain of Marie Antoinette. So much for toning the sensory overload down a bit: it took us about half an hour to get there walking through Versailles' infinite gardens. Versailles really is an extraordinary place...

The following morning we took a taxi to the Paris-Orly airport...

Next post: Rome and the Vatican.

All Saint's Week

PARIS

VERSAILLES

ROME

VATICAN CITY

MADRID

DESTINATION PARIS, ROME AND MADRID

Tomorrow morning I'm going to be waking up at 4:00 AM to head out to Paris and eventually Rome and Madrid later on in the week. My train is at 6:59 AM but I have to leave at around 5:20 to get all the way over to La Gare St. Jean, which is only half an hour away by bus but the bus only passes by every half hour at that time of day and I would totally hate myself if I missed my train.

Although it's going to be super cold tomorrow morning when I head out, in the dark, I can't wait for it. This trip is all I've been able to think about this last week... in fact, since I had this trip in mind every minute of each day this past week I've been pretty much stress-free. I studied a lot too since I was so relaxed and at peace. I even kind of started to like my French professor that loves to complicate everything.

Some things on the itinerary: Eiffel Tower (I promised Ray that I would wait to climb it until he and Virg came), the Louvre, possibly Disneyland, the Château de Vincennes, Montmartre, and possibly Versailles; the Colliseum, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, and the Vatican, oh and yummy yummy Gelato; the Prado and hopefully we'll get to see some Flamenco! Then we all head back to Bordeaux where I'll show Ray and Virg the Grand Théâtre, Quinconces, Rue Sainte Catherine (just simply to point out that it's the longest pedestrian street in Europe), the Jardin Public and the Catédral Saint André of course.

I hope I can sleep tonight because I'm just way too excited.

St. Emilion

Visiting St. Emilion yesterday really lifted my spirits. It was calm and relaxing and the weather was really nice. St. Emilion is a very beautiful medieval town 45 minutes from Bordeaux by train that's encircled by (tasty) vineyards (of course we had to pick some grapes like the American tourists that we are!). It's listed as a UNESCO world heritage site... there are catacombs in the city and a subterranean church, a dungeon and ruins there.

It was especially nice because almost the entire California group came... and the inhabitants of St. Emilion were all charming people... so all around good company.

Even though it's not that far away from Bordeaux it had a very different vibe. First of all the city is not flat like Bordeaux... and not only is it not flat but the streets there can be very steep. Most of them were pedestrian streets... which is exactly what I loved about St. Emilion; it was a nice escape from the sound of scooters, motorcycles, cars, and the oh so slow Bordeaux tram. Also the air was really fresh and clean and I'm not kidding, the air smelled like wine. Some of the cobblestone streets had more grapes on the ground than fall leaves!!! Bordelais-Californians sharing St. Emilion macarons... which apart from the wine is St. Emilion's specialty.

Little Booboo Bear is sad

Little Booboo Bear and I are not feeling very happy right now :(

I'm so homesick that I keep listening to "California, here we come, right back where we started from" over and over again. I'm getting very emotionally drained by everything and anything here... I couldn't concentrate on my reading this morning so I just got ready and went for a walk and headed to the Jardin Public to read. Every other paragraph I had to take deep breaths and tell myself to just simply relax, that I was in a beautiful setting and that in under three weeks I will be traveling to Paris, Rome and Madrid with Ray and Virg. For some reason though... whenever I read there at the Jardin Public some random person always pops out of nowhere and asks what I'm reading. Today it was this old man that almost reminded me of my dad, note that the "almost" part is important... He had these very pale blue eyes that contrasted with his tan skin... it was the paleness of his eyes, the loss of pigment in them that made him seem more elderly and thus seem very harmless... but at the same time they made him seem eerie especially since I hadn't at all noticed him until he was suddenly right in front of me. He made small talk about my book and then the weather and then he asked if I was a student and naturally I said that I was studying in Bordeaux for a semester. He then exclaimed, "oh you're not from Bordeaux?" and then asked what region I was from. I wasn't sure if I heard him right so I replied "what?" since I always get confused when people can't instantly tell that I'm from CA!!! So he then rephrased the question "what region of France are you from?" and in that instant I just got really uncomfortable and strangely really sad. It was the way that he asked the question... in such a friendly way that it made me feel for that instant that I had always lived in France and that my life in America had been nothing more than a dream. I said that I was American and he looked confused, as if I was confused about who I was... I put my book away and said good bye and good day to the man and as I walked away I felt that I was someone else saying good bye and good day to my dad.

Nothing here looks unfamiliar anymore and that makes me feel that I've been here... in far, far away land... much longer than I really have.

Landes Forest and the Atlantic Ocean

Today my French host-family and I went to the beach again... but this time without Augustin (he was with his relatives at another beach near the Dune du Pyla...we went to Le Porge which is an hour northwest of Bordeaux whereas the Dune du Pyla is an hour southwest of Bordeaux). The weather wasn't as hot as last weekend so I wasn't sure if I would want to swim in the ocean... so I took one of my Québécois literature books that I have to read (Anne Hébert's Les fous de Bassan). I ended up reading 50 pages, but also having a really good time hanging out with Charles.

He's very imaginative so he kept asking me while I was reading if I wanted to be an explorer and discover other corners of the beach and the Landes forest... so after hiking up a 30 foot dune we walked over these dead tree branches for about 10 minutes... then we went into the forest and came out of it at these dunes and valley of sand that made us feel as if we were in Egypt... Charles kept saying "I need water, I-need-water..." and then pretended to have died of thirst... Earlier we had also played foot (say it with a French accent!) in the sand which was really cool... and we even swam in the cold water for a bit. All in all it was a good well rounded trip to the beach... which I'm sure I won't be seeing much of anymore since it will be getting very cold here soon (there was one morning here already that was so cold I couldn't feel my face and hands!).

Burdigala

I just started classes today (I just had Italian today and I really enjoyed the class even though it was three hours long...I hope I like my French lit classes too)... so I won't be having classes on Mondays and thus I can do whatever I please on Mondays: yesterday I went to a museum, walked around the city center a bit and then headed to Virgin Records to look through the tourism books (I'm beyond excited for going to Paris, Rome and Madrid during All Saint's Week at the end of next month!)...

This here is the golden gate to the Museum of Fine Arts (Musée des Beaux Arts)... with the spires of the St. André Cathedral in the background.

I don't remember who painted this and have no clue who this woman is... I don't even think I bothered to check more than two artists' names while I was in the Museum of Fine Arts yesterday... but this portrait really captivated my attention because I felt that she was expressing a stoic yet pleasureful moment of anguish and I don't think I've ever seen that painted or photographed (the loose top, open mouth and her position is what makes me think that she's enjoying her moment)... she's been keeping everything in control or at least pretending to (symbolized by holding her hands together) yet deep down inside she's totally lost it and so this is a rare glimpse of her secret agony.

I took this picture of the St. André Cathedral from the inside of the city hall (Hôtel de Ville) when I was wandering around the city center.

Then I walked back home from Place Gambetta (where the Virgin Records store is)... It's about a 20 minute walk from the city center to my French home...

Burdigala is the Latin name for Bordeaux.

One month in Europe celebration!!!

Today, the city of Bordeaux celebrated my 1 month presence in Europe...to honor me they opened up the doors to the Grand Theatre, which is normally closed to the public and reserved only for guests attending cultural activities like ballet and the Opera... Or today might just be one of those days in which Bordeaux along with other cities in France and Europe celebrate "European Heritage Days" and allow visitors to enter buildings that are usually restricted... but I'm pretty sure the former is the case!

The building's exterior itself is enough to make you want to come back to admire it... so I'm definitely glad that my French family gave me the paper listing of all the events for this weekend. I haven't been to Versailles but a lot of the rooms in the Grand Theatre looked like what I imagine the Baroque rooms in Versailles would look like. The costumes presented throughout the second floor were all really elaborate too... I seriously felt like I was magically all of a sudden in Disneyland.

September 17

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=9HOVwJq8b5A

I just came across this song by Ulrich Schnauss today called Clear Day...for a while I wasn't really listening to any music since I didn't have wifi until I moved out of the dorms on Friday and into my new home. Music for me is a part of daily life...so I'm glad to finally be able to zone out to music like this. Music is my escape, it's my cubby hole. A lot of places here in Bordeaux play nothing but really lame American music that no one listens to back home, and by a lot of places I mean basically everywhere...only the pubs here play good music. But even at the pubs I feel like I'm not getting a good dose of music I like.

But yesterday, after going to the CAPC (the Bordeaux contemporary art museum) I walked over to the Notre Dame and then walked through one of the small side streets next to it that had a tiny sidewalk about one foot wide...suddenly I thought I heard a violin playing inside one of the buildings there. It was very faint but I stopped to listen to it anyway. As soon as I stopped it started playing loudly...and then it suddenly struck me that I had been deprived of music for too long and that that was contributing greatly to my homesickness. So I stuck around for a while to listen to the violin...it was definitely an Amélie moment: a small pleasure that totally made my day.

Making myself at home

So far this study abroad program has been really disorganized...most importantly I haven't received my financial aid and I've already been here for three weeks. Then there's the university that promised wifi in the dorms but then took back the promise...we start semester classes in a week and we still haven't been told which classes are being offered...the list goes on.

But earlier this night I moved in with my host family. The father seemed very intimidating yet easy going at the same time...I couldn't tell really but I was just really nervous. Then we arrived and I met the mother...the kids were smiling as if their parents told them that it was going to be a good experience so at that point I felt more at ease.

The children ended up being really smart... Augustin is 13 years old and he's already studying both English and Spanish...and he follows American politics more than I do! Then there's Charles, who's 8 and a half (though he's really 8 and 11 months). Charles is just a really sweet kid, he smiles all the time and he still sucks on his thumb.

Out of everyone in the family I felt most connected to Augustin. He wants to be trilingual and he will talk about just anything...we went from soccer (football) to traveling (he loves the beaches in Croatia) to cultural differences between France and the US to politics (he can't stand McCain...in French they pronounce it MacCain).

Dinner was pretty damn yummy...we had gratiné potatos, chicken, salad and a delicious apple tart with Vanilla ice cream on it.

Later that night I went out and it was in the bus ride back to my new home when I realized that I was no longer a tourist. I walked in the bus and asked the bus driver if he went by Rue Judaïque without having to formulate the question in my head beforehand and then when I got off the bus this guy asked if I knew which way a certain street was and it was in the same direction that I was headed and it turned out that he was a student at the University of Bordeaux. He was kind of ashamed that I knew where the street was when I told him that I've only been here for three weeks...he then mentioned that I was a "bordelais" just like him.

Bordeaux's architecture

The city of Bordeaux has got to be one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. It's hard to believe that some of these buildings are almost 1000 years old...The Saint André Cathedral shown in the picture was consecrated in 1096. Many of these buildings look like they had tar thrown on them...but even when they're grimy they ironically still manage to look pristine.

The second shot was taken from the corner of the façade of the Saint André Cathedral showing the Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) all the way in the back. This is basically the city center so there are always different events going on here on weekends. This past weekend the WWF had an art display of 1600 pandas to represent the 1600 pandas left in the world. They nearly covered the entire plaza. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera that day :( and Little Booboo Bear would have also liked to have seen his fellow bears. This weekend though we will be moving in with our French families so he won't have to be locked in that dirty dorm anymore... About the University of Bordeaux...it's hideous and unworthy of any pictures...Maybe I will do an entry later comparing it's ugliness to the beauty of the actual city of Bordeaux (the university is in the city of Pessac).

La Dune du Pyla

La Dune du Pyla is the largest dune in Europe (and it was huge...who would've known Europe had such immense sand dunes?). It's located at the Bassin d'Arcachon, which is about an hour southwest of Bordeaux. It's been 8 days already since we went and I still can't get over how majestic it was...the Landes forest in the background extends for as far as you can see....and it was for the most part a clear day that Sunday when we went.

That's me on the right standing up...we all look pretty tiny and yet the dune was way bigger than the photos could capture. You seriously need a panaromic camera to capture the size of the dune. Then we also look very happy and victorious in the picture but that thing is hard to climb...it's definitely a good workout. The sand was also surprisingly very clean (which shows pretty well in the shots). In sum, La Dune du Pyla was pretty spectacular and nothing like I had ever seen before or had even been able to imagine. So yes, if you're not a UC student here you should be very jealous right now that I got to see it! Oh and another thing, Little Booboo Bear didn't want to go because he doesn't like getting dirty, but he did have fun wine tasting (which was after the excursion to the dune).

Wine tasting

Yesterday we went wine tasting which was way more amazing than I had first thought. The wine was the absolute best I've ever had (not that I've had much). We went to the Château Raymond-Lafon in the Sauternes commune which was about an hour south of Bordeaux. (In French wine tasting is called dégustation du vin).

I was hoping to write more frequently in this blog so that it could be chronological. But for a while it won't be that way. I'm actually at a laundromat right now where the wifi is free (who would've thought when the dorms at the university don't have wifi!). So now that I know more about where to get wifi (the tabacs, restaurants, certain corners next to certain buildings at the university) I will try to keep this up so that it won't be boring to read!

August 26

Yes, I'm alive! I didn't have a very great time in London and for that reason I'm going to say that I didn't like it very much. It was kind of weird though because London felt very familiar to me, almost as if I had lived there before or as if I wasn't even in Europe.

On Sunday I got to Paris...and thank the dear Lord that I liked it. I had a good time in Paris but it was still a little emotionally draining for me to be here in Europe alone. I've never traveled alone so it was definitely not easy.

I'm in Bordeaux now...it's a small and kind of tame city, but it has got to be one of the most beautiful places I have seen. My dorm sucks but all the other UC students are cool...I found a good group here.

Little Booboo Bear didn't get to travel with me on Saturday to the Eiffel Tower and he was very upset about that! My entire body was in pain from carrying around all that luggage and my left shoulder had swollen up and for a while I had a consistent shooting pain that made it impossible for me to carry even a light backpack with just Little Booboo Bear in it. But I woke up early on Sunday and took him to the Eiffel Tower and he loved it. We will be back to Paris in October to meet Ray and Virg...we can't wait!

Din Din

Before getting started, I wanted to thank everyone here at home before I left that came to my good-bye-see-you-next-year dinner party. Thanks Sylvie and Ashley for starting the night off right with finding WONU's long lost brother (if you don't know what that means that's just too bad)!!! Of course thanks to Val for preparing the authentic and appropriate French food and to Claudia for lending out a helpful hand even when asked not to do so. Many thanks to Don for his don (gift). I'm also glad that I could finally meet Chris...you and Don need to take care of Ray while I'm gone. Oh and Melanie you forgot your shades here! And last but not least, thank you Ray for setting this up... I'm going to miss you so damn much.

In five days I'll be off to London then Paris and eventually Bordeaux, where I'll live and study for four months. I hope everything goes well and that I get to update this blog frequently. I don't really know what to expect...so it should be interesting.

Be on the lookout for Little Booboo Bear...he's the traveling bear that's coming with me...and don't worry, he does have a passport (though I haven't gotten him his visa just yet)!