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).