This week has been pretty quiet, going to classes every morning and getting into the swing of life here in Pau! Not to say that it's been uneventful, because that's never the case! If we don't have any big adventures planned we go downtown for dinner and drinks and just soaking up the culture. It's definitely the best way to assimilate I think! On Tuesday afternoon USAC took us to a spa and we got to relax in the gorgeous outdoor pools :) These kinds of spas are pretty typical in Europe, they're basically big jacuzzis, there's places to relax with bubbles everywhere and the water is pretty warm, about body temperature. The water also isn't chlorinated, it's some kind of mineral water, so when you get out your skin and hair just feel amazing! I definitely want to go back, but I got very sunburned :( The sun here is stronger than at home for some reason. On Tuesday we also got a special tour of Pau by some of the French friends we've made, got some good tips on where to eat and where to go shopping! Wednesday was pretty uneventful, we were all exhausted and sunburned so we decided to have a day of just relaxing and went to bed early. We didn't even go to the bar at all! I know, shocker.
Today my art history class went to the art museum in town, it was a good little field trip! It was a little hard to focus on the art though, there were two big groups of elementary schoolers there and several toddlers that kept screaming. Not quite sure why anyone would bring toddlers to an art museum but oh well, it's always fun to see the artworks in person!
All of the Americans are going out again tonight, last Thursday we basically took over Galway, but it's ok because the bartenders like Hanna Chloe and I the best. They've started calling us "Team America." Not sure if it's good or bad... Haha we've already embarrassed the heck out of ourselves talking to them and they're still very nice to us so I think it's good! Chloe and I tried to order in French from the English bartender the other day and then when he asked us where we're from we just go "America" and he said, in a very British way, "Well obviously but its a rather large place isn't it?" And then Hanna was speaking to one of the French bartenders in English and for some reason affected a British accent... haha luckily that bartender wasn't around! Galway is a great place though I'll have to get some pictures of it!
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Weekend of Adventures!
Sorry it's been a while, I had a very busy weekend and then was barely in my dorm all day today (which is never a bad thing)! On Saturday we had our first excursion with USAC, they were taking us to Basque country for a day! However, we kind of felt that just a day trip was a waste of a perfectly good weekend so Hanna, Chloe and I booked a hotel in Biarritz and stayed on by ourselves!
First we went to Bayonne, an old port city, and had a guided tour. We got to see the cathedral which was gorgeous, it seemed extremely high on the inside, but only because the nave was so small. The stained glass windows were also amazing, and all completely original apparently. The cathedral had a very rich history of decorations because the area of Aquitaine was under both French and English rule for periods of history. Most of the decorations were in tribute to Richard the Lionheart or other descendants of Eleanor of Aquitaine. I've seen a ton of churches in my time here already, but each one is different! The cathedral in Bayonne had exceptionally interesting stained glass windows. After the cathedral we were shown around some of the oldest areas of Bayonne, where the ports used to be. Bayonne actually used to have a lot of canals, just like Venice, but the city's been built up too high now. Another interesting fact- Bayonne and Biarritz are supposed to have the best chocolate in France because Bayonne is the port where chocolate first entered France. I sampled some and I do have to agree!
After the tour everyone met for a gorgeous lunch provided by USAC, at a traditional Basque restaurant. The vegetarian mean was slightly different from everyone else's but we had a huge salad of local vegetables, and then a very light sort of tart with cooked veggies that was amazing, and after a traditional Basque cake that is very famous. It's more like a pastry than a cake, but it has this almond cream and oh my gosh it was so good! The food is definitely one of the best things about France, I don't think i'll be able to eat when I get home!
After lunch we had a little time for shopping, but only about 45 minutes to the girls and I power-shopped at Promod, rather successfully I may add :p I was all excited to see Promod because one of the women I work with at Banana had told me about it, and then today I realized that there is a Promod in Pau as well. Oh well it was fun to shop there!
It was a very quick trip to Biarritz, but when we got off the bus it was freezing!! The wind had really kicked up at the beach and it was cloudy, unfortunately not a beach day at all :( We decided to just go straight to our hotel and drop our stuff off, but the street where the hotel was wasn't on the map and we had no idea where to go! What made it worse is that we went into several shops to ask if anyone could point us in the right direction, and no one had even heard of the hotel. We were all starting to think that maybe our livers would be taken when we eventually got there but thanks to the internet we did find our way, and it was actually a lovely hotel!! We had three beds all crammed into one tiny room but the beds were really comfy and it was clean and the lady in the bar downstairs was nice! There were also two other groups of girls checking in at the same time which was good.
We dropped off our stuff and headed out to do some window shopping (Biarritz is very expensive), and got to see the drop-dead gorgeous views from above the beaches, even in cloudy weather! By the time we went out for dinner it had started raining, so our plan of bar hopping was squashed. But we had awesome pizza and then ran back to the hotel in the rain and watched the Simpsons in French!
The next morning we set out to visit the Musee du Chocolat, with the intention of stopping at a boulangerie along the way. Since it was raining we caught a bus, but apparently the buses in Biarritz don't announce what stops are coming up at all so we missed our stop by like... a few miles. We lucked into seeing a sign pointing out the direction of the museum when we got off the bus, and we figured we couldn't be too far so we set off on foot. Oh we were wrong. We wandered the suburbs of Biarritz for the better part of two hours. Luckily it stopped raining after about half an hour. We literally had absolutely no idea where we were, but eventually we did come to the top of a hill where we could see the ocean so we headed that direction. I literally don't even know how we ended up finding our way, but we did. And this was all on empty stomachs, and right before the museum we had to walk up an enormous hill. We were about to pass out, so when we saw the museum we went to the first bakery we saw and bought some sustenance before even crossing the street to the museum. We probably should have because guess what? The museum was closed on Sundays. Obviously, big disappointment. The museum of chocolate sounded like the greatest thing in the whole world! But we brushed it off because there was an amazing view of the ocean from that hill! We also found sort of the French version of a tiki bar overlooking the ocean, so we got to sit with coffee and real food for a while. There was no point getting mad that we had wasted all that time, the weather even seemed like it was clearing up!
Eventually we wandered back to town and did some window shopping, and stumbled upon an area called Port Vieux where there was some sort of street festival going on. There were huge long tables and benches down the middle of the whole street, and the restaurants on either side were serving at them and everyone was sitting together! It was really nice, we had a great lunch and as we were sitting there the sky completely cleared up! It even started to get really warm! So naturally we immediately changed into our swimsuits and beelined for the beach.
The beach was gorgeous! The water was too cold to swim but it was lovely just laying in the sand, the sun was really hot but it was very breezy! We laid out for long enough to get a nice little tan, then got some of the best ice cream ever, and we have sampled a lot of ice cream since we've been here! Biarritz ended up being a wonderful trip and an amazing weekend, but we did have to get back to Pau eventually. We took the bus to the train station (got off at the right stop this time) and were able to catch a train leaving only ten minutes later! These little weekend adventures have been some of the best times, I can't wait for more!
First we went to Bayonne, an old port city, and had a guided tour. We got to see the cathedral which was gorgeous, it seemed extremely high on the inside, but only because the nave was so small. The stained glass windows were also amazing, and all completely original apparently. The cathedral had a very rich history of decorations because the area of Aquitaine was under both French and English rule for periods of history. Most of the decorations were in tribute to Richard the Lionheart or other descendants of Eleanor of Aquitaine. I've seen a ton of churches in my time here already, but each one is different! The cathedral in Bayonne had exceptionally interesting stained glass windows. After the cathedral we were shown around some of the oldest areas of Bayonne, where the ports used to be. Bayonne actually used to have a lot of canals, just like Venice, but the city's been built up too high now. Another interesting fact- Bayonne and Biarritz are supposed to have the best chocolate in France because Bayonne is the port where chocolate first entered France. I sampled some and I do have to agree!
After the tour everyone met for a gorgeous lunch provided by USAC, at a traditional Basque restaurant. The vegetarian mean was slightly different from everyone else's but we had a huge salad of local vegetables, and then a very light sort of tart with cooked veggies that was amazing, and after a traditional Basque cake that is very famous. It's more like a pastry than a cake, but it has this almond cream and oh my gosh it was so good! The food is definitely one of the best things about France, I don't think i'll be able to eat when I get home!
After lunch we had a little time for shopping, but only about 45 minutes to the girls and I power-shopped at Promod, rather successfully I may add :p I was all excited to see Promod because one of the women I work with at Banana had told me about it, and then today I realized that there is a Promod in Pau as well. Oh well it was fun to shop there!
It was a very quick trip to Biarritz, but when we got off the bus it was freezing!! The wind had really kicked up at the beach and it was cloudy, unfortunately not a beach day at all :( We decided to just go straight to our hotel and drop our stuff off, but the street where the hotel was wasn't on the map and we had no idea where to go! What made it worse is that we went into several shops to ask if anyone could point us in the right direction, and no one had even heard of the hotel. We were all starting to think that maybe our livers would be taken when we eventually got there but thanks to the internet we did find our way, and it was actually a lovely hotel!! We had three beds all crammed into one tiny room but the beds were really comfy and it was clean and the lady in the bar downstairs was nice! There were also two other groups of girls checking in at the same time which was good.
We dropped off our stuff and headed out to do some window shopping (Biarritz is very expensive), and got to see the drop-dead gorgeous views from above the beaches, even in cloudy weather! By the time we went out for dinner it had started raining, so our plan of bar hopping was squashed. But we had awesome pizza and then ran back to the hotel in the rain and watched the Simpsons in French!
The next morning we set out to visit the Musee du Chocolat, with the intention of stopping at a boulangerie along the way. Since it was raining we caught a bus, but apparently the buses in Biarritz don't announce what stops are coming up at all so we missed our stop by like... a few miles. We lucked into seeing a sign pointing out the direction of the museum when we got off the bus, and we figured we couldn't be too far so we set off on foot. Oh we were wrong. We wandered the suburbs of Biarritz for the better part of two hours. Luckily it stopped raining after about half an hour. We literally had absolutely no idea where we were, but eventually we did come to the top of a hill where we could see the ocean so we headed that direction. I literally don't even know how we ended up finding our way, but we did. And this was all on empty stomachs, and right before the museum we had to walk up an enormous hill. We were about to pass out, so when we saw the museum we went to the first bakery we saw and bought some sustenance before even crossing the street to the museum. We probably should have because guess what? The museum was closed on Sundays. Obviously, big disappointment. The museum of chocolate sounded like the greatest thing in the whole world! But we brushed it off because there was an amazing view of the ocean from that hill! We also found sort of the French version of a tiki bar overlooking the ocean, so we got to sit with coffee and real food for a while. There was no point getting mad that we had wasted all that time, the weather even seemed like it was clearing up!
Eventually we wandered back to town and did some window shopping, and stumbled upon an area called Port Vieux where there was some sort of street festival going on. There were huge long tables and benches down the middle of the whole street, and the restaurants on either side were serving at them and everyone was sitting together! It was really nice, we had a great lunch and as we were sitting there the sky completely cleared up! It even started to get really warm! So naturally we immediately changed into our swimsuits and beelined for the beach.
The beach was gorgeous! The water was too cold to swim but it was lovely just laying in the sand, the sun was really hot but it was very breezy! We laid out for long enough to get a nice little tan, then got some of the best ice cream ever, and we have sampled a lot of ice cream since we've been here! Biarritz ended up being a wonderful trip and an amazing weekend, but we did have to get back to Pau eventually. We took the bus to the train station (got off at the right stop this time) and were able to catch a train leaving only ten minutes later! These little weekend adventures have been some of the best times, I can't wait for more!
Field Trip!
Yesterday my art history class took a field trip! We went to Lescar, a small town just outside of Pau, to see the cathedral and several examples of medieval art. There was much more to see though, Lescar used to be a walled city and a lot of the wall is still there, so we could walk out on the ramparts and see an amazing view! The bishopric is very close to the cathedral, but it is in ruins now. Lescar is famous for being a stop on the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella, and the pilgrims would stay at the bishopric when in Lescar. Even today there are a few houses in the city where people making the pilgrimage can stay! Outside the bishopric there is a small square where several Gallo-Roman sarcophagi lie open (and empty of course). Clearly the graves were robbed at some point but it definitely makes me wonder what the people would have thought of them back in the middle ages, and why no one ever moved them but just left them lying around!
The cathedral was interesting from the outside. It is not an enormous or magnificent cathedral, there are no sculptures on the outside or anything, but it was built using many different colors of pink, orange, and yellow stone. It was also rebuilt by Gaston Febus, the same man who built the chateau de Pau, after the ceiling collapsed and he ordered the cathedral built much higher so you can see changes in the building materials. Inside the cathedral looked brand new! It had a gorgeous organ and there were two very richly decorated side altars, they're not big enough to call them chapels. Just behind the altar there is a special plaque where a king of Navarre was buried. All around the side aisles you can see other headstones in the floor of people who were buried there! There were also mosaics in the floor beside the altar, and an enormous mural! It was a very different cathedral than any others I'd ever been to, but it was still amazing to see. This one had the feeling that it was actually used as a church by the townspeople, it wasn't just some pretty thing to look at.
Our teacher had us look at a lot of things outside the cathedral as well. (We were in teams doing a sort of scavenger hunt :p) The only sculptures outside the church were on the modillons (I don't know the word in English) which rest underneath the eaves of the roof and against the top of the wall, to hold up the overhang of the roof. Typically these are sculpted with mythological beasts, a lot of the ones at this cathedral were rather violent. There was one that we thought looked like Miss Piggy until we noticed she was eating a tiny person. Also outside the church, not necessarily art but still very interesting, you could see tacherons (again don't know the word in English), which are marks that stonemasons would make on each stone they cut, and at the end of each day they would be paid based on how many stones with their marks were used.
The trip was a great little piece of local history, definitely not something you'd see on the normal tourist route!
The cathedral was interesting from the outside. It is not an enormous or magnificent cathedral, there are no sculptures on the outside or anything, but it was built using many different colors of pink, orange, and yellow stone. It was also rebuilt by Gaston Febus, the same man who built the chateau de Pau, after the ceiling collapsed and he ordered the cathedral built much higher so you can see changes in the building materials. Inside the cathedral looked brand new! It had a gorgeous organ and there were two very richly decorated side altars, they're not big enough to call them chapels. Just behind the altar there is a special plaque where a king of Navarre was buried. All around the side aisles you can see other headstones in the floor of people who were buried there! There were also mosaics in the floor beside the altar, and an enormous mural! It was a very different cathedral than any others I'd ever been to, but it was still amazing to see. This one had the feeling that it was actually used as a church by the townspeople, it wasn't just some pretty thing to look at.
Our teacher had us look at a lot of things outside the cathedral as well. (We were in teams doing a sort of scavenger hunt :p) The only sculptures outside the church were on the modillons (I don't know the word in English) which rest underneath the eaves of the roof and against the top of the wall, to hold up the overhang of the roof. Typically these are sculpted with mythological beasts, a lot of the ones at this cathedral were rather violent. There was one that we thought looked like Miss Piggy until we noticed she was eating a tiny person. Also outside the church, not necessarily art but still very interesting, you could see tacherons (again don't know the word in English), which are marks that stonemasons would make on each stone they cut, and at the end of each day they would be paid based on how many stones with their marks were used.
The trip was a great little piece of local history, definitely not something you'd see on the normal tourist route!
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Adventures in Pau!
I'm still getting used to having class for 3 1/2 hours every morning, it's exhausting! But luckily we are done by 12:30 every day, which gives us plenty of time to relax and explore! We focused a lot on pronunciation today in class- not my favorite, it's very tiring. Class isn't too difficult though, I think I should be ok :)
After class today everyone from our group met up and we took a tour of the Chateau de Pau! But first they took us to a chocolatier's shop in downtown Pau to learn about how important chocolate making is in the south of France. Best part was we got free samples :D Some of the best chocolate I've ever had! The chateau was really amazing too. Because it's so far south it survived the French Revolution and the both of the world wars, and it's in amazing condition. It was renovated and added to during the period of Napoleon III, and all the decorations inside are still from that time period. Even the original keep of the castle, built in brick in the 1300's is completely intact! It doesn't really go with the limestone of the rest of the castle, but it looks interesting. There was a special exposition going on about the man who built the original keep, Gaston Febus. He was a medieval lord and wrote several books about hunting, they had original copies in (presumably) his own handwriting there! They rest of the castle focused mostly on Henri IV, a king of France who was born in the Chateau de Pau. He was an extremely popular king and used the Chateau regularly as a hunting lodge. He added several wings to the castle and most of the decorations are his. He was assassinated in Paris, for reasons that historians still don't even know, and so he is an extremely beloved figure for all of Pau!
After the tour of the chateau a bunch of us wandered around and eventually found a cafe, we're trying to fit into the French culture as much as we can!
After the tour of the chateau a bunch of us wandered around and eventually found a cafe, we're trying to fit into the French culture as much as we can!
Monday, May 28, 2012
Bordeaux!!
Yesterday we decided to take advantage of the long weekend and take a day trip to Bordeaux, one of the most famous cities in France for many reasons, and the capital of our region, Aquitaine. It's only about a 2 hour train ride away from Pau, such an easy trip! We had looked up the times of trains to Bordeaux and were naturally a little nervous about buying the tickets and catching the train, so we got a taxi to the train station an hour before the train was due to leave. Our taxi driver thought we were crazy for leaving so early, and told us so haha. He had a handlebar mustache though so....
Anyway our driver told us that a lot of people from Pau would be in Bordeaux that day because Pau's rugby team, La Section Paloise, was playing a huge match in Bordeaux! We had no idea, but the signs all over Pau saying "Tous Avec La Section!" make a lot more sense now! After a very easy train ride we arrived in Bordeaux, which was beautiful! We walked along a boardwalk on the Garonne river to get to the center of town, the whole place had a very beachy atmosphere. Then we stumbled on a huge street market of people selling artwork, antiques, old books, etc. I found a chemistry textbook from the 1880's and an anatomy and physiology textbook from 1920, only 5 euro each!! They're going to make a very cool addition to my book collection :)
We had a huge lunch at an Italian restaurant in the Place St Michel, definitely the best pasta and fried calamari I've ever had! The Place St Michel was a huge square surrounding St Michel's church, which was gorgeous and had a huge freestanding bell tower. I'd never seen a church like that before, but apparently all of the churches in Bordeaux have separate bell towers to prevent the vibrations from the bell causing structural damage to the church. Even the cathedral was like that. After lunch we went to St Andrew's cathedral, which of course was amazing. There was someone playing the huge pipe organ the whole time, but the coolest part was the artwork! The chapels behind the altar were beautifully decorated, one was even painted entirely, walls, pillars, ceiling, everything, in intricate patterns, as the whole church likely would have been when it was first built. On the altar they even had a piece of mosaic from the 4th century AD! They were also displaying works of modern art in and around the chapels, all of the artworks were religious but done on glass and in neon colors. It was a really interesting concept to have such contrasting styles of art right next to each other! One of the girls who came on the trip, Hanna, is a devout Catholic so she was able to teach the rest of us a ton about how cathedrals work and what a lot of the artwork meant.
After visiting the cathedral we went to the Musee d'Aquitaine, a museum of the history of Aquitaine, our region. They had way more artifacts than I imagined, I could easily have spend a few hours there but the museum would have closed. They had everything from prehistoric stone tools to Greek pottery to Roman sculptures to medieval swords, everything found in the region of Aquitaine! It's amazing how much history can be found in such a small area. I had no idea how big the Roman presence in this area was, but there were probably thousands of artifacts, all in great condition. I also had no idea how important Aquitaine, and Bordeaux specifically, were to the slave trade in the colonial era. The best part of the museum is that it was free to go in! You would never have thought that it was a free museum with how beautifully everything was preserved.
After the museum we really just wanted to sit in a cafe and relax with some local Bordeaux wine and get a light dinner before catching the train, but had a little difficulty because everywhere was either way too expensive or crowded, but eventually we found a place that we didn't think would judge us if we ordered only fries and dessert for dinner! And be advised: wine fresh from Bordeaux is very strong. We each only had one glass and well... we were having a good time!
Because no trip ever goes perfectly, we ended up sprinting onto the train (with a backpack full of wine bottles to bring home to my mom, not easy!) but made our way home just fine!
Anyway our driver told us that a lot of people from Pau would be in Bordeaux that day because Pau's rugby team, La Section Paloise, was playing a huge match in Bordeaux! We had no idea, but the signs all over Pau saying "Tous Avec La Section!" make a lot more sense now! After a very easy train ride we arrived in Bordeaux, which was beautiful! We walked along a boardwalk on the Garonne river to get to the center of town, the whole place had a very beachy atmosphere. Then we stumbled on a huge street market of people selling artwork, antiques, old books, etc. I found a chemistry textbook from the 1880's and an anatomy and physiology textbook from 1920, only 5 euro each!! They're going to make a very cool addition to my book collection :)
We had a huge lunch at an Italian restaurant in the Place St Michel, definitely the best pasta and fried calamari I've ever had! The Place St Michel was a huge square surrounding St Michel's church, which was gorgeous and had a huge freestanding bell tower. I'd never seen a church like that before, but apparently all of the churches in Bordeaux have separate bell towers to prevent the vibrations from the bell causing structural damage to the church. Even the cathedral was like that. After lunch we went to St Andrew's cathedral, which of course was amazing. There was someone playing the huge pipe organ the whole time, but the coolest part was the artwork! The chapels behind the altar were beautifully decorated, one was even painted entirely, walls, pillars, ceiling, everything, in intricate patterns, as the whole church likely would have been when it was first built. On the altar they even had a piece of mosaic from the 4th century AD! They were also displaying works of modern art in and around the chapels, all of the artworks were religious but done on glass and in neon colors. It was a really interesting concept to have such contrasting styles of art right next to each other! One of the girls who came on the trip, Hanna, is a devout Catholic so she was able to teach the rest of us a ton about how cathedrals work and what a lot of the artwork meant.
After visiting the cathedral we went to the Musee d'Aquitaine, a museum of the history of Aquitaine, our region. They had way more artifacts than I imagined, I could easily have spend a few hours there but the museum would have closed. They had everything from prehistoric stone tools to Greek pottery to Roman sculptures to medieval swords, everything found in the region of Aquitaine! It's amazing how much history can be found in such a small area. I had no idea how big the Roman presence in this area was, but there were probably thousands of artifacts, all in great condition. I also had no idea how important Aquitaine, and Bordeaux specifically, were to the slave trade in the colonial era. The best part of the museum is that it was free to go in! You would never have thought that it was a free museum with how beautifully everything was preserved.
After the museum we really just wanted to sit in a cafe and relax with some local Bordeaux wine and get a light dinner before catching the train, but had a little difficulty because everywhere was either way too expensive or crowded, but eventually we found a place that we didn't think would judge us if we ordered only fries and dessert for dinner! And be advised: wine fresh from Bordeaux is very strong. We each only had one glass and well... we were having a good time!
Because no trip ever goes perfectly, we ended up sprinting onto the train (with a backpack full of wine bottles to bring home to my mom, not easy!) but made our way home just fine!
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Classes begin :)
Hey everyone :) I just woke up after sleeping really late for the first time and am sitting in the hallway typing this because the internet works everywhere except in my bedroom! Go figure. Anyway this was definitely a busy week! Classes started on Thursday, so far they're going really well! My French professor is very motivated to make sure we speak PERFECT French, which seems ambitious but she said she can do it in six weeks! I already knew a few of the people in my class before it started, and there's only 13 people in there so I'm getting to know everyone pretty well! I'm also taking an art history class that's taught only in French, which is scary but I actually understood all of it! And I know absolutely nothing about art history so it should be a really good class to take! We have French class for three and a half hours every morning, which sounds terrible but really isn't that bad. We get to take breaks and there's a vending machine that makes really good coffee down the hall :p Then on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons we have our elective class, so for me art history, for two hours. And they're not that big on homework in France so that leaves us plenty of time to have fun!!
We've really just been settling in the past few days, but today we're starting the exploring for real! We're going to Les Halles, which is sort of like an enormous farmer's market. Then we're going to explore the city! Last night we went out for my first French bar experience!! I loved it! There's a whole string of bars right next door to each other, and there is tons of outdoor seating all running together so everyone can go from place to place! They had my favorite, kir, for only 2.50 euro which was nice because most cocktails are at least 5 euro if not 6. For a while in the beginning we were just hanging out with the Americans, maybe we intimidated the French, but after we went outside we got to meet a lot of French people! I had fun translating for my friends! They all said I spoke French really well too which is a good :) But as I said, I'm a big fan of French bars! They're kind of just like very loud cafes, everyone is just relaxing and chatting and having a good time. There is music but not overwhelming like in America, it was very enjoyable! I think we're going to go back tonight.
Tomorrow we're thinking about going to Bordeaux for a day trip. I can't wait!
We've really just been settling in the past few days, but today we're starting the exploring for real! We're going to Les Halles, which is sort of like an enormous farmer's market. Then we're going to explore the city! Last night we went out for my first French bar experience!! I loved it! There's a whole string of bars right next door to each other, and there is tons of outdoor seating all running together so everyone can go from place to place! They had my favorite, kir, for only 2.50 euro which was nice because most cocktails are at least 5 euro if not 6. For a while in the beginning we were just hanging out with the Americans, maybe we intimidated the French, but after we went outside we got to meet a lot of French people! I had fun translating for my friends! They all said I spoke French really well too which is a good :) But as I said, I'm a big fan of French bars! They're kind of just like very loud cafes, everyone is just relaxing and chatting and having a good time. There is music but not overwhelming like in America, it was very enjoyable! I think we're going to go back tonight.
Tomorrow we're thinking about going to Bordeaux for a day trip. I can't wait!
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Bienvenue a Pau!
Finally, after many grueling hours of traveling marred by various difficulties that I don't want to elaborate on (I nearly didn't make both of my connecting flights. Luckily the TSA agents in Boston are incredibly nice and were able to help me immensely), I arrived in Pau on time and withe my group! Unfortunately, my bags didn't make it with me. I still have no idea where they are or if they're going to get here, which is definitely putting a damper on the whole experience so far. But fortunately there is an H&M in town and I was able to get enough clothes to last me a couple days :)
Aside from the difficulties with my bags, I've had a great time so far!! Yesterday we got a mini-tour of the campus area and went grocery shopping, so I got to know some people in the group. Everyone is awesome :) Then we went wandering around trying to find a place to eat, because it was after 8pm and everything up by the university is closed by then!! We eventually found a bakery that was open and got some of the best tasting chocolate croissants ever. Another bonus- the bakery also sold wine :)
This morning we had orientation for our classes that we're going to be taking. From my placement test it looks like I might be in level 4 French, which I wasn't expecting. Eek! But I'll find out for sure tomorrow morning. We learned all about the university and got to eat lunch at the student cafeteria. Meals on university campuses are government subsidized, so you can get a meal that includes a small appetizer, yogurt or dessert, some kind of meat entree and a side of vegetables or two kinds of vegetables for only 3 euro. And they're not skimpy with the portions. I bet you can guess where we'll be eating lunch every day!
In the afternoon, everyone got on the bus to go downtown and we got a tour of the central district of Pau. There is all the shopping you could want, restaurants, cafes, everything! And it's absolutely gorgeous! I promise I'll put pictures up tomorrow, because I definitely can't do justice to how great the feeling of this city is! Right on the edge of the main downtown area is the Chateau de Pau, where Henry IV was born, Pau's main claim to fame. (Also apparently Liam Neeson likes to vacation here.) It's a gorgeous castle, in beautiful condition, painted light yellow and turquoise, which are the official colors of Pau. Walking around most of the official buildings are painted in these colors, and there is a project in the city to eventually paint all historic buildings these colors. We also saw the birthplace of Bernadotte, a general under Napoleon who eventually became the King of Sweden. It was an extremely old house, the river stones used in its construction were clearly visible in the walls, and the walkway up to the house was paved in river stones. In France almost all buildings are built using local materials, so there is great variation in architecture style from region to region. The mountainous areas use river stones, Toulouse uses red clay bricks, Bordeaux uses limestone, etc. Learn something new every day don't ya?
We found a really small cafe to eat dinner at, I had the best cheese sandwich I've ever tasted. It was on about half a baguette but somehow I ate the whole thing! Then some of my new friends were nice enough to help me go shopping at H&M, although I don't think it was too strenuous for them because they all bought something as well :p Chloe said she was very impressed with how calmly I was handling not having my bags, but any excuse to shop is a good one right? And you can't beat shorts for 5 euro or linen pants for 20.
It is definitely bedtime for me now, we did a ton of walking today and the only shoes I have right now are Sanuks, which is basically walking barefoot. A demain!
Aside from the difficulties with my bags, I've had a great time so far!! Yesterday we got a mini-tour of the campus area and went grocery shopping, so I got to know some people in the group. Everyone is awesome :) Then we went wandering around trying to find a place to eat, because it was after 8pm and everything up by the university is closed by then!! We eventually found a bakery that was open and got some of the best tasting chocolate croissants ever. Another bonus- the bakery also sold wine :)
This morning we had orientation for our classes that we're going to be taking. From my placement test it looks like I might be in level 4 French, which I wasn't expecting. Eek! But I'll find out for sure tomorrow morning. We learned all about the university and got to eat lunch at the student cafeteria. Meals on university campuses are government subsidized, so you can get a meal that includes a small appetizer, yogurt or dessert, some kind of meat entree and a side of vegetables or two kinds of vegetables for only 3 euro. And they're not skimpy with the portions. I bet you can guess where we'll be eating lunch every day!
In the afternoon, everyone got on the bus to go downtown and we got a tour of the central district of Pau. There is all the shopping you could want, restaurants, cafes, everything! And it's absolutely gorgeous! I promise I'll put pictures up tomorrow, because I definitely can't do justice to how great the feeling of this city is! Right on the edge of the main downtown area is the Chateau de Pau, where Henry IV was born, Pau's main claim to fame. (Also apparently Liam Neeson likes to vacation here.) It's a gorgeous castle, in beautiful condition, painted light yellow and turquoise, which are the official colors of Pau. Walking around most of the official buildings are painted in these colors, and there is a project in the city to eventually paint all historic buildings these colors. We also saw the birthplace of Bernadotte, a general under Napoleon who eventually became the King of Sweden. It was an extremely old house, the river stones used in its construction were clearly visible in the walls, and the walkway up to the house was paved in river stones. In France almost all buildings are built using local materials, so there is great variation in architecture style from region to region. The mountainous areas use river stones, Toulouse uses red clay bricks, Bordeaux uses limestone, etc. Learn something new every day don't ya?
We found a really small cafe to eat dinner at, I had the best cheese sandwich I've ever tasted. It was on about half a baguette but somehow I ate the whole thing! Then some of my new friends were nice enough to help me go shopping at H&M, although I don't think it was too strenuous for them because they all bought something as well :p Chloe said she was very impressed with how calmly I was handling not having my bags, but any excuse to shop is a good one right? And you can't beat shorts for 5 euro or linen pants for 20.
It is definitely bedtime for me now, we did a ton of walking today and the only shoes I have right now are Sanuks, which is basically walking barefoot. A demain!
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