Well today was my first official full day in France and I am wiped. I think I am still catching up on sleep from my travel day. Plus, last night at two o’clock in the morning I actually woke myself up saying “Je ne sais pas le mot!” (I don’t know the word!) No joke. I will probably continue to talk in my sleep for a few days, hopefully no longer than that. My brain is on language overdrive right now so I guess it makes sense…..
Let me clarify why I am in Bordeaux, I just realized that I didn’t make that clear in my first post. I will be living in Paris for the semester but my program has a two week orientation in Bordeaux (see map of France). Like Paris, I am living here in Bordeaux with a family. It is supposed to be an introduction to France and a little less hectic than big city Paris. I am taking language classes in the morning and various organized group activities in the afternoon.
It is very hot here today (90+) so my family took me to la plage (the beach)! Cue all the stories I have ever heard about French beaches: naked people! Men in tiny shorts! As it turns out these stereotypes turned out to be largely true but the beach seemed very normal to me. Sure there were lots of topless women and a lot of the men had Speedos or tiny short bathing suits but it wasn’t bad. There were lots of women who did have their tops on and plenty of men had long bathing suits. I didn’t feel uncomfortable at all…then again I do attend a college where they just had to increase the penalty for streaking on campus so maybe I have Hamilton to thank for that.
We went to a town called Le Porge. It took about an hour to get there. We stopped on the way to pick up Fannie (18 year old daughter of host family) at her stable where she is apparently a champion horseback rider (she might own her own horse, but I haven’t quite figured that all out yet). The beach was very crowded but it was great. This area is well known to have very dangerous undercurrents. I was warned to be careful in the water and be sure to stay between the blue flags where the lifegaurds keep an eye on everybody and now I sure see why! I jumped right in the water but only then did I see how big the waves really were. I kept hearing people in the water saying “les grosses vagues” (literally fat waves). I am a fairly strong swimmer and you know me, I’ll jump into anything that requires me to be athletic. Well, thank goodness I didn’t try to be too gung ho about it. I was tossed around like a rag doll on a couple waves that I didn’t dive under quickly enough. It was kind of scary but I knew my limits and made sure to go in when I got a bit tired. I wasn’t by myself either, don’t worry Mom.
The kicker of it all is that once we got home, it was a little glass of beer for everybody! Of course it went right to my head after a hot day in the sun, despite my drinking 5 glasses of water with my beer. I was not drunk of course but yikes, I should have declined! (I couldn’t do that, I must be polie) Good thing I brought my Advil….
By now I am très fatigué and I must go to bed. I have my first day of school in the morning!
Bonsoir!
Let me clarify why I am in Bordeaux, I just realized that I didn’t make that clear in my first post. I will be living in Paris for the semester but my program has a two week orientation in Bordeaux (see map of France). Like Paris, I am living here in Bordeaux with a family. It is supposed to be an introduction to France and a little less hectic than big city Paris. I am taking language classes in the morning and various organized group activities in the afternoon.
It is very hot here today (90+) so my family took me to la plage (the beach)! Cue all the stories I have ever heard about French beaches: naked people! Men in tiny shorts! As it turns out these stereotypes turned out to be largely true but the beach seemed very normal to me. Sure there were lots of topless women and a lot of the men had Speedos or tiny short bathing suits but it wasn’t bad. There were lots of women who did have their tops on and plenty of men had long bathing suits. I didn’t feel uncomfortable at all…then again I do attend a college where they just had to increase the penalty for streaking on campus so maybe I have Hamilton to thank for that.
We went to a town called Le Porge. It took about an hour to get there. We stopped on the way to pick up Fannie (18 year old daughter of host family) at her stable where she is apparently a champion horseback rider (she might own her own horse, but I haven’t quite figured that all out yet). The beach was very crowded but it was great. This area is well known to have very dangerous undercurrents. I was warned to be careful in the water and be sure to stay between the blue flags where the lifegaurds keep an eye on everybody and now I sure see why! I jumped right in the water but only then did I see how big the waves really were. I kept hearing people in the water saying “les grosses vagues” (literally fat waves). I am a fairly strong swimmer and you know me, I’ll jump into anything that requires me to be athletic. Well, thank goodness I didn’t try to be too gung ho about it. I was tossed around like a rag doll on a couple waves that I didn’t dive under quickly enough. It was kind of scary but I knew my limits and made sure to go in when I got a bit tired. I wasn’t by myself either, don’t worry Mom.
The kicker of it all is that once we got home, it was a little glass of beer for everybody! Of course it went right to my head after a hot day in the sun, despite my drinking 5 glasses of water with my beer. I was not drunk of course but yikes, I should have declined! (I couldn’t do that, I must be polie) Good thing I brought my Advil….
By now I am très fatigué and I must go to bed. I have my first day of school in the morning!
Bonsoir!
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