so i'm actually here

As I write this post, I’m sitting in my room eating biscottes (kind of like little Melba toasts) and “groseilles framboisées” jam, and I think I’ve finally come to the realization that I’m really, really in France. This is partly due to the fact that I’ve never eaten biscottes at home, and partly due to the fact that my homesickness is lessening every day.

How to describe my experience thus far? Well, I’ve been here 6 days now, and it’s been challenging to be here every single one of those days. The first day was the hardest, what with the jet lag and culture shock, and thank God I had my French friend Laura to help me out and take me everywhere. I can’t really say that the first couple of days were better or worse than I had expected, because I didn’t really know what to expect at all coming here. The first few days were full of firsts for me: first time taking the tram, first time in a French grocery store, first time ever in Europe (that one’s pretty significant I guess), etc. To sum up, I’ve been taken far from home, from everything familiar, and thrown into this new city with a different culture and a different language, and now I’m expected to live here for four months. And at first, four months seemed so very long. I immediately began the countdown until I’d be able to go back home, back to my own room, my couch, my kitchen, and my family and friends.

Amidst my homesickness, I was forced to do things, because there were (and still are) actually a lot of things to take care of, like getting a room (Laura was my spokesperson the first day), unpacking (which I didn’t really want to do at first, wanting to go back home and all), getting my student card, tram card, and a million other cards, getting a microwave and fridge (so far I have only the former), finding the kitchen (I found it after a couple of days one floor up; of course! Why didn’t I think of that?), buying food (which I also did not care to do, my appetite being virtually nonexistent until a couple of days ago), and many other tasks that were essential to getting settled. These things filled up the days and were also determinants for my mood. When something went well, I was happy, like when I got my laptop to connect to the Wifi internet at the Sirtaki restaurant. But when something went badly, like when my internet connection didn’t work at the same location the very nxt day (and still doesn’t…), I was ready to throw in the towel, except I couldn’t, so I just tried to deal with it.

You’re all probably feeling very sorry for me right now. Don’t. The first week has been tough, but I’m optimistic now that things will be okay. I will survive this. And besides, it’s not all horrrible! I’ve had a lot of really great experiences so far too (each day consists of both, for sure, and slowly but surely each successive day consists of more and more good experiences). Laura took me to downtown Bordeaux the first night, and my first thought as we got closer, was “Wow! Bordeuax is very European,” which may seem silly, but for me, I’ve only ever seen Europe on TV and in pictures. So to actually be here is very surreal. The small, narrow streets with motos and tiny cars parked on the sidewalks, the cafés and stores with apartments overtop all crammed together within an inch of their lives, the roundabouts with statues sitting on a mound of grass or cement in the middle (yesterday I saw one of a frog!), yes, they all really do exist!

The weather here is beautiful, and actually feels more like spring back home. I don’t think it’s gone below zero since I’ve got here, and it’s only rained a few times, mostly at night. Almost everything is green here and the leaves on the ground from some of the trees make it look more like fall than winter. It’s interesting. I just really like having my window open all the time (although it does cool off a bit at nighttime). The windows are neat: there are no screens, just shutters and the window panes that open up wide.

The campus itself, while like a ghost town on the weekends, is lively during the week and is actually quite big, although I haven’t had a lot of opportunities to explore it yet. Laura showed me around the first day a bit, and another girl, Michelle, from the UofW and on the same exchange I’m on, showed me more the other day when we met. Since I’m at Bordeaux 3, I’ll only be taking classes in buildings in the part of the campus closest to my residence. The entire campus is divided into Bordeaux 1, 3, and 4 (each school specialises in different faculties), and is about the size of the UofM campus. Bordeaux 2 is downtown I think. I live about a 5-min walk from the buildings where I’ll be having classes, so that’s a plus. My room is actually nice enough. There are more than enough cupboards and shelves for my stuff, and I have a desk and my own sink. The bathrooms (toilets and showers are in separate rooms) and kitchens (1 per 2 floors, equipped with sinks and hot plates ONLY) are communal, and there are a couple of study areas and a recreation room with ping pong tables, although I doubt that I’m going to spend much time in there…

I found out that I don’t start any of my classes until Jan. 30, so it turns out that I have a couple of weeks to fit some travelling in before then. Now all I need is someone to travel with. Like I said, I already have 2 friends here, and there are 2 more girls from UofW coming within the next week, which will be awesome to have more familiar faces around. I’ve met some new people through Laura and Michelle, both international students and French students. I also went to a church right down the street from me yesterday and it turns out the pastor is American and his 85-year-old mother from South Carolina was visiting and she doesn’t know a word of French, so I talked to her for awhile. I stayed after the service (which they call “le culte” here… Don’t worry though, I haven’t joined a cult) to eat lunch and I ended up meeting a guy on an exchange from U of California and a few other students studying at Bordeaux 3. I think I’m going to go back to this church next Sunday. I really liked it and although it’s a lot smaller than Soul Sanctuary (about 40-50 congregants) and we sing from a hymnal, I think it could be good.

In terms of understanding and getting along with the language, it’s challenging, but not too bad. I thought it would be harder for me to understand the accent, but it’s not hard at all. I just have trouble understanding things people say when they speak really fast and often have to ask them to repeat what they’ve said. I can see that getting a little frustrating, but I hope that with time, it will get easier. I’m excited that I get to practise my French, and I’ve even surprised myself with how much I know. When people are patient with me, that helps a lot. So far I’ve mostly been around people who either speak English or don’t mind me asking for grammatical corrections. While I spoke English for the first few days with Laura, we’ve gradually switched to French and I’m happy--- that’s what I’m here for anyway. I’m looking forward to school starting and to taking a French as a second language class too, which will improve my French a lot I think.

Well, I think that’s all I have to say for this post. I could write a lot more, but I need to cut myself off somewhere. I’ll try to write another post next weekend. Until then, hope everyone is doing well over there! Thank you to all who have written encouraging messages to me. I’m going to see if I can answer each one but I don’t know if I’ll have enough time this week (I might be going to England with Michelle!). I’ve posted some pictures of my room, the campus, the city, and other little things. I’ve described them above. Take care!