mon anniversaire!

So I must say that it was pretty cool being in France for my birthday this year. I spent most of the day by myself, which was a new experience, but after my evening class I did go out for supper with my friends. Here's what my day consisted of: I went downtown in the morning to print off our train tickets (I'm heading off to Tours this weekend; I'll explain more about that in a moment) and I wanted to walk around and maybe relax and read a bit in the Jardin public, but it was way too blustery and it was raining off and on, so sitting in the park was out of the question. Kind of a gloomy day for a birthday, but by far the best weather I've ever experienced on March 11 (I'm used to cold and snow and the occasional blizzard on my birthday, so this was a nice change). Instead of hanging out downtown, I decided to treat myself with a trip to IKEA, which was awesome. I love going to IKEA, and since we don't have one in Winnipeg, I always find it fun to visit the store. So I went and had some Swedish meatballs for lunch (they call them "boulettes" here) and then went shopping. It was difficult to limit myself to small, lightweight items that I could bring home with me eventually, but I did it. I bought myself little rug for my room, some coasters (yup, Sarah, more coasters for our coffee table!), lingonberry sauce, and some potted gerbera daisies, which I know I can't bring home with me, but I've been wanting to get some flowers for my room for awhile now, and these were reasonably-priced IKEA flowers, so I bought them. Now I just hope they don't die on me!

So after my evening class, we went to an Ethiopian restaurant downtown, which was something new for me and for most of the other girls who came. I was really blessed to be joined by 9 of my friends to celebrate my birthday. It's cool because I met all of them except Laura and Myriam (my French friends who came to the UofW last year on the exchange) when I got here in January, and they are now my "family" here (or the people with whom I spend the most time... besides myself!). Having the Ethiopian food was neat, too: they serve it to you with galettes, or crepes made with whole wheat flour, and you rip off pieces of them to pick up your food. No utensils required. We all had a good time, and it was the best birthday I could have asked for here: good food, good friends, and an amazing birthday cake that Michelle (a fellow Winnipegger) bought for me.

By the way, thanks to everyone back home who sent me birthday wishes. I feel very loved!

So, re: my trip this weekend, I'm heading to the Val de Loire, or the Loire Valley, where all of the French medieval castles are found amidst the beautiful rolling valley hills and landscape. We're going to be staying in Tours for one night, which is a good base to explore these castles. I'm also excited to go to Tours because the Tours accent is considered the most pure, standard French accent in France (no, it's actually not the Parisian accent! I was surprised to learn that). We plan on spending one day in Amboise, a smaller city 20 mins from Tours, so that we can visit "the most beautiful castle in France," according to my guidebook, which is also where Leonardo de Vinci is buried. I'm pretty pumped.

I came to the realization this weekend that my time in France is almost half over! I can't believe that! I remember thinking when I got here, "4 1/2 months is a really long time: how am I going to get through it?" But it isn't a long time at all! It seemed long when I got here because I wanted to come home so badly. But now I feel like I've just gotten started here. Although I miss my family and friends back home, the more time I spend here the more I realize that I really like it here. Not that I want to move here or anything, but I'm just enjoying myself and I'm becoming less and less homesick all the time. I'm learning lots of new vocabulary all of the time, and although I still have moments when I feel overwhelmed at all the things I don't know yet, I know that I need to take everything one step at a time. And I am, too. I just can't believe that I only have 10 weeks left here! And only 7 weeks left in Bordeaux (my last 3 weeks I'm going to be traveling around France and maybe some other parts of Europe)! Despite this fact, however, I'm trying not to think in terms of what little time I have left, but how much time I have to try more new things and visit more place, if that makes sense. I'm trying to seize every opportunity I can.

I'll write about my trip after I get back and post some pics too! Until then, here are some more pictures of Bordeaux around town: the museum with the sex shop right beside it, the skate park, the quais, etc. There’s also a fair going on right now, so you can see some pics from that. You know you're in France when you can buy a baguette sandwich or a crepe at a carnival! When you buy cotton candy here, you can pick your own flavour. Pretty cool. One of the rides I saw was also called “Sexy Dance.” Lo and behold, the ride has absolutely nothing to do with dancing, as you can see in the photo. It’s just a regular ride with an English name. Pretty funny. Well, enjoy!