Joyeux Anniversaire - Bordeaux

First of all, I want to apologize for slacking on this blog. We started our Intensive Language Program last Monday, so everything I'm about to describe has already happened a week ago.

Some girl from UC Santa Barbara picked up Adena and me from our house. She showed us how to take the tram to the university, and we quickly found out that it's so easy not to pay because there's no one watching over you. (An unfortunate event made us think otherwise, but more on that later!) We ran into some of the other UC students on the tram, which was nice because I wasn't ready to speak in French just yet. It was so easy to tell who was American and who wasn't. Basically, if you could hear someone, they were probably American because all the French people were quiet on the tram.

The University of Bordeaux 3 Montaigne was only a 15-20 minute tram ride from our stop, which gave me ideas: I could leave for class pretty late and still make it on time.

UB3. Whatuppp.

My first impression of the campus was that it looked kind of old and run-down, somewhat like a Communist establishment, but we were quickly reminded that French universities were state-funded, so it was difficult to regularly maintain each school. It just made me appreciate being a student at Berkeley that much more.

Okay, maybe it doesn't look that bad.

After feeding us pizza, cheese, and cake, they made us take a diagnostic test to see which group we would be in for our Intensive Language Program. I looked at the exam and blanked out, but somehow, I managed to do very well on it. Apparently, I can write very well, at least according to my evaluator. Maybe I'm actually going to survive this semester after all. Ha.

Bread and cheese = the usual.

Not having done any mentally stimulating work for the past couple of weeks, I was drained. Despite mine and Adena's fatigue, it was our friend Sarah's birthday, and we promised her that we'd take her out to dinner. Like the great friends we are, we did.

19, 21, 20, and 20. Irrelevant in Europe. Ha.

We wanted to stay out a bit longer, but it was Monday night and we all had class at 8:30 the next morning. But let me tell you, we're definitely going to be the new regulars at HMS Victory. It's the best. We must win their trivia night at least once this semester. It's my new goal.