Lessons in Learning to Like Wine

From Wales to Bordeaux and everything in between

[moxie-bird]

How to talk to your daughter about her body, step one: don’t talk to your daughter about her body, except to teach her how it works. Don’t say anything if she’s lost weight. Don’t say anything if she’s gained weight. If you think your daughter’s body looks amazing, don’t say that. Here are some things you can say instead: “You look so healthy!” is a great one. Or how about, “You’re looking so strong.” “I can see how happy you are – you’re glowing.” Better yet, compliment her on something that has nothing to do with her body. Don’t comment on other women’s bodies either. Nope. Not a single comment, not a nice one or a mean one. Teach her about kindness towards others, but also kindness towards yourself. Don’t you dare talk about how much you hate your body in front of your daughter, or talk about your new diet. In fact, don’t go on a diet in front of your daughter. Buy healthy food. Cook healthy meals. But don’t say “I’m not eating carbs right now.” Your daughter should never think that carbs are evil, because shame over what you eat only leads to shame about yourself. Encourage your daughter to run because it makes her feel less stressed. Encourage your daughter to climb mountains because there is nowhere better to explore your spirituality than the peak of the universe. Encourage your daughter to surf, or rock climb, or mountain bike because it scares her and that’s a good thing sometimes. Help your daughter love soccer or rowing or hockey because sports make her a better leader and a more confident woman. Explain that no matter how old you get, you’ll never stop needing good teamwork. Never make her play a sport she isn’t absolutely in love with. Prove to your daughter that women don’t need men to move their furniture. Teach your daughter how to cook kale. Teach your daughter how to bake chocolate cake made with six sticks of butter. Pass on your own mom’s recipe for Christmas morning coffee cake. Pass on your love of being outside. Maybe you and your daughter both have thick thighs or wide ribcages. It’s easy to hate these non-size zero body parts. Don’t. Tell your daughter that with her legs she can run a marathon if she wants to, and her ribcage is nothing but a carrying case for strong lungs. She can scream and she can sing and she can lift up the world, if she wants. Remind your daughter that the best thing she can do with her body is to use it to mobilize her beautiful soul.

 Wordpress  (via embarassment)

[lucyymegan]

Carcassonne and Toulouse

[lucyymegan]

Toulouse and Carcassonne Adventures

Backdating this post to the end of January because I am the worst at keeping anything updated. So after a very boring month of January which mainly consisted of me trying to find anything in the world to do by way of procrastination instead of actually finishing my essay, I finally managed to finish it at the delightful hour of 3am on the morning of the deadline. As a celebration of my new found freedom my housemate Imoge, our assistant pal Amber and I departed for Toulouse for the weekend, deciding to also fit in a cheeky trip to the beautiful town of Carcassonne. For some reason, blaming a short attention span and my love of reading list articles, I now refuse to read anything that looks like it is too much text for my poor little head to compute so I am just going to list everything too for the sheer shits and giggles, - Firstly, I am expecting a refund on the weather at some point. I thought I was use to rain being Welsh and all but by Lordy Lord does France know how to rain, nearly had to get my snorkel out at one point in Toulouse. -Secondly time limits on films need bringing in. After having a lovely time in Toulouse and seeing lot of churches and museums and what not we decided to escape the rain before grabbing food in the evening by killing two hours in the cinema deciding to watch Wolf of Wall Street. THREE HOURS LATER STILL THERE. Never have I ever wanted someone to die so much in a film. Two hours fine, even push it to two and half but three hours?! Some kind of campaign needs to be started to enforce a two hour limit on films, anything else is inhumane. On a side note the film is good, just don't go during food time if you get really hangry like I do. Or if you find it hard to concentrate on anything for more than two hours. -Thirdly, more cafés should sell chocolate cornfake cakes, take note all other cafés except from the delightful place we found in Toulouse. -Air bnb is an amazing invention, we had a whole apartment to ourselves for about twenty euros each that was pretty much like a hotel! I was flabbergasted. -Never trust a restaurant which is empty on a Saturday night in a country that prides itself on its food. After finally exiting the cinema at 9pm, we were actually hank marving and decided to go to a pizzeria to fill our bellies. Despite the lack of people in there we though due to it being French it surely couldn't be too bad. I was wrong. Never has grilled chicken less resembled chicken. Never have I had a greater sadness in my heart. -Carcassonne is one of the most beautiful towns ever, it is like a Fairy Tale place, I just wanted to frolic there all day like a little imp. - Sunday hours will never fail to frustrate me and very nearly resulted in a weekend of disastrous food due to literally nowhere being open before half seven on a Sunday evening, luckily we were saved at the last moment. -Toulouse is a really great city and reminded me of Boston for some reason, I got major city envy after being there! There seemed so much on and lots of cultural stuff, would certainly recommend a visit! Plus the Sunday market is great for cheap DVD's, books and food! - All in all I had a lavely weekend and it was really nice to visit somewhere very different from Bordeaux and experience other French places. Will try to include some pictures if technology permits me!

[lucyymegan]

End of a term reflections

I always have been rubbish at keeping diaries so I don't know in what world I thought I would keep this regularly updated. I feel I should do an end of term post though just to wrap this term up a little and let the world know I haven't been kidnapped.

First things first, today was the bestest last day in School before Christmas ever. Although I moan every week about going to work, safe to say I do actually enjoy it once I am there, well the second school at least. If you had told me three months ago that I would be doing a solo recital of 'We wish you a Merry Christmas' in front of a class of thirty French kiddies I would have a) point blank refused to believe you and b) mini-vommed at the though. Well safe to say four classes today enjoyed the delights of my tuneless voice, it may not seem like a big deal to others but I was pretty proud of that. Plus seeing as today I got cake, chocolate, a Rum punch for lunch (yes a Rum punch for the Christmas meal in a school) and got to watch the Polar Express in French for two lessons then I can't really complain too much! As for the Christmas lunch, well only the French would have a Christmas lunch from the Cantine of which the starters were slices of smoked salmon with little glasses of what I think was caviar and thats just the starters. Also not even going to question their inclusion of Rum punch to wash it down with for teachers in a primary school, defos not complaining too much at that. Also I have decided to steal a child. Okay I do not mean this seriously but oh gawd I just want to take one of them own, after receiving a delightful British flag from a little boy in one of the youngest classes as a present last week, today I even received a kiss on the cheek. Literally most adorable kid I have seen. Anyways moving on from my intentions to steal a child thought would do a brief recount of my French adventures.

These past couple of weeks I have been pretty down on France complaining about all manner of things which I think for the main part has stemmed from my frustration in feeling I am not improving at all with my French and neither have I really felt like I have done as much as I wanted this term. However after thinking about it a little more I realised my main issue is comparison and also the pressure on this year abroad to always be having an amazing time when in fact, I can consider myself to be pretty lucky to be here. I've been fortunate enough to visit the lovely town of Bergerac, go on four wine tastings, visit the lovely wine regions of Saint-Emilion and Medoc, visit my pal in Nantes, drink lots of vin chaud, show my 'rents and boyfriend the delights of Bordeaux, eat lots of fine food and visit the surrounding beaches (despite them being like deserted ghostowns). So I suppose I can not complain at all. Though I feel my French has barely improved, I suppose this is also my own expectations which have established this feeling. For example working in the school has expanded my vocabulary tenfold, I now know the words for elf, pumpkin and tinsel so pretty sure am going to ace whatever essay I next have.

Anyways I really will try to update this more next term, after this horrific essay is due in the end of January anyway. Tomorrow I fly back to Royaume-Uni and safe to say I have never been more excited to be going home, even if it is only a very short time! À bientôt xx

[lucyymegan]

Eight egg cakes and comedy situations

After full on slow mo falling over yesterday after my boots catching together (luckily my pal Rosie was there so things were a little less embarrassing) today comedic events continued. This morning at 8 o'clock the headteacher had to kick the toilet door down that I was in after I managed to get stuck inside. Pretty sure I live in a sitcom that someone has failed to notify me about. Bear in mind this was only my second day actually teaching at the school so the humiliation was ten times worse.

Things I have learnt in the past couple of days include:

-Wine brings my face and neck out in the most visible of rashes meaning I am forced to hide from other social beings for an hour whilst my ginger skin calms down

-French men are as creepy as i was forewarned, I can't even run outside until my leggings are delivered (my pale legs are too much for them to comprehend after several encounters with the creatures)

-You should always be prepared to take the whole class on your own (too many examples of this even though I have only worked three full days as an assisstant)

-You should also be prepared to be royally screwed over. Those extra classes I got signed up for and wanged on about to everyone, yeah they just got cancelled. No extra dollar for me now, bloody France

- French clubs are wierd but fun, the fact you are allowed neither your bag nor your jacket in the club means you are free as a bird but you are also stripped of all belongings meaning you have a very restricted night

- Flour does not blend well into mixture in France. It took us eight eggs to do one cake after a significant lack of any rise in the cake ( pictures to follow)

- It is either really Sunny jn Bordeaux or rains like a bitch

- If you ever want to feel like a celebrity then become an English assistant, not going to lie, i did enjoy them chanting my name like a hero (until my ginger blushing skin flared up).

Tonight we are going for a meal for one of the assistants birthday's, this will probably descend into an alcohol beverage or two seeing as it is a 21st. I shall make attempts to keep this more updated and not keep forgetting to post the stuff I write on the bus!

Farewell for now

x

[lucyymegan]

Yesterday's post

For some reason my mum always equates any persistent heavy rain to being American rain, from now on this is being renamed as French rain. Dear Sweet Mary I had to wait for my bus under what was basically a power shower, should have just stripped right there at the bus stop and whacked some shampoo out, it would have saved me having to crouch in our shower in the apartment (which is extremely low for some reason which is probably nothing more than being awkward for awkwards sake which is often the way in France . I am now trempé comme une soupe (always wanted to use this expression). I actually poured water out my shoes at the bus stop like a cartoon character. At the moment I am writing this on the bus, its just me and the driver chilling 2k13 aquaplaning through the streets of Bordeaux which have now turned into a homage to Venice.  Today i took another of the extra classes and it was a slight improvement on the other days, by slight i meant i only wanted to die slightly. In truth, seeing as i have to plan the classes and lead them I am kind of glad no French adults are there to judge my bad french and the the kids are pretty well behaved thankfully. Last night me and the gals made lasagna and had a lovely meal with a Kir (wine and blackcurrant juice I think). I don't think i have ever fully explained the wine.thing but basically first year freshers, French initiation, first time ever drinking wine, lets just say i woke up in my shower at 4am in a sorry sorry state. After a year of weaning myself back onto wine, second year for my friends nineteenth we played Amy Winehands (don't do this at home kids) but the bottles had to equal nineteen percent (evil genius). The next day was the worst day of my.life, not going to go into the gory details on here but basically every time i stood up (not even exaggerating) the wine came back to visit in a vision of technicolor glory. Last night i managed half a glass of wine, which is an achievement in my eyes. Definitely got sent to the wrong place in France.

[lucyymegan]

Everything is okay when you have a home.

The last few days have been mad busy so excuse my tardiness. After two of the most challenging weeks of my life, we have finally found the most perfect house ever. After endless days of searching and rejections (some of which meant it was very difficult to keep motivated or even smiling at times) we finally found a little holiday place that we are allowed to stay in over the winter for six months. Yes this does mean we are homeless again in April for a month but might as well finish Bordeaux in the same way we started it. I had my induction in work Tuesday which was also the day we signed for the house meaning i went out at half seven and got back home at eleven. I swear France is an actual test of endurance of how long you can go without water or food. Yesterday me and my flatmates (so happy to finally have flatmates) had a three course meal in Bordeaux to celebrate finally actually being able to say we live in Bordeaux. We had some fine dining at fifteen euros for all three courses (something I actually had issues believing at first). It was such a joy to finally be able to relax and actually drink some alcohol knowing you don't have a time to be in by, not that I am not super grateful for being able to stay at the family last week.

I may have mentioned my responsable signed me up to do extra classes with the city hall (without asking me first obviously the plantpot).

The induction on Tuesday outlined a list of things about our role as assistant including

-You must not be left in a class on your own, you are there to assist not to teach

-You should only talk in English to the pupils

-The first week is purely for observing

Things I learnt on my first day also include that all of the above is absolute bollocks. First day I turn up to visit the school and sort my timetable out, obviously with nothing prepared assuming I am only going to have to awkwardly stand there and wave to some kiddies. I instead get left alone with fifteen kids (one of whom apparently has learning difficulties) and told that the extra classes are unassisted and it is just me teaching English to.ages 7 (no English knowledge) to 11 (a slight improvement). Resisting the urge to crawl up in a corner in a ball and silently weep I muddled through the next hour in broken French and what little English they could understand (mainly being numbers and colours) Lesson 259 of nothing ever being what it seems in France, never trust what you are told. In addition to a rant about the lack of any organisation here is that the other assistant in my area knew nothing about this and it was then left to me to explain all about how he is working extra hours and actually direct him to his school. Bloody French. Despite this though I am still incredibly happy because I know have somewhere that I can actually claim as my own house.

[lucyymegan]

Living like a queen and feeling like a pauper

As you may have guessed by the pauper part, yep still homeless two weeks on. Handy hint to future assistants, do not believe it when people tell you it will be easy to find something, it won't. We got yet another rejection from the perfect flat in the center of Bordeaux because firstly she had some shitty English people before us and secondly we weren't staying long term. This is actually impossible.

Despite being homeless am having a pretty good life at the moment. This weekend we had chocolate crêpes (again with the pancakes not on pancake day), duck with oranges, a chocolate cake to end all chocolate cakes and lots of figs (one of the many reasons I love France is for the figs). 

The family I am staying with had their friends over hence the three course spectacular meal (definitely need to start some exercise soon if this is the standard of food everywhere).When I am slightly confused about what French people are saying I often just do the standard response of oui simply because often I get bored of asking people to repeat things a lot of the time. Note to others, do not do this. I have now agreed to liking oysters after only registering afterwards their translation and so now we are going to have oysters this week seeing as I like them so much (the potential for disaster with this one is endless after just spending half an hour googling how to eat them).

The weather has taken a turn for the cooler which am kind of glad about (I know I won't be saying that in a couple of days). I swear the mosquitoes here are on acid, my swollen clown foot has slowly returned to normal but now I have a swollen sausage leg due to another bite, great times.

We have another house viewing Tuesday but if that doesn't work out not sure what I am going to do at the moment. Seeing as my leg is swollen anyway seriously contemplating joining the homeless woman in Bordeaux who has a bandaged leg and randomly batters other homeless people with her crutches, We can be the bandaged Bordeaux bandits (top alliteration there). Think that is all the significant news i have, I start my placement tomorrow so shall keep y'all posted on that and any housing developments (not that there will be any).

[lucyymegan]

Things nobody tells you before you go to France

Been super busy hence the lack of posts but now instead I will make up with it about a super long post about everything in the world (by the world I mean the last couple of days don't get too excited)

-Finding somewhere to live is IMPOSSIBLE, IMPOSSIBLE I TELL YOU. Any future assistants do not listen to what anyone says about finding a house when you are out here, it is a dirty filthy lie. Go out in the summer or pray to sweet bejeebus you find somewhere before. The majority of agencies refuse to even deal with non-French students. French Guarantor translations mean nothing despite what the British Council send you to fill out, if you haven't got a French Guarantor they won't even consider you. Ten days after arriving, I am still without anywhere to live (unless by some miracle one potential apartment who is refusing to have anyone with a contract of work for less then a year listens to our desperate pleas).

-Unfurnished houses do not simply mean a lack of a bed, it means there is no fridge, no oven, basically it is an empty room. Furthermore this apartment will probably not even have light bulbs when you go to see it so good luck having a decent viewing. 

-Sweet mother of Mary it is bloody boiling even at the end of September. My wine free blood must attract the mosquitoes because by lawd do I have some bites on my ginger skin, one foot has swollen to twice the size of the other which I think is caused by three bits on it so I can't even go running to de-stress (not that I could anyway as would collapse within 2 miles in this heat). I looks like a bloody clown with a huge red foot.

-French kids are da cutest ever, listening to them try to talk English is so cute it is ridonculous. Today I went into the school of the teacher I am temporarily staying with just to see what French schools are like and I now can not wait to start teaching them, I even got a pretty picture drawn for me.

-French food is unreal, seriously can't even understand the quality difference. Also today I had Fro-Yo with the two other super nice assistants I am looking for a house with which significantly made the day better. Yesterday I also had Sirop de Menthe which after trying it for a second time I am actually growing to like despite it tasting slightly like toothpaste.

-Opening a bank account involves the halving of the Amazon forest, I have never seen such an amount of paperwork. And after all that, I still don't know how to actually put money in my bank account (my card doesn't arrive for two weeks) meaning I can't get a French phone contract. People say this year is character building, I think my character can probably stop being built now please. Never going to complain about British admin ever again (that is a complete lie).

Apart from that though I can't complain too much, am in a beautiful city, have finally made some friends, had some great food, met an absolutely lovely French family and I know that I am ruddy lucky to even be here right now (if only we can finally get an apartment  so I can finally appreciate how fortunate I am).

[lucyymegan]

Heat rash, burnt ginger skin and being a Rastafarian.

First of all I realise my first post about Bordeaux contained me mainly complaining that it was rainy and my expectations of sunny Bordeaux being a filthy lie I was told. Being the true British kid I am it is now time to complain about the heat that I wished for during that time and instead turn my attention to cursing this beautiful weather. I have a heat rash that itches so bad (probably shouldn't have worn black jeans in 28 degree heat) which is not helped by mosquito bites, ginger skin that has been burnt where I forgot to apply suncream (so much effort) and blisters on my feet because I forgot to bring sandles (as well as forgetting my only pair of decent shorts). To make things worse I look around and all other French females seem totally unaffected by this weather, still wearing their jeans and blazers and looking as immaculate as ever (HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE). My ginger skin can't take much more. (Though I hear this weather is supposed to be cooling down at the end of the week so be prepared to hear more moaning about how I wish the warmth would return).

Today in my little life I..

-Nearly got conned out of 200 euros by some weird travel agents place that said they would pay the money back if I didn't find a place with them (I lied and said I would go back tomorrow)

-Visited Bordeaux again, walked the earth, had lunch by the river and promptly spilt some lovely sauce all over my dress, I am incapable of eating without a table (even then it is difficult)

-Drank too much coffee and felt sick throughout the too hot bus journey to Bordeaux

-Bought the French version of the Confessions of a Shopaholic Book for 1 euro 50 for educational purposes

-Had a conversation with the woman I am currently staying with about how her and her husband adopted her two absolutely lovely children from Vietnam and admittedly nearly started crying because of how genuinely nice they all are and their story (granted I am bare emotional anyway due to the upheaval to Francey land)

-Watched Antz with her children

-Made a Rastafarian friend, I say friend, in reality he simply decided to lean his head right back against mine on the bus so we were practically one person meaning I felt I had dreadlocks for a brief moment. It was a wonderful time.

-Finally learnt how to put my ticket in the machine on the automatic buses after having two free rides before that due to my inability to work out how to do it (not sure how they make money on those buses as so many people get on without tickets)

I think that is all for now, tomorrow I open a French bank account by myself (I can tell you all now that is sure to be a great story for everyone to laugh at, except me of course). I also am meeting some other assistants to look for a house (don't even ask what is happening with the other houses, not sure myself). Will update tomorrow with news on the ensuing chaos that I am sure to embark upon in my quest to open a bank account.

[lucyymegan]

Do squatters rights exist in France?

Today to further complicate the housing crisis I am experiencing (yes I do equate my housing issues with the global housing crisis) I moved from my Responsable's house (quite far from Bordeaux) to another teacher's house in the village where I am teaching (a bit less far from Bordeaux). Not going to lie, although I felt as awkward as a salmon swimming in a goldfish bowl there I was not looking forward to the move, better the devil you know and all that! I mean I was so worried I even lost a fingernail in the process (very bad habit I have of biting my nails right down whenever I am worried and a habit which I vehemently deny whenever my mother asks what is wrong mid nashing).

As my pal Baz Lurnham says 'worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum'. However he also says to floss, I lasted about three days trying to do this daily before realising it was just too much effort (well isn't everyone just learning lots of great details about me today). Back to what I was saying, there was absolutely no need to worry. I feel like Annie when she gets into Mr Warbucks house, not only do I have a double bed but also my own bathroom and just wait for it...an actual gym. Suddenly lost all incentive to look for any sort of other apartment. 

The family themselves are also so welcoming, its such a nice feeling to feel at home! I am staying with another teacher and her husband who have two children (a boy and girl) who are both lovely. I also realised how bad my pronunciation is when the daughter asked me to read her a bedtime story and she spent most of the time either correcting me or giggling at me but I suppose at least I am learning pronunciation now, albeit from a ten year old child.

I decided to not go with the other house in the end, something didn't feel right about it, think it was a combination of a sketchy owner and the fact it had been available for three months and he didn't want a deposit (something required by law). Instead I am going to search with other language assistants but who knows if we will actually find anywhere, if worse comes to worse I am claiming squatters rights for sure.

ALSO IT IS SO HOT MY GINGER SKIN CAN NOT COPE and it is nearly the end of October, thank god I am not teaching in the summer.

[lucyymegan]

Lacanau and French Life

I apologise for the lack of pictures on the blog, whenever I try it takes forever and a day to load and even then doesn't work. I am hoping I will sort this problem soon because everyone likes a pretty picture once in a while.

This weekend as I have mentioned I went to Lacanau which is a lovely little seaside resort which I have heard in the summer is quite the rave cave with lots of drugs and tings, those naughty frenchies (and germans apparantly).

Whilst there I.....

-Saw a boat of Frenchies chasing a swan with a fishing line, my responsable told me they would probably eat it afterwards. I could only look at him with a horrified face. Although I don't like swans (one chased me when I was little and I love to remember such traumas) I could only imagine what would happen if someone did this in the UK. Pretty sure the Queen would personally be absolutely horrified by this act.

-Ate Crêpes for pudding, I mean crepes for pudding?! What an absolutely crazy foreign concept, Crêpes are reserved solely for pancake day. Madness, just madness (however I am not complaining).

-Paddled in the sea 

-Read some french magazines and came to the conclusion that a) French people don't care about nudity b) care a lot about food c) also care a lot about keeping skinny d) have little concern for fidelity e) all french people are beautiful. How a) and b) are reconciled together I shall never know however I am guessing most French women are feeders (nobody likes feeders)

-Saw someone walking down the middle of the road all alone and my first thought was that he was a zombie escaped from a French alpine bus crash as in the French television show The Returned (fantastical series). Since then I have had a slightly irrational fear that my guts are going to be devoured in the night.

Thats all the news I could think of but in summary I had a pretty lovely weekend and things are finally settling into place (well apart from the house situation, my inability to speak properly in either language and various traumas). Also it is super sunny so I am a happy gal.

[lucyymegan]

Some pictures of Bordeaux and an ugly mug thrown in for good measure to ruin a beautiful monument

[lucyymegan]

Houses are like buses.

So it seems that houses are like buses, you wait forever for one and then two come along at once. Only the decision between the two carries a significantly greater risk than taking whichever bus comes along.

I realise that makes no sense (also I apologise in advance for the rapidly declining quality of my english, both my English and French seem to be deteriorating at a great speed for some unknown reason). 

I doubt anyone really is that interested but I am going to explain this dilemna in depth to try to actually make it clearer in my own mind. It is a lot harder than I thought to find somewhere to live in Bordeaux, not sure why I thought it would be easy as it is a very popular city in France, I blame my small town naivety for this. Anyway, I finally got an appartment which my responsable thought would be big enough to share (the one I already wrote about) but after writing to the owner it has become apparent that unless I shared a bed with someone (I'll give it a miss thanks) it wasn't possible to share. 

So I have been at Lacanau all weekend (a lovely place with a huuuuuge lake and which is right next to the ocean) without internet. I return to find about ten emails from various language assistants asking to share the appartment (my responsable told someone about the appartment who then emailed everyone to tell them about the flatshare). Awks considering now there is no possibility to share. You see how things are complicated now right? 

In the meantime to just further confuse life I also had a facebook message from a possible houseshare near to Bordeaux University in a less nice area but cheaper than living on my own so I told them I would come visit Tuesday. However I already told the other woman I would take the other appartment. Confused? I am. It seems I am incapable of saying no to people in life, my bad.

So now I have ten assistants waiting on me to respond about the flatshare, an appartment reserved for me, a possible house viewing this week with 3 other, oh and another woman who emailed a response to an email I sent about a room she had which I can't even remember emailing her about and have no idea where it is. HELP. Again I realise this is mostly my fault for being such a lame person and avoiding all decisions in life (I am working on the decision making thing).

Anyways in other France related news, feeling a lot more settled now (yay for anyone who cares). Think it is a combination of the amazing weather (it is late september and everyone was wearing bikinis on the beach, plus some topless French women were thrown in just to add to stereotypes). I might add another post about Lacanau to add to information about actual France and not just about problems that I seem to be creating.

[lucyymegan]

Discovering Bordeaux

Today I went back to Bordeaux and had the day I should have had on my first day here. I realise that doesn't probably make much sense but honestly my first day was far from what I imagined it to be, I walked the same road in the rain over and over and spent a good majority of my first day in France in subway (admittedly both these issues could have been avoided by buying a map and if I wasn't such a scaredy cat about phoning people in french). Today though was what I imagined Bordeaux to be. After telling my Responsable where I had visited the first day his daughter proceeded to inform me that this was actually the prostitute area of Bordeaux (didn't even know Bordeaux had a prostitute area. Probably should have figured that out though after walking past two sex shops in one street. To avoid repeating this issue I went to tourist information today and acquired a map making life a lot easier.

After finding the apartment I finally feel I can relax and so I spent the majority of my day soaking up the rays in the very beautiful jardin du public after buying a baguette for my lunch. Finally things are starting to come together.

Tomorrow I am going to Lacanau (the seaside) with my responsable and his wife (it is in his job description to entertain me the first weekend as I have heard him tell numerous people while he complains about not being able to take his retirement yet). For someone who likes to feel independent the thing I am struggling with most at the moment is definitely the feeling of being babysat so I am really hoping I can move closer to Bordeaux soon so I can actually meet with people my own age! 

Anyway I thought I would add some photos in a bit to  spruce things up a little!

[lucyymegan]

Phone Traumas

So I may have forgotten to post this before so taking everyone/ anyone bothering to read this back in time to the forgotten past of yesterday.

Last night my charger broke, something which seems llike the littlest thing in the world now but last night I swear to the sweet lord above that it was the worse thing that had ever happened to a person in the world. Think it was a mixture of homesickness, tiredness and living out a suitcase with no prospect of being able to actually unpack anytime soon but I believed it to be the greatest injustice known to ma. Today was a definite improvement on yesterday thankfully. I went to visit my schools this morning which was nice, it sounds silly but it put a meaning as to why I had come here and everyone seemed so nice there! I then had lunch with my responsable in their municipal lunch place things (pretty sure there is a better translation for this). I am not sure why I have an issue with lunch but I just really dislike it as a meal (it just doesn't have the same joy as breakfast) but if my school lunch is of that standard then I am going to quickly warm to the idea of it..

Today’s news includes

-Making my first and then second telephone call in French. Anyone who knows me knows that I have an irrational fear of answering the phone, I don't know why but it has been this way since I can remember. The idea of doing this in French made me feel actually sick but with moral support via facebook from my bestest sister I did it and though, I am not going to lie, I still shudder at the thought of the amount of misunderstandings, it was still a proud day for me -Potentially finding an apartment, wahoooooo. It may not be ready until the seventh of October and if I do have it all to myself then I am probably just eating baguettes during my time here due to a lack of fund(no complaints here) but my oh my am I relieved! I am hoping I can move closer before then so I can feel less of a loner who is miles from anywhere! -I bought a charger, it may have cost a small fortune but it was the smallest shop ever and I felt bad walking out in search of another phone shop so I shall cherish this one with my life!

That’s all for yesterday's events but I shall update today's events later on if I remember!

[lucyymegan]

Forever trying to not be homeless

So I have  arrived in Bordeaux and I am currently staying at my Responsable's house whilst I try desperately to find somewhere to live. So thought I would condense my day into bullet points because who doesn't love a bullet point (plus I am too lazy to write or read this back in full)

·Police on segways will never fail to amuse me ·I have spent the day going round in circles (physically and metaphorically), still have nowhere to live and pretty sure I walked past  one bemused person seven times(probably should have  bought a map) ·My first purchase in sunny Bordeaux was an umbrella, turns out that description is a filthy lie ·I spent an hour in a half in subway today taking advantage of the WiFi (I Don't even like subway that much) ·I managed to have conversation with a French estate agent, success ·However he told me how hard it is going to be to find anything, less of a success And so I shall continue searching for now and pray to the  heavens above I find something soon