This morning, when I woke up, it was pouring rain. Luckily, it was only sprinkling when everyone had to walk over to take a test at the DEFLE (Département des Étudiants avec Français comme Langue Étrangère (Department of Students for whom French is a Foreign Language) (pronounced def-luh)). The DEFLE test will place everyone into one of three levels for the Intensive Language Program (ILP). It was pretty difficult. The ILP starts Monday, so we find out what level we’re in then.
The test took about 3 hours, and when we left, it had stopped raining and was getting sunny. At 2 o’clock, we all met downtown at the Office de Tourisme with the program directors for a walking tour of downtown Bordeaux. The tour guides were from the Office and did the tour mostly in French. Except I think my group’s guide lost faith in us understanding because he switched to almost entirely English near the end…
The tour was really interesting; our guide told us a lot about the history of Bordeaux. Most of the buildings are from the 1700’s and 1800’s. They have to be cleaned regularly or else they would all turn black because they use a very porous stone that soaks up the pollution in the air. If anyone wants to build something new downtown, they have to use the same stone and style of architecture so it looks like the new building is two or three hundred years old. Our guide pointed out one building that’s only about 20 years old, and it was impossible to tell the difference!
There are a lot of really cool places downtown I want to visit this year. There’s the Grand Théâtre, a huge shallow pool of water that reflects the lights off all the buildings at night, a ton of museums, a cathedral from the 1400’s (if I remember the tour right), and plenty of towers and fountains and statues. So much to see! So far, most of my time downtown has been spent just doing errands with other students. We all needed to get phones and groceries.
Side note: I got a French phone! And I spoke to the salesperson in French to get it! Go Katie! It’s a pay-as-you-go plan (hors contrat) from the French phone company Orange. It’s kind of expensive; calls are like 50 euro cents a minute! Whaaaaaaat. But incoming calls and text messages are free! Even from international numbers!
Anyways, the tour was really interesting. It ended on some random street far away from the Office de Tourisme though, so when the tour guide was like well here we go, everyone was like uh, wait, what, where are we? And then we awkwardly clapped as the he walked away. Luckily, it only sprinkled a couple times and was mostly sunny during our tour. Pictures coming when I have a steady internet connection!
After the tour, I went with a few other students to walk around and stop at a Monoprix, which is like a French Target. Sunscreen is so expensive here! The cheapest one was like 15 euros! I don’t even want to think about how many dollars that is. But I didn’t really have a choice so I just bought it anyways. It has some weird cooling sensation thing when you put it on. I can see how that would be nice in when you’re out in the sun, but you’re supposed to put on sunscreen before you’re out in the sun. Maybe I’m just being too American!
When we got back, we all decided to go onto the main part of campus to try to get internet. It was after 6 though, so all the buildings were locked. It looked like it might rain, but we Americans were desperate for email, so we huddled under overhangs. Then it started pouring rain and thundering and lightning. I think we might have looked a little ridiculous/pathetic all huddling under the overhang and trying to lean so as to best protect our laptops… Eventually when there was a lull in the rainstorm, we all sprinted for the dorms. And the internet wasn’t even working! After all our trouble!
Tomorrow, we’re going on an excursion to the beach! À bientôt!
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