Bordizzeaux

So last Wednesday in my art class, this other girl and I got in trouble for something we didn't do on the worst-organized field trip ever. The previous week, we went to the Musée D'Orsay, and we were instructed not to go around as a huge group with our teacher because she wasn't authorized to give her own little tours. Also, we were supposed to meet up as a group at 5 so she knew we had all stayed for the full class time. Back in the classroom, everyone was taking their sweet time leaving, so Courtney and I left for the museum. We did our assignment and saw the group sporadically throughout the museum, including our teacher. We finished our work and then walked around a little bit more, and then we just sat in the middle of the museum until 5. At 5, we got up and headed towards the front of the museum to find our teacher and the rest of the class. We saw a few students and then we saw our teacher leaving, so we figured it would be OK to leave. Apparently, the rest of the class who followed the teacher around in a huge group (like she said not to do) all went to the Gerome exhibition, which we didn't know because no one ever told us. Maybe if she had told us she wanted us to see that part of the museum while we were in a big group back in the classroom, we would have known to go there. Also, we saw her a few times in the museum, and she never said anything there either. She accused us of leaving early before class was over. We explained what happened (in shocked and broken French) and she said she believed us, but who knows. It was just so ridiculous.

Friday morning, I left for Bordeaux to meet up with Amber. The train ride was uneventful besides all the screaming children. Also, the entire country was covered in snow so I was kind of freaking out. Bordeaux is in the south so I assumed it would be warmer. It wasn't. When I finally met up with Amber, we found our hotel, and she promptly took a nap. After she got up, we took a walk and then went to dinner at a pizza place and shared half a bottle of wine. Yes, I did actually drink wine in Bordeaux, who's proud of me? I had 2.5 very small glasses throughout the course of the meal, and by the end I was kind of no longer sober haha. It was pretty entertaining. After dinner, we just headed back to the hotel and I showered, read, and passed out. The next day, we got up and headed into town. There's not a ton to do there besides walk around and just see everything. The buildings are all so beautiful, especially the ones on the water. I loved all the bridges, too. We went to St. Andre's cathedral, which was beautiful. Outside they were having some type of fair or fundraiser or something and there were these HUGE black dogs that could have been bears. They were really cute. We walked around a lot, going into random stores here and there. There is a giant purple alligator sculpture in a random garden, which was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. We also went to a cemetery on one side of town. It was huge and pretty old, kind of like Père Lachaise here. After that, I was really hungry and dying of dehydration, so we went to a boulangerie for lunch and got Amorino gelato afterward. Then we found the best antique market ever. We spend at least an hour roaming all the stalls. And I learned all about Amber's obsession with old sea-foam green things, especially chairs. I searched in vain for a specific present. There was so much cool stuff, though. I wish I could have fit any of it in my suitcase. I don't know if I would decorate my house with any of the original stuff I found, but maybe if I re-purposed or altered some of the stuff it would be perfect. But again, I had to take the return journey into account. That night we had planned to go get fondue, but we didn't make a reservation and they were full. We wandered around for what seemed like forever and didn't find a single restaurant. Then, we stumbled onto the main street apparently and were too overwhelmed with all the choices. We ended up at a crepe/galette restaurant which was pretty good. Then we bought two mini bottles of wine on the way home, and they may have been the cutest things I had ever seen. It was a very calm and low-key trip, which was nice. The next morning, we got up and checked out and headed back to town with all our luggage which was fun. Again, we had very little luck finding a place for breakfast, and eventually just gave up and got food from a chain bakery. We wanted to sit somewhere, so we risked sitting at the tables at the restaurant next door, which was closed so you'd think no one would care, but of course they did. It's not like we were homeless vagrants or making a mess or anything, but whatever. We saw another church, and then headed over to the train station. The ride back was just as uneventful as the way there besides the fact that I paid for the most expensive bottle of water ever and the girl sitting next to me had a cat in a little carrying case and she kept feeding it little bits of her sandwich.... I slept a little bit and read more of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which I'm almost done with now, and if you haven't read it you definitely should.

Yesterday, in my current events class, one kid gave his presentation and it was about prostitution. He opened with "What is the world's oldest profession?" And of course, everyone answered. Except one guy. He seemed really confused and after a lengthy explanation (I think he just didn't understand the French), he exclaimed in alarm, "C'est un metier?!" (It's a profession?!) It was hilarious. After class, I went to help French girl, Anne-Sophie, with her English. We've been working on the same presentation for a few weeks now, and I think at this point I could present it. She chose Deep Purple, which I thought was an interesting choice. Really random. She was still having trouble with some of the pronunciation, but we worked on it for a while and I hope it went OK today! After that, I met up with another girl in my program and we got dinner and crepes which was delicious. It wasn't even that cold last night, it was awesome. I think it's coldest in the middle of the day for some reason. Anyway, it was fun. Today, Paris can't seem to decide if it wants to rain or snow. I'm sure if I tried to walk outside I would slip and die. The precipitation seems to have stopped for now, but it's been on and off all morning. When it first started snowing I ran out to the balcony in Uggs, my big jacket, and shorts to take some pictures. One of the neighbors saw me and probably thinks I'm crazy. I don't blame her after I saw myself in the mirror haha. It's supposed to snow more tomorrow, so we'll see what happens! I think that's all for now.