Mars

The past several weeks have been filled with lots of exciting experiences and travel adventures. February concluded with a week of vacation from the university. For the first part of the week, I went to Oxford, UK to visit two close friends from high school who are studying there this year. While it was a bit of an adjustment to hear English all around me all the time, it was nonetheless a welcome break for my brain to exercise my English language skills for a change. I had a wonderful time visiting Katy and Sabrina and they showed me around all the highlights of Oxford, which is a dynamic college town. A highlight was visiting Christchurch College where several scenes from the Harry Potter movies were filmed! We also visited a lot of their favorite places to eat, which was a highlight for me. It was really nice to spend some time with old friends, meet their new friends, laugh and catch up.

Sabrina, Katy and me at Christchurch

For the second weekend of break, I visited San Sebastian, Spain with a Middlebury friend who is also in Bordeaux this semester, and I absolutely fell in love with the city. It was my first time in Spain, so it was really exciting for me to experience a new city and a new language. San Sebastian is a very unique city in many respects. It is located just across the border with France in the upper west coast of Spain, right along the Bay of Biscay, and the city itself lies right along a beautiful curving beach. The day we arrived it was sunny and gorgeous, so we climbed up Mount Urgull, a hill that gives way to beautiful views of old San Sebastian below and the Pyrenees in the distance. It was so wonderful to enjoy the sunshine and the spring weather. The Spaniards enjoy a cafe culture similar to the French, so after our walk we rewarded ourselves with chocolate caliente, a turbo version of American hot chocolate that is more like chocolate soup; a rich and creamy concoction that is somewhere in between a liquid and a solid. Delicious. San Sebastian is also right in the middle of the Pays Basque, which includes the extreme southwestern region of France and the San Sebastian and Bilbao areas in Spain. The Pays Basque has a rich cultural, political and culinary history which we got to experience in San Sebastian. The Pays Basque has long been in a struggle to obtain its independence from Spain, and the nationalist movement, the ETA, has pursued very violent and aggressive tactics in the past century in an effort to achieve independence. In January 2011, the ETA signed a permanent cease fire, but separatist sentiments are still harbored by a small minority in San Sebastian. On Friday night, we witnessed a somber parade through the old city of ETA sympathizers holding posters with the portraits of imprisoned ETA members.

View of the beach, the city and the Pyrenees in the distance from Mount Urgull

Hotel de ville in San Sebastien (with a huge statue of Jesus on Mount Urgull behind)

San Sebastian is also the culinary capital of the Pays Basque, which boasts some of the best cuisine in the world. In San Sebastian, the restaurant scene is dominated by small bars that serve pinxtos, the Basque word for tapas. For dinner, the locals do a sort of bar hopping routine, visiting several of their favorite bars, ordering one or two pinxtos and a glass of wine at each, which they enjoy standing up at the bar since there are no chairs, before moving on to the next bar for something new. Each bar has its own specialities, so we took to asking people what they had ordered if it looked good and then ordering it ourselves. We had some of the best food I've ever tasted, and some of the most exotic. I tried beef cheeks (which were to die for), pig's ear (the texture was a little strange but the sauce it was served with was amazing), squid and blood sausage. It's a very dynamic and adventurous way of eating, as the bars were boisterous and loud and filled with a palpable energy. Also, dinner time in Spain is even later than in France, so things don't really get going until 9 or 10 PM. But, during the dinner hours, you can always tell which are the best bars from the size of the crowd mingling outside, people munching on pinxtos and enjoying a glass of rioja.

One of our favorite bars--we went there twice!

In San Sebastian we also visited an amazing aquarium located right on the water, explored the local market on Saturday morning, and browsed through some extremely expensive and posh stores. It was also interesting to observe the differences between Spanish and French culture. We did notice that the Spanish wore many more colors than the French (where the national wardrobe is black) and are particularly fond of American outdoor apparel brands, notably The North Face.

The day I got back to Bordeaux from San Sebastian was also my 21st birthday, which I celebrated with a lovely dinner and birthday cake with my host family and Kim. Even though turning 21 in France where the legal age is 18 means that I can now still order a glass of wine in a restaurant, it was exciting nonetheless, and my host family made it very special. I know I will never forget this birthday.

My birthday with my host family: Tanguy, Marius, Valerie et Hubert

After returning to Bordeaux and resuming classes at the fac last week, I left again this past weekend for Poitiers, a city about an hour and a half north of Bordeaux. One of my French friends who is from Poitiers had invited me and some of our other friends home with her for the weekend, to experience the sights and tastes of La Vienne, the region where Poitiers is located. On Friday night, I experienced a classic French dinner at her house, which didn't begin until 9 PM and concluded around 1 AM, with aperitifs, entree, plat principale, fromage, dessert and cafe in between. There were twelve in total for dinner, so the dining room was full of boisterous French conversation and the enjoyment of good food. Saturday we spent the day at the Futurscope, a futuristic amusement park which was so much cooler than a Six Flags or King's Dominion. Sunday we went to visit Azay-le-Rideau, a smallish chateau located in the Loire Valley, about an hour from Poitiers. All in all, it was a wonderful weekend spent among friends, and a great way to experience a new region of France.

My work at the university is finally starting to pick up, so unfortunately I actually have to dedicate some time each day to being more traditionally productive. My family comes to visit next week, so I'm really looking forward to showing them around Bordeaux and introducing them to my French family. It's now been just over two months since I've been in Bordeaux, and the time feels like it's starting to go by very quickly. The spring weather has arrived in Bordeaux, and I'm looking forward to lots of time spent outdoors along the quais and in the jardin publique in the weeks to come.

Happy March, Happy International Women's Day, and happy spring!