Bordeaux Update 3!

One Friday night, we had plans to go to a jazz concert. Unfortunately, the tickets were sold out that night, so I joined most of the rest of my classmates for a night out on the town. We ended up and this Cuban bar called Calle Ocho. It was a pretty nice spot I think, it had some nice music. There was even an old-school dancehall segment (yes!) However, because of this, the place was packed; I could barely move after a while and it became annoying. So we decided to bail. At this point, I decided that I wanted to catch the last tram home rather than join the other half of the class about to paint the town red.

So we get on the tram and have a seat. Then we realize…that we’re going over the river which is NOT supposed to happen. I usually always check the tram board to see what’s going on, but honestly I didn’t that night as we were rushing, and I figured everybody knew what we were supposed to be doing anyway. Plus there was a very drunk guy on the tram whose antics had been distracting us. Oh well. We then hopped off at the very next stop.

Here they have a system where you can borrow some bicycles from stands that are usually near to tram stops for example. You have to have at least 200 euros on your French bank card in order to access them.  I will admit that I had been remiss in dealing with bank matters and I had not a red cent on the French card. One of the others didn’t know his PIN # yet.  So we had one active French account, and four bicycles needed.  However, for whatever reason, we could only get two.  So that meant we would have two bicycles…for four people. Be assured, hilarity ensued.  We eventually abandoned that plan and started walking. Note friends, that as the crow flies, the distance from where I was to where I live is around 4-5km. Epic disaster. This was EXACTLY why I didn’t want to miss the last tram. I SERIOUSLY miss my car during these night-time ventures*sigh*

To cut another long story, with a series of unfortunate events short, we eventually managed to get a hold of some more bikes, and we  switched up who partnered with who and it worked out a little better. One of my friends ended pedalling me back part of the way home. Thanks James! I still owe you one! .  That was raaaather interesting believe me. Note to self once again; do not miss the last tram.

The next night I went to the jazz concert at an old WWII submarine base called Base sous-marine. It was really very cool. It’s definitely one of the best venues I’ve ever been to; the vibe was incredible! Of course, nobody listens to Ren and we got off at the wrong stop and ended up walking a whole lot more than we needed to. Anyway we got there eventually and it was truly worth it. Hopefully there will be another event I’m interested in at that venue; I would definitely go back.

We had a 2 ^1/₂ day field trip for our Biological Oceanography course. The university has a marine station in Arcachon, which is where we stayed. We went out every day on the station’s research boat in and did sampling. Then it was back to the lab to sort and analyse what it was that we found (which included mussels, mussels, seahorses, lots of crabs and fish and more mussels). The station had good kitchen facilities and all that and the first night we had Spaghetti Bolognese and the second night Fajitas! That all turned out well. On the social side, we had a good time, and it was a good opportunity for us to get to know one another better.

The station was less than a minute from…you guessed it once again, the beach! We literally stepped onto the road and about 20 steps away was the beach. A lot of our spare time (lunch breaks etc) was spent on that beach. We invented a game that I think we decided to call “Ridge Wars”. It basically involved making a ridge of sand, and then using your fingers to drill holes from one side to the other without shifting the ridge. It was a surprising success. It’s definitely the kind of idleness that Parchi, Viz, Rhae et al would enjoy (miss u guys!)

This week past, I had another field trip to go on. It was in the Arcachon Basin area and spanned two days. It had a road trip kinda feel to it because we went in cars rather than a bus. There is a group of students doing an oceanography degree (mostly French) and this semester they’re doing the same courses as we are (but en Français). They were also on the trip (even though we were separate most of the time). In all honesty though, we seem to be so much cooler as a group than they are. At one point, we were taking a class photo and they were looking at us like “hey, we never do that kind of thing”. Poor souls. We even had a cooler lecturer. I’m not very kindly disposed to the other lecturer (who was with the French group) in any event. He lectures us as well, and once he had us all turn up for an 8:00 lecture, and then didn’t turn up himself. We waited a whole hour. So yeah, down with him.

 The second stop for the day involved visiting a huge mud/tidal flat. Mud for miles. I must say it was very tempting to have a mud fight, but somehow we managed to restrain ourselves. I’m talking mud that was knee deep at times.

 Highlight of day 1- lunch. Our lecturer suggested that we have lunch at a beach near Cap Ferret. Finally! I’ve found a beach that I really like; it jus have a vibe. He then suggested that we all (yes all, including himself) take a swim. So we did. I can definitely put that down as one of the best lunch breaks I’ve ever had.

If somebody had bet me that I’d be working on my tan over here, I would have laughed at them; but I’ve been in the sun SO much, and to the beach so many times in the month or so that I’ve been here, that it’s ridiculous and I would have lost a pretty penny. The last thing I thought to pack when I was coming over here was sunscreen, and bwoi oh bwoi was that a mistake. Hold on a sec… “but Renée, you’re black, you don’t need sunscreen!” (eyes rolling as far back into my head as possible). Let’s set the record straight here. No I may not burn, or turn red, but my skin will be damaged by the UV rays of the sun just like anybody else ok? Melanin does not make me invincible against that. Lol.

At the last stop on the second day (at the Dune du Pilat again), my classmates wanted to swim and roast in the sun for a bit…again. Luckily, this time I had my umbrella with me and I made every attempt to curl up under it as much as possible. If I had known about all this beach-going beforehand, I might have invested in a beach umbrella. A little shade…it’s all I ask for.

P.S- Classes are going fine by the way. Yes, I actually do go to classes, fret not J

-Oh I’ll just mention that that one evening we popped into an English pub (go figure) called the Frog  et Rosbif. Yes, Frog and roast beef lol.

      – Also, welcome to Davi Allen! Even though she’s in Toulouse, not Bordeaux, it’s nice to know she’s
here! Have a great time hun!