Bordeaux Update 4!

The other evening I went with my class mates to the “official” opening of this little bar that we’d been frequenting on the campus(on the campus yes, but I usually  take the tram to get there.) It was pretty nice at first. They had a live band; a reggae band at that, and so of course I was excited. That is until I realized that their set consisted entirely of Bob Marley and then one deggeh deggeh Toots  and the Maytals song. Really? Anyway, it was pleasant to jam to that, and the guitarist in particular was rather good. They took a one hour break in between stints, and I was glad when they came back for a second round UNTIL I realized that they were playing EXACTLY the same set as before the intermission. They changed the order a bit, but it was the same songs. Yikes. You can imagine that I was not amused. Anyway, at one point the lead singer tried to get me to sing along (don’t know why, I didn’t tell him I was Jamaican or anything), and so I did.

Of course the song that he drew me into sing was “One Love”; which just happens to be the Bob Marley song that irritates me the most. *Gasp*- how can that be? How can you not love One Love? Well I’ll tell you. Firstly, it has got to be one of the most overplayed and overused songs in JA. It almost has a very touristy, kinda cheesy association to it now. I could forgive that I suppose, but my grouse lies deeper.  The supreme irony about that song is that it is the one song (discounting songs written with the Wailers) that Bob did not write most of the lyrics himself. Many people don’t know this, but the bulk of One Love was borrowed from a song called “People get ready” by Curtis Mayfield (of The Impressions). Yes that’s right, google the verses. What Bob basically did was to take that very good base ( I can see why he used it based on the message) and then add on his own, and very catchy chorus. This is the song that EVERYBODY knows and loves to sing along with; the song he probably gets most recognition for. It was named song of last century and all that jazz . THAT is what annoys me. Bob was a brilliant songwriter and there are so many of his songs in his voluminous catalogue that are simply amazing; but this is the song that ran away.  Thank you daddy for enlightening me J.

We had a field trip that involved us being on a research vessel in the Gironde estuary. Departure time was set to 7 a.m. Believe me, that wasn’t fun; it was still dark as night and very cold. We students only had two drivers among us, but one of the lecturers was driving and offered the remaining space in his car. Instead of having us all squish 5-apiece in the cars, a classmate and I took up one of the lecturers’ offer for a ride. We didn’t talk much at first, mainly I think because my friend and I were dozing. For the actual work on board we had both physical oceanography and geochemistry to do, measurements etc. I was a little disappointed when I realized that we wouldn’t be able to assist with deploying the instruments and equipment. Apparently the crew does that heavy work and the scientists…just do science. When I was on another vessel with some other students earlier this year, we had been the crew, and so we had to help do everything; launching and operating the equipment and machinery. I was looking forward to doing that kind of thing again. However, it was not to be. It simply is not the done thing.

We lunched with part of the crew. For starters, we had a salad of sorts with Mozzarella and tomatoes with bread etc. The crew threatened us that if we didn’t finish it all, we couldn’t move on to the next course. The main course was some sort of veal dish with pasta. It was very good indeed. The lecturer with us, offered and almost insisted that we had some of the red wine. That has got to be the first time that a lecturer was offering me alcohol during a school trip. He looked almost disappointed when no-one took any. Lol.  Then there was a cheese course (at which point I, and most of the others, indulged in a little of the wine). After that was dessert; which I was actually not expecting. It was a bowl of chocolate mousse, my ,my my. Then we had…don’t worry, it was only coffee after that.  Now I fully understand why the French need to take two hours for lunch. Honestly that lunch on board was probably the best meal I’ve had since I got here. Lol

The lecturers then said that if no one had pressing need to return to Bordeaux, then we could all go out for a drink. Nice. So went to a bar across from where we were and had a beer (well I’ll admit I was lame and had a hot chocolate because I was cold, but I wasn’t the only one!). The co-ordinator even treated us to our drinks. Good guy, good guy. On the way back now, the conversation in the car was much more. We spoke about all sorts of things. The lecturers were very candid. They spoke to us like normal people, which is not a vibe you usually get from high-ranking lecturers and professors. I’m more used to a “don’t you dare forget the “Dr” before my name” kinda vibe. So this is very refreshing.

Tom’s (one of my classmates) birthday last week and he decided he wanted a fancy dress party. We had to be dressed as something related to the ocean. It went very well I think, most people took it seriously and went out of their way to look the part. The birthday boy went as a mermaid. Yes, a mermaid (Ariel to be specific), complete with a red wig, a clamshell bra and a tail. Hi-la-rious. I was a pirate. In fact we had three pirates, a pair of gay sailors, Spongebob Squarepants, a castaway, a treasure chest and a jelly-fish among others. When we got on the tram to go to our other classmate’s flat for the lyme, I must say we created quite a stir. It was good fun, we had cake and gave Tom presents. I even had a stint as DJ Ren.

After a somewhat unfortunate incident, we decided to scrap our plans to go clubbing and just chilled instead. We used the night bus to get home. Now that was fun. The best thing about this discovery is that we don’t have to worry (as much) about getting home if we miss the last tram. It depends on where in town you are. It was a chi-chi (articulated) bus ….We were rolling all over the place, and it wasn’t because people were tipsy. That bus driver…I dunno bwoi. Lol. Good Times.

Until the next time!

P.S-It was a couple weeks ago, but look what mommy sent me! 😀