Shocking I know, I have been slacking on my blog documentation, but I will try to fill you all in as much as possible. Friday marked the end of my first class of the five I will be taking this semester. This was the French language course that was rather difficult; however, I am so happy that I struggled through it and learned so much. It is so crazy to think that I am already finished with one class and have been here for almost a month. We had our final exam Friday afternoon, and let's just say it was pretty difficult- I am just holding out for a passing grade of 10.
The weekend was one of celebration- we survived our first class unscathed! We honored Australia with Jemma, discovered a little too much of our friend Hannes' apartment, and got kicked out of a taxi (cheers Jemma). Luckily we stumbled upon another taxi soon after and were safely delivered to our door at DomoFrance. The rest of the weekend was low key because it has been absolutely freezing here, the average was about -1 celsius; a little too cold for my liking. I had a nice, long run by the river on Saturday to clear my head, wandered around the city a bit on Sunday, and then prepared to start my second class on Monday.
The class I am taking this sequence, Marketing, Luxe, and International Marketing, is taught in both French and English, so it is a great opportunity for me. (I feel like that is going to be my key word for this trip- opportunity. It is bursting at the seams with opportunity, and I want to rake advantage of every single one.) Also, it is very intimidating. Monday and Tuesday class were from 8:30-4:45, and they were taught entirely in French. I basically did not understand most of what was being said and was so grateful for the invention of powerpoints at that moment. We can, luckily, write all of our papers and assignments in English since the class is International Marketing, so I think that will help to save my grade. I do think it is a really good thing for me to be in this class, though, and I am really working hard to improve my comprehension and understanding. Yesterday we had a short class, only until 12, and it was so interesting. Our professor spoke, in English, all about wine marketing. He is a specialist in this and since Bordeaux is so famous for their delicious wine, our class will focus on wine marketing. Our final project is to create a marketing plan for exporting Bordeaux wine to a city of our choice. We, my group of five, Isabelle, Mary, Sam, Sara, and I, selected Liverpool, England- Sara's hometown. I am actually looking forward to working on it.
After class we headed into Bordeaux to shop for "throw away" clothes because one of the organisations on campus was hosting an open bar. (Definition of open bar- pay 4 euros and drink all you want all night.) Mary, Jemma, Megan from Ireland, Emma, Daniel, Sara, and I all headed downtown around 11:30 decked in our "new" outfits which consisted of rain boots, 3 euro shirts, and 8 euro leggings. The bar was a literal mess with drinks being spewed everywhere and everyone rushing to the bar to take advantage of the free liquor. When it was all said and done we looked like we had just gotten out of the shower- barring the stickyness of our hair and skin and pungent smell of vodka. At the end of the night we had managed to lose all of our jackets, which had out in a plastic bag to shield them from the rainfall of alcohol and placed atop a railing(I am holding out hope some kind soul will return them- Mary's had her phone and keys in it), visit the medical center on the second floor several times for Sara's sake, dance on a raised surface, help a friend in a kissing competition, and take the longest bus ride ever home to DomoFrance, only to arrive back at our door at the ripe hour of 6 am. Only in France, on a Wednesday night.
Today I did not have class, and we all lounged around and finalized some travel plans for our breaks from school. Tomorrow class starts in the afternoon, and then Jemma, Jody, Mary, Annie and I are headed to PARIS! That is correct, and I cannot believe it myself. I am so excited, and I cannot wait.
I will write again after the weekend to tell every detail about the magnificent City of Lights.