Finally out of the dorms!!

If you're just now tuning in and have not yet heard, the dorms were beyond nightmarish. There were cafards, or cockroaches roaming about on every inch of every floor. Not to mention the gypsies that thought our staircase was their personal toilet (and our showers as well). Aussi, the only place to access the Wifi was in a forest which wouldn't have been all bad if there hadn't been pine trees everywhere (which I now realize the extent to which I am allergic to them). All-in-all, it really wasn't that terrible but I am thrilled to be out. I am living in the upstairs of a very nice French home in the center of the city. There are two French girls living upstairs with me as well going to Medical school...or something of pre-Med. I didn't quite understand. One of the girls is from Tahiti! When I told her I lived in Hawaii she wasn't too impressed -- it was the closest thing I knew to Tahiti! In any case they're both super friendly, especially Mathilde (not the Tahitian girl). She asks me lots of questions and is very patient with my horrible French. We got to showing each other pictures of each others family which was nice to reminisce a little bit :).

To wrap things up, I am extremely happy with the results of my apartment search and hope that I can make friends with the girls I live with :)

Après le match!

Let's start out by making clear that tonight was by far my best night in France to date. Becky and I ditched wine touring to go watch the Bordeaux rugby team (UBB) play today against Auch (they play like assholes) and ended up getting kissed on the cheeks by some of the players (it's the polite thing to do Trav! sorry babe!), getting my flag autographed, and making a friend with a fellow rugby fan who happens to be from Montana. He was almost as girly as we were when waiting with the girlfriends and family members of the players and gave us a ride back to the dorms. It turns out he moved to France about 5 years ago for his girlfriend and went to Bordeaux 3 (our university) and gave us a lot of local advice which was wonderful. He's moving to Switzerland on the 16th and at one point during the conversation we all decided to meet up for a movie and Indian food in town tomorrow which should be fun. :) All in all it was a wonderful day.

More updates later..

J'ai un apartement maintenant!!

I am homeless still. The French people in MacDo are super (said with French accent) loud. I have one meeting in a few hours but it would just be for me. There are 2 others from the program who already signed their lease for it, so I would be the third living there. However, Becky and I have a meeting on Thursday with a guy who is hardly at his house and is renting it out to 2 students. It's entirely renovated in a "nouveau" style (as advertised) and it has DSL and a pool.  In addition, each bedroom has its own bathroom. It sounds like a really great offer for just 400 Euro a person, but we still have to see the place and make sure everything checks out..and we're not the last people in line (as it turns out we have been). This whole apartment thing is almost too stressful for my liking.

We also have these meetings regarding our Cartes de Séjours qui sont TRÈS stressés. It's literally like getting your visa all over again. All the same documents, you have to go find the police station and get it done there. It's not my bag, baby.

It thundered so hard today...and rained a little bit. That was nice :) I enjoyed it.

8:47 pm: J’ai un apartement!! I am peeing right now. It’s 330 Euro a month, I get to live with 2 other French students about my age (or so I’m told), 2 twin kids about 12 years old and their mother who wants me to help them improve their English. I am absolutely delighted. I will have WeeFee, my own room, my own bathroom, a kitchen upstairs (très cool), it’s close to Becky and it’s downtown (super cool). It’s very close to the bus, which takes me directly to the tram where I will get on it for school. I am peeing.