What time is it?

Last night provided much confusion. As it turns out, day light savings time happens earlier in Europe. This meant we had to spend our evening trying to figure out what time we had to set our alarms in order to clean up, leave, catch the metro, to catch the plane. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem. In the states, all our fancy phones automatically change themselves, so we would just set our alarms and wake up and go. Our French phones are not only archaic, but they are in Bordeaux time not Porto time. In the end we set our alarms 2 hours before we actually wanted to wake up. Some phones got us up at 6 am (the fancier ones that set themselves) and other phones got us up at 8am (success!). While it was annoying the we got woken up 2 hours early, we managed to get back to sleep and catch the plane on time!

Seeing as it’s Halloween Taylor and I treated ourselves to some Halloween candy before takeoff.

It was a little sad that this is the first Halloween ever that I haven’t dressed up. It’s a very strange feeling to be in a country that doesn’t really celebrate Halloween. Some clubs and bars had dress up parties, but other than that nothing too thrilling. (Also, it should be noted that the French are very uncreative when it comes to costumes)

Getting back to Bordeaux was a great feeling. It was refreshing to realize how much we missed it. Bordeaux has become completely comfortable to us. It’s home. I realized that I’ve actually lived in Bordeaux longer than I have in Walla Walla, or the new apartment in Bellingham. It makes it that much more scary to leave. This is more my home than the US is. How weird is that? In a country where I understand about a quarter of what is being said, I feel pretty darn comfortable.

On the bus

Today, Taylor and I took THE BUS. Oh yes. Not public transportation. Quite the opposite in fact. We took the big red bus that ports all the tourists around!

We learned many fun facts about Porto. We came to learn that Porto isn’t really that old compared to most of Europe. All the cool buildings were generally built in the 18^th century. While that seems really old for the states, it’s relatively young for Europe.

We also went to the ocean! It was really epic, with waves crashing everywhere. I felt so salt when we left. Both our cameras needed to be cleaned up a bit from the spray. Totally the best part of the trip.

The city is filled with gorgeous old buildings right next to really trashy apartments built in the 60s. There are also many churches everywhere. Portugal has to be the most Catholic country that I’ve ever been to (and I’ve been to Mexico…granted I’ve never been to the Vatican) Jesus and Mary are everywhere! They watch you eat lunch, they bless your pastries, they help you pick your groceries.

We were settling in for the night when we get a call from the Germans. It turns out the hostel they were going to stay at was full, so they stayed with us…after all we had 2 extra beds. We had a couple EPIC rounds of spoons (luckily we have no shortage of spoons) where we all have the pleasure of exchanging curses and attempting to steal spoons from the person across the table from you.

We eventually convinced the Germans it’s time for bed.

Right 'ere Docta?

Today it was pouring! This made our usual activities of sightseeing, grocery shopping, pastry drooling slightly more damp than one would like. We decided to buy some cards and some books and cozy in for a bit.

Nothing extremely epic besides microwave popcorn! Which we all have been jonesing for! 

Gravy man, gravy

Today, Taylor and I had another ladies day. We did some more shopping. It’s really nice in Porto because it’s so cheap! Also, it’s a fun way to practice Portuguese! Not that I’m that great at it…I know how to say thank you, and do you speak English/French. All very important. We generally just wandered around the city.

Taylor and I also made dinner for Jon and Matt. It was epically awesome. We made chicken, in a bag!. It was kind of like shake n’bake. You add the spices, and the chicken into a plastic bag and shake it. But instead of putting it onto a baking sheet, you simply put the bag in the oven, and let the chicken cook in its juices! Magical!

The chicken turned out fantastically and also provided us with some gravy for the mashed potatoes we made! Oh yes, we made mashed potatoes despite the fact that the best masher we had was a giant spoon. What joy! Another great meal!

Effing Stairs

Today we woke up and went to get some pastries! Portuguese pastries are quite good and very cheap! We were buying things that were 50 cents that in France would have been 3 euro! Then we went to buy groceries. We filled a bag completely full of cheap wine, port and olive oil. While Portugal may be cheap, some questions about quality are brought to mind. Our jam that we bought was completely disgusting…oh well

Later, we met up with the Germans on Point de Luis. This is a giant epic bridge that kind of looks like a sideways Eiffel tower; that could be because it was designed by one of Mr. Eiffel’s cohorts.

We walked to the Port manufacturers! There are 14 just sitting on the hill across the river. We went to the tourist information to find out which ones had free tastings. One was called Taylor’s…so of course that’s the one we had to go to! After learning much about port production we got to taste the port. And the result is….drum roll….I don’t like port. It’s too sweet.

I honestly never thought that that would be a problem for me, but it just tastes like cough syrup. I even had a tiny sip of the 40 year old port that’s 180 euro a bottle! Still, no thank you. I’ll stick to wine.

After a nice lunch we all went our own way. Taylor and I got some ice cream and did a little shopping. Yay for girl time!

The Germans came over for dinner. We had salad, pasta, and rolls. It was a fantastic meal, minus the fact that we had 3 forks for 7 people. Let’s just say that eating salad with a spoon is quite challenging. 

Oporto

Today the Americans (Me, Jon, Matt and Taylor) left on our grand adventure to Porto! On the bus ride to the airport we ran into the other BEM exchange students going to Porto (Jan the German, Reini the Austrian, and Dominique the Swiss German…generally just called the Germans, just to make things simple). We caught the ever complicated RyanAir out of Bordeaux into Porto.

Getting from the airport to the hotel was very simple. Just a long metro ride to the hotel where we found out speaking French is actually more useful than English in Portugal. It turns out most people learn Spanish, then French and the English; so not too many Portuguese know English.

Our hotel ended up being better than we expected. It was a room with 2 bunk beds and another bed, and another room with a bed. It also had a fairly complete kitchen!

The four of us went out to dinner at a really nice Italian place that would have been insanely expensive in France, but was extremely reasonable in Porto.

After eating dinner we bought a bottle of Port and wander around. Porto is gorgeous and seeing all the Port manufactures across the river was so beautiful. The view was very welcoming! 

I'm getting tired just blogging about it

Now a days, the most common question I receive is about the riots. Don’t you worry, I’m quite safe. Generally speaking the most aggressive protests are in Paris, and there’s nothing really that exciting here in Bordeaux.

Now, the question is: what is getting the French all riled up? Well, like I’ve pointed out in previous blogs, the French love their breaks. This translates beyond the simple coffee/cigarette breaks; it means that they vacation longer, don’t work on Sundays, nothing is open past 7 pm/19 and they retire at the age of 60. (Random side note: some professions actually retire earlier, 55, these are usually the more laborious jobs, but still….)

France’s politicians are quite smart to realize that with this weak economy it’s going to be difficult to pay for everyone’s retirement. Also, people are living longer these days, which means that France will be forced to pay retirement longer. The brilliant way to avoid paying these benefits just a few years longer (and surprisingly enough, keep collecting taxes) is to raise the retirement age. They aren’t even raising it to the world standard (65 years old), they are just raising it to 62 years old. I read an article that described the young people protesting (they’re upset because there won’t be any jobs when they finish school because no one is retiring.) as going through a French rite of passage. It’s funny because the people that are protesting are fighting for the opposite things--the right not to work and the right to work.

The day of the first tram strike in Bordeaux we had a brief discussion about retirement ages around the world because there were many international students in the class. It seemed for the most part retirement age was 65, some countries actually have different retirement ages for men and women, some countries (like France) force you to retire at said retirement age. That one shocked me, I informed the class that most people in the US work past the retirement age, whether it is because they like it, or we just have horrible retirement benefits. This kind of discussion is one of the greatest reasons to be here, I love learning about everyone’s different lifestyles and why they live like that, what a hoot.

Anyway, back to the angry French. If anyone is unhappy about something they strike. I have heard from more than one French person that strikes are their national sport. To Americans it just seems stupid and a waste of time, but this is how they have been solving problems since the French Revolution. I think that we should just be grateful that they aren’t whipping out the guillotines. It actually is quite interesting to ask the French how they feel about the strikes. Most people support the strikers, because it is their right to protest, not necessarily because they agree that the age should stay at 60. Daily life in France is greatly affected by the strikes, but you just figure it out, there’s no point in complaining, you just shove onto the tram with the rest of the population and move on with your life.

Like I mentioned before, there haven’t really been riots in Bordeaux. The biggest issue is the trams going on strike. While it would get the message across if they stopped running the trams all together, the workers understand that it’s not the commuters’ fault that the politicians want to raise the retirement age, so instead they just run on Sunday schedule. This means that the tram doesn’t come very often, and when it finally does it’s completely packed with people. The funny thing about the strikes is that they tell us when they’re going to happen. All I can say is go grocery shopping the day before the strike is planned. Also, some days they plan “demonstrations” (these just look like parades), this can shut down pieces of the tram line, but it’s usually just for a couple hours.

Some other issues with protests around France are the gasoline supplies. People are blocking the use of fuel, so costs are going through the roof, and making gas very difficult to obtain. The trains are running on a completely confusing schedule that involves praying that your train will arrive and praying it will leave. On the other hand, I heard it’s really easy to ride the trains for free because no one checks tickets or really cares, because really, people just want to get home. Because fuel costs are so high, flights have been having difficulties. My friend actually got stuck on the runway, the pilot literally said, “we are at the mercy of that man, who is on strike right now.” After an hour of sitting on the runway, the man decided to stop striking and help attach the plane. Wow. My only hope is that the street cleaners don’t go on strike because there’s enough dog merde already.

Dreaming of the days of Toasty Strudel

Ok, how about a simple topic. The weather? It really is about the third question I’m asked every time I speak to someone back home. Not always interesting, but ALWAYS entertaining.

Bordeaux has been quite docile so far. When I arrived it was quite hot, maybe getting to 85. But generally it’s between 65-75. There was one day of INSANE rain, and heavy wind, but no need to worry I brought my awesome Bellingham-Northface rain jacket. Other than that, it’s usually quite nice, although lately, it’s getting much colder; I don’t think that it will get above 60 today.

These lowering temperatures raise some important questions. Clothing seems to be a big issue, I only brought one sweat shirt…big mistake. Also, I only brought one pair of simple-everyday shoes. I don’t really know what I was thinking, but as the weather gets frosty, I think my toes will too. Eek.

Another issue to be held is my blanket. While I was thrilled to be spending only 7 euro on a blanket at Ikea, I think it will soon be failing to keep me warm at night. This is not helped by the fact that we can’t turn on the heat. It’s not a physical question, it’s simply that CROUS (the rental company) refuses to give us heat. This does not seem very hospitable to me, but that’s just coming from someone who’s a little cold.

My last issue is that the US uses Fahrenheit. There is really a point where we should just give in. We should just switch to Celsius, for the sake of the exchange students! When people are discussing the weather, I am never able to participate! Beyond that, I just get confused. Here is a sample conversation:

“How was the beach?”

“Oh it was great! It was 30 degrees!”

“Oh, that’s not good….” You see, in my American brain, that is quite nippy noodles (below freezing, eegads!), while the other person (because really they could be ANY nationality) is just thinking I’m crazy. As it turns out, 30 degrees is quite warm. Who knew?

Being Schooled

I can’t believe I’ve been here for almost two months! You’re thinking, I still know nothing! For that, I apologize. It just seems like daily life is not very thrilling. But I’m in France! Everything is different! Well kind of….

I guess I’ll start with school. At BEM, you only take one class at a time. For three weeks… let’s just say this is nice (yay! Only one class!) but bad (bleh. I have to sit in a class for 8 hours). Although, the French system makes it pretty easy on you:

                Class 8:30 to 10:00

                Break 10:00 to 10:30

                Class 10:30 to 12:00

                Break 12:00 to 1:30/13:30

                Class 1:30/13:30 to 3:00/15:00

                Break 3:00/15:00 to 3:30/15:30

                Class 3:30/15:30 to 5:00/17:00

So as you can see we take lots of breaks, and use the 24 hour clock (which still takes me a long time to figure out, sorry Dad). The French need to smoke. The French need coffee. The French need to eat. The French need their breaks. At every break (which the entire school has at the same time) we cram into the cafeteria. There is a cafeteria style food and the little shop thing that has the coffee and sandwiches. Rather than making orderly lines you must shove up to the front and make eyes at the lady taking orders. Everything that could be well organized just ends up feeling like you’re at a bar, not well dressed enough, being purposely ignored by someone less attractive than you. On the plus side, I’m getting really good at cutting. Don’t judge! It’s the French way! Have I mentioned how poorly planned it is to have 3,000 people, all caffeine and nicotine deprived, vying for the attention of two elderly women?

Anywho, my first sequence was Brand Management. For the first two weeks we had a French professor who was really interesting and had some good stories to tell. I always trust business teachers more when they have been in the real world and can give real-personal-life-experience stories to back up their lessons. The third week, we had an Australian teacher (yes, that’s right. We have more than one teacher in one class). She too had good stories to tell. I think she loved me, which is never a bad thing. In fact, on the project that we were doing in class, my group won. We won Oreos! Oh yes, the Australians are not above bribing. I don’t think I mind.

So, the class was based on participation (I think, still not too sure…they said it counted, but I don’t know if they were bluffing) and a final case study. We were supposed to do this case study based on two vague power point slides, turn it in to someone who was not our teacher and never present on it. How they are supposed to know what we learned, I will never know. My group was pretty good, although we never met one of our team mates. The annoying thing is, is that he’ll get the same grade as the rest of us, despite the fact he was never in class (one of my teammate’s argument’s was “He’ll fail if we don’t put his name on it” my reply “who cares?”)

This brings me to another point. The French students. They are really weird. All the international students are completely shocked and often appalled by their attitudes. In class, they literally have full voice conversations; they just ignore the professor completely. I don’t really get why they come to class at all. And when you’re in a group with them, they’re all about procrastinating, dividing the work, never meeting, and pushing something through in the last minute. After this experience, I honestly don’t think I would ever higher a French person. Cultural differences galore!

In the second sequence I’m taking E-marketing and E-commerce, which is e-boring. So far, we’ve had 2 professors, one French (horrible accent and BORING) and one Quebecois (ooo French Canadian, and he’s funny, and he lets us out early! Huzzah!) Again, we have to do a case study and we have a test. We have no idea what will be on the test, in what form it will be, which teacher(s) information it will be on AND when it will be. This is especially frustrating for those of us trying to plan travel.

That is just a little peek into the world of BEM in all its glory. That being said, I actually have learned some pretty interesting things.

Here’s a fun one on viral marketing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEqJV1acgN4

PS When they say football they mean FOOTball.

Maybe I lied

So last week was actually pretty exciting! So I will be telling stories, rather than the general information that I promised last time.

Hokay. So. On Friday we went to the Férias. When we heard about it we got the impression it had something to do with cows. Later we heard bulls. So we really had no idea what to expect. So when we got off the tram we were shocked to see a circus looking situation in Place de Victoire (a typically open space, albeit filled with people mulling about)

So we wander in (it was free!) and start walking to a side that the security (?) told us to sit on. Luckily, before we reached that side we realized that ALL the other BEM students were sitting on the other side, so in our brilliance we joined them. This ended up being a very good idea considering the Férias ended up being a competition between BEM and Bordeaux 4.

Now, you are probably wondering what this competition involved. Well, teams of "brave" souls from each school got to enjoy the sport of being in the ring with a bull. Now, these bulls are much smaller than the typical rodeo bull, or Spanish bull fighting bull, but they are still large bovines with all the angry attitude. So each game involved different things. On game was trying to get the bull to walk through the pond, another one was potato sack racing (while a bull is chasing you), filling a bucket up with water, getting the bull to run through your hoop. This was one of the strangest things I've ever seen. I just don't really get the "sport" of it. I don't feel bad for the idiots who volunteer, but the bulls! They don't have a choice.

None of my pictures really describe the epic strangeness of the experience....

The next day I was without Taylor because she decided to go on the BEM trip to Spain. I was thinking I had nothing to do that day...just sitting on facebook and my Swedish friend Oliver says, come to Saint Emilion. I jump on the tram, run into some other exchange students and we find our way to the train station. As soon as we know it, the train is off and we run into some other people.

In total, there were probably 10 of us, but we split up into 2 groups (the ones that did and didn't eat lunch). We spent the day wandering around the adorable town and wine tasting. Saint Emilion is surrounded by vineyard and chateaus. Gorgeous to say the least. It's pretty touristy, but we definitely brought down the median age of the tourists by at least 20 years. Good food was eaten, wine was drunk, and I'm getting better at drinking it. (I will like wine by the end of this trip dang it!!!)

The weekend was different. It was nice to be without the Americans for a bit (not that the Canadians are that much different haha) but I still managed to entertain myself. That being said, I missed Taylor....