I miss my puffs

I have been ill for ages. It’s quite inconvenient. It has been quite educational about the French health care system and how different cultures feel about illnesses.

It all started with a sore throat. Followed by a night locked out of my apartment in the rain. This means I went from occasionally coughing to having no voice in one night. I still felt like it was ok. I felt fine, I just couldn’t really speak. This is about when my roommates started freaking out.

As it turns out, countries that have free health care use it! Countries that pay for health care don’t (until they’re dying on the side of the street of course) I keep the attitude of “I’m fine! Sure you can’t hear me attempting to speak and I have a 20 minutes coughing fit every 30 minutes, but I’m fine!” Sure I was taking some Nyquil that I brought with me, but nothing drastic.

Finally, I get sick of coughing so often, and my roommates harass me enough to go to the doctors. I attempt to try and find one, but fail. While wandering around I manage to find a pharmacist. We have a nice conversation and I get 3 different kinds of medications for 13 euros. Not bad! And it was so simple (minus the fact I couldn’t just go to a super market like I would in the states…..)

I try the drugs for a few days. My throat no longer hurts! How thrilling! Oh wait… as I later said “J’ai beaucoup de mucus” Time to visit the doctor’s office….

Finding doctor’s offices in France is quite challenging. They are just located in simple apartment just labeled with gold placards out front. But if you don’t know what you’re looking for it’s quite challenging. So I find the building, wait for it to open, press a button, that fails to open the door, press a new button get let in, sit in a waiting room for a bit only to realize that it’s in fact a dentist’s waiting room, cross the hall and sit completely silently with a few other people. They are slowly called into the room and never come out again…..it’s not looking promising.

I get called into the room. It’s just a normal office, I thought the lady was actually a secretary until I saw an examination table sitting there. She asked me if I had my card (no…I’m American…), student? (yes) BEM? (oh yeah, we’re all sick as dogs right now, I’m sure she’s seen a lot of us) she asked me a few questions, listened to me breath and cough (she didn’t wash her hands btw); she gave me three prescriptions, and note for class and sent me on my way. I paid 22 euros. That’s cheaper than many people’s co-pays! And I can get that money reimbursed! (Once I figure out how to fill out the paper work…)

Pop over to another pharmacy and get my harder core drugs. (I can get the cost of those reimbursed too!)

That being said, I’m STILL sick. Sure, it’s really easy to get drugs in France. REALLY easy. I hear that France is actually one of the most over medicated countries in the world. There are positive and negative sides to free health care. Sure, EVERYONE gets the help they need. Many people get more than they need. Some people aren’t properly diagnosed. I think I would be in the same place I am right now if I wasn’t taking medication…but I guess I’ll never know.

Seeing as it's Thanksgiving

What I'm Thankful for in France:

Awesome bread
New great friends
Being in such a beautiful city, country, continent
Bordeaux public transportation (my life would be miserable without those trams)
Being able to learn about different cultures first hand
Amazing new roommates
Having my own bathroom
French pharmaceuticals

I'm sad I'm missing Thanksgiving at home (and the parade, and the dog competition :) ), but I am beyond grateful for the fact I'm have the most amazing time here. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity that could have never been possible without the great nation of France to provide the setting, fantastic Erasmus students, my own will and drive, and my parents' financial and mental support.

Life is good!

Happy Thanksgiving! You lucky dogs eating turkey today!

Top 10 (non-human) things I miss about the United States (In no particular order)

1. Fast internet
2. Macaroni and Cheese
3. Having an oven and baking
4. Operational efficiency of businesses and general customer service
5. Television and cable websites
6. Harry Potter
7. My clothes, but mainly my shoes
8. Normal rain
9. Brown sugar
10. India

I'm going to add:
11. Decent professors (not that ALL of them have been bad...)
12. Normal, Seattle rain
13. Having a car to get around
14. Normal washer and dryers, having a dishwasher
15. People not really smoking
16. Pad Thai
17. Puffs
18. Normal water
19. Big shower (with previously mentioned normal water) and room to shave

In fact, I am crying on a train

I woke up pretty early today, because I wanted to watch the sunrise at the church. I missed the sunrise, but I still got some pink clouds!

The church is so much better when there aren’t as many people. I would hate to be here during the summer when every shop, restaurant, and tourist trap is open (not to mention the hordes of people…)

I wandered around the sanctuary, did the disabled Stations of the Cross.

Went to mass in French. I thought it would be difficult to understand, but no one told me there would be an African priest and an Italian (?) deacon. I had no prayer of understanding. The guy who led the singing had a beautiful voice, I just wish they had song books so I didn’t have to fake singing along! I would if I could people!

Next, I did the non-disabled Stations of the Cross, which were arranged on a giant and very steep hill. After passing one group of intense (religion-wise) English speaking Africans I decided to subtly join the next one. I’m really glad I did! It forced me to slow down and pause for reflection. I didn’t know their songs, but I really appreciated their passion.

After, I went down and just people watched. There is literally every kind of person, some freaking out and crying, others just kneeling at whatever random statue they can find, and of course the Japanese tourist.

(No, these people aren't peeing. They're getting/drinking/bathing in holy water!
People fill anything up with holy water!
Giant containers, Mary statues, coke bottles, vials you can purchase for 1E, etc)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’ve always wanted to come to Lourdes. Since about the time I decided on Bernadette as my saint I’ve struggled with religion, so much of it seems invented or imagined. It is also often used as an excuse to do horrible things to each other. I’m not just directing my issues at the Catholic church either, they’ve just been around long enough to cause A LOT of damage….

But, like I said before, I’ve always wanted to visit Lourdes. I was hoping it would answer some spiritual questions. Or at least advise me in some way.

Instead I found myself mourning the loss of my childhood throughout my journey. Yes I miss my Barbies, but I miss my innocence more. I want to go back to a time of accepting things the way they are; without doubt, and without fear of the future. Instead I’m forced to live in a time where there are more gift shops in Lourdes than there are in Vegas.

On the other hand, I saw some amazing views, passionate people, thousands of prayer candles...and I’m old enough to remember. 

Pretty sure my province is bigger....

Ok, so I wasn’t able to write on the train from Toulouse to Lourdes because I was in a compartment with a really nice French guy and his sweet boxer named Max.

Yes, it did occur to me that I was literally cornered by this guy and his potentially lethal dog, but all went well, and I got to speak French for two hours! Phew! He was really nice about repeating himself and rewording sentences so a three year old could understand. I also told him I was Canadian (I HATE talking politics, that that’s everyone’s favorite subject with Americans) so that led to a discussion as to how big Canada is (as it turns out, it’s bigger than France (and they say Americans are bad a geography…sheesh))

I got to Lourdes, asked someone how to get to the tourists’ office and found my hotel. The hotel is really weird. I walk in and there’s religious memorabilia EVERYWHERE, not to mention the fact that the guy was watching porn. AND as it turns out I accidentally booked the room for LAST night…my bad…so I start to freak out a little (not a lot of hotel options in Lourdes after October 15^th), but the guy has a room for me!!! Praise Jesus! (Who is literally surrounding me at this point)

I’m in this teeny tiny room that’s a little sketchy, but I’ve been in worse. So no big deal.

I decide to leave the room for a stroll and walk passed insane amounts of gift shops to arrive at the cathedral. I was expecting the area to be little more mountainous, but it was more like being in a valley. That being said, it was really nice to see the Pyrenees off in the distance. I think I will always feel closer to home when I see unflat country side. I always assumed the church was nestled in the hills, but it was more just placed there…While it was epically amazing I can’t help but feel if Disney were to create a church, Lourdes would be it.

Yes, I realize the sky is blue

Toulouse is amazing! (I’m actually writing this in Lourdes, but that’s another story)

I arrived at the train station and attempted to find a map. Luckily one of the guys handling people’s complaints was nice enough to give me one. He said it wasn’t very good, so just use the one on the metro. So I take the metro a whole ONE stop only not to find a new map and realize the one he gave was perfectly acceptable. Oh well.

I wandered around for a bit (user error, haha, what can you do?) and found my hotel. It was very nice for the price I paid; only I had to leave my key with them when I left for dinner. Strange!

I had Quick for dinner! Quick is France’s weak attempt at creating their own McDonald’s. I didn’t want to leave France without eating there (seeing how truly French it really is) so I figured it was the night to do it! I would have much rather had McDonald’s, but I’m really trying not to eat it while I’m here.

I watched French television (aka The Simpsons with French dubbing and BBC), then got lulled to sleep by French tennis announcers.

This morning I woke up bright and early to wander around Toulouse. I think it’s about the same size population wise as Bordeaux, but organized differently. It had a completely different feel than Bordeaux.

In the area I walked around, I ran into five churches, had breakfast, bought an umbrella, ate lunch (PB&J!) sat by a river and just enjoyed France. It was glorious!

I went back to the hotel where they were holding my bag and got myself to the train station without the metro. I think I’m getting pretty good at maneuvering around Europe.

Can I hum?

Train travel is unique. There is very little fuss about anything. You purchase your ticket in whatever manner suits you. There are no security checks, no one makes sure you’re on the right train, hell there’s no one to ASK if you’re on the right train. You just hop on board two minutes before it departs and pray you’re going the right direction.

I’m currently on my way to Toulouse. I’m pretty sure we’re going the right direction because I see signs pointing from where I came from that say Bordeaux and ones pointing to where I’m going that say Toulouse. All very good signs.

The car that I’m in currently has four people in it; it could hold 26. E just pass corn field after vineyard. It’s shocking to me how open France is. You would think they would have over populated by now, or at least built bigger houses. They live in quite cramped quarters considering the countryside we’re rolling through.

I’m really excited to be leaving Bordeaux. It has become so comfortable, it’s almost mundane. Like when the tram broke down the other day, I quite easily maneuvered myself to a bus to take me and my groceries home.

I have no idea what I’m getting myself into in Toulouse, but I’m quite thrilled. This is my first time traveling alone. I really like the idea of having to fend for myself. I can do what I want, when I want, but I also HAVE to do what I want. There’s no way to blame anyone else or depend on their knowledge.

It’s just me and the open rails.