Bonjour! Quoi? Ehhh....

So after arrival on Friday, we checked out the hotel restaurant (very good, had menus in English), called my mom (my Dad's Crackberry has currently checked out, so we've run up the phone bill), and went to sleep, because we were tired, to say the least.  We also drove around a little, took a wrong turn, and ended up accidentally driving by Géant Casino, which is the equivalent of a Walmart Supercenter... As we discovered later, Casino is a supermarket chain and brand name, and Géant means its freakishly large with other small stores outside it and a restaurant called Casino Cafeteria.

Saturday morning, we got up and went to Géant... stocked up on shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, and so forth.  I realized that travel-size containers of everything wouldn't exactly last me for four months, so I made a list of everything in French and wandered through the aisles aimlessly.  People don't exactly bend over backwards to ask if you need help finding anything, so I avoided any awkward semi-coherent conversations.  I even managed to figure out that you had to buy the electronic devices at the electronic counter and show the separate receipt when you left.

So one toothbrush and four boxes of granola bars later, it was lunch time.  After that, back to Géant to stop at the Orange mini store to get a cell phone... which currently doesn't work, because I have to wait for the charge to clear on the US end before I can call internationally.

Then, to the campus, to locate my dorm.  The place is... interesting.... not exactly Miller Hall, to say the least.  But it is right near the post office, a tram stop, and the DEFLE (foreign students) building.  Plus, the letters and science building is right next to the dorms and there is a DC equivalent on the corner.  Good location, but I'm glad I only have to sleep there for three weeks.

Next, to the tram stop to go to the actual town of Bordeaux for dinner.  We went to Rue de Saint Catherine, the longest pedestrian walkway in Europe.  I located important locations like H&M and a place to buy contact solution, as well as a number of bread and pastry shops.  We ate dinner at a place called Café des Arts (Happy Birthday dinner to me!) and walked back to the Hotel de Ville (mayor's center) to get on the tram and return to Pessac.  Important note: people don't do the pooper scooper thing around here.  AT ALL.

Sunday, we went to the beach.  Drove around for awhile, I put the wrong GPS coordinates in at first, but its not exactly an ugly place to get lost, so it was okay.  We weren't on the beach side, but the boat side... you could take cruises around the peninsula and oysters are definitely what you eat there... people had beach buckets full of them!  We ended up at a pizza place on accident.  We have a tour book with all these different restaurants in the area, so we picked one on the coast and off we went.  We get there, and the place is closed... not "closed until 6pm" closed, but boarded up and abandoned closed.  The pizza was delish, and I successfully ordered our meal in French!  Small victories....

Today, breakfast at the hotel and another trip to Géant for school supplies.  First of all, they don't have paper that is perforated, and everything is a different size, so I now have writing paper that looks like graph paper and an oversized folder.

Back to campus in search of a nearby supermarché (next to a tram stop, luckily enough) and postal service.

Then, the most exciting part.  We drove to wine country and visited Chateau Mouton Rothschild and Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, famous premier wine-making estates, and bought a whole bunch of stuff.  Ah, shopping... 

Currently I'm utilizing the free WiFi (pronounce WeeFee) at the hotel.  Tomorrow, the program starts.  Orientation, language placement, and an excursion.  Sadly, no three-day weekend for Labor Day, but stay tuned for more updates!