Arrival Day Continued

Travel

Sorry for the short post yesterday. I was so exhausted from our travels. Marina and I took a cab from our hotel to the TGV but it was so stressful because our cab driver decided to take the most busy streets to the train station. We got to the train station, and like everything else in France, it was chaotic. After we figured out how to print our e-tickets, we went to the platforms but they don't list which until 20 minutes until departure. So everyone stands around this old school screen waiting to find out their platform. Then when it shows up, everyone runs to the train. Chaos, man.

So, in all the chaos, we ran into a friend from school named Lauren. She looked as if she was on the verge of crying. We were all so relieved to see each other. I was assigned to another car and I was freaking out to be alone for the whole ride but a nice woman told us if the train doesn't fill up they won't make me move. So we founds some seats by each other and prepared for the ride. It was smooth and had some really beautiful scenery. The train was too fast to take pictures though.

Arrival

When we arrived, as I already said, we were the last and tired from running around. This dorm is so old it doesn't have an elevator. We had to drag our luggage upstairs. Luckily we are on the première étage (the second floor in america - weird I know). We dropped our bags and met everyone for dinner.

After dinner we took their version of the metro/light rail to monoprix (their version of Target) because we all needed something. We are planning on going back today because we got there like 30 minutes before closing. Bordeaux is home to .75 miles of shopping, the largest in France, called Rue Sainte-Catherine. We will definitely be exploring that soon.

Initial Thoughts

• Bordeaux seems a million times more relaxed than Paris (more like home :))
• Our school is kind of dilapidated, and when I say kind of, I mean really - but it's all good
• I miss American toilets 
• It's nice to finally be around other Americans/Californians
• bare minimum baby (see picture below)