Rainy Sunday

Ahh what a good Sunday for writing. It's rainy and gloomy this morning and it looks like it rained last night. Though I am hoping it clears up enough to go exploring again today. For now I am just sitting with my cup of coffee reflecting over my past week. 

We learned so much this past week and I am excited to share it with you! Monday we had a proficiency exam to see which class we would be in, and classes began on Tuesday. I start everyday with my french class at 9 am for 3 hours and in the afternoon I have my pastry class for 3 hours. I feel like my head explodes every time I get out of french class and I feel like my heart explodes every time I get out of pastry class. Here's what happened this week, in photos!

I moved into my studying apartment complete with balcony! I will have to get an éléphant pour my balcon. And yes studying not studio, after we finish studying we will move to somewhere new!

I went for a sunset run along the beach which was gorgeous! 

And there is a little lighthouse on our cape!

The first thing we baked in pastry class was bread, though we had been preparing dough for puff pastry and tartes.

This is a delicious goat cheese that was made with unpasteurized milk. I don't know what happens during pasteurization but this cheese is better than any I have ever had!

Here is our chef on Friday piping the dough for éclairs and creme puffs!

We made a quick banana and chocolate cake to take home on Friday!

My roommate who is in the culinary class made this and when I came home and she was leaving for Montpellier she said she had something for me in the fridge!

Then my other roommate and I went poking around the grocery store. The wine section has literally ten aisles and a special wooden temperature controlled "cellar". 

They even have labels for the blind! Check out this label in Braille!!

After a little shopping we chose some tartes for our dessert.

Just a simple red wine with rotini in red sauce and our yummy tartes!

Well it looks like the sky is clearing up! Only one little cloudburst left in the sky so I think I will enjoy my coffee and go out in search of adventure!

See you next time!

At Last!

     It took a lot of time, money, and moments of extreme panic but I made it! I have arrived in France. Since arriving this is probably the 7th sentence I've spoken or written in English and it's boggling my mind how quickly I'm adapting and how not so mind boggling everything is. I know it's normal to say that everything is so different and exciting and crazy but when you get right down to it everywhere in the world is pretty much running on the same daily schedule: Wake up, breakfast, lunch, dinner, go to bed. It's the things in between that change from person to person and the foods we eat that change our region. That being said I have been eating AMAZING bread for the last two days. I've been eating little sandwiches with tomatoes and toast with blueberry jam my dad gave me, and this evening my roommate's boyfriend gave her all these little pain au chocolates and we ate a few of those for dinner!

My first delicious sandwich in the Bordeaux Train station!

     About my roommates; I have two. both women, and we have this cool little triangle of languages. I speak only French with my first roommate, the one I share a room with; I speak English with my other roommate, who just moved in today and has a private room; and my two roommates speak Spanish to each other. If you have ever seen L'Auberge Espagnole it's not unlike that in terms of languages and if you haven't seen it you should! (Note: it is a little...racy for younger people, but it's a good movie!)

    Well, other than that I'm planning a trip to Marseille this coming weekend to visit my first roommate's boyfriend whose mother, funnily enough, is Korean! If you know a little about me you'll know that I just finished teaching in Korea for the past two years! That's all I'll write for now. I have an exam in the morning to test my level of French and then I am going to the market to buy some supplies for the apartment and search for a gym! Until next time,

A tout a l'heure!
Sara