I found myself eating lunch outside of a basilica from the 6th century this afternoon.
I had an hour between my morning classes and my afternoon class, and though I brought my lunch, I decided to get out and stretch my legs. Just a 10 minute walk - if that - from the Alliance Francaise, I found un petit parc with some benches that I could sit on while I munched my lunch. After I finished lunch, I walked to the front of the interesting Gothic building that seemed to be the subject of the park, and found it to be the Basilique Saint-Suerin, a basilica that has seen more history than most places in the US. By the time I went to the basilica, I did not have time to go in and look around, though admission is free. But I plan to go back this weekend, when I'll have lots of free time. Come to find out later, once I returned to my host family home, Lonely Planet ranks the basilica as #3 in the list of things to do in Bordeaux... who knew?! I wish I my iPhone had 3G over here, so that I could have known that earlier today! Alors, my list of things to do while in Bordeaux is growing exponentially, and my time here seems to be dwindling fast! I only have 2 weekends to explore all that Bordeaux - and southwestern France - has to offer!
My French classes are going well. I can't believe how quickly I am learning. I think the other students get restless in class, but after having had 4 hours of class in a row since September, I don't even notice the time going by. Sometimes I do find it hard that the teachers don't give explanations in english, but I think that is something that I'm just going to have to get used to.
One thing I don't think I'll get used to is that the French don't tend to use napkins. Since I have a 5 course dinner every night, I always leave the table with sticky hands and never know where I should wipe them. So I just... don't. And when I went out for lunch Tuesday, I had to ask for a napkin, because they are not automatically given out. If I had known, I think I would have packed many more mini-packets of tissues, because I'm finding myself to be a messy eater!
Alas, it is nearly 8 and it's time for dinner.
A bientot!
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