Out to dinner.

Today was another day at uni, although I only really had an hour so it wasn't that busy. It was translation, version (english to french - the harder one). I thought the teacher was reasonably nice, until she was giving the class an example of the way a student had wrongly translated something and the student's friend clapped. The class went silent and she gave us all a ten minute talking to, in which she said of the person who had clapped, "You're parents should be ashamed of the way they raised you". Wow. I didn't know people could say that??

Lucy and I after class

After class, I went home and uni worked, then headed back out a while later for dinner with Jason. After his birthday dinner yesterday, we found an Indian restaurant on our way to the pub, that actually looked nice and warm inside. No one else was keen for Indian food so we just went. I had the house special - Agneau Taj Mahal, or Lamb with a cashew and almond sauce. The sauce was amazing, as was the naan bread that was served with it!

For dessert, we decided to be classy, and seeing as neither us had been to Maccas here yet (and there are 2 within 10 minutes walking distance from our houses), we decided to grab some soft serves. We didn't know the word for soft serves, so we frantically search the menu, but couldn't find them... We ended up just saying we wanted ice cream, and Jason made out as if he was holding a cone haha. Apparently Maccas in France don't sell ice creams in cones! I was so distraught. We chose second best - caramel kit kat mcflurrys. It was probably the best mcflurry I've ever had in my life. 

Jason's 21st!

Today was the first day of uni for this week. Not a bad day, langue et stylistiques francaises 2 and traduction. Translation (traduction) is quite easy, I don't want to speak too soon though. There are two classes for it, thème (french to english) and version (english to french). French to english is much easier that version, at the moment, we're translating a passage from The catcher in the rye. There are heaps of colloquial phrases I have no idea of, but I don't have that class until 1:30pm today, so I'll have to wait and see what she says about my translating skills! Langue et Stylistiques is just ok. I get the general concept of what's going on, but we're all having difficulty understanding little things that don't exist in english. We spoke to the teacher yesterday after class, and she said that she understands and our exam will be shorter and on easier texts. Yay!

We met a lovely spanish girl in our translation class today. We meet a lot of international students, but she has by far been the easiest to talk to and get on with (she already speaks 4 languages!). 

Tonight was Jason's 21st celebration. We went to Regent Bistro, which kind of reminded me of a restaurant in the rocks in Sydney. I had the grilled duck (it was so good). Afterwards, we ended up at Houses of Parliament again for celebratory drinks. I headed home around 12:30. I'm really enjoying living where I am. A 10 minute walk into the centre of town. Trams here stop at 1am and start up again at 5am. Jason and I can just walk home, but the others need the trams, so they have to decide pretty early what they're going to do. There's always so many people out when I'm walking home, so I never feel unsafe or anything either.

Regent Bistro - yes that is a gift of cling wrap, Jason

can never seem to find it anywhere

Jason

The meal was kind of like a massive help yourself

Grilled duck - the sauce was so good

Walking home through Victoire

Walking through the streets

Nothing to report.

Today was the same as the last few days. I filled my day with uni work and a big grocery shop. I finally found matches, so was able to light the candles in my room. I also went for a run this afternoon. It started pouring halfway though, but I managed 5.5 kms and then a 3 km walk back home in the dry.

Sun through my skylight in the morning. Was a balmy

9 degrees

Running in the rain

 For dinner, I cooked a rare steak marinaded in a red wine reduction.

Dinner

Dinner

Since I haven't posted any photos for a few days, I'm uploading a few from others in the group of just around Bordeaux!

Saint-Andre Cathedral

Quinconces

Place de la bourse

Quinconces

On rue St. Catherine

Quinconces

Quinconces

Opera National de Bordeaux

Bordeaux 3

Mollat - biggest independent book shop in Europe

Place de la bourse

Place de la bourse

Australia Night.

Last night was awesome. I can't really cover everything that happened (because a lot happened), so I'll just cover the basics! But we ended up going to Houses of Parliament, an english pub off the main street. We had Australian tattoos (thanks to Amy Stoakes) and handed them around to everyone who wanted them - we had plenty to share! I think I got home at around 3am, just when nightclubs are starting to open. I skipped that part of the night for fear I would never wake up today. In fact, I don't know if any Australians ended up going to a nightclub.
I woke up pretty early here thanks to a mistaken alarm I set yesterday. I've just been uni working it all day again!
I'm about to get up soon and cook chorizo and ham pasta for dinner.

On our way to Houses of Parliament - 10:30pm

Lucy and I

Nat, Jason and I

The Australians - Candice, Lucy, Jason, Andrew, Sarah, me and Nat

Australians + Americans + maybe some French

Jason, Nat and I walking home

Sarah and Jason