First day of school, and a giant sand dune!

california girls :)

on top of la Dune du Pyla/the world!

la Dune du Pyla

I knew at some point I would actually have to face the fact that I am living in France not only to meet cool people, see beautiful places, and eat delicious food...but to study. Zut. My first week of classes was a labyrinth of confusing schedules and very daunting literature assignments, but luckily I think everything has sorted itself out and I now have a tentative schedule of: The Retellings of Tristan and Isolde, French Literature- Proust, French Political Culture, Art History (XIX century),  and Methodology. I am taking Tristan and Isolde, Methodology, and Art History at the University of Bordeaux main campus (taught in french by french teachers with french students), and the remaining classes I am taking at DEFLE (French as a second language school), which is a part of University of Bordeaux. Fear not though, I am definitely still finding time to explore Bordeaux and all of its treasures! Yesterday my French friend Joris and I went to Arcachon, which is a beautiful little beach town an hour-long drive towards the coast. Although it was chilly (ONE DEGREE CELSIUS, I MISS ME SOME CALIFORNIA SUNSHINE!), it was absolutely gorgeous! We climbed up this massive sand dune, la Dune du Pyla, which is a stunning 3 km long and made up of 60 million cubic meters of sand (don't you just love the metric system?). This little day trip got me super excited to start traveling and exploring different parts of France...and also was the inspiration to buy my plane tickets to Barcelona in February! I suppose at some point I will have to do some homework, but until then I will just be eating cheese, wearing scarves, and planning my next adventure!