Le Premier Week-end

Jeremy went to school on Thursday.  Although the purpose for our trip was his schooling, all of the preparations involved to bring us here were great distractions for his final focus.  Thursday was jolting.  Oh right...he'll have to STUDY  sometime during these next 3 months!! All of the new exchange students met up at BEM—Bordeaux Ecole de Management (and finally…Bordeaux Management School) for an all-day info session. There are 120 new exchange

 students, and 600 total in the school of 2,500, with  44 different countries represented. One of the many things they discussed were the how’s about scheduling. 

He is taking 4 classes this quarter, but each one separately, 3 weeks at a time, for up to 6 hours a day.  Every morning the school changes the room number for every class so the minute he arrives to school he must check a little computer screen with all of the updated daily room numbers.  Most of the exchange students who don’t speak French are wisely taking a French course to start off.  However, Western’s MBA program can’t accept any language credits towards his degree.  Instead, he will be starting off with a class in Human Resources in a Global Environment, and will keep his French learning to CD’s, me, and the streets.

We live in downtown Bordeaux.  Downtown Downtown.  BEM is in the town of Talence, a 25-minute tram ride away plus another ten minutes of walking.  One of the exchange students from previous years encouraged us to look into Bordeaux housing, instead of the school housing near campus.  It was sound advice. I am sure that had we lived out there we would have found ways to love that little out-of-the-way town.  I would have been the one commuting every day to Bordeaux though, to be where the action, heart and culture all meet. So although Jeremy will tack on an extra hour to the days he attends school, living within walking distance of all-things-Bordeaux gives him perfect homework procrastinating excuses.

He seemed revived and excited when he came home from his info day, content to have removed some of the unknown, hailing me with stories of the frustrated young Americans, his thoughts on the school’s organization, how an English guy is finding it difficult to live a vegetarian lifestyle here (Yeah no kidding), the delightful lunch they served, and the potential swine flu cases they have seen in some of the directors already. 

(They even asked all students to refrain from the traditional kisses to keep germ-spreading to a minimum!  Hand shaking is OK though…).

Jeremy was among the frustrated Americans.  In order to receive his long-stay student visa he was required to purchase health insurance.  Not a bad idea, in general, considering we have both lived without health insurance for much too long now.  Tacked onto the health insurance was a travel and repatriation insurance; not a cheap investment, and still a requirement.  So, in order to live here the government of France requires you to have health insurance.  Not a problem.  However, we found out when we got here that the French Government does not allow anyone to take classes unless they are signed up for French Social Security Health Insurance.  By law.  No excuses. Now, Mr Jeremy is now doubly insured.   When a few of the girls complained of the expense and the idiocracy of requiring double health insurance, they were met with understanding, apologies, and a push to resignation.  Apparently those two hands of the government haven’t spoken in a while. 

That evening the Melting Potes organization hosted a dinner that evening at a local restaurant near Place de la Victoire, a perfect evening hang-out square for the college-aged. Over 80 of us joined, so we took up most of the seating area.  They served us ‘Confit de Canard,’ a Duck specialty of this region, with salad, sangria, and a tiny chocolate cake.  Although satisfied with French cuisine thus far, I have to say that Anna Dean’s chocolate cakes are far superior to what we were served.  (didja year that, Miss Dean?)

We sat with two Chinese girls, Yao, and Thon.  They were quiet yet very friendly, and had a deep knowledge of Chinese and world politics.   We exchanged cultural questions during the length of meal. They have a decent hold of English, but they will be learning French with an English Speaking teacher.  Their brains were already exhausted after spending a day with English, but during these next 3 weeks they are fortunate enough to work their way around double-translating.  I know they aren’t the only ones.

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The last few days we have kept to ourselves.  We were originally considering traveling to Paris for the long 4-day weekend.  However, the hand-off between Jeremy’s old G.I. Bill and the new ‘Post 9/11’  G.I. bill means we aren’t sure when he will be getting paid for school.  We have paid all of our bills up-front  and out-of-pocket with our fingers crossed that the government’s paperwork processing will be finished in time for school.  So, considering we haven’t yet bought our Eurail pass for other weekend excursions, and trains to Paris were much too expensive for our Pre-GI Bill bank accounts, we decided to snuggle up in Bordeaux.

 I’ve relished these quiet moments.  The weeks building up to the wedding and then to our departure were overwhelming and full to the brim with people and noise and thoughts and pure action.  Even our honeymoon, although refreshing, was still full of wedding and work thoughts.  Here, our nights have been late, our mornings later, our afternoons slightly lazy and usually filled with deciphering our corner of the world with walks and general life-upkeep (which honestly takes much longer here!), trips to the bakery and the grocery store, lingering at little cafes, romantic moonlit walks along the riverside, and learning who we are as a couple in this new scenario.  I know we will be mustering up our energy to be involved in the social scene, to embrace cultural sights and smells, and even travel to other countries (we have an invite to Seville!!) so this weekend was simple, and simply for us.