Highlights of My First Week

So after the last more serious post, I promised that I would be more positive this time. So here's some of what I loved about my first week in Pau:

1)Sitting by the fountains at Place Clemenceau. This a large square downtown surrounded by a bunch of stores (including H&M, score!). Sitting by the fountains last Thursday I met a really friendly woman and her adorable two-year-old son (who she let loose to play naked in the fountains, haha). While sitting with her she told about some places I should definitely check out in Pau and even suggested a place for me to get a cheap bike. Lots of people think I'm crazy for this, but striking up a conversation with people I randomly meet is one of the things I live for. It happens much more often over here than in the U.S. and I love when it does. When it happens it shows me that there are some of us who still do pay attention to the people around us (outside of those who we already know).

2)Getting rosé sangria. Yes, rosé sangria. I've had red sangria, and I've seen white sangria, but rosé? Being really close to Spain (I'll try to do a post about Pau and it's location and all that soon), when I went out for tapas with some of the English language assistants I thought we were going to get the real deal, but no. Even so, it was still really good, haha.

3)Going to the L'Atelier du Vélo and riding a bike down one of the busiest roads in Pau. Like I mentioned earlier, the woman I met by the fountains told me about a really nice guy close to her apartment who repairs old bikes and sells them for cheap. I visited him last Friday and when I went to his "headquarters," he asked if I knew how to ride a bike (I hope so if I'm going to buy one I thought, lol.), said it would be faster if we went by bike, borrowed one of his friend's bikes, let me use one of his and we rode over to his garage so I could look at some. It was definitely an experience riding out on this busy road with this tiny older man ahead of me on his bike, moving smoothly around buses and cars without fear, looking back to see if I was still there, haha. I didn't find one last week but I'll be back to visit him this Thursday or Friday and see his new additions.

4)Hanging out around the university. Last Friday I went to put up fliers in search of a roommate (I even made a plea to a grad school class in French!). I picked up a campus newsletter, and the concert schedule for this cool place on campus called the Centrifugeuse, so I'm really excited to check out what will be going on there during the year.

5)Seeing my Mom. Or, I should say a French look-alike, haha. I got on the bus last Friday and this woman walked on who looked just like my Mom. If she didn't start speaking French I would have given her a huge hug and then proceeded to look like an idiot, haha.

6)Getting a café, noisette, etc. So, because I still don't have Internet I've been haunting the mall downtown, becoming a regular at the two cafés I've been able to find that have free wi-fi. What I love about getting coffee over here (even though people from outside of France complain about the size) is that it always comes with a little cookie or chocolate. Especially when you're having a rough day, it really hits the spot.

7)Getting a roommate! It's funny that right after I mentioned my problems with that in my last post I ended up getting a call from the assistant who was originally supposed to room with me, saying that she was still interested. So far it's been good! She's German and seems really nice so far. Even though she speaks some English, we pretty much only speak French in the apartment, which I like. Hopefully things will continue to go well there.

Well this is my first official week as an English teaching assistant. Tomorrow there's an all-day meeting with all of the assistants in the department and the rest of the week (including today), I'll just be observing English classes and introducing myself to students. I'm sure that by the end of the week I'll have plenty to report.