A tear for Bordo.

Bonjour encore,

Finally i have returned, it took a while and a little prodding and poking, but i'm glad we could share this moment together.

I'll just set the scene before i continue. I am trying to write this as 20 kids run around the house screaming and playing. One just ran under the table. It's a little annoying - especially because to them i'm this strange exotic english speaking Australian and sometimes they talk among themselves about me not realising that i can understand most of their conversation "Il est australien!"

But anyway, i can't really remember what i last talked about, but a lot has happened since my last blog - climbing ridiculously massive sand dunes, visiting the beach, drinking lots of wine, visiting chateaux's and learning about and then drinking more wine.

While all this has been happening, i have (as i'm sure all you dedicated readers are aware) have been going to Alliance Français French classes. I am actually really sad to say that today was my last day. It has been such a fantastic time. I learnt so much and met some of the most interesting people. Our teacher, Delphine, has a sharp entertaining sense of humour that ensures that all our classes are not just interesting but funny. It just doesn't feel like school - or even uni. We all just laugh at each other as we attempt to converse in French. What also makes the time so interesting is the wide variety of people. I am by far the youngest - the others think of me as the kid, the baby, and everytime i say "when i was younger" i receive resounding groans and laughs. But everyone is so nice and friendly that age makes little difference. There are students from everywhere: Argentina, Mexico, Italy, Cyprus, China, Taiwan, Brazil, Japan, the states. We have representitives of so many different cultures, but because of the diversity, we have no particular one dominating. This makes the class really fascinating, especially when we discuss differences in culture and everyday lives. It also helps that most of the class is really entertaining - whether they mean to be or not - and so most of the time we are laughing.

I don't really feel that i am expressing myself particulary well. i just read what i wrote and it just sounds incredibly lame... but, ultimately, it was a great experience which i have not only benefited from, but really enjoyed. I will be sad to say goodbye.

But moving on. Last week i participated in what feels like a million wine degustations - which ended up being 3. It felt like a million though, because by the third, i was hearing the same facts recited all over again. They were fun and interesting but i always thought they were juuuuust a little stingy with the wine.

One of the degustations involved a tour of a few wine making chateaux's which was really interesting.

On Sunday (after a strange night of sickness - i didn't even drink anything!) the family took me to Dune de Pilat - an amazing naturally formed massive sand dune which is the biggest in Yourope. The views were literally breathtaking and for once, it wasnt cloudy or raining. The dune is more then 100 metres high, 500m wide and went on for as far as the eye could see. The rolling dunes met the ocean on one side and a national park on the other, creating a beautiful, pristine view. I can't discribe in words just how awesome it was, so just see the pictures. It was an effort to climb up, but the crazy sprint down lasted only seconds.

It was fuuuuun.

This last week with nath and tim has also been really fun. Lots of laughing, eating and exploring. It has been nice to be reunited.

We have packed so much into these last few days - time just seems to be flying! (I am worried that i'll open my eyes and be back home again!) and for our last real night in Bordy, we celebrated with a few bottles of wine and a night on the town. We were told by some random British girls (as we walked passed them late one night we heard a few words of english - the first English words for what seemed like weeks - and so ran back to find out who they were and why they were in bordo. They gave us a few tips, one of which was where to find the student bars...) that the place to be on a thursday night was Place Victoire. Although we had very little idea of how to get there, we just went to the tram station and just followed the young, yelling frenchies. We found it all right. There was a massive open square filled with tipsy students (one of whom wanted us to fight him - 3VS1 haha) and sorrounded by packed bars. We went into a few (including the Byron Bay Australian Bar!!), drank a few beers and 2€ kiwi shots (which unsurprisingly tasted like rubbish) and got covered in snow/bubbles. After a few hours we decided to call it a night but while we were on the train, we got into an animated conversation with a few local frenchies. Nathan and tim would interject every now and again with a french word they remembered and we would all erupt in cheers. haha. Annnnyway, it just so happens that another frenchy who loved Australians was on the tram and so after a long talk he invited us back to a friends house where we continued the celebrations. It was so refreshing to see some frenchies who were really really nice - and i'm so glad that nathan and tim got to witness firsthand my experience of the French people. This is just another example of how freckin awesome and spontaneous they can be and it was a great way to end our trip in Bordeaux.

Anyway, i'm quite tired not just physically but also emotionally from the 20billion goodbyes i said today. As much as i'm looking forward to moving on i'm sad to be leaving here... it's just such a nice city. I say goodbye to the family tomorrow... again, im going to miss them (especially the meals, free internet and walking into my room to find a neat pile of washed and ironed clothes!).

Hope everyone is going well.

Miss you all.