First stop: Bordeaux

I'm thrilled to be back in my apartment sleeping in my own bed after a whirlwind of adventures across Europe during my two week February vacation. The update will be long, so I'm dividing it into a few parts.

Day 1:  After a late night of last minute logistic planning for our trip, I took of from the Montpellier train station with my good friends Ali and Mary in my program. We took a 5 hour train ride to Bordeaux, which was actually really nice and relaxing. We napped and read and chatted and enjoyed the view of the French country-side, and it was soooo much nicer than the planes that we took later on. Once we arrived in Bordeaux, we managed to find our way through the ice, snow and cold temperatures to our hotel. We were pretty hungry, so we went to the Carrefour grocery store right downstairs for what ended up turning into dinner. We found chips and salsa in the international food section, as well as bread, cheese, salami and fruit. We had a great picnic on our hotel bed!

Ali and Mary with our feast

Later that night, we decided to go to the movie theater down the street to watch a French love story, Ma Première Fois. I understood more of it than I thought I would, which was a nice surprise, but, in the typical French vain, it was incredibly sad. 

The next morning, we walked around Bordeaux, carrying our bags in pretty cold temperatures, which was not idea. But it is a very beautiful city, and I'm sure it's even better in the spring and summer. 
 

Beautiful buildings along the river

Bordeaux wine, of course

Once we had our fill of exploring, we hopped on a tram and a bus and made our way to the airport to take off for Rome!

Off to Italia!