Hello, Biarritz

Today we took a trip to the lovely city of Biarritz. Where the beaches are beautiful and the views are stunning. Unfortunately when we got there it was looking a bit grey, but that soon changed into a beautiful blue sky. We went up to a lookout spot first, which looked out onto the beach. We spent a good 30 minutes there, taking photos and admiring the views. After that we drove down to the waterfront which was absolutely stunning. Unfortunately because of it not being the nicest day, the umbrellas on the beach had not been put up.

We walked along the waterfront, smelling all the delicious smells coming from the restaurants along the beach. We found this ice cream place that was owned by a very friendly lady who spoke English. We ate our ice creams and chatted with her for a while until we had finished the ice creams and went to move more into the centre of the city. We went past a couple of markets and performances on the way back to the car. On the way back we stopped at another lookout to see the city from another angle.

By the time we got back to the car, it was 4:00 already! I had a great time in Biarritz today and definitely made it into my top 10 favorite cities!

The Ancient Town of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port

Today we drove down to the ancient, fortified town of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in the Basque area of France. It is a stunning town that borders Spain and France. The architecture was very different to buildings in the Bearn area. We walked through the cobbled paths in the heat of the day. We walked up to the top of the citadel, where we had beautiful views of the town and the vineyards on the hills behind. It was an extremely photogenic town, much like many other French towns. We stopped by a restaurant for lunch and I ordered a burger and frites.

It was a great afternoon and I hope to visit Sain-Jean-Pied-de-Port soon.

My Thoughts on School

So as some of you may know, I started in a 100% French speaking school today. And when I say 100% I mean that completely, none of  the teachers can even speak a ‘little’ English. I started off the school day in Biology, I understood nothing of it. It was the same for Maths, Français, all the subjects. Lunch, now I’m from a public school where we had home packed lunches so the chef cooked lunches were a pretty big step up. We had an entrée, main and desert.

In the last period we had English, with a fluent English speaking teacher. She talked to the class in full English and I instantly felt at home. The kids were really nice and helpful, and I even made a few new friends. Not much communication going on, just a few nods and smiles here and there but hopefully I can pick up the language before I leave next year.

Au Revoir!