The 4th of April

I woke up with a start today and quickly took a shower and got ready because as soon as I opened my eyes I remembered that i hadn't packed yet for our vacation! I rushed around my room throwing clothes and cosmetics into my suitcase while drinking down my morning coffee. Eventually the car was packed and Sam and I met up with Karla and mom back at the hotel rested and ready to go. But first they wanted to see the city that we're living in for the semester. Of course the exterior market was our first stop. We strolled up and down the market and bought snacks for the road and sandwiches for lunch. Seeing Karla's and mom's faces light up was so rewarding this morning. This is the first time that either of them have been to France (and for my mom the first time to a country that truly doesn't speak her native tongue) so it was even exciting for me to show them around, show them French traditions, show off our language skills and let them have a really good first experience!

After the market we loaded into the car for a little road tour of the things we didn't have time to walk to... so we drove them by the castle and around that area, and then into Centre Ville a little bit to the House of Adam. It's a little pedestrian square with beautiful Renaissance architecture and walked around for some photo opportunities and to visit the artistic shop that hosts paintings, crafts, sculpting, everything type of art you can think of from artist in the region, France, and Europe. They loved it. As soon as we stepped back out to the cobble stone street it started to rain on us- so we took cover in the car and decided to start driving to Bordeaux- France's favorite city! Between the printed Google Maps and Sam's iPhone we made it through I think about 4 or more hours of driving to our hotel. After a bit of resting we wandered through the beautiful allies of Bordeaux which I found to be very similar to Angers- but much more lively and cozy. Their Centre Ville is enormous compared to Angers, and we wandered over towards the river bank where there were recommended seafood restaurants. We finally were drawn to a restaurant still on the water but tucked away into the old buildings called "Restaurant Basque- Cuisine du Grand Sud-Ouest" and enjoyed an amazing 4 course meal while sharing stories, laughing, and teaching Karla and mom about French etiquette and language. At one point in this little, intimate restaurant the four of us were repeating and emphasizing the difference between Beacoup (with "merci"- thanks alot) and Beau cul (nice ass) which are very subtle difference in the shaping of your lips. And I couple in the corner of the restaurant we found were laughing their heads off and that's when we realized what we doing. We were pretty loudly repeating "nice ass" over and over again in this quant restaurant. We laughed so hard- every experience we had today could have gone wrong but has gone comedically perfect and will be in our memories of France forever!