Ines Sordo is studying French and Art History at University College London and writes for one of the university newspapers and the film section of the university magazine "Pi". She is now on her year abroad in Bordeaux, working as an iconographic researcher at the cultural and touristic wine centre. Find out how she's getting on...
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Fret not; you don’t need a survival guide to Bordeaux. Unlike the bigger French cities this south western wine haven is big enough to get lost in but small enough to feel straight at home. It also boasts some of the loveliest people you’ll ever meet who will be more than willing to make you try out their equally lovely cuisine. But just in case you want to land there with a good idea of where to take your year-abroad friends to, here are some quick tips.Published in Ines's Bordeaux BlogTags -
Going back to being a proper student, that’s it, i’m out of here and leaving on a jet plane (should you be lucky enough to get security clearance)
Nothing says “I love you” like a dude clapping when the wind suddenly lifts your skirt up as you’re cycling by the riverside. Welcome to bdx. I must preface this post by adding that spontaneous public nudity is not all I’ve been up to this month, I have also been perfecting the art of tanning in the office. So hello, dear reader, I’m back in your normal little life with a slice of my normal little life! And as summer is starting to run its silky hands through my hair, the cold grip of the year abroad project keeps whispering sweet “you have to write those oh &!*$ 6000 words” into my ear.Published in Ines's Bordeaux BlogTags -
This month: It’s not wasting time if you’re being funny, I did a cultured thing so please be proud and since when is France THIS different?
This month’s instalment of fun in France has proudly been started on company time. Just in case any of my co-workers are reading this let me add that I’m not spending THAT much time on it (loosely translated from suck-up that means “please please please, still pay me”). In my defence I must point out that the life of a stagiaire isn’t quite heart pumping pulse-thumping stuff and as such I have recently found myself with quite a bit of sort-of-down-time, at work. But, despite this minor inconvenience my job is still aces, like Bordeaux and like my health (not that you were curious, I know, but I needed a filler, pardon the egotism).Published in Ines's Bordeaux BlogTags -
It’s not Christmas it’s “Noel”, finding that ‘the one’ already has another one and giggling during a movie is not appreciated in France either…
Just when one would think that writing this blog would have become a matter of rather amusing and cathartic habit I almost managed to forget about it this month- and where would that have left us, eh? (Please don’t answer). But never fear, I am indeed still very much here. And as the bdx monsoon season has let up to allow the bdx cold-enough-to-freeze-a-medium-sized-poodle season this city has managed to become my home.Published in Ines's Bordeaux BlogTags -
Realising you actually live in France now, manoeuvring the workplace and settling in...
My first month of living alone in Bordeaux (now affectionately referred to as bdx) has come and gone, and I can safely say that home universities should warn against the confusing French keyboard. For over a month now I have been typing up entire documents where all the a’s are q’s and all the m’s have mysteriously become commas. But more about fun at the workplace later.Published in Ines's Bordeaux Blog
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So that was the point of this, huh?, BEAT THAT, jet setters of the easyjet kind and a bit of a sniffle
This is my last blog as a year abroad intern. In less than 2 weeks I will be done with work schedules, early wake-up calls and responsibilities and go back to being a regular library-avoider; or a student, as we are known in the vernacular. So, what do I do now? I’ve gotten used to the silly work schedules, my body just wakes up at those ungodly hours and I actually even kind of enjoy those pesky responsibilities… what has this year done to me?!? I took a quick poll of, well, my family and very close friends and the answer came back “you’re actually useful to the world now Ness” which, I’ll be honest, I didn’t realise I was signing up for.Published in Ines's Bordeaux BlogTags -
The fantastic one-woman bdx tourism ad, rolling rolling THUMP and bonjour gorgeous, can I buy you a boisson?
It is now March, and just as surely as all the British tourists have started wearing sandals at the slightest hint of sun, so does this blog once again rear its, one hopes improving, head to deliver a status report on my life and Bdx. And, in a rare moment of brevity I shall give you a quick conclusion for this month: Come to Bdx.Published in Ines's Bordeaux BlogTags -
What’s “Happy New Year” in French? It’d be a shame to fail so soon and getting off the couch for a change…
Happy New Year person reading this! While I hope this year brings you all the luck you deserve and that this past New Years Eve brought you all the stories you were hoping for, this month comes with a shameful confession: Out of the 3 weeks between the last instalment and this one, 2 of them have been spent in Spain, making writing about Bdx somewhat more complicated. So please be warned that this month we shall talk on broader terms.Published in Ines's Bordeaux BlogTags -
Dealing with French chaos, a bit of FML and my, my haven’t we changed...
I have now been here for three lovely months and haven’t once seen a jazz cat. Now I’m not one to diss Walt Disney, but I am one to voice my disappointment (motherly *tut* for those of you who didn’t realise I was referring to “the aristocats”). Luckily though this still remains the only negative incident on my bordelaise adventure, well that and an unfortunate event involving a few too many shots, but we shan’t start off on the wrong foot.Published in Ines's Bordeaux BlogTags -
Bordeaux Blog: Chapter 1
Written by Ines SordoGetting acquainted with the French real estate sector, walking around pointing at things like a Japanese tourist in London and don’t mention the war (they’re a bit bitter about it here too)
Why lie, Bordeaux was not my first choice. No, like many of us wide-eyed French students (that is of course, wide-eyed BEFORE starting uni, afterwards we’re more eyes-open-thanks-to-caffeine) I had always hoped to end up in Paris. But here I am happily starting my year abroad in France’s 7th largest city working in, what else? The wine industry.Published in Ines's Bordeaux Blog
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