Avez-vous des frites ?

Since I was here last semester, I was able to see when the long weekends for Spring semester were ahead of time and got some cheap flights. One of those was for the puente (long weekend) in February, which was Día de Andalucía. It might have been interesting to stay and see how Granada celebrated, but I had to take advantage of the extra time and travel. I flew from Madrid to Toulouse for 10 Euros, took a bus to Bordeaux, and flew from Bordeaux to Málaga for 20. Actually, after factoring in the cost of the bus to Madrid and the taxis to the airport, since the flights were too early to use public transportation, the journey ended up being not that cheap. But oh well, I learned my lesson.

First, I spent a day and a night in Toulouse. I was all alone and I hadn't met anyone at the hostel yet, so I wandered around the city and into a sculpture museum.

That evening, my hostel was still empty. It was nice to have the room to myself, but I would've appreciated the company. I went out on my own again to an indie movie theater to watch whatever film was playing next. It turned out to be a stop-motion film in Arabic with French subtitles about the Israeli occupation of Palestine! It was a really sweet movie and I cried like a baby at the end. Plus it was interesting to think between Arabic and French rather than Arabic and English or Spanish. Here's the trailer in English:

Late that night the three other beds in my room were occupied by three German women in their fifties. I forgot to ask what their plans were, but judging by their equipment I think they were going hiking. I hope I'm that cool when I'm their age!

The next day I left for Bordeaux, where I'd spend two nights. The bus ride was only a few hours, and when I left the bus station, I couldn't believe how beautiful the city was. I left my things at the hostel and went out with my camera.

I wandered around forever trying to find the famous Miroir d'eau, which is supposed to be a shallow pool of water near the Place de la Bourse. According to Google Maps I was practically in the pool, and I finally figured out that the pool is only filled during the summer. Still, it was a beautiful plaza with youth on skateboards and people walking their dogs.

That evening, in the hostel lobby, an Australian woman approached me and said she was also staying in the lobby and was hoping to run into other solo travelers who might want to go out. I was relieved--I was afraid that I might end up going to bed at 8pm with nothing better to do! We collected some other travelers: a man from Canada and a woman from California who was working in Madrid. She had met a French man on couch surfers who agreed to go with us to one of his favorite restaurants.

I had duck and red wine and it was absolutely delicious. I suppose I would've gone by myself because I'm not afraid of showing up to a restaurant alone... but I'm so thankful to have found other people in the same boat as me.

Being in France made me realize how lucky I am to have chosen Granada for study. Bordeaux was beautiful, but crazy expensive, at least in comparison to Granada. In Granada you can buy a beer for 2,50€ and you will also receive "free" food, sometimes enough for a light dinner. In France one is not so lucky. I don't remember how expensive meals were, but I remember being disappointed about the price (but not the quality, of course).

Nightlife is also better in Granada. Bars in Bordeaux close early, and drinks are expensive, maybe up to 10€. What I did appreciate about France is that the people in the bars seemed more laid back than in Spain. Spanish people, especially university students, take dressing up very seriously, but in France, no one appeared to be trying to impress anyone. They still looked trendier than me, of course, but they wore natural makeup and "vintage" second-hand clothes. Even their dancing reflected their self-confidence and their desire to have a simple, fun night out. I remember in Spain, a Spanish guy told me I dance like his mom (he's probably right), but in France, everyone else danced like a mom, too!

I didn't go to any vineyard or wine-tasting tours because I only had two days there and I figured I could take myself to a bar and drink wine for cheaper. I did, however, run into a yellow vest protest, which was a new experience for me. In Spain there's protests all the time, but they're always quite tame. In France, I heard grenades and smelled smoke. Businesses shut down in preparation, and all the policemen came out fully equipped. Windows and ATMs were smashed (quite inconvenient for us tourists). I interacted with a lot of interesting people that day:

Whenever I asked, no one had a concrete answer about why they were protesting. I think it started with taxes. One person asked me what the big movement is in my country, and I honestly couldn't tell him. This protest has been going on for months now, and I liked seeing how everyone else carried on with their lives.

One final note: the stereotype that the French are rude is both true and false. I was surprised and how kind most people were in Toulouse and Bordeaux, but yet some people would still make fun of me if I tried to speak French. I went to a kebab place and asked them if they had fries (Avez-vous des frites ?) and some people behind me mocked what I said because I didn't pronounce the "r" in the throat like I was supposed to. He told me no one will understand me if I say it like that and I just looked at him as I accepted my fries because guess what? I was understood.