Went on our first trip this weekend...to Bordeaux

Tuesday Federico cooked everyone an Italian dinner..it was delicious! After dinner about 8 of us went to the Ducks d'Angers hockey game. It was so much fun!! Angers won 4-2! The city bus doesn't come as frequently late at night so we had about 45 minutes to wait after the hockey game. It was freezing outside so we found this really cute cafe to have hot chocolate in while we waited for the bus.
Thursday We had a field trip with one of our professors, Monsieur Danion. We went to the tapestry museum, Musee Jean Lurcat De La Tapisserie Contemporaine. The tapestries are displayed in what was once St. John's Hospital. They were really nice and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. We went to the Trinity Church of Angers afterwards and had a guided tour by this cute little French woman. She only spoke French so Danion translated everything for us. We ended up staying in the church for an hour and a half...which was about an hour longer than any of us wanted to be in the church! It ended up being kind of funny because we felt like it was a joke. We were all ready to leave (and freezing!), but our tour guide continued to find new bricks that she needed to tell us about. When the tour was over I'm pretty sure the entire class sprinted to get to the bus stop haha
Friday Our train left around 9am to head to Bordeaux! We arrived at about 1:30 and checked into our hotel: Hotel California (we did not choose this one on purpose, I promise!) We visited St. Andrew's Cathedral. Although I had had enough church viewing on Thursday, the architecture and stain glass in St. Andrew's was gorgeous! We climbed to the very top of Pey-Berland Tower which is St. Andrew's bell tower. It was SO high!! There was a huge market on the main street in town so we walked around there for awhile and then had a delicious dinner at Cafe de Arts. Anna, Katie, and Megan and I went out Friday night to a few different bars which ended up being a lot of fun
Saturday We went on a wine tour and visited two wineries: Chateau Prieure-Lichine and Chateau du Taillan.
The bus ride to the Chateau's was beautiful! We had a tour guide at each chateau that gave us the history of the winery, took us on a tour of the property, and then provided a tasting at the end. It was interesting to learn about the process of making wine. I drink enough wine over here so I might as well learn something about it! :) After we got back from the wine tour Anna and I went to this pasta place called Mezzo and I met my Fairy Godmother. She works at the restaurant and is the sweetest woman I've met since I've been in France.
Sunday It was such a nice day! It was pretty cold, but the sun was shining, so it was perfect! We walked along the river in Bordeaux. There were so many people outside running, roller-blading, riding bikes, and skate boarding. I couldn't believe the number of people outside exercising! Maybe that's why the French are so thin...We went to the gardens (which will be much prettier in the spring) and the ruins.
It was a fun weekend, but we were all ready to get back to Angers!
Today There was a reception for all of the hospitality exchange students who are in both english and french classes. One of the directors of the program mentioned to the group that he was very excited about the Saints winning the Superbowl and he also mentioned that he was an LSU fan...so of course I went up to introduce myself and I told him that I heard he was an LSU fan and I just happened to be born and raised in Gainesville...he responded with "I think my mother is calling me" and slowly started walking away haha :) He was very nice and we chatted for a little while..mostly about college football.