The trip over was not exactly the most direct route. Since my ticket was a last minute arrangement I had the pleasure of flying into Sydney (Cape Breton), Halifax (Nova Scotia), Saint-John's (Newfoundland), London (England), Paris and then the Aéroport de Mérignac in Bordeaux.
The city of Bordeaux at first seemed surreal. The vivid light of the September sun in Southern France made this town seem very lively and colourful. My cousin who lived just North of Bordeaux in a small town named Bourg-sur-Gironde was at the Bordeaux airport and took me in for a month before classes started. You may wonder why I had made the journey a month early. The answer is very simple, French universities are very picky about registration dates. Even if you have to travel over 5000 km!
I spent the month of September getting acquainted with my relatives from Bourg-sur-Gironde. Bourg is a quaint, somewhat insignificant rural town of the department of the Gironde. The area contained many limestone quarries that were used for many centuries. However Bourg is mostly known as a wine producing region with its own label: côtes de bourg. The town is situated on the Dordogne River, the name Bourg-sur-Gironde was inherited back when the Gironde estuary flowed further back upstream. In the middle of the harbour lies a rusting Uboat, north of the town is a German munitions depot that was never opened or emptied. Another 30 km to the North is the town of Blaye and its large fortress protecting the Gironde estuary, another 20 km to the south is the town of Saint-André-de-Cubzac.
In October, the first university class was nothing more than a mass rally for 2000 hopeful students trying to get through the doors of the large amphitheatre. I think we were trying to obtain documentation about the courses. I just remember the crush and the worried look on the custodian's face as he tried to funnel us in by groups of 10 or so.
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