Andrew Bulgarino Bordeaux Exchange 2019

Traveling to France

My journey to France began on the afternoon of the twenty-seventh of May. Because I was the only MBA student venturing to France this year, I flew out of Washington D.C. by myself, arriving the next morning at the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. Unfortunately, the jetlag did not work in my favor going to France, as I arrived to a fresh, new day at around 8:00 a.m. local time with little to no sleep. After wandering through the airport and claiming my bag, I walked over to the train station to catch the high-speed TGV train to go to Bordeaux. This three and a half hour train ride was probably the most comfortable and smoothest of my life. I was greeted by the English teacher of La Sauque (the exchange school), and she drove me over to the boarding school itself. 

Me with my first host, Lino

Arriving at the School

Once I arrived at the school, my French-speaking skills were immediately tested. The few English words that the teacher had spoken to me were the last ones I would speak for a while. She introduced me to my first host student, Lino, and soon enough I was talking in a circle with his friends. I was shocked at first by the rapid nature of the conversation, which made it extremely difficult for me to follow. Lino, thankfully, realized this and eventually brought us to a smaller group where it would be easier for me to try and understand. He also realized that I was heavily jetlagged, so he asked one of the teachers if we could go to bed a little early after dinner so I could try and catch up on some sleep. After gaining approval, we then went to dinner at the cafeteria, where I was able to eat my first real French meal. The best part for me was definitely the bread, even though this bread was apparently considered cheap by the local students. After chowing down on plenty of bread to fill me, I gathered my bags and headed off to my room to get my first night of sleep. 

Downtown Bordeaux

All of the exchange students

The next day was, luckily for me, a short school day, as Wednesdays usually are in France. It seemed like I had arrived on just the right day, as it was the start of a long weekend due to a bank holiday. Because of these days off, I stayed with Lino’s family for the weekend. This was near perfect timing; I could sleep in and adjust to the jetlag instead of waking up early every day at the school. During this long weekend, we met up with Lino’s friends essentially every day, whether it was at the local shopping center or at one of their houses. This was a great part of my experience in France, as I felt really included and accepted immediately. After a fun few days with Lino’s family, we returned to La Sauque on the next Monday. During this week, I met several new friends, including some fellow non-Francophones. There were other exchange students already at the school, with some from Ireland and others from America. This was also the week that the students from St. Cecilia arrived, so it was really great to see all of these exchanges happening at once. Instead of going to classes for a week, La Sauque had planned daily excursions to local sites for all of the exchange students and their hosts, including the castle of Montesquieu, downtown Bordeaux, a meeting and dinner with the mayor of the local town, and the Dune of Pilat (though the rain actually cancelled this trip). This was a fantastic week full of tourist activities, and I really liked the format of doing all of these touristy-type outings with the other exchange students, and then go to our host families individually to immerse ourselves into the daily life of a French family rather than as a tourist. The last day of school was that Friday, and there was the end-of-year awards program that evening, where all of the exchange students were recognized, with a representative from each school giving a quick speech about their experience. Being the only one from MBA, I had no choice but to give this speech, which was actually not as nerve-racking as I expected it to be–maybe the fact that it was in a different language helped. After the ceremony, it was time to say sad goodbyes to the other exchange students that I would not see again on my trip, as we were all going our separate ways with our host families. At this point, I went to my second host, Jean Baptiste, for the rest of my stay in France. He lived in Périgueux, a small town located more in the countryside about 2 hours away from La Sauque.

Some of the other host students

Last day at La Sauque with the other exchange students

View of the French countryside

One of the prehistoric drawings from inside Lascaux

Overlook of the city of Arcachon

Second Host Family

The first week with my second host family was full of talking, as I was bombarded by questions about American culture, daily life, and politics. I thoroughly enjoyed all of these conversations, as it was great for developing my French, and it really made me realize that as an exchange student, I essentially was the representative of America for all of the locals. Even though I live in Nashville, I was still seen as just as valid as a source when talking about the north or the west coast. Regardless of whether that was true, every meal was full of heavy conversations like these. That is one thing that is remarkably distinguishable in France; every dinner in France is a long, family process with at least three courses. While at some points this was a little tiring, they were for the most part enjoyable. Other than eating and talking, my host family took me out to see many local attractions, including Lascaux, a prehistoric cave that features some of the oldest-known prehistoric drawings. We also visited the beautiful Chateau des Milandes, where we even got to see a falconry show. After this first week of seeing some local sites, the second week was full of a bit more travelling. During this week, my host himself had a required internship, so he was busy during the days. Because of this, his sister and I went to downtown Bordeaux and stayed with her grandfather. As there are so many little shops and stores in this area, it was easy to fill the week. There was also the annual Fete le Fleuve in Bordeaux, so there was many activities going on in the city. On the last day of the week, we went to La Cité du Vin, which is renown for its architecture and of course its wine. After learning a bit about the history of wine and vineyards around the world, we enjoyed a glass of wine atop the building with a lovely view of the city. Later that night, the rest of the family met us in Bordeaux, and we all traveled to the city of Arcachon. This made for a nice last weekend in France at the beach. We stayed at a beach house that was very close to the Dune of Pilat, the largest sand dune in Europe, so of course we had to go and climb it. Though it was a strenuous climb, the view of the bay below was well worth it. That night the parents had some of their friends over for a dinner party, which meant that there were even more people now to ask me questions about America, or what I think of France, all of which I really loved to talk about, even if I was answering some of the same questions again. This made for a fantastic last weekend in France, and once we returned to Périgueux on Monday, I had one more day to just relax, reflect on my trip, and pack my bags. Thankfully, there were no issues with my traveling, so I was able to return to Charles de Gaulle via the TGV and catch my flight back to America. 

Popular plaza in Bordeaux

Wine tasting at La Cité du Vin

Panorama from atop the Dune of Pilat

A Flight of Reflection
I spent most of my flight just pondering over my voyage. There were so many fantastic moments, and it is quite hard to relate all of them into a blog. This was truly an experience of a lifetime, and it really made me think differently about the world, as I was not only able to witness another culture in action, but I was able to partake in it, and this true immersion into the culture could not have happened without actually speaking the language. I would like to express my extreme gratitude to the Wilson family for making this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity possible. I would also like to thank Mr. Paolicchi and Mr. Trotter, as they allowed me to both begin my study of French and take it to the next level.