Bordeaux Erasmus Guide

I wrote this blog for an Erasmus Competition but figured it was good enough to post on here too. So here it is, my very own guide to Bordeaux.

Bordeaux, Port of the Moon, the city with the beautiful story of transforming the sleeping beauty into the fairy tale city of dreams. Bordeaux is a romantic city, with beautiful buildings, views and culture. It is definitely somewhere to add to your Bucket List, as everyone should experience a bit of bordelaise life. An Erasmus year is the best way to do this.

Porte de Calihau

Arrival

Before arriving in Bordeaux for the year, I'd already found a place to live. I came to Bordeaux at the beginning of August to find somewhere, I'd organised a meeting with a homeowner who was looking for 2 students to stay in his family home and integrate into the family. For me, this was perfect as I wanted to speak as much french as possible, and living with a family means you're always interacting in some way.

It is really hard to find accommodation in Bordeaux, there's more students than housing, so my best advice is to get in early with arranging something, even if it isn't permanent. Popping over to Bordeaux a few weeks before your move in date is probably the best advice I can give, although I know some people who moved around a bit until finding the perfect appartment, I'd reccomend checking out AirBnB if you can't find anywhere straight away, this is a good short term fix.

Although housing depends on university location, finding something more central is probably better for you as the majority of the events occur in the centre. Bordeaux is also stunning at night, which is something you wouldn't want to miss out on by living down by the university.

There is always public transport running until 1am, sometimes later. The trams are a big deal here, they run all over the city, and only cost 1,60€.

First Day Surprises

The flight from England to Bordeaux is simple, it takes about 1 hour 50 minutes and transfer from the airport to the city centre is easy, you just take the 1+ bus (TBM) which stops infront of the airport. This is something everyone needs to know - don't get rippped off by paying the 8€ for a coach. TBM is just 1.60€!! The Bordeaux Airport is called l'aéroport Bordeaux-Merignac.

I had a stressful first day as our flight was delayed and we needed to check into the hotel before 8pm which was pushing it. We then couldn't pay for the trams with notes (this is something important to note, always carry coins!!... pardon the pun ahah) we managed to make check-in by the skin of our teeth!!

Administration

I suggest going to the university as soon as you arrive as there is so much paper work to fill out and bonus(!), you get given a welcome pack which prepares you for Bordeaux University life. The university is massive, it is walkable but the tram way goes through campus and there are 5 stops all within the campus. My registration for university took 2 months, I didn't get my student card until November which meant I couldn't eat in the diner and still haven't! That's something to note, French admin is very slow, they're alot more chill about

What to do and see

There is so much culture in Bordeaux, here's a list of some places to check out:

• Place de la Bourse: for stunning photos with mirroir d'eau, at both day and night, although I recommend 8pm in the summer, as the colours are stunning. The lights from the buildings reflect off the water, best photo opportunity in all of Bordeaux

Place de la Bourse

• Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux: it's magnificent, and probably my favourite place to sit and people watch

• Bordeaux Cathedral: day or night, it stands tall with Tour Pey Berland by it's side, climb this tour for amazing views across all of Bordeaux

• Saint Michel: this is a pretty chilled quartier in Bordeaux, with lots of salons de thé (cafés)

• Grosse Cloche: it's a spectacular archway with a massive bell and clock at the top

• Porte de Calihau: pretty gateway into the city, in a nice areas with some good bars surrounding it

• Cité du Vin: less whining, more wine, this wine museum is state of the art, with some brilliant exhibitions

Inside the wine shop at Cité du Vin

• Musée des beaux arts: I went to colour exhibition, it was pretty cool

• Science Museum: there's a pretty epic Escape Rooms type experience here, it's called Illuminopilus and is a light exhibition on physics but you're time pressured and trapped and need to solve puzzles to escape!

Places to Eat

La Casicucia

This hidden gem is located off Place du Parlement, La Casicucia serves the best pizza and pasta I personally think in Bordeaux. I've had both spaghetti carbonara and pizzas, they're so good. Another bonus, for 8 euros you can get une carafe de vin which is about 4 glasses worth!

L'Alysson

Now for my favourite restaurant in Bordeaux. It's a french brasserie and genuinely does the best french food. It's a winner if you want traditional french cuisine but not too expensive, and still great quality. I always order a monaco to drink and confit duck with chips, with a creme brulée for dessert.

Alchimiste

My most favourite place in Bordeaux ever. I love going here for breakfast or for just a coffee, chilling in this aesthetically pleasing cafe, which serves the best cappuccinos ever.

SIP

SIP serves great traditional coffee with style. It has a cosy zen atmosphere, with 3 floors, kind of like a mezzanine style with stairs up to each level. They serve a variety of cakes and sweet treats, with coffees and teas a plenty.

Weather in Bordeaux

Well it's not called Bord-eaux for a reason, it rains all the time. One minute it can be 25 degrees, beautiful sunshine, next minute, it's chucking it.

The winter this year was pretty short, it was still tshirt weather in November, then literally bam from 1st December it was cold. The problem was it was still cold at the beginning of March, remember when it snowed in England on 27th February 2018, yep that was my birthday and it was freezing in Bordeaux. But no snow. We had the snow a day later!

From mid March onward, temperatures have been rising, and now it's the end of May, and other than the occasional thunderstorm, it's really warm and sunny.

Outside of University

I highly recommend going to the beach for the day at the weekend or on a day off. Arcachon is a 50 minute train ride away from Bordeaux, it's a lovely town with amazing oysters.

If you're there, you have to catch a bus to La dune du Pilat, which is the biggest sand dune in Europe. The views and the climb up to the sommet take your breath away!

It doesn't look this high in the photo, but honestly it's huge!

It's really easy to travel around France too, using the public transport, the trains are pretty reliable (when there isn't strikes!) and also I recommend FlixBus which is cheap travel at all hours. There are buses going everywhere. I went to Biarritz using FlixBus, the return journey was 12 euros which is decent.

University Trips

If you can pick up modules which have trips included into the syllabus, it's great as you get to experience the area and learn about it in terms of your degree. I went on 4 main field trips, 2 of which were in spain.

Arcachon

I was able to stay at the research station at Arcachon for two nights in early September. It was a biology trip so we went out on the research boat, taking samples of the water in the Arcachon Basin to analyse phytoplankton.

Out on the boat, looking back at Arcachon

Gironde

I was lucky to go on the CNRS/Ifremer research vessel Cote de la Manche for the day, taking geophysical samples and a sediment core.

Pays Basques

This trip was a 4 day fieldcourse on the geology of the Pays Basques coastline, measuring the rock formations and making sediment logs.

Aragon

An amazing trip to Spain for 11 days studying the stratigraphy of the Aragon region.

Impressive views of the Pyrenées

Thanks for reading this Erasmus Guide on Bordeaux, I have really enjoyed my time in Bordeaux, even though it was hard at first, Bordeaux will always have a special place in my heart, with lots of happy memories.

Why not read my Erasmus Experience here to earn me more points and hopefully win the competition!

https://erasmusu.com/en/erasmus-bordeaux/erasmus-experiences/bordeaux-erasmus-guide-619912