Bordeaux
by Sophie Epstein, updated by Ellie Coleman
If you are planning on going to France for the Erasmus exchange then Bordeaux is a fantastic place to pick. If you have already chosen to go to Bordeaux- well done, you wont regret it! Bordeaux is a beautiful city. I think all of us who went there this year spent the first few days wandering about saying “wow, it’s so pretty!” every time we went around the next corner. Believe it or not, Bordeaux is twinned with Bristol, so any mention of where you are from will be met with great enthusiasm and a comical attempt to pronounce the word “Bristol”.
People in Bordeaux are really friendly. There is not the anti-tourist mentality that Paris is renowned for. Occasionally you will find someone who speaks English, but in general the best you will get is someone wanting to try out the few sentences they know! The consultants especially love to try to impress you by translating the only word you have understood, as it is the same in French!
Also, be sure you understand the difference between bordelaise (someone from Bordeaux) and bordelique (someone who is messy!)
Before you go
Most of this stuff is in the general Erasmus information. Just to add a bit about the application form. There is a very complicated online application form and then one that you have to fill out by hand. They want you to tell them which placements you want to do during your time in Bordeaux. If you go to someone in the Clinical Dean’s office, they should be able to tell you which bits you want to do. It is basically anything that in Bristol would be included in the Junior Medicine/Surgery A and MDEMO modules.
Accommodation
There are a few websites that are very good for finding accommodation. Some are free and some you have to pay for but I would say that there is enough on the free ones to be getting on with. I would be lying if I said that finding accommodation is easy, especially as don’t arrive at the beginning of the academic year but it is very possible to find great accommodation. I was very lucky and found something on the website before I arrived and the location, house and housemates were lovely. Some people did have problems though so the main thing I would say, is make sure that what is being advertised is not a one room studio which the person intends to share!
Areas of Bordeaux you want to live in would be either near to Place de la Victoire which is the student area of Bordeaux however not the most beautiful or north of the centre around the Jardin Public which is a 20 minute walk into town but a really nice area. The main bit of town is Rue St Catherine, a ridiculously long pedestrianized shopping street. If you can find accommodation around there, that would be perfect. However, the trams are so excellent in general (they run til 2am!) that anywhere near a tram stop on line A or B wouldn’t be too bad.
I would say, definitely try to live with at least one French person as it otherwise it is so easy to find yourself spending too much time speaking English. It does not necessarily need to be anyone who is attached to the university or the hospitals. The halls of residence will probably be reserved for you by the international office at the uni. I never saw them but apparently they are pretty far out of time and leave a lot to be desired in terms of décor and facilities. We were advised to give them a miss although they are pretty cheap. Accommodation in Bordeaux isn’ too expensive – sharing a house should cost between 300 and 400 euros each.
The websites are:
The hospitals
You will be placed in 3 hospitals in Bordeaux. The main teaching hospital where you will have lots of the placements is called Hopital Pellegrin, which is a short tram ride from the centre on line A (the blue one). It’s huge so find the main entrance of the main building- Tripode- and they’ll give you a map! There is a smaller one called St Andre in the centre of town and a third one called Haut Leveque, which is further from town for the respiratory (pneumologie- pronounce the “p”) placement.
The Placements
Each placement is 2 weeks long, which confuses the French students and doctors alike as they are used to 3 month long placements. You can wear whatever you want to the hospital (we saw doctors whose length of skirts was of Wedgies standard…) but have to wear one of their bizarre and not at all sexy long white coats with short sleeves over the top.
Each ‘firm’ you join will have a mixture of students from the 4th to 6th years, and the 6th years are like walking kumar and clarks! To counterbalance this, their ability to examine a patient is… umm… well, just watch. But not too closely, because if you start copying you will definitely fail your English exams when you get back…!
You’ll probably be given far more practical tasks than you would be in the UK – be ready to try your hand at (literally tens) of ECGs, arterial blood gases, plaster casting and cutting off plaster casts. During your A&E placement especially try and avoid being given ‘responsibility’ for your own patients, and instead stick to a nice French student – you will learn so much without having the stress of being expected to call their GP to get past medical notes etc!
Some of the doctors are lovely (such as Prof Dehais!) and some are a bit distant, but any placements you enjoy less just remember its only 2 weeks! Our advice would be to be a bit ‘pushy’, in the politest possible way… one of the placements we did we all got to go to theatre, see clinics and consultations and go to team meetings, while the French students there literally just tidied up the folders and kept the notes up to date writing in results. The way to do this is simply to introduce yourself, and ask what you can do!
The Uni
The uni is called Bordeaux II. There are a few unis in Bordeaux and number 2 is for medicine, physio, dentistry etc. There is a campus at Pellegrin and also at Place de la Victoire. There is an international office at the uni campus next to Hopital Pellegrin in a funny little building on stilts! There is also Philippe Leicht who is a bit of a legend and whose only job is to organise social events for Erasmus students. You will no doubt receive thousands of emails from him about various things that he has organised. If you have any problems with accommodation or anything, then you can pop into his office, which is also at the uni at Pellegrin. Do get in contact with him when you arrive, as you may want to suggest that he organises something for you to meet the other Erasmus students who have been there from the beginning of the year. He didn’t do that for us so we did find it difficult to track them down.
French lessons
You can have free French lessons at the uni at Victoire. There are various levels and Erasmus students from everywhere go to them. The teacher is a lovely guy, very enthusiastic and he has just set up medical French lessons as there are loads of Erasmus medics around.
Going out and shopping
There are loads of really nice bars and restaurants in Bordeaux. The big bars around Place de la Victoire are where the students generally congregate. Student night is a Thursday but don’t expect the bars to start to fill up until at least 11pm! There are some smaller bars in the St. Pierre area which is the old part of Bordeaux and really nice. Shopping is fantastic, Rue St Catherine has so much, and then there is Meriadeck, a big shopping centre with a huge supermarket (Auchan). The office de tourisme will give you good ideas of things to see and do in Bordeaux and they’ll give you maps etc. Also pick up the free newspapers at the tram stops – 20minutes especially has a good section on whats going on, and you can go to the interesting exhibitions.
Transport
The trams and buses are brilliant. If you go to the office at Place Gambetta (very central) you can get a student pass and then you can get 10 journeys on the bus or tram for 6 euros! Do remember a passport photo for this, and I got asked for proof of social security… bizarrely they accepted my European health card as proof of this?!
Places to visit
Definitely go to Arcachon to see the sand dune (the biggest in Europe) but try to make it on a vaguely sunny day! La Rochelle is also relatively close as is Toulouse. It is also very possible to take a weekend trip to Paris.
If you have any questions about Erasmus in Bordeaux, my email is se2123@bris.ac.uk
