Shopping!

I set off this morning with 2 main goals: get a carte TBC from the TBC centre at Gambetta and check out the Simply Market at Roustaing.

After about 20 minutes on the tram, I got off at the Gambetta stop, and promptly got lost. Well, not really, but I couldn’t find the TBC centre. After pottering around for 15 min, I called home to see if Mum or Dad could look it up online for me, but no-one was in. After a bit more searching, I finally found a map which indicated where the TBC thing was, set off and got lost again. I hadn’t really paid much attention to street names or anything, but I set off in what I thought seemed like the right direction, turned a few corners and finally found it. I called home again to say I’d found it, poked my head in, and called home again to say it was too crowded and that I’d head back at a later date.

I found my way back to a tram stop, buying some postcards and marvelling at all the shops, and got off and Roustaing, just across from the supermarket. Walking in, I felt a lot more at home than I had in the Casino supermarket – this was my kind of thing: cheap crap, and lots of it!

After a bit of wandering around, I finally found some flip-flops and some cardboard folders (chemises cartonnés à rabats) that I’d been looking for (the chemises for my schoolwork and the flip-flops for the showers in my résidence). I realised I was going to need a basket so went back to get one. I made my way through the shop, picking up the things I needed – which was quite hard as I had no idea where anything was – and tried not to grin inanely as my mantra of “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing!” went through my head. I actually find that quite fun – trying to look like I know what I’m doing while looking round and trying to spy on people who do actually know what they’re doing, all while trying to get whatever it is you’re trying to do done.

I’m not sure if that actually makes any sense…

One of the things on my shopping list was peanut butter. I love peanut butter, but haven’t actually had any in a while. We usually rely on friends or family from the UK to bring us some, but as my cousin and his family (one of our usual ‘suppliers’ ) hadn’t come over, we ran out much earlier than usual this summer. After searching the entire store twice, I finally found the peanut butter, hidden between the honey and the jam. Sadly, though, it was nearly a fiver and a not very nice brand, so I decided to go without for a while. Sometime this week, I plan on heading to an Aldi on the other side of the city, (partly because I’ve been sent on a quest for ‘Festy Croc’, a brand of crisps, by an Australian friend, and also because it should be nice and studenty cheap!) so I’ll have a look for cheap peanut butter while I’m there.

I was very proud of myself, as this was the first time I’d ever gone shopping on my own, and for myself. I was also pleased with my budgeting, as my haul only cost just under 20 euros. 🙂 Maybe I won’t starve after all!

Here’s what I bought:

 

And here’s my current ‘fridge’! (I bought the cheap crap cheese slices because I thought they’d last longer out of proper refrigeration what with the packaged and inevitable additives they’re pumped full of)

 

I headed back out to the tram stop, to get the next tram direction Pessac, to go home. While waiting, I broke off a bit of the demi-baguette that I’d bought to nibble on. A pigeon was pecking around near my feet, so I threw it a few crumbs. Another pigeon soon appeared. Then another. And another. And.. you get the gist. A half dozen or so pigeons were soon pecking around the platform. Not wanting to become known as the local pigeon lady, I made sure not to drop any more crumbs, and busily pretended I couldn’t see them until the tram arrived. 

On Friday, the accueil of the MISMI (Mathématiques, Informatique, Sciences de la matière et Ingenierie) is at 9:30. I plan to be there at 9, so on the way back from the supermarket I checked how long it would take to get from the Béthanie tram stop to the Doyen Brus stop, where I get off. It takes 3 minutes, so allowing for any possible delays, I’ll try to be on the tram by 8:55 and therefore out of my room by 8:45.

I’m debating heading to Arts et Métiers, where there’s another TBC centre, so as to get that in motion today, or just getting up early tomorrow morning to beat the crowd at the central one. I don’t particularly want to get up early, but I do need to finish unpacking soon…

Either way, I’ve had quite a productive morning.