I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I love France’s school vacation system.

I’m working in a lycée (high school) as an English Assistant and I’m in the second week of our two-week “vacances printemps.” After the vacation, unlike most assistants, I’ll be back to work! I was able to extend my contract with the lycée, so I’ll be working there until the end of May and then I’ll head off to the US to visit my family.

This year, I’ve stayed in Bordeaux for the entire spring break and as the sun is starting to come out, I’ve been playing tourist in my own city.

With the changing weather, I’ve found a whole new wave of motivation, I guess it’s the Californian in me. It’s easier to wake up earlier and I find myself wanting to spend most of the day outside.

Yesterday, I had the grand idea of waking up early to see the sunrise. Somehow I convinced my friends and husband to tag along (to my surprise, it really didn’t take much convincing on my part, they were all ready to “profiter”!)

When my alarm went off at 6:15 am I was half hoping everyone would decide they were too tired and we should be spending our vacation sleeping, but alas, they were all still ready to go.

(I should mention Molly was the first one to arrive. I told her to be there at 6:50 am thinking she would be late. She got to Place de la Bourse at 6:50 exactly and spent the next 10-15 minutes waiting for the rest of us…sorry if you’re reading this Molly, please forgive me 😀 )

Hi, Molly!!!

We all sat on the quai and watched the sunrise. The lighting was beautiful and made for a perfect golden hour.

I was so proud of myself waking up early but when I saw all of the joggers and people already out and about, I felt a little less accomplished.

Immediately after watching the sunrise, I thought how beautiful it was to take in Bordeaux and how I should make this a regular habit. But, now that the tiredness is sinking in (I didn’t end up falling asleep until 1 am, thank you to my fitbit for letting me know how little of sleep I get) I think I’ll go take a nap instead.

What about the rest of you? What have you done for spring break?

xoxo

Daley

P.S. I’m working on a blog post about a full day in Bordeaux for €25 (including breakfast, lunch, dinner, coffee, happy hour and more!) so be sure to check back in next week 😉