Petit Intro to Dax (D'Aqcs)

The train ride down from Paris to Dax went by much faster than anticipated.

I chatted with the man next to me almost the whole way down to Bordeaux, which is where he was getting off for a business trip. We talked about various things, but of course the topic of politics came up and he asked who I was voting for (which reminds me I need to get my absentee ballot). He was nice, but it got a bit weird when he gave me his email address and phone number since he was at least twice my age (and married). I think he may have just been excited to meet an American, since he was excitedly talking about having a native to show him around DC if he goes there on business. I am not sorry to say I misplaced his info.

After he got off at Bordeaux, a guy my age sitting near me who I had chatted with in the lunch car (and by the way, food on SNCF trains are absolute rubbish), sat down across from me and we talked the rest of the way to Dax. Politics came up again. I felt like an ignorant American in speaking with both the Bordeaux businessman and my new seatmate since it was pretty obvious they knew much more about American politics than I did about French politics. I couldn’t even remember at first the name of their new president (it’s Hollande) but I really have no idea what his political platform is. But, I hope to change that (& just knowing more about French culture in general) during my time here. They both boosted my confidence though since they told me I speak pretty good French.

Dax and the river Adour

Stepping off the train in Dax from Paris was like entering another world. I left behind the cold, grey unwelcoming and impersonal city of Paris to a sunny, small, quintessential friendly southern French town. Not that I don't love Paris to visit, but I would never want to live there. People are just flat out more friendly in the south. Even the kid I spoke with on the train (who is from Paris) agreed that Parisians are not a very welcoming group of people. In Paris if you don't speak perfectly fluent French or "Parisian" French or you have an accent, people become exasperated with you and make fun of your French. I've experienced this even with people in the tourism industry who you would think would be sucking up to you.

In Dax, I noticed a considerable difference in people's attitudes towards those who were clearly tourists even in the first half hour I was there- from people on the train platform to the cab driver to the woman who welcomed me at my hotel. Although tourists in this part of France are typically quite different from tourists in Paris. A cool thing about Paris is it's diversity and the number of tourists from all over the world who come to visit the City of Lights (and Love?). In Dax, if you are a tourist you are more likely to be French. An upside to this is that people don't automatically speak to you in English. The first few days I was here I was quite nervous about how bad my French was going to be after not having spoken it all summer, but I just had to keep reminding myself that my French is most likely a lot better than their English.

I spent the first  two nights in Dax at a hotel right next to the river, the Adour. The Adour actually splits Dax in two. Just north of Dax is a town called St. Paul les Dax, and they are both quite small. Together, I think the population makes about 30,000.

Before getting here, I had debated about potentially living in nearby Bayonne (about a 45 minute commute) since I wasn’t sure if I was going to like how small Dax was. A couple different French people told me that Bayonne isn’t much bigger though – maybe 40,000 -- so only 10,000 more people and there isn’t much more to do there. After being here for almost a month now I am liking Dax quite a bit.

Dax, or D'Aqcs (how it is spelled in the regional dialect of Gascon) is in the region of Aquitaine. There are 27 regions in France, each of which are broken up into smaller départements. Aquitaine consists of 5 départements: Gironde (where Bordeaux is located), Dordogne (where the prehistoric Caves Lascaux were found), Lot et Garonne (lots o farms there I think), Pryénnées Atlantiques (where Biarritz is located) and Landes (where Dax is!) The image is a bit pixelated, but you can kind of see where it indicates Bordeaux in the north, Dax in the south west ish and Bayonne/Hendaye below Dax:

Dax is cute and small. It’s also a premier spa town in Europe. There are thermal baths on just about every street. I have yet to go to one (surprising for me). Although, most of them seem like they are tailored towards people with medical problems such as fibromyalgia (I’ve seen that in a lot of the descriptions). There is a culture of “curistes,” people who will travel to Dax to go to the baths everyday for three or four weeks to help with their medical issues. There are also med students here who study only thermal treatments.

One of the more famous spas, Les Bains St. Pierre
(I actually don't think you're allowed here unless you do have a medical issue)

This was not my hotel, I just like the pic

Anyway, I spent my first two days here in a hotel by the river and then moved into the residence on Friday. I was the first assistant to arrive by a good five days, so I spent a lot of time by myself when I first got here. It got lonely at times but I kept myself occupied by walking around and trying to get to know the town or skyping with my parents. Settling in seemed to take a bit since getting internet/bank/phone stuff set up was a bit complicated. I couldn't get internet in my room until I had a French phone number to send the access code to, but I couldn't get a French phone number until I had my bank card from the bank (I later found out this wasn't true) but I had to wait for my bank account to get approved first. By the way it's been 3 (almost 4) weeks since I first opened my bank account and I have yet to be approved by snooty BNP (it's the "rich people" bank according to some people but I chose it because they're a partner bank with Bank of America. That was a mistake), but I have internet and my phone.

The gardien at the residence, Monsieur Martin found me a bike the next week which made life so much easier. From the residence it takes about 30 minutes to walk into centreville, which is fine for a nice stroll from time-to-time but when you're going in multiple times a week it's much easier to go on bike, which only takes about 10 minutes.

La Fontaine Chaude built in the 1800s under Louis XVIII
A symbole of thermalisme in Dax

The main part of centreville consists of typical narrow French streets that twist and bend their way down to the Fontaine Chaude (above). There are a lot of cool shops and restaurants tucked and hidden away that I've started to discover since being here. At first glance, the whole center area seemed very touristy, but I found that the touristy restaurants are really only the ones facing the river.

One of my favorite places here is one that I actually stumbled upon my first day: a coffeeshop called French Coffee Shop. Feeling a bit overwhemled my first day from walking around and not knowing where I was, I decided to stop in the coffee shop to get a bite to eat and just study the map. I went in and started chatting with the shop owners and turns out they knew the assistants from last year! They at first had assumed me a tourist, as do most people in this town. The shop itself is warmly decorated in natural, earthy tones with tons of comfortable furniture, free wifi and even a computer to use the internet on. Their drinks are on a whole other level. It's like Starbucks on crack. They have all the normal lattes, capuccinos, etc drinks that you would imagine but also have smoothies and these crazy milkshake combinations that are obviously my favorite.They make the specialty drinks both hot and cold, with Oreo, KinderBueno, choc chip cookies, etc... basically a chocolate fiend's haven (aka me). My favorite so far is the FrioTella, a cold chocolate milkshake made with Nutella. I can't think of anything more delicious.

One of their Oreo creations. Nom.


That's all for now! Ciao!