Today was the very last day of school. We received our certificates, had a little party, and received feedback from the professors. I made a lot of progress, but my professor also told me that I really need to work on my accent. This cracks me up because when I speak, I put a lot of effort into trying to speak the language correctly, and I feel like my accent is pretty good. The other day, however, I accidentally had my camera set to video instead of photos and asked a woman to take a picture of us. I realized it a few days later when I was uploading the images to my computer. I watched the video and was absolutely horrified to hear my accent when I said "Merci beaucoup". Have you ever seen Peggy Hill (the mom) from King of the Hill speak spanish? I sound exactly like that.
I'm definitely going to miss class, I really enjoyed it. I think I'll miss the people in my classes even more. I loved studying with such interesting and smart people. It was inspiring and humbling. We definitely bonded after 4 weeks of having our egos stripped away and working and laughing so hard together. We're talking about having a reunion in Australia next November.
So I'm sad that it's all over, but as sappy as this sounds, it doesn't feel over. I feel like I've learned so much and I'm taking a lot back home with me. The professors told us that it takes a few weeks after the class for our brains to fully digest everything and we'll start speaking even better in a couple of months, if we keep practicing. So get ready, Caroline, because I'm probably going to start driving you crazy.
The director of the school saw Amos and me having dinner tonight in Nice and he stopped by to say hello. Everyone that works at the school is so nice, in addition to being incredibly intelligent, funny, and extremely professional. I'm in awe of every one of them and learned a lot from all of them.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
One more day
I just have one more day of school and am a little sad. I wish I could have at least one more week. I've attached a picture that I took when sitting in my chair in class, sorry about it's orientation. I only have 30 minutes after class to use the internet and I don't have enough time to fix it. Anyway, all of the greenery is the gardens at the school and behind that is the Mediterranean.
Friday we'll have another test, then a little party, so tomorrow is our last real day of class. Then Amos and I are off to Nice. After that? We're not sure...
One exciting piece of news about my progress...Today in lab, the final exercise was very strange because it was so easy. I was confused and a little frustrated because it seemed like a huge waste of time. After lab, our instructor congratulated us because we did the same exercise the first week (poorly) and today we were all perfect. I certainly don't remember any of the labs being this easy, so I guess I must have made a lot of progress.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Seance a la radio
Today we had our third seance where we listen to the news on the radio and then try to figure out what is going on. I have come to love these seances. The first time, I was completely intimidated and couldn't understand a thing. But now, I'm able to get the theme of the news. We listen to it and take notes, then get together with a small group to discuss what each of us heard and try to put together the story, if it was too complex to figure out on our own. I love them, they are becoming one of my favorite activities at the school, perhaps even surpassing the labs.
Amos is en route to Villefranche right now and will be arriving tomorrow afternoon!
Amos is en route to Villefranche right now and will be arriving tomorrow afternoon!
Monday, April 14, 2008
Dogs in France
This one is for all of my dog-loving friends.
France is a great place for dogs. They are everywhere, in the shops and restaurants, and on the buses and trains. I've noticed that the dogs here are much better behaved than the dogs in the US. I guess it's because they get to go everywhere and, thus, being out in the city isn't a big deal so they don't act crazy. I would say it's more common to see a dog who is not on a leash, than one who is on a leash. Usually they are just following alongside their person. They greet each other calmly and I haven't seen any dog-dog aggression, which is so common in Austin.
In the old parts of the cities where the streets are very narrow and there aren't many cars, the dogs are free to roam everywhere. People bring their dogs to work with them and the dogs know the neighborhood and run around visiting everyone. The person doesn't seem to worry at all about where the dog is. I've seen a dog, who I think belongs to a waitress in one of the restaurants, roaming around blocks away from the restaurant. He's quite popular.
The other day on the busiest street in Nice, I saw a dog roaming alone. He would stop at the cross-streets, sit, and watch the people next to him. When the people would start to walk, the dog would know that it was safe to cross the street, too. It's amazing. Mija and Calvin wouldn't make it 5 minutes here.
France is a great place for dogs. They are everywhere, in the shops and restaurants, and on the buses and trains. I've noticed that the dogs here are much better behaved than the dogs in the US. I guess it's because they get to go everywhere and, thus, being out in the city isn't a big deal so they don't act crazy. I would say it's more common to see a dog who is not on a leash, than one who is on a leash. Usually they are just following alongside their person. They greet each other calmly and I haven't seen any dog-dog aggression, which is so common in Austin.
In the old parts of the cities where the streets are very narrow and there aren't many cars, the dogs are free to roam everywhere. People bring their dogs to work with them and the dogs know the neighborhood and run around visiting everyone. The person doesn't seem to worry at all about where the dog is. I've seen a dog, who I think belongs to a waitress in one of the restaurants, roaming around blocks away from the restaurant. He's quite popular.
The other day on the busiest street in Nice, I saw a dog roaming alone. He would stop at the cross-streets, sit, and watch the people next to him. When the people would start to walk, the dog would know that it was safe to cross the street, too. It's amazing. Mija and Calvin wouldn't make it 5 minutes here.
Field Trip
Today we didn't have class, we had a field trip. This morning, we had a crazy storm right before we left, it hailed. It was pretty rainy for most of the morning, but then it cleared up and became a beautiful day. We went to three different small, old villages.
First, we went to a small town and I'm a total loser because I've already forgotten the name. It's well known for having lots of artists there. I think it's called St. Jean. There is a beautiful restaurant there that would let artists who couldn't afford to pay for their meals to produce art for the restaurant and it's gorgeous. We went to a museum there that had beautiful gardens and statues outside and interesting art inside. I'm such a loser, I can't remember the name at all.
After that, we went to Vence where we saw a Dominican chapel designed by Henri Matisse. The woman at the chapel described the whole thing in French which was very exciting to understand. The chapel is very beautiful and simple. Apparantly, he spent 2 years designing the stations of the cross and only spent 4 hours on the actual painting of them on the wall. He didn't sign his name on any of it, because he wanted it to be a church, not a museum. I think it's a museum, though. I don't know, it's possible that the Dominicans still practice there. (I really sound like an idiot in this posting. Since everything is in French, there's a lot that goes over my head.)
The last stop on the trip was Tourettes Sur Loup. It is a tiny village that is known for producing leather by hand. It is located right next to the the village of Grasse, which is famous for perfume. Supposedly, perfume was first produced in Grasse because the leather gloves that were made in Tourettes made a person's hands smell badly, so the people in the towns started to make perfume. The whole tour today was in French - I'm pretty sure that was the story, but I could have gotten it wrong.
I took a lot of pictures and will post them soon.
First, we went to a small town and I'm a total loser because I've already forgotten the name. It's well known for having lots of artists there. I think it's called St. Jean. There is a beautiful restaurant there that would let artists who couldn't afford to pay for their meals to produce art for the restaurant and it's gorgeous. We went to a museum there that had beautiful gardens and statues outside and interesting art inside. I'm such a loser, I can't remember the name at all.
After that, we went to Vence where we saw a Dominican chapel designed by Henri Matisse. The woman at the chapel described the whole thing in French which was very exciting to understand. The chapel is very beautiful and simple. Apparantly, he spent 2 years designing the stations of the cross and only spent 4 hours on the actual painting of them on the wall. He didn't sign his name on any of it, because he wanted it to be a church, not a museum. I think it's a museum, though. I don't know, it's possible that the Dominicans still practice there. (I really sound like an idiot in this posting. Since everything is in French, there's a lot that goes over my head.)
The last stop on the trip was Tourettes Sur Loup. It is a tiny village that is known for producing leather by hand. It is located right next to the the village of Grasse, which is famous for perfume. Supposedly, perfume was first produced in Grasse because the leather gloves that were made in Tourettes made a person's hands smell badly, so the people in the towns started to make perfume. The whole tour today was in French - I'm pretty sure that was the story, but I could have gotten it wrong.
I took a lot of pictures and will post them soon.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
2nd weekend
It's Sunday at 5pm and I've only been out of my apartment once to grab a few things from the grocery store. It's a beautiful day, finally, so it's a shame that I've been inside all day, but the view is amazing, so I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything.
For the last few days, I've left the apartment in the morning with the intention of only being out for a couple of hours, and then I don't get home until late at night. I didn't get out of bed today until after noon.
There's not too much to report, it's just more of the same. This is probably going to be a boring post.
After school on Friday, I went to a savonerrie to buy some soap. An adorable little old french lady makes the soap in the back room. She took me back there and showed me how she does it.
After class, the other 9 students in my class and I met for a drink to say Bon Voyage to one of the students who was only doing the class for 2 weeks and Friday was his last day. Then I had a great dinner in Villefranche with a couple of my girlfriends. Yesterday, we went to Nice again for the day for more shopping. The girl from Germany came, so there was a lot of laughing involved.
I bought a french dictionary and some french books that were recommended to me as great literature, but also easy for someone like me to read. Well, I started on one of them today and it took me about an hour to read 2 pages. Luckily for me, the book is very short.
On Friday afternoon, our professor told us to get ready for the next two weeks, because the pace is going to pick up significantly. Wha?!? I'm not quite sure how that's possible. I had gotten so proud of myself that I could understand almost all of what they were saying, I can't believe that they're actually going to start talking faster.
For the last few days, I've left the apartment in the morning with the intention of only being out for a couple of hours, and then I don't get home until late at night. I didn't get out of bed today until after noon.
There's not too much to report, it's just more of the same. This is probably going to be a boring post.
After school on Friday, I went to a savonerrie to buy some soap. An adorable little old french lady makes the soap in the back room. She took me back there and showed me how she does it.
After class, the other 9 students in my class and I met for a drink to say Bon Voyage to one of the students who was only doing the class for 2 weeks and Friday was his last day. Then I had a great dinner in Villefranche with a couple of my girlfriends. Yesterday, we went to Nice again for the day for more shopping. The girl from Germany came, so there was a lot of laughing involved.
I bought a french dictionary and some french books that were recommended to me as great literature, but also easy for someone like me to read. Well, I started on one of them today and it took me about an hour to read 2 pages. Luckily for me, the book is very short.
On Friday afternoon, our professor told us to get ready for the next two weeks, because the pace is going to pick up significantly. Wha?!? I'm not quite sure how that's possible. I had gotten so proud of myself that I could understand almost all of what they were saying, I can't believe that they're actually going to start talking faster.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Today's Seance
Our days at the school are pretty structured and follow the same basic timeline each day. In the morning, we have class, which is when we work on a certain lesson or two and play around with different variations of the structures we've learned. Sometime during the morning, we will have our lab, too. The morning is my favorite part of the day, because it moves very fast and is very challenging.
After lunch, we have a long "seance" that is different every day. Some days we listen to the news and try to figure out what they're saying. Some days, we talk about a "theme", like how to greet people and say goodbye, or what to say on the phone. They're always good, but they're slower than the morning and I'm usually tired by then, so they're not always the most exciting part of my day.
Today, though, was very interesting. We had a presentation on French cheeses. So for an hour and a half, we learned all about French cheeses. It was great. Aterwards, there were many cheeses to try and wine to go with them. I can't believe how much I learned in those 2 hours.
Our dinner last night was fun. Of course, the food and wine were delicious. It started at 7:30 and I didn't get home until 12:30, and I was eating during almost all 5 of those hours. Our cruise director prof, did in fact, play music with some of his friends for us. They did a cover of a Johnny Cash song (and I got it on video!), which was incredibly entertaining for me. One of the other students told me a funny story, which I'm going to try to retell here, hopefully I'll get it right. She was talking to another prof about the music and the prof asked her if she knew of "Johnny Liquide". It took the student awhile to figure out what she was talking about. Liquide is a word for "cash" in French, and the prof was momentarily confused about Johnny Cash's name.
We've had really bad weather for the last few days. I took a picture last night of the view from my terrace, but I don't have the cable today to upload it. We had a boat tour scheduled for tonight, but they canceled it; hopefully it will get rescheduled for next week (maybe when Amos is here!). But now, the sun finally came out and it looks like we'll have a nice evening after all.
Speaking of Amos, he gets here in exactly one week!!
After lunch, we have a long "seance" that is different every day. Some days we listen to the news and try to figure out what they're saying. Some days, we talk about a "theme", like how to greet people and say goodbye, or what to say on the phone. They're always good, but they're slower than the morning and I'm usually tired by then, so they're not always the most exciting part of my day.
Today, though, was very interesting. We had a presentation on French cheeses. So for an hour and a half, we learned all about French cheeses. It was great. Aterwards, there were many cheeses to try and wine to go with them. I can't believe how much I learned in those 2 hours.
Our dinner last night was fun. Of course, the food and wine were delicious. It started at 7:30 and I didn't get home until 12:30, and I was eating during almost all 5 of those hours. Our cruise director prof, did in fact, play music with some of his friends for us. They did a cover of a Johnny Cash song (and I got it on video!), which was incredibly entertaining for me. One of the other students told me a funny story, which I'm going to try to retell here, hopefully I'll get it right. She was talking to another prof about the music and the prof asked her if she knew of "Johnny Liquide". It took the student awhile to figure out what she was talking about. Liquide is a word for "cash" in French, and the prof was momentarily confused about Johnny Cash's name.
We've had really bad weather for the last few days. I took a picture last night of the view from my terrace, but I don't have the cable today to upload it. We had a boat tour scheduled for tonight, but they canceled it; hopefully it will get rescheduled for next week (maybe when Amos is here!). But now, the sun finally came out and it looks like we'll have a nice evening after all.
Speaking of Amos, he gets here in exactly one week!!
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Exciting event last night
I had trouble falling asleep last night because everytime I started to doze off, I would realize that I was thinking in French without meaning to. So, I would get excited and wake myself up.
Class is becoming more and more fun. There's a ping pong table in the garden and people play during our breaks. Inside the classroom, we're doing a different version of "ping pong", which I prefer much more. I could do this every day for the rest of my life.
During the lab, there was an exercise that was kind of easy, I thought, and after awhile, The Voice interrupted and started asking me questions a bit more complex (at least I think that's what happened, I could be totally wrong, maybe I was answering everything completely wrong and he was trying to correct me!). Anyway, I finally had a day when I could concentrate in the lab and then it was all thrown out the window as I stumbled through the rest of The Voice's questions.
I looked up the phrase for "flustered" yesterday and the french don't describe the feeling with just one word, but instead use a very pretty phrase. To be flustered is "faire perdre la tete", which translated, is "to lose your head".
We have a dinner tonight. Our "cruise director" (which really isn't a fair description, he's also a very good and serious professor) is in a band and will be playing for us after the dinner. Of course, this has caused much excitement in the class. Half of the class went last night and the other half is going tonight. Some of the girls who went last night will be coming back tonight so they can watch him play again.
Class is becoming more and more fun. There's a ping pong table in the garden and people play during our breaks. Inside the classroom, we're doing a different version of "ping pong", which I prefer much more. I could do this every day for the rest of my life.
During the lab, there was an exercise that was kind of easy, I thought, and after awhile, The Voice interrupted and started asking me questions a bit more complex (at least I think that's what happened, I could be totally wrong, maybe I was answering everything completely wrong and he was trying to correct me!). Anyway, I finally had a day when I could concentrate in the lab and then it was all thrown out the window as I stumbled through the rest of The Voice's questions.
I looked up the phrase for "flustered" yesterday and the french don't describe the feeling with just one word, but instead use a very pretty phrase. To be flustered is "faire perdre la tete", which translated, is "to lose your head".
We have a dinner tonight. Our "cruise director" (which really isn't a fair description, he's also a very good and serious professor) is in a band and will be playing for us after the dinner. Of course, this has caused much excitement in the class. Half of the class went last night and the other half is going tonight. Some of the girls who went last night will be coming back tonight so they can watch him play again.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Mon Exposee
Well, I didn't get a chance to prepare a new presentation, it was my turn today! So I had to talk about the dogs. It wasn't very good, but it doesn't matter. A lot of my presentation was in the past and it's difficult to talk about emotions and conditional ideas in the past. Oh well, it's over, so I can now relax.
Tonight, we're meeting back at school to watch a movie.
I just came from the lab, so I'm a little flustered. There were times today when I just couldn't talk at all and I just had to laugh. I'm pretty sure that all of the women in my class have the same problem.
Tonight, we're meeting back at school to watch a movie.
I just came from the lab, so I'm a little flustered. There were times today when I just couldn't talk at all and I just had to laugh. I'm pretty sure that all of the women in my class have the same problem.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Pictures
I found a cable to upload my pictures. I don't have much time left this morning to upload a lot, but here's one of the sunrise this morning from my apartment.
I added a picture from our trip to Nice this weekend. I'll add more in the next couple of days.
School starts again this morning, I'm really excited, but I'm getting nervous. We have to give a 20 minute talk in front of the class and my turn will probably be this week. I need to talk about something easy. I'm thinking about talking about either dogs or Austin. My friend gave her presentation last week and took on a subject too complex and got really frustrated and ended up crying throughout the whole presentation! So I thought I would do dogs, but now am afraid that I was making it too complex and that perhaps just talking about Austin would be better.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
My first weekend
(The picture was taken in Nice on Saturday.)
Wow, two days have gone by since I last posted. Yesterday at school was great. I made myself chit-chat at every break and it was actually quite fun. Like all proper introverts, I really don't like small talk, but I made myself ask people what they did last night and what they'll be dong this weekend and I found myself conversing in french quite comfortably, which is exciting.
The party was last night. Everyone was speaking english. It was fun, the food was incredible. There was so much of it and it was all really special. Different pates, quiches, crudites, probably 20 different cheeses, 10 different desserts, wine... I really enjoy all of the people here. Everyone is very nice, smart, and interesting. We're really having a good time together.
Diane, there was a man at the party playing the accordion. It made me think of you and laugh.
After the party, we went to Monaco. Wow. That place makes Dallas seem like a quaint, charming, small town. We got home around 2, then I had to get up early for a guided tour in Villefranche.
Villefranche is so charming. I can't wait to get my pictures uploaded.
After the tour, we went straight to Nice for the day. The weather is perfect, so it was a great day. We got some flowers, cds and french books. We got a good picture of us all at the sea, I will add it to this posting when I get a cord. There is the funniest girl from Germany who makes us laugh so hard. I need to create postings just for the things she says. For example, the other day, they were discussing some guy and she said she didn't find him attractive because she doesn't like guys with breast hair.
She and another girl from Germany were telling us a story today about how they found a pair of panties in the toilet at school one day - an expensive Swiss brand. First, they told us how a person dropped "his" panties in the toilet. Then, one said that they were "fresh" panties. We are all dumbfounded as to why panties were in the toilet, it will be a mystery that will keep us busy for the whole month, I'm sure.
We were supposed to go out with another group to Nice tonight, but we didn't make it back to Villefranche until after 8 and we're exhausted, so I think we're going to take it easy tonight. I'm looking forward to listening to my new cds.
We tried speaking in French today, but found ourselves speaking English a lot. I made so much progress in the last week and already feel the French slipping away and the English coming back. Oh well, I still have 3 more weeks.
The party was last night. Everyone was speaking english. It was fun, the food was incredible. There was so much of it and it was all really special. Different pates, quiches, crudites, probably 20 different cheeses, 10 different desserts, wine... I really enjoy all of the people here. Everyone is very nice, smart, and interesting. We're really having a good time together.
Diane, there was a man at the party playing the accordion. It made me think of you and laugh.
After the party, we went to Monaco. Wow. That place makes Dallas seem like a quaint, charming, small town. We got home around 2, then I had to get up early for a guided tour in Villefranche.
Villefranche is so charming. I can't wait to get my pictures uploaded.
After the tour, we went straight to Nice for the day. The weather is perfect, so it was a great day. We got some flowers, cds and french books. We got a good picture of us all at the sea, I will add it to this posting when I get a cord. There is the funniest girl from Germany who makes us laugh so hard. I need to create postings just for the things she says. For example, the other day, they were discussing some guy and she said she didn't find him attractive because she doesn't like guys with breast hair.
She and another girl from Germany were telling us a story today about how they found a pair of panties in the toilet at school one day - an expensive Swiss brand. First, they told us how a person dropped "his" panties in the toilet. Then, one said that they were "fresh" panties. We are all dumbfounded as to why panties were in the toilet, it will be a mystery that will keep us busy for the whole month, I'm sure.
We were supposed to go out with another group to Nice tonight, but we didn't make it back to Villefranche until after 8 and we're exhausted, so I think we're going to take it easy tonight. I'm looking forward to listening to my new cds.
We tried speaking in French today, but found ourselves speaking English a lot. I made so much progress in the last week and already feel the French slipping away and the English coming back. Oh well, I still have 3 more weeks.
Friday, April 4, 2008
2nd apology
I brought my camera and computer, but forgot the cord to upload pictures. I've been asking around, surely there is someone who has a cord that will work for me. Worst case, Amos will bring it with him in 2 weeks. I can't wait to attach a picture of the view from my apartment.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Le weekend arrive!
I'm getting close to my first weekend in Villefranche. I can't believe that I've already been here for almost a week. We have a party at the school tomorrow night from 7:30-10. I'm not sure if I'm excited for it or not. I could see some of us ducking out early to go out, maybe into the big city of Nice, if I'm feeling crazy. It will be interesting to observe, because there's a professor who is also our "cruise director" and I think he does very well with the ladies. I'm content, though, with The Voice in the labo. Speaking of which, I have le labo first thing tomorrow morning. I can't wait.
Class is getting easier, but it's still grueling. I still need to work on my weakest area, actually conversing with real people in real situations. Who cares if I'm a total super-star inside of the classroom (not that I'm a super-star) if I can't put together a complete sentence outside of the classroom? Usually I'm so tired when we have our breaks that I just want to be alone to decompress. I decided today that I can't do that any longer. I'm going to have to become a social-butterfly...ugh.
It's fun being one of the advanced students and hearing the others make the same mistakes that I used to make. Yesterday, someone told the table that she's in love with me. Everyone else was a beginner too, so unfortunately, no one else found the humor in the situation.
Today, I finally had my first pain au chocolat. I can't believe how long it took me to get to have my favorite thing ever. There's just too much to do. Anyway, it was amazing. I got it at a great boulangerie right by my apartment. I got a couple more for the next few mornings. There's not too much to the French breakfasts, just bread and coffee. The lunches at the school are incredible, though. Today, we started with an onion tartine (it has a name, but I can't remember it). Then, we had salmon with vegetables, including artichokes which are in season here now, and rice. Finally, dessert was a rich chocolate cake. Of course, both the salmon and cake came with delicious sauces. This lunch is pretty typical of all of the lunches I've had at school so far. The school has an amazing chef, Nathalie, who greets us in the cafeteria at every meal. The French really know how to eat.
Class is getting easier, but it's still grueling. I still need to work on my weakest area, actually conversing with real people in real situations. Who cares if I'm a total super-star inside of the classroom (not that I'm a super-star) if I can't put together a complete sentence outside of the classroom? Usually I'm so tired when we have our breaks that I just want to be alone to decompress. I decided today that I can't do that any longer. I'm going to have to become a social-butterfly...ugh.
It's fun being one of the advanced students and hearing the others make the same mistakes that I used to make. Yesterday, someone told the table that she's in love with me. Everyone else was a beginner too, so unfortunately, no one else found the humor in the situation.
Today, I finally had my first pain au chocolat. I can't believe how long it took me to get to have my favorite thing ever. There's just too much to do. Anyway, it was amazing. I got it at a great boulangerie right by my apartment. I got a couple more for the next few mornings. There's not too much to the French breakfasts, just bread and coffee. The lunches at the school are incredible, though. Today, we started with an onion tartine (it has a name, but I can't remember it). Then, we had salmon with vegetables, including artichokes which are in season here now, and rice. Finally, dessert was a rich chocolate cake. Of course, both the salmon and cake came with delicious sauces. This lunch is pretty typical of all of the lunches I've had at school so far. The school has an amazing chef, Nathalie, who greets us in the cafeteria at every meal. The French really know how to eat.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
An apology
All of you know how much I detest spelling and grammatical errors, but I have to warn you all now, I'm letting that go for this blog. It's taking me forever to type these out and I'm giving up now on making them correct. To be honest, I'm a little paranoid about how I just spelled "detest" (how ironic, Hey Martin, I promise I'm intellegent (sic)) because it's spelled differently in french and I'm getting really confused.
The time is flying too fast. This month is going to be over in a heartbeat.
The time is flying too fast. This month is going to be over in a heartbeat.
Day 2: The Voice
It's Wednesday and I just got home. Class was much better today. I'm used to the pace and am really enjoying myself. It's really challenging, but in a good way.
Today was our first day of "laboratoire". We sit in desks with dividers between each other and wear headphones. Our professor sits in the front and asks us questions, which we hear through the headphones, and we answer and can only hear ourselves in the headphones. Everything he says is taped, so once we are finished, we can do it again ourselves (each desk has some kind of crazy tape-recorder device that is a little old-fashioned, but is also quite sophisticated at the same time), pausing and rewinding if we need to.
I MUST get a snippet of one of these tapes for this blog. Seriously, you have to hear this. Listening to his voice makes me blush. I'm not kidding, there were times when I became too flustered to do the exercise and would quit talking altogether - I was speechless. He's talking to all of us at the same time, but that french voice, coming through the headphones, sounds like he's whispering sweet nothings in my ear. I was so sad to hear that we will not have lab tomorrow. But we will have lab again, so I will enjoy looking forward to my next rendez-vous with that voice.
Tonight will be fun, some girls are coming over to my apartment for dinner. We'll only speak french. One girl is German and she doesn't speak English well, so she can't stand to switch over to English because it's too confusing right now. Another is going to a business school in Paris this September and even though she has been accepted, she still must pass a language test next month, so she too does not want to speak English at all. So that's good for me, because I'm lazy and would probably fall into English otherwise. I think, though, that all of us are able to speak only French and are looking forward to the challenge. Otherwise, I guess we wouldn't be here.
Today was our first day of "laboratoire". We sit in desks with dividers between each other and wear headphones. Our professor sits in the front and asks us questions, which we hear through the headphones, and we answer and can only hear ourselves in the headphones. Everything he says is taped, so once we are finished, we can do it again ourselves (each desk has some kind of crazy tape-recorder device that is a little old-fashioned, but is also quite sophisticated at the same time), pausing and rewinding if we need to.
I MUST get a snippet of one of these tapes for this blog. Seriously, you have to hear this. Listening to his voice makes me blush. I'm not kidding, there were times when I became too flustered to do the exercise and would quit talking altogether - I was speechless. He's talking to all of us at the same time, but that french voice, coming through the headphones, sounds like he's whispering sweet nothings in my ear. I was so sad to hear that we will not have lab tomorrow. But we will have lab again, so I will enjoy looking forward to my next rendez-vous with that voice.
Tonight will be fun, some girls are coming over to my apartment for dinner. We'll only speak french. One girl is German and she doesn't speak English well, so she can't stand to switch over to English because it's too confusing right now. Another is going to a business school in Paris this September and even though she has been accepted, she still must pass a language test next month, so she too does not want to speak English at all. So that's good for me, because I'm lazy and would probably fall into English otherwise. I think, though, that all of us are able to speak only French and are looking forward to the challenge. Otherwise, I guess we wouldn't be here.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
First real day
Yesterday, we were separated into our groups, based on our tests. I'm in Avancee I, which is the second highest level out of 8 (Grace a Diane, Merci!) There are 9 other people in my class, most are already retired, which is fine with me, at my age, I like being one of the youngest people in the group! Our professor, Bruno, is awesome, as are all of the professsors here.
Class moves very fast, it's good. We've spent all our time putting together sentences as fast as possible. For those of you who know french, you know that the french put words together in sentences in a different order than in english. It usually takes a long time for my brain (and I suppose everyone's) to string a sentence together, so we're working on that speed - - trying to make it effortless. The school is very much like the class I go to in Austin at the Alliance Francaise, so I'm pretty comfortable with it all, which is good because this kind of thing used to make me very nervous.
I had a little homework last night. I think we'll have a little each night, but are only supposed to spend 15 minutes on it, just to refresh our minds again. Weird things are happening to my brain already. It's become very difficult for me to type. I keep making mistakes, over and over again. It's taking forever to type out emails and this blog. I tried reading my book last night (in english) and it was very difficult, so I quit after a few pages. I guess I could just be tired.
For those at the office, I won't have my laptop today. I must go to the bank after class and it's only open until 5:30 and there's no way that I'm taking my laptop with me up and down the hills. Speaking of that, my legs are REALLY sore! I stay pretty active with my dogs, but these hills are great.
I didn't go out last night. I got everyone's phone number yesterday and when I got to the phone store to buy my phone, I realized I forgot my credit card and it would take too long to go home and get it and come back. Therefore, I had no way to contact anyone. I walked back home to get my credit card and planning on going back out, but once I saw down in my apartment, I realized I was too tired for anything.
Ok, sorry for the boring post today, I need to leave now to go to school.
PS. Sorry, Vik! I thought I'd sent you the link to my blog before I left!
Class moves very fast, it's good. We've spent all our time putting together sentences as fast as possible. For those of you who know french, you know that the french put words together in sentences in a different order than in english. It usually takes a long time for my brain (and I suppose everyone's) to string a sentence together, so we're working on that speed - - trying to make it effortless. The school is very much like the class I go to in Austin at the Alliance Francaise, so I'm pretty comfortable with it all, which is good because this kind of thing used to make me very nervous.
I had a little homework last night. I think we'll have a little each night, but are only supposed to spend 15 minutes on it, just to refresh our minds again. Weird things are happening to my brain already. It's become very difficult for me to type. I keep making mistakes, over and over again. It's taking forever to type out emails and this blog. I tried reading my book last night (in english) and it was very difficult, so I quit after a few pages. I guess I could just be tired.
For those at the office, I won't have my laptop today. I must go to the bank after class and it's only open until 5:30 and there's no way that I'm taking my laptop with me up and down the hills. Speaking of that, my legs are REALLY sore! I stay pretty active with my dogs, but these hills are great.
I didn't go out last night. I got everyone's phone number yesterday and when I got to the phone store to buy my phone, I realized I forgot my credit card and it would take too long to go home and get it and come back. Therefore, I had no way to contact anyone. I walked back home to get my credit card and planning on going back out, but once I saw down in my apartment, I realized I was too tired for anything.
Ok, sorry for the boring post today, I need to leave now to go to school.
PS. Sorry, Vik! I thought I'd sent you the link to my blog before I left!
Monday, March 31, 2008
It begins
I'm just about to start my second day, when it all really begins. Yesterday, we had testing in the morning and learned about the next four weeks in the afternoon. Everyone is very nice and very interesting. There are about 85 people in the school, but today we will be separated into our classes (about 8 people in each class), based on the results of our tests yesterday.
I went out to dinner with 6 other girls/women last night in town, which was a lot of fun. There are quite a few girls who just graduated college or are just about to go into grad school and there are a ton of retired people. There are not a ton of people in the middle. I guess that makes sense.
There seem to be quite a few Americans here, but no one else from Texas. I went grocery shopping last night and there were two funny guys working the registers. When I told them that I'm from Texas, one said "Texas -- aksjdflaks", I had no idea what he was saying. I asked him to repeat it about 100 times and finally the other guy said it for him: "Texas -- Chuck Norris!" I'm still laughing about that one...
I went out to dinner with 6 other girls/women last night in town, which was a lot of fun. There are quite a few girls who just graduated college or are just about to go into grad school and there are a ton of retired people. There are not a ton of people in the middle. I guess that makes sense.
There seem to be quite a few Americans here, but no one else from Texas. I went grocery shopping last night and there were two funny guys working the registers. When I told them that I'm from Texas, one said "Texas -- aksjdflaks", I had no idea what he was saying. I asked him to repeat it about 100 times and finally the other guy said it for him: "Texas -- Chuck Norris!" I'm still laughing about that one...
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Countdown
I'm leaving for Villefranche, France in two and a half weeks to attend the Institut de Francais, a four week, intensive language school. Villefranche is just outside of Nice, on the Mediterranean (the pictures above are of the school and the view from the school). I'll be flying over there alone on March 29th and staying in an apartment and Amos will join me on April 16th. (The dogs are going to the in-laws. Thank you Audrey and Charlie!!) When class is over, we'll probably travel around for a few days and should be back home around April 30th.
My friend at work, Kristen, asked me today what I'm expecting and most looking forward to and told me that I need to journal everything, so that's what I'm going to do here. I'll start off my first post by answering her question.
First, I'm planning on eating lots of croissants, especially the ones with chocolate in the center. I want to spend every morning on my apartment's terrace with coffee and a croissant. I can't wait to do my grocery shopping at little specialty shops and farmer's markets and try to prepare some french dishes. With a whole month, I should be able to check out lots of great, off-the-beaten-track restaurants.
So what else.. that isn't food related? I hope that I start thinking in French while I'm there. We cannot speak anything other than French at school, which goes from 8:30 to 5:00 Monday through Friday, with breakfast and lunch prepared for us by the school chef. Many of the other students will not be native English speakers, so it's possible that activities outside of school will be all-French. The people in the town like helping the students, so they will probably speak to me in French, too. (Unlike the people in Paris who can immediately tell that I'm American and will only speak to me in English, since their English is light-years ahead of my French.)
A former student wrote an article that mentions how students develop a french alter-ego. I guess that's what I'm most looking forward to... a whole month without many worries or responsibilities (or having to drive). At my french class today, one student and the professor told me about how there is a market in Nice with only flowers. The flowers are inexpensive and whenever they are there, they fill up their apartment with them. That sounds nice.
I will actually have three friends from my current French class in Austin there at the same time! One of them just moved there with her family in August and I can't wait to hear what it's been like for her.
So, I guess that's a good start. I think I'm ready, but there are still a few important things left to do (like getting wireless internet access, some cute, comfortable black shoes, a power converter, and an umbrella), but I have a little time still. Depending upon how busy I get over the next 17 days, my next post may be from Villefranche!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)