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...

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!