Class and Other Adventures of Sorts

Update on this past week-end. I survived my first week of classes so I was pretty exhausted by Friday. Miranda and I went to visit Paul, our crazy French friend. We ended up sitting in his room for hours only speaking French. This was a hard night for me because I had just had five and a half hours of French classes that day and I was exhausted. Paul’s friend Donauld dropped by and sat and talked as well. They are both so nice and patient with me. Donauld especially goes out of his way to help me and listen to my broken French. We ended up planning to go with Donald to his soccer game on Sunday. I was so tired by the end of that night and a little emotional from all of the French. It was good though because I am now moving out of the stage of being shocked and overwhelmed by only hearing French. Even though I don’t understand a lot, it doesn’t make me feel very frustrated. I try and grasp the main points and I forget the details. So, we went to a French film, “Comme Les Autres”, the next day, and it was great. It was nice just to sit and learn some vocabulary; and it ended up being a very interesting movie.

That night, Miranda and I went out to meet the British girls, and we ended up picking up a bit of an entourage before we left. Three French boys in our dorm decided they wanted to come along so we let them. We knew one of them from earlier and he was nice, but the other two were not so nice. They were just rude to us in that they kept laughing at our French and trying to speak English. This is very frustrating and disheartening when trying to learn a new language. After that night, we decided to be very choosy about which French boys to grace with our company.
The next day, Donald and his sister picked us up for the futbol festivities. This was my first ride in a car with a French driver. I had my reservations. The French are generally bad drivers. This is a true statement. Anyways, Donald is originally from Cameroon. We ended up going to his sister’s house for a bit, which was shocking seeing that one rarely gets invited into a French home. Ha! I defied the norm. We then went to a fete at a big park where Donald made us a traditional meal from Cameroon. Yum! Then we headed to his futbol game. He scored two goals, one for each of us I guess. I think he was pretty proud to have two girls watching his soccer game. It was just a great day. I got to practice a ton of French with Donald, his little nieces and nephews, etc.

We have been going to the cinema often because it’s very inexpensive and helpful. However, I have only seen one good film so far. The other two were ridiculous. In fact, the last one Miranda, Paul and I watched was “La Possibilite d’une Ile”. I kid not when I say that when the credits rolled, everyone laughed. The movie made no sense AT ALL.

Things are settling down here. I finally have finished all of the little details that were so consuming and I can now breathe; oh and learn French. My success in French is manic. I don’t know any other way to explain it. One day, I understand almost everything said to me in class or on the street; but the next day I blank on the simplest question. I laugh at myself ALL THE TIME. I say words and phrases wrong all the time. I even accidentally say bad things on occasion and that gives everyone a good laugh. I find it so refreshing to laugh at myself and move along. This way I don’t take my mistakes seriously; because how can I? I am speaking like a seven year old child! This deserves a good laugh. My writing class is my favorite because I know what is going on. All of the other classes I take are pretty confusing. In my art class, I don’t understand any of the vocabulary used so it’s hard for me to grasp what is being said. In my oral comprehension and speaking class, I am fairly lost but can at least conjure up some kind of sense of understanding during the lesson. In my cinema class, I, of course, get what’s going on in the films but the vocabulary is pretty new to me in this class as well.

Today I freaked out a bit to my professor. She really just read my face because my sentences were not making much sense, but basically I was trying to tell her that I was placed in the wrong level. There are people in my class who have been living in France for one or two years and they speak really, really well. I have a Romanian friend, Andrea, who lives with a French guy and can speak fluent French, but we are in the same level. This makes no sense to me. My professor explained to me that those who can speak well, cannot write and understand the grammar that I grasp. She told me just to relax and realize that the whole point of me being in this level is to challenge and improve the skills I am lacking. So, through some laughter and some tears, I was reassured to stay in my level. Consequently, I had two friends afterwards really encourage me to keep trying. My Bulgarian friend, who speaks four languages, told me that he can barely understand the dictations in class. This was a relief because he talks the most and seems to be the most confident out of everyone. He was encouraging and told me just to practice speaking as much as possible. He looks just like the Bulgarian, Victor Krum, from Harry Potter. It’s really weird.

I have made so many friends, it’s really difficult to keep up with all of them. For instance, today on campus, I was trying to work, but five of my friends walked by and stopped to talk. Then I made a new friend, Gladys from Ecuador, and she stayed and talked for a long time. So, I don’t’ get much work done on campus. If I don’t get much better at French, I will be content just having the experience of meeting so many people from so many different cultures. It is absolutely incredible. The diversity I am living in is fascinating. I get to learn so much about other cultures, but actually even more about my own through this experience. I think I have made way too many plans with people, but somehow I will manage!

Jumping into a bit of French culture, my friend and I were talking today about dress here. The women here are surprisingly modest on the whole. Compared to the U.S., there seems to be a lot less skin shown in public. From what my French friends have told me, the French don’t show off the body so much in public, but they are very comfortable with sexuality. This is obvious in the film, advertisements, etc. I am really confused by this. Promiscuity, casual sex and especially public display of affection seem to be the norm, but dress here is much less provocative. I guess it can be subtly provocative. Anyways, I just got to thinking about the typical American female and her dress. It’s perfectly normal for her to be scantily clad, but it does not directly mean that she is easy. Here, it seems to imply something much more direct. Moral of the story for me: never wear shorts in France.
I started running, ballet and salsa. I think some of us are going to a salsa club to dance on Thursday, woo hoo! This week-end, we are trying to make it to the beach before it’s completely freezing. We are planning to go near St. Nazaire, to Mont St. Michel. There is a stunning chateau here and a gorgeous beach we want to see. The days fly by, so Miranda and I are planning our week-ends in advance so that we don’t lose track.

The nights and days are so beautiful here. It has been so clear and crisp outside. I can see the moon at night so clearly from my window. During the day, I have been noticing the trees changing colors. I still can’t get over how nice the weather is.

Oh yes, the tramway. I wanted to talk about this because it’s such a brilliant idea. Nantes is a big city, so they have a genius transportation system. It took me a few days to get used to, but now I am completely comfortable with the tram. It is a bus that runs on a few different lines all throughout the city. It is just like a subway, but above ground. So, you don’t have to go underground to get to places, making it a safer and much lovelier ride. I heart the tram, and I think every city should have one.

As for now, I am aching to go to Paris, even though there is still so, so much to see here.