First and foremost. As promised, I cleaned my entire room, Mom. I even whipped out the disinfectant wipes and the broom...no messing around.
Instead of going to a Cathedral on Sunday, the crew and I went to brunch with the lovely Claire and Andrea. They are two French girls from Limoges. Claire picked us up and took us to this cute cafe/tea house where we met Andrea. There we feasted on breads, jellies, croissants, pain au chocolat (bread with chocolate in the middle), bacon, eggs, tea, orange juice and coffee. It was glorious (even though I only ate the bread an jelly). The pain au chocolat made quite the impression on my friends and I think they are developing an obsession but it's okay. They accept my love of bananas so I guess I will accept their love of pain au chocolat. We talked about our homes, our future plans, our studies, each others' stereotypes of the others' country and it was really a fun time! This brunch we spoke in English (because Claire and Andrea wanted to practice) and next brunch we are going to speak in French. After brunch we walked around town a little and discussed music and general interests. Claire told us about this cool French folk band coming to Limoges in November and I am going!!
When we got home we all hung out in our rooms for a bit. After a couple hours Hannah, Lyndsie and I hit the track/trails! We ended up spending 2 1/2 hours out there which was Awesome! I love running the trails by my school and I love it even more when I have friends there with me. While we were walking around the track for our cool down we started discussing the prospect of going to Ireland for one of our breaks. I really hope that this is more than just talk.
After the track I made dinner and watched a lot of The Doha Debates videos. I suggest you check them out. Very interesting. That's all I am going to say about it.
In the middle of one of the videos some random guy knocked on my door...I didn't answer. He went away. That was all.
Monday!
At 10 the teachers came and we all filed inside. On the screen the head lady but up the level and underneath the level read all of the names of the students in that level. Thankfully I am in level 2! So is Hunter and the wonderful Julia from Germany! After we found out our level we were split up by our levels and took a tour of the university. This was like my third official tour but it didn't hurt to hear everything again. After the tour we had our lunch break. Hunter and I met up with Hannah and Lyndsie and we went to grab something to eat. We ended up going to the little Carrefour City (a mini grocery store) and brought our food back to eat on the steps of the amphitheater. Hannah went home because she didn't have class but Hunter, Lyndsie and I still had afternoon classes so we sat on the steps and talked about a myriad of topics. We also found out that even though Hunter and I are in different levels than Lyndsie, we still have two classes together! It was a good time.
At 1:30 we went to class. Hunter and I's teacher was awesome! He is a really funny professor who is very articulate and speaks at a decent pace. I know I am going to enjoy his class. At first he had us throw this ball of paper that he wadded up on the spot to each other and whenever you were thrown the ball you had to present yourself. At first I was a little nervous but once I got up there it was great! The professor even said that I should be an actress because of my personality. I took it as a compliment. After we presented ourselves he presented himself then we started learning! The topic at hand was non verbal communication which I am so glad we are learning! French gestures and body language is a little different from American gestures and body language. After discussing that for a bit class was over!
We left the classroom and I went with Hunter to get his student I.D. After that we walked home because it was a beautiful day! (Lyndsie still had another class or else she would have been with us too).
It might be interesting to note that you only go to your class once a week. For example, let's say I have my Grammar class on Monday at 10:00 am, that means that I only have my grammar class on Monday, no other time. And let's say I have Oral Communication on Thursday at 1:30 pm, that means I only have Oral Communication on Thursday at 1:30 pm. BUT we have 10 classes to go to and they are all at least an hour long so it's still a busy schedule. Plus I want to take a European Studies course title Global Economics and Judicial Perspectives. The only problem is that is takes place during one of my other classes, but I think I can switch some things around and make it work. Technically I don't have to take all of my classes. We have 10 options and I have to be enrolled in 3, but I am here to learn French so of course I am taking every class! Especially since there is no additional cost for me because of my exchange student program. Another interesting thing to note about classes, school started today but we have until the 6th of October to make our final decisions on classes. This means that you are allowed to sit in on whichever classes you want for three weeks before deciding if that class is right for you*. It's pretty cool!
*This is true for the program I am in but not for all of the university students. Most majors for the regular French kids have a set curriculum made by the university. Only recently have electives been incorporated into some programs.
When I got home from school...I napped. Then I woke up and Hannah, Matt and I went to and Language Cafe with the international students to practice French but it was so crowded and hot that we decided to leave early. I think as school starts up less people will go and then I will strike!
Once I got home for the Language Cafe, I made dinner. While cooking I met 6 students from Cameroon. It was one of the boys 21st birthdays and they were hanging out in the dining area celebrating. Out of the blue one of the girls asked me if I knew any boys from Turkey because her friend was looking for a husband...In fact I did know a boy from Turkey. I went back to my room to get the boy's consent to give this girl his name and come to find out, he's from Tunisia. My bad. I gave the girl his name anyways. He he he. They were really nice but at one point one boy asked me if I wanted a boyfriend from Cameroon to which I replied that I was engaged. After spending three weeks here I have come to realize that saying you have a boyfriend doesn't carry much weight, but a fiance, that's a whole new ball game! So that is my new response to everyone who tries to get my number or hit on me or whatever. It was actually pretty though because one of the girls looked at me and said "You're so lucky". And it's funny because in reality I don't have a burning desire to be engaged at this point in my life but here is this girl a couple years older than me and that is all that she wants. Because after I said that all she wanted to talk about was finding future husbands.
Once back in my room I chatted with my friends and we are very serious about going to Ireland for our break. I found a plane ticket from La Rochelle for 20.35 euros. The train ticket from Limoges to La Rochelle costs more! (It's 28.50 euros.) Still super cheap to travel to another country! I am stoked to go running in Irish countryside!!!
That was pretty much my first day of school! Tomorrow will feel more like a real school day because I will have a full day and I am really looking forward to getting back into the school mindset!
Things to do Tomorrow:
Get package from Post Office
Buy plane ticket to Dublin
Buy train ticket to the airport
Au revoir
Candice
No comments:
Post a Comment