Week Summary aka. Longest Blog Post to Date

I really need to carve out an hour every day to just blog because I know I am forgetting events and fun details. With that said, here is everything that I remember from this past week!

Tuesday!

In my dorm building everyone has window blinds that block out all light. I mean All light. Pitch darkness. This is really nice when you fall asleep but problematic when you wake up.

I woke up at 6:30 and decided to go back to bed since all I had to do today was study French and work out. The next time I woke up I thought maybe an hour had passed by when I looked at my clock at it was already 10:00 am! I'm not one for sleeping in because I feel like I am wasting the day away but my windows are so dark my mind always thinks it's 4 am! Oh well. At least I sleep like a baby here.

Tuesday morning I studied French for a couple hours on this app called Duolingo and it was pretty fun! It is a great refresher for me. It has you listen, speak, read, write and translate french. I recommend it! I also had been researching and working on my first CV this week and on Tuesday I really put a dent into it. I've never created a CV before this; I always had the plain old resume, but after making my first CV, I like it so much more than a regular resume! A CV allows you more freedom to elaborate on your education, past experiences and accomplishments and I feel as if your employer gets a better since of who you are through a CV than through a regular resume. Not all employers want CVs but if a company you're interested accepts both, I would go with the CV. After working on that bad boy, Lyndsie and I went running.

In the afternoon Lyndsie, Hannah and I went to the library and rented French movies or American movies in my case… I rented an old James Bond movie with Sean Connery. I’m curious to see how the French voice over goes. I doubt the French voice over will do justice to Sean Connery’s iconic Scottish voice but that is a huge task to ask of any human being!  

After the library, we came back home and I ran. Then I went to get ready to go to dinner with the usual people and 4 new OSU students.  There are two girls and two boys. Lyndsie had met the girls the other day when they were struggling to open the dorm doors. We all arranged a time to go eat via Facebook but since Hunter hates us and doesn’t have a Facebook we had to go knock on his door again to see if he wanted to join us. As fate would have it Hunter’s next door neighbor happen to be Josh, a fellow exchange student from China that we all met earlier in the week. He heard us speaking English outside Hunter’s door and came out to see what was going on. So we invited him to dinner as well! The dinner group now consisted of the 4 OSU students, Josh, Hunter, Matt, Hannah, Lyndsie and I. I guess a mob would be a more appropriate term then a group. Our mob took to a bus to Church Hill then took to the streets and walked to a restaurant. No one wanted to make a decision on where to eat (which, by the way, baffles me because we are all going out to eat so it is nice if people give their opinions on what they want to eat). We ended up eating outside at this nice, little restaurant. I am not sure how this happened but the waiter forgot both Matt and I’s meals. After an hour of no-show food, Matt re-ordered his “steak à cheval” (Cheval which means horse in French but this menu item is called a “Horse Steak” because the egg “rides” on top of the beef patty). No worries there.  In true savage fashion, I ate everyone’s salad and bread that didn’t want it. This worked out nicely for me because I got a free meal out of this outing! After dinner the four OSU students went to a bar and we walked home.

Fun Fact: They do not split checks in France. That was interesting but we figured it all out.

While waiting for our bus we decided to check out a nearby park with a pretty gazebo. Come to find out that is the hang out spot for a fair amount of homeless people. A guy came running up to us and started asking us for money and immediately Matt (who speaks zero French but is 6 foot 1 and has a thick Texas accent) said No about 6 times and the guy left us alone and even told us to have a good night.  Once home we all went our separate ways.

That night I watched an entire documentary on Reggie Miller and watched hilarious videos of Charles Barkely. I don’t know what has gotten into me.

The friends

Wednesday!

I don’t remember what I did Wednesday morning besides get a package (I have another one at the post office which I will get later) but I do remember the afternoon because it was registration day! Fun fact: I didn’t know that it was registration day until the day before (i.e Tuesday) because I am so use to receiving emails to alert me of such events but that isn’t how things work here I guess? On Tuesday, Lyndsie and Hannah went up to the school and found out that we were suppose to register Wednesday and where and at what time. Huge thanks to them for that one!!!

On Wednesday at 2:30 Lyndsie and I went to register and met Hannah there.  The entire time I thought that I was there to sign up for classes but really I was there to register for the university. So for a little bit both the woman that was working with me and I were confused. But luckily I met the beautiful and wonderful Julia from Germany and she explained everything.   After filling out my needed paper, I went to get my student I.D.  I now have my student I.D., a library card and a bus pass. I’m practically a local. Next on the agenda: a bank account (that’s going to be an interesting experience).

When the girls and I arrived back at our dorm we happen to run into Matt.  So we all went a got dinner at the university restaurant right outside our dormitory. It actually is a great deal because you get a small baguette, two sides, a yogurt, a juice, water and two main dishes for 3.20 euros. Lord knows I do not get that much food. On this particular day I was feeling especially not hungry and decided to attempt to just but three sides, but the lady working the register was onto my evil plan… She looked at my tray, looked and me, cocked her eyebrow and said “Non” at that was that. I was going to get three sides and not pay for the main course because the sides would have filled me up and the main course part of the meal costs extra…oh well…I ended up getting rice and mushrooms as my main course item and it was delicious! Food blessing in disguise.

After that we all went back to our dorms and I worked on a CV that I wanted to have completed and edited by third parties Friday morning. Then I am sure I watched YouTube videos of something ridiculous, read the news then went to bed.  That is another thing that I do every day: read the news! I am surprised that I haven’t mentioned it before. Now you all know my dirty secret.

Thursday!

 Hannah and I met up to take the bus to the school because we had our placement exam today. We ran into Hunter at the bus stop and it was exciting. Once we got into the school, we had two different people tell us where to go. We picked one location and it was the wrong place but luckily Corrine, one of our teachers, came and brought us to the correct room 5 minutes before the test took place. (We happen to be waiting where all the French students were waiting to take their test of some sort. So we thought that we were in the right place because there was a decent amount of students waiting outside studying material that we assumed to be French grammar, vocab, etc.).

Once we arrived in the correct room we were told that they were going to play the listening portion of the exam one time and one time only. At first I was a little disappointed but after a moment I realized it was for the best. We took our test and after went to the store to buy bananas! After that we still had about 20 minutes until our bus arrived so we went to the Quick (which is the French equivalent of a McDonald’s) and Hannah and Hunter bought food and milkshakes. Then we waited for our bus chariot to take us home. Our buses front door was broken so we had an incredible breeze the entire ride home which was a nice switch from the usual hot, sweaty bus rides in the afternoon. When we got home, I went running then made dinner.

Later that night we all went to a party hosted by a university club. It was at a bar. Very French. Very not American. I’m not a huge fan of parties but luckily the wonderful Julia was there! We still left the party early and because of the time the buses were running once an hour if at all (depending on the line) so we walked home. Personally, I love walking especially when it is cool outside and I like the people I am walking with.

We got invited to two more parties but I didn’t go because I am the MOST boring college student you will every encounter.  Sure, I will move half way across the world to a place I’ve never been and I can barely speak the language but go to a party? That’s just too far out of bounds for this kid.

Friday!

In the morning Lyndsie and Hannah and I went running on the track and on the trails! It was a great way to start the day. Then I worked on my CV and sent it in, which was very exciting.  After that a couple of us went to help Matt get his bus pass. This time we worked with a different lady at the counter. She didn’t take Matt’s driver’s license photos but instead took a new photo. She was, yet again, incredibly nice just like every other person I have encountered in Limoges thus far! If you are curious there are now 3 different options when it comes to supplying a photo to get your bus pass. The first (bringing your own I.D. photo from the local photo booths) is the safest but it is nice to have two alternatives (driver’s license photo and having them take your photo there) if you are feeling WiLd and cheap.

We made a quick stop at the library after to rent some movies for the night and I rented a French comedy classic. I’ll let you know how I like it! Something else happened today but I can’t quite remember what…sorry guys.

At about 8:00 pm the crew and I met up to go a girl’s house that Lyndsie met in class to watch a movie.  She is a beautiful and sweet Indian girl from South Africa who moved to France when she was 11 and is studying to be a veterinarian. In conclusion, she is cooler than all of us. One of the girls that was already at the house when we arrived Really wanted to watch the movie 2 Guns so we did and it was cute. After the movie we chatted with our hostess, her boyfriend and our hostesses’ three friends.  Then we walked home. When I got home it was around 12:30, maybe 12:40, and I started watching a ton of vegan cooking videos. I am completely inspired to bake once I get my blender (which has arrived in the mail!!).

On a side note, I am really enjoying Miles Kurosky’s music. I have been listening to this lovely song called “She Was My Dresden”. It kind of has a The Shins vibe. It is soft and calm yet not boring. He also has a much more upbeat song titled “Pink Lips, Black Lungs” that is prettyyy cool if that’s more what you’re looking for. I suggest checking both songs out.

And that has been my week thus far!

Au revoir!

Candice Marchetta