Sunday, February 24, 2013

Rough at Times, Amazing at Others

Oh my goodness, I really need to update my blog more often because so much happens every single day! I have a lot to catch you all up on, so I'll get right to it...

Classes

My classes are going really well. As I mentioned last time, I managed to move up into 314 and I really think that it is the perfect level for me. First of all, my Langue professor is wonderful. Since that is my primary class, I am very lucky to have her. She does talk to us a little like we are kindergartners, but meh, c'est bon. In all of my classes (with the exception of Histoire de l'Art) everyone talks and interacts a ton, and everything is in French! For those of you who may not know, learning a language in the States is way different because 1) we speak English most of the time and 2) the students aren't usually so enthusiastic about participation. Here everyone talks all the time, which is not only very helpful in learning the language but also encouraging to those people who don't normally speak up.

The other classes that I'm taking are Phonétique Théorique et Pratique, Expression Orale, and Histoire de l'Art. Art and Phonetics are interesting, but I have started liking Expression the best. The other day was so cool because for the last few days we have been doing introductions in which we had to tell a mix of truths and lies. Then everyone else had to ask questions to try and figure out which were which. But yesterday, our questions just dissolved into a really interesting conversation about our different cultures. There is one other American in that class and then a few Chinese, a couple Koreans, and two Middle Eastern people, so it was extremely interesting talking about things that may seem everyday to Americans but are completely bizarre to people of other cultures and vice versa. And the coolest part of it all is that the only reason we are able to have those conversations is because we all decided to learn French! If I hadn't made the decision to come here, I would never have met any of these wonderful people and, even if I did, we wouldn't have been able to communicate. When I think about it that way, I am overcome by awe and by the beauty of it all. I am so thankful everyday (even on the rough ones) that I have had this opportunity.

Le Chateau d'Angers et le Centreville


Last Sunday, a few friends and I took a lovely trip to the chateau just down the street! It is quite literally a ten minute walk from the school. It was a beautiful day and the castle was très cool. From the top we could see the whole city and inside there was just so much history to be discovered. Inside are kept les Tapisseries de l'Apocalypse. When I first heard about it I expected one giant tapestry with a ton of detail, come to find out there are actually about sixty of them and they tell the story as you move from one to the next to the next. They are very beautiful and the story is quite detailed. Overall I would say that excursion was a great success.






The day before, we tried to visit the chateau but a few in my group forgot their passports to get in free. So instead, we just walked around centreville and had a great time exploring. Angers is the epitome of what one would expect for a little French city. Everywhere you go there is something beautiful or spectacular to see and it is rich with history. About ninety percent of the people here are very nice and will go out of their way to help a lost or confused foreigner. I hope people who come to the United States feel as welcome as I do here! There are a ton of places to shop, eat, or just be entertained, so there is never a time when we don't have somewhere to go-- well, maybe on Sunday. When they say that everything is closed, they really mean it. The chateau is open and a couple cafés, but until the bars open around 7 PM there is really no point in going out unless you just plan on a nice stroll.


 

Conversation Partners!

 

A bunch of my friends and I signed up for French conversation partners a week ago and we just got them Thursday! I guess I am supposed to have two, but only one was there that night: Diane (Dee-Ahn). She and all her friends I met were lovely and endlessly sweet. They also speak English and at least one other language, so it's nice that they can always understand me and help me when I'm struggling. We had a great time talking and afterwards Diane and Rose, another French student, took me to Rose's apartment to wait for the bus in warmth, then Diane walked me back to the stop and insisted on waiting out the remaining time with me. So sweet! I can't wait to hang out with them again. Diane even offered to take me with her to the movies or out to eat since she has a car. There are fun times ahead for sure!

Surviving-- where there are adventures, there are struggles...

 

With all my fun adventures this past week or so, I have also had a few hiccups along the way. Unfortunately, the distance became very hard on my new relationship from back in the States and in the end we decided to go our separate ways. That has been wearing on me this week because I miss him a lot. However, I think it was the best decision for both of us, at least while I am away. Long distance is difficult and not something I would recommend if you can avoid it. But who knows what the future holds? For now I am just going to focus on enjoying myself as much as possible.

Nananananananana Batman!

Other than that, the days here have been exhausting. I never noticed in the U.S. how easily I slid through the days. Here, I constantly have to be engaged or else I might miss something. It is very draining on the mind. So by the end of the day, I really just want to sleep. Fortunately though, I am so busy during the day, that I don't always notice my exhaustion until my head hits the pillow at night.

Roomies!

Lastly, laundry. Definitely not the best experience I've had... I forgot soap, so I had to buy it and after everything I feel like I spent a lot. Upon returning to the bus stop, I had the bright idea to walk to the next one instead of standing in one place waiting-- it has been freezing cold and extremely windy here lately, so any movement is good movement when you have to be outside. I found the next stop, but of course I decided to continue to the next one. I ended up walking around lost for twenty minutes until I returned to the last stop I was at and had to wait another six minutes for the next bus... great job Emily. Oh well, I got home at last so it's all good now.




Yilin dans la Cuisine




10 Village des Perrins



But there is still more fun to be had! Yesterday was our first excursion for CIDEF and it was amazing. We went to Saint Malo and Mont Saint Michel, two gorgeous fortresses packed full of history. But I don't have all the pictures for those yet so I will save it for another post, hopefully some time this week. Also, friends and I are planning a trip to Dublin for April and I can't wait! There will definitely be a whole post about that too. Au revoir!

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Scheduling Difficulties

Much has happened since I last blogged, as always. I'll try to sum it up quickly so I can move on to the real topic of this particular blog. I did get a bus card and I highly recommend it. It is much easier and cheaper than buying a ticket every time. Also, I am still working on setting up a bank account. I have to get a paper from Madame called un attestation du logement. I think it just proves that I am actually living here in Angers. I am going to try and get that done tomorrow. I still adore Madame. She is so silly; we were talking about weird foods one night and I said how in Florida people eat alligator. In the morning I found a giant stuffed gator outside my door! I laughed so hard, I couldn't believe it. Also over the last few days I have met many new people and made a lot of new friends. I went out a few times with them and my roommates, but otherwise life has been kind of slow here recently. Everyone is still adjusting to the new environment and focusing on getting their schedules arranged. On a side note, I tried the French McDonald's today... very expensive here in Angers, and the fries tasted funny, but otherwise the building itself was gorgeous and my burger was yummy. Bon appetit!

On Monday we found out where we placed on the test and there was a huge range of levels. But of course, as luck would have it, my name happened to be missing from the grand list of students. I went to the secretariat (the office for CIDEF students) and told them that my name was not there. I was placed in the class 212 based on my past French classes because they evidently lost my test. I found the classes extremely simple and did not like them at all. Throughout the day, I spoke to many people and discovered that the 300 level had much more freedom in terms of electives. After going through all my classes that day, I stopped in to see M. Loiaseau, the head of the department, to discuss a change of classes. He managed to find my test and told me that I had actually placed in 213, just one step up, but I told him I wanted to be in 311, two steps up. He told me to try the 213 class for Tuesday and to come back if it was still too easy. I agreed, but also sent my professor back home an email telling him my situation. He basically responded saying that I had to be in at least 311 to get credit for all my classes at CMU.

Therefore, today I was very stressed out and wanted to move up immediately. I tried out the classes like I told M. Loiseau I would and still hated them, more-so since I knew they would not count. To add to my frustration, more and more people continued moving up even from classes below mine into the 300s because otherwise they would not receive credit. At the end of the day I was so fed up that I went to M. Loiaseau for the THIRD time and this time told him that I absolutely had to be in a higher level class, that otherwise I wouldn't get credit, and I knew that was the same excuse everyone else used, but I just HAD to change classes. I could feel my face heating up as I spoke. I think I scared him a little because he instantly agreed to move me, however he did warn me that it would be very difficult. I just kept on answering him back with "je comprends, je comprends, je comprends..." until he changed it. I was shocked when he put me in 314. I had heard that the lower classes were filling up but even so, I was surprised.

 

My final schedule! I will be taking langue of course, and I think l'histore de l'art,  la phonetique, and la comprehension orale.


So now I am back on top; a little nervous, but happy. I went to my new phonetics class after I talked to M. Loiaseau and I loved it. The professor is very goofy, but she is hilarious and seems very nice. Also, I was able to understand at least 90% if not all of what she said, which made me feel like I made the right decision. Wish me luck! I will write again soon about my other classes and perhaps some upcoming trips! Also, I will post more pictures of Angers soon, I've been waiting for a nice sunny day.

Friday, February 8, 2013

Settling In

So wow... I am here... In Angers... In France! Sorry I haven't written in a while but I have been crazy busy. A ton has happened just in the last couple of days. I think I will break it down into sections so it is a tad easier to follow...

Traveling

First view of France!

The Detroit airport was extremely easy to navigate, which I was very thankful for and I got through security just fine (even though I forgot to take my laptop out of my bag so they had to run it through again; oops!). The flight was quite nice actually. I sat next to Katie, the other girl from CMU attending CIDEF this semester, and we were served a lovely French dinner around 11 PM. Then in the morning we were served a muffin and some juice. Note: Buy a bottle of water before boarding the plane! I was so thirsty, I must have asked pour de l'eau at least five times. When we got to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris we went through customs (easier than getting into Canada by the way; they didn't even ask us any questions!) and then hopped the train to Angers. It was about an hour and a half ride and I was very nervous about meeting my host mom there. But when we stepped off the train and followed the crowd to the lobby, a huge group of elderly women descended upon us asking us if we were CIDEF students. I asked for Mme Breteau and a sweet little old lady stepped right up and led me to her car. She is lovely and very silly. She has been doing this for a very long time so she knows to speak slowly and clearly and to gesture a lot to us foreigners.

Arriving

My Room!

Weird Art in the House...

Mme and I pulled up to this large house as she tells me that it was built in 1761! It is the kookiest house I have ever seen, but that just makes it all the more endearing. Two other girls and I live in the upstairs which is very much like a mini apartment; we even have our own kitchenette. The stairs are on the outside of the house and we each have a key to get in so coming and going is easy. My roommates are Caitie from North Carolina and Yuko from Japan. We each have our own room which is very nice, and there are two bathrooms. Then there are two Chinese boys (don't ask me to spell their names) who stay in a type of tiny cottage a few feet in front of the main house. When I got there Mme fed me a lot, then just a couple hours later was dinner! And she made me eat a ton more, scooping several spoonfuls of rice onto my plate even after I tried to say that I was done. And then she expected me to finish it. "Eat!" she says, "In France we finish all our food!" So I stuffed it down. It's better than starving I suppose! After dinner it was off to bed for everyone.

Day One

Fountain Downtown

Orientation

This was definitely the hardest day so far. I was not very smart and decided to wear heeled boots... terrible idea. Mme drove us all to school in the morning but we were expected to take the bus back home. So we went and took our placement test which was pretty difficult; we get our results on Monday, so I will cue you in on that then. After the test we walked to le resto-U, or the university cafeteria. It is very cheap for fairly good food. My feet were already hurting at this point however, and after lunch we went on this huge tour of the city. My feet hurt so bad, I could hardly keep up. But I tried to stay positive and focus on the sights and important places as much as possible. Despite the pain, I was still having a fairly good time and I was already meeting new people and making friends. Then when we finally returned to the university, I went to the bus stop that I thought would take me home. At this point I had been separated from all of my housemates, so I was really just guessing. I met a French woman named Camille there and she was very sweet. It ended up being the wrong bus, but she was very helpful and went out of her way to show me an alternate route that would take me home. I took this bus, but I did not realize that the bus driver would not stop if you didn't press the little red button by each seat when your stop comes up. So I missed the stop I was supposed to get off on and ended up telling the driver to stop in the middle of nowhere. So long story short, I got very lost with no phone and in a residential area so there was no place to stop and ask directions... and mind you, I was still in my heels! Luckily I found a map and figured out about where my house should be (I hoped) and started walking. By shear luck I found my house again and I will fully admit that when I got to my room I flopped on my bed and started bawling my eyes out. I managed not to cry until that moment, but I was so overwhelmed I knew it would have to come at some point. My feet still hurt by the way.

Day Two

Tonight's Dessert!

Today was much better than yesterday. My feet still hurt a lot from yesterday, but I made sure to wear flat boots. We rode the bus this morning (were a little late...) and I met a ton of new people from around the states and from Mexico. It was lovely meeting people from so many different places. There are a lot of Koreans and Chinese but also a lot of Americans. I am so excited to get settled in to where I have a set schedule and all my banking and busing is all squared away. Then it will be all about traveling and exploring! This evening, my roommate Caitie and another girl Sarah and I went around downtown for a bit. We also bought phones for here which is very exciting! We stopped for a drink at a local bar and then stumbled upon this nice African-French restaurant for dinner. We got home pretty late but it was a blast.

Me!

Tomorrow we are going to the bus "store" to get bus passes that will last us a few months so we don't have to keep buying a ticket every time because that can get expensive. I should probably check in with Mme as well because I haven't seen her in about 48 hours... She probably thinks I am dead! Well I think that is all I have for now. I will be sure to post more pictures next time of the city and friends and all that jazz. Until then, au revoir!

Friday, February 1, 2013

Close to Takeoff

Wow. It is Friday morning, so that means today, Saturday, Sunday, and half of Monday are all the time I have left before I grab my bags and head to Detroit to catch my 8 hour flight to the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, France! Then it's another hour and a half train ride to Angers, my new home for the next four months. Madame Breteau, my host mother, has so far made me feel very welcome. She has assured me that she will be à la gare, waiting for me when I step off the train in Angers, which is extremely comforting. She has also informed me that there will be a fellow CIDEF student living with us from Japan named Yuko. How exciting! I can't wait to meet them both.


Ready to be Filled!

Packing has been going well. I bought a lot of new clothes to wear in France because I know they are very fashionable over there. However, most of what I bought are basics that can mix and match to make several different outfits. So I will be both fashion forward and practical! I was very proud of myself for packing so efficiently. I have one 24" hard-sided suitcase, a 21" light carry-on (converts to a backpack and will be perfect for weekend trips!), a messenger bag for class, and a small red sling purse for running quick errands and shopping in crowded markets. I am actually having trouble filling my bags; Which of course is a great thing because then I can bring that much more stuff back!


Super Space Saving


All Packed and Ready to Go!

Where I'll Be!

Just writing this blog entry is stirring up all my excitement again! I am very nervous, but I am trying not to let my nerves put a damper on my preparations. I will miss my family and friends very much, but in reality, four months is not such a long time in the whole realm of things and I'm sure when it is time to come home I will be begging to stay longer. See you on the other side!