3 Weeks and It Still Hasn't Sunk In? And Fun Random Recollections.

3 weeks have slipped by so quickly. I know I keep saying time is going by fast here, but it really seems to speed up everyday. It feels like I've been here 3 days. There is still no sense of awe or excitement within me. I think it's because I've been so focused on getting fully registered here, making sure I have enough food to eat, and applying for grad school. Also, finding a proper church close enough has been a bit of a struggle. I miss church so badly! My prayer life seems to have been all the more enhanced for it, though. :)

*insert wistful sigh here*

And now, a series of unorganized blurbs of things that have happened.

I picked two optional courses, which are literature and French sociological and economic life. In the latter class, I sat with a bunch of friendly Chinese students. The professor gave us a blank map of France and told us to help each other label the different regions. One of the girls I was sitting with whipped out a book that we have that had a map in it of the regions, and we all proceeded to kind-of-sort-of cheat. We hid it when the professor passed and looked at what we were doing, then looked at each other and just burst out laughing after she had left. She caught two of the girls with it open later, though, and simply told them to not look at it. It wasn't a test, so I doubt she much cared. It was still fun to sit and laugh with them about it, though.

Everybody is put into classes according to a level that they've tested into out of six levels. Within that level, you are then put into a group and you're given a predetermined schedule of courses. Because of this, you wind up going to all the same classes with the exact same people everyday. As a result, our group (B1, group three) has become quite friendly and we've all gotten to know each other. I wasn't expecting this, since these are people who aren't in the ISEP program with me. These are students from Sweden, Malaysia, Spain, China, Great Britain, and some other Americans. It's amazing how nicely people from different cultures can come together!

We've all been really interested in each other's countries and cultures. I've learned a lot of fun stuff!

Being bilingual is tons of fun, and listening to the people who are trilingual is amazing. The people from Spain can speak French, Spanish, and English, so we'll often have Frenglish conversations, which probably sound a little crazy. The other day, our (very French) professor came back into the room after we'd had a break, and we were all speaking either Spanish, English, or Chinese to each other, so she said in perfect English, "Oh, everybody's speaking French! How wonderful!"

Je parle français comme un enfant.

For the record, all courses are conducted completely in fluent French by French natives. I've had people ask me about that.

French keyboards are different. We have a lab class on Mondays where we work on computers, and I had to adjust my brain to operate the keyboard.

I found myself hitting "q" a lot, and it took me a bit to recognize that all my periods were in fact semi-colons.

I saw a green lizard today! Usually they're brown. I'm trying to take a picture of the birds here, since they're gorgeous, but they move too fast. Also, the sirens on police cars sound different here. They're deeper and less shrill.

I'll be posting about food next time! Om nom nom.

A Quick Update and a Taste of Things to Come

My days are blurring together. I've never had the sensation of feeling like it's still yesterday, but I felt like that last night. Time keeps going by more quickly every single day.

I worked with a guy in my oral expression class today for what I thought was about 5 minutes. A glance at my watch begged to differ. Try 45 minutes.

I don't have a lot to share since I've been so focused on picking classes and doing homework, but I will share this: I'm conducting a little personal experiment. I've done this experiment twice before in the States, and the outcome is always interesting and eye-opening. I thought it might be fun to try in another culture, and also particularly since I'm around mainly international students from countries outside of France. It's nothing serious, just something I like to test people with. I won't say more than that, but hopefully I'll have results to report in early October. It should be fun.

What is this experiment? We shall see. I'd be very amused if nothing came of it, ha ha ha.

Also, there are some excursions in my future through the ISEP program, so I'll be sure to bring my camera.

One of the places we're going to visit is Nîmes, an arena of which is pictured above.

On a side-note, one of the guys in our program seems to have gotten himself a French girlfriend. How adorable is that?

I hope everyone is enjoying my posts. :)

A List of Firsts and Culture Shock

Some culture shock:
-Despite still seeing overweight people regularly here, I've noticed that the people who are thin are REALLY thin.
-Nobody is on time.
-Salad dressing is vinaigrette, no exceptions.
-Living life trumps work. Therefore, show up late, take a serious lunch break, and leave early. When even that isn't enough to make you happy, you go on strike. Vive la revolution!
-The women here are feminine and super confident.
-Everybody smokes everywhere.
-Coffee is a nasal-clearingly strong concoction in a mug so small it seems like a joke.

A few things I've experienced for the first time by coming here:
*leaving the United States
*leaving North America in general
*being in Europe
*seeing lizards in person
*acting like a tourist
*walking with a group of friends through a city at night
*seeing mountains in person
*getting immersed in a foreign culture
*riding a train
*seeing palm trees in person
*forgetting a word in my mother tongue but remembering it in my second language (unfortunately during a conversation in my mother tongue, ha ha ha)
*doing something huge and terrifying on my own

 This week is almost to an end already. I can't believe it.

Pictures, College Professors in France, and What Does Maintenance Think of My Pajamas?

First, les photos.

This is the detergent I use to handwash my clothes. Smells so good! I kept sniffing the box after I bought it, ha ha ha.

At Comédie.

Banner for the festival we attended on Friday evening.

A fountain inside the festival area. Looks better in person.

This is the lit-up sign at the entrance of the festival. The "r" has burned out at the end of "Montpellier." But you're not looking at that, are you? You're totally looking at the guy who's at the bottom center of this picture. He will never know he's on someone's blog. Isn't that lovely?

The vendor we bought crepes from She was also selling waffles (seen at the far right). Just look at all that Nutella.

Fresh, piping hot Nutella crepe with a bite already taken out of it. I've fantasized about this crepe so hard since then.

Julianne (left) and Marisa posing in hats that a vendor was selling. Marisa liked hers so much (and looked so great in it!), she bought it.

Lauren in her jaunty cap.

Perla, Julianne, and Marisa in more hats.

Random English graffiti on campus. There's also one that says (in French) "Never work."

 I need to start updating this everyday again, because I've got so much to share, and I want to get it down while it's fresh!

Yesterday, I had class for the first time. It was very laid-back and enjoyable. I had a grammar class, and then I went to literature in the afternoon. It's an optional class, and so many of us showed up, the professor had half of the room leave and come back in 40 minutes. I hope I can get into it, since it's part of my major.

I have to discuss my professor for my morning grammar class, since she was my first impression of French professors. First, she was late. Second, she was definitely dressed like she was going to a cocktail party. Her black dress had ruffly straps and sparkling details on the front and back of the bodice. She was also wearing open-toed high heels and had styled her hair up kind of fancily.

This is perfectly appropriate to teach in. No one will be distracted or confused.

I was thoroughly entertained by it, I hate to admit it. Maybe she was, in fact, headed to some sort of party once she was done. For cocktails. At noon. Who knows?

We were given very, very easy homework (3 problem sets spanning one page of our workbook by Tuesday). She dismissed us early.

In the literature class, we were simply introduced to what the course would be. It sounds like we'll be reading a lot of stuff I've already read, though.

She was describing a work by Moliere, which I immediately recognized as Le Misanthrope. I've already read it. She also mentioned Balzac and Zola, who I've read, and Madame Bovary, which I've also read. Hopefully there will be at least one thing I haven't.

In order to register properly here, we have to look over our room with the floor of our building's cleaning lady and fill out a sheet. You have to track the right cleaning lady down, and I happened to stumble upon mine at an opportune time yesterday (thank You Jesus!), so we went over my room together. Wow, if I could just talk to her everyday, I'd be fluent by October. She speaks SO rapidly. I just nodded and said "Oui" and "D'accord" a lot. Surprisingly, though, I could understand what she was trying to get across. I must be improving already!

The cleaning lady looks like this, NOT like a French maid.

Today I didn't have class, so I slept in as best I could since I haven't been sleeping well. Which is why it makes so much sense that maintenance would come charging into my room at 9:30.

"Bonjour!"

Groggily speaking French and being reprimanded for being in bed at 9:30, all while in my pajamas, was fun enough, but what was even better, when that guy had left after doing some work on my closet door and kitchenette, was 10 minutes later when ANOTHER guy came right when I was about to take a shower. He waited patiently while I repeatedly exclaimed "Un moment!" at the door.

Then, at the grocery store, the photo booth I was using to take yet more ID photos with ate my money, and small children tried to interrupt my photo session.

So overall... pretty eventful morning.

I still feel pretty good about everything, though. All I can be is amused by it all. Time is going by quickly, and I have a ton to look forward to. For instance, I found out today that one of my French professors from Beloit College is coming next month to check on the program, and he wants to come to some of me and Julianne's classes. I clapped and jumped like a little girl when I found out.

Next post, I'll try to talk about some culture shock and several things I've experienced for the first time. Thank you so much to everybody who reads my blog! I wish the comment option was easier to use so that you could leave comments (but maybe you don't even want to, which is fine). Please keep checking my blog; I promise to make it more interesting. :)

Living Thriftily and Simply: Differences Living Here Vs. Being at Home in the US

This post is kind of jumbled and lazy. What can I say, it's been a long couple of days.

Friday evening, I wound up going to a festival with some other people from the ISEP program. It was lovely, and I'll have to upload the pictures I took. The festival lasts throughout the summer and just ended the night that we went. There was a vendor there who spoke English. He was really nice, and some of the girls bought bracelets from him. He even gave them a discount just because. I got a delicious Nutella crepe from another vendor. Mom and Dad, the recipe I managed to find and use at home does a pretty good job!

Life would be perfect if I could eat crepes every morning.

Saturday and Sunday were spent pulling myself together and brainstorming (mostly about my wardrobe, or current lack thereof). I grocery shopped at the Shopi, which I mentioned in my last post. I did something really funny there. We have to get ID photos for all of the paperwork we're handing in, and there's a photo booth at the Shopi, so the first thing I did when I got there was hop into the booth. I pulled out my wallet, opened the change compartment, then stopped and rooted through my bag to find something else. Well, because of how I shifted my legs to dig into my bag, my wallet tilted just enough to send all of my change (and, for good measure, my Beloit College student ID) tumbling all over the floor of the booth. And, of course, the floor of the booth had to, it just HAD TO, be metal. Imagine the uproarious cacophony of about 20+ coins beating against metal right near the registers and entrance of a bustling grocery store.

All I could do was freeze up and squeeze my eyes closed for a while, but I laughed it off. My picture-taking went off without any further complications after that, and no one stole my money or gave me a hard time, so it ended as well as it could.

I also tried my hand (literally, oh ho ho ho) at handwashing clothing for the first time. The machines here (which are in an adorable little hut) are kind of pricey, so Marisa, a really sweet girl who's also in the program, mentioned handwashing, which I decided was a good idea. I googled a video of how to do it, and it was kind of fun. Smells really good, too.

I washed whites, colors, and dark clothing (not all at once, though), and everything came out just fine.

Since I've been here, I feel like I've taken on a new persona. My personality definitely comes out when I write in this blog, but in interactions with others, it's really watered down. I think it's because not only am I unfamiliar with everything, but also because I have to wear my glasses until an infection on my eyelids heals. I hate, with every bit of strength in my body, the way I look in glasses, and everytime someone looks at me it's literally the only thing I can think about, so I've been even more self-conscious than I already would have been to begin with. As a result, I've been presenting myself in a very simple, unconfident way. The me that I am here is definitely not the me that I've been in the States.

Mine are way nicer than this, and I still look awful.

Also, grocery shopping has proven to be interesting. I've never grocery shopped for myself, so a whole host of new concerns have arisen in my life. And not just of the "what will last me a week" or "what will make a proper meal" variety. I'm buying groceries for myself in a completely different country, with completely different cuisine, with labels and food names in a completely different language. So, for example, I wanted some cheddar cheese. Well, France, despite being the cheese capitol of the world, is not exactly boasting blocks of cheddar at the grocery store. Camembert, sure, brie, naturally, but not cheddar. I managed to track one down that tastes similar, however. But little things like that are making a huge difference in how I feel about living here. I've come to be satisfied with very simple food.

Carrying groceries for over 5 minutes gets old very quickly as well.

Furthermore, back at home, I constantly make an effort to dress stylishly. A girl in one of my classes last semester said to me, "Okay, I have to see your closet, because I don't think I've ever seen you wear the same thing twice." Within four days here, I wore the same thing twice. This is my uniform: jean skirt, t-shirt over a tank top, sandals. Yes, ironically, in France of all places, I have become less fashionable. FAR less fashionable. This has further affected my confidence, though not badly.

My closet at home looks something like this. Here, it's about 1/10 of this.

We'll see what kind of person I wind up being after a few more months of these differences (although I'm hoping I'll be able to wear my contacts and get some more clothes from my family in the mail by October).

Today we found out our classes and schedules. I tested into a higher level than I thought I would. I have French language classes three times a week, a phonetics class once a week, a lab that same day, and choices of a literature, theater, cinema, art history, culture, civilisation, or French economic/sociological life class. I have to pick two out of those options. Literature is a must, since I'm a comparative literature major, and I like the idea of art history. I have Wednesdays off. Shannon, a lucky girl who's also in ISEP, has Thursdays and Fridays off. I believe everyone has at least one day off a week.

Also, I've been seeing lizards.

They're small here and scurry along like big ol' bugs.

There were some snails on a fence I was passing on the way to Shopi and I thought, "Oh no! Run! You will be harvested and eaten!"

"But I'm too cute to be eaten!"

I'm really happy to be here and I can't wait to see what my classes are like! :)

The Past Few Days at a Glance

The Vert Bois lobby, where a lot of important things happen.

Tuesday:
We had a meeting at 1:45. There we learned some terrifying details of a bunch of things we should have done before we came that need to get done and handed in before Monday. We all started to get to know one another as well. One of the coordinators was saying that she notices that ISEP (the program that this is under) students generally clump together and don't make a lot of friends outside of the group. This meeting was the first and only time so far during this trip that I've felt concerned.

Another shot of the lobby. Most of the people in this picture are ISEP students.

Julianne and I also went grocery shopping at a cute little place called the Shopi. I've never seen so much French cheese in my life. I got a few basics and enough food to last me until the weekend if I supplement it with a few things that I get at a cafe or restaurant.

Here is the entrance to the grocery store. There's a downstairs for stuff like utensils and postcards.

Fruit; some of it I've never seen before, like the little things to the right top next to the big green things. They look prickly.

Cheese.

French Kellogg's cereal.

I doubt anyone else remembers Fa body wash, but it came out in the US and it smells sooooo good. Too bad they don't sell it there anymore.

A jar of off-brand Nutella. I couldn't resist it because it's so cute. Now I can use the empty jar for a glass.

 I was really happy to have food, since it isn't provided for us on this program.

Wednesday:
We had our placement tests to see what level classes we'll be taking. It was a two-part paper test, and then later on in the day we had an oral exam. I'm pretty sure I'll be in the lowest level. Not complaining, since I'll also be applying for grad school while I'm here and don't want to take on too much. The results will be revealed Monday.

This was the floor of the building where we took our oral exam. So orange.

Later, Julianne and I went to make copies of things in town for all the stuff that we have to hand in on Monday. After Julianne grabbed a sandwich, we went back to our dorm (building D, it's called). I was so glad to kick back and relax after being tested all day and making sure I could get copies of the things I needed, so I sat down to read some emails, listen to music, and nosh on something.

Cue housekeeping randomly bursting into my room.

Here's the deal. We did not have blankets when we arrived (one guy doesn't even have shower curtains, which is completely necessary in our miniscule bathrooms). Apparently, that is not normal for the program, so the program heads made sure to take care of it when we told them. The housekeeper was coming to deliver the blankets. She was a blonde woman who smelled of cigarettes and was brisk and extremely friendly (she even told Julianne to make sure to lock her door when she's in her room; very motherly!). I thanked her profusely for the blankets, because sleeping with random scarves and a towel strategically tied around one's legs isn't that conducive to a good night's sleep. She came back later to tell me that I need to get some documents from the secretariat, including a list we go through together to check the condition of the room. She then asked me, with a smile, how long I was staying. She was really nice.

*cue angels singing* I slept super well that night.

Thursday:
We were told we had a meeting at 9:30 to figure out our phone situations, and at the last minute the night before the meeting we were told to bring our laptops, and that was it. What we weren't informed of was the fact that we were going to leave campus, hop on a tram, and go all the way out to a place where we could buy phones, our laptop-filled bags digging into our shoulders the entire time. But that's exactly what happened.

Why is the name of the store in English?

I didn't get anything, since I would only be able to make local calls. Plus I have an international calling card. I just need to figure out how to use it on my Tracphone.

A building across the street.

There was a mall called the Polygone right next to us, so a lot of us went in and bought something to eat. It was fun requesting for Lipton Iced Tea and pronouncing it "Leeptoh Ice Tea." Then a group of us girls went to a few stores. Only to window shop, of course, since we're trying to conserve our funds. It was a good day, despite the resulting ache in my shoulder from carrying my laptop everywhere.

Fresh off the tram at the Odysseum.

Today (Friday):
A group of us went to the Odysseum, a huge place with lots of stores and places to eat. The focal point was to go to IKEA, a store that has a little of everything, which is a God-send for international students who are in desperate need of things.

This place is a massive warehouse. It's so big they have maps at the entrance.

The entrance.

After everyone but me got some much needed items, we were famished and grabbed some lunch.

Most of us got the same thing. This is the bag it came in.

This is how the French do pizza: melted mozzarella with random smatterings of delicious Gouda cheese and a black olive.

Water; a lot of us say we've been extra thirsty since we've been here. I know I have.

We sat outside and ate and chatted while watching passersby, then we headed to Géant Casino, France's Wal-Mart. There was so much stuff there.

Mister Clean? Not in France; here he's Monsieur Propre!

I got a few more basics, like stuff to wash dishes with. Once we were done, we left the Odysseum and headed back on the tram. At the next stop we were at, the tram police invaded and checked to make sure everyone had a ticket (it's very easy to ride the tram without one)! This was my first encounter with them; they only get on sporadically, so you never know when it's going to happen. They where in white button-down shirts, black pants, and were sporting name tags and black leather fannypacks. It was frightening (even with the fannypacks) having them suddenly spring inside together and demand to see your ticket, but thankfully I had mine. We arrived back on campus safe and sound.

Tram ticket. "Aller-retour" means the ticket covers you for the trip there and the trip back.

Time is going by here extremely quickly. I was fully convinced that it was Thursday today. Already this week is coming to an end. It feels like I left just yesterday.