Les Cours

Guess who decided to skip class the second day? Moi! But not without reason. But let's start on the first day shall we? Ok. My first class here was la grammaire. First subject: punctuation. First lesson: punctuation in poems. I like poetry, some of it, I do. I hate it in class. I was also late, but it didn't matter because le professeur had pushed back class by half an hour. She also informed us that our classes with her the first two weeks would be changed. Not really a big deal je suppose. So grammaire wasn't that bad. Then I had a lunch break, where I was reminded why I tell people I don't seafood. Then writing. There is actually a facebook group called "I survived class with Mme Puech". That's my first writing teacher. It wasn't too bad I guess. Then français écrit and cinema, with the same prof. She shows clips of movies without sound, and then we write about it. She said DSF students don't necessarily have to take that class, so I'm thinking I won't. After that was supposed to be the optional cinema class, but it was let out early because they couldn't get the projector to work. Tuesday I had more writing, with a different prof. I'm not sure I'll like it or not because I had to leave halfway through for un rendez-vous at the bank. This took much longer than they expected, and I didn't get back to the fac until 11h20. My next class was 10h30 - 12h... Well, less than hour left? I decided not to go and instead sat outside writing out this post. It's nice when the sun comes out, and not too bad when it doesn't. I have no idea if people just sit outside here like they do at my university, but I have gotten a few strange looks.

Anyways, I now have a French bank account. I only had to sign about 20 things. I don't actually have the bank card yet, I get to wait some more for that. I also have to figure out how to transfer the money from my account at home to this one. Unfortunately one euro is about $1.45, so although I think I have a lot of money right now, it won't be that much after the transfer.

The rest of mes cours... I think I will like all of my teachers. One is a bit crazy and likes to go off on etymological tangents for ten minutes, but I think I can stand it. My history and geography teacher I think will be hilarious, if I can stay awake in his class. Since I'm in the highest level we're pretty much choosing what we want to learn about in his class. Side note: it is so funny to hear French people try to pronounce Connecticut. I think it's because we don't pronounce the c in the middle, and they do. Overall my classes are pretty much like my classes in the states, except it's all in French and about French. Homework doesn't seem to be too bad either, and so far I only have to buy two books, one for 4,50€ and the other for 15€. I just have to not go out at night during the week. Fridays are more fun anyways.

Completely unrelated: I finally opened up my bag of ogre-sized peanut butter m&ms that I brought, and they are just as good in France. I wish I had brought more instead of leaving the rest at home.

This week I got to take the tram by myself a few times. It makes me feel more French. I also found at that 7h45 is rush hour on the tram. There were so many people that for about five stops I couldn't even hold onto a bar. I was so afraid of falling into the guy behind me. Luckily my public transportation balancing skills are quite good from having to stand on the shuttle at my university (people who have done this know how challenging it can be, especially with the crazy drivers). I managed to lose my tram ticket Friday morning, it still had six trips left on it. Merde. So Friday afternoon I used my back-up. It's a 10-trip ticket that says I have three trips left, but no longer works. I just dodged the controllers too. At the station they were on the other side checking people as they got off, then they got on a tram going the other direction. Then the tram got really full so I wasn't worried they'd get on. Controllers are who work for the tram and bus system. They randomly get on trams to check people's tickets, or they wait at a station and check you before you can get off. When you first get on the tram you have to put your ticket through a little machine that stamps it with the date and time.

When I have to go to school alone I put on my ipod, speed walk to the station (good exercise), and then try not to stare at people on the tram. It's not bad though. I'm glad my classes don't run really late though. On Mondays I have cinema until 20h (8pm), but Kay and Dee are taking it too, so we're not going back online in the dark.

Et ça c'est tout pour maintenant.