Lyndsie Learns a New Language in Limoges; Week 1

     It is now the end of what I would say was a successful day, and week. Quite a lot has happened, so where to start?

     I finished my first week of FLE(Français Langue Etrangère) classes, and they are awesome. I am able to focus solely on learning french for 15 hours of class time a week with extremely patient instructors who speak almost no English. I feel like a baby again, learning colors and fruits and vegetables and of course, being completely confused much of the time. This week was tough, but much of that was due to my not so good sleeping patterns, waking up to catch the 8:26 bus was not easy. Staying awake in classes where I rarely understand what the teacher is saying, even more difficult.
While we are on the subject, let's talk about the public transportation system in Limoges. It is amazing, but I suck at it. Granted, I probably suck more at driving myself around in the United States, but geez when will I not get lost on the buses? Maybe I'll get the hang of it before I leave? Ha, maybe not. I usually stick to taking the bus to class in the morning, but walking home in the afternoons. I love living in a city where it is totally normal and convenient to walk over a mile home. Although taking the wrong buses and walking around semi-aimlessly for hours (actually it is usually 20-30 minutes before I get back on the right track) is annoying, it is a learning experience and I don't mind it..?
     As for staying awake in class, I found the most amazing thing. Seriously, it is pretty unbelievable. When I discovered it, I thought my dreams of going to Hogwarts were coming true rather than my dreams of studying abroad. Let's get to it then! It is this amazing vending machine that you put a mere .45 euro in and it distributes to you your choice of a macchiato, cappuccino, green tea, hot chocolate or whatever the heck you want! IN A CUP. WITH A SPOON. You just open up the magical little door and pull it out. Bam. That easy. I was pretty pumped. The students around were a bit amused at my reaction to it, I think.
     Along those lines, as I look at my pictures I realize food and drink are my main topic this week. I believe it is my duty as an individual trying to learn the culture to try a new desert at the least weekly, I mean really. Also, I should try and take more pictures I guess, there is just something so lame feeling about pulling my phone out to take pictures of every little thing though, I want to experience things, not just take photos with my phone of them, if that makes sense.

      I suppose I will keep this chronological.

      Friday: Stephanie, one of the super nice girls in my Brit Lit class mentioned in previous blog, so graciously invited us to her apartment to watch a movie! Candice, Hunter, Hannah, Matt and I all attended, There were a few others there as well, and it was really nice be in a residence in Limoges that is not a 15 by 12 foot (I just checked) dorm room. We watched 22 Guns in english, with french subtitles. I am continuously amazed at the bi-lingual population, even when their english is minimal, I just wish I was at that point in french! But that's okay, I'm a work in progress. I am so glad I decided to take British Literature and am able to get acquainted with this group of people, they are all so nice and fun to be around. Tomorrow is Stephanie's birthday party, so that'll be covered in next weeks blog? Stay tuned!;)

Weeping Willows everywhere!
My Favorite:)

Outside of the porcelain expo, cameras were not allowed inside.
(Although I was a total rebel and touched EVERYTHING)

 Saturday: The internet wasn't working properly in the dorms (Oh no!) so I went all 90's and walked to Candice, Hannah and Matt's dorms to see if they wanted to walk around the city some! Candice was gone (library, wifi ya know), and Hannah was recovering from some brutal blisters, so it was Matt and I vs. Limoges. By that I mean, we went to the porcelain museum expo, walked down by the Vienne River and watched some locals play games of bocce ball (which looks super fun and is something I want to become a part of).

Vienne River,
picture does not do it justice.

Behind the Cathedral

   

Later that night, Candice, Matt and I made a trip to the Hyper U (Target-esque store in the mall located like a block away from campus) and bought some cool fruit to have for family dinner that night!

Dragonfruit!

 I really love Limoges so far, it is so funny because all of the locals ask if I think it's boring and wonder why I didn't go to Paris or some other bigger city, but Limoges is right up my alley. The people are always so nice and helpful and not annoyed by me (big surprise, honestly) and I just love the feel of it. I am always having to explain: compared to Sulphur or Ada Oklahoma, Limoges is a big city and has so much to offer (don't get me wrong I love you                                                             Sulphur and Ada).

Laugher, Language, Love

     Sunday: Hannah, Candice, Matt and I met up with Claire and Andréa for brunch at an adorable little restaurant downtown. They have agreed to meet up with us semi-regularly and help us with our french! This time, we spoke basically only english but next time the plan is for french! (I may be much quieter).

The pain au chocolat
 may be the best thing ever
 created. Ever.

     Monday: Classes began, I do not have picture (because it would be super creepy) but my classmates are really awesome. Between a couple from Spain, an older man and woman (not married, just a coincidence) from the U.K., a girl around my age from the Ukraine (probably the only other at my level of french a.k.a zero), a boy around my age from Vietnam and a few more, I think 11 in all, the group is quite diverse. Although not speaking french sucks, I feel lucky to have english as my first language because it is the default second language most seem to have. Monday was confusing in the beginning, because morning classes were not held, but a meeting of sorts where the student were told what FLE level they would be in, because I wasn't required to take the test (I'm level 1, duh) I didn't have to be at the meeting and showed up an hour too early in the actual classroom. Well, actually only 30 minutes too early since I got off too early on the bus and got slightly turned around finding the school (learning experience?). In the end, it all turned out fine though. Hunter and Candice are level 2 and Hannah level 3 (Go Hannah!). So, that mean I still have two classes with Hunter and Hannah, which is nice!

     Tuesday: I only have morning classes, caught the bus on time (whew) and got off at the correct stop, thanks to Hannah. 

     Wednesday: Longest day ever. I have 6 hours of class time on Mondays and Wednesdays, with an hour and a half long lunch break in between. Our morning classes consisted of basically playing charades with FLE 2. I got "comment si, comment ça" but accidently acted out just "comment ça" instead. Oops, and then some work sheets that I'm sure any seven year old french kids could fly through. I went to the Quick restaurant (basically France's Burger King) with Katerina, the Ukrainian girl in my class for lunch. Yep, I don't like fast food here any more than in the U.S.! The three hours of classwork afterward were a bit hard to get through, I just felt exhausted. When I headed home, I took the wrong bus and ended up o the wrong side of town. Shocker. 

     Thursday: I got to sleep in, although I have to stop this habit! I woke up at 10 and did some Duolingo (which is a gift from the Lord, if you want to learn a new language, check it out!) and had my British Literature class at 1. It was in a new place, luckily Stephanie is awesome and showed me where to go. I really like this class by the way. If I somehow become fluent in french and decide to stay in France forever, I will take their English program and love it. Interesting thing about Thursday, it stormed! Coincidentally, it has been the only day I decided to wear a dress, usually I feel like it to too fixed up (although it's really not, compared to french standards) because it is a nicer dress, but that day I decided I was sick of being hot and sweaty walking everywhere in jeans! So, I walked home in the rain, but that's okay because I had an umbrella and even though it was rainy it wasn't cold, it was actually quite nice.                                          <-- View from my window, (no justice, in the picture). I love rain like this.

     

     Friday(aka today): No classes! I woke up (no way!), worked on some Duolingo, read and wrote some stuff, ran with Candice and then met up with Hannah after her classes in the city! We had a pretty great girl/walking around shopping and eating day. We found the C'est Deux Euro store (much like a Dollar Store) and it was AMAZING. I got some pretty sweet stuff for my dorm room, the book store (super cute), ate lunch at a really great Asian food place (photo below), walked around some more, ate some bomb.com macaroons. I mean seriously, whoever came up with those things, God bless you. God. Bless. You. We also stopped buy a cheese shop. Gag me. Literally, I couldn't walk in, because I was too busy gagging. But that was made up for by the amazing CHOCOLATE STORE next door! I didn't buy any, $$$, ya know but it was still pretty sweet. Last but not least, we went to WONKWAY, and Candice got her some Wonk. If I wasn't so stuffed with macaroons and coffee, I would have gotten some too, but next time... 

Who knew Asian food
in France would be so
great?

            Macaroons, what is this goodness?!

The chocolate even looks like a work of art here...

                                                                                                                       

     Anywho, I realize this blog is really long and a bit excessive. In the future I may just give more thoughts rather than a long list of things I've done? Let me know what you want to hear about? I am writing this to 

1. Let people know how things are going that I maybe wouldn't get the chance to actually tell (Sallye, Brittany, and Bonnie hear it all without this, because they are awesome and talk to me just about daily on Skype). Seriously, that means so much to me and I'm so lucky to have these amazing people, Tangent, sorry.

2. Have something to look back on myself

3. Possibly entertain a person or two?

SO, seriously, if you read this and have any suggestions, let me know! I actually aspire to maybe write one day, so if something as simple as a blog sucks I should know:) 

P.S. Sorry for the lame use of alliteration in my title;)

Jour 8 à Limoges (Day 8 in Limoges)

To commemorate my first time getting to school and back (on my own) without getting lost, I shall blog!! A few other notable things:
1. Yesterday marked my first full week in Limoges
2. Today was my first class of the semester
3. I attended mass for the first time

4. I attended my first french "party"
5. Andd I had my first café today! (actually just a shot of espresso, photo below)


So, at the moment it is 16:27 for me and probably 9:27 for most of the individuals who will read this. I am sitting in my room eating une pomme(an apple) and penut butter (yup, they sell Skippy in Limoges). The weather is amazing and so far, this day has been pretty great.

The British Literature class I took today was in about 75% french and 25% english. Although I only understood about 25% of it, I enjoyed it. As I first sat amidst the chattering and flirting of the french youth I was a bit nervous as to how the class would go. We ended up having to move from room B005 to Ampithheatre 4 because we were out of space, luckily I have enough common sense to realize that the class is overflowing and the students are getting up to leave ten minutes into the period: we must be moving rooms. I sat next to a sweet girl who luckily spoke english very well (she said her accent was bad, but I think it was fine. While we are on the subject of accents, I love them. Regardless of if it makes it difficult to understand what people are saying or not, I love that we carry that little piece of out native language regardless of the language we are speaking). I followed her from the first room to the next and sat next to her again, hoping I didn't come off as being weird/annoying/creepy ect. But what do you know? Just like most of the people I have encountered so far, she was extremely helpful and even introduced me to a few others who spoke english and were great themselves!

Although I have been anxious/nervous/scared and so on, I have really loved France so far. Much due to the other American students I have befriended: Hunter, Hannah, Matt and Candice. They are all stinkin' awesome. And as Matt said, "we have went to church together and done laundry together, we're family". Our other friend/family member includes Josh, who is from China and studying Mechanical Engineering here for the next four years. He is super sweet and awesome and likes to speak English! The Lord definitely sent these awesome individuals here for a reason.

Hannah, Candice, Matt, Hunter, Lyndsie, Josh

To address a few other things I have done thus far!
Mass: Candice, Matt and I went to Cathédrale Saint-Étienne de Limoges and it was beautiful. The stained glass windows were all amazing, the entire building was beautiful and definitely the oldest construction I have ever seen! We plan on going to the smaller church this Sunday. The entire thing was in french (no latin) but luckily Candice translated a few things for me during service and it was just really awesome. I will now post visuals:

P.S. Matt and I both got a present from some birdies as we were sitting in the park after Mass, here is a nice visual of how I felt about this:

My first french "party" was an integration party hosted by the English department at the university, it was at a small bar, a hole in the wall type, downtown. It was a cool place, but not necessarily my "scene" and we (Matt, Candice, Hannah and I) did not stay long. It is a curious thing, the school hosting an event at the bar, I am told it in normal for professors to go have a drink for lunch and come back. It was not an over-the-top thing like parties I have been to before, and honestly if I had heard more english being spoke (or if I could speak more french) I probably would have stayed a little while. The walk there and back was probably my favorite part, I really love it being a normal thing to walk everywhere you go, and I am even growing fond of the bus system. It is just all so foreign and exciting to me, as I have never really been to big cities in the States either.

Since I have been here I have been going running with Candice at the track and once on the trails around the school. An interesting thing about it here is I have not seen many (if any) over-weight individuals. How do they do it?! So many sweet and decadent things to eat around all the time (not to mention the Lord-knows-how-many-carbs 12 baguettes a day diet) and yet they are all so small?! Well, it does seem like most people walk quite a bit an the day-to-day plus the track and trails seem pretty full of those who care about their health. It's a beautiful thing. We tried to go into the weight room (full of insanely ripped guys and gals) but were informed it was for the "upper-level" athletes but we could come back and basically try out with the coach. Now, I am about 95% sure I will not be able to keep up with these athletes but my plan is to try it out anyways. Plus, I'm pretty sure Candice can handle it, so don't worry America, you will not be (too) disgraced,

I am positive there are some things I wanted to write about but forgot, but as I have been writing on this forever and keep stopping to do other thing (skype, facebook, eat, help neighbor with her broken bead and setting up her internet ect.) I think I should call it quits. Maybe a few more random thoughts/photos.

1. Popular American music (Kesha, Justin Timberlake, Imagine Dragons, and I have even heard some Destinys Child) is played in a lot of unusual places; the mall, the train station ect.

2. Baguettes (long pieces of bread) really are everywhere, and they are super cheap.

3. Almost everybody here smokes

4. The fashion is a bit more dressy than American, I have yet to see a girl walking around in athletic shorts or tights haha

Le Cafe Churchill

Hippies are a thing here, too:)

Super Beautiful Gare de Limoges-Bénédictins

Asleep at the train station. #noshame

Wifi Sur un Samadi (Wifi on a Saturday)

I took a plane to France, and what do you know? I woke up this morning in France. Wherever you go, there you are.     

     So, over the past year or so I have met some people who had studied abroad. I flew for the first time out of the country (to Belize) and I decided traveling did not have to be beyond me. Sure, I do not have much money, and yes, going abroad for school (let's be honest, school at all) is usually a long shot for those in my family. But, as I grew closer to people around me, right there in Ada Oklahoma who had seen the world and made things happen for themselves I became convinced it was something I was completely capable of doing.
     I'm not romanticizing or taking the credit for anything either. Flying to Belize, to France is not necessarily fun and definitely not glamorous. The money that took me to these places are gifts from God. Delivered through donations from friends and family and government supplied student aid. To make this prelude clear, I am just saying how do-able, not necessarily easy, but do-able traveling is. And of course, I am a newbie and I know basically nothing. But, to the point of this post, to all of my family and friends wherever in the world you may be, this is the first blog post of my travels to Limoges! 

     It is the weirdest thing, going to bed in Texas one night and Limoges the next. It doesn't feel that far away. I mean, just one days travel! I remember buying the ticket, applying for the school, getting the visa and packing my things but I still cannot believe it. I remember getting on the plane in Dallas, the layover in Charlotte and the train ride from Paris (no, I did not see the Eiffel Tower). I remember meeting Guy at the train station, a gift from God he is, and unpacking my things into my tiny, yet extremely economical dorm room. But in the mornings, it is so unreal that I am in France. That far away country that I honestly probably couldn't have pointed out on a map a year ago. 

     Craziest thing, everybody speaks French here. Ha, okay so although I knew this fact I am still taken aback at some times. I get so lost and my biggest regret in life right now is not trying harder to learn as much french as possible before getting here. Stupid American. A pleasant surprise I have found is the French are not rude, or at least not any that I have come across yet. And, I am that girl on the bus who does not know where she is going and does not know the language of the country. I have found so many helpful people who know enough English to help get me by. I know most people in the US are not so nice to would be me on the street only speaking Spanish. So again, thank the Lord for nice people. I have even had people apologize to me for not speaking English well! I was shocked by that, and of course apologized for my ignorance in French.
     Another thing, is not only does everybody speak French, but almost all the students I have met are bi or tri-lingual. The students I have met from Germany and China all began learning English in the 3rd grade. Boy, does our school system need to catch up! ALSO, tuition here for THE YEAR is around 250 euros. Sorry guys, I may not be coming back;)! Basically my main concern right now is learning french. I need it, I want it. But, onto my actual experiences thus far:
     I have gotten lost on the bus for about an hour, which turned out okay because my clock was an hour ahead. I have slept for 18 hours straight (one minor wake up around 0), I have spilled tea all over a girl who went in for faire la bise (kiss on each cheek) whereas I went in for a regular 'ole American hug and I have knocked on the wrong door and scared a french guy half to death with my own confusion. But hey, it's all a learning experience, right?   

     Classes do not begin until the week after next, so obviously this week will be spent doing almost nothing but learning as much French as possible. I have met the other American students and although I did not want to be that person who only hangs out with the other Americans, I am so glad to have met them, they are a godsend. Plus, they know more French than me and are willing to teach! I ask for all of your prayers, to keep my head up even when I feel lonely or lost or like a complete idiot and to learn to communicate as best as I can! I am sorry for the mess that is this blog post. I will get it together soon, I promise!

A Bientot!

P.S. This is my first day to have wifi in my room! Yay! So, add me on skype. My username is lyndsieb07. (Creative, I know.)