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!;)
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| Weeping Willows everywhere! My Favorite:) |
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| 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. |
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| 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).
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| Laugher, Language, Love |
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| The pain au chocolat may be the best thing ever created. Ever. |
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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...
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| Who knew Asian food in France would be so great? |
Macaroons, what is this goodness?!
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| 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;)
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