la fin de janvier

So it's been two weeks since my last update... sorry but I've had a lot of stuff going on! Last week we finished up our "cours intensif" (our preparatory class for the real Université of Provence classes). We had some grammar quizzes and presentations to do so I actually had to do some work outside of class... weird. We had to do a 5-10 minute presentation on a monument or museum or basically anything/any place that you can go and visit. I decided to do mine on the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. I had the chance to visit the memorial when my parents and I were in Paris in May 2008 when Mickey was doing his study abroad. I think it went pretty well especially since I had some sweet pictures of Mickey and me exploring the abandoned trenches of the Normandy beach (if you want to see them, check my facebook). We were allowed to have notes but for the most part, you were supposed to just wing it so it's a good thing that my French is getting a bit better. Overall, the cours intensif wasn't so bad at all. We mostly learned about French culture and its differences from that of America (...I think my English is getting worse, sorry if that last sentence didn't make sense). I find it really interesting to talk about this kinda stuff. For example, do you know the word for "snack" in French??? Don't bother looking it up, it's just snack. Do you know why? Because before America's eating behaviors influenced French culture, the idea of snacking did not exist here! Oh, America, what a positive influence we have on the rest of the world. Speaking of that, it's crazy how much they love Barack Obama here. Every time I meet new people, who are not from the U.S., they instantly know I'm a foreigner from my accent (even if I only say "Bonjour") and they say, "Oh, Barack Obama? Yes we can!" Only be sure to imagine that phrase with a thick French accent.

Anyway, this week we started our real classes at "la FAC" (the university). There's 2 buildings that students from our program take classes in. The one building is a 25 minute bus ride from me and I'm taking 2 classes there: Anthropology of France and Anthropology of games and sports. It's definitely a hike to get there but the building/facilities there are much, much nicer than the other building so it's a fair compromise, I guess. In the other building, I'm taking a language, society, and culture class as well as a class called "expression écrite." The expression ecrite class is with all the students from the program (from Wisconsin, Michigan, and Indiana) that are hear for the second semester. It's a required class that will help us in writing any kind of dissertations or papers that we may come across during the semester, as well as some French grammar and important vocabulary. I'm also thinking about taking a phonetics class but seeing as how I know absolutely nothing about phonetics, I might drop it. Then my last class is "expression orale" which is also put on through the program but it's not obligatory. We basically practice our speaking and comprehension through various improv and performance activities. It's gonna be interesting for sure, especially since our teacher seems amazing and slightly crazy. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the semester, especially the classes that are not put on by the program, i.e. classes in French with French professors with French students. Actually, there a lot of "study abroad" students here from all around the world. In my language, culture, and society class alone there are students from: Spain, Italy, Japan, Korea, Ireland, Australia, and Canada. The format of the classes are quite different though. Four of the classes I'm taking are 3 hours long and the other two are 2 hours long. It takes all of my attention in order for me to understand the majority of what the professor is saying so I'm pretty drained by the end. Luckily, almost all teachers have a "petite pause" halfway through the class to get coffee or smoking... C'est la vie en France! The other thing about them is that the professors just talk at you and you take notes. They give you reading lists of 20 books or more and while you're usually not expected to read every one of them, you are supposed to use some of them to help you study. And most of the classes only have 1 final at the end of the semester, that's all you get. Go big or go home. So it's really important to not procrastinate (which I usually do) and just cram (which I always do) at the end of the semester. I'm not doing so badly yet, I went to the library on Thursday and Friday for a bit to read some of these books from my reading lists. The thing is though, these books that are supposed to help us better understand the material are in French so... they don't always help. But there's always wikipedia!

On a different note, I was finally able to find a physical therapist and restart my rehab! My first session was January 19th and I've had 3 others since then. My physical therapist is pretty "aggressive" with my knee (does lots of stretches, forces it into full extension/flexion) so I feel like it's going to get a lot better. Doing physical therapy here is really interesting since everything is so... French. It's a small office with a small open room with smaller (& less) versions of the workout equipment than any basic gym I've been to in America. Plus, nobody in France really wants to admit that they work out or sweat so everyone wears jeans to the place. They do change usually but into pants and long-sleeved "athletic wear" (aka velour sweat suits for women)... or the men just decide to walk around in there boxers, no big deal (?!). The first time I went, I wore shorts and a T-shirt and I felt extremely out of place... oh well. Oh and did I mention that my physical therapist spent 10 years working in America? So he's speaks fluent English and French and he's from Holland so I imagine he's also fluent in Dutch. woah. Anyway, it's been really helpful for me to be able to explain stuff in English (like how I hurt my knee, flexion/extension etc.) but I think I'm going to ask him to start speaking French so I can learn a whole new set of vocab! I already learned the word for painful. I should be able to run by February and hopefully be playing sports by May. It's so sad that I can't play soccer here because it's everywhere... and I really wanna show these French guys what a female American soccer player can do. It's funny, every time I try to explain that I play soccer or got injured playing "football," the person always asks, "football americain?" They must really not understand the game at all to think that a girl would be playing the sport at a college level... or they just think we Americans know absolutely nothing about the sport so we therefore must be talking about American football.

Let's see... what else has been going on... I'm finally meeting some French people (and/or people from other countries that are impossibly good at speaking French). I met a girl from Poland in my very first class and we hung out a bit today in her dorm room just chatting it up (in French of course). She promised to take me out with her French friends this Friday so I'm pretty excited! Then I also talked to a Canadian guy in my Anthropology of games and sports class. Side note - the first (and only, thus far) class I walked in 20 minutes late because I thought it started at 10 but no, it was 9:30. And it was in a small room with about 15 other people. awkward city. And so I start to apologize for being late (but the teacher's not at all upset luckily) and he instantly asks me where I'm from (hearing my blatant accent of course). So I tell him I'm from Michigan (it's much easier to say than Connecticut with a French accent) and for the rest of the 3 hour class, whenever he would refer to some American, he would turn to me and ask me a question. That was not so fun, but it's good for me... gotta learn somehow! Anyway... last night, my friend Jenna and I went to an apartment of a French girl that Jenna had become friends with and it was awesome. We spoke French the whole night! Well, except when they sometimes spoke to us in English (they want to practice their language skills too). It was great to hear/learn some "argot" (=slang). All we've ever learned in class is the grammatically correct way to say things and vocabulary concerning scholarly topics so it was awesome to just be around them. Even if they did speak super fast while simultaneously not moving their lips. Last night I also had the opportunity to learn some traditional Provençal (the region that Aix-en-Provence is in) dances. Jenna's host-mom had known about this "workshop" I guess you could call it and thought it'd be interesting for her to see. I could do most of the dances but my knee was kinda sore by the end of it. But it was really fun to learn about this whole different culture (they even have their own language!).

I think that's about it for now... stay tuned!

The pictures I've posted are: (1) traditional provençal dancing (2) some of my new (American) friends and I, partyin' it up! (3) a view from "la FAC"

my first full week

Bonjour, tout le monde!

I survived my first full week of classes in France, although I don't know if I would really call them classes. They were more like discussions about random aspects of french life. For the first two weeks, everyone in program who's going to take classes at "la FAC" has to take a "cours intensif" to help us improve our french and prepare us for taking classes at a french university. Even though the class is only 2 weeks long, we get 2 credits for it since we spend an average of 4 and a half hours a day in class. Fortunately for us though, the french professors don't like to go more than an hour without taking "une pose" (a 15-minute break) for coffee. Not to mention that class got canceled Friday morning too because the teacher's son was sick. We've done a couple of grammar exercises but mostly it's just information about french culture and learning new, useful vocabulary (such as words associated with cell phones). This will probably be the easiest credit I will ever get while going to Michigan. The only possible negative I've found so far is that the building where our classes are is about a 25-minute walk from my homestay... but it's good exercise and it's probably helping my bum knee, so I can't really complain.



There was also a lot of administrative meetings this week, like opening a french bank account and choosing classes. You would not believe how unorganized the Université de Provence is in terms of posting information about class options (course descriptions, times, locations, etc.). Let's just say I will never complain about Wolverine Access ever again. Basically, every department (history, literature, etc.) has their own website and each website is formatted completely differently. Plus, instead of only listing classes that are for this specific semester, they list them based on how far along you are in your degree. I know I'm probably not explaining this very well, but I don't think I understand it either... Anyway, long story short, it's quite difficult to make a schedule. But since I really only have to fill my french minor requirements while studying here, I'm not too stressed out about it. To fulfill my requirements, I need 9 credits in classes that are about France in general. And it's not too hard to find a class about France at my french university, so I think it'll be ok. Not to mention that Michigan doesn't count the credits we get here towards our GPA so I'm in a pretty good spot right now I'd say.

Like I mentioned earlier, we had the choice of whether or not we wanted to open a bank account but I decided to do it because it's the only way you can get any reimbursement from the "sécurité sociale" (national health insurance). Basically, if you don't have a french bank account, you don't get any money back when you see a doctor. And since I'm planning on doing physical therapy here, it seems to be a good investment. You only get 70% reimbursed but it's better than nothing! Of course, when I signed up to open account, I'm pretty sure I signed my life away. I signed no less than 9 documents, all in French, and I'm still not completely sure what they said. There was a woman with the program that made sure we did everything that was necessary so I think my bases are covered.

And speaking of my bum knee, I had a doctor's appointment Friday morning with an orthopedic surgeon. I was going to go see him by myself but fortunately on Thursday, my program director offered to come with me. I don't know what I would have done if she wasn't there to help me explain everything... you don't realize how much many words you don't know until you need them. It was so cool though to see/hear some the vocab I've learned from my movement science classes in French. I'm not sure why it fascinates me so much, but I had a great time (other than the awkwardness of not being able to communicate very well with the doctor). Anyway, he said that my knee looks good and stable, and he wrote me a prescription for physical therapy. Now I just have to find a physical therapist that's available... my director has been searching for one but it seems as if I won't get to see anyone until the beginning of February. They all seem to be booked up or on vacation! But at least I'm making some steps in the right direction...

Everything's going pretty well with my host family. I'm starting to actually have a personality when I speak french, as opposed to me just answering yes or no questions. The son who's 17 still doesn't really like to talk to me but at least he says hello to me now! And if I ask him how his day was, he'll ask me how mine was. Actually, today I went to watch his soccer, sorry I mean football, game. Unfortunately, within 3 minutes of us getting there, he was called for an intentional hand ball and got a red card. He was thrown out of the game and won't be able to play in the next 3 matches! I guess I'm just bad luck because their team ended up losing... the other team was ranked higher though and they were playing a man down for most of the game. Even though I didn't get to see Étienne play, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Not only did I get to watch soccer and live vicariously through the players, I got to learn a bunch of new french vocab. I learned the words they use for things like "man on" and "switch the field," not to mention a bunch of other vocab from the angry parents yelling at the ref. Actually, they have a giant fence in front of the stands to keep the parents off the field.

So the big story of the week: I went to Monaco/Monte-Carlo yesterday. There's a company that puts on tours of neighboring attractions so a bunch of us from the program paid 25 euros each and took a bus to Monaco. It was about a 2 and a half hour drive but even the ride there was an experience. The views from the road was absolutely amazing. We were riding up and down mountains and passed through Cannes and Nice. We even saw the Alps from a distance. Then when we got to Monaco, it was even more amazing. It's pretty much impossible to describe it to you but I tried to take a bunch of pictures. There are houses built right into the sides of super steep cliffs, it was unbelievable. We walked around for a bit and just took in the scenery. We also got to see the palace of Monaco, where the royal family lives. Then we went to Monte-Carlo which I think is possibly the wealthiest place on earth. It's composed entirely of casinos, hotels, and stores like Gucci and Prada. It was ridiculous. Everywhere you look you see women in high heels and fur walking their tiny dog! But pay attention because if you're not careful you might get hit by a Bentely or a red Ferrari. It was great to see but soooo extravagant. And keep in mind that when I say this, I am from Greenwich, Connecticut. Anyway, on the way back to Aix we stopped at a perfume factory and learned all about it. Did you know that there are people who's only job is to smell different scents? They're called a "nez" (nose) and they can differentiate around 1,500 different scents. Crazy stuff.

So then we drove through Nice and the beautiful Promenade des Anglais. It was a great day but I was quite tired from waking up at 6:45 and all that walking, but my knee wasn't hurting at least! Some friends and I went out to dinner (since our host family's aren't responsible for feeding us on Saturday nights) to the same place we went last week since it was so good. The owner/manager there remembered us from last week and seemed very happy to see us. Right after we sat down, he comes over and hands us 3 free drinks! And then after dinner, he brought us some more free shots. I went home after that since I had a far walk ahead of me and I was already tired (I know, I'm lame). But I did go out Friday night! We went to the international bar again and it was Karaoke night! What luck! I was so pumped, needless to say. There was a very random selection ranging from the Beatles to P. Diddy. There were some french songs too but for the most part they were american ones. Of course I had to go at least once... my friend Jenna really wanted to do 'Lose Yourself' by Eminem and represent Michigan. It was surprisingly hard, but we got through the whole song. The some friends of ours did a song by Cher which was a real crowd pleaser. It was a great time; not only did I get to sing but I got to hear the french people struggle with the english lyrics (which made me feel infinitely better about my inferior french linguistic skills).

So I've got another week of "cours intensif" and then I start classes at the Université de Provence for real! Woah.

À Bientôt!

Here's a video of a random street band that was playing outside the grocery store on Friday evening. Sorry it's sideways but I haven't quite figured out how to rotate it yet...

My first few days...

I finally made it to Europe after spending 7 and a half hours in a middle seat next to 2 guys who hogged the arm rests. I had a connection in Amsterdam, where I arrived at what would be the equivalent of 2:17 am our time. I then had to walk 20 minutes to the gate for the flight to Marseille, luckily I had enough time to spare. We arrive safely in Marseille but unfortunately, the airline has lost my luggage! Of course I didn't follow the suggestion of packing 3 days worth of clothes/toiletries in your carry-on so I was a bit nervous... but after speaking to a representative using my rusty French, I found out it would be delivered to my homestay address later that night. Fortunately, my super nice host mom took off work to come pick me up from the airport. She had to go back to work though so she basically dropped me off, helped me connect to the internet and then left again. I was on my own for the afternoon so I decided to take a walk around town so I wouldn't fall asleep. I'm living about 15-20 minutes from the center of town so it's a bit of a hike but not too bad. I walked around the beautiful little town for an hour or so before I got so tired that I had to come back. I decided I had to take a nap or I would pass out at the dinner table, which I imagine would not have made a good first impression. My 65-lb. bag finally arrived at 9:45 and we hauled it up the stairs where I could unpack. As soon as I finished, I fell asleep instantly.

I woke up the next morning and went downstairs for a breakfast of what else: bread (& jam and some amazing coffee), it was delicious! I walked into town for our first meeting with the program, where we had a guided tour of Aix en Provence (in French, of course). I got to meet most of the people in the program and everyone is super friendly. Actually, one of the girls from Wisconsin (it's a joint program with Michigan, Wisconsin, and Indiana students) had taken a french class with my older brother. weird. We had an information session later that day where the directors of the program tried to explain some cultural differences and give us some advice. She basically explained that, as a woman walking on the street, if you make eye contact with a guy, he will approach you and he will try to seduce you. Apparently that's just how the French roll... but it's better than Italian guys at least (be careful, Amanda!). Then our director got a phone call, that she later told us was about the cancellation of exams (for the year-long students) for that day and the following day because there was snow in the forecast. They also canceled our mini-excursion on saturday and shut down stores because it was EXPECTED to snow a couple of centimeters. I don't think these people would handle living in Ann Arbor very well. So then most of us went to buy cheap phones; the workers at the store we went to were a little overwhelmed when about 25 loud american college students came into the store but they worked really efficiently.

I got to sleep in a bit Friday morning but I still had a great breakfast waiting for me! I went into town to take a placement exam (to decide the level of our french abilities) and then we had a meeting about opening a french bank account. Now I understand that we are here to learn french but all of this really, really important information was told to us in french so there's a very large possibility that I missed a giant chunk of info that I made need for future decisions... but hopefully it'll all work out. When I went home for dinner, I found out my host-mom was having a "fête des voisins" which is like a neighborhood party (all the neighbors come over and bring different kinds of food and alcohol). Interestingly enough, another student from Wisconsin who's in the same program I'm in (except he's doing the full year, not just a semester like me) arrived with one of the families that came to the party. My host-mom was so impressed by his speaking abilities, that she thought he was from Paris before he told everyone he was from Wisconsin. One of my goals for the semester: be mistaken for a French person. Anyway, there was a bunch of different foods to pick on, such as foie gras and un petit pizza (which my host mom cut up using scissors! I've never seen that done before). But more importantly, there was a lot of alcohol. We started with champagne, then red wine, then white wine, and then one of the guests proceeded to make a mixed drink with some kind of rum. It's so great to be able to taste all these different foods and drinks, part of what makes France: France.

So I wake up Saturday morning and it actually snowed!! Now almost everything is shut down. My host-brother is at a friends house 20 km away but according to my host-mom, it's too dangerous to drive. The bus system has stopped as well. There was about 3-5 inches (if that) on the ground. But I can't blame them too much, the streets are so narrow, the cars are so little, and they don't really have the machinery to clear the roads so it's better to be safe than sorry I guess. I found out that a supermarket is somehow still open though so I go to buy some toiletries and some food for lunch (because lunch is not covered in my monthly "rent" for my homestay). I go to get a grocery cart inside the store but I don't see any, so I walk back outside to get one but there all locked together. I found out after pulling on it and pushing in random spots that you have to pay 1 Euro to use the cart!! So I finally get in the store and I keep running into everyone cause it's super busy and it's a really big cart. I get everything I need, which is about 15 items, so the cart is practically empty and everyone is looking at me like "what an idiot" especially since right near the registers are hand baskets that would have been the perfect size and I wouldn't have had to pay... but you live and you learn!

Later that night, some friends from the program and I decide to go see a french movie and go out to dinner. My host-mom lets me borrow her hiking boots cause I didn't bring any snow or rain boots (of course I only brought my nice suede ones), but once I make it off my little side street, there is absolutely no snow on the sidewalks and I realize I didn't really need them at all. I make it into town and we wait in line to see "le siffleur" (the whistler). I didn't fully understand everything that was going on but I got the gist and it was pretty funny. It was absolutely freezing outside, and we were starving, so we went to one of the first restaurants we saw. It turns out to be absolutely delicious (I don't think I've eaten anything I didn't like yet) and we spend about 2 hours just talking and enjoying the atmosphere. When we finished with dinner and dessert, we were still relaxing at the table and who we think was the owner of the restaurant gave us free shots. Apparently being a girl in France means free drinks, which I don't think any of us were complaining about. So once we paid and figured out where we were on a map, we went searching for a bar that a lot of international students go to called "the woohoo". None of us knew where it was exactly so we wandered around for a little bit and finally found it. We met some other american students doing study abroad programs and chatted for a while during which time we got more free shots. The bar didn't start to get crowded until around 12:30 am and finally people started dancing around 1. I love dancing, even with my bum knee and all, so I was having a great time. The music got a bit too techno for our liking though so our new study abroad friends (who had been there for the fall semester too) took us to a club. It was reasonably empty but still fun because there was a lot of space for dancing (and I didn't have to worry about messing up my knee). Our new friend knew someone who worked there so we got free champagne. More people started to arrive at 2:30 and it was pretty crowded by 3 but I was super tired by 3:30 and my knee was bothering me a lot so I asked my friends to leave with me (I know, I'm lame) so I wouldn't have to walk alone. I live much farther away than everyone else so I took a taxi home and tried to make as little noise as possible. So that was my first night of going out in Aix... did I mention I was wearing hiking boots?? That was a little awkward cause everyone is so nicely dressed here but it's ok, I "made it work" as Tim Gunn would say.

So that brings me to this morning where I got to sleep in cause it was our "free day." I haven't done much but read a french comic book and watch some TV with my host-mom. I got to talk to my family today too which is always a pleasure ;) If anyone ever wants to set up a skype date, let me know!

That's it for now, tomorrow I start 2 weeks of our "cours intensif" which is put on by the program to help us adjust to life and school in France. We have an average of about 5 hours of class a day so I'll be keeping busy.
À bientôt!

P.S. the first 3 pictures are from my night out on Saturday and the other 2 are views from the window of my homestay.