I find it difficult to believe that I have been in France for a few days shy of a month...As each day passes, I begin to feel more and more like this is home to me. I don't feel nearly as afraid and nervous as I did on Day 1, but what can ya expect? It's France for heaven's sake! Anyways, the past few days have been...well...normal and ordinary! Friday night, Sarah, Brian and I went to this Irish Pub down the road from Residence Triolo and saw an AC/DC cover band...interesting no doubt...the best part was the little 4 year old French boy singing "Highway to Hell" with all his might. I love kids sometimes hahaha. Saturday, was more of a relaxing, I-need-to-catch-up-on-sleep day. Colleen and I decided to head over to V2 Centre Commercial (the mall.) to grab a few things from Auchan. After that, I went back to Triolo and decided to make dinner. I wanted to fry up some chicken with my amaaaazing Provencal spices...but I try to find them, and they were GONE. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper and pouted while slurping up my tomato soup and peanut butter sandwich.
Although, my day was brightened when I got the opportunity to put on a Homework Party at Triolo. (All my BU folk know what I'm talkin 'bout). Anyways, a Homework Party is not exactly a study group because we all study different things at Bellarmine...but we enjoy having each other's company while doing homework and tasks of that nature. So I decided to try this practice on non-BU people. And it worked. I got called a mega-nerd in the process, but we all had a really great time! Most of us worked on Translation hw, and my wonderful 8 year old dictionary got majorly dissed. Even though it's falling apart at the spine, I could never give it away...it's been WAY to helpful.
Sunday morning, I braved the cold rain and went into Lille to Le Pain Quotidien (a bakery/breakfast place) with Rosalind, Colleen, the Brits, and Stephanie. We had a lovely breakfast for Rosalind's 22nd birthday! But unfortunately, the French kinda skimp on their breakfast options...I mean, a pain au chocolat and a Cafe Creme are delicious, but I enjoy my bacon, pancakes and eggs!!! After the breakfast, the Brits invited us to their cute little house for a Sunday English roast dinner. And let me tell you...I have never tasted anything so delicious in my life. True story. We had some roasted chicken that they had picked up from the Wazemmes market in Lille, and it was mixed with soft potatoes, carrots, and PARSNIP! Yum. Parsnip is delicious. We Americans need to expand our veggie views...Anyways, we ended up having another homework party on Sunday night and I definitely got a lot accomplished.
Today I had more classes. My DEFI class as usual (the French extensive course) and in that, my teacher Martine asked me if I wanted to represent the American international students in a film about the Nord-Pas de Calais region of France...and I was like, OUAIS!!!!!! (That means, YEAH, in case you needed to brush up on your French slang...) And I'm starting to feel a little bit more comfortable in that class. I have realized that my epic French test taking skill (hahah) placed me in a high level, and they're going to make me work hard. It is weird though not being like the "top dog" in my French class. So it's humbling me and it's definitely for the better. I am definitely learning a lot and refining my skills, and it's challenging me more than my 312 class would at Bellarmine I think. But I just feel lucky to be here. I also had my Argumentation/Debate class today. I had to do a presentation with 6 other French students on educational reform in a school in Chicago. We each gave our schpeel about the radio broadcast we had to listened to, and then people began to debate...and let me tell you, I never expected the reactions that came from it. People were getting really rialed up and talked loudly over one another. In America, people usually respect when someone else "has the floor" but in France it's a completely different story. I looked at my teacher at one point and wondered if this was normal, and she smiled and said "Welcome to France". Hahahahaha. Classic. But it was very interesting and quite lively!!!
Now that I am feeling somewhat "normal" here in France, I am starting to pick up on quirks and odd things here. It's kind of hard to explain though. Here's a random spew of thoughts and reactions to things:
--I heard Maroon 5 on the metro the other day and totally started rocking out. Looks like the French love them too :D
--People here dress REALLY nice.
--French mayonnaise is NOT the same as American mayonnaise.
--It's impossible to break a 20 euro bill. I don't get it. Americans will throw down a twenty on a freakin candy bar...but nooooo not here.
--Our dining hall on campus is open a total of 3 hours a day. :(
--Laundry machines are highly unreliable. And dryers...what are those?! grrowl.
--It's epically cold and rainy in Lille. All of the time.
--It's not silly for a grown man to have a little yappy puppy.
--Cats aren't nearly as friendly.
--The Triolo metro station is the dodgiest place ever...
--Even at the worst, dodgiest food places, you will NEVER find a bad dessert. Tartelettes aux framboises (raspberry tartes) are as common as a McDonald's apple pie. But ten million times better.
--They don't refrigerate milk and eggs oftentimes...
--Special K is way better here. Hahaha.
--If you take French in school in America and think you're amazing at it, think again.
--Immigration forms in France kill millions of trees every year...can we attend to this problem please??
--The academic system is very bureaucratic.
--Most teachers LOVE anglophones...
--French people are SO nice to you when they find out that you're American.
--Going to Auchan any later than 5pm is the biggest mistake of your life.
--I never want to be in the military...I can never tell military time...which is what they use here.
--McDonald's fries are not good. But their coffee is. WOW.
--Subway is SO GOOD HERE. You can actually get ice in your drink :D
--Converting everything into the metric system is difficult.
--Pain au chocolat is delicious. That is all.
--Flunch is the coolest buffet restaurant ever. They even have "poulet-Kentucky"=Kentucky chicken...which looks more like a chicken patty...haha. Still delicious though.
--I can't understand why people listen to really loud music in their rooms late at night. Grrowl. Not cool.
--It's hard to be bored in France.
--Americans and Brits are extremely similar...
--Prepaid cell phones are inconvenient.
--I think I love it here!
So those are some just random things that I think about and notice, but it's hard to actually make them into a structured blog...C'est la vie! :)
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