Two bad days in a row, this deal is just not in my favor so
far. This day really rocked the boat though, I actually lost it for a short
period of time. Two good things happened, but there were about four things that
went wrong, including me breaking down. Let's begin at Wednesday morning, oh
how grand. Some info about St. Nicolas that you may or may not already know; we
are far from everything else in Le Havre and our laundry facilities were just
installed a few days ago. I bet you don't know what is supposed to work and
doesn't and wasted a lot of my time? If you were the laundry machine then you were
right! Here's a cookie. Anyhow although there is technically a washer and a
dryer in the dorm, they do not have any instructions, any prices, or anything
useful written anywhere. I also have a lot of laundry to do. My solution, only
practical and cheap option, is to once again use my kitchen sink to clean my
clothes. I'm real sick of having to use my sink as my pre-soak, washer, and
rinse cycle. Lunch happened, this was a good thing. They had butterscotch
pudding which made my heart flutter. I love butterscotch everything, especially
pudding. That gave me a nice boost of happiness, too bad that feeling didn't
last. After spending copious amounts of time in the library trying to lull my
mind with music and youtube, we decided to go to the furniture store to pick up
some furnishings. Shocker right there. That actually wasn't so bad. I grabbed a
few new sheets, some towels, steak knives, and kitchen mat. The cashier was, even
for France, a raging (rhymes with blunt). So to counter attack her horrible
attitude, I was overly nice and happy to the cashier. She did make the mistake
of assuming that I didn't speak any French. Lady, it isn't polite to say, "what
the fuck is wrong with all these damn American bank cards?" in front of
the customer. I may not have been the best cashier, but I knew well enough
never to assume anything about the customer. She stopped laughing at her own
joke when she saw my face. I'm pretty sure she almost defecated, even though
I'm small I apparently can look quite terrifying. After that experience we walked
back to the dorms to drop off our stuff, but decided to detour through Les
Docks. I went to bakery to check one more time if my book was there. The
original woman that I had seen on Monday was there and when asked, she looked
under the counter and handed me my book. Happy moment! We arrived at the dorms,
and as usual, checked our mailboxes. Bad moment. I pulled out a piece of paper
with the word urgent written in red ink with a longwinded explanation of how my
rent was late for both months. Very bad moment. The threat was that we might be
evicted if the problem wasn't solved by the 28th of September. Horrible moment.
It ended with, "our sincerest respects." This is the moment where
Mary boils over. It was an overreaction but chemical reactions can go out of
control sometimes, I was that reaction. Poor Kate had to witness me lose my cool
on the way to the docks, we needed to do some grocery shopping. She actually
acted perfectly. I'm the type of person that wants to be left alone, I will
tell you if I want comfort, and she obeyed my request without question. I
bought my groceries, slunked back to my room, pressed play for Some Nights, and
dove head first onto my bed as the angst/alternative rock filled my room. I
then attended a very strange party at another dorm. It wasn’t really much of a
party, more of a small gathering, and uninteresting to say the least. Also, can
French boys stop trying to do the American “saggin” style with their pants? It’s
not saggin when you are wearing khaki pants belted at the top with your boxers
poofed over the edge. I would love to erase those images from my memory. We
went home after a about two hours, we all were tired, and I once again wrapped myself
in blackhawks blanket comfort. What a crummy few days.
September 25th
Ok today sucked. I know it is unwise to start a story with a
negative adjective, since most readers won't want to continue reading, but I'm
just being honest. It was a day full of small misfortunes that seemed to pile
into a decent sized annoyance. First off, I left my room an extra thirty
minutes early in order to go back to the bakery to retreive my book. Guess who
isn't, and never will be, a morning person. Rikki, my computer, was lucky to be
on my desk as was my phone. I threw some things, slippers and a pig, at both of
them in a half-asleep attempt to turn them off. Heh, I also have bad aim so
both were fine. I then walked to Les Docks to discover that the bakery doesn't
open until 9 am, exactly when my class starts. Come on France, I know you work
to live not live to work but what kind of bakery doesn't open before 8am? Kate,
who also had a 9am class and was willing to walk with me, suggested we go to a
local cafe from some breakfast. I consented, and scarfed down a pain au
chocolat, coffee, and even orange juice. Bad idea. I normally don't drink
orange juice, why you ask? Two reasons; it tastes weird like all juice and it
tends to upset my stomach with its acidity. Yes, my stomach is a pain in the ass
a lot. For instance, I love tomato soup, but really can't eat it without
feeling awful later. Life's curveballs. Anyhow I was not feeling so hot the
rest of the day, especially during littérature comparée. Mme Colin is nice, in
a French way, and speaks very clearly, but dear God her handwriting is awful.
It is like a mixture of third-grade cursive and first-grade print. Honestly I
have to hear what she says before she writes it down to have any hope of taking
concise notes. On the brightside today was pride and prejudice, which was
traditionally wrote in English. Thank you Miss Austen. Lunch was not edible
which meant the rest of the day I was basically starving. On the way home was
when I stopped by the bakery, which was now open, to see if they had my book. Unfortunately
it was a different worker, who barely looked around the store, that told me my
book was not there. Great, I have to now repurchase a ten euro book. It's not
the end of the world, but it sure is annoying. I returned to room to sleep the
hungry away, my fridge was barren, which somewhat worked. I woke after a few
hours of napping under my cuddly blackhawks blanket. I joined Paula and Kate in
an avocado/bread party. The ending was bittersweet, the avocado wasn't very
ripe, and I went to bed wishing that things had gone better. Like the orphans
always say, the sun will come out tomorrow. I'm not going to bet my bottom
dollar.
September 24th
Rain, wind, blew me away, almost in the choppy bay. Le Havre
is not known for its sunshine, and to be honest this wasn't like a mid-west
thunderstorm, but this morning it rained brutally. I had no morning classes,
since it was Monday, but thought that I could go to the bookstore before lunch
to, well, buy my academic books. No such luck. The wind was really the problem,
the rain was standard. When I walk anywhere that is off the St. Nicolas
platform I have to walk by the docking bay. The problem with this during a
storm is the bay area is flat, very flat. If an area is flat and wind is blown
across it, anything that is on the surface of the land is catapulted forward. I
was the surface object that was shoved with wind and rain as I attempted to
walk to the bookstore. My backpack, thank God it is waterproof, was the only
thing keeping me on the ground. My friend Paula did fly, for a few seconds, in
the air. I made it to sanctuary, the library, and decided that the bookstore
could wait for tomorrow. I then proceeded to try and dry myself. That was fun.
If you are familiar with my clothing style, then you know that I love to wear
flare jeans and converse shoes. Flare jeans drag on the ground and my black
converse have holes in the sides. Ah I was soaked. My shirt was the only dry
thing, I wore my fall jacket, but the rest of me was dripping from the rain. I
had to wring my socks out, and just not wear them, and claw my bird nest mess
of hair straight. I then decided, with about an hour until lunch, that my time
would best be spent on the internet. It definitely was a good decision. I also
picked up Orgueil et Préjugés, Pride and Prejudice, at the library for
Tuesday's class. My French culture class went well, the rain had stopped by
then, and I actually made it to the bookstore. Now it took me forever to find
my books, their organization of student books is worse than Iowa's, but after
some assistance I walked out with 4/5. I also bought a non-academic book, what blasphemy!
It was a French book all about British and American slang terms and what they
meant. Perfect. Unfortunately I left it at the bakery on the way home. I'm not
too worried though, it was on the counter so it should be there tomorrow
morning. Fingers crossed. So all-in-all the day ended alright. The start was
unexpected, but in situations with horrible weather the only thing to do is be
obnoxious/ peculiar. I accomplished this by humming my favorite Canadian song
all the way to the library. North Atlantic Squadron, I thank you and you cabin
boy for assisting me in my travels today.
P.S. Dad
please don't kill me <3
September 23rd
The morning was not fun. I spent a good hour scrubbing cider
off my floor with a sponge and dish soap. I did manage to clean it all up, only
to be reminded by Kate that my dresser also needed to be cleaned, and that the
hallway was about 10x more disgusting. The three of us decided to take our
personal 1.5 liters of soda and go to Les Docks for a bite to eat and some
cleaning supplies. I really love making a complete fool of myself it seems. Due
to my groggy state I drank the entire 1.5 liter of Vanilla Coke on the way to
lunch, which was at French Mickey D's. I picked at my food, due to having a
bloated stomach full of carbonated soda, but did manage to not be sick. I
actually, while sitting in McDonald's felt very tired, until Chelsea Dagger the
Blackhawk's theme song began to play. That seemed to jolt me from tired
soda-coma situation. We then slugged to Les Docks where some money was spent on
lazy after party/dorm lounge clothes. No cleaning supplies were bought, naturally,
but the internet was used to both update blogs and check e-mail/facebook. Such
a productive day. Now it actually is time to buy cleaning supplies since it is
neither fair, nor right, to force the workers to have to suffer our American
party aftermath. Time to play Cinderella, in reverse, ball first then clean,
with Kate and Paula. Although it's no fun, I would be lying if I said that it
was not worth it. Such is European college life, or just college life in
general. Til tomorrow readers!
P.S. I apologize, a little late I suppose, to any of you who
have taken offense or been shocked by the content of my blog. I did consider censoring
it, but then that wouldn't be telling the truth. This blog is basically
something that updates you on what I am doing, but is also a diary of events
for me to look back at when I'm older. If I left important details out simply
because they are grimy on the edges, then I would be fabricating my memories. I
give my apologies, although in reality none of this should be logically shocking.
Consider my situation; a twenty year old girl living in France for a year who
is surrounded by freedom and friends. It could be a lot worse. Hugs and more
hugs!
September 22nd
Oh man, well that definitely was some party. Good points are
no one was sick, everyone enjoyed themselves, and no cops were called. I'll hit
the rougher points further on, for now let's start with the morning/afternoon.
At around 11am, I was taking a shower when my doorbell, yes our dorm is equipped
with doorbells but no toilet seats, scared the crap out of me. I shouted that I
was in the shower, but knew that no one had heard me. So I did one of the most
painful first-world things, I left my hot shower to answer the door. Kate was standing
there and was a bit shocked to see me drenched in a towel with a sideways smile
on my face. She told me that she and Paula were going to Les Docks, to which I
responded that I would them there in an hour. I then returned to my lovely warm
waterfall to wash the remaining suds from my hair. An hour later I did in fact
meet them at Les Docks, after updating my blog of course. We then marched to
the grocery store and began to stock our inventory with college party goods.
First, chips and lots of them. We grabbed some plain Lays and knock-off
Ruffles, as well as some Bugles. We tried to find some Cheetos, but of course
couldn't since France refuses to house anything that requires a fake cheese
substitute, and settled on a bag of white cheese poofs. They were awful, never
buy them unless you actually want a puffy little poof to taste like real cheese.
We ran into Demetrius there, which was funny since he was also buying things to
for the party. It was nice to see him early since we hadn't seen him in over a
week. The international kids stick together, which makes for good friendships.
Anyways after the chips we stopped by the wine department for a few cheap
boxes. Turns out, in France, that boxed wine is a delicacy. It was more expensive
than almost every bottle there. Paula and I couldn't believe it. Kate picked up
some cheap bottles and we left the 10 euro boxes to rot where they sat under
their overpriced tags. It was then time for the soda isle. I grabbed some 7-Up
for the party, and a 1.5 liter of Vanilla Coke for myself. Finally, we moved
onto the beer. They had some mini kegs, since it was American themed, we picked
out a little 1664 keg. It really is a baby keg, no pump just a tap, especially
since I was able to carry it home. Paula and Kate picked out their beer, while
I grabbed a cheap 6-pack and one bottle of Duff lager. The Duff was mine, and
happened to be delicious. As a Simpsons' fan I simply could not resist. We then
grabbed a few plastic cups, very small weak cups, and a table cloth. In hindsight
we realize that we should have bought a plastic table cloth, but well, we
didn't. After purchasing everything and dragging it home, we all made ourselves
ready for the party. Hair, make-up, table set-up, food, and music was put into
place. The party did not officially start until 10pm, but many people
surprisingly showed up early around 9:30pm. Oh well, it was a good start. And
middle. It's more around the end that bad luck began to happen. My friend
Cristina, a lovely Italian girl, needed to use the bathroom. I told her that
she could use the one in my room. I am such an idiot. I unlocked the door,
showed her to the bathroom, and while I was waiting for her noticed my bottle
of hard cider on the table. I had been saving that bottle for a good occasion
since I really enjoy cider. I am such an idiot. In my party state I thought
that cider was a perfect touch to my night and opened the bottle by twisting
the metal seal off the cork. The cork then flew, rocket speed, into my ceiling
with cider spraying everywhere. Again, I am a huge idiot. Half of the bottle
had exploded all over my room. I thought it was hilarious. I began to start
"cleaning" the mess by pressing paper towels all over my cider soaked
floor. Cristina came out, said an "Oh my God", and assisted me in
cleaning. The entire time I was laughing. I then, after determining that the
sticky mess was now "clean" and after walking around my room which
spread the mess further, that everything was a-ok. I grabbed my half bottle of
cider and left my room with a shocked Cristina. The rest of the party was spent
at a local club where everyone was having a good time dancing. Paula and I
decided that at 3:30 am it was time to go home. Perfect timing too. Kate was
ready to leave as well and we ran into her on the way out. We all somewhat
walked/scurried home in the early morning only to discover a hallway soaked
from floor to wall in alcohol as well as a dripping paper table cloth that was
plastered to our “homemade" dresser table. I opted to clean in the morning
while Kate and Paula tried to fix a bit of the mess. As I walked into my room I
remembered that my floor was sticky with cider, after I had walked through it barefoot.
The morning is going to be fun.
September 21st
What a long dragged out day. Poor Kate had to walk to the
police station, which is a few miles away, at 8:30am to avoid missing classes.
I had no morning classes and was so exhausted that I slept in until about
10:30am. So lazy, though to my defense I went to bed at about 4:30am due to
Kate's stolen wallet situation. I tried to meet her for lunch, but due to my
room apparently being made of lead, she didn't receive any of my messages until
it was too late. I did meet her and Paula after class at the library and then
treated Kate to some hot chocolate. Class went very well today. I understood about
90% of the lecture rather than 65%-75%. My Friday class is medieval French
literature, aka Arthurian history. I have studied king Arthur stories several
times in various classes in the past, so it is a topic with which I am not
unfamiliar. Also I was able to communicate with the teacher perfectly; I
understood every question that she asked me. However, I did still feel as
though someone had shot me in the head when the class ended; three hour
lectures tend to do that to anyone. Still I enjoyed the class and treating Kate
to hot chocolate, even though the hot coco kind of sucked. It's the thought
that always counts, I suppose. Afterwards we went to the local mall, which is a
legitimate mall, to buy a few accessories for Saturday night. On Saturday we are
hosting an "American" theme party. Everyone is expected to dress in
red, white, and blue, or at least one of the three. At the mall I picked up
some white bracelets and tights for my outfit. Paula, Kate, and I are a bit
worried that too many people have been invited, but we will just have to see.
We are having the actual party in the hallway, as to not make any of our rooms
disgustingly messy, so it should be ok. Tomorrow we will buy the
"refreshments", cheap beer and potato chips, and some red styled
cups. For tonight though, it is just good to relax and go to bed early.
September 20th
Schedule change, again, this will probably happen more times
too. Anyways I apparently do have a morning class on Thursday, great, but
fortunately I have no Monday morning classes anymore or Tuesday afternoon as
well. This is due to the fact that I will not be taking bibliographie or
philosophie. Why? Well they don't satisfy any credits at Iowa, at least none
that I haven't already fulfilled. Social geography, I somewhat apologize for
complaining about how boring you were to take, but I am now happy that we had
last semester since it means I won't have to take an 8am class here. Thank you
social geography. My class today anyhow, Thursday morning, is the lecture for
medieval history. This teacher was wonderfully nice and patient, just like
yesterday's professor, and I am actually looking forward to attending this
class from now on. It helps that Paula is there, but the content is interesting
and for the most part easy to follow even though it is all in French. I'm also
starting to notice many parallels between the two languages, primarily with
vocabulary. This makes it easier to take specific classes since words like
paradox and rhetoric are the same, besides spelling, in both French and
English. I also had a FLE class, required foreign student classes, with Kate at
5:30pm. This was a bit irritating due to the fact that we were meeting at a
quarter to eight at the university to go to a club. We all were so tired of the
week that we decided to celebrate the weekend early, which is known as thirsty
Thursday in American college towns. Basically the problem was that Kate and I
went to our FLE class dressed in clubbing attire. There actually was a theme
for the night at this club, Olympics. The idea was to dress in attire that best
matches the country that one supports in the Olympics. I chose Canada since I
always root for them in the hockey division, dual citizenship, and Paula was
already representing the stars and stripes by wearing American flag leggings.
My outfit was very tactful if I say so myself; red shirt, white scarf, brown
belt, jeans, and brown shoes. It was definitely an outfit of which any father
would approve. Class was interesting, not due to Kate's and my attire but
rather our teacher was odd. It is a grammar and phonetics class, yay for me. He
loved teasing me about how I don't know the difference sound wise between
dessous, under, and dessus, over. Not my fault that the French thought it would
be a good idea to have two anonyms sound exactly the same to everyone, even the
native French. Regardless of the teasing, the professor had good humor which
does make class thought-provoking, good thing too since it's a night class.
After class was mixed, bit of a roller coaster of a night out. Good news is
that the club was only five minutes from our dorm. Bad news is that when we
left our stuff to go dance, meaning our coats and bags, with some friends who
then also left to dance, the staff lovingly moved our belongings without
telling us. The only way I was given back my purse was because I knew that
there was a mirror in the front pocket. I had no I.D. on me, in France it isn't
needed, since I had left it at home for security reasons. Good news is that we
then checked our things properly at the coat area and went back to the dance
floor. Bad news is that due to the purse/coat situation we were all in bad
moods. Good news is that alcohol fixes the problem. Bad news is that Paula left
early to go to bed. Good news is that I danced with a cute French boy. Worst
news is that Kate lost her wallet. That really is what sucked. I tried to help
her but there really wasn't much to do. She was having trouble communicating
with the staff, none of them spoke any English; plus loud music doesn't make
good background noise since it bleeds into the foreground. Luckily the boy that
I had danced with spoke English well enough to act as a translator. Unfortunately
we still weren't able to find her wallet. In the morning Kate is going to the
police station before class to report it missing and will be canceling all of
her cards. Good news is that her passport was safe in her room. The bad news,
her wallet is still gone.
September 19th
No morning classes, yippee! I love that about Weds, Thurs,
Fridays. Unfortunately on Monday my new "bibliographie" class starts
at eight o'clock, grrr, but such is life. I'd rather have it on Monday than the
alternative 8 am Friday slot. Although today I was able to take my time
becoming ready for the day, it was a rocky start outside of the dorm. For meals
at my French university I need to either pay in cash or with an electronic card
called "carte crous". In order to have one of those magical cards I
need to fill out a form, show my student ID, and give them a statement from my
French bank. The last part is where the problem lies. I went to the LCL bank
this morning in order to pick up both my bank card and the crous statement. Of
course I left empty handed. Apparently my LCL account will not be ready until
late this afternoon. Great. So once again I paid for lunch out of my own pocket
with cash, which everyone secretly or not so secretly hates. Fortunately my
only class today, medieval history, lets out at five, one hour before the bank
closes. I have a feeling that after five is late afternoon for the French.
Luckily my feelings were correct and everything was ready for me. I was able to
receive both my new LCL bank card as well as my lunch card approval form. I
hope I don't have to go back to the LCL any time soon though, simply because a,
it is a bank and because I've hated having to be there every single time.
September 18th
Day two was much better than day one, thank God. I did start the day a bit rough though, due to mixing up class times. I had though that Litterature Comparée started at 10, apparently it starts at 9, whoops. At least the teacher was very polite about it when I explained that I had written the number down wrong. I actually understood class too. Apparently it is just rhetoric in French, and although rhetoric is not my favorite subject, it is something that I have studied for many years. All the terms are the same as well as the analysis process. I did make sure that I saved some lists of literary terms, schemes, tropes, and fallacies to my computer just for reference purposes. I am actually excited for this class since we are reading "Pride and Prejudice" in French. How long that enthusiasm will last, I don't know, but I think that I will be able to make this class work. My other Tuesday class was more difficult; philosophy. The teacher seems very relaxed about things, he constantly talks about how beautiful the world is, but since there are only six of us in the class, he speaks very softly. I made the mistake of sitting in the back, shyness always happens at the worst times, and could barely make out what he was saying. It also did not help that there was a classroom behind me that was an English class. My poor head was trying to concentrate on the French while random spurts of English were mixed into the jumble. Also due to me only being "demi-couramment" (semi-fleunt), I can't keep up with the lecture. I am able to write bits and pieces down, but definitely not as much as the native students. I sympathize with the Asian exchange students who journey to the states, they are brave. However, this is perfectly normal, especially for the first week of real classes. I am learning a lot and becoming better and better at French everyday. I called my mother, she always cheers me up, to unload some crestfallen emotions on her and felt like a million dollars after. I keep telling myself that I'm in the same boat as every other foreign student and that I'm not expected to perform in the classes at the level of the French students. Now, although I keep telling myself that, I rarely listen to the advice. It is hard to cheer up when you are singled out as a foreigner and are struggling purely due to the language barrier. There is some wisdom that does always cause me to smile though; regardless of my French level, I do not sound nearly as silly speaking French as every French student does when they attempt English. I hope that the American accent's difficulty never falters, because it is hilarious to hear phrases like, "yoo doNT lewk welle" or "sorey I doNt knough". My apologies France, but since I deal with your French "politeness" you may as well become used to my crude American behavior. After all eye for an eye, or in France is it cigarette for a cigarette?
September 17th
It wasn't the worst day of life, but it sure wasn't a good one. Everyone has their fair share rough starts in life and one of mine happened today. The morning began early, typical, since I had to meet with Camille before class in order to fill out various paperwork. As I slugged to the international building in a mist of rain with no jacket on, I had a bad feeling that today would have many bumps in it. Why am I always right when I want to be wrong? The first bump was with my OFII form. Apparently Camille had forgotten to tell me that I needed to bring it today. I had made sure, double checked even, that I had everything in my backpack for which she had asked. Of course the all important document was the missing link. She told me to just return after lunch with the form. In hindsight in adding to my burdens I had my computer in my backpack and was wearing new shoes which need to be broken in. It's only about a mile and a half back to the dorm, no worries right? Then class happened. I kept telling myself that everything will be fine, the professor will understand the situation and give me a reassuring smile and tell me that I have nothing to worry about. Wrong again. The professor strolled in, scanned the room, and asked what I was doing there. Of course I'm not sure if that's what she asked me, she spoke nice slurred French, to which I responded with a blank stare. I then told her that I was an exchange student studying abroad. She answered with a prolonged "oui?" which assured me that there was a problem. She went on to tell me, in the slow manner used when speaking to a challenged child, that her class of documentation research was too difficult for exchange students since French was not their native language. Hold up. I had my schedule approved by my coordinator who said that all of my classes were fine. All I could muster was a "d'accord madame"; I become nervous when teachers call me out in front of an entire class of students that I don't even know, so weird. Plus, she would not let me leave the classroom. Instead I was locked in the room while she reviewed the syllabus in a fast snippy manner. Crap. Well I did my best to listen and take notes, the girl next to me even shared her's in an effort to help me. At the end of the class I came away with maybe half of the information reviewed. Double crap. I was also pulled into the hallway in order for her to once again tell me that I didn't belong there and should instead take the beginner course. Two things, couldn't she have done that earlier instead of making me look stupid in front of everyone, and triple crap. I decided to just go to lunch and think things over. Fortunately I found my lil' group of friends and explained what had happened. They were in the same exact boat. That did make me feel better, but I still needed to return to the dorm to pick up the OFII form and probably change my shoes. After turtling, I love to make up verbs, to the dorm and back and handing in my OFII form, I was told that I had to visit a doctor before being accepted in France's universal health insurance. It would have been fine it were only one appointment. Guess how many are mandatory. Four. All of them are already scheduled too, no flexibility. The day was just becoming more and more pleasant. I then finally went to the library to use my computer, which had been on my back the entire day. Once there, I e-mailed my coordinator about the situation and was basically told back to take the easier class and grow a pair about learning French, in a manner of speaking. I then droned my brain by watching you-tube videos for some well needed English language r&r. I'm currently back at the dorm and feeling much better about my day since I just wrote this blog about it. Looking back I definitely exaggerated on parts, but that is how I felt in the situation so it's not really untrue. I just have to keep trying, whether I like it or not I will make mistakes on my journey to become better and eventually a fluent French speaker. Though it will help if my other professors just give me smiles instead of speeches. Fingers crossed.
September 16th
I must say that I am rather disappointed with myself since I cannot at all sleep in. I'm too accustomed to waking at 7:00am which throws my whole lazy night owl nature into chaos. Ah well, at least I completed some important tasks today. I managed to do some laundry, in my sink as always since our dorm is unequiped with washing machines, which wasn't so bad. I then made some tea, with my brand new kettle, which tasted oh too good. How I have missed hot delicious mugs of tea. I also prepared for Monday aka Doomsday aka when classes start. I made sure that all my documents, notebooks, pencils, heck even my pocket dictionary, were in my backpack ready for the morning. I then went out with friends, mostly to calm nerves, to an Irish styled pub. France just keeps becoming more and more strange; first yummy Chinese food, then an Irish pub with Snake Bites and Guinness. What next, an Indian themed restaurant called the Indiana near Place l'Opera in Paris? Naw, no one is THAT crazy. Anyways everyone only had one drink, due to school starting, which was fine with me. I had a pint of Guinness, plenty for this lil' thing, and enjoyed just relaxing with my friends. However, this is just the calm before the storm. Tomorrow the real work begins.
September 15th
Le Havre, how I missed the smell of the salted ocean and unwashed gypsies. Ok it's not that bad, but almost any city will look unexciting next to Paris. We took the 10:50 am train and made it back with plenty of time to unpack, do some laundry, surf the web, and buy plastic wrap. I did most everything in a zombie-like state. Although the hostel beds were more comfortable than our dorm ones, I didn't sleep too well in Paris. When Kate and I returned from errands and computer using at Les Docks, we just went to bed. I did play a few Gameboy games before passing out on top of my Blackhawks blanket, but nothing productive was accomplished. At least tomorrow is Sunday, I don't know what I would do if it were Monday. Classes start, and I have to admit that nerves affect my French ability. Hopefully all will go swimmingly. Time to sleep...
September 14th
Ah the last day, what sweet sorrow. The morning was actually full of sorrow, especially from my head. Little piece of advice, riding the metro groggy is best done sitting down rather than stumbling on your feet. Kate and I met Paula at Galerie Lafayette, after some mind numbing coffee of course, and the shopping day began. There were so many floors with so many clothes with so many expensive price tags, just crazy. I think my jaw dropped more times there than at Champs de Lycée. In any case the only floor where I bought anything was the souvenir area by the cafeteria. I picked up some green tea, a metro decorated bag, and a French planner. I know, what an extravagant spender. Paula actually made use of the designer labels by purchasing a beautiful purse from Longchamps. I could never do the same but as purses go it is fantastic. I then suggested that we have a tea break at Angelina's, a tea room in Galerie Lafayette.
From prior experience I knew that Angelina's had the best hot chocolate in the world and I was craving some. Of course I regretted it an hour later when my stomach was turning knots, but it was definitely worth it. Kate and I shared hot chocolate while Paula had some tea. The hot chocolate is more of a smooth liquid syrup with rich flavor and no awful aftertaste. It was delicious, and I had some Sprite later to calm my tummy so no harm done.
After we had exhausted ourselves from going into shock from prices we left for Sacre Cœur, which involved some metro line switches. I successfully navigated us to the correct stop of which I was very proud. There we dodged the illegal, and annoying, merchants and scaled the steps to the giant church. We actually went to Place du Tertre, the artist's block, first before going into Sacre Cœur. All the artwork was beautifully done but like anything else it was expensive. We picked up a few souvenirs from the local shops, I bought some coasters, but no Parisian paintings.
Sacre Cœur then offically happened, which turned out to be lovely. They were holding some sort of service where everyone constantly sang along with this choir of traditional nuns. It was overwhelming at parts, due to the surge of conservatism, but still beautiful. The architecture was what I admired the most, especially the hollow dome. We sat down for a few minutes to rest and enjoy the music. I admit that I almost fell asleep, the pew was comfortable, but managed to remaining conscience.
I suppose that I was hungry which turned out fine since dinner happened at a place called La Pierrade right after. I had some nicely cooked cod with mashed potatos. That meal was probably my favorite the whole trip. What can I say, I love good cod. We did become lost for about twenty minutes after dinner, Paris road signs are purposely hidden behind trees to confuse tourists, but eventually we found our way and took the metro home. All of us packed our things, mis-en-place for the next morning, and passed out. What an exhausting, yet satisfying day. Too bad it was our last in Paris.
September 13th
The second day began early and started with a trip to Musée d'Orsay. It's an old train station that was turned into an art museum. The three of us decided to split, we have different tastes in art, which was fine with me. I took my time reading the plaques, in French I might add, and staring at various impressionist paintings. The two that stood out the most to me were "La Nuit Etoile" and "Danseuse sur Scène"; I'm a sucker for dark blue shades. I met Kate at the gift shop where I picked up some playing cards, a book of the museum, and a small note pad. It was all over-priced, but so is everything else in Paris. Afterwords we began our route to the Eiffel Tower.
Boy that was a mis-adventure. Paula has an international data plan on her phone which has been a huge asset to our trip; she can access google maps. However, the app needs work since we became turned around about five times trying to find the Eiffel Tower. Luckily we were hungry and happened upon a Chinese restaurant. I know, Chinese food in France? Well it happens to be fantastic. I had caramelized orange chicken with sautéed vegetables, white rice, and even a coconut pearl for dessert. It rocked. About ten minutes later we found the Eiffel Tower and took picture after picture with it in the background. We marched up and down the grass strip trying to find the best angle for the typical, "I'm pushing the Eiffel Tower" pic. There was an irritating man who was shadowing Kate, while it was my turn to play photographer too. At least I took the pictures, that's a plus.
Then we hurried back to the hostel to drop everything off since we were meeting Kate's friend Jonathan for dinner at 7:20pm. Luckily we made it on time, though in France it doesn't really matter since everything goes off being fashionably late. Dinner for me was a fruit cup since my stomach was re-thinking the macaron and pain au chocolat from earlier that morning. Jonathan, who hails from the UK and is in France to teach, was very charming and polite. He also was the definition of chauvinistic, but fervid behavior seems to be a trend that well-dressed men follow. Everyone seemed to enjoy the meal, swapping stories about University was definitely my favorite part, until we had to say our goodbyes. Jonathan left on his train and the three of us returned to the hostel rosy-cheeked and happy. Paula asked if we were sure about not attending Mass in the morning. Kate and I answered by falling asleep. Definitely an awesome night.
September 12th
Time for the blogs about Paris trip September 2012. Our adventure in the city of lights started today, after Le Havre drench us in rain at 6 am of course. Can't have an adventure without a mis- in front of it. I decided the night before to wake up at least an hour early so that I could do my make-up without having to do it on the train ride. Well mascara, even water-proof, will bleed if it has no time to dry. Since our dorm is a fifteen minute walk to the train station and we did it in buckets of rain, I ended up looking similar to a drowned raccoon. Luckily the train was there and we hopped on without any fuss. I did regain some sleep as I listened to the latest All American Reject album; I recommend it, kids in the streets is a good tune.
Now, once we arrived at St. Lazare, the train station in Paris, Paula, Kate, and I tried to use the metro, or subway, map to go to our hostel. We failed at that. To be fair the maps at the station are somewhat confusing and we were doing this in the morning; for me sunlight is always an issue on my sense of direction. Continuing our mis-adventure, due to not knowing where we should go or what line we should take, we undoubtedly became somewhat misplaced around Galerie Lafayette. It was at that moment that we decided to do what all English speakers must do when they are lost; we flagged down a cab. That is definitely the last time I take a Parisian cab. To put it into perspective, the man drove like a combination of Mr. Toad and an escaped lunatic evading the men in white. Personally, I value my life too much to ever put it into the hands of one of those people again. And here I though Chicagoan drivers were crazy, at least they know what the color red means. We did make it to the hostel alive, just a few years shaved off is all. Our room happened to be on the 5th floor, and man that was fun some nights. I was sarcastic about the whole thing and turned running up the stairs into an annoying game for Kate and Paula. I would, regardless of how tired I was or how much my feet hurt, skip up the flights and dash into our room. I then would greet them at the door with a dumb grin on my face; in my opinion they really should've punched me. Besides occasionally irritating my friends, Paris was quite eventful.
The first day, literally the day we arrived, we went to Notre Dame de Paris, le Jardin de Touilleries near Le Louvre, and Place de Lycée. I will start with Notre Dame since it was the first area that we visited. After we checked into our hostel, we are cheap students, and received some maps, we decided to try the metro again. I'm proud to say that we were much more successful since we actually made it to our destination. I was the navigator for the most of the trip and I didn't screw up, much. Anyways Notre Dame was beautiful as it always is. I do find it humorous that my favorite area of Paris is a Catholic cathedral, I'm a lil' urban Methodist girl, but it's the history and gothic style of the building that fascinates me not the religious aspects. Paula, a small town Catholic child, loved the fact that she could attend Mass there. She was on her own though, Kate and I were not waking up early on a Friday to attend a ceremony we don't even do in English. I did my usual business in Notre Dame; stared at the Rose windows, lit a candle for my deceased relatives, and bought a souvenir. This year's Notre Dame token was a small stained glass window of the cathedral. I simply couldn't help myself, besides it makes my dorm window look less bleak.
After the magnificent cathedral we took the metro to le Jardin de Tuilleries. It is right by Le Louvre and looks pretty fantastic in fall colors. We had fun taking dozen of pictures; some of them were serious but most were silly. We then had lunch at a nearby crêpe stand. Strawberry jam crêpes earn the title of both delicious and messy all-in-one.
Right after we moved on to the French fashion strip known as Champs de Lycée. It is a huge street that connects to Place Charles de Gaulle, the eight lane round-about by the Arc de Triumph. Anyone who's ever met me, even just looked at me, knows I am not interested in fashion labels at all. Paula is though. She loved marching up and down the block, peeping into stores, and contemplating whether or not a ring over 3,000 euros would be a good purchase. While she did that I tried my best not to look at price tags. Honestly in my opinion almost every store there was a waste of money. That said, I did splurge on a dress in Naf Naf. It was about $80, but it is absolutely beautiful and fits me perfectly.
On the strip there is a macaron store, Ladurée, which we be bought macarons from, who would've guessed. I bought a small variety, one of the flavors was black licorice. Oh how yummy it was. Unfortunately it was the only one that I could eat that day due to my sensitivity to sweets. Least macarons last for awhile, score for me. While Paula was in Chanel, Kate and I stopped into a bookstore. There I bought "Talk to the Snail" and "A Year in the Merde", two comedy novels by Stephen Clark that poke fun at the French. Perfect fate.
At the end of the day we relaxed for dinner at a place close to our hostel. I actually had a salad, since none of the beef was cooked on the menu, and a glass of 1664. Simply a good first day of mis-adventuring across Paris.
September 11th
No class this morning, which was a relief since it gave me an extra hour to sleep in. Unfortunately my morning was spen at the library trying to add credit onto my phone. I discovered, after too long, that my SIM card is indeed registered but that I have none of the information about the account. I suppose that I may have more information in my room, though I'm not certain. What I am sure of is that my Dad is the one who's name they know and who somewhere, probably through a third party company, has an account that is able to refill my minutes. I did try customer service only to find that you stay forever on hold. I will try again later but I am growing very tired of trying to solve the problem since I have had no avail with anything relating to it. On another note I did deposit some money in my LCL, a French bank system, account which acts as an insurance claim on my dorm room. That is very good indeed. I also have my train ticket for Paris tomorrow. The only unfortunate part is that our train leaves at 6:30am! Why does the world want to tarnish my life with mornings? I truly am pessimistic to be upset about a trip Paris on the basis that the departure time is torture. This was Paula's idea since she wants to spend as much time in Paris as possible. I can/will sleep on the train and was promised that we would do coffee runs. I guess that cancels out the negative, but I do feel a little bad for Paula and Kate. I am not known for being a wonderful person in the morning, my family refers to me as the exorcist child, and they will have the pleasure of experiencing it firsthand. I suppose that the friendship will be tested. I really am that bad. Time to pack, until the morning.
September 10th
Ah Manic Mondays, they are not fun-days at all. The morning started with an evalutation at nine. How peachy. Since I'm neither a morning person nor one who enjoys speeches that assess my level of speaking in a foreign language, it wasn't the best start for me. However, my evaluation did go smoothly with the only concern being that I need to watch anglophone pronunciation. That basically means when I say a city or a town that is an English name, like Downers Grove, I should say it with a French accent since that flows rather than my normal American accent. I suppose that makes me similar to the Spanish newscasters. Luckily it is something that I can fix rather quickly. What really shocked me today was how much some of the other students struggled with French. They actually didn't speak fluid French but rather French with English conjunctions, basic Franglish for anybody. The professors stressed strongly today that if English is not their native language, they should resist speaking it since it mixes with their French. Obviously I am allowed to speak English with other fluent English speakers, but I saw their point on limiting the other students. The hard thing is whenever I try to speak in French with the other students they always say, rather rudely I might add, "why you speak in French, use English!" It was tolerable for a few days, but now it does rattle my cage of patience. I came to France to practice French, the next time they say that to me I will refuse to speak in English no matter what. Maybe then the message will be received. I have no issues if they want me to correct their English from time to time, but really when they are in France they should practice French! Phew, glad that issue is off my chest. The rest of the day was communicating with my ISEP, the study abroad program, coordinator M. Hauchecorne. He helped me and Paula with our class schedules by giving us a packet full of course descriptions as well as credit requirements. Finding the right classes was a long process but I am very happy with the end result, especially since two of my classes meet every other week. Lastly, I talked to my brother Peter which is something that I miss everyday. Unfortunately, right in the middle of our conversation, my minutes ran out. Bamn, I have no more talk minutes meaning no more calls and texts meaning no contact with my family until I can refill them. Tomorrow morning I will call customer support since they close after nine and try to add more credits to my phone. Until then my phone acts as a measurement converter, damn Celsius, and a digital watch. C'est ma vie, actuellement ou jamais. Je ne vais pas vivre éternellement. Heh, Bon Jovi French time ; )
September 9th
Finally I had a day to sleep in, sadly I only slept in until ten thirty. I spent the morning primarily doing extra laundry in my sink as well as dishes, though not at the same time. Later on we went to the beach along the English Channel. This supposed "beach" was not something to which I was accustomed. There were two things essentially odd; there was no sand, only bulky rocks, and all the men were in speedos. Trunks are something that all cultures should embrace, because they save a lot of disturbing images from ever happening. Strangely enough my friends, Kate and Paula, and I did not bring swimsuits. We figured that the group would more so lounge about the beach rather than swim. Nope. Instead we followed the example of a fellow international student and decided that underwear is close enough to bathing suits, thus we went in with just our knickers and bras on. That isn't something I ever want to repeat, but I would be lying if I said it wasn't fun. The Channel was nice and cold, similar to how the St. Lawrence river normally is, and filled with salt! I'm not used to swimming in salt water and I found it very buoyant. However, the water was rather murky and the rocky bottom was also uncomfortable. I did enjoy myself, but I don't think that I will swim in the Channel, or La Manche, all too often. Though, if I do I will make sure to bring my bathing suit!
September 8th
Class on a Saturday? Yup, that aspect sucked since it meant I couldn't sleep in. However, it was worth it since part of class was going to the Saturday morning market. Kate joined the group a bit late, sadly Paula was too exhausted from the week to go. Although class was just reviewing shopping vocabulary, the market trip was very useful. Next time I go I will leave my wallet at home since there are a handful of begging gypsies roaming around, but other than that the place was like a mini bazaar. There I bought tomatoes, some huge grapes, a little plastic fruit basket, a giant head of lettuce, and even a roasted chicken! To say the least I saved a lot of money at the market because there was no mark-up on the products. They had a lot of material goods like costume jewelry, second hand clothes, leather purses, and shoes. Some people bought cutlery and other kitchen utensils; Kate found a good salad spinner for two euros. All in all it was good shopping market. Luckily it appears every Saturday morning which means grocery shopping just became much more convenient. I will still have to go to the super market for my preserved delicious white bread that lasts forever, but that's just one extra expense. Afterwords we had a chicken dinner with melon, salad, and wine. Kate ended up buying three melons, they were a buy-one deal, which tasted wonderful. The three of us decided that Saturday will be chicken dinner night in the dorms. I hope the plan sticks because the chicken was not only delightful, but also because chicken is meat. Oh how I miss meat.
September 7th
Today was like half n' half cream, there was an equal amount of good and bad to it. The morning was long because we had to take a tour of the university library. It really was pointless since all of us are in college and have used a library before. If the tour guide had started explaining how to use the card-catalogue, I would have dropped dead on the spot from an overdose of unnecessary information. After lunch, which was rabbit so not in my favor, we were learning how to write down our class schedules. This would have been useful had the majority of us known what classes we're taking. Apparently the secretary must have individual meetings with the students in order to tell them which classes they have signed up for. Ridiculous. No one except one woman in the entire system can give me the slip of paper that says my classes on it? Restated, ridiculous. Also, screw French keyboards, they are so irritating. Afterwords everything became a-ok due to the barbecue/party. It really wasn't much of a barbecue;they had a very small charcoal grill and only knew how to cook hot dogs and a few shish-kabobs. However, it was still fun especially since Paula and I introduced everyone to beer pong. It was not the same, we had no red solo cups or ping pong balls, but we made due with bouncy balls and little plastic glasses. Sadly Paula and I lost to the Greek and the Romanian, though such is life when you're terrible at the game. The party was fun with music, beer pong, and food. Hopefully though, next time they pick an area with tables, chairs, and barbecue sauce.
September 6th
This afternoon was spent at the beach boardwalk of Le Havre, however the morning was spent in a meeting for LSH, license science humaines, majors meaning moi. That meeting was incredibly dull, all of us were struggling to write all the information down without falling asleep. My friend Kate was especially distressed since most of the classes she had signed up to take were apparently wrong; either the level was wrong or the course was cancelled. Well under that situation she somewhat whispered, "fuck," to me. Unfortunately, we always forget this, many people in the room could speak English and happened to hear her. All of them were of course the administrators and our teacher Erich, but they all laughed so no harm was done. It was pretty funny. Like I mentioned earlier in the afternoon we went to the beach which was amazing. The weather was absolutely perfect; sunshine, soft breeze, and fluffy clouds. Kate and I ate lunch apart from our regular group since they wanted to go to a cheap burger stand that was a good distance away. Instead, and I know that this meal is not health at all, I had the "meilleur frites dans la ville", or the best fries in town. They were the second best fries I've ever had in my life, the best were in Edinburgh Scotland. Kate and I ate with Fergus, the Irish boy, by the oceanic view. Fergus also had the best fries in town, however he had them in his hot dog. It was weird, but that's what they gave him when he ordered, "a hot-dag with frays please." I'm pretty sure that a hot dog with french fries in the bun is part of the American dream. Later that night Kate and I tried the pool facility near our dorm. It was a fantastic pool system. They have I believe eleven pools in total and we were able to swim in most of them. We're going to purchase a membership soon, about 30 euros for six months, since it is so close to our dorm and swimming feels great on sore feet. Hopefully the pool will become an everyday thing, as for the moment the thing I need the most is dish detergent for all four pieces of my kitchenware.
September 5th
This day was rather boring but had some good parts to it. We started by going to the public library for a tour and an opportunity to receive public library cards. It was so dull. The bright side is that I met a new student who is from Ireland and an English major as well. The downside is that all of us had to endure the tour guide and her barely audible voice. Afterwords we had lunch, which for me was a grilled dish and fries again. I am going to stop this pattern because it isn't good for my nutrition and I don't want to come home round on all sides. Then we had class, but Kate and I left early to register for university bank accounts. The whole point of the bank account is to have an insurance claim for the dorms. Basically we put a few euros in and the flats have deposit statements, whoo. The card also acts as the meal plan card, I think. This would be good since I am paying for a meal plan through ISEP and have had to so far pay out of pocket for everything. Truly, the university is backwards this year, but Camille, bless that girl, has been there for every international student making the process smoother. At the end of the day a section of our international posse hung out at "Le Docs" until about eight. There I tried a croque monsieur, the French version of grilled cheese, and almost spat it out. Oddly enough it wasn't the cheese that did it, that part was pleasantly mild, but rather this cream sauce in the middle. It tasted like a combination of mayonnaise and cottage cheese, which for me especially, is gag worthy. I'm sorry that I don't like them since croque monsieur is a very French dish, but such is life. I've heard that many French people dislike peanut butter which to me is crazy! Right now I'm exhausted and plan on sleeping early. Also tomorrow is a group picnic, should be both delicious and fun, thus I'm going to bed at 8:15pm. Bon Nuit!
September 4th
Atleast today was better than yesterday. I woke up early for two reasons; I needed to shower, and I needed to convince myself to take it with freezing water. Somewhat luckily I discovered from the fuse-box that my range had no power. Apparently this meant that my water heater was also powerless, I don't know why they of all things are connected but they are. Anyways I was able to make my shower at least lukewarm which is a giant step above freezing. It still wasn't very pleasant though. The rest of the day involved classes, which were fine until after lunch. Suddenly I felt tired and groggy, not good when you must concentrate on everything that is being said. It's obvious that my mind still has not adjusted to hearing French constantly, and is therefore exhausted. My friend Kate, the English woman though really she is Scottish, made a very good point in saying, "well, we can only go up from here." So true, our situations right now of not knowing the language fluently, not having finished living quarters, and not being familiar with the city are all rock bottom. We truly can only go up from that starting line.
September 3rd
What a surprising school day. So much happened in one day that it now feels as though I've been here for over a week. The morning started early with me and Paula leaving Dawn's, the American woman, apartment in the rain. The rain was more of a drizzle, but it still did not give way to a good day. We, along with our stuff, were dropped at the international building on campus. From there we met our professors, Erich Martel and Michael Hauchecorne, and began our intensive course classes. That was fine, in fact the classes were rather enjoyable. Both teachers have very charismatic teaching styles which makes class more interesting. Drama did not start until after lunch. All of the international students had to be registered into the school's academic system; unfortunately in France that means paperwork, lots of paperwork. All of us were just herded from station to station not knowing what acronyms stood for what and asked about fifteen times what our address in France was. Apparently no one in the faculty received the memo that the international students have not even moved into their dorms. Speaking of the dorms, they were surprising in the strangest way. The good part is that they are brand new residence halls, the worst part is that they are not finished. Sadly it is true that the rooms lack many common essentials for living in the modern world; examples are electricity, warm water, and toilet seats. Fortunately the blinds work, but other than that it is one half-completed mess. I'm a lucky one since my electricity is functional, however cold showers are not something to which I'm looking forward. I will tell Camille tomorrow that the water heater is apparently off and she will go super saiyen on maitenance's ass. Honestly, everyone is really pissed about the living situations including the French tuteurs. After all it does not reflect well upon the school that they cannot provide sufficent living quarters for the international students. And to think, it is only the first official day.
September 2nd
Surprisingly, I woke up early on my first full day of France. I tried to sleep in, and normally I'm very good at
it, but to no avail. Besides waking at 8:00am, the day was very pleasant. Paula and I had pasteries for breakfast at the bakery across the street. How when eating bread and sweets all the time the French manage to stay thin is beyond me. Later we met with the other foreign exchange students which turned out great. Honestly with all the diversity it was almost like a UN meeting, especially since we used English, Spanish, and French to communicate with one another. In total there were three Romanians, one Poll, an Italian, a Mexican, a Greek, an Englishwoman, and of course two Americans. Two more will be at the intensive French class tomorrow, so I will meet them then. Despite the language barrier, we all hit it off well; some of them are even staying in the same residence hall as me. The rest of the day was spent talking and relaxing among the international group. I hope that classes will work out, until tomorrow.
September 1st
Today I arrived in France. To tell the truth I was very nervous. However, I pushed through my stomach knots and made it to Le Havre with everything a-ok. I've met Camille, a tuteur at the university, her law student friend Jeremy, and Paula the other American student. We, meaning me and Paula, practiced our French with Camille and Jeremy over dinner. They decided to take use to a seafood restaurant so that we could try renowned Le Havre muscles. The muscles were delicious, especially with combined with fries, but the conch shells had too strong of a fish flavor for my tastes. Afterwords we went to a bar, though only for a brief while. There we met some Brazilian students that seemed pleasant enough. Finally, Camille drove me and Paula back home to the apartment, owned by an American woman, so that we could sleep off the jet-lag. What a busy day!
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