Blog Abroad

Hey! I haven't talked to you all week. But I haven't heard from anybody either! If you're on my postcard list, keep an eye out this week! If you're not and you think you should be, you'll have to tell me. Last weekend as I said I visited the villages of Luberon (see encyclopedia). The trips are usually every other week, but we had another trip today to Arles (see encyclopedia). Arles is great, but I think I enjoyed the villages better. Although today we followed the path of Van Gogh and, as I am not interested in art or history, it was kind of blah. Beautiful, and the town is very large and full of things to see, but we didn't get to wander really. However, I learned that Arles, although not the oldest city in France (because we all know the oldest French city is....... ? ... OK... if you really can't guess, it's Marseille), has structures from the 12th century!

In other news, I learned that the restaurants don't throw their trash in dumpsters (or- as in Spain- in giant plastic bins on the sidewalk). The trash is underground in a sort of manhole-thing. I also learned that the French are very impatient and that they eat tomato soup cold and in the summer, but not hot. HOWEVER, the grocery store sells tomato soup (to be eaten hot) so I'm not sure how reliable that info is. Also French students take the equivalent of 24 credit hours per semester.

So what actually interests you after reading all of this is that this week to come, I start my volunteer work and my club. We've had two weeks of courses already and, yes, I'm feeling more at ease now as we are all getting to know each other. I have made plans with Camille, my first language partner, twice since the first time we talked and I still haven't seen her again. The second partner I received (Manon) invited myself and another student (Emma and I have the same language partner) to see a movie last Saturday evening, but she was sick so we didn't go. We're going instead tomorrow to lunch and then to see Into the Woods (words in French, music in English). Also last Sunday I spent the entire day with Catherine, who we all know is my host mother, going to the market, to her daughter-in-law's for lunch, and then to the Philharmonic Orchestra of Pays d'Aix. It was nice. Thursday night (I think...) I went to a cafe for students on the dark side of town and it was really great! They serve tea, hot cocoa and desserts, and they have game night one night, open mic night one night, and a sort of speed-friending another night. When I went with a small group of the Americans (the students at the AUCP) it was open mic night and it was really quite enjoyable, but I had to wait 40 minutes afterwards for a cab. I would have walked, but Catherine thinks I'll get murdered if I walk home alone in the dark (which is highly unlikely, btw. I feel very safe here).

My volunteer work is in a church. I think I'm assisting somebody as they do a Sunday-school after-school sort of thing, but I'm not really sure yet. And for my club, I chose a hiking club, but apparently they're OOBER serious and also really old, so I changed and I'm gonna take a Salsa class at the university across the street, which is equally as exciting.

For the week of winter break in February, Edison and I are going to Paris. It was way more expensive than it would have been if we had made arrangements earlier, but for certain reasons SOMEBODY thought it would be a good idea to wait (points agressively with eyes to the charming young man in Spain).

And that's all I've got for you. I'm gonna upload some pictures tonight, but I don't want to stay up too late as I have my rndv tomorrow at 11. which means I have to wake up at 9. Which is 3 your time. Fun.

A bien tot!

Good morning! I think it's 3:30 there now, but here I've already eaten breakfast. I think Wednesday is laundry day, but I'm not allowed to use the washer so Catherine washes and dries my clothes. I don't have courses on Wednesday so I think I will use my Wednesdays to go to a local cafe/library thing and do homework. And I can go to the market and get a couple things to make lunch Thursday and Friday. Like bread and cheese or Spinach for salad or something. I found a couple cafes not too far from the centerr where I can get a slice of pizza or a giant sandwich or quiche or something like that for only 2,50 euros so Mondays when the big market isn't open I can go to one of those and maybe still have something leftover for Tuesday. Or Tuesday you can buy a whole rotisserie chicken with potatos for 4,50 euros and I can save my leftover chicken for Wednesday. Anyways, moral of the story is I'm starting to find the tricks to being a student in Aix.

Also I talked with the director and she told me to go ahead and try the translation course and if the professor thinks it's too hard for me then I can take the grammar course, but she's afraid grammar is too basic for me. But I also need the credit at Winthrop so we'll see. And the the French Society course only has room for 15 students so in case I can't get in to that, I tried the Image Abroad (rough translation or the course title) course, which I hadn't realized was a literature course and most of the literature I already read in French Lit last year. So I hope there's room in French Society but if not I can handle the literature.

It's my understanding that French courses in general are more lecture-based, but I can tell the professors are trying to include us and encourage questions so that's good.

Also, I think I'm beginning to figure out Catherine. I think she's either a laugh or be very intense kind of person, so as long as I stay unwound and laugh with her, we have a nice time. We watched a French comedy theater on tv lastnight and I didn't understand most of it, but she was laughing so I sat there with her and tried to understand what I could.

Other than that I don't have too much to tell you today. Saturday I'm going to the villages of Luberon: Lourmarin, Boonieux, and Roussillon. Then Sunday I'm going with Catherine and her granddaughter and her son to a market I think and then he owns a restaurant so I think we're eating there for lunch and then we're going to see the Aix Philharmonic Orchestra. I'll post lots of pictures and let you know all about it.

Hope you have a good day! Bissous!

Hey again! First day of classes so I thought I'd let you know how it went. First of all, I ran out of "minutes" on my dinosaur French phone last night so I went to the Tabac to recharge. The phone says "Orange" on it and has a lot of "Orange" apps, but apparently my sim card is SFR and not Orange, and the Tabac cannot exchange or return... so I lost 15 euros this morning. Soooo I'll have to try again tomorrow. Then before today even started, I had my alarm set at 9 AM because my first class was at 10:45, and I got a text from Mami (the student on the floor below that I take the bus with) sent me a text at 8:30 asking if I was ready, so that scared the daylights out of me. Also, surprisingly one of the women who work with the AUCP read at least part of my blog about my language partner liking the parties and the drinking, so she gave me a new partner today which was nice of her.

The first class was French Cultural Patterns and it wasn't bad. First day so, you know, don't really know a whole lot about the course yet. But the professor is Jean-Michel (sp) and I like his teaching style, so I think it'll go well. Also he said that Mondays will be more like lectures (which is good because I think we're all too tired to be talkative) and Fridays will be more interactive. And we already have our homework for Friday AND Monday...

Then we found a little cafe that wasn't very expensive where you can get a meal a dessert and a drink for 7,50 euros.

The second class was Translation, but I have a little backstory: we took a test to tell us how comprehensive we are in French and how good our grammar is and I didn't do nearly as well as I was expecting. Out of A1, A2 (beginner low and high), B1, B2 (intermediate low and high), and C1, C2 (advanced low and high), I scored B1 in grammar and written and A2 in oral comprehension. While I still don't completely believe that it accurately represents my level, it's an exam and I have to respect the science behind it. Which admittedly makes me feel incompetant but I guess everybody has to receive lower than average sometimes. So based on my score, I was told not to take grammar (which is for the lower half of the scores I think) but also not to take Translation (which is for the upper half I think), but I didn't get a chance to talk to the director about why I was told not to take either, so I sat in on the translation course. And I liked it. And since that's where I want to go with my life, I'm hoping I can talk to the director at some point tomorrow about possibly taking the course. We decide officially on Friday.

The final course was French Society, which I may end up taking for my last social sciences credit at Winthrop. It seems challenging, but I like a challenge.

And now I don't know where my host mother is... sooo.... I think I'll be a good student and start homework.

Talk to you later!

Good morning! I posted all of my Aix photos, so that is all up-to-date. I have tried a thousand times to post the Barcelona photos and something goes wrong every time and it's getting irritating, so when I have the patience to spend another two hours sitting here uploading photos that may or may not load, I'll try again :). But they're already on Facebook I think anyways. Also, I will post the Barcelona info along with a brief summary of the <<Je suis Charlie>> in my encyclopedia. My first day here, last Sunday, we attended a sermon at the big Cathedral because it's a thing here to have a big sermon the First Sunday of the New Year or something like that where a bunch of people dress in traditional Provence attire and bring gifts to the baby Jesus. So that's what all those photos are about. Also, as you may have noticed, I have to post phoos with people in them on Facebook so that the other students here have them because there arent doubles. Otherwise, I AM still on a Facebook break so don't get confused. If you see me online it's probably because I have to contact someone and Facebook is my only means.

In other news, I love Aix and the program is great. It's not very hard to talk and understand French all the time, but it is very exhausting. Also, a lot of the other students like to go out drinking and, as you know, that's not my thing, but when I here about an outing or dinner or something I am going because it's important to me to try to be involved. My host mother, on the other hand, seems to think I have to go out to parties every night. No it's more than that. Literally every minute I'm in the house she's telling me about her other students and how one of them was always home and spent every weekend here with her (which I imagine at this point the poor girl spent one or two days here a week and Catherine just doesn't understand that Americans don't go out all hours of day and night). She lectures me regularly on not wearing three coats wen I go out, not bringing my umbrella every day, not having made plans yet for the break at the end of February, not eating enough (which we all know is a joke), not being out with friends all the time, etc. She talks more than me and a lot faster than me and I am already getting tired of her and it's only been one week... needless to say, I hope she realizes that I will not go out every night and I probably will not spend all of my weekend out with people. Ever. And I'm still trying to make friends... this is a circle of people that I don't really fit into anywhere and it's kind of disheartening.

I have a language partner who's a student here in Aix and she's pretty nice. Her name is Camille, but again, she likes to go to bars and dance and that's not my thing. Not that I'm shy or that I don't like to go out because I love going out with friends and doing things. And it's not that I don't want to dive into French culture because that's exactly why I'm here. But I don't enjoy drinking or dancing in clubs. In fact I quite dislike that sort of thing... so I predict the social aspect of this program to get very challenging very soon.

That's just about all I've got for you today. I know it's mostly complaints this time, but I am in the phase where I feel uncomfortable with most of this so I can't really help it. I'll write you again in a couple days! I start classes tomorrow so I'll have new things to talk about finally.

Hey! Sorry I haven't written you in so long, but the outlets in Europe are different and I didn't have a converter to plug my laptop in. I will post the pictures missed and some info about Barcelona soon, but this upcoming week will be chaotic for me so have patience! I start intensive orientation tomorrow morning at 9 AM.

Some things I didn't post in Spain: some toilets have two buttons: a poop flush and a pee flush. There is a second comode for women to wash their derrieres when necessary. I am not allowed to flush toilet paper in Spain. People in Spain are much more friendly than in the States, saying "hola" or "buenas" when they cross paths and "hasta luego" or "staluego" when leaving each other, even if they don't know each other. In Spain, the "baso" (cheek kisses) are one on the left and one on the right. In Barcelona, you will see that we visited the Sagrada Familia (a very large church designed by Gaudi who died before in could be finished and is still under construction), the Castell de Montjuic (where apparently the last battle of the Spanish civil war was fought? I will find more info on this to post in the Barcelona section), the Columbus statue as he points dramatically to the Americas, the old Barcelona bull ring (which has been converted into a shopping mall since bull fights have been banned in Barcelona- although not yet in all of Spain), and an art museum that we didn't get to go into.

Now for the real purpose of this blog: Today is my first day here in France. As many of you know, I had to describe myself in five words in order to be matched to a family and also had to list any allergies. I listed my allergy to the smell of pine and the smell of cinnamon. My hostess, a (widow?) named Catherine, lives in an apartment surrounded by pine trees. And she was told I don't like the taste of cinnamon and promised me she will not use it. It is surprisingly easy to understand her French, but she speaks a lot and very quickly and it intimidates me... :(. Our first dinner was spaghetti (one of two meals I hate) with water, followed by cheese of variouos sorts and then fruits. I drank my breakfast tea from a bowl for some reason she did not tell, and since water is very expensive here, I have to only use the water in the shower to rinse which, yes, means I turn it on then off then on then off then on once more and off again. Also, I am allowed to flush toilet paper, I am not allowed to touch the washer or dishwasher, I sleep on a pull-out couch in a very pink room, and I use the toilet in a closet because the bathroom has no toilet. Today we are visiting the town and going to a gethering "Je suis Charlie", the tradgedy of which I will post in my Encyclopedia with the Barcelona information.

Bon voyage, mes amis!

Hey! I am now sitting in bed at Edison's house writing this, but am very tired as I have not been able to get much sleep. The flight was very long and uncomfortable although they did feed me dinner and breakfast. The girl who sat beside me actualy helped me alot when we got off of the plane and since we arrived so early in the morning, customs was empty and we made it through very easily. Edison met me at the exit which I appreciated very much, especially since I would have definitely gotten lost between the two trains it took to get here to Cabra. On the train rides I saw a TON of olive trees, but also a lot of open grass with only the occasional house or small town. There were several old stone buildings along the way which I would guess used to be watch towers.

Since having arrived, I have realized that understanding Spanish is not as hard as I expected, but speaking it is much harder than I would have thought as I still have a very limited vocabulary, so I struggle a little to talk to Edison's parents sometimes. As celebration on New Year's in Spain, families often make feast-sized meals. We ate a lot of appetizer sorts followed by a broth-based soup and a Turkey breast. We washed it all down with two different flavors of flan which were both delicious, by the way. After the clock strikes midnight, it chimes twelve times to let you know the hour. For each chime, people in Spain put a grape in their mouth and make a wish, but the chimes are so fast that you end up with chipmunk cheeks! We then toasted to a New Year with champagne, which I now know I do not like.

Some other fun things I learned today are: public restrooms in Spain do not have a door to close off the restroom, only stalls. Light switches are not actually switches, but buttons you press. Toilets do not have a tab to push to flush, but instead there is a large round button on the top of the toilet. Some families do not flush toilet paper, but instead they throw it in a wastebasket.

Good afternoon! I'm currently sitting at the gate in Boston Logan waiting for my flight. I'll have a layover before I go overseas, but I'm already really nervous. I was so nervous yesterday that I might have called it all off if it were anything else, but I know too much has already gone into this. I got to eat lunch with mom, Billy and Amanda before we said goodbyes and when we were about to leave, the fire alarm went off! But don't worry, it was just an elevator problems and nobody had to vacate. So I guess this is my first and last post from the States! See you on the flip side!