Wake Me Up When September Ends… Oh Wait

A panoramic view from Mont St. Michel

It’s really hard to believe that September is over and that I’ve been gone for a month. And at the same time, it seems like I’ve been here for longer than that. At this point, I’m glad I’m staying all year, because I don’t feel too rushed for traveling or anything else (like, for example, improving my French).

One month without a microwave. I noticed that a couple days ago: although there is one in the kitchen, I haven’t used or seen a microwave being used since I’ve been here-- which is a remarkable enough change from my life at home or at school. So many things are different: for example, the existence of free time. One of my challenges here has been learning how to fill my days, because out of 6 classes, 4 are once a week, and another is twice in one day. Sundays are tricky because the buses don’t run as often, everything is closed, and yesterday it sprinkled on and off which brought an end to my walking, sitting, and reading in a park plan (and relocated the last two to my room). Next Sunday I’ll look at the bus schedule and plan on meeting people for lunch.

A general theme of my life here thus far has been learning from my mistakes—everything from ordering 3 crepes (the "student deal") is way too many, to don’t miss the night bus at 11:30 because it won’t come back for an hour (and once you get on it at 12:30, stand right at the door before your stop in case the bus driver doesn’t let you off… oh yes. that happened), to take your keys every single time you leave the house…

Speaking of which, I got to do a little bit of traveling around the area the past couple weekends: last weekend, my host mother took me to their vacation home on the coast, in Croisic. We also went to La Baule, a famous beach around here, and Guérande, a walled city from medieval times. I had a good time but I felt bad because I was really quiet and, I’m sure, a little bit boring for most of the weekend. After I got there I learned that my host mom (aka: my ride) wasn’t going to be going back until Monday afternoon, so we started asking if anyone knew anyone who was headed back into town Sunday night, and I ended up catching a ride with a family friend’s son and his friends… let’s just say my French has never been worse. It was fun though, we plugged in my ipod (“eepud”) to listen to some “American music,” and I told them that yes, it is a myth that everyone in California surfs. Also, I didn’t have my keys, so we had to make sure someone was home waiting for me. When I got there, my host dad opened the door, and asked where I was coming from, and then how I got there, and I …didn’t know! “um… with 3 boys?” Good times. (Names: not important here. At least, not as important when you’re first meeting someone, which is probably part of the reason why starting conversations is so difficult)

My family's 3-story "maison secondaire"

The beach nearby

Yesterday I went to Mont St. Michel and Saint Malo with IES, and it was great even though I’ve been to both of those places before. It was strangely familiar (“I have a picture of myself sitting right there!”) and weird to process that it was now a day trip for me to go there. Some pictures:

Mont St. Michel... oh la la

Saint Malo

Other than that, all my classes have officially started: the university courses will be an adventure, but at least I understand the professors for the most part. My knowledge of history is not really where it needs to be to fully understand what’s happening in the history class, but I’m keeping a running list of things I need to wikipedia;)

Meeting French people is very difficult, and I’ve had a few related adventures (other than the awkward car ride), including, but not limited to: the most painful lunch of my entire life, a very middle-school-dance-esque soirée to meet the students of a nearby engineering school, and a soirée for international students at the university, where it was still next to impossible to start a conversation:

Me: “bonsoir!”
French girls: “bonsoir!”
smiles, silence
French girls: exit, stage left

I was probably there for a couple hours, and I spent the whole evening with 2 people: a German girl I forced myself to go up and talk to, who didn’t seem comfortable with it at first but then stayed with me the whole evening, and a French student who approached me, after seeing me fill out a basic information form, with the opener: “So I see that you speak more than one language!”

Um, hi, I’m a foreign student (complete with yellow bracelet labeling me as such) and I speak French and my native language; the absolute minimum of anyone in the room. But hey, it was something, and we started talking. I'll take what I can get right now:)

Time to start another week-- more updates soon. Hope everyone is doing well:)

comment dit-on "awkward"?

Living in a foreign country has thus far resulted in an endless stream of silly mistakes and awkward/uncomfortable situations... I am currently upstairs in the computer room hiding from our dinner guests... we had 2 last night, and an additional 2 tonight, and I couldn't tell you another time I've been so uncomfortable for such an extended period-- I just don't know what to do with myself!



Classes started this week, except that 3 out of my six are at the university and don't start until next week (which no one told us, so we showed up at the university to find an empty classroom and then wandered around various buildings looking for something telling us if the class had been moved/cancelled/etc... oy). My 3 classes at the program center have been fine so far: I'm taking a French class, The Palestinian question, and the Construction of a European Union. I'm not taking any business classes because I won't get any credit for my business major at home, so I'm taking advantage of the year to fill some gaps in my education. The last two classes are definitely highlighting some impressive holes in my knowledge base...



Professor: When was the Roman empire? What dates?

Us: [blinking noises]



... a few minutes later...



Professor: Who was the leader of (insert country/important movement here) at this time?

Us: [cricket noises]



At one point, the professor of the Palestine course was looking at a map with us and pointing out countries that, in her experience, Americans never hear about, and she was remarkably accurate (wait... that's a country??!). It's embarassing at times, but I'm excited to learn. I'm also going to be taking a contemporary history course at the university, which should be an experience.



Anyways, the delay in classes starting has left me with an awkardly open schedule: yesterday I had class from 9-10 and then again at 5:30 pm, and today I had... nothing. I went to a university restaurant for lunch and then wandered aimlessly around the city (which started rather unintentionally because I got on a bus going in the wrong direction) until I called and met up with a friend... and then we wandered around the city, shopped, and people watched together.



Eventually I made my way back to the house, at which point the real awkwardness began. I went downstairs because didn't want to hide out in my room while guests were over, but then the guests went out on some sort of errand and I was told there was nothing I could do to help with dinner preparations, so I went upstairs.



When the doorbell rang and even more guests arrived, I figured I should go back down and present myself, so I did, and then they wandered off into the backyard, so I sat down in the living room where the tv happened to be on, to wait. My host dad came in a few minutes later and informed me that it's extremely mal élevé (which means something like badly raised, but with more weight) to watch tv while there are guests in the house, so I followed him out to the backyard, and then silently back into the living room, then began the always awkard french pre-dinner apéritif ritual, with a bonus of "and what exactly is this charming young lady doing here?" followed by a:

"well, why don't you explain Lindsay, and you can practice your French!" which I was somehow completely unprepared for:

(um, I go to university! I'm studying French and... other things.... um... [attempt at a charming smile])

"oh, she speaks very well! [slight pause]. Anyways, the other day..."



By the way, older French people unaccustomed to interactions with Americans simply cannot say my name. One of the guests starting calling me "Elsa" and must be wondering why she had such a terrible time pronouncing it last night. Also: Sacramento is not a sufficient reference point for where exactly in California I am from-- "oh, that's by Las Vegas!" "uh....well...."



Also, the other day my host mom overheard me stumbling through a rusy version of Chopin's "minute waltz" on their piano and now proudly proclaims to everyone that I am a virtuouse, resulting in their disappointment in my reluctance to "give a concert"-- which I am assuming is a lesser evil than the combination of their disappointment and my embarassment if I DID attempt a concert.



Throw in a spilled serving of chicken, the dropping-in-the-dish of a couple serving spoons, and awkard references to the U.S. followed by looks in my direction ("comme en Amérique, non?") and you have my evening.



And now I'm afraid to leave this room for fear of awkard hallway encounters (the guests have made their way back upstairs and are right across the hall from where I am now, and I told them I was going to bed hours ago).



You gotta love it:)

morning after update: I walked in on an elderly male guest in the salle de bains this morning. Oh yes. Fortunately, he was completely dressed, and nice about the whole thing.

Better late than never

I’m officially here now, and have been for a while (sorry about the lag in updating)… France, the land of McDonalds, Subway, and Pizza Hut—oh wait, those just happen to be here…
France, the land of boulangeries and people carrying their baguettes under their arms after work, the land of 2 hour lunches and 35 hour work weeks, a country where women can be (and are) beautiful at any age.

A side view of the Chateau de Suscinio, one that we visited during an orientation in the Brittany region.

A typical street in Vannes (where we stayed for orientation).

Me being hardcore during my first time on a bike since middle school, on the Ile-aux-Moines.

These first couple weeks have been about getting used to changes, both big and small. There’s a lot of tiny things that start to add up: for example, there’s the “salle de bain,” and then “les toilettes”—the toilet is not in the same room as the shower. Fortunately, I had experienced this during a previous trip to France. Other things, like keeping the bathroom door shut, and door handles in the middle of doors, take a little getting used to.

One of the bigger surprises for me so far has been water. My mom probably drinks way more than the recommended 8 glasses per day, and I’ve been encouraged to drink more water since before I can remember. I come from the land of Nalgene bottles, where everyone always has their own personal water supply with them and a bathroom is always close by.
When I landed in Paris, I looked for a bathroom right away. In each of the 3 American airports I had been in a few days previously, bathrooms were located within sight of one another. In Paris, this was not the case. I ended up getting my bags, going through customs, and walking for quite a while until I found a tiny 2-stall bathroom where I had to leave my bags outside. During the next few days, I discovered why: they don’t need bathrooms because they never drink any water! I don’t know that I’ve seen a single French person with a water bottle. I don’t know if they ever drink directly out of water bottles, because if you order a bottle of water in a café it comes with a plastic cup.
Also: I was so busy during my sophomore year that I got used to eating extremely fast, and I spent all summer telling myself that I needed to slow down or I was going to look like a crazy person at the dinner table in France. In reality, I’ve found that I have a hard time keeping up, and I’ve heard similar stories from quite a few of the other American students.
Speaking of food: I’ve been eating very well here, but it’s definitely different than at home. Breakfast is not an important meal in France, and I get my choice of bread and jams and/or cereal, and coffee (the coffee mug is considerably larger than the bowl and in the middle of the place setting, which confused me terribly the first morning). The milk is different: I think it must either be whole milk or somehow more than whole milk… the bottle I’ve been using doesn’t expire until mid-November, and it only needs to be stored in “a cool place”. Lunch changes a lot—I think I’ll eventually end up buying some food and storing it somewhere, but during our busy orientation schedules I’ve been picking up sandwiches and the like at various places around town. There are also several student cafeterias around town where I can get a good amount of food at a decent price, which I’ll probably start going to much more often starting next week. Dinner has multiple courses: the entrée (not the main dish), the main dish with a salad during or after, the cheese course, and then dessert. I have wine every night if I want it, and often the choice of an aperitif (pre-dinner drink).

I live in Nantes (as in “Edict of,” for any history buffs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edict_of_nantes), in the Loire-Atlantique department of northwestern France. Nantes, with a population of about 790,000 is currently the 6th largest city in France. Nantes is a sister city with Seattle and Jacksonville. The author Jules Verne was born here. Nantes was occupied by the Germans during WWII, and I learned that members of one of my professor’s families died under American bombs here in Nantes. Just yesterday I visited a 15th century cathedral whose stained glass windows were also destroyed by American bombs… strange to think about.

During the past two weeks I’ve not only been adjusting to speaking French, living with a French family and eating French food, but also to living in a city. I live about a 30 minute journey from where I need to be during the day, so I have to take the bus everyday. I got lost the first time I tried to find my way back to the right bus stop on my own. Here, I’ve learned that I really have no sense of direction. I’m also picking up on the urban art of starting to cross the street before the little walking guy lights up (but the traffic lights here are almost hidden!).

My host family has been wonderful so far. I live with a couple with 7 grown children collectively, the youngest of whom is 21 and is home on the weekends. They’re very nice and above all they have great senses of humor and seem to enjoy life: I like being around them, even though I’m just listening most of the time.

My classes start Monday: for the moment I’m signed up for 3 at the program center (with American students, but still all in French) and 3 at the Université de Nantes. The Université de Nantes is the second largest university in France, with approximately 32000 students (more than 16 times the size of my college in the States). We’ll see how that goes.

I’ll cut myself off here at the moment—let me know if you have any questions (really, I’ll be happy to ramble on even further about anything with you)!

p.s. I loved Boston (just not the airport).

My friend Malia and I enjoying some fabulous Cannoli, sitting on the other side of the Atlantic.