How's this for a change? An unsolicited blogpost! Still having camera issues, so again with the no posting of pictures. Very sorry about that. I really do have a mountain of them, but they're not saved on my computer, because my poor old laptop is already short on memory as it is. Gonna look into getting an external hard-drive here, so it doesn't completely keel over on me before the semester's up
In other news, the past few weeks have been so completely chill. Very low-stress, which is wonderful, and a lot of fun. I've gone out a lot recently, as well. Last wednesday I went clubbing for a bit, thursday involved watching movies in a friend's room, friday was spent chilling with other friends, saturday I dyed my hair and went to an 80s party, and sunday I saw Slumdog Millionaire (which I now have a mild obsession with)!
Re: Hair dying. So I bought this dye from the main supermarket near me, called Auchan. According to the box, my hair was supposed to turn out a mahogany colour. It' really more a pure auburn. I was expecting a bit more brown in my hair, but nevertheless, I really like it. I've gotten several compliments on it, which is always fun.
My classes remain very low-key. The work isn't too difficult, and since my last post, one of my american friends has joined the class, so I'm not the sole anglophone. I still speak a LOT more French in this class than I did last semester. We had a bad habit of breaking into English whenever the teacher wasn't paying attention to us, and now if I want to chat with people, I *have* to use French. Plus one of the two teachers who works with us this semester makes you pay 20 cents every time she catches you speaking anything other than French.
Also, the fac is still on strike, and the administration is talking about just canceling the semester entirely. Again THIS WILL NOT AFFECT MY CLASSES AT ALL. This is all nice and capitalized for emphasis just for you Mom and Dad. My CILEC classes will continue to run normally. So that's my news and notes for now. I'll post again eventually!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Saturday, February 28, 2009
It's still February!
I promised I'd post before the end of February, so I'm squeaking in last minute-like!
Okay, so around Christmas, I flew to the southern coast of England to spend time with Mr and Mrs Magee, who are friends of my aunt and uncle. I had an absolutely fantastic time with them. They are so very nice. They took me to various small towns, such as Plymouth, Exeter, and Totness, and I visited Exeter Cathedral and saw a Pantomime (which is so very cool. We need pantos in the US). I spent Christmas with them and their daughter's family as well. It was so kind of them to let me stay there. The weather was nice, too. It was warm enough that I ended up walking barefoot to Christmas Eve mass.
A few days later, I was off back to France to spend time in Paris with the parental units. *That* was.....erm, interesting. The flight over, that is. I had a great time with the parents, despite having to translate for them all the time. Anyway, flight. Yes. Bad time. Amsterdam's airport is officially one of my least favourite places EVER. My flight from Exeter was running way behind, so I missed my connecting flight in Amsterdam. Cue MASSIVE panic attack, despite having spent most of the flight planning what to do should I miss my flight. On the bright side, I got through security faster than ever, and I've a feeling the only reason I got onto the flight I was on is because I looked like I was going to puke all over the KLM counter. So I land in Paris, about an hour later than I'd originally planned, and go to collect my baggage. Which fails to materialize. By this time, I was like, "whatever. I'm too tired to freak out right now." So I asked a friendly security guard what to do, and he directed me to baggage complaints. I explained that my baggage was AWOL to the nice lady at the desk completely in French! I was very proud of myself. I didn't have to switch to English until the very end, because I wasn't sure how to describe the colour of my suitcase in French. I caught a taxi and got to see my parents for the first time in months. It was wonderful. And thankfully, I got clothes and shoes for Christmas from them! Otherwise I'd have had major problems, what with my suitcase disappeared.
We had an amazing time in Paris. The Musee d'Orsay is gorgeous, and houses such amazing work. Mass at Notre Dame was pretty cool as well, though the latin made it very hard to understand, and I kept wanting to burst out into "Temps des Cathedrales" at inappropriate moments. The Louvre is just....it's overwhelming. We only saw a fraction of what's there, but it was still so much. We did see the Mona Lisa (La Jaconde, as she's known in French), and were suitably underwhelmed. The Palace of Versailles was easily my least favourite thing. It was overcrowded, had an awful contemporary art exhibition going on, and it was freezing rain out. All in all, not the best conditions for visiting. Throw in the fact that I hate rococo period styles with a burning passion and was coming down with a headcold and that makes for a very unhappy Corinne. I spent the last day in Paris curled up in bed with said cold while my parents got to go see the Eiffel Tower, l'Arc de Triomphe, and l'Orangerie.
After that, we spent a day in Lyon, and I also showed my parents Saint Etienne. While in Lyon, I finally got to see the basilica at the highest point of the city. It's so gorgeous in there. Last time I went to go see it, it was closed to visitors. Mom and Dad agreed that Saint Etienne is a cute little town, and that my dorm room is depressingly small, but I've come to like my room well enough. After that, I took them back to Paris, loaded them onto their plane, and went back to Saint Etienne. Do note: During this whole week-long excursion, my luggage *still* hadn't materialized. It was almost two weeks before I finally got my suitcase, which had clothes, toiletries, and gifts that were meant to go back home. Bummer, eh?
Once I got back, school started back up. Nothing to really note about that, except that towards the end of January, the school went on strike. It's still on strike, actually. The students have actually blockaded the main gate with chairs. The strike doesn't affect those of us in CILEC, though. I scraped through my class, just barely earing the B2 rating that students need to earn to take regular University courses. and then, we got a weeklong break between first and second semester.
So I went back to England. But this time I stayed with Katie, who's studying at UCLAN. We spent a couple of days with one of her friends, and prowled the town, having a marvelous time. Then we took an early morning bus to London (about a six hour trip, but much cheaper than taking the train). I. Love. London. Being there was a dream come true, more so than having gone to Paris. We were smart and got a 3 day railcard for the Tube, which pretty much payed for itself after our first day. It was a little bit weird, because I associate the tube with a book I read a few years ago--Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. The whole time I was in London I'd think about what books had taken place wherever I happened to be visiting. I'm such a dork! We went to the National Gallery, and the British Museum, which is a lot bigger than I realised at first. I'm glad we ended up going to that one twice. We saw a West End production of Les Miserables (it's London's version of Broadway), and walked so very much. We walked around Westminster Abbey and the Parliament building, along the Thames, across several bridges, including the infamous London Bridge, which isn't nearly as cool as I'd imagined, because the bridge everyone associates with London is *Tower Bridge*, which we also walked across. We went to the Globe Theatre, and the Sherlock Holmes Museum (appropriately located at 221B Baker Street--I was a happy geek that day). Really, the only thing I didn't like about London is how expensive everything is. I spent waaaay too much money there. I'm very broke now. But it was totally worth it. And I know I said I'd post pictures, but due to technological issues (mainly my computer being a butt and not reading my memory card), I can't post any right now. I'm irritated. Irritated is a good word.
And now school has started back up. I was retested for classes, and got put into a class a smidge lower than what I really need. But I've decided not to move up. For one thing, the teacher teaching the level I should be in is simply awful. I do NOT want to sit through 15 hours a week of her. For another, I have a bit of a crush on one of the boys in my new class. I don't mind sitting through 15 hours of class a week if I get to oogle him surreptitiously. Plus the teacher is really nice, as are the rest of my classmates. I'm the only american in that class. The rest of the students are from Korea, Japan, Colombia, Bolivia, Spain/Morocco, and Sao Tome. The majority of the class is Korean and Japanese, though.
What's really great right now is that the weather is starting to get a lot nicer. The sun's been out every day this week, and it's steadily getting warmer. Aaand, today marks my sixth full month in France. That's right, six months ago today I was sitting in this very dorm-room having a massive freakout and wondering how I'd survive. I've only got three months left here. I know I've grown a lot, and I've made some amazing friends, but all the same, I cannot wait to be home. I'll try to remember and post again soon!
Okay, so around Christmas, I flew to the southern coast of England to spend time with Mr and Mrs Magee, who are friends of my aunt and uncle. I had an absolutely fantastic time with them. They are so very nice. They took me to various small towns, such as Plymouth, Exeter, and Totness, and I visited Exeter Cathedral and saw a Pantomime (which is so very cool. We need pantos in the US). I spent Christmas with them and their daughter's family as well. It was so kind of them to let me stay there. The weather was nice, too. It was warm enough that I ended up walking barefoot to Christmas Eve mass.
A few days later, I was off back to France to spend time in Paris with the parental units. *That* was.....erm, interesting. The flight over, that is. I had a great time with the parents, despite having to translate for them all the time. Anyway, flight. Yes. Bad time. Amsterdam's airport is officially one of my least favourite places EVER. My flight from Exeter was running way behind, so I missed my connecting flight in Amsterdam. Cue MASSIVE panic attack, despite having spent most of the flight planning what to do should I miss my flight. On the bright side, I got through security faster than ever, and I've a feeling the only reason I got onto the flight I was on is because I looked like I was going to puke all over the KLM counter. So I land in Paris, about an hour later than I'd originally planned, and go to collect my baggage. Which fails to materialize. By this time, I was like, "whatever. I'm too tired to freak out right now." So I asked a friendly security guard what to do, and he directed me to baggage complaints. I explained that my baggage was AWOL to the nice lady at the desk completely in French! I was very proud of myself. I didn't have to switch to English until the very end, because I wasn't sure how to describe the colour of my suitcase in French. I caught a taxi and got to see my parents for the first time in months. It was wonderful. And thankfully, I got clothes and shoes for Christmas from them! Otherwise I'd have had major problems, what with my suitcase disappeared.
We had an amazing time in Paris. The Musee d'Orsay is gorgeous, and houses such amazing work. Mass at Notre Dame was pretty cool as well, though the latin made it very hard to understand, and I kept wanting to burst out into "Temps des Cathedrales" at inappropriate moments. The Louvre is just....it's overwhelming. We only saw a fraction of what's there, but it was still so much. We did see the Mona Lisa (La Jaconde, as she's known in French), and were suitably underwhelmed. The Palace of Versailles was easily my least favourite thing. It was overcrowded, had an awful contemporary art exhibition going on, and it was freezing rain out. All in all, not the best conditions for visiting. Throw in the fact that I hate rococo period styles with a burning passion and was coming down with a headcold and that makes for a very unhappy Corinne. I spent the last day in Paris curled up in bed with said cold while my parents got to go see the Eiffel Tower, l'Arc de Triomphe, and l'Orangerie.
After that, we spent a day in Lyon, and I also showed my parents Saint Etienne. While in Lyon, I finally got to see the basilica at the highest point of the city. It's so gorgeous in there. Last time I went to go see it, it was closed to visitors. Mom and Dad agreed that Saint Etienne is a cute little town, and that my dorm room is depressingly small, but I've come to like my room well enough. After that, I took them back to Paris, loaded them onto their plane, and went back to Saint Etienne. Do note: During this whole week-long excursion, my luggage *still* hadn't materialized. It was almost two weeks before I finally got my suitcase, which had clothes, toiletries, and gifts that were meant to go back home. Bummer, eh?
Once I got back, school started back up. Nothing to really note about that, except that towards the end of January, the school went on strike. It's still on strike, actually. The students have actually blockaded the main gate with chairs. The strike doesn't affect those of us in CILEC, though. I scraped through my class, just barely earing the B2 rating that students need to earn to take regular University courses. and then, we got a weeklong break between first and second semester.
So I went back to England. But this time I stayed with Katie, who's studying at UCLAN. We spent a couple of days with one of her friends, and prowled the town, having a marvelous time. Then we took an early morning bus to London (about a six hour trip, but much cheaper than taking the train). I. Love. London. Being there was a dream come true, more so than having gone to Paris. We were smart and got a 3 day railcard for the Tube, which pretty much payed for itself after our first day. It was a little bit weird, because I associate the tube with a book I read a few years ago--Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. The whole time I was in London I'd think about what books had taken place wherever I happened to be visiting. I'm such a dork! We went to the National Gallery, and the British Museum, which is a lot bigger than I realised at first. I'm glad we ended up going to that one twice. We saw a West End production of Les Miserables (it's London's version of Broadway), and walked so very much. We walked around Westminster Abbey and the Parliament building, along the Thames, across several bridges, including the infamous London Bridge, which isn't nearly as cool as I'd imagined, because the bridge everyone associates with London is *Tower Bridge*, which we also walked across. We went to the Globe Theatre, and the Sherlock Holmes Museum (appropriately located at 221B Baker Street--I was a happy geek that day). Really, the only thing I didn't like about London is how expensive everything is. I spent waaaay too much money there. I'm very broke now. But it was totally worth it. And I know I said I'd post pictures, but due to technological issues (mainly my computer being a butt and not reading my memory card), I can't post any right now. I'm irritated. Irritated is a good word.
And now school has started back up. I was retested for classes, and got put into a class a smidge lower than what I really need. But I've decided not to move up. For one thing, the teacher teaching the level I should be in is simply awful. I do NOT want to sit through 15 hours a week of her. For another, I have a bit of a crush on one of the boys in my new class. I don't mind sitting through 15 hours of class a week if I get to oogle him surreptitiously. Plus the teacher is really nice, as are the rest of my classmates. I'm the only american in that class. The rest of the students are from Korea, Japan, Colombia, Bolivia, Spain/Morocco, and Sao Tome. The majority of the class is Korean and Japanese, though.
What's really great right now is that the weather is starting to get a lot nicer. The sun's been out every day this week, and it's steadily getting warmer. Aaand, today marks my sixth full month in France. That's right, six months ago today I was sitting in this very dorm-room having a massive freakout and wondering how I'd survive. I've only got three months left here. I know I've grown a lot, and I've made some amazing friends, but all the same, I cannot wait to be home. I'll try to remember and post again soon!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
::headdesk::
So, um, I haven't updated since October? My bad. I have never been good at journaling in any form. So to bring people up to speed with my life since October, I'll give a bit of a summary, and then probably spend the next couple of days describing my Winter Vacation.
In recent months, I have:
To look forward towards in the next post: Christmas vacation! and *shock!* *le gasp!* PICTURES. I have lots. Just need to organise them and put them up on photobucket or somesuch.
In recent months, I have:
- Visited some castles in the Loire river valley. We saw Chambourd, and visited Tours (the city. heee. We went on a tour of Tours), a former abbey, a vineyard, and Amboise, which is where Leonardo da Vinci spent his last years. da Vinci's manor was pretty cool to visit, but definitely not worth the nine euros we payed to get in. Also, French strangers now have pictures of me acting like a complete idiot on a mock-up of da Vinci's helicopter design. Overall, trip was fun, but we seriously considered smacking the Mediterranean students who wouldn't freaking shut up on the five hour bus ride.
- Had a very makeshift Thanksgiving. At the last moment, we decided to make chicken, mashed potatoes, teriyaki green beans, and what I could have sworn were cranberries, but were actually sour cherries. And some sparkling wine. Which totally exploded all over the table. We lost about half the bottle, but it was definitely a humorous moment. Once I got over the fact I had wine all over myself. I also learned that drinking a third of a bottle of wine all on my own is really, really dumb. Won't repeat that experience again.
- Spent ridiculous amounts of time in class. I mean, seriously--15 hours of straight, unmitigated French a week, plus two 2-hour classes once a week, also taught in French. I've started mixing English and French together, especially in regards to verbs. Though I am getting better at expressing myself in French. At least, regular day-to-day French. It's still really hard to discuss abstract topics, or things I don't even know about in English.
- Learned several creative ways to prepare noodles in the microwave. Like, mix regular spaghetti sauce and this type of spreadable cheese they sell here in a bowl with noodles, and it's like gourmet spaghetti. So incredibly tasty.
- Done lots and lots of laundry by hand. It's expensive to use the washing machine here, about four euros to wash and dry one load. And since we have a sheet exchange every 15 days for our bedding, I don't have anything huge that needs to be washed
To look forward towards in the next post: Christmas vacation! and *shock!* *le gasp!* PICTURES. I have lots. Just need to organise them and put them up on photobucket or somesuch.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
I'm really bad at this blogging thing
So sorry for the freakishly long delay. I got the new power-cord for my laptop absolute ages ago, and completely forgot to update. So, in the past few weeks, I have:
- eaten "pain frites". The French, in all their culinary ingenuity, decided that french fries make wonderful garnish on sandwiches. And (at least on college campuses) this has been taken even further, and you can buy a small baguette stuffed with fries. I kid you not. I believe it ranks up there with twinkies on the scale of how likely the food is to give you a heart attack
- become obsessed with two French musicals, "Notre Dame de Paris", and "Le Petit Prince", both based on novels. Le Petit Prince is one of my favourite stories of all times. I cry like a baby every time I read it. Notre Dame de Paris is better known as the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Ohmigosh, that show has the most intricate staging and choreography. It's so cool to watch.
- studied the subjunctive tense. Again. There's a wide range of ability in our class, and three or four people hadn't ever studied it before. As it's rather important, we're being drilled on it once more.
- gone to Lyon again. I had to go for a medical exam to get my "carte de sejour" (think the French version of a green card). I got my lungs x-rayed, got weighed and measured, and they checked my vision and blood pressure. I'm all nice and normal! I also visited a bunch of churches while I was there, and we discovered a Starbucks! YAY!
- eaten at "Quick", which is a French fast food restaurant. They make amazing burgers! Definitely a rival of McDonalds ("Macdo" in French) on that front. McDonalds still makes the best fries anywhere. Still trying to find Tex-Mex. I am totally attacking a qdoba burrito as soon as I'm back in the States
Monday, October 6, 2008
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Surviving
So I found out that despite the warning on the packaging, you can indeed nuke the samosas, and they taste just fine. It was so nice to eat something that wasn't a sandwich for dinner. I'll definitely buy them again. Once I have some oil or butter, I can try frying them, since the microwave makes them more chewy that crunchy.
Also, in France, people put butter on sandwiches, the way we'd put mayo or mustard on sandwiches. It was a big surprise, biting into my sandwich at lunch today and getting a mouth-full of butter. Though apparently this isn't completely uncommon in the US. My friend Erick says that he uses butter on sandwiches when he hasn't got any other condiments.
In other, non-food oriented subjects, class is going well. I feel kind of stupid sometimes, because it seems the more we go over passe compose vs. imparfait, the worse I get. I take heart in knowing that I'm not the only one who has problems with this. And we went over this already! We spent two of the three weeks in the crash course on the same topic. It gets really boring sometimes, but in a class so small, it's hard to let your mind wander without getting caught. It was really gray and dreary today, and the forecast calls for more rain tomorrow and Saturday. I suspect that the weather is going to get steadily chillier as the month goes on. The sun came out for a little bit in the afternoon, though. Not that I saw much of it. I took a glorious nap. I sleep a lot here. Trying to use French all the time is exhausting. I think I'll make an early night of it. I fell asleep listening to my iPod last night, and woke up in the middle of the night wondering what was on my head---my headphones, of course. As is rapidly becoming my custom, I shall end the post with yet another photograph, this time of a sign I saw in Puy-en-Velay, for a "WC canin". A WC is a "water closet", or toilet, and canin obviously refers to "canine" or "dog", so I'm assuming it's some sort of toilet for dogs? I have no idea. It was truly bizarre.
Also, in France, people put butter on sandwiches, the way we'd put mayo or mustard on sandwiches. It was a big surprise, biting into my sandwich at lunch today and getting a mouth-full of butter. Though apparently this isn't completely uncommon in the US. My friend Erick says that he uses butter on sandwiches when he hasn't got any other condiments.
In other, non-food oriented subjects, class is going well. I feel kind of stupid sometimes, because it seems the more we go over passe compose vs. imparfait, the worse I get. I take heart in knowing that I'm not the only one who has problems with this. And we went over this already! We spent two of the three weeks in the crash course on the same topic. It gets really boring sometimes, but in a class so small, it's hard to let your mind wander without getting caught. It was really gray and dreary today, and the forecast calls for more rain tomorrow and Saturday. I suspect that the weather is going to get steadily chillier as the month goes on. The sun came out for a little bit in the afternoon, though. Not that I saw much of it. I took a glorious nap. I sleep a lot here. Trying to use French all the time is exhausting. I think I'll make an early night of it. I fell asleep listening to my iPod last night, and woke up in the middle of the night wondering what was on my head---my headphones, of course. As is rapidly becoming my custom, I shall end the post with yet another photograph, this time of a sign I saw in Puy-en-Velay, for a "WC canin". A WC is a "water closet", or toilet, and canin obviously refers to "canine" or "dog", so I'm assuming it's some sort of toilet for dogs? I have no idea. It was truly bizarre.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Sleeeepy
I am so freakin' tired! I had my first day of "regular" courses today. It's still mostly Americans in my class, but we also have a girl from China, a guy from Sudan (who plays Basketball professionally in Europe and Africa), and a girl from Japan. My teacher is the same as the one I had for the three week course, Mme Marie Berger. I feel like these classes won't drag so much because the class is so much smaller. I've been so spoiled at Bellarmine, having only four or five people in a language class. Granted, I take French and Chinese, not the most popular language choices on campus.
After class, I ate in the cafe instead of the Resto-U. I think the prices are just as good, and the food is better at the cafe. I may start eating there more often. I got a steak-frites and a coke, and it was absolutely delicious. Then I went to the bank, where I finally picked up my bank card. I also went to the Centre-Deux to go grocery shopping and to buy a uniform for Aikido. Of course, I accidentally grabbed the wrong size (I HATE CENTIMETERS!), so I'll have to see if they'll let me exchange it.
Tonight, instead of going to Taekwondo like I normally do, I went to rock-climbing with some of the friends I've made here. It was a good experience, and I'm glad I went, but I think I'm gonna stick with Taekwondo. I am not at all fond of heights. I tend to panic if I get more than five feet off the ground. The only nice thing about rock-climbing is that it lets out earlier than taekwondo, so dinner doesn't have to be as late. Speaking of dinner, I have no idea what I'm going to eat. I bought some samosas at Auchan, but I don't have any oil to fry them in, and the packaging suggests NOT making them in the microwave. I'll probably just fix a sandwich, and drink some more of the wonderful Auchan-brand version of Orangina. So I'll do that, and maybe start on the essay that's due thursday. Or I'll watch a movie. Who knows. I shall leave you with a picture of the view outside my dorm's kitchen:
After class, I ate in the cafe instead of the Resto-U. I think the prices are just as good, and the food is better at the cafe. I may start eating there more often. I got a steak-frites and a coke, and it was absolutely delicious. Then I went to the bank, where I finally picked up my bank card. I also went to the Centre-Deux to go grocery shopping and to buy a uniform for Aikido. Of course, I accidentally grabbed the wrong size (I HATE CENTIMETERS!), so I'll have to see if they'll let me exchange it.
Tonight, instead of going to Taekwondo like I normally do, I went to rock-climbing with some of the friends I've made here. It was a good experience, and I'm glad I went, but I think I'm gonna stick with Taekwondo. I am not at all fond of heights. I tend to panic if I get more than five feet off the ground. The only nice thing about rock-climbing is that it lets out earlier than taekwondo, so dinner doesn't have to be as late. Speaking of dinner, I have no idea what I'm going to eat. I bought some samosas at Auchan, but I don't have any oil to fry them in, and the packaging suggests NOT making them in the microwave. I'll probably just fix a sandwich, and drink some more of the wonderful Auchan-brand version of Orangina. So I'll do that, and maybe start on the essay that's due thursday. Or I'll watch a movie. Who knows. I shall leave you with a picture of the view outside my dorm's kitchen:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
