Alors! Ma phrase favorite : "Je ne comprends pas"!
That's a pretty good description of my time here thus far. Je ne comprends pas. I don't understand.
Well, hopefully not for long. I'm learning French at a very quick rate now. I don't know how many words a day I'm learning, but it seems to me that everyday I can express myself a little better. My accent is improving a little and people are starting to understand me more easily. It's a great feeling, initiating and maintaining a conversation in a foreign language.
I don't have a lot to talk about right now. Things haven't been slow in my life, just a bit redundant. I go to class, eat lunch (usually a panini or kebab), go back to class, go home. The only difference is now I actually have some friends, haha. So, now on the nights I have something to do. Our crowd is an array of nationalities; mostly English-speaking, but none from France. There's always a couple Americans, Koreans, Chinese, Africans, Spaniards and Mexicans. It's amazing to sit down at a table and be constantly switching conversations between French and English so everyone can understand. I actually found myself translating an English question from somebody into Spanish for a Spaniard. Harder than I thought it would be, since my mind is in French mode, but it's amazing the stuff I still remember.
What else can I talk about right now?
I finally went to the bar for the first time here since I have a crowd of friends now. It was a pretty good time. Everyone is really friendly and accepting of everybody, even if we speak real choppy French still.
So, yeah, not a whole lot has changed in my life so far. I'm just putsing around, trying to learn a new song on guitar every two days (my room mate has a backpacker's guitar with a really small body and normal sized neck). I'm keeping busy with classes and homework, mixed in with late nights and jam sessions. I'm starting to have a great time here now.
Abby's cousin told me to go into this vacation with the mindset that I'm moving to France indefinitely, and not think about the return trip; I'm living here until I leave. It's so far away, but I feel like I'm leaving tomorrow.
I always heard Abby and other people say how, when you travel, you really learn a lot about yourself. I believe it, now. I'm starting to find out who I am as a person, what I really value and the things I really care about.
None of you will ever see me again. At least, not as you know me. Each day I evolve as a person, each day I learn more about myself, and each day I grow closer to being the person I want to be. It's a tremendous feeling. Sometimes I look around and it takes my breath away. I don't see the same way I used to. I don't hear the same way I did before. As I walk along old walls, I'll reach my hand out and let my fingers drag across it, relishing the feeling of the old stone, trying desperately to remember every detail. I will never forget this place, my home in Angers.
This place has taken a part of my heart and I don't expect to get it back.
I'm fine with that.
Samuel
Monday, February 23, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Isn't it mid day? Why are the stores closed?
Oh, France. How you overwhelm me. With your beauty, architecture, people and lifestyles, how could anyone ever be upset with you?
Wait a minute. What was that? Everything is closed from noon until 2 o'clock? What? Why? How could you do this to me?
That was my mindset, but not quite as poetic, for the first week I was here. Everyday, people take what is known here as 'le sieste,' which is basically 2 hours off of work and school to eat and sleep. No, seriously. Everyday at noon, my French family, Pascal and Michelle, fall asleep, Michelle watching poorly dubbed soap operas in the living room and Pascal in his bedroom. I'm not too surprised they take 'le sieste,' though, since French people drink a gallon of coffee each morning, and they're bound to crash hard when the caffeine wears off.
On a different note, I've started my schooling. I'm taking langue, comrpéhension orale, expression orale, et l'histoire de l'art Française (Language, oral comprehension, oral expression, and the History of French Art, respectively, if you couldn't figure that out). I'm really excited dive into my subjects. My teachers all seem nice and understanding. My oral comprehension teacher talks very clearly, of course, and is a funny individual. He's very energetic about his class and knows how to convey his points well to people of limited vocabulary. My art teacher looks, for lack of better words, rad. She's the only history of art teacher on campus. She's petite, wears cool dresses and has big, frizzy hair. She talks very clearly because there are a lot (lot lot lot lot) of Asians in my classes who don't comprehend as well. In fact, there's usually only about 2 or 3 people not of Oriental descent in any of my classes. It's odd being a minority for a change. My language professor is young and just had a baby girl. She is understanding and seems like an alright person. I could easily see her being a grump, though, so I'll try to stay on her good side. She seems well enough. I haven't yet taken my oral expression class, so I don't know what I'm in for there. We'll see.
It's a 15 minute walk from my flat to the university (le Catho (cah-toe), as most city-dwellers call it). It doesn't really matter where you're walking to in Angers, there's always something to look at and admire. The old city is simply fantastic. Everything is new there, even if time is starting to take root on its structure and slowly start its merciless transition into rubble. The shops are small and built together, the people jolly, carrying bags of new clothes or a fresh panini wrapped in a yellow-and-black striped paper bag (a favorite of Abby's and mine). The buildings are old, with criss-crossing wood planks crawling up white walls. The roads are of round cobblestone, ground soft and edgeless in over a century's use. Even the wind feels different here. When I visit the old city, I always make sure to breathe through my nose, as there are always plenty of petite shops bellowing out storms of tantalizing smells. There is an air of freedom for me when I come here. It's amazing the spiritual upliftment you can experience by throwing some Coldplay-filled earbuds into your ears, bundling up warm, and simply walking along the ancient cobble stone paths. All you need is sky above and ground below, a smile on your face and to throw doubts to the wind, which will be happy to replace them with confidence and an profound sense of freedom.
You'll get some pictures in my next post! They're all on Abby's computer, but if you're impatient, check out her blog, C'est La Vie, at http://abbygallagher.blogspot.com/.
Don't forget to subscribe so you can receive updates whenever we update our blogs!
A bientôt!
Wait a minute. What was that? Everything is closed from noon until 2 o'clock? What? Why? How could you do this to me?
That was my mindset, but not quite as poetic, for the first week I was here. Everyday, people take what is known here as 'le sieste,' which is basically 2 hours off of work and school to eat and sleep. No, seriously. Everyday at noon, my French family, Pascal and Michelle, fall asleep, Michelle watching poorly dubbed soap operas in the living room and Pascal in his bedroom. I'm not too surprised they take 'le sieste,' though, since French people drink a gallon of coffee each morning, and they're bound to crash hard when the caffeine wears off.
On a different note, I've started my schooling. I'm taking langue, comrpéhension orale, expression orale, et l'histoire de l'art Française (Language, oral comprehension, oral expression, and the History of French Art, respectively, if you couldn't figure that out). I'm really excited dive into my subjects. My teachers all seem nice and understanding. My oral comprehension teacher talks very clearly, of course, and is a funny individual. He's very energetic about his class and knows how to convey his points well to people of limited vocabulary. My art teacher looks, for lack of better words, rad. She's the only history of art teacher on campus. She's petite, wears cool dresses and has big, frizzy hair. She talks very clearly because there are a lot (lot lot lot lot) of Asians in my classes who don't comprehend as well. In fact, there's usually only about 2 or 3 people not of Oriental descent in any of my classes. It's odd being a minority for a change. My language professor is young and just had a baby girl. She is understanding and seems like an alright person. I could easily see her being a grump, though, so I'll try to stay on her good side. She seems well enough. I haven't yet taken my oral expression class, so I don't know what I'm in for there. We'll see.
It's a 15 minute walk from my flat to the university (le Catho (cah-toe), as most city-dwellers call it). It doesn't really matter where you're walking to in Angers, there's always something to look at and admire. The old city is simply fantastic. Everything is new there, even if time is starting to take root on its structure and slowly start its merciless transition into rubble. The shops are small and built together, the people jolly, carrying bags of new clothes or a fresh panini wrapped in a yellow-and-black striped paper bag (a favorite of Abby's and mine). The buildings are old, with criss-crossing wood planks crawling up white walls. The roads are of round cobblestone, ground soft and edgeless in over a century's use. Even the wind feels different here. When I visit the old city, I always make sure to breathe through my nose, as there are always plenty of petite shops bellowing out storms of tantalizing smells. There is an air of freedom for me when I come here. It's amazing the spiritual upliftment you can experience by throwing some Coldplay-filled earbuds into your ears, bundling up warm, and simply walking along the ancient cobble stone paths. All you need is sky above and ground below, a smile on your face and to throw doubts to the wind, which will be happy to replace them with confidence and an profound sense of freedom.
You'll get some pictures in my next post! They're all on Abby's computer, but if you're impatient, check out her blog, C'est La Vie, at http://abbygallagher.blogspot.com/.
Don't forget to subscribe so you can receive updates whenever we update our blogs!
A bientôt!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
My New Life
I have finally arrived in Angers! Well, we actually arrived two days ago. It was a grueling 30 hours of traveling before we finally settled down in a hotel room.
So, with painful jet lag and empty stomachs, we met up with my French father, Pascal Poupard at the train station. He took Abby and I back to his flat on Avenue Pasteur where he and his mother fed us a great bowl of carrot, potato, pea soup and pumped us full of awesome French coffee. They refer to American coffee as jus du chaussette, or sock juice, because of how big but weak the coffee is in America. Here, we drink tiny, extremely strong cups of coffee.
Some background on ma famille français (my French family):
Pascal Poupard is a 42 year old man who's diabeties has rendered him legally blind. He lives in a very nice flat with his mom, Michelle, and a tiny, 6 month old puppy named Ratatoullie. He has hosted other international students before me. His last student was also from Michigan, and he has another student coming to live with us on the third whom is, you guessed it, from Michigan. Strange coincidence has brought him 3 Michigan students in a row. Weird, huh?
The food here is not very expensive if you know where to eat. Pascal told us it is much cheaper to buy food from le boulangerie (the bakery) and eat it on the street than to sit down at a café. Abby and I can split a foot long panini, can of pop, and pain du chocolate for under £4 (about $5). It's an interesting, fun game trying to find cheap food.
So, we were exploring the city yesterday, trying to find our way back home after visiting the university where we'll be studying and getting some food. We rounded a corner, pointing out a particularly fantastic statue right in the middle of some crossroads, while looking for a map of the city so we can get our bearings. We saw a bus stop and found a map inside, where we saw that le Chateau (the Angers castle) is directly north of us. We turned around and there it was! How could we have missed it?! It was DIRECTLY behind the statue that we had pointed out not 5 minutes earlier. How do you not notice a giant castle in the middle of a city?! It was very bizarre and funny for us.
Something that is really fun for me while I'm here is speaking in English as people walk by. I always wonder who can understand me and who can not. We were walking behind a couple of teens last night who were listening to American rap on their cells, and I was wondering if they actually understood it or not, and what they thought we thought of them because we did understand it... if that makes sense. I guess that's the psychologist in me. American music and film is very popular here, apparently. Half of the commericals on TV have American music, the other half American actors. I was suprised to see nudity in their commercials, though. Europeans have a much lighter view on nudity than we Americans do. It is interesting how similar but different they are. Pascal told me that many French do not like Americans, not for their government, but because they are jealous of the power America holds. French was once the bright star of Europe and they miss the power they once held. Or, thats what was told to me, at least.
Another thing I've found out: People are in LOVE with Obama. They can't get enough of him, haha. Very interesting.
I'll keep you posted as everything develops, but I'm sick of writing right now and my battery is almost dead. Au revoir!
So, with painful jet lag and empty stomachs, we met up with my French father, Pascal Poupard at the train station. He took Abby and I back to his flat on Avenue Pasteur where he and his mother fed us a great bowl of carrot, potato, pea soup and pumped us full of awesome French coffee. They refer to American coffee as jus du chaussette, or sock juice, because of how big but weak the coffee is in America. Here, we drink tiny, extremely strong cups of coffee.
Some background on ma famille français (my French family):
Pascal Poupard is a 42 year old man who's diabeties has rendered him legally blind. He lives in a very nice flat with his mom, Michelle, and a tiny, 6 month old puppy named Ratatoullie. He has hosted other international students before me. His last student was also from Michigan, and he has another student coming to live with us on the third whom is, you guessed it, from Michigan. Strange coincidence has brought him 3 Michigan students in a row. Weird, huh?
The food here is not very expensive if you know where to eat. Pascal told us it is much cheaper to buy food from le boulangerie (the bakery) and eat it on the street than to sit down at a café. Abby and I can split a foot long panini, can of pop, and pain du chocolate for under £4 (about $5). It's an interesting, fun game trying to find cheap food.
So, we were exploring the city yesterday, trying to find our way back home after visiting the university where we'll be studying and getting some food. We rounded a corner, pointing out a particularly fantastic statue right in the middle of some crossroads, while looking for a map of the city so we can get our bearings. We saw a bus stop and found a map inside, where we saw that le Chateau (the Angers castle) is directly north of us. We turned around and there it was! How could we have missed it?! It was DIRECTLY behind the statue that we had pointed out not 5 minutes earlier. How do you not notice a giant castle in the middle of a city?! It was very bizarre and funny for us.
Something that is really fun for me while I'm here is speaking in English as people walk by. I always wonder who can understand me and who can not. We were walking behind a couple of teens last night who were listening to American rap on their cells, and I was wondering if they actually understood it or not, and what they thought we thought of them because we did understand it... if that makes sense. I guess that's the psychologist in me. American music and film is very popular here, apparently. Half of the commericals on TV have American music, the other half American actors. I was suprised to see nudity in their commercials, though. Europeans have a much lighter view on nudity than we Americans do. It is interesting how similar but different they are. Pascal told me that many French do not like Americans, not for their government, but because they are jealous of the power America holds. French was once the bright star of Europe and they miss the power they once held. Or, thats what was told to me, at least.
Another thing I've found out: People are in LOVE with Obama. They can't get enough of him, haha. Very interesting.
I'll keep you posted as everything develops, but I'm sick of writing right now and my battery is almost dead. Au revoir!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
