I'm going home in 2 days!! I'm so excited. I have so much more pride and love for the US than before I left. I definitely respect France, Europe, and pretty much any other culture, but I'm ready to come home.
I went to Paris last weekend, which was amazing. I saw most of the monuments there are to see, but very quickly. I feel like I got a taste of everything, but am ready to go back and savor it all another time. Paris is incredibly easy to navigate - and if you know me at all I'm terrible with directions. The only time I got lost was INSIDE the Louvre, which is understandable after 4 hours and completely possible (if you've ever been there, you'd know, it's tricky, and HUGE). I wasn't lost for long, and I figured it out after wandering a little bit.
Marseille has been beautiful, although not quite as warm or nice out as I was hoping. I've been tanning some on the beaches in between the rainy or windy days. Today I went on a picnic with my host parents to the Callanques a little outside of Marseille. It was as close to perfect as I could get over here. A little chilly, but once the sun came out it was fantastic, and we had good food, and the sea was magnificent. I could've stayed there all day.
Tomorrow Nora and I might be going up in a plane with a pilot-friend of ours, Xavier. He offered to take us up if the weather is good, so we're meeting him in Aix-en-Provence tomorrow and hoping the wind dies down some so we can go up and take a little tour around Provence. It'll be my second to last day, and then Sunday I'm hoping to hit up the beach one last time and maybe "me baigner" (dunk in).
See you all soon! Bon voyage à moi!
Friday, May 14, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
le sud de la France
alright, so Marseille is officially phenomenal once it's warm enough to be outside and at the beach. if I ever come back to visit, I plan to come during the month of April/May. the weather is perfect, and I go to the beach 3-4 times a week. awesome.
last weekend I went to Barcelona with Nora, her gf Marisela, and one of their friends. It was wicked fun, definitely one of my top weekends in Europe so far. Barcelona is beautiful, and so chill. I feel like everyone has this very laid back attitude, and even the tourists are just relaxing, not psycho trying to see everything or pushy or anything. I saw a lot of stuff surrounding Gaudi, like his house, his gardens, and lots of the architecture he designed or inspired. our hostel was pretty much like a college dorm, actually, which was interesting but kind of nice, since that allowed us to sit on a balcony overlooking the street with a bottle of wine and just hang out for the night. we went to the beach on saturday afternoon and also on sunday, although sunday was a briefer visit since it was cold. Nora and I got this weird rash from walking along the beach in the sand. hers was worse, but mine was just a little swollen with some redness. antihistamine and all is good now! we found a thai place, which made me happy, since it was my first thai/chinese food in france. It's about the same, gotta tell you. just as greasy and delicious, haha.
we also ate tapas, traditional spanish food, and found this awesome bar with shooters (shots with pizazz). it was wicked cool even just to watch other people order their shots because there were shooters with like fire lit up around them and then you sucked it down with a straw or you had to eat something right before or after or there was whipped cream on it. i ordered the "boy scout" which i have no idea what type of alcohol, i think maybe caramel was in there somewhere, but they lit a fire behind my shot glass and i had to roast a marshmallow in it, like light it on fire, then extinguish it in my shot glass, then eat it and drink the shot right after. delicious.
we went to a few markets, and at one food market they had this chocolate stand with pretty much every type and combination of chocolate you could imagine. there was also a few places where you could buy fresh squeezed juices for 1 euro, and they had crazy combinations like mango coconut or kiwi lime or pineapple banana coconut. it was fantastic. there was a HUGE flea market too, which nora marisela and i spent about 4 hours in, haha, just poking around and seeing what they had to offer. i found a bright orange purse for 3 euros. oh yes, i most definitely bought it, and i am very content with my purchase. it will be a wonderful summer accessory, and i suspect Dave will love it as well. :)
well tonight Nora and I are making enchiladas for my host family, and then tomorrow my friend Andrea is coming. she's studying in Sevilla, Spain, right now, but she'll be up for the weekend - yaay!
last weekend I went to Barcelona with Nora, her gf Marisela, and one of their friends. It was wicked fun, definitely one of my top weekends in Europe so far. Barcelona is beautiful, and so chill. I feel like everyone has this very laid back attitude, and even the tourists are just relaxing, not psycho trying to see everything or pushy or anything. I saw a lot of stuff surrounding Gaudi, like his house, his gardens, and lots of the architecture he designed or inspired. our hostel was pretty much like a college dorm, actually, which was interesting but kind of nice, since that allowed us to sit on a balcony overlooking the street with a bottle of wine and just hang out for the night. we went to the beach on saturday afternoon and also on sunday, although sunday was a briefer visit since it was cold. Nora and I got this weird rash from walking along the beach in the sand. hers was worse, but mine was just a little swollen with some redness. antihistamine and all is good now! we found a thai place, which made me happy, since it was my first thai/chinese food in france. It's about the same, gotta tell you. just as greasy and delicious, haha.
we also ate tapas, traditional spanish food, and found this awesome bar with shooters (shots with pizazz). it was wicked cool even just to watch other people order their shots because there were shooters with like fire lit up around them and then you sucked it down with a straw or you had to eat something right before or after or there was whipped cream on it. i ordered the "boy scout" which i have no idea what type of alcohol, i think maybe caramel was in there somewhere, but they lit a fire behind my shot glass and i had to roast a marshmallow in it, like light it on fire, then extinguish it in my shot glass, then eat it and drink the shot right after. delicious.
we went to a few markets, and at one food market they had this chocolate stand with pretty much every type and combination of chocolate you could imagine. there was also a few places where you could buy fresh squeezed juices for 1 euro, and they had crazy combinations like mango coconut or kiwi lime or pineapple banana coconut. it was fantastic. there was a HUGE flea market too, which nora marisela and i spent about 4 hours in, haha, just poking around and seeing what they had to offer. i found a bright orange purse for 3 euros. oh yes, i most definitely bought it, and i am very content with my purchase. it will be a wonderful summer accessory, and i suspect Dave will love it as well. :)
well tonight Nora and I are making enchiladas for my host family, and then tomorrow my friend Andrea is coming. she's studying in Sevilla, Spain, right now, but she'll be up for the weekend - yaay!
Monday, April 19, 2010
exhausting adventure
so nora and i had the adventures of christy and nora trying to figure out the stupid trains in Italy. i'm not a fan, haha. they change the schedules on you and aren't clear about what's a departure and what's an arrival and what platform and at what time and where it goes. we had quite the day for ourselves yesterday trying to get back to marseille from florence, and we ended up stuck in genova for 4 hours and then stuck in nice overnight. not a big deal - we bought a bottle of champagne and made pesto pasta in our youth hostel that we found in nice. it ended up being ok, and this morning we got up at 5am to get to our classes on time. i'm completely exhausted, and now i either have really bad allergies or a cold, so i'm going to rest up this week and hope it gets better!
i'm not very motivated to go to class, but i'm not sure if that's just me being tired. i think i need to re-settle into speaking french and being a student again. we've got a paper and a journalistic portrait due this week, and i think i have a presentation either later this week or next week. barcelona this weekend!
i'm not very motivated to go to class, but i'm not sure if that's just me being tired. i think i need to re-settle into speaking french and being a student again. we've got a paper and a journalistic portrait due this week, and i think i have a presentation either later this week or next week. barcelona this weekend!
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Italia!
holy cow. phenomenal, I think, might be the only word to describe Italy right now. About what I thought it'd be. I'm at Janelle's house, and she lives on the second floor of an Italian villa! No big deal, you just look out her kitchen window onto a vineyard and an olive grove and other villas up on the hills of Tuscany. wow.
ok let's start at the beginning of the week. when I got home from Morocco, my French host family was SO nice...it was great to see them, and it made me realize that part of me is really going to miss France when I go back to the US. We had a pancake dinner night for Camille, and I gave her the birthday presents I had for her from Morocco and the US. It was relaxing to be back at my French home, and in Marseille, and I can't wait to really make sure to get as much of the experience in as possible before I go back home, since Marseille really is beautiful now that the weather has gotten better.
Monday morning Nora and I left really early on the train with a slight delay from the train and transportation strikes...alwayyys in France haha. they do love their strikes. so we got going and made it to Nice, where we ate lunch on the beach and walked around the markets and the downtown area, which was SO cute and really picturesque. Then we got back on train after train after train until we reached Pisa, where we got stuck at 11:30 at night looking for our train to Florence. our previous train had lied about the time of arrival, so we got to Pisa too late to catch a train to Florence, only a bus, which left at 1:15 am and cost 50 euro. sooo, we decided to stay in a hotel for 80 euro, and we also ate a really amazing calzone (my first food in Italy, which absolutely held up to expectations). We used emergency funding to stay in Pisa overnight, which actually ended up being awesome because our hotel was nice and it was really good to get a good nights sleep. Nora and I were both really tired from Morocco and hadn't slept much because of prepping for the Italy trip, so it was good for both of us to get some extra sleep. We also woke up the next morning to hands down, the best continental breakfast a hotel has ever provided me. Italian coffee, which i loved (if you know me, you know I don't like coffee very much, especially since 'coffee' here is espresso), cereal, nutella and croissants, juice, pastries, yogurt, muffins, you name it. We took some to go for lunch haha, and headed out for a brief visit to the leaning tower, which we both LOVED. Pisa was so cute and we came into the touristy area from the opposite direction from the rest of the world, so we missed out on all the crowds and fake, lame tourist shops and stuff, so we had a great experience at the leaning tower. We got back in time to take the train to Florence where we met Rose and got AMAZING paninis with her.
Nora and I spent the afternoon walking around Florence, and we toured the Santa Maria Novella cathedrale, which was my first experience in a huge cathedrale with all of the mosaics and paintings, and it was absolutely stunning. I was not allowed to take pictures, which is a shame, but I bought a book that explains all the paintings and includes pictures so I can always remember. I also think my dad would be SUPER interested in reading about all the stories, so that will be fun to talk about when I come home. After the cathedrale we went back to Rose's and made a fantastic dinner of pesto pasta with zucchini and gnocchi with 4 cheese sauce. um, yeah. nora and I basically owned the kitchen for a few hours, and it was SO good. we also drank Chianti wine, a specialty of the region, and then some Lemoncello, which costs about 5 euros here...crazyyy. there was a Beatles band playing at the bar across the street, so Rose and her roommates and Nora and I went out there for a few hours, which was really fun.
Wednesday morning we got up early enough to get into the Dome (duomo) before all of the crowds, and it was also fantastic. we climbed up it, so we got to see all of the paintings on the ceiling and then we went outside onto a balcony where you had a 360 degree view of Florence. then we hit up a market recommended to us by Rose and wandered around for over an hour looking for reasonably priced pizza, since it's all marked up for the tourists. we also tried to find/get into a beautiful garden, but they wanted to charge us 10 euros to get in, so we gave up and just ate our pizzas on the sidewalk, which ended up being in the sun and on this cute little old Italian road. we were in the oldest section of Florence, so there were all these little cut through roads with archways. it was so cool, even tho we missed out on the gardens...we found our own fun in Florence, which I just loved. it was nice to just explore and walk down by the river and see where we ended up.
i dropped Nora off at the station to go to Rome, and I hung out for a while until Rose got back from class. we went out to eat at this incredible Italian restaurant where i tried 5 different kinds of pasta which were all equally delicious. there was penne vodka, then some sort of pasta with broccoli white sauce, then a meat sauce and also gnocchi in there somewhere. afterwards we split a tuscany balsamic steak...yeah, right up there with some of the best steak i've ever had. i'm thinking it's just under the filet mignon from Tucker's down in LBI...definitely amazing. we got gelato afterwards that was also great, and then watched a movie and just had a night in.
this morning we got up and saw the David statue, which was almost as cool as my David in reality, haha, maybe a little cuter... ;) hehe, just kidding! i don't understand why they put such a beautiful sculpture with anything else in a museum, since after i saw the David i wanted no part of any other sculptures or artwork. everything else just didn't hold a candle. as Rose says, you think it's just a sculpture, how great can it be, but then you get there and see it and are literally awestruck. it was incredible. props to michaelangelo.
so now I'm at Janelle's, and I'm staying here until Saturday night. I plan to just walk around and enjoy myself and relax in the beautiful tuscan countryside. tomorrow we're going for a walk in the morning and then making dinner tomorrow night I think. tonight we're going out for pizza - mmm! she is SO nice, and her villa is amazing.
Italy definitely held up my expectations, and I am absolutely coming back here to see other parts of Italy, hopefully when I know a little more of the language. Btw it was very difficult to switch back to English when I first got here, so I guess that's a good sign, but was a little weird and frustrating at first, haha. I suppose the immersion program is really doing its job!
ok let's start at the beginning of the week. when I got home from Morocco, my French host family was SO nice...it was great to see them, and it made me realize that part of me is really going to miss France when I go back to the US. We had a pancake dinner night for Camille, and I gave her the birthday presents I had for her from Morocco and the US. It was relaxing to be back at my French home, and in Marseille, and I can't wait to really make sure to get as much of the experience in as possible before I go back home, since Marseille really is beautiful now that the weather has gotten better.
Monday morning Nora and I left really early on the train with a slight delay from the train and transportation strikes...alwayyys in France haha. they do love their strikes. so we got going and made it to Nice, where we ate lunch on the beach and walked around the markets and the downtown area, which was SO cute and really picturesque. Then we got back on train after train after train until we reached Pisa, where we got stuck at 11:30 at night looking for our train to Florence. our previous train had lied about the time of arrival, so we got to Pisa too late to catch a train to Florence, only a bus, which left at 1:15 am and cost 50 euro. sooo, we decided to stay in a hotel for 80 euro, and we also ate a really amazing calzone (my first food in Italy, which absolutely held up to expectations). We used emergency funding to stay in Pisa overnight, which actually ended up being awesome because our hotel was nice and it was really good to get a good nights sleep. Nora and I were both really tired from Morocco and hadn't slept much because of prepping for the Italy trip, so it was good for both of us to get some extra sleep. We also woke up the next morning to hands down, the best continental breakfast a hotel has ever provided me. Italian coffee, which i loved (if you know me, you know I don't like coffee very much, especially since 'coffee' here is espresso), cereal, nutella and croissants, juice, pastries, yogurt, muffins, you name it. We took some to go for lunch haha, and headed out for a brief visit to the leaning tower, which we both LOVED. Pisa was so cute and we came into the touristy area from the opposite direction from the rest of the world, so we missed out on all the crowds and fake, lame tourist shops and stuff, so we had a great experience at the leaning tower. We got back in time to take the train to Florence where we met Rose and got AMAZING paninis with her.
Nora and I spent the afternoon walking around Florence, and we toured the Santa Maria Novella cathedrale, which was my first experience in a huge cathedrale with all of the mosaics and paintings, and it was absolutely stunning. I was not allowed to take pictures, which is a shame, but I bought a book that explains all the paintings and includes pictures so I can always remember. I also think my dad would be SUPER interested in reading about all the stories, so that will be fun to talk about when I come home. After the cathedrale we went back to Rose's and made a fantastic dinner of pesto pasta with zucchini and gnocchi with 4 cheese sauce. um, yeah. nora and I basically owned the kitchen for a few hours, and it was SO good. we also drank Chianti wine, a specialty of the region, and then some Lemoncello, which costs about 5 euros here...crazyyy. there was a Beatles band playing at the bar across the street, so Rose and her roommates and Nora and I went out there for a few hours, which was really fun.
Wednesday morning we got up early enough to get into the Dome (duomo) before all of the crowds, and it was also fantastic. we climbed up it, so we got to see all of the paintings on the ceiling and then we went outside onto a balcony where you had a 360 degree view of Florence. then we hit up a market recommended to us by Rose and wandered around for over an hour looking for reasonably priced pizza, since it's all marked up for the tourists. we also tried to find/get into a beautiful garden, but they wanted to charge us 10 euros to get in, so we gave up and just ate our pizzas on the sidewalk, which ended up being in the sun and on this cute little old Italian road. we were in the oldest section of Florence, so there were all these little cut through roads with archways. it was so cool, even tho we missed out on the gardens...we found our own fun in Florence, which I just loved. it was nice to just explore and walk down by the river and see where we ended up.
i dropped Nora off at the station to go to Rome, and I hung out for a while until Rose got back from class. we went out to eat at this incredible Italian restaurant where i tried 5 different kinds of pasta which were all equally delicious. there was penne vodka, then some sort of pasta with broccoli white sauce, then a meat sauce and also gnocchi in there somewhere. afterwards we split a tuscany balsamic steak...yeah, right up there with some of the best steak i've ever had. i'm thinking it's just under the filet mignon from Tucker's down in LBI...definitely amazing. we got gelato afterwards that was also great, and then watched a movie and just had a night in.
this morning we got up and saw the David statue, which was almost as cool as my David in reality, haha, maybe a little cuter... ;) hehe, just kidding! i don't understand why they put such a beautiful sculpture with anything else in a museum, since after i saw the David i wanted no part of any other sculptures or artwork. everything else just didn't hold a candle. as Rose says, you think it's just a sculpture, how great can it be, but then you get there and see it and are literally awestruck. it was incredible. props to michaelangelo.
so now I'm at Janelle's, and I'm staying here until Saturday night. I plan to just walk around and enjoy myself and relax in the beautiful tuscan countryside. tomorrow we're going for a walk in the morning and then making dinner tomorrow night I think. tonight we're going out for pizza - mmm! she is SO nice, and her villa is amazing.
Italy definitely held up my expectations, and I am absolutely coming back here to see other parts of Italy, hopefully when I know a little more of the language. Btw it was very difficult to switch back to English when I first got here, so I guess that's a good sign, but was a little weird and frustrating at first, haha. I suppose the immersion program is really doing its job!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
'it just keeps getting betterrrrrr'
i am so happy i named this blog 'the adventures of curious christy' because this week in morocco so far has definitely been an adventure, and a far from eventful one at that. i've realized that when rough situations come up, my first reaction is to laugh. even when it is 100 percent not funny. like falling in the metro and spraining my ankle - definitely not funny, but nora and i were laughing so hard that i couldn't breathe. like today, when i was SO sick to my stomach in the middle of morocco running around a mosque looking for a bathroom about to pass out. definitely not funny on any scale at all, but 20 minutes later i was laughing, especially since the toilet we found was a traditional moroccan toilet, meaning a hole in the ground made of porcelain. so here i was, so sick because of some bad food i ate at a restaurant, squatting on my sprained ankle over a hole. it was great, gotta say. part of the experience for sure.
aside from that adventure, morocco is pretty amazing. the culture is so cool. after work everyone kind of goes out to walk around and hang out and maybe have some coffee or have a snack or just hang out in the park. dinner is served at about 10pm, and you have to eat a LOT. moroccans are very hospitable, and food is tied to that hospitality. hence, part of the reason why i got sick, haha.
the medina here is beautiful, and HUGE. there are donkeys that pass in the roads, there are chickens and dead cow spleens for sale and all sorts of crazy foods and spices and pastries. there's also some touristy stuff like necklaces and bowls for tagines and scarves and tapestries. i saw how leather is made and dyed, and how tapestries are made, and all sorts of artisanal craftsmanship. amazing.
no camels for me though. not really too many in fez - the one big disappointment in morocco but other than that its good. it's been rough on the ankle, but i'm hoping that next week in italy the terrain will be a little more stable and even.
pictures will be up sunday!
aside from that adventure, morocco is pretty amazing. the culture is so cool. after work everyone kind of goes out to walk around and hang out and maybe have some coffee or have a snack or just hang out in the park. dinner is served at about 10pm, and you have to eat a LOT. moroccans are very hospitable, and food is tied to that hospitality. hence, part of the reason why i got sick, haha.
the medina here is beautiful, and HUGE. there are donkeys that pass in the roads, there are chickens and dead cow spleens for sale and all sorts of crazy foods and spices and pastries. there's also some touristy stuff like necklaces and bowls for tagines and scarves and tapestries. i saw how leather is made and dyed, and how tapestries are made, and all sorts of artisanal craftsmanship. amazing.
no camels for me though. not really too many in fez - the one big disappointment in morocco but other than that its good. it's been rough on the ankle, but i'm hoping that next week in italy the terrain will be a little more stable and even.
pictures will be up sunday!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
metro adventure
remember that time i sprained my ankle running to catch the metro as it was leaving? yeahh that was me yesterday afternoon, crawling on all fours to make it into the train after i fell down since i was wearing boots and stepped on not-so-flat ground. i actually really wish there had been a video camera, and i think in a few days i will be able to laugh at myself more (i'm giggling a little now). the only problem now is that my ankle is sprained, i did not go to Paris this weekend as planned, and I am now in Marseille, living on a hill with a bajillion steps to get home, on crutches. All righttt.
but hey, makes life interesting right? i learned some new vocab words to describe my injury, and i'm experimenting with European anti-inflammatory medications. my only huge concern right now apart from getting to and from school is how to get my ankle stable enough before heading to Morocco in a week. I think it's not a terrible sprain - I'm gonna classify it as a "medium" sprain, since i know i've had worse. i'm hoping and praying that it heals very quickly!
nora was really awesome, and i was so happy she was there with me when i hurt myself. besides the fact that we completely cracked up about how ridiculous i looked crawling into the metro in France, she helped me limp around downtown and buy a cheap pair of flat shoes (i was still wearing heels at that point) and then she was "mommy nora" and gave me money to take a taxi and all of that. it was very sweet! also, camille was so sweet when i got home and i was really disappointed about Paris and worried about losing all my money for the weekend and stuff. she exchanged my ticket for me, which was awesome, and helped me get all my stuff downstairs and put ice on my ankle and stuff. my host mom and dad came home and called their son, who is a doctor, to ask what we should do, and then they gave me medicine and crutches.
aside from all that, i got back some midterm grades this week, and i'm happy. i also looked up all of my stuff for my schedule when i get back to Muhlenberg, and i should be all set with credits and requirements and stuff. i'll be taking two dance classes in the fall to fulfill my art credit, which i'm excited for, and also taking intro Spanish classes! i'm going to try to test into an elementary II spanish class if I can, but i think I will have to talk to the professor to figure all of that out.
so maybe it's good that i have a weekend in my bed? i filled out an application for AmeriCorps volunteer work next year - it's a program where you do 300 hours of community service during a year and get awarded some money to help pay for "educational expenses" which is great news for me. i also am looking into/applying for internships, so that's a good thing for me to be doing right now too. maybe this is just a good break for me to kind-of get things in order instead of sightseeing in Paris. it was also supposed to be very rainy in Paris this weekend, so i'm hoping for better weather in May.
but hey, makes life interesting right? i learned some new vocab words to describe my injury, and i'm experimenting with European anti-inflammatory medications. my only huge concern right now apart from getting to and from school is how to get my ankle stable enough before heading to Morocco in a week. I think it's not a terrible sprain - I'm gonna classify it as a "medium" sprain, since i know i've had worse. i'm hoping and praying that it heals very quickly!
nora was really awesome, and i was so happy she was there with me when i hurt myself. besides the fact that we completely cracked up about how ridiculous i looked crawling into the metro in France, she helped me limp around downtown and buy a cheap pair of flat shoes (i was still wearing heels at that point) and then she was "mommy nora" and gave me money to take a taxi and all of that. it was very sweet! also, camille was so sweet when i got home and i was really disappointed about Paris and worried about losing all my money for the weekend and stuff. she exchanged my ticket for me, which was awesome, and helped me get all my stuff downstairs and put ice on my ankle and stuff. my host mom and dad came home and called their son, who is a doctor, to ask what we should do, and then they gave me medicine and crutches.
aside from all that, i got back some midterm grades this week, and i'm happy. i also looked up all of my stuff for my schedule when i get back to Muhlenberg, and i should be all set with credits and requirements and stuff. i'll be taking two dance classes in the fall to fulfill my art credit, which i'm excited for, and also taking intro Spanish classes! i'm going to try to test into an elementary II spanish class if I can, but i think I will have to talk to the professor to figure all of that out.
so maybe it's good that i have a weekend in my bed? i filled out an application for AmeriCorps volunteer work next year - it's a program where you do 300 hours of community service during a year and get awarded some money to help pay for "educational expenses" which is great news for me. i also am looking into/applying for internships, so that's a good thing for me to be doing right now too. maybe this is just a good break for me to kind-of get things in order instead of sightseeing in Paris. it was also supposed to be very rainy in Paris this weekend, so i'm hoping for better weather in May.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
people get ready, there's a train a coming...
Bonsoir tout le monde! so I've been going a little crazy since midterms week with work, especially since I'm heading to Paris this weekend. I got back my Arabic midterm and got an A on it, and I got an A on my journalistic portrait for French Linguistics. Still waiting back on the other 4 midterms - hopefully I'll know tomorrow.
Let's see...I went to see a WWII movie with Camille, my host sister, last weekend. It was wicked fun, and it was actually one of the better WWII movies I've seen. I'm going to recommend it to Madame Wixon when I get back to use for her 20th Century french course. I went to see another part of the Callanques with my host dad yesterday (he took me in his car) and also this really cool park. I think I'll try to get my friend Nora to go there with me sometime - there was this island you could swim to, which just seems perfect and picturesque to me.
I've been struggling with some of the generalizations made in class by the professors here, especially the director, so we had a whole discussion today about the difference between stereotypes and generalizations and which ones require context and which ones can move and be more flexible and change with more points of view. It was interesting, and I think I understand more now the "French" way to look at generalizations, which is to imply context and understand that it's all just tenancies and that it doesn't apply to everyone. The American style, which I definitely prefer, is to add qualifiers, like "MOST people do this" or "People OFTEN do this" or "IN GENERAL, this". I prefer that to just an inference in my head, and I find it intriguing that a culture that is so rooted in structure and language wouldn't value precision of words as much in this case. I guess it's more of a precision of the definition of a generalization, and the precision of how the word "generalization" is internalized and conceptualized by the French. Anyways, it was a little bit of a tense discussion since all we American students have been struggling with the generalizations proposed to us, so I'm glad that discussion cleared things up a little bit, and I hope that it makes the class discussions more fruitful.
I did a presentation this morning on everyday life in Israel during the Gaza War from Dec 2008-Jan 2009. I've never really studied the conflict between Israel and Palestine, and we started a 3-week unit today in my Middle Eastern Political Developments. My preliminary analysis says both sides are crazy, but I'm pretty sure we're studying this in a really neutral fashion, which I'm very grateful for. We're studying both sides, so another student did a presentation on everyday life in Palestine during the same time period, and it was amazing how different the information was. There's so much emotion and energy surrounding both sides that I imagine it's difficult to sift through, but our professor is awesome with staying neutral and explaining complicated situations, so I'm excited.
Anyways, heading to Paris by TGV (train) tomorrow night - leaving Marseille at almost midnight, arriving in Paris at 7:30 am. I'll be spending all day Saturday and all day Sunday, then taking another night train to come back Sunday evening, arriving at 5am Monday morning and hopefully sleeping and showering before class at 9. Woo! Should be NUTS, I'll update with pictures and everything!
Let's see...I went to see a WWII movie with Camille, my host sister, last weekend. It was wicked fun, and it was actually one of the better WWII movies I've seen. I'm going to recommend it to Madame Wixon when I get back to use for her 20th Century french course. I went to see another part of the Callanques with my host dad yesterday (he took me in his car) and also this really cool park. I think I'll try to get my friend Nora to go there with me sometime - there was this island you could swim to, which just seems perfect and picturesque to me.
I've been struggling with some of the generalizations made in class by the professors here, especially the director, so we had a whole discussion today about the difference between stereotypes and generalizations and which ones require context and which ones can move and be more flexible and change with more points of view. It was interesting, and I think I understand more now the "French" way to look at generalizations, which is to imply context and understand that it's all just tenancies and that it doesn't apply to everyone. The American style, which I definitely prefer, is to add qualifiers, like "MOST people do this" or "People OFTEN do this" or "IN GENERAL, this". I prefer that to just an inference in my head, and I find it intriguing that a culture that is so rooted in structure and language wouldn't value precision of words as much in this case. I guess it's more of a precision of the definition of a generalization, and the precision of how the word "generalization" is internalized and conceptualized by the French. Anyways, it was a little bit of a tense discussion since all we American students have been struggling with the generalizations proposed to us, so I'm glad that discussion cleared things up a little bit, and I hope that it makes the class discussions more fruitful.
I did a presentation this morning on everyday life in Israel during the Gaza War from Dec 2008-Jan 2009. I've never really studied the conflict between Israel and Palestine, and we started a 3-week unit today in my Middle Eastern Political Developments. My preliminary analysis says both sides are crazy, but I'm pretty sure we're studying this in a really neutral fashion, which I'm very grateful for. We're studying both sides, so another student did a presentation on everyday life in Palestine during the same time period, and it was amazing how different the information was. There's so much emotion and energy surrounding both sides that I imagine it's difficult to sift through, but our professor is awesome with staying neutral and explaining complicated situations, so I'm excited.
Anyways, heading to Paris by TGV (train) tomorrow night - leaving Marseille at almost midnight, arriving in Paris at 7:30 am. I'll be spending all day Saturday and all day Sunday, then taking another night train to come back Sunday evening, arriving at 5am Monday morning and hopefully sleeping and showering before class at 9. Woo! Should be NUTS, I'll update with pictures and everything!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
A visitor from NJ
bonjour! This week is midterms week, so I took half of one yesterday and my first real French midterm exam this morning. Both were pretty straight-forward, but I expect the final 3 to be tougher. I have a French culture one on Thursday and an advanced grammar one on Friday, so those will be a challenge for sure.
Dave was here last week! It was completely fantastic; we had such a good time. We went out in the harbor and saw the islands that are right off the coast, but unfortunately the Chateau d'If was closed...I'll have to go back another time for sure. But Dave and I walked around on the other islands, and we explored this huge old fort with absolutely INCREDIBLE views of Marseille. I would hate to be a ship trying to attack anything within 50 miles of the city, haha. Pretty intense view, and lots of remnants of cannons, so I imagine the city was well-protected.
We also went out to eat at two fantastic restaurants - one on Monday and one on Friday. The one on Monday night was great because we got to sit on the second floor right next to the window, so we had a nice view of the Vieux Port area. The food was also really delicious; except stupid little French student here ordered her steak medium because she got the vocab wrong- haha. The Moroccan restaurant on Friday night was equally fantastic, since I'd already been there before and knew exactly what was good to order. We were ridiculously stuffed afterwards, so we walked around and then went to see Ghost Writer with my host sister, Camille.
Speaking of Camille, she proved herself to be an adequate english speaker, since she's been studying it in school and getting good grades. She practiced with Dave, which was funny for me to be on the other side of learning a language, since Camille is always helping me with French or making fun of me for silly errors. Dave also spoke some Italian with my host parents, and he picked up a surprising amount of French while he was here (I was so proud!).
Overall it was pretty amazing to be in another country with him, but it definitely made me homesick since it was so nice not only to spend time with him, but to speak in English and feel like myself again. I have a good enough handle on the French language to have a personality and joke around, but truly, the culture is different enough that there are a few things each day that remind you that you aren't in the US, and you're not quite acting like yourself in order to fit into the culture.
I'm having some issues with the administration here, since they are seeming to control more and more things, including how we perceive our own country and France. I think at the beginning I just listened to everything that was taught without questioning it, but now that I've lived here and experienced the culture, I'm finding many of the generalizations made not only about France but about the US rather "genant" (frustrating, irritating). I'm trying to let things go and just concentrate on learning and taking what is said with a grain of salt, but there are definitely some things that I'm struggling to brush aside.
Other that the University, I honestly really enjoy living here. My host family is very nice, I love my host sister Camille (we're all watching House tonight together - haha never watched it in the US but I'm watching it every week here). This weekend I'm supposed to help my host mom out with her garden, which I'm excited about. I like Marseille a lot; it's so beautiful. Right now there's a garbage strike (oh the French with their strikes), so there's lots of piled up trash and the streets are pretty dirty, but even with that, I don't mind it. It's cool to be able to walk lots of places and see all sorts of different people and stores and everything. This morning I went for a nice long run next to the Mediterranean Sea - whatttt!? I feel so lucky to be able to do exciting things like that.
Anyways I'm getting really hungry so I think it's time for baguette and mozzarella (tell me i can't mix French and Italian culture at lunchtime)!
Miss you guys!
Dave was here last week! It was completely fantastic; we had such a good time. We went out in the harbor and saw the islands that are right off the coast, but unfortunately the Chateau d'If was closed...I'll have to go back another time for sure. But Dave and I walked around on the other islands, and we explored this huge old fort with absolutely INCREDIBLE views of Marseille. I would hate to be a ship trying to attack anything within 50 miles of the city, haha. Pretty intense view, and lots of remnants of cannons, so I imagine the city was well-protected.
We also went out to eat at two fantastic restaurants - one on Monday and one on Friday. The one on Monday night was great because we got to sit on the second floor right next to the window, so we had a nice view of the Vieux Port area. The food was also really delicious; except stupid little French student here ordered her steak medium because she got the vocab wrong- haha. The Moroccan restaurant on Friday night was equally fantastic, since I'd already been there before and knew exactly what was good to order. We were ridiculously stuffed afterwards, so we walked around and then went to see Ghost Writer with my host sister, Camille.
Speaking of Camille, she proved herself to be an adequate english speaker, since she's been studying it in school and getting good grades. She practiced with Dave, which was funny for me to be on the other side of learning a language, since Camille is always helping me with French or making fun of me for silly errors. Dave also spoke some Italian with my host parents, and he picked up a surprising amount of French while he was here (I was so proud!).
Overall it was pretty amazing to be in another country with him, but it definitely made me homesick since it was so nice not only to spend time with him, but to speak in English and feel like myself again. I have a good enough handle on the French language to have a personality and joke around, but truly, the culture is different enough that there are a few things each day that remind you that you aren't in the US, and you're not quite acting like yourself in order to fit into the culture.
I'm having some issues with the administration here, since they are seeming to control more and more things, including how we perceive our own country and France. I think at the beginning I just listened to everything that was taught without questioning it, but now that I've lived here and experienced the culture, I'm finding many of the generalizations made not only about France but about the US rather "genant" (frustrating, irritating). I'm trying to let things go and just concentrate on learning and taking what is said with a grain of salt, but there are definitely some things that I'm struggling to brush aside.
Other that the University, I honestly really enjoy living here. My host family is very nice, I love my host sister Camille (we're all watching House tonight together - haha never watched it in the US but I'm watching it every week here). This weekend I'm supposed to help my host mom out with her garden, which I'm excited about. I like Marseille a lot; it's so beautiful. Right now there's a garbage strike (oh the French with their strikes), so there's lots of piled up trash and the streets are pretty dirty, but even with that, I don't mind it. It's cool to be able to walk lots of places and see all sorts of different people and stores and everything. This morning I went for a nice long run next to the Mediterranean Sea - whatttt!? I feel so lucky to be able to do exciting things like that.
Anyways I'm getting really hungry so I think it's time for baguette and mozzarella (tell me i can't mix French and Italian culture at lunchtime)!
Miss you guys!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Anyone ever heard of harassment laws?
I’m struggling with French men, culturally, so I guess it’s time to explore that. I didn’t want to write about this necessarily because it’s kind of weird, but it kind-of came to a point 2 nights ago, so I guess it’s time.
I don’t understand the part of French culture that allows men to openly speak to women in the streets the way that they do. We were told that European men in general are more forceful in their advances, and that we shouldn’t be surprised to get a few comments yelled at us or to be approached in the street. I have been yelled at from across the street, I have had a car stop to tell me I was “trop belle” (too beautiful), I have had kisses blown at me, I have had men ask me for information, as in (in my eyes) directions or something, then just turn it into saying “how is it that you’re so pretty”, and now, as of 2 days ago, I have been actually physically touched. I was walking home from a Taize church service on Monday night, and I was about 5 minutes away from my house, walking up the hill. 4 guys (probably a little drunk) came out of a bar on my street and starting walking directly towards me coming from the opposite direction. One of them broke away from the others and came towards me, rather quickly. I had seen them from a few seconds away, so I was trying to move to the other side of the sidewalk to avoid them, but he followed me and said, in English, “I love you”, which caught me off guard because it made me wonder if he knew that I was American, and how he knew that. Then he started speaking in French, calling me “ma cherie” (my darling) and all of his friends start saying it too. I was trying to just keep walking, but he came towards me as he was saying all of this and he grabbed me by my elbow, not super gently. I obviously panicked, but I just shook him off and kept walking and didn’t say anything. Looking back, I probably could’ve yelled at him in French or hit him or whipped out my mace or whatever, but my goal was just to get back to my house and get away from them as quickly as possible. I guess in my fight or flight instinct, I was definitely in flight mode. Anyways I walked the rest of the way home as quickly as possible and as soon as I got into the house I lost it. My host mom was like “what’s wrong?” and I was trying to explain to her in French as I’m freaking out. She was ready to go, asking if they were down by our house or if the bar was still open and all this stuff, haha. She was gonna go kick some ass, I think. Anyways, it shook me up a little bit because, as I tried to explain to my host mom, in the United States, I’m not used to guys coming up to me and openly talking to me or trying to get my number or stuff like that. Maybe I haven’t spent enough time in New York or in a big city, but it seems much more forceful here. I’m also culturally trained that if a guy advances like that, there’s kidnapping or rape in the back of my mind, especially since he grabbed my arm.
So I understand the basic cultural principle behind the whole thing, or I understand it as explained by the director of my program during the first week of orientation, which may or may not be accurate. In the United States, we see our bodies as solely ours, and we value independence, so we wear whatever we want on our bodies, but our space remains our own. In the United States, you get dressed in the morning for you, so if you want to get dressed up and look nice, or if you want to wear a dress or a skirt, you are wearing it for you. In France, according to Madame Sellé, when you get dressed in the morning, you get dressed for everyone else. If you want to look nice and wear nice clothes, you want to impress others, and you are wearing the clothes for others, not for you. As such, your body is not just your own, so if someone notices that you have a nice body or that you’re wearing nice clothes, they are culturally allowed to make a comment about it or try to talk to you.
I understand all of this. I’m not sure if I explained it well enough, but in my head it makes sense. My problem is that I work very hard to make sure that the clothes that I wear are very modest, but over here, with the attention I get, I feel like I must be being immodest or acting in a way that attracts attention. My whole goal in preparing for France in terms of my wardrobe was to blend in and to be conservative in my dress so as not to attract attention. As such, each time I draw attention, I worry about whether the shirt I’m wearing was too tight and that was why these guys said something to me, or whether I look like a foreigner, or whether I accidentally smiled at this guy or whatever. I’m just sick of the attention, and I feel like that sounds snotty, but it’s the truth over here.
On a lighter note, and to update on what I’ve been doing, I went to a Taize service on Monday night as well, which was really really cool. I felt so privileged to go to a real, authentic, French Taize service, since, in case you don’t know, Taize, which is a type of worship service, was started in France. We have Taize services at Muhlenberg once a week, so it was wicked cool to experience a French service, which was more similar than I expected it to be. Peter did a great job applying his knowledge of Taize to our services at Muhlenberg. I think First Lutheran should give it a try (wink wink Dad, or someone else from church reading this). So we sang songs in French, English, Italian, Latin, and Spanish, so I felt more comfortable as a foreigner, haha. There was a Scripture reading, and a time of silence, and a time of prayer. It was very nice, with all the candles and the harmonies. They used a guitar and a flute together, so it was beautiful music.
Other than that, I’ve just been going to class and trying to keep up with the sudden surge of homework. I think this is the push before mid-terms. Maybe the teachers just remembered we have tests in 2 weeks? Who knows, but I think it’s also because I have a presentation on the Crusades next week, and I’m trying to get everything done before Dave comes on Sunday!
I don’t understand the part of French culture that allows men to openly speak to women in the streets the way that they do. We were told that European men in general are more forceful in their advances, and that we shouldn’t be surprised to get a few comments yelled at us or to be approached in the street. I have been yelled at from across the street, I have had a car stop to tell me I was “trop belle” (too beautiful), I have had kisses blown at me, I have had men ask me for information, as in (in my eyes) directions or something, then just turn it into saying “how is it that you’re so pretty”, and now, as of 2 days ago, I have been actually physically touched. I was walking home from a Taize church service on Monday night, and I was about 5 minutes away from my house, walking up the hill. 4 guys (probably a little drunk) came out of a bar on my street and starting walking directly towards me coming from the opposite direction. One of them broke away from the others and came towards me, rather quickly. I had seen them from a few seconds away, so I was trying to move to the other side of the sidewalk to avoid them, but he followed me and said, in English, “I love you”, which caught me off guard because it made me wonder if he knew that I was American, and how he knew that. Then he started speaking in French, calling me “ma cherie” (my darling) and all of his friends start saying it too. I was trying to just keep walking, but he came towards me as he was saying all of this and he grabbed me by my elbow, not super gently. I obviously panicked, but I just shook him off and kept walking and didn’t say anything. Looking back, I probably could’ve yelled at him in French or hit him or whipped out my mace or whatever, but my goal was just to get back to my house and get away from them as quickly as possible. I guess in my fight or flight instinct, I was definitely in flight mode. Anyways I walked the rest of the way home as quickly as possible and as soon as I got into the house I lost it. My host mom was like “what’s wrong?” and I was trying to explain to her in French as I’m freaking out. She was ready to go, asking if they were down by our house or if the bar was still open and all this stuff, haha. She was gonna go kick some ass, I think. Anyways, it shook me up a little bit because, as I tried to explain to my host mom, in the United States, I’m not used to guys coming up to me and openly talking to me or trying to get my number or stuff like that. Maybe I haven’t spent enough time in New York or in a big city, but it seems much more forceful here. I’m also culturally trained that if a guy advances like that, there’s kidnapping or rape in the back of my mind, especially since he grabbed my arm.
So I understand the basic cultural principle behind the whole thing, or I understand it as explained by the director of my program during the first week of orientation, which may or may not be accurate. In the United States, we see our bodies as solely ours, and we value independence, so we wear whatever we want on our bodies, but our space remains our own. In the United States, you get dressed in the morning for you, so if you want to get dressed up and look nice, or if you want to wear a dress or a skirt, you are wearing it for you. In France, according to Madame Sellé, when you get dressed in the morning, you get dressed for everyone else. If you want to look nice and wear nice clothes, you want to impress others, and you are wearing the clothes for others, not for you. As such, your body is not just your own, so if someone notices that you have a nice body or that you’re wearing nice clothes, they are culturally allowed to make a comment about it or try to talk to you.
I understand all of this. I’m not sure if I explained it well enough, but in my head it makes sense. My problem is that I work very hard to make sure that the clothes that I wear are very modest, but over here, with the attention I get, I feel like I must be being immodest or acting in a way that attracts attention. My whole goal in preparing for France in terms of my wardrobe was to blend in and to be conservative in my dress so as not to attract attention. As such, each time I draw attention, I worry about whether the shirt I’m wearing was too tight and that was why these guys said something to me, or whether I look like a foreigner, or whether I accidentally smiled at this guy or whatever. I’m just sick of the attention, and I feel like that sounds snotty, but it’s the truth over here.
On a lighter note, and to update on what I’ve been doing, I went to a Taize service on Monday night as well, which was really really cool. I felt so privileged to go to a real, authentic, French Taize service, since, in case you don’t know, Taize, which is a type of worship service, was started in France. We have Taize services at Muhlenberg once a week, so it was wicked cool to experience a French service, which was more similar than I expected it to be. Peter did a great job applying his knowledge of Taize to our services at Muhlenberg. I think First Lutheran should give it a try (wink wink Dad, or someone else from church reading this). So we sang songs in French, English, Italian, Latin, and Spanish, so I felt more comfortable as a foreigner, haha. There was a Scripture reading, and a time of silence, and a time of prayer. It was very nice, with all the candles and the harmonies. They used a guitar and a flute together, so it was beautiful music.
Other than that, I’ve just been going to class and trying to keep up with the sudden surge of homework. I think this is the push before mid-terms. Maybe the teachers just remembered we have tests in 2 weeks? Who knows, but I think it’s also because I have a presentation on the Crusades next week, and I’m trying to get everything done before Dave comes on Sunday!
Saturday, February 27, 2010
lost in france
so anyone who knows me and my directional skills will laugh at this story. i got SO excited on friday that it was finally starting to warm up that i made all these plans to be outside this weekend. number one plan was to go today (saturday) for a long run along the mediterrean - how romantic and exciting, right?
so i looked up the "back way" to get to the Corniche, which is like a 3 mile road that goes along the water and has beaches and a palace and all this stuff to see along it. "back way" just really doesn't work for me. my point was to not have to back track, because i knew i could find my way back once i jogged to the old port, but i didn't want to run to the old port, run along the Corniche, then run back to the old port - i wanted to make a loop. ha. great idea, right? wrong!
i had very specific directions written out, had looked at a map to see where i was going, and then i got to a point in the directions where it told me to turn down a street that apparently doesn't exist. hmm. so i decided that since from where i was, i could SEE the ocean, that meant i could find my way there. 45 minutes later, i found it. i wasn't worried at all, and i wish there could've been a video camera on me, lost in france by myself, cracking up at how ridiculously bad i am at finding places. annnnyways it was entertaining for me, and i knew eventually i'd find something i recognized, which is exactly what happened. it was a good experience, and i found lots of back roads and cool views that i would've never known existed, so i'm pleased. :)
once i found the Corniche, i ran along the water, which had AMAZING views (see facebook for photos), and visited a park with the "palais du pharo" and some forts and some great views of the old port. it was SO cool, pretty much my second favorite day in france so far.
tonight i'm going out with a few of the other american students for dinner together at either a spanish or a moroccan restaurant - should be fun!
tomorrow i'm supposed to go to the Callanques (kind of like cliffs and valleys and inlets and there's not really a good translation), so that will probably be another adventure!
so i looked up the "back way" to get to the Corniche, which is like a 3 mile road that goes along the water and has beaches and a palace and all this stuff to see along it. "back way" just really doesn't work for me. my point was to not have to back track, because i knew i could find my way back once i jogged to the old port, but i didn't want to run to the old port, run along the Corniche, then run back to the old port - i wanted to make a loop. ha. great idea, right? wrong!
i had very specific directions written out, had looked at a map to see where i was going, and then i got to a point in the directions where it told me to turn down a street that apparently doesn't exist. hmm. so i decided that since from where i was, i could SEE the ocean, that meant i could find my way there. 45 minutes later, i found it. i wasn't worried at all, and i wish there could've been a video camera on me, lost in france by myself, cracking up at how ridiculously bad i am at finding places. annnnyways it was entertaining for me, and i knew eventually i'd find something i recognized, which is exactly what happened. it was a good experience, and i found lots of back roads and cool views that i would've never known existed, so i'm pleased. :)
once i found the Corniche, i ran along the water, which had AMAZING views (see facebook for photos), and visited a park with the "palais du pharo" and some forts and some great views of the old port. it was SO cool, pretty much my second favorite day in france so far.
tonight i'm going out with a few of the other american students for dinner together at either a spanish or a moroccan restaurant - should be fun!
tomorrow i'm supposed to go to the Callanques (kind of like cliffs and valleys and inlets and there's not really a good translation), so that will probably be another adventure!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
this will be short because i'm exhausted
i just had one of the best days in France yet. i had lunch with Pastor Keller, from my new church, and his family. they were very nice, and we had veal stew and cabbage salad - somehow really good haha. my classes were more interesting than normal this morning, and i'm feeling more prepared for them. i'm getting ahead in work, so that's good.
i came home from lunch and had a long chat with my host sister, who is still awesome. then i went out for my rendez-vous with my new language partner, alexandre. here's where i made a typical american mistake - a rendez-vous at 19h15 does not mean 5:15. Americaine stupide! it's ok; i laughed at myself and alex and i met a little earlier after i'd grabbed something to eat. he's very nice; he's russian and speaks french perfectly, and he's orthodox christian, practicing, which was really cool to discuss. he invited me to a taize service for young people that happens once a month this coming monday that is a mix of a bunch of different christians, so thats pretty cool. i'm interested to experience an authentic, french taize service! so alexandre and i walked around a lot and he showed me the beach and a different part of town that i hadnt seen before. i think he's coming to the Callanques (these cliffs and little inlets and harbors with the ocean close to marseille) this saturday, which is exciting. nora and her language partner, nolwell, are coming as well, i think. we'll have a picnic and walk around a lot and take pictures i'm sure.
then i came home and watched a program on sights in paris and talked to my host mom for a while. now i'm about to pass out so i'm going to sleep! things are looking up tho, and i'm feeling like i'm getting back to my normal, busy, enthusiastic self - yaay!
i came home from lunch and had a long chat with my host sister, who is still awesome. then i went out for my rendez-vous with my new language partner, alexandre. here's where i made a typical american mistake - a rendez-vous at 19h15 does not mean 5:15. Americaine stupide! it's ok; i laughed at myself and alex and i met a little earlier after i'd grabbed something to eat. he's very nice; he's russian and speaks french perfectly, and he's orthodox christian, practicing, which was really cool to discuss. he invited me to a taize service for young people that happens once a month this coming monday that is a mix of a bunch of different christians, so thats pretty cool. i'm interested to experience an authentic, french taize service! so alexandre and i walked around a lot and he showed me the beach and a different part of town that i hadnt seen before. i think he's coming to the Callanques (these cliffs and little inlets and harbors with the ocean close to marseille) this saturday, which is exciting. nora and her language partner, nolwell, are coming as well, i think. we'll have a picnic and walk around a lot and take pictures i'm sure.
then i came home and watched a program on sights in paris and talked to my host mom for a while. now i'm about to pass out so i'm going to sleep! things are looking up tho, and i'm feeling like i'm getting back to my normal, busy, enthusiastic self - yaay!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy
Alright here we go with the attitude adjustment. I’ve been sick the past few days with a head cold, but today it turned into a head and chest cold, so I left school early and missed my Arabic class, which stinks because I need the practice, but I needed to rest to get better. I slept a little bit, and I’ve been taking medicine and vitamin C, so I think the cold is on its way out, hopefully. My host mom suggested I go to the doctor, but I told her it’s probably just a virus, so what can the doctor really do? I’m not gonna take antibiotics or anything, and I don’t think it’s bronchitis; it’s just a bad cold.
So the weather has been getting better, it was 15 degrees Celsius this afternoon, which is about 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Nice temperature for running. Tomorrow, chest permitting, I’m going to go for a run in the morning and ice skating in the afternoon. I think I just need to keep myself occupied and really try to find people to connect with. Tomorrow I’m also having lunch with the pastor of the new church I went to - he invited me over. They are just finishing the Alpha course here - the last meeting is tonight - but I decided to rest and do homework instead of going. I’ll see if they start a Biblestudy or something since the Alpha course is over now. I’m going to ask the pastor tomorrow about whether or not they have a choir or anything like that.
I also have a new language partner, whose name is Alexander. He’s apparently French AND Russian, but he speaks French like a native language, so that’s good. I’m hoping to hang out with him sometime later this week. I have his phone number and I have to call him probably this evening or tomorrow afternoon.
I think my goals are going to be to buckle down and get work done as quickly as possible so I can plan out other things for later this week and this weekend. I think Nora and I might go to the Callanques (cliffs) this weekend to explore and bring un pique-nique (picnic). I’m hoping the weather stays good because I think that is helping my mood a little bit. That and I’ve been listening to Springsteen and getting excited about nice weather and the beach and running and the summer haha. And Dave is coming in less than 2 weeks! I just keep telling myself that I’ll take it one week at a time and finish out the semester. I think my big problem is that the classes aren’t as interesting or engaging as I imagined, so I’m going to have to find my own ways to be interested and engaged. I think I just have to put my own spin on things, like reviewing Arabic on my own and finding a really interesting person to interview for my journalism project. I also have a presentation on the Crusades coming up, so I think I’ll start doing some research and reading on that to get ahead and be super-prepared for everything. I think I just have to find work that is entertaining for me and make it my own. For example, we have to read the press in some fashion for at least an hour each week for one class, so I bought a few newspapers, but I also bought 2 cars magazines to see what those are like in France. It’s funny, actually, all of the information about the cars is how to get the best deal for your money, and how to shop for a used car or a car that is good on gas, compact for easy parking, and good quality. There’s nothing about how the car sounds or how much HP or how sleek the make is, like in American magazines. It’s very functional. So there’s my cultural difference for the week, haha.
“The entire human experience can be summed up in this phrase: wait and hope.”
So the weather has been getting better, it was 15 degrees Celsius this afternoon, which is about 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Nice temperature for running. Tomorrow, chest permitting, I’m going to go for a run in the morning and ice skating in the afternoon. I think I just need to keep myself occupied and really try to find people to connect with. Tomorrow I’m also having lunch with the pastor of the new church I went to - he invited me over. They are just finishing the Alpha course here - the last meeting is tonight - but I decided to rest and do homework instead of going. I’ll see if they start a Biblestudy or something since the Alpha course is over now. I’m going to ask the pastor tomorrow about whether or not they have a choir or anything like that.
I also have a new language partner, whose name is Alexander. He’s apparently French AND Russian, but he speaks French like a native language, so that’s good. I’m hoping to hang out with him sometime later this week. I have his phone number and I have to call him probably this evening or tomorrow afternoon.
I think my goals are going to be to buckle down and get work done as quickly as possible so I can plan out other things for later this week and this weekend. I think Nora and I might go to the Callanques (cliffs) this weekend to explore and bring un pique-nique (picnic). I’m hoping the weather stays good because I think that is helping my mood a little bit. That and I’ve been listening to Springsteen and getting excited about nice weather and the beach and running and the summer haha. And Dave is coming in less than 2 weeks! I just keep telling myself that I’ll take it one week at a time and finish out the semester. I think my big problem is that the classes aren’t as interesting or engaging as I imagined, so I’m going to have to find my own ways to be interested and engaged. I think I just have to put my own spin on things, like reviewing Arabic on my own and finding a really interesting person to interview for my journalism project. I also have a presentation on the Crusades coming up, so I think I’ll start doing some research and reading on that to get ahead and be super-prepared for everything. I think I just have to find work that is entertaining for me and make it my own. For example, we have to read the press in some fashion for at least an hour each week for one class, so I bought a few newspapers, but I also bought 2 cars magazines to see what those are like in France. It’s funny, actually, all of the information about the cars is how to get the best deal for your money, and how to shop for a used car or a car that is good on gas, compact for easy parking, and good quality. There’s nothing about how the car sounds or how much HP or how sleek the make is, like in American magazines. It’s very functional. So there’s my cultural difference for the week, haha.
“The entire human experience can be summed up in this phrase: wait and hope.”
Sunday, February 21, 2010
the glamour is wearing off
so, in creating a blog, obviously I have to be honest sometimes. right now, i'm not too excited to be here. i'm having an ok time, but not great. i expected things to be a little different, so i'm trying to just stay positive and get through it.
i think i'm struggling because it's so cold and its difficult to find weather to exercise in. if you know me fairly well, running and moving around kind-of keep me sane, so it's been tough with the wind and the fact that i live on a huge hill to find ways to run or exercise. joining a gym is out, since its around 40 euro a month (about $60), and all of the gyms i have seen have been less than impressive.
i'm also struggling because i really miss my friends, my family, my boyfriend, my church, and basically everything i'm used to in the US. i feel like the people here are nice, but distant, so it's hard to feel like i can really be myself and relax. i feel like i always have to be on my best behavior, and i'm not a fan of that. i like to just chill and be myself. last week was nice with Eva because i got to do that a little bit, but its hard to come back to my life in Marseille with limited friends and classes that are interesting enough, but not really very captivating.
so, i'm struggling. but i'm trying to stay positive. i'm going to try to brave the weather and run anyways (i have a little bit of a cold now, so i'll wait a few days). i went to a protestant church (finally found one!) this morning, and many of the people there seemed very welcoming and nice, so i'm hoping to get more involved with their ministry. also, i'm going to just throw myself into my schoolwork and i guess go above and beyond since i seem to have free time to kill.
and right now, i'm going to try to go relax with a movie or reading le Conte de Monte Cristo (the count of monte cristo, my favorite book, and part of the reason i came to Marseille).
i think i'm struggling because it's so cold and its difficult to find weather to exercise in. if you know me fairly well, running and moving around kind-of keep me sane, so it's been tough with the wind and the fact that i live on a huge hill to find ways to run or exercise. joining a gym is out, since its around 40 euro a month (about $60), and all of the gyms i have seen have been less than impressive.
i'm also struggling because i really miss my friends, my family, my boyfriend, my church, and basically everything i'm used to in the US. i feel like the people here are nice, but distant, so it's hard to feel like i can really be myself and relax. i feel like i always have to be on my best behavior, and i'm not a fan of that. i like to just chill and be myself. last week was nice with Eva because i got to do that a little bit, but its hard to come back to my life in Marseille with limited friends and classes that are interesting enough, but not really very captivating.
so, i'm struggling. but i'm trying to stay positive. i'm going to try to brave the weather and run anyways (i have a little bit of a cold now, so i'll wait a few days). i went to a protestant church (finally found one!) this morning, and many of the people there seemed very welcoming and nice, so i'm hoping to get more involved with their ministry. also, i'm going to just throw myself into my schoolwork and i guess go above and beyond since i seem to have free time to kill.
and right now, i'm going to try to go relax with a movie or reading le Conte de Monte Cristo (the count of monte cristo, my favorite book, and part of the reason i came to Marseille).
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
snow and city of sin
Eva, Tony, one of Eva's friends, and I went into Amsterdam on Sunday to explore and do some of the "touristy" things there. We took a boat ride on the canals through Amsterdam, which was very cool, and probably my favorite part of the day. It was about an hour long, and we saw the Queen's Palace, some of the official government buildings, the governor's mansion, and all of the different canals with their different names and personalities. There was a canal with all of the rich business district area, and then there was a canal that had HUGE mansions on either side which were built during the roaring 20s era. All of the architecture was really different, and the buildings were so much older than anything in the US. The tour guide also said that because they have an overcrowding problem in Amsterdam, many people buy boats and live on the canals! It's like a floating condo...It was really really interesting to see, and I took lots of pictures (they are on facebook).
To give you an idea of my impression of the Netherlands (Holland), our boat tour was given in 4 languages - Dutch, German, French, and English, in that order. I think what has made the biggest impression on me from the past 2-3 days is how many other languages people speak. Minimum = 2: Dutch and English, but most students know some Spanish, French, German, Italian, Chinese, etc. Eva, for example, speaks Dutch and English perfectly, and can speak basic Spanish and French, and she understands German and can speak enough to get by. I met another student last night whose parents are Iranian, so she speaks Kurdish, and can understand Farci, in addition to speaking English, Dutch, and Spanish. It's incredible to me, since in the US, students are lucky if they become fluent enough to say they speak ONE other language. Here, it's basically a requirement. I understand it's because Holland is such a small country and does business with many other countries, but man, it's still pretty crazy.
Alright, back to Amsterdam. We also visited the infamous Red Light District (I kid you not, and I'm ashamed to say it: I did not make the connection that it's called the Red Light district because there are red lights above the windows where you can hire a prostitute until about a half an hour after walking around the area). It was shocking, as I expected it to be. There were half-naked women standing in their lingerie in the windows, trying to attract attention; there were a half-dozen sex shops on each block; you could smell pot in the street. It was definitely different, but probably someplace you only visit once, and only for an hour or two, because it's very overwhelming. I think it was a little bit too much for me. One of the strangest things about it was not even the district, but Eva and her friend's attitude about it. Eva told me I couldn't "think about it too much" after telling me that some women choose to live like this and some women are kidnapped and drugged or threatened into becoming prostitutes. They also both told me that the women we saw "weren't as pretty as the whores we have in Den Haag" (their city, 25 min outside Amsterdam). I guess when it's always been there, it seems more normal to the citizens.
Yesterday I went to Spanish class with Eva, which was pretty hilarious since she's already taken 3 semesters of Spanish and I've never taken a class. I had listened to Nora's girlfriend speaking Spanish the first week of classes in Marseille, and I could understand some of what she was saying, so I thought that to be sufficient enough for me to attend this class. Uh, no, I was wrong. We went over the subjunctive tense, so I know how to conjugate most Spanish verbs in the subjunctive, and when you use subjunctive; however, I know hardly any verbs, and I can't conjugate them in present or past tense. Hmm...
Today I went to French class with Eva, and THAT I understood. They are studying the European Union and how it functions between countries, and also more of the communications and public relations side of the EU. It seems like a good field for students who already have such a wide background of languages and cultures.
So this afternoon I'm just doing some Arabic homework and relaxing. I think it will be good for me to get extra rest and just chill during this week. Eva keeps saying how she feels bad that she has work to do and has to go to class, but I honestly don't mind just resting and catching up on Arabic and sleep. I expect my classes to be a little bit harder in the next 2-3 weeks once I go back, since we'll be prepping for mid-terms in 3 1/2 weeks. Dave is coming to visit the week before mid-terms, which I'm very happy about, since most other people's significant other has their spring break DURING our midterms. At least I won't have to worry about tests while Dave's here, and I'm sure I can study more once he's left. He will be in France for almost a full week! :) I can't wait.
To give you an idea of my impression of the Netherlands (Holland), our boat tour was given in 4 languages - Dutch, German, French, and English, in that order. I think what has made the biggest impression on me from the past 2-3 days is how many other languages people speak. Minimum = 2: Dutch and English, but most students know some Spanish, French, German, Italian, Chinese, etc. Eva, for example, speaks Dutch and English perfectly, and can speak basic Spanish and French, and she understands German and can speak enough to get by. I met another student last night whose parents are Iranian, so she speaks Kurdish, and can understand Farci, in addition to speaking English, Dutch, and Spanish. It's incredible to me, since in the US, students are lucky if they become fluent enough to say they speak ONE other language. Here, it's basically a requirement. I understand it's because Holland is such a small country and does business with many other countries, but man, it's still pretty crazy.
Alright, back to Amsterdam. We also visited the infamous Red Light District (I kid you not, and I'm ashamed to say it: I did not make the connection that it's called the Red Light district because there are red lights above the windows where you can hire a prostitute until about a half an hour after walking around the area). It was shocking, as I expected it to be. There were half-naked women standing in their lingerie in the windows, trying to attract attention; there were a half-dozen sex shops on each block; you could smell pot in the street. It was definitely different, but probably someplace you only visit once, and only for an hour or two, because it's very overwhelming. I think it was a little bit too much for me. One of the strangest things about it was not even the district, but Eva and her friend's attitude about it. Eva told me I couldn't "think about it too much" after telling me that some women choose to live like this and some women are kidnapped and drugged or threatened into becoming prostitutes. They also both told me that the women we saw "weren't as pretty as the whores we have in Den Haag" (their city, 25 min outside Amsterdam). I guess when it's always been there, it seems more normal to the citizens.
Yesterday I went to Spanish class with Eva, which was pretty hilarious since she's already taken 3 semesters of Spanish and I've never taken a class. I had listened to Nora's girlfriend speaking Spanish the first week of classes in Marseille, and I could understand some of what she was saying, so I thought that to be sufficient enough for me to attend this class. Uh, no, I was wrong. We went over the subjunctive tense, so I know how to conjugate most Spanish verbs in the subjunctive, and when you use subjunctive; however, I know hardly any verbs, and I can't conjugate them in present or past tense. Hmm...
Today I went to French class with Eva, and THAT I understood. They are studying the European Union and how it functions between countries, and also more of the communications and public relations side of the EU. It seems like a good field for students who already have such a wide background of languages and cultures.
So this afternoon I'm just doing some Arabic homework and relaxing. I think it will be good for me to get extra rest and just chill during this week. Eva keeps saying how she feels bad that she has work to do and has to go to class, but I honestly don't mind just resting and catching up on Arabic and sleep. I expect my classes to be a little bit harder in the next 2-3 weeks once I go back, since we'll be prepping for mid-terms in 3 1/2 weeks. Dave is coming to visit the week before mid-terms, which I'm very happy about, since most other people's significant other has their spring break DURING our midterms. At least I won't have to worry about tests while Dave's here, and I'm sure I can study more once he's left. He will be in France for almost a full week! :) I can't wait.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
amster-amster-dam dam dam
hello all! i'm in Den Haag, in the Netherlands, visiting Eva, who was an exchange student at Muhlenberg and also my gym buddy for all of last semester! She's so nice to put me up for the week, and her boyfriend and all of her friends are also very nice. Her boyfriend speaks French, so I can keep practicing, and with Eva too a little bit. her boyfriend, Tony, is "fou" (crazy) as the French say, but he's very funny. other than that, most people speak at least some english, but a lot of the time thyey speak Dutch when they're just hanging out, so it's very weird for me, since i speak about 3 words of Dutch, which I learned last night, haha. I'm hoping to pick some more up by the end of the week. It sounds a little bit like German, but not as harsh-sounding (sorry for all you German-language fans), and the "gutteral" noises sound a bit more like Arabic to me.
Classes are still going well; not much to report. Classes and the schedule here are pretty regular, pretty standard, but there's not a TON out of outside work, so I feel like I have much more free time than at Muhlenberg. Which is good in some ways: i'm sure I will love it when the weather is better, but for now, it's been more of me hanging out inside since it's been so chilly, looking at what everyone else has been up to during their semester's abroad, and missing home a little bit (missing dave a lot).
I'll update again tomorrow. Eva and Tony are back from their V-day dinner now, and I've got a skype date with Dave soon!
Classes are still going well; not much to report. Classes and the schedule here are pretty regular, pretty standard, but there's not a TON out of outside work, so I feel like I have much more free time than at Muhlenberg. Which is good in some ways: i'm sure I will love it when the weather is better, but for now, it's been more of me hanging out inside since it's been so chilly, looking at what everyone else has been up to during their semester's abroad, and missing home a little bit (missing dave a lot).
I'll update again tomorrow. Eva and Tony are back from their V-day dinner now, and I've got a skype date with Dave soon!
Friday, February 5, 2010
new classes
bonjour! I just finished my first full week of classes, and I must say, it's going to be quite the semester. I'll break it down by class:
Arabic: There are two of us in the class, so...it's basically one-on-one tutoring, which is great, but very difficult. I'm excited that I'm going to be progressing so much (as in, I might be able to hold a conversation when I go to Morocco), but the pace is incredible to keep up with. The professor, who is fluent, is one of those teachers who means very, very well, but doesn't understand that it takes beginners longer to comprehend things. He's a very nice man, and very good at teaching, actually. He gives great examples. I think it's just a matter of me getting used to learning Arabic in French and remembering everything I've forgotten in the past 8 months, then putting those pieces together in French instead of English.
Cultural Patterns: I don't know what to make of this class. The professor, Madame Sellé, seems nice, but she's got a little bit of a fake air about her. She has this little fake laugh she does when she's trying to explain some of the cultural differences between Americans and French, maybe because some of it is sensitive and she's trying to make light of it so no one is offended or taking anything too seriously? I made her laugh for real last class, and she has a very nice real laugh. We were talking about Paris and how, as a city, it functions differently than Marseille. In Marseille, one student made the observation that people are less observant of when someone behind them would like to pass them in the streets. They also seem less likely to go "single-file" to accommodate people who would like to walk faster. We talked about how American culture is very busy, and time is essential to us, and how in France, maybe there's a little bit more respect for walking for the sake of it, and enjoying the walk, taking your time. We talked about how Paris isn't like Marseille as much; there is a line of people who stay to the right if they want to go slower, and you may pass them on the left. She asked us why we thought Paris was different. No one had a quick answer, so I raised my hand and said that maybe there were so many tourists that they had forced the French to change their rules. This is what made her laugh for real - and Mme Sellé said she HAS to tell her Parisian friends, since I guess they will also find that entertaining. I'm not sure I quite get the joke, but it was nice for her to be genuine. In terms of work, that class is a little uncomfortable because you're basically judging the other culture or your own culture at any given point. It's hard to say things in a politically correct way, or to express things that are so deeply ingrained in who you are, culturally. I think only having 6 opinions also makes it difficult; there's a lot of silent pauses while we all try to process, haha.
Middle Eastern Political Development: Oh, Monsieur LePape! The first day, he told us that this class would be pretty much all lecture, with reading newspapers and doing 1-2 "exposés" (mini presentations) throughout the semester. Perfect! One easy class, and he specified that he wanted the class to be easier because the ideas that we're learning about are complex, and he has all the information. He also said he wants us to be like little sponges, and just soak in knowledge, ideas, attitudes from both sides of every issue, and then (without judging) be able to regurgitate that information in a non-biased manner. Awesome. I am a huge fan of when professors teach in a very clean-cut, observational manner, rather than throwing a certain slant on everything. I've already learned a TON about the Middle East in just 2 days of class, and I feel like this is going to be a very low key, but very enriching and engaging class.
Understanding Islam: Our professor gave us 1200-1500 pages of material the first day, in the form of 10-12 packets, of all of our reading for the entire semester. It's to be divided up into 5 categories for us each to make a presentation on. I'm presenting on the Crusades and Saladin. Watch "Kingdom of Heaven" if you want to get some background on what I'll be studying in depth. I have to say, in listening to some of his ideas about stuff, I'm not sure I'm going to agree with him on things. He's the kind of professor that when you ask a question, he doesn't give you an answer. He goes off explaining the circumstances surrounding your question and then forgets what your question was, so he just expands on the subject until he feels he's answered your question. As such, he's difficult to understand, and I think both sides struggle with the other side's accent (aka he's not used to American accents and we're not used to how he speaks French). I'm trying to be open-minded because I'd really like a thorough understanding of Islam, but not from a religiously-slanted view. He told the story of Abraham from a Muslim perspective, and that was very interesting. It's much different.
French Linguistics: Hmm, I feel like there's not much to report here. My professor is nice, she's pretty organized, and we go over small French grammar points and work on expressing ourselves better orally and in writing. So, we have writing assignments, both creative and journalistic. We have to conduct an "entretien", an interview, at some point during the semester.
And that's all for classes. Socially, I'm struggling a little with the fact that there's only 6 students. Nora, my neighbor, is great, and I really like her. We hung out with some of her friends from last semester last night. It was my first time really joking around a lot in French. We went out to eat with her two friends, Thibault and I'm embarrassed to say I cannot figure out how to spell the second guy's name. They were both very funny, and we all had a great time. Nora and I convinced Thibault, who's a huge football (soccer) fan, that we knew two of the players from OM, which is Marseille's big soccer team. We literally just picked random guy's names that sounded really French (Jean-Claude and Philippe), and we had Thibault completely stumped as to who these players were and what position they played. He's going to "look it up and get back to us." We also taught them about Fluff, which they don't sell here.
I had the flu or some sort of bug or something earlier this week. I'm recovering, I think. Luckily I don't have class Wednesdays, so I had time to recover.
My host family is leaving this weekend for a week - ah! I've invited Nora and some of the other students to stay here on the different nights that they'll be gone. I'd rather not be in a house in France all by myself, haha, but I've probably been watching too many spy shows on la télé. Superbowl on Sunday! It starts at midnight here - woo, I'm gonna be zonked on Monday. Oh well. Go Saints!
Arabic: There are two of us in the class, so...it's basically one-on-one tutoring, which is great, but very difficult. I'm excited that I'm going to be progressing so much (as in, I might be able to hold a conversation when I go to Morocco), but the pace is incredible to keep up with. The professor, who is fluent, is one of those teachers who means very, very well, but doesn't understand that it takes beginners longer to comprehend things. He's a very nice man, and very good at teaching, actually. He gives great examples. I think it's just a matter of me getting used to learning Arabic in French and remembering everything I've forgotten in the past 8 months, then putting those pieces together in French instead of English.
Cultural Patterns: I don't know what to make of this class. The professor, Madame Sellé, seems nice, but she's got a little bit of a fake air about her. She has this little fake laugh she does when she's trying to explain some of the cultural differences between Americans and French, maybe because some of it is sensitive and she's trying to make light of it so no one is offended or taking anything too seriously? I made her laugh for real last class, and she has a very nice real laugh. We were talking about Paris and how, as a city, it functions differently than Marseille. In Marseille, one student made the observation that people are less observant of when someone behind them would like to pass them in the streets. They also seem less likely to go "single-file" to accommodate people who would like to walk faster. We talked about how American culture is very busy, and time is essential to us, and how in France, maybe there's a little bit more respect for walking for the sake of it, and enjoying the walk, taking your time. We talked about how Paris isn't like Marseille as much; there is a line of people who stay to the right if they want to go slower, and you may pass them on the left. She asked us why we thought Paris was different. No one had a quick answer, so I raised my hand and said that maybe there were so many tourists that they had forced the French to change their rules. This is what made her laugh for real - and Mme Sellé said she HAS to tell her Parisian friends, since I guess they will also find that entertaining. I'm not sure I quite get the joke, but it was nice for her to be genuine. In terms of work, that class is a little uncomfortable because you're basically judging the other culture or your own culture at any given point. It's hard to say things in a politically correct way, or to express things that are so deeply ingrained in who you are, culturally. I think only having 6 opinions also makes it difficult; there's a lot of silent pauses while we all try to process, haha.
Middle Eastern Political Development: Oh, Monsieur LePape! The first day, he told us that this class would be pretty much all lecture, with reading newspapers and doing 1-2 "exposés" (mini presentations) throughout the semester. Perfect! One easy class, and he specified that he wanted the class to be easier because the ideas that we're learning about are complex, and he has all the information. He also said he wants us to be like little sponges, and just soak in knowledge, ideas, attitudes from both sides of every issue, and then (without judging) be able to regurgitate that information in a non-biased manner. Awesome. I am a huge fan of when professors teach in a very clean-cut, observational manner, rather than throwing a certain slant on everything. I've already learned a TON about the Middle East in just 2 days of class, and I feel like this is going to be a very low key, but very enriching and engaging class.
Understanding Islam: Our professor gave us 1200-1500 pages of material the first day, in the form of 10-12 packets, of all of our reading for the entire semester. It's to be divided up into 5 categories for us each to make a presentation on. I'm presenting on the Crusades and Saladin. Watch "Kingdom of Heaven" if you want to get some background on what I'll be studying in depth. I have to say, in listening to some of his ideas about stuff, I'm not sure I'm going to agree with him on things. He's the kind of professor that when you ask a question, he doesn't give you an answer. He goes off explaining the circumstances surrounding your question and then forgets what your question was, so he just expands on the subject until he feels he's answered your question. As such, he's difficult to understand, and I think both sides struggle with the other side's accent (aka he's not used to American accents and we're not used to how he speaks French). I'm trying to be open-minded because I'd really like a thorough understanding of Islam, but not from a religiously-slanted view. He told the story of Abraham from a Muslim perspective, and that was very interesting. It's much different.
French Linguistics: Hmm, I feel like there's not much to report here. My professor is nice, she's pretty organized, and we go over small French grammar points and work on expressing ourselves better orally and in writing. So, we have writing assignments, both creative and journalistic. We have to conduct an "entretien", an interview, at some point during the semester.
And that's all for classes. Socially, I'm struggling a little with the fact that there's only 6 students. Nora, my neighbor, is great, and I really like her. We hung out with some of her friends from last semester last night. It was my first time really joking around a lot in French. We went out to eat with her two friends, Thibault and I'm embarrassed to say I cannot figure out how to spell the second guy's name. They were both very funny, and we all had a great time. Nora and I convinced Thibault, who's a huge football (soccer) fan, that we knew two of the players from OM, which is Marseille's big soccer team. We literally just picked random guy's names that sounded really French (Jean-Claude and Philippe), and we had Thibault completely stumped as to who these players were and what position they played. He's going to "look it up and get back to us." We also taught them about Fluff, which they don't sell here.
I had the flu or some sort of bug or something earlier this week. I'm recovering, I think. Luckily I don't have class Wednesdays, so I had time to recover.
My host family is leaving this weekend for a week - ah! I've invited Nora and some of the other students to stay here on the different nights that they'll be gone. I'd rather not be in a house in France all by myself, haha, but I've probably been watching too many spy shows on la télé. Superbowl on Sunday! It starts at midnight here - woo, I'm gonna be zonked on Monday. Oh well. Go Saints!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
one week!
hi all - i survived my first week of orientation classes. it was hard, we were in class from basically 9am to 5-6 at night, lots of thinking and doing in french. but i made it through, and now i have my regular schedule. i have no classes on wednesdays, which will be nice so i can do other things, like go ice skating or explore marseille, or when its nicer go to the BEACH!
every day i wake up and look outside, and i'm amazed. everything is so different but so beautiful. i feel like i'm getting accustomed to many different things at once: living in a city, walking places or using a bus/subway system, meeting new people, speaking french all the time, thinking in french, getting used to my family. i'm not stressed, though, somehow, haha. things have been very regulated up until now, but i'm sure once i have lots of hw i'll feel a little bit of pressure.
i signed up for a library card, and i found a really cool ice skating rink, which is like a half an hour walk from my house or a 20 min walk from my school. i have yet to find a lutheran church here (i think catholicism is the ruling religion), so i've sent out a few emails but put that on hold until i can find something. i went to church this morning at the highest point in marseille, and the notre dame de la garde cathedrale behind my house. it's quite the hike, but the views are incredible.
there's a lot of sun here, but its chilly because le "mistral" (their word for the wind that blows here) is very strong at times. not as cold as Maine, but i'm glad to have my northface and my gloves.
we have these language partners, and i met mine on friday night. his name is david and he's in his last year of high school, but he's 19 or 20 i think. their school is a little bit different. he plays tennis a lot during the week, but i'm hoping that on weekends we can hang out. we spend half the time speaking in french and half in english. i went out with my friend Nora's language partner and some other american students on friday night. i don't know how i feel about going out here, since everyone smokes and it's very expensive. but, incredibly, you can walk around downtown marseille with your own bottle of alcohol for the night. the first time i saw two guys walking around with their OPEN bottles of wine, i was like WHAT??? apparently if you're rowdy and cause a problem, you can get in trouble, since it's technically illegal. but if you're not bothering anyone, no worries, you can walk around with your own bottle of alcohol all night, haha. don't worry, i'm not gonna be a drunk while i'm here - i haven't had more than 2 glasses of wine since i got here. the idea of being intoxicated in downtown marseille is a little daunting, haha.
so for classes, i'm going to be in a class with only one other student for arabic, which i am pretty nervous about, since i don't think my knowledge of arabic is very advanced, but the other student has studied for 3-4 semesters - yikes! but it'll be a lot of individual attention, which is great. i'm hoping to improve a lot with such individualized classes. same for all my classes really, since the largest class we'll have is 6 students.
it's a little weird to have so few students. i went to my friend laura's last night and we were talking about it. we're hoping that there's no drama and that everyone can get along, haha, since there's only 6 of us it could get uncomfortable pretty quickly if there's personal issues. i don't see it being a problem, though. there's just a limited number of friends to make, which is kinda strange.
i'm very lucky, though, because my host sister is about my age and she's very very nice. she invited me to go to the movies last night, but i had to take a raincheck since i was making dinner with laura. my family also invited me to go skiing with them, but its too expensive and its the same weekend as the superbowl, lol. can't get all of the american out of me yet!
"is this the real life? is this just fantasy? caught in a landslide, no escape from reality. open your eyes, look up to the skies and see..."
every day i wake up and look outside, and i'm amazed. everything is so different but so beautiful. i feel like i'm getting accustomed to many different things at once: living in a city, walking places or using a bus/subway system, meeting new people, speaking french all the time, thinking in french, getting used to my family. i'm not stressed, though, somehow, haha. things have been very regulated up until now, but i'm sure once i have lots of hw i'll feel a little bit of pressure.
i signed up for a library card, and i found a really cool ice skating rink, which is like a half an hour walk from my house or a 20 min walk from my school. i have yet to find a lutheran church here (i think catholicism is the ruling religion), so i've sent out a few emails but put that on hold until i can find something. i went to church this morning at the highest point in marseille, and the notre dame de la garde cathedrale behind my house. it's quite the hike, but the views are incredible.
there's a lot of sun here, but its chilly because le "mistral" (their word for the wind that blows here) is very strong at times. not as cold as Maine, but i'm glad to have my northface and my gloves.
we have these language partners, and i met mine on friday night. his name is david and he's in his last year of high school, but he's 19 or 20 i think. their school is a little bit different. he plays tennis a lot during the week, but i'm hoping that on weekends we can hang out. we spend half the time speaking in french and half in english. i went out with my friend Nora's language partner and some other american students on friday night. i don't know how i feel about going out here, since everyone smokes and it's very expensive. but, incredibly, you can walk around downtown marseille with your own bottle of alcohol for the night. the first time i saw two guys walking around with their OPEN bottles of wine, i was like WHAT??? apparently if you're rowdy and cause a problem, you can get in trouble, since it's technically illegal. but if you're not bothering anyone, no worries, you can walk around with your own bottle of alcohol all night, haha. don't worry, i'm not gonna be a drunk while i'm here - i haven't had more than 2 glasses of wine since i got here. the idea of being intoxicated in downtown marseille is a little daunting, haha.
so for classes, i'm going to be in a class with only one other student for arabic, which i am pretty nervous about, since i don't think my knowledge of arabic is very advanced, but the other student has studied for 3-4 semesters - yikes! but it'll be a lot of individual attention, which is great. i'm hoping to improve a lot with such individualized classes. same for all my classes really, since the largest class we'll have is 6 students.
it's a little weird to have so few students. i went to my friend laura's last night and we were talking about it. we're hoping that there's no drama and that everyone can get along, haha, since there's only 6 of us it could get uncomfortable pretty quickly if there's personal issues. i don't see it being a problem, though. there's just a limited number of friends to make, which is kinda strange.
i'm very lucky, though, because my host sister is about my age and she's very very nice. she invited me to go to the movies last night, but i had to take a raincheck since i was making dinner with laura. my family also invited me to go skiing with them, but its too expensive and its the same weekend as the superbowl, lol. can't get all of the american out of me yet!
"is this the real life? is this just fantasy? caught in a landslide, no escape from reality. open your eyes, look up to the skies and see..."
Sunday, January 24, 2010
HERE!
bonjour tout le monde!
i arrived yesterday in Marseille - very late at night - i was exhausted. i was a little homesick last night, but i'm feeling better today, and Marseille is awesome! i am 20 minutes away par pied (walking) to my university, and pretty much the same distance from everything else, including the beach. my host family is very nice. my host mom, Michele, showed me where my school was this morning, and then my host father, Jean-Marc, gave me a virtual tour via un plan (a map) of Marseille. He showed me all the places to go and how to walk there.
I also have a neighbor who is in my program who lives on the same hill as me, about 2 minutes away. we're going to walk to school together, and today we went to visit Notre Dame de La Garde, a huge cathedral which is literally a 10-minute HIKE up a huge hill right behind my house.
Forgive me if this is choppy - i've been speaking all in French, and it seems a little weird to be speaking in English. It was very difficult at first to only speak in French, but i feel myself getting better and better at it. It's easier to speak with other students, like when Nora and I went for a walk this afternoon, because we speak at the same speed and with a similar accent. The Marseillais accent is difficult to understand sometimes. My host sister, Camille, is very sweet - she's 20. I'm actually going to go watch my first french film without subtitles in a few minutes, woo!
i'll have more updates on structure of classes and stuff, but for now, the photos will have to do.
a bientot!
i arrived yesterday in Marseille - very late at night - i was exhausted. i was a little homesick last night, but i'm feeling better today, and Marseille is awesome! i am 20 minutes away par pied (walking) to my university, and pretty much the same distance from everything else, including the beach. my host family is very nice. my host mom, Michele, showed me where my school was this morning, and then my host father, Jean-Marc, gave me a virtual tour via un plan (a map) of Marseille. He showed me all the places to go and how to walk there.
I also have a neighbor who is in my program who lives on the same hill as me, about 2 minutes away. we're going to walk to school together, and today we went to visit Notre Dame de La Garde, a huge cathedral which is literally a 10-minute HIKE up a huge hill right behind my house.
Forgive me if this is choppy - i've been speaking all in French, and it seems a little weird to be speaking in English. It was very difficult at first to only speak in French, but i feel myself getting better and better at it. It's easier to speak with other students, like when Nora and I went for a walk this afternoon, because we speak at the same speed and with a similar accent. The Marseillais accent is difficult to understand sometimes. My host sister, Camille, is very sweet - she's 20. I'm actually going to go watch my first french film without subtitles in a few minutes, woo!
i'll have more updates on structure of classes and stuff, but for now, the photos will have to do.
a bientot!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Final Days in Portland
The last few days have been crazy, but I've been trying to relax and not freak out about leaving. I've been trying to fit in visiting everyone and saying goodbye. I said goodbye to folks at Muhlenberg over the weekend, which was tough (especially to Dave), but I'm feeling more emotionally ready over the past couple of days. It was weird to see everyone starting off classes; I'm ready to be doing something constructive with my life again, haha.
I went out to Sea Dog restaurant tonight with Andrea for my last blueberry beer in a while, unless magically France decides to abandon its obsession with wine and switch to fruity beers while I'm there. My mom and I spent part of yesterday looking up my address in Marseille on google maps. Google is brilliant - I could see my street and what the city looks like at ground level. Gotta love advances in technology. Anyways it made me much more excited, and it definitely made my mom feel better about where I'd be, since there's been some talk about Marseille being a rough-and-tumble, drug trafficking kind of place.
I've been reviewing vocabulary and reading up about French culture at the gym and in my spare time, trying to make sure I can express myself as best as I can. I'm going to try to call my host family tomorrow, but it might not work out with the timing since I'm leaving so early for Boston. It'll be 4 or 4:30 in the afternoon when I call them, so if they are like normal people who hold a job, they'll probably still be at work. I can leave a voicemail, though, and send them an email if I need to.
My next post will either be in an airport or in France!
“Remember what Bilbo used to say: It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.” -J.R.R. Tolkien
I went out to Sea Dog restaurant tonight with Andrea for my last blueberry beer in a while, unless magically France decides to abandon its obsession with wine and switch to fruity beers while I'm there. My mom and I spent part of yesterday looking up my address in Marseille on google maps. Google is brilliant - I could see my street and what the city looks like at ground level. Gotta love advances in technology. Anyways it made me much more excited, and it definitely made my mom feel better about where I'd be, since there's been some talk about Marseille being a rough-and-tumble, drug trafficking kind of place.
I've been reviewing vocabulary and reading up about French culture at the gym and in my spare time, trying to make sure I can express myself as best as I can. I'm going to try to call my host family tomorrow, but it might not work out with the timing since I'm leaving so early for Boston. It'll be 4 or 4:30 in the afternoon when I call them, so if they are like normal people who hold a job, they'll probably still be at work. I can leave a voicemail, though, and send them an email if I need to.
My next post will either be in an airport or in France!
“Remember what Bilbo used to say: It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.” -J.R.R. Tolkien
Friday, January 15, 2010
So it begins...
Hi All!
I will be using this blog to keep family and friends back at home updated on my experiences in Marseille, France, where I will be for the spring semester.
So far, it's been a bit of a headache getting ready to leave. There was some drama with the Study Abroad office at Muhlenberg, and some rushing to get my visa last minute, but as of now, I am finally all set document-wise, and ready to go.
I leave Friday, January 22, 2010 from Boston. I fly to Philadelphia early Friday evening and am then taking an overnight flight from Philly to Amsterdam. My friend Eva who was an exchange student at Muhlenberg last semester is from Rotterdam, right outside of Amsterdam, so she and her boyfriend are coming to keep me company at the airport while I wait to fly out to Marseille. I get in at 10:45am, and I don't fly out of Amsterdam to Marseille until 8:30 at night, which means I will meet my host family at 10:30pm, after almost 34 hours of traveling. I'm planning to sleep on the first leg of the journey, from Philly to Amsterdam, and then I'll be up during the day Saturday but hopefully will be able to sleep a little bit on the flight Saturday night into Marseille.
I find out about my host family on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, and then I get to call them briefly before I leave. So I get to figure out how to make an international phone call, since I haven't done that before.
A bien-tot!
Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes. ~Henry David Thoreau
I will be using this blog to keep family and friends back at home updated on my experiences in Marseille, France, where I will be for the spring semester.
So far, it's been a bit of a headache getting ready to leave. There was some drama with the Study Abroad office at Muhlenberg, and some rushing to get my visa last minute, but as of now, I am finally all set document-wise, and ready to go.
I leave Friday, January 22, 2010 from Boston. I fly to Philadelphia early Friday evening and am then taking an overnight flight from Philly to Amsterdam. My friend Eva who was an exchange student at Muhlenberg last semester is from Rotterdam, right outside of Amsterdam, so she and her boyfriend are coming to keep me company at the airport while I wait to fly out to Marseille. I get in at 10:45am, and I don't fly out of Amsterdam to Marseille until 8:30 at night, which means I will meet my host family at 10:30pm, after almost 34 hours of traveling. I'm planning to sleep on the first leg of the journey, from Philly to Amsterdam, and then I'll be up during the day Saturday but hopefully will be able to sleep a little bit on the flight Saturday night into Marseille.
I find out about my host family on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, and then I get to call them briefly before I leave. So I get to figure out how to make an international phone call, since I haven't done that before.
A bien-tot!
Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes. ~Henry David Thoreau
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