I made a traditional italian risotto that night. It was the first time I'd made it without using measuring cups. I was so nervous but it turned out terrific! I shared it with Molly, Kami, and Danielle--they liked it too, or at least they said they did. Ha haha. Here's a close-up of the risotto. We didn't have anything on the side, so it would've looked lonely on a plate.
The 1st of October was the start of my french education journey. I'm taking 20 credit hours which is the minimum here. This week we get to try out every class and decide officially which ones we want to take by the start of the next week.
Monday consisted of Histoire de Français at 13h00, followed by a 30 minute break, and then Langue Français with my favorite prof Madame Moreels from 15h00 to 17h30. My history prof looks like a much older Jason Mraz. I haven't heard him sing, but he has a nice speaking voice. He's pretty cool though. Though I already love history, he makes it even more interesting. This will be a great class. We started our discussion on the cave drawings in Lascaux. They're the oldest 'graphics' discovered from the Paleolithic Age.
I met two americans in class today, Dana and Vanessa, who are both from Nebraska. These girls are super cool and extremely funny. We walked to the Cours Mirabeau after class to get our books and some out-of-this-world ice cream. I got the Tiramisu flavor...YUM!!!
Later that evening, Danielle and I decided that we wanted to go out to eat. We weren't super hungry so we ended up walking around for hours, looking at the different restaurants and their menus. It was amazing to be able to see such variety in such a small area. We ended up going to an italian restaurant that was just up the street from her apartment. I ordered fettuchini carbonera and Danielle got a meat lasagna that had the best sauce I've ever tasted. We spent less than 20 euro for the meal, so it we weren't exactly splurging, but we definitely got more than or money's worth. Plus, our waitress was awesome. She enjoyed practicing her english with us.
Tuesday came around, I had French at 8h30, then French Affairs at 12h00, and Phoenetics at 15h30. I've decided not to take French Affairs. It's mostly business talk and I've never taken a business class in my life--nothing will make it interesting now...especially not learning it in a foreign language. I ended up missing Phoenetics because Yann needed me home to let the internet guy in. The guy ended up not showing up until hours later. No big deal though, the only thing I missed in class was how to pronounce the french alphabet, ha haha. I think I'll live.
I waited for Danielle to get out of class that day because she had invited me to her program's weekly happy hour at the Carrefoure. The CEA program is so great!!! Vivienne--the program director, organizes a ton of excursions at a low price and allows anyone to come--whether they are CEA or not. I'm so grateful to have met these girls and Vivienne because my program pretty much just exists to take your money. There is no such thing as a CSA excursion or happy hour. CEA is the best! And I guess the rest of the world has recognized it because they were just ranked #1 for study abroad programs! Go Vivienne!!! We love you!!!
Later that night, Danielle, Kari, and I went over to Lydia and Maggie's apartment to make dinner. Lydia made these delicious zucchini wands stuffed with 3 cheeses, Maggie made a traditional stringy pasta in a red sauce, and I made my classic chicken in a balsamic/red wine reduction. It was delicious! We've made these dinners a regular thing and I'm so happy for it. You all know I like to eat :-)
I didn't have class until 15h00 on Wednesday so I agreed to meet with another au pair family for lunch. This couple was younger, both 32, with two girls who are 4 and 1.5 years old. They wanted to meet at Haagen Daaz on the Cours Mirabeau and though I left with plenty of time to get there, I ended up getting lost, ha haha. I was a few minutes late but they were sweet about it. They decided to take me to a QuickBurger for lunch so we could talk. I'm not sure but I think they thought that because I was American that I'd miss McD's...Anyway, they're super cool and don't require much work to be done. No cleaning, no cooking, and just 2 hours of babysitting per day with weekends completely off and a cell phone that they would supply. But they live 15-20 minutes outside of Aix and the car wouldn't be available all the time. Also, pay is only 70 euro every other week. I haven't told them yet that I'm not interested.
Thursday morning while waiting for class to begin, I heard students screaming outside. It turns out that they were on strike because they think they work too hard. Earlier that week, there was a police strike. And yes, they always get what they want, but that would not fly in the states.
Class began on time. It was French Journalism at 8h30. The professor seemed a bit snobby but I figured I was being a snob for thinking that. Boy...I was wrong...He truly was!!! Monsieur Galibert normally teaches Level 5 classes and we are Level 3, he was just substituting for Madame Martins who is sick. Level 1 is for beginner french and level 5 is advanced. Though he promised to speak slow, he forgot. He would also use the word being defined in a definition...I guess no one ever taught him not to do that. Probably hinted by our confused visages, he told us that if we were confused about something, that we should raise our hand. We were confused about EVERYTHING, so we decided not to interrupt the class with our questions since he didn't know the proper way to explain a concept anyway. I'm not sure if it's the American way or my way, but if I don't understand something, I take a note, look it up, then if I still can't find it, I go to my prof. Well, he didn't like this method...He ended up zeroing in on this quiet chinese girl. He asked her to repeat what he had just described, she got out her pocket translator and he immediately told her that she couldn't use it, so she told him that she didn't understand. He then asked for her note paper, he practically rips it out of her hands and holds it up for the class to see, scoffing, saying "So...great. You only copied down the words I had written on the board." He tosses the paper back to her and starts on the rest of the class. He asked who understood his lecture and only one person had their hand up--Francis, who's been living in France for years. After being a condescending tool and telling everyone that if they don't understand him even though he's being easy on us, he called a break, and some of us left the class--for good.
Crystal, Dana, and I left the class together and headed toward the market to look at the goods. I didn't have class for another 3 hours and the girls didn't have another class until that afternoon so we spent the day shopping. I bought some pearl earrings and a rune pendant for good luck.
Thursday ends my work week. I have no classes Friday. I can't wait to tell you what happened this weekend!!! I'll post tonight :-)
Until then!
No comments:
Post a Comment