Change

This week has been a big week both in terms of language development and, more generally, in terms of life development. I named this blog the way I did because I knew there would be change, and lots of it during this year so far away from home. In many ways, I thought that because I knew that the change was coming it wouldn't be such a big deal. Before I left, I had spoken to friends, family, and professors about the sort of experiences I would have here. Most of those conversations centered around the language development and culture, not necessarily the personal changes that have occurred since I've been here. I knew all about the stages of culture shock that I would experience after several lectures from friends and professors at Agnes Scott. If you've been reading the blog, you've seen me go through three of the five stages, from Honeymoon to Negotiation to Adjustment, which is where I'd say I am now. I probably won't experience all five stages since I'm only in France for ten months. My point is that I thought I understood what I was getting in to. But it tuns out that my mother was right, like she nearly always is. This experience has and will continue to change me in unexpected ways, and I will return to the States a year older and a million experiences later a very different person than who I was when I left.

TDs and Job Interviews!

It hasn't been that interesting, so just one post this week. Mostly just info on a couple of job interviews I had this week and how horrifyingly hard my classes here are. Seriously, sometimes I think these professors look out at a class full of students and are thinking, hmmm... How can I scare the bejeezus out of them today? ooooh! I know, I'll talk nonstop for two hours in a completely disorganized way jumping from topic to topic making it impossible for them to take coherent notes! Won't that be fun! There's just a little taster for you guys. There's more to come!

Splashing & Crashing, a good book, and my date with a sandwich

After my first full week of classes both with the Sweetbriar program and at the Sorbonne, I feel like I'm finally starting to get the hang of life in Paris. I'm not saying I don't make linguistic blunders (stay tuned for the latest) and I'm no longer immediately recognized as an American by locals, but I know how everything works and I'm confidant that I can make myself understood in most situations. This week was full of some really fun little stories that I think everyone will get a kick out of; they involve a hilarious grammatical error, an amazing literary experience, and a grammar lesson that changed my life.

Arrival in Paris

 I have been in Paris now for 3 full days, and they've been fabulous! I guess I'll start with the host family and work from there. I'm living in a 2-parent home with 5 kids; 4 boys and 1 girl. They are between the ages of 14-22. The two oldest, the girl and boy #1 don't live in the house full time, but they come for dinner or something sometimes. But the family is also playing host to another young boy, about 12 or 13 who's living with them for the year so he can go to the private middle school (collège) that he wants to. This isn't that uncommon, as I understand it. So the apartment is HUGE for

"Americain"

So several times in the last couple of weeks, I've run into this idea that Americans speak "Americain" and English people (as in from the UK) speak "Anglais". More than one French person has said things like "oh, you speak American? I only speak a little English." This struck me as completely bizarre. So a few nights ago when my host Mom asked me how to say something in American, My American roomie and I decided to start a conversation about this perplexing phenomenon. We asked why she said American, and not English; and she said it was because they were two different languages, right? I'm not talking like different dialects or accents, she was under the impression that they were two separate languages, like Spanish and

La Musée des Beaux Arts and Academic Preparation for Paris

So on Monday, a pretty large group of Sweet Briar people got to go on a guided visit of the art museum in Tours. It's a really great museum for such a small town, and houses artwork from the really old (I'm talking 7th or 8th century) to the modern (1980s and later) The building is very thoughtfully arranged, with the older stuff in the older area of the building where the floors squeak and the doorways/hallways are smaller, while the more modern art is in the area of the museum that was constructed within the last 20-30 years. This is all great, but the best part of our visit was our tour guide. I've christened him "Monsieur Moustache", and he's fabulous. If you want to see him in action, go check out the video on the facebook page. Even if you all don't speak French, you will appreciate how utterly adorable he is!

Classes at l'Institute de Touraine and a truly French encounter...

So today marks the half-way point of my time in Tours, France. Tours is a small city about 3 hours outside Paris, on the Loire River. During these first two weeks, I have been attending classes about 3 hours a day at l'Institute de Touraine with the other 78 students in the program. They've divided us up into four classes with 15-20 people in each of them for our grammar classes. The grammar class lasts two hours every day, from 9:45-11:45am. It is taught by a French professor who speaks minimal to no English. Apart from the fact that there is no English spoken in the class, it's your normal French grammar class with written work and some discussion of the proper usage of certain tenses, modes, etc. For example, yesterday we each wrote an exciting

Settling in

So I've been here a week and now have figured a few things out. Not everything, but the super duper important things, like where and how to send a postcard to the States, how to order something at a restaurant/understand what the menu says about the items, and find the nearest bus stop. It's a start, definitely. And I generally understand everything that is said to me, but formulating a response can take me a bit sometimes. So here's a general run-down of what I've been doing this week.

In the program, there are 79 other students from universities all over the country; the biggest groups (I think) are from Northwestern (20), Whittier (about 10), and Amherst (around 7); I am the only one from Agnes Scott.

Utterly exhausted after a really exciting day. Just going to put up some pics for you all to see :D Bonne nuit!

I have arrived! We flew in this morning, arriving in Paris at about 11 am local time. While this was one of the most exhausting trips I have ever taken, it was fabulous nearly every step of the way, if you can get over the whole not sleeping thing. Yep. I haven't slept since Tuesday night, but honestly my adrenaline and all-consuming excitement about everything going on has been helping me function somehow. So here are some highlights: