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.

I see dead people! And some really pretty art.

So just a little warning before I get started: This post will be pretty long with lots of history and stuff. I'm the history geek so that's what I like to talk about. However, I do understand that many of you do not care quite as much about all this, so feel free to just skim here and there. But most of these stories are pretty interesting, so I would encourage you to try to get into it if you aren't a geek like me.

Weekend Catastrophe

So this is one of those stories that is going to sound really bad and scary when I tell it; I'm warning you so no one reads this, freaks out, and jumps on the next plane to Paris. It all worked out in the end, so there's no need to panic. It is also one of those stories that really sucked while it was actually happening, but at the same time I knew it would be a good story to tell after it was all over. So no panicking. Just read through to the end and try not to be scandalized, ok?

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!

Les Châteaux de Chenonceau et Clos Lucé

So this Saturday, we visited the Chateau de Chenanceau, which was most famously the home of King Henry III and Queen Catherine di Medici (we're talking French Henrys, not the Tudors, just to clarify). Have you seen Ever After? Portions of the film were filmed with this chateau in mind, as well as Chambourd (see last week's post). What I loved about this chateau was the way it sits on the water.

Food!

I have had some interesting experiences involving food lately. So to start off, I'm mildly lactose intolerant, which can be a bit of a problem here in the cream and cheese capital of the world. Probably not as bad as poor Claire who has Celiac, but still can be difficult to maneuver if I don't have my lactase on me. But the food in general is just so different here that it's worth talking about even without the added complication of the lactose intolerance.

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:

Beginnings in the end

This week has been full of endings, goodbyes, and lasts. Generally I avoid all of the sad, tearful goodbyes and endings as I've mentioned before. I packed up my room this week, leaving Agnes for a long time; I turned in all my final papers; I said goodbye to a lot of really great friends. But like I said last week, all of these partings and endings make for really good greetings and beginnings. This week I also started the process to get my student visa, I made arrangements for a phone while I'm in France, and I received my flight itinerary for France.

Goodbyes

That first post looks kinda lonely, and I felt like it was pretty vague and not a little boring. Hopefully this one will be better.

I hate goodbyes. They suck. I don't think they should be legal. There are very few situations in which anyone is happy to be saying goodbye, one of which is when a serial killer knocks on your door and you somehow get him to walk away; and even then you probably wouldn't be happy, you'd be scared to death. But despite all these unattractive attributes, I have to say goodbye a lot. I say goodbye in August when my parents take me to the airport so I can go back to school.

This is a blog about change, inside and out. It's about taking a scary risk and hoping for the best. This is a blog about the biggest roller-coaster ride anyone has ever faced. Today I begin my journey from small town Texan to full-blown Parisienne. I'm taking a moment to take everything in, but not too long; before I know it, I'll be hurtling down that first hill into the unknown.