November 23, 2005
So everything has been going well. Nothing really that new. I was going to go on a trip to the French Alps today, but there is a train worker strike and all of the schedules are running at weird times. I also wouldn’t be able to get any good pictures because it’s really cloudy and it has started to flurry. On Monday, I went to the FNAC (like a Barnes and Noble) to look for music from the 1940’s. I ended up finding a really good deal. I bought a 3 CD and 1 DVD kit about the liberation of Paris in World War II. One CD has all of the speeches made by Charles De Gaulle during WWII. The next CD has all French music from that time. The 3rd CD has American music from that time. The DVD has a documentary in French about the liberation of Paris and the timeline of what happened. I was really surprised to see that the entire thing cost 23 Euros.
Picture of a French mall during Christmas time.
Afterwards, I went to the pharmacy to get medicine for the stupid cold that has been making me miserable. I walked in and explained that my first language is not French and that I will probably have difficulties describing my symptoms. He said, ‘ok, but first, where do you come from?’ I said the US. ‘Do you prefer beer or wine?’ I said wine. He said ‘Good, so you don’t like Bush?’ I said no. ‘Ok, so what’s bothering you?’ After that he listened attentively and gave me medicine to fix everything, my runny nose in the day, my congestion at night, the fact that I really can’t hear anything, my cough, sneezing and my sore throat. I just had a typical cold but I couldn’t go another restless night having problems breathing. I feel much better now that I’ve been taking something.
I was really looking forward to doing laundry because I haven’t been able to do it since I changed rooms. I wanted to do my laundry this past weekend, but the washing machine was broken. I was supposed to be fixed on Monday. Monday came and went. On Tuesday, I decided that I needed to hand wash some stuff because I had no clean underwear, nor socks left. I only had a small bucket to wash things in. So it took about three hours of washing and rinsing and it took all night for things to dry but I had clean clothes to wear today. Luckily the guy came to fix the machine today, so I am almost finished with everything. Although with one load of wash done and another to go, I have run out of places to hang clothing to dry. Oh yeah, just so everyone knows: hand washing a large amount of clothing sucks. I do not recommend it for people with back problems, dry skin, or the attention span of a five year old.
The school that I will be living at, Camille Vernet (pronounced Cam-eee Ver-ney)
I went and saw my new room today that I get to move into next week. It’s significantly bigger than my room right now and the bathroom is not a closet. I have to use the kitchen in the building across the way, but it’s no big deal. There is a fridge, a stove with a stovetop, and a water boiler for making tea. It seems like heaven. I am able to eat at the dining hall for lunch and dinner. It’s only open Monday thru Thursday for dinner though. I’m pretty happy. I got to meet the Russian girl and the Spanish guy who live there too. Krista told me the rules of the place while we walked to go to a sports store. If something bothers me, immediately say so. There are a lot of cultural differences among all of us. I understand this completely. I just want to tell you the countries that I’ll be living with: Austria (Krista), Russia (Lena), Italy (Francesca), and Latin America (Isvar). It’s a good part of the world that is represented. I was told if I’m going to do anything in the kitchen or bring people over, I should ask the Russian because that’s how it’s done in Russian. I don’t mind at all. I was told that she would always say yes, it’s just a formality to ask. I was also told that any mistakes that are made while I speak in French would be most likely corrected by someone. I don’t mind because I would like to perfect my French. I really surprise myself because most people now have to ask where I’m from. Usually when people speak French they have an accent from their country of origin, for me they can’t really point it out. I’ve heard that people think I’m either German or British.
I bought four postcards today that had various quotes from French authors:
1.Mais les yeux sont avuelges. Il faut chercher avec le coeur. St. Exupery (But the eyes are blind. You have to look with the heart.)
2.L’avenir de l’homme est la femme. Louis Aragon (The future of man is the woman.)
3.Le beau est toujours bizarre. Baudelaire (The beautiful is always bizarre.)
4.Appuyez-vous sur les principes: ils finiront bien par céder. Wilde (Rest on your principles, they are bound to give away.)
I figure the second one would be good to send to Douglass College.
Hmm… I don’t really think there is anything really new going on besides that. I’m having problems going Christmas shopping for people back at home. It’s been really different. Clothes are not something I could get because the sizes are way off. I’m not quite sure of what I’m going to get. Someone told me to get regional foods from the Christmas markets to bring home. I think that’s going to be my solution. Anyway, this year is supposed to be the coldest in 27 years in this area of France. It’s supposed to get horribly cold in February. They are supposed to get a record amount of snow too. I’m kind of happy. Oh yeah, school gets called off often because if any student or worker gets into an accident of any kind on their way to school or back home, the headmaster of the school is severely fined, or even jailed.
I’m part of the town’s ski club ‘Schuss Valentinoise’. I think I already said that though. This weekend there is a big ski and snowboard sale that I plan on going to. Next week, I move into my new place. Next weekend it the Fete de la Lumière, which means the entire town celebrates the lighting of the Christmas lights all over town. The Christmas markets also start then. Oh yeah, I start my two-week count down when I move into my new place. :) I should be getting more pictures up soon. I’ll probably start taking pictures of the assistants more often. They plan a lot of trips and things to do. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!! (Danielle and Megan too!) Oh, good luck to Phil today. You’ll do fine.