Hello Everyone!!!
I heard about the wildfires in San Diego!!! It was in our LOCAL newspaper here in Bordeaux!! Insane! Also, everyone’s facebook status was like…. “I’m running away from the fire”….so, yeah, I got the news alright. I hope everyone is safe and doing okay!!! I can’t believe it! That’s ridiculous!! Please take care and watch out! I feel even more sad because I can’t be there to support you guys through it…I’m there in spirit…!
This past week wasn’t so bad. Classes were long and semi-interesting, but I have found that almost every other lecture I get. That is, I didn’t understand the first week’s lecture, and then the second week it was better, and then back to confusion, and then not so bad…and now this week…yeah, confusion again. I don’t know why it has taken this pattern. We are doing exposés in my art history class and I have the hardest time trying to understand all the students who are presenting. Number one, sometimes they are just not good speakers in general and so they either pause a lot, speak really fast, drop their voices at the end of the sentence or a bunch of other common speaking malfunctions. Number two, it’s in French. Duh, problem. And number three, some have weird accents as well, which makes it more complicated. So in other words, my art history TDs have been a frustrating experience where I keep saying over and over again in my head, “what are you saying??? Speak FRENCH!!”
My geography class is going okay since we are now getting into the economy part and are departing from the climatology part of the course (where I was and continue to be totally lost). Music theory is hard still, but I am learning and trying to build my confidence. My harmonie écrite class is plus compliqué and the teacher speaks extremely fast. Fortunately, I have a friend in that class who is a real sweetheart and is helping me learn all the rules by explaining them to me. We spent nearly 2 hours in front of the Gare St. Jean, drinking coffee, and got through about 3 pages in our packet of harmonie écrite. It was tough. But I like it…it’s good for me.
I had my first exam in my Histoire du Théâtre class on Tuesday. The teacher wrote a question on the board and we just answered it on these packets of paper she gave us. I was a little confused because I saw people writing on regular sheets of their own paper and wasn’t sure if I was supposed to write on my own paper or THAT paper the prof gave us. So, I followed the other students…but then, 15 minutes later they all switched to the test paper. I can’t believe they actually do rough drafts here! So…I wasted 15 minutes rewriting the same stuff. The prof is new and so she doesn’t know exactly what to do with international students, so she is just making them take the tests with the rest of the students. I wrote ETUDIANTE ETRANGERE in huge letters on the top of my page (foreign student)…so, I hope all went well. I knew limited information about the question (only from what I read)…and tried to make a comprehensive essay…but I don’t think it showed very much critical thinking. But I don’t think it matters because there were 3 girls in front of me who were using their notes throughout the entire test! And I asked the guy sitting next to me if we were allowed to use notes and he said, “jamais” (never) and then I asked WHY those girls were using their notes then…and he said something about them being cheaters. So, that was stupid. I can’t believe the professor didn’t do anything…I’m sure she saw it! But nevermind that, I can’t believe the students would openly cheat like that! It wasn’t like they were hiding their notes…they had them up on the table and were searching through them openly…incroyable! Today, during class, too, everyone was talking and pissing me off. I can’t believe the behavior of these students! And the teacher was up there APOLOGIZING…saying that she was sorry the material was so boring but to bear with her…and I was thinking…WHY should the teacher be apologizing at all?? That’s ridiculous!! It isn’t hard to pay attention…it really isn’t. You either want to be here or you don’t…it’s not like she takes role. So, anyway, I was mad at the class today because the students were being ridiculously loud and rude (even in the first 3 rows…it didn’t matter, they talked the entire time and didn’t even look sorry when she confronted the class). The universities here have a much different expectation from their students I think.
I have booked a lot of trips for coming up and I just went to SNCF (the train station here) yesterday and got a bunch of train tickets for upcoming travel plans. I can’t believe vacation starts next week!! I am leaving for Switzerland Friday! Imagine that! I need to get warm clothes!!! I think I’m going to die! Ahh…coldness here. It is SOOOOO cold here! In the morning, it is normally around 40 degrees when I leave for school and stays in the 50s throughout the day. In the very early hours of the morning when I wake up, its in the high 30s…I am very scared of what December will feel like….I need to buy more warm clothes but I just don’t have time to go shopping! So much homework and reading! And planning!!
My family’s oldest son came to visit this past week. He was sooo cute!!! He is 22 and goes to a University in Holland which is pretty cool. His British friend came to visit too and spent half the week with us. It was a lot of people living in one house, but it was nice having some younger people around to talk to…even if they didn’t talk that much (the son was extremely shy!!). There was a lot crying this weekend too because the older brother and the little brother kept rough-housing and therefore, the little one would keep getting hurt. So crying, rough-housing, shouting…along with a lot of blood (bloody noses too….dang). I tried to get work done this weekend and only went out once to a friend’s house to watch the final Rugby game…boooo England lost. Oh well I guess. Good for Afrique de Sud I guess. I talked with my friend’s host mom for a long time too while at there house and she was soo funny! She had the best conversation topics...and her oldest daughter (13) was looking through a Toys ‘R US catalogue and making her Christmas list…I am so tempted by the Spiderman toys and Harry Potter ones…hmm…
I think I am pretty set for next week’s vacation and almost for winter vacation. I am going to wrap up plans before I leave for Suisse. I have to finish my art history paper before I leave this week so I need to get cracking! I have two to write, a geography exposé, harmonie écrite music to fill in (we’re filling in 4 part harmony…it’s hard stuff…too many rules!), memorize songs for solfége, and study for my midterm for histoire du théâtre which I have to take when I come back from vaçances (vacation). Ridicule! Examens après les vaçances…je ne peux pas le supporter!
Bisous !
Hope everyone survives the fires !! And your houses too!! And our BEAUTIFUL university…I would CRY so hard if it burned down…
Sherilyn
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Sixieme et Septieme Semaine...
So, I am sooo sorry!! I totally forgot to do my blog last week and I didn’t even realize it! I must have been so busy and stressed about school that I didn’t even think about it. My bad! I feel horrible!! I can’t believe I’m late…I never thought that I would be late for my blog. Darnit! I’m sorry once again! And so, I guess, this means that this update will be double the normal size and that’s usually long anyway. Whoops…my fault. I feel horrible…
Now, I don’t even remember what I did last week. I remember getting mad because my wine that I sent to my parents got sent back because apparently, you cannot send food to the United States. If I had known that rule, of course I wouldn’t have tried to send it. But the girl who worked at la poste totally allowed me to send it…took my money, stamped it, packaged it…she knew it was wine, and she still sent it. It is outrageously stupid that postal workers don’t even know their own rules. If I had known before, of course I would have chosen something else to send to my parents for their birthday (yes, it was a birthday gift on top of that!) and therefore, it wouldn’t be late. But now they receive nothing. And I feel even more horrible. The week before last was not my week…I just remember that. Maybe that’s why I didn’t write…
Classes went alright I guess. Except, I found out that I had been going to the wrong TD-like a section, for my geography class. The schedules are so unorganized and I thought I picked the most logical TD for my cours majestral (lecture), but I guess I didn’t. Since the first week I thought they didn’t have class, I missed one of the TD’s for the one I was supposed to be in. And then the second week, I finally realized that I was sitting in the wrong TD for 2 hours and that I am not in Population and Development, but in Amenagement and Territoire. So yeah…now I have class on Friday mornings which really angers me because I really wanted 3 days weekends for travel. I don’t think I will be able to travel that much since it is so expensive and I won’t have much time anyway to really see the sites if I have to be back by Sunday night. Especially if I plan on taking the train since the train takes so long.
Besides the wine fiasco and the geography class mix up, I met some really cool frenchies who are studying English and Spanish and we met for coffee that week. They are soo funny and are really nice. It was so cool being able to talk with them. They spoke in English, well, at least the guy did (the girl was sooo shy she wouldn’t even speak one word of English!) and my friend and I spoke in French. I was able to recharge my aquipass (student card) so I have money on it for food which is good. And also money for making copies at the library…but that was a bit complicated. I didn’t know that there were two accounts on your student card, one for food and the other for printing. I actually could have just used money to upload my card with money for printing, but nobody told me that. They just told me I had to have money on my card and since I didn’t know there were two accounts, I just went to one of the restaurants, tried to charge my card, couldn’t because I don’t have a carte bleue and then waited another day to go to administration which is only open between 11 and 1 to put money on it. But since it wasn’t the same account, I had to do it separately at the library for my printing account…and bah…it was just complicated and a mess and quite annoying.
I also met a really cool guy in my Solfège class (music theory) who has half citizenship in America. His father actually lives in California, LA to be exact, and so he visits every 3-4 years for a couple months during the summer. He loves it there…however, I think he’s gotten a skewed impression of America only seeing LA. He keeps telling me how much better the system of education in America is compared to the French system and wants to go to music school there after he finishes his studies in Bordeaux. He is a first year and his English is really good…and he studied music in CA and so he can help me translate some of the music terminology that I’m not familiar with (which is almost everything). So we had lunch after my placement test which didn’t really go that well, but I don’t really care, and talked.
I’m trying to remember other things that I did that week…but nothing extraordinary seems to come to my mind. I went to a movie on Friday night, “99 francs,” which was a movie about drugs. It was very French, but very interesting. Not my type, but well done. It was a little too violent/sexual/awkward for me I think…but nevertheless intriguing. Saturday night was another rugby game at Chartrons, a place in the center of the downtown where they have a huge screen that everyone watches the game on. It was France versus New Zealand and France won and it was insane. OMG….so many drunks, so much smoke…so much glass on the ground. People were singing and dancing and chanting…firecrackers everywhere, flags waving, music blaring…chaotic. We made the mistake of going to Victoire to meet some friends where it was even more chaotic. The trams had stopped because all the people were in the streets singing and chanting and so no one could go anywhere. All the bars were full so we couldn’t find a place to sit which was annoying as well. And also, people were getting so crazy that they started hitting cars which were passing in the streets and trying to turn them over when they slowed down as to not hit people who were recklessly walking around. Glass was shattered everywhere on the ground and people were getting out of hand…one guys picked up this one girl and started dancing with her, then running with her until he fell, she fell, and hurt her head. Fortunately, there was an ambulance on site to treat anyone who was injured. But it was definitely a night of celebration for France. I, unfortunately, didn’t have that great of a time since I didn’t have the best company and so retired home early.
Sunday I stayed in and tried to study and work on my architecture paper which hasn’t been coming along at all. I only have a month left now…eek! 10 pages…in French…about something I don’t quite understand. I’m scared.
Now, this actual past week that I recall a little better, wasn’t too bad. I’m starting to understand my classes a little more after reading the recommended books like crazy. Since I now have a small foundation for vocabulary, I have found it a lot easier to understand what the professors are saying, but still, there is a lot that I am missing. I still have my Italian friend in Art History which is cool and apparently he had a really bad weekend which didn’t get much better since the trams stopped that morning. Yeah…trams stopped in the main centre of Bordeaux all the way to university…in the morning…on a school day. On a Monday in fact. Now, that’s just a problem if I ever knew one. Everyone was late, including professors, and people were just angry at having to walk or take crowded buses everywhere. Luckily, my bus drops me off at a close walking distance from the university so it didn’t affect me that much. And that morning, while walking, I met some nice British students from Erasmus that are apparently in my Histoire du theatre/cinema class. That class, by the way, isn’t going that great. I think that is the class that I understand the least in and I actually have an exam this coming Tuesday…eek! And since she is a brand new teacher, she doesn’t know what to do with international students so she told me just to take the exam with the other students. It is going to be a composition (essay) based off notes, but my notes aren’t that great and I have been trying to read the books she recommended for us (that I bought and cost me around 40 euros!) but the don’t seem to be helping since they are also complicated and I’m looking up vocabulary words every sentence. So I’m scared. Ahh!!
Geography went better than the week before since the week before. That week, he was just rattling off statistics the entire time and it was really hard for me to catch all the chiffres (numbers) and to process them from French into English. I ended up copying some of the numbers from the guy sitting next to me which was really nice of him. This time was better though, although the TD for that class is all based on climatology right now and I am absolutely clueless on that subject. Thankfully, the teacher knows that I’m clueless on the subject (because I explained I’m an economics major and not a geography major- I don’t even think we have geography majors at our university), and so he doesn’t expect much from me. But I’m trying! And I’ve been reading the books he recommended as well which are, in fact, really easy to read, but not about climatology.
Solfège was fun, as usual, although a bit annoying because of communication problems with the schedule. We were supposed to have an 8am harmonie écrite (written harmony) class but the professor was sick and didn’t show. Even though it wasn’t his fault, I was still angry since I had to leave before 7am that morning to get to class on time (the stars were still shining brightly when I was walking to the bus stop…it was ridiculous!). Then I thought we had class for Solfège at 11, but it turned out my group wasn’t until 12:30….oh the extra sleep I could have gotten. We have to write the music (notes and rhythms) for this song entitled “Claire Fontaine” which apparently everybody in that class knows…except for me, for next week. It is a French children’s song that everyone learns when they are about 5 years old…seeing that I grew up with Old McDonald and Baby Beluga, I was puzzled. Luckily, I found an mp3 online that I can listen to and try to write the music, in Sol majeure, using that.
Thursday night, my friend from our program had a dinner party which was really fun. I brought a salad and we had pasta and lots of desserts! And wine! Of course. It was a mixture of Americans and Frenchies (and a Mexican, Brit, and German) and so we all had fun talking and getting to know each other. I found a really cool guy who is as nerdy and geeky as me and so we were talking the majority of the night. Friday I had my geography TD (boooo Friday classes!!) and I had lunch with one of my French friends at one of the university restaurants (the one who is studying English and Spanish). Unfortunately, I left my UCSD sweater in his car though, so I have to be sure to get that back. Friday night we went to a carnival that is in Bordeaux at l’Esplanade de Quinconces. It was actually really cool (French carnivals are just as fun, if not better!) and the food is amazing…you can’t find food like this at our carnivals back home (Crepes, mascottes, gaufres, kebabs!!...ahh, so bad for you. I love their “American” sandwiches too…they are so NOT American..and that is why it’s so lovable). They also had a huge copyright problem with Disney symbols on all the rides for little kids. They were Disney characters everywhere but you definitely know it was not trademarked…so it was funny to see all the wanna-be pictures of Jasmine and Ariel everywhere. We went on one ride (that was all I could afford…3.50 euros) which was a crazy turny ride which was really fun. I totally forgot how much fun rides like this could be…it was a nice memory from the time before I came to the university…I think it was called, “before MMW” (jk jk). Then I stayed over at my friend’s house since I missed my bus because we got back pretty late after going to bar and dancing for a while (it was goth night…so heavy metal was playing all night).
Saturday was the BIG rugby game: France vs. England. And oh lordy…it was bad. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a rugby game so brutal before! No mercy…oh man. And France lost on top of it, which sucked. It was such a different feel than the week before when France won. We were actually with a couple Brits and so we still got the celebration afterward. It was really annoying though because after the half time, people would cram into the center trying to steal the seats of those already seated and it was chaotic. We spent a good 15 minutes trying to tell people to sit down, yelling in French, and swearing at them. There was a family sitting in front of us and the little kid (must have been around 7 years old, maybe younger), kept getting up and yelling at them really loud and poking them with his blowup toy…it was hilarious. In the end, I just had to stand up because no one would sit down in front because they were too crowded together to sit. This, of course, made the game pointless for me since I couldn’t see anything. The last half of the game…I really have no clue what happened but I had a feeling that France didn’t win when I heard my Brit friends screaming at the top of their lungs after a while.
Today, I tried to catch up on homework but didn’t happen. My family was uber nice and invited me to a luncheon (they have lunches with friends every Sunday…it’s really cool) and so we ate for 3 hours (oh those Frenchies…). It was really good though and I felt full, but not overstuffed. So that was a summary of my past two weeks. Sorry for the length and the lack of details from the week before. I really didn’t realize that I hadn’t written until I looked at my blog again…I guess I just wasn’t having a very good week that week.
Hope you are all enjoying SD weather...it is freezing here! But my family says that this isn’t cold...it hasn’t even begun. Oh bugger…I’m gonna die. Eek!
Sherilyn
Now, I don’t even remember what I did last week. I remember getting mad because my wine that I sent to my parents got sent back because apparently, you cannot send food to the United States. If I had known that rule, of course I wouldn’t have tried to send it. But the girl who worked at la poste totally allowed me to send it…took my money, stamped it, packaged it…she knew it was wine, and she still sent it. It is outrageously stupid that postal workers don’t even know their own rules. If I had known before, of course I would have chosen something else to send to my parents for their birthday (yes, it was a birthday gift on top of that!) and therefore, it wouldn’t be late. But now they receive nothing. And I feel even more horrible. The week before last was not my week…I just remember that. Maybe that’s why I didn’t write…
Classes went alright I guess. Except, I found out that I had been going to the wrong TD-like a section, for my geography class. The schedules are so unorganized and I thought I picked the most logical TD for my cours majestral (lecture), but I guess I didn’t. Since the first week I thought they didn’t have class, I missed one of the TD’s for the one I was supposed to be in. And then the second week, I finally realized that I was sitting in the wrong TD for 2 hours and that I am not in Population and Development, but in Amenagement and Territoire. So yeah…now I have class on Friday mornings which really angers me because I really wanted 3 days weekends for travel. I don’t think I will be able to travel that much since it is so expensive and I won’t have much time anyway to really see the sites if I have to be back by Sunday night. Especially if I plan on taking the train since the train takes so long.
Besides the wine fiasco and the geography class mix up, I met some really cool frenchies who are studying English and Spanish and we met for coffee that week. They are soo funny and are really nice. It was so cool being able to talk with them. They spoke in English, well, at least the guy did (the girl was sooo shy she wouldn’t even speak one word of English!) and my friend and I spoke in French. I was able to recharge my aquipass (student card) so I have money on it for food which is good. And also money for making copies at the library…but that was a bit complicated. I didn’t know that there were two accounts on your student card, one for food and the other for printing. I actually could have just used money to upload my card with money for printing, but nobody told me that. They just told me I had to have money on my card and since I didn’t know there were two accounts, I just went to one of the restaurants, tried to charge my card, couldn’t because I don’t have a carte bleue and then waited another day to go to administration which is only open between 11 and 1 to put money on it. But since it wasn’t the same account, I had to do it separately at the library for my printing account…and bah…it was just complicated and a mess and quite annoying.
I also met a really cool guy in my Solfège class (music theory) who has half citizenship in America. His father actually lives in California, LA to be exact, and so he visits every 3-4 years for a couple months during the summer. He loves it there…however, I think he’s gotten a skewed impression of America only seeing LA. He keeps telling me how much better the system of education in America is compared to the French system and wants to go to music school there after he finishes his studies in Bordeaux. He is a first year and his English is really good…and he studied music in CA and so he can help me translate some of the music terminology that I’m not familiar with (which is almost everything). So we had lunch after my placement test which didn’t really go that well, but I don’t really care, and talked.
I’m trying to remember other things that I did that week…but nothing extraordinary seems to come to my mind. I went to a movie on Friday night, “99 francs,” which was a movie about drugs. It was very French, but very interesting. Not my type, but well done. It was a little too violent/sexual/awkward for me I think…but nevertheless intriguing. Saturday night was another rugby game at Chartrons, a place in the center of the downtown where they have a huge screen that everyone watches the game on. It was France versus New Zealand and France won and it was insane. OMG….so many drunks, so much smoke…so much glass on the ground. People were singing and dancing and chanting…firecrackers everywhere, flags waving, music blaring…chaotic. We made the mistake of going to Victoire to meet some friends where it was even more chaotic. The trams had stopped because all the people were in the streets singing and chanting and so no one could go anywhere. All the bars were full so we couldn’t find a place to sit which was annoying as well. And also, people were getting so crazy that they started hitting cars which were passing in the streets and trying to turn them over when they slowed down as to not hit people who were recklessly walking around. Glass was shattered everywhere on the ground and people were getting out of hand…one guys picked up this one girl and started dancing with her, then running with her until he fell, she fell, and hurt her head. Fortunately, there was an ambulance on site to treat anyone who was injured. But it was definitely a night of celebration for France. I, unfortunately, didn’t have that great of a time since I didn’t have the best company and so retired home early.
Sunday I stayed in and tried to study and work on my architecture paper which hasn’t been coming along at all. I only have a month left now…eek! 10 pages…in French…about something I don’t quite understand. I’m scared.
Now, this actual past week that I recall a little better, wasn’t too bad. I’m starting to understand my classes a little more after reading the recommended books like crazy. Since I now have a small foundation for vocabulary, I have found it a lot easier to understand what the professors are saying, but still, there is a lot that I am missing. I still have my Italian friend in Art History which is cool and apparently he had a really bad weekend which didn’t get much better since the trams stopped that morning. Yeah…trams stopped in the main centre of Bordeaux all the way to university…in the morning…on a school day. On a Monday in fact. Now, that’s just a problem if I ever knew one. Everyone was late, including professors, and people were just angry at having to walk or take crowded buses everywhere. Luckily, my bus drops me off at a close walking distance from the university so it didn’t affect me that much. And that morning, while walking, I met some nice British students from Erasmus that are apparently in my Histoire du theatre/cinema class. That class, by the way, isn’t going that great. I think that is the class that I understand the least in and I actually have an exam this coming Tuesday…eek! And since she is a brand new teacher, she doesn’t know what to do with international students so she told me just to take the exam with the other students. It is going to be a composition (essay) based off notes, but my notes aren’t that great and I have been trying to read the books she recommended for us (that I bought and cost me around 40 euros!) but the don’t seem to be helping since they are also complicated and I’m looking up vocabulary words every sentence. So I’m scared. Ahh!!
Geography went better than the week before since the week before. That week, he was just rattling off statistics the entire time and it was really hard for me to catch all the chiffres (numbers) and to process them from French into English. I ended up copying some of the numbers from the guy sitting next to me which was really nice of him. This time was better though, although the TD for that class is all based on climatology right now and I am absolutely clueless on that subject. Thankfully, the teacher knows that I’m clueless on the subject (because I explained I’m an economics major and not a geography major- I don’t even think we have geography majors at our university), and so he doesn’t expect much from me. But I’m trying! And I’ve been reading the books he recommended as well which are, in fact, really easy to read, but not about climatology.
Solfège was fun, as usual, although a bit annoying because of communication problems with the schedule. We were supposed to have an 8am harmonie écrite (written harmony) class but the professor was sick and didn’t show. Even though it wasn’t his fault, I was still angry since I had to leave before 7am that morning to get to class on time (the stars were still shining brightly when I was walking to the bus stop…it was ridiculous!). Then I thought we had class for Solfège at 11, but it turned out my group wasn’t until 12:30….oh the extra sleep I could have gotten. We have to write the music (notes and rhythms) for this song entitled “Claire Fontaine” which apparently everybody in that class knows…except for me, for next week. It is a French children’s song that everyone learns when they are about 5 years old…seeing that I grew up with Old McDonald and Baby Beluga, I was puzzled. Luckily, I found an mp3 online that I can listen to and try to write the music, in Sol majeure, using that.
Thursday night, my friend from our program had a dinner party which was really fun. I brought a salad and we had pasta and lots of desserts! And wine! Of course. It was a mixture of Americans and Frenchies (and a Mexican, Brit, and German) and so we all had fun talking and getting to know each other. I found a really cool guy who is as nerdy and geeky as me and so we were talking the majority of the night. Friday I had my geography TD (boooo Friday classes!!) and I had lunch with one of my French friends at one of the university restaurants (the one who is studying English and Spanish). Unfortunately, I left my UCSD sweater in his car though, so I have to be sure to get that back. Friday night we went to a carnival that is in Bordeaux at l’Esplanade de Quinconces. It was actually really cool (French carnivals are just as fun, if not better!) and the food is amazing…you can’t find food like this at our carnivals back home (Crepes, mascottes, gaufres, kebabs!!...ahh, so bad for you. I love their “American” sandwiches too…they are so NOT American..and that is why it’s so lovable). They also had a huge copyright problem with Disney symbols on all the rides for little kids. They were Disney characters everywhere but you definitely know it was not trademarked…so it was funny to see all the wanna-be pictures of Jasmine and Ariel everywhere. We went on one ride (that was all I could afford…3.50 euros) which was a crazy turny ride which was really fun. I totally forgot how much fun rides like this could be…it was a nice memory from the time before I came to the university…I think it was called, “before MMW” (jk jk). Then I stayed over at my friend’s house since I missed my bus because we got back pretty late after going to bar and dancing for a while (it was goth night…so heavy metal was playing all night).
Saturday was the BIG rugby game: France vs. England. And oh lordy…it was bad. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a rugby game so brutal before! No mercy…oh man. And France lost on top of it, which sucked. It was such a different feel than the week before when France won. We were actually with a couple Brits and so we still got the celebration afterward. It was really annoying though because after the half time, people would cram into the center trying to steal the seats of those already seated and it was chaotic. We spent a good 15 minutes trying to tell people to sit down, yelling in French, and swearing at them. There was a family sitting in front of us and the little kid (must have been around 7 years old, maybe younger), kept getting up and yelling at them really loud and poking them with his blowup toy…it was hilarious. In the end, I just had to stand up because no one would sit down in front because they were too crowded together to sit. This, of course, made the game pointless for me since I couldn’t see anything. The last half of the game…I really have no clue what happened but I had a feeling that France didn’t win when I heard my Brit friends screaming at the top of their lungs after a while.
Today, I tried to catch up on homework but didn’t happen. My family was uber nice and invited me to a luncheon (they have lunches with friends every Sunday…it’s really cool) and so we ate for 3 hours (oh those Frenchies…). It was really good though and I felt full, but not overstuffed. So that was a summary of my past two weeks. Sorry for the length and the lack of details from the week before. I really didn’t realize that I hadn’t written until I looked at my blog again…I guess I just wasn’t having a very good week that week.
Hope you are all enjoying SD weather...it is freezing here! But my family says that this isn’t cold...it hasn’t even begun. Oh bugger…I’m gonna die. Eek!
Sherilyn
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Cinquieme semaine
Cou cou!!
(Ah….I love that phrase…)
I hope everyone is doing well and has had an amazing Welcome Week…I wonder who won the UNolympics…I hope ERC got something…!! Make me proud!
So, last week, I had my first week of real classes. It was a bit annoying because I had to go to about 13 classes to figure out my 4 classes that will work for me (in other words, upper division, more than 4 units, and having to do with France or something French). It is pretty hard to do that here, especially because the French university system likes to break up classes into smaller classes…in other words, one class may be split into two parts and each part is worth 2.5 but together they are 5 units. Unfortunately, UCSD doesn’t accept classes like that, at least for my major, and so I have to find really big classes (a lot of hours) which is extremely hard to do. But I managed…it did take a while though.
So my first day, I went to a music class in the morning that didn’t work out because it wasn’t about France. I just asked one of the students before class if it was a general class or not and he told me it covered all regions. It was a history of music class. So then I went to my art history class which I am actually enrolled in. That worked out well and I met a cool Italian named Dario from Erasmus. The next day, I tried to go a class at 9, 9:30, and 9:45. It was lucky because the class at 9 didn’t work out so I could leave right away and the class at 9:30 seemed pretty promising (History of Theatre/Cinema) and so I didn’t bother to go to the 9:45 one at the Science Po. I still need to talk to the other professor though (because it’s a two part class) to see whether the cinema aspect is about French cinema/European cinema, or world cinema. I hope it’s the first one. Wednesday I went to a Solfége class (music theory), but for second years. I was very confused (especially because of a lack of knowledge of vocabulary), but it was still really fun. I talked to the professor and he recommended coming into the Solfége License 1, first year music theory. Then I went to my geography class where I barely understood the professor, especially with all those numbers he was rattling off, but met some cool Irish girls. It seems to be a lot easier to meet international students than the French students. Not that I haven’t tried! I tried to talk to the French students, really I did, but they are either not interested in conversing with me, or have their own friends to chat with. Even in the first year classes…it was kinda sad. I really thought that first years would be more open to make friends and talk to people on the first day…but no. They don’t really care.
Thursday I went to the Solfége 1 class and the theory was a little easier, but I still struggled with vocabulary. I mean, afterall, I don’t use musical terms on a daily basis in French…you know? And there was a girl sitting next to me who was really really good and so that didn’t help my self esteem because her sight reading was perfect and mine definitely was not. I have to relearn notes again! They use different names for the notes…I’m not used to that! I feel like I’m in elementary school again…learning the names of the notes, and the rhythms…ahhhh….I feel like such an ignoramus. Bugger. I tried to talk to the first years in that class too….and we went a whole 10 minutes without them even asking where I was from. Again, they just don’t care about international students. But one guy was pretty nice and so I was talking to him the majority of the time. It took him forever to actually ask where I was from, and even so, he did it indirectly. But I saw him the next week standing outside a classroom and waved and said, “Bonjour…ça va?” which he responded to with a smile…so I think that means....”friends.” Or at least, “I recognize you” (which is totally fine with at this point). We had to sing individually in the class at the end which I was nervous about and I totally rushed my rhythms…soo bad! But I was scared and nervous! My prof was really nice though and allowed me to chante en anglas (sing in English) instead of French…because the French say different letter names than we do. That was very nice of him, but we have a placement exam this week and I don’t think it’ll be that easy…so I need to get crackin’ on French music theory!
I went shopping in the morning on Friday and bought 2 pairs of pants at Zara’s…yay, French style! And got some food for lunch, went to the fac to continue my research for my architecture paper. I am having trouble finding sources on my topic though (Cathédrale Saint-Maurice d’Angers) and there is this one book that I’ve found at the art history library which is pretty good, except I can’t take it out. I could photocopy it, but I need to get money on my student card before I can do that and I can’t do that until I can go the administration office because I don’t have a French bank card…ahhh complications. It amuses me so. Not really actually…kinda makes me mad. Anyhow, I went to dinner that night and then to hang at a pub with my friends later that night which was fun, especially because this pub has been dubbed the Centre de Californie because all of the California students hang out around there, apparently. Them and English/Irish/Australians. We met a cool Brit there from Brighton and were talking with him for a while until some of our French friends showed up.
Saturday, I stayed inside and tried to research and study…but was pretty unsuccessful. I can only look up every other word so many times, just too tedious. I wanted to go out that night, but was unsuccessful with gathering a number of people to go. Fortunately, my family was super nice and was having a dinner party with their friends and so they invited me! We drank wine, talked (Spanish and French!), ate good food, and had fun. It was quite a nice evening. Sunday I stayed inside as well since everything is closed in France on Sunday and tried to finish up the book I had for research so I could return it on Monday.
Monday, I went to the fac early to study at the library, since the library is not open on the weekends (ridiculous! I know! What…students don’t study on the weekends…!?), and got some café at the student cafeteria and read the paper. I had a TD (travaux dirigée) for histoire de l’art and sat with my new Italian friend and talked. Then I went to lunch and because my art history class (cours majestral) was cancelled, I tried to go to the administration office to get money on my student card so I could finish my research and make photocopies, but it wasn’t open. I did, however, meet two really nice French students (first years) who study English and Spanish. I was with my other friend and the Frenches were really excited that we were from California (their exact response was “oh là là!”). So, we exchanged numbers and said we would call each other the next day so we could meet up and they can practice their English and us, our French. That made my day…I love making new friends!
Today, class pretty boring and apparently I fooled some girl sitting next to me into thinking I was French because she kept asking to see my notes (which I nervously showed her seeing as I don’t have very good ones (obviously I can’t understand everything the prof says)). During the break I talked with her and it was only when I told her that I was a foreign student did she realize it…it was pretty amusing. I’ve found out that freshmen die in 3 hour classes, especially history of theatre ones, and they start falling asleep about 1.5 into the class….then get really distracted during the last half (after the cigarette break…yeah. It’s NOT a bathroom break…it’s definitely a cig break…). After class, I went to lunch with a friend and we tried to meet up with those French students we met the day before to converse in English, but they were unavailable. We’ll try again tomorrow I suppose. I went home early, practiced music, went to the mall with my family for a little bit to look at coats, and here I am now…still practicing music but need to move on to reading my books. Insane.
Anyway, I am getting a bit upset because my parent’s birthday present I sent home seems to be taking a little longer than I expected and I need to it to get there in time…oh well. Boo French post. Tant pis.
À toute à l’heure!
Sherilyn
(Ah….I love that phrase…)
I hope everyone is doing well and has had an amazing Welcome Week…I wonder who won the UNolympics…I hope ERC got something…!! Make me proud!
So, last week, I had my first week of real classes. It was a bit annoying because I had to go to about 13 classes to figure out my 4 classes that will work for me (in other words, upper division, more than 4 units, and having to do with France or something French). It is pretty hard to do that here, especially because the French university system likes to break up classes into smaller classes…in other words, one class may be split into two parts and each part is worth 2.5 but together they are 5 units. Unfortunately, UCSD doesn’t accept classes like that, at least for my major, and so I have to find really big classes (a lot of hours) which is extremely hard to do. But I managed…it did take a while though.
So my first day, I went to a music class in the morning that didn’t work out because it wasn’t about France. I just asked one of the students before class if it was a general class or not and he told me it covered all regions. It was a history of music class. So then I went to my art history class which I am actually enrolled in. That worked out well and I met a cool Italian named Dario from Erasmus. The next day, I tried to go a class at 9, 9:30, and 9:45. It was lucky because the class at 9 didn’t work out so I could leave right away and the class at 9:30 seemed pretty promising (History of Theatre/Cinema) and so I didn’t bother to go to the 9:45 one at the Science Po. I still need to talk to the other professor though (because it’s a two part class) to see whether the cinema aspect is about French cinema/European cinema, or world cinema. I hope it’s the first one. Wednesday I went to a Solfége class (music theory), but for second years. I was very confused (especially because of a lack of knowledge of vocabulary), but it was still really fun. I talked to the professor and he recommended coming into the Solfége License 1, first year music theory. Then I went to my geography class where I barely understood the professor, especially with all those numbers he was rattling off, but met some cool Irish girls. It seems to be a lot easier to meet international students than the French students. Not that I haven’t tried! I tried to talk to the French students, really I did, but they are either not interested in conversing with me, or have their own friends to chat with. Even in the first year classes…it was kinda sad. I really thought that first years would be more open to make friends and talk to people on the first day…but no. They don’t really care.
Thursday I went to the Solfége 1 class and the theory was a little easier, but I still struggled with vocabulary. I mean, afterall, I don’t use musical terms on a daily basis in French…you know? And there was a girl sitting next to me who was really really good and so that didn’t help my self esteem because her sight reading was perfect and mine definitely was not. I have to relearn notes again! They use different names for the notes…I’m not used to that! I feel like I’m in elementary school again…learning the names of the notes, and the rhythms…ahhhh….I feel like such an ignoramus. Bugger. I tried to talk to the first years in that class too….and we went a whole 10 minutes without them even asking where I was from. Again, they just don’t care about international students. But one guy was pretty nice and so I was talking to him the majority of the time. It took him forever to actually ask where I was from, and even so, he did it indirectly. But I saw him the next week standing outside a classroom and waved and said, “Bonjour…ça va?” which he responded to with a smile…so I think that means....”friends.” Or at least, “I recognize you” (which is totally fine with at this point). We had to sing individually in the class at the end which I was nervous about and I totally rushed my rhythms…soo bad! But I was scared and nervous! My prof was really nice though and allowed me to chante en anglas (sing in English) instead of French…because the French say different letter names than we do. That was very nice of him, but we have a placement exam this week and I don’t think it’ll be that easy…so I need to get crackin’ on French music theory!
I went shopping in the morning on Friday and bought 2 pairs of pants at Zara’s…yay, French style! And got some food for lunch, went to the fac to continue my research for my architecture paper. I am having trouble finding sources on my topic though (Cathédrale Saint-Maurice d’Angers) and there is this one book that I’ve found at the art history library which is pretty good, except I can’t take it out. I could photocopy it, but I need to get money on my student card before I can do that and I can’t do that until I can go the administration office because I don’t have a French bank card…ahhh complications. It amuses me so. Not really actually…kinda makes me mad. Anyhow, I went to dinner that night and then to hang at a pub with my friends later that night which was fun, especially because this pub has been dubbed the Centre de Californie because all of the California students hang out around there, apparently. Them and English/Irish/Australians. We met a cool Brit there from Brighton and were talking with him for a while until some of our French friends showed up.
Saturday, I stayed inside and tried to research and study…but was pretty unsuccessful. I can only look up every other word so many times, just too tedious. I wanted to go out that night, but was unsuccessful with gathering a number of people to go. Fortunately, my family was super nice and was having a dinner party with their friends and so they invited me! We drank wine, talked (Spanish and French!), ate good food, and had fun. It was quite a nice evening. Sunday I stayed inside as well since everything is closed in France on Sunday and tried to finish up the book I had for research so I could return it on Monday.
Monday, I went to the fac early to study at the library, since the library is not open on the weekends (ridiculous! I know! What…students don’t study on the weekends…!?), and got some café at the student cafeteria and read the paper. I had a TD (travaux dirigée) for histoire de l’art and sat with my new Italian friend and talked. Then I went to lunch and because my art history class (cours majestral) was cancelled, I tried to go to the administration office to get money on my student card so I could finish my research and make photocopies, but it wasn’t open. I did, however, meet two really nice French students (first years) who study English and Spanish. I was with my other friend and the Frenches were really excited that we were from California (their exact response was “oh là là!”). So, we exchanged numbers and said we would call each other the next day so we could meet up and they can practice their English and us, our French. That made my day…I love making new friends!
Today, class pretty boring and apparently I fooled some girl sitting next to me into thinking I was French because she kept asking to see my notes (which I nervously showed her seeing as I don’t have very good ones (obviously I can’t understand everything the prof says)). During the break I talked with her and it was only when I told her that I was a foreign student did she realize it…it was pretty amusing. I’ve found out that freshmen die in 3 hour classes, especially history of theatre ones, and they start falling asleep about 1.5 into the class….then get really distracted during the last half (after the cigarette break…yeah. It’s NOT a bathroom break…it’s definitely a cig break…). After class, I went to lunch with a friend and we tried to meet up with those French students we met the day before to converse in English, but they were unavailable. We’ll try again tomorrow I suppose. I went home early, practiced music, went to the mall with my family for a little bit to look at coats, and here I am now…still practicing music but need to move on to reading my books. Insane.
Anyway, I am getting a bit upset because my parent’s birthday present I sent home seems to be taking a little longer than I expected and I need to it to get there in time…oh well. Boo French post. Tant pis.
À toute à l’heure!
Sherilyn
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