I know I haven't been blogging that much, and I'm not even sure if people are checking that much. But if you are, je suis très desolée.
The past week and a half has been absolutely ridiculous; it seems like I've been here for a month already!
So I'll just give a little blurb about what I've done each day for the past week. It might be kinda long so sorry, but I hope you find it a least a little bit interesting and want to read :)
So I left Tuesday the 17th, out of Cleveland, heading to Chicago. I had a 4 hour layover in Chicago, which was nice because flying out of Cleveland they ran out of overhead room for carry on luggage and started checking bags/sending them to peoples final destinations (which was 12 hours away for me and I had important stuff in my bag) so I was able to convince the flight attendant to let me just have my bag sent to Chicago :) but then I had to go through security again in Chicago, but it was ok.
Then I had my 8 hour flight from Chicago to Munich, Germany. It wasn't bad at all; I was originally assigned an aisle seat, but the guy who was going to sit next to me (pretty sure he was some sort of doctor carrying a human organ with him in a red box marked in french so if I translated right it was haha weird) anyway he moved for more room, so I had 2 seats to myself, one next to a window :)
So then to Munich to Marseilles, France and then a bus to Aix-en-Provence which is the city I am living in. I arrived in Aix around 5pm wed ( approx 11 am Ohio time, putting my travel time around 19 hours and except for 3 rough hours of sleep on the plane I had been up for roughly 27 hours) I was so exhausted. I met my host mom and my roommate (who is American/from Ohio/in the same program as me). My host mom doest speak any english and I couldn't comprehend ANYTHING that she was saying to me. It was terrible! And she seemed really surprised at my lack of french and I felt really out of place and kinda like she was judging me! (dont worry things get better.)
So Thursday we met the other CEA students (CEA is the exchange program I am with). We took a tour around the town, nothing formal, just to see where like grocery stores where, where to exchange money, where the school was, just things like that.
Then Friday we took our placement test for school. We get placed into classes based on the level of french we know. So the school is divided into 5 levels, each level having a/b and maybe c groups each being just a little harder:
level 1: beginner
level 2: low intermediate
level 3: high intermediate
level 4: advanced (speaking really well, basically fluent, not a lot of people here)
level 5: superior (they said hardly anyone gets place here because its like regular french university classes).
There was an oral test in the morning and a written test in the afternoon.
My friends and I went out to some bars around here later that night. It was a lot of fun to get out and explore. The only thing is that it doesn't seem like a lot of people dance when they are out, which is kind of a bummer (although I heard there is a discotheque around here I just have to find it!)
Saturday we had free! Which my roommate and I spent at a cafe by here called "Cafe Carrefour". They sort of have ties with CEA and they have free wifi! but I still order a coffee when I come in so it doesn't seem like I'm just using them! haha
Sunday we had a group trip/excursion to some smaller surrounding towns. They were absolutely beautiful! The one town had a giant outdoor market that ran through all the town. So we bought some baguettes, cheese and fruit for lunch. Then we traveled to another town, where the tour guide kept saying "the source of the water was there" which was kind of just an open cave with water in it. It was supposedly a natural spring you could drink from. The town was just absolutely gorgeous. I felt like I was walking through a movie set! There were small houses, mountains everywhere, a stream with crystal clear water, you could see the green moss on the bottom of the stream. Literally my dream town! Ate lunch there, traveled to a few other places-I am not sure of all of the names of the different towns, but there are pictures on my facebook, feel free to check them out!
This is my favorite!
Monday was a savanger hunt through the city. It was fun, but for some reason my group took forever to do it and didnt finish haha
Tuesday found out our placement in school and met with professors. And Wed started classes.
so I got placed into level 2 a, which I have mixed feelings about. I was kinda upset at first because coming over here I thought my french was decent, but I'm beginning to realize how terrible I am at actually speaking. But the thing is I do know a lot of grammar and vocabulary, so I am trying to get moved up because I've talked to people in most of all the other levels and they said they still have a hard time understanding everything. And I know understanding will come with more practice, so I want to move up because while I am practicing, I want to be learning new grammar and vocab. But I had a hard time explaining this to my prof, which probably doesn't help my case at all haha
But right now my class schedule is as follows:
Monday: No classes :)
Tuesday: listening lab 9-10; language class 10-12; literature of Provence 12:30-3:30; translation 4-6
Wed: language class from 8:30-11:30; word and imagery 12:30-2:30
Thurs: language class 8:30-11; general literature 12-2; phonetics 2:15-4:15
Fri: language class 8:30-12
so all the classes in black are mandatory and all the classes in red are electives. So the first 2 weeks you go to all the classes and then after you can pick which electives you want, and essentially just stop going to the ones that you dont want to do. Which the school recommends picking 3 or taking all 4, but my program really only requires 1 maybe 2. so idk, i think i might just drop one of the lit classes, but I might take all 4 because it doesnt really seem like most of the classes have a lot, if any homework and a couple dont even have finals.
So thas basically all I've done here so far. Next weekend we are planning on making a trip up to Marseilles because stores are much cheaper than in Aix. And in France, sales are government controlled and only happen 2-3 times a year. One of those times being right now! We are also planning on going to a very old town that has a large market, and its very working class and no one speaks English. So looking forward to those things.
At first things were much more difficult for me to adjust to than I thought. Like I said, I am realizing my french is terrible. Basically someone will talk to me for a 3 hour class and I only understand 1 out of everything 30-50 words spoken haha also my host house didnt have wifi (until today!) so that took getting used to.
Its also been difficult getting used to living in someone else's house and living by their rules. But I'm getting more used to it now. The only thing that is really difficult is that my house is a 20-30 walk from town (35 from school) and my house is up a giant hill (not exaggerating, I sweat every time I go up it haha). Little by little its getting easier, and I'll be super in shape by the time I get back to the US :) and I get to see really cool stuff on my way to school
I guess in conclusion, things are taking getting used to, and its just been such a whirlwind of events so far, but I am so excited that I have the opportunity to be here, and really have a lot to look forward to!
Thanks for sticking to the end-ill start posing more now that I have consistent internet access. Love all of you, and miss all of you dearly.
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