First Full Week

I’m starting my second week in France. It’s just hitting me that I’m here for the long haul, that this isn’t just a vacation. It’s scary because that means I won’t see my family and friends for a very long time, but at the same time it’s very exciting. I can’t believe that at the end of this year I will be fluent in to languages. I can’t wrap my mind around actually being able to understand everything that is going on around me.

            School started last Wednesday. It was a good way to start the year. In France, Wednesdays are generally half days. So school started at 9:00 AM and ended at 11:45 AM. The first day was crazy. There were so many people there and you had to fight your way through a huge crowd of people to get to these pieces of paper that told you where your classroom was. I let Cécile do that for me because I had literally no idea what was going on. She took me to my classroom and thus began my adventure. School isn’t very fun right now because I understand nothing the teachers or students are saying. I know it will come and it’s normal but at the same time it’s pretty frustrating.

            The first two days were pretty terrible because there was a lot of free time to hang out on the campus but I didn’t know anyone so I ended up just sitting by myself. But now I’ve met some kids from my class who I’ve been doing stuff with. I need to learn their names though. I don’t know if it’s the same throughout France, but at my school you are with the same class pretty much all day. Here everyone pretty much takes the same class because they are preparing for workforce.

When kids are fourteen they have to choose which career path they want to follow. There are three basic types: S, which stresses science, ES, which stresses economics and business, and L, which stresses literature and language. These career types correspond to classes in the high school. Your schedule is dependent on which career path you take and everyone in the class takes the same classes with the exception of language where there is some leeway and you could take extra English class or something along those lines. It’s not like the US where you have a lot of control over your schedule and what you want to take. Below is a picture of schedule.

In general I begin school at 8:00 AM and finish 15:25 which is 3:25 PM. Although I am going to take an art class through the school will make me stay later. I am in an advanced Spanish class because that is all that is available and taking a second language is compulsory. Anyway, in that class I understand nothing, because it’s either in Spanish or French. But, Spanish is a language I want to learn so I am going to stay in the class. I know school will get better once I understand stuff so I pushing through.

I went to another rotary meeting on Thursday. In Columbus Rotary meetings are in the morning, here they are in the afternoon and are a very social affair. I talked with some more Rotarians and was glad to talk to my friend Manon who went to Australia for a year. She helped me feel much more normal. I have been so tired from all the French and school. Of the two rotary meeting I’ve attended since being here I have returned from both past midnight. The French know how to talk.

This weekend we went to a birthday party in Le Mans, France. It was simultaneously the most elegant and tacky dinner I have ever experienced. There was a champagne cocktail with the aperitif, three types of wine with the appetizer and main course, and three types of cheeses before dessert, which were French pastries. However, there was also a magician, a singer, two strange dancers, and a Buddha that came up to my chest. We arrived at 7:00 PM and didn’t leave until 2:00 AM. The French know how to party.  

You can follow my year through photos on Facebook as well.