Three Weeks

Third week down. It was a pretty good week; I’m starting to fall into my schedule. I still have no idea what classes I have, and I have to check it everyday but I am beginning to know what is going on.

I take naps everyday, being an exchange student is really exhausting. It’s a lot of work to constantly concentrate. That’s one of the bonding points I have with all the other exchange students, we all complain how we’re tired literally all the time. I met three other exchange students at school. One is from Mexico, one is from Sweden, and the last is from China. It’s pretty tough for the Amy, the Mexican, because she’s never taken a French class before, but the Chinese girl is in a Spanish class and she said that she’s never even heard the language before, so that would be pretty tough.

I’ve sort of gotten into a routine here. I have to get up at seven most days and I eat breakfast with the family, this is difference between the US and France, in the US I hardly ever eat breakfast. By 7:30 I leave the house and walk to school, which is not nearly as bad as I thought it would be, I arrive at school at 7:45ish and talk to my friends or stand awkwardly if no one I know is there. My day starts at 8:00 and ends at different times depending on the day, on Mondays and Fridays I finish at 5:00, on Wednesday I finish at 12:00, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays I finish at 3:20. My favorite part of the day here is the walk home, it’s refreshing and it reminds me why I’m here. Also stopping at the bakery down the street doesn’t hurt!

We started a class called TPE two weeks ago; it’s a two-hour class that we have every week. Basically in the second year of high school the kids have to do a huge project in the subject area of their path. We have to do ours on either, money, consumption, or crisis and panic. Last week during that class was the first time I felt really capable of rapid French comprehension. It was a great class and I felt like I actually contributed something to my group. This week I didn’t understand as much and we don’t really know where we’re going with the project. The good news about this project is that I will probably get to use it for my senior project, which is great because I had no idea what I was going to do.

I didn’t do much at the beginning of last week but on Wednesday a friend of Cécile’s named Peter. He goes to a different high school than us. We met up after school and ate lunch in town instead of at home. I had my first hamburger here, and I have to say we do it better.

On Thursday morning I had a class called Devoirs for two hours. I didn’t know what it was and I don’t think I was making myself clear when I was asking about because I was not prepared at all. It turns out that every Thursday morning the kids here have to take tests for two hours. Last week it was two hours of French, this week it is one hour of Math and one hour of SES. I didn’t have to do it last week but I think I do have to do it this week. Last week I sat in the CDI (Library) and made Spanish verb tables.

I’ve learned a little about the French education system since being here. I’ve come to realize that everything they do in school is preparation for the Bac. The Bac is a huge test that basically determines their life. The Devoirs is preparation for the Bac but it is also what determines their grade. Their entire grade is out of twenty points and those twenty points seem to be based entirely upon the Devoirs.

On Monday I signed up for an Art class, partially because I need to take one for the US and partly because you don’t need French for art. It was pretty great and I am really glad I started it. It’s a little different than any at class I’ve taken in the US. Here I feel as if it is a lot less structured, which is a little odd for French schooling. The teacher gave us an assignment, made something that is blurred in 2D using elements of Picasso and Matisse, and after that we were completely free to do what we wanted. My art is pretty ugly but I enjoy the class.

I also signed up for a European history class that is taught in English. The teacher doesn’t speak perfect English but it’s pretty easy. I don’t know if I understood correctly what the class is about though because we are learning about American geography and American inventors right now.

On Saturday, I went to a movie. It was dubbed in French so I didn’t understand everything that was going on but I could understand more than I though I would and I think that you don’t really need the words to a movie to figure out what is going on.  The movie I saw is called, in English, If I Stay and Si Je Reste, in French. It’s different here, on the way to the movie my Host Dad explained that it was considered kind of rude to eat snacks or popcorn during a movie here. I saw one girl with popcorn and it was tiny as well. I hadn’t really realized how big everything is in the US. Also the popcorn at the movies here is sweet not salty.

On Sunday, we went to La Tranche sur Mer for Cécile’s birthday. My family has a home on the Beach there. One of Hugue’s relatives was a mason and constructed the house. It was fun, a lot of the family came. It amounted to 15 people. There were three different types of cake, I’ve learned here though that cake means different things is the two countries. I haven’t really eaten what an American would consider cake yet. Below are pictures of the cakes.

I know that I am understanding what is going on and French so much better than when I came. It’s crazy how much I’ve already improved. I am able to have conversations with people now and if I don’t have to conjugate in the past or strangely it has a pretty good flow. Also it’s weird sometimes French words come more readily than English words, for, instance pour instead of for. Also French grammar is slipping into my English. I sometimes say something in English the way  I would in French and it comes out a little strangely. Thursday marks one month here.