I`ve worked in the computer lab quite a bit this past week and have run into this really cool man who is trying to become a French professor. Yesterday we talked about the origin of our names. I explained my riveting story of being named after a street. Then, he explained that his name, DJamal can be written two ways in Arabic. He said that one way you write it means camel, which made me laugh a little, and the other beauty. His represents beauty. Then he said something that really struck me. He explained that he doesn`t consider himself very beautiful on the outside but in then pointed to his head and said, I try to be beautiful in here. I need to remember that. Whenever I am feeling a little lost here, I have to remember that the most important thing is to be beautiful on the inside. It`s a little cliché but I`ve been feeling a little lost and out of place this last week and that mere sentence made me reflect on who I am and what I am doing here. I immediately felt less discouraged :)
I had a lot of revelations yesterday. I had 4 hours of free time between classes - a weird amount of time where I can`t go home. I did some homework and spent a lot of time writing in my journal. When I met up with Molly later in the day, we started chatting and all these thoughts came up. We were on such a similar page and it felt so good to discuss our experiences. Being here makes us appreciate the states much more. It`s strange here how different the university system is here. For example, people aren`t particularly proud of where they go to school. It`s merely a place to get a diploma. We did presentations in my class on our schools and the pride all the American students had of their school was so much stronger than anyone else. Perhaps that has something to do with the price tag. Here it is around 3,000€ per year to study at a university. In the states that would be considered peanuts.
Also, I love living with my host family but it makes me realize how much I take for granted the freedom at a university. To have to be home for dinner every night does limit what you can do. It is a pain to have to communicate to your family any actions that are out of the norm. It is also strange to have to keep your room clean and be considerate of little things - like not showering at night because the water system is loud and will wake up the host family. It`s also annoying to not be able to go home between classes and fit in a bike ride or a run. Even if I brought running stuff to the university, I`d have to run with my backpack on, and I`d be sweaty all day until I got home at 7ish. A smaller percentage of students live on campus then in the states. The whole university system is so different from back home. I’ve also heard that students blatantly don’t listen to the professor in the classes. I am only in the international school so I don’t get that perspective, but the students who are at a high enough level have been sharing some pretty shocking stories of students just chatting loudly while a professor is giving a lecture – in a classroom with less than 20 students!
Molly and I signed up for our first hike this weekend with the club. We`re planning on hiking Moraine de Bonnepierre in the Ecrins. Should be sweet. We signed up at the end of the day and it was a total fail. The guy at the front desk directed us to the wrong room, where an actual class was starting. So confusing! Then when we finally found the place to register I could not think of any French words and could not understand anything. Molly was in the same boat. Like I said, fail. Finally, we signed up and because of the challenging conversation the nice man was worried that we had no idea what we were signing up for. He said, “You walked before?” Meaning, do you know how to hike and do you even understand what you just signed up for. We said yes and ran out of the building. It was quite funny. I`m excited to meet real French people on the hike this weekend! I can only hope that my brain works and I can actually talk with them!
I`m also planning on taking the bus to Lyon with a small group on Saturday. I`m excited to explore a new place and not go to the London Pub again. I chatted with some of the girls in my class about how the Americans always seem to end up there and it`s super annoying! I got some recommendations of other bars to check out too!
Had a great discussion with Nicole about how the group should really try and speak French more. She said every weekend after I spend a night at a bar with my friends, she can hear my French dramatically get worse. That`s a goal for the weekend - speak more French! Also, I was trying to jokingly tell her that I feel at home here because just like in the valley, everyone is brown haired and blue eyed. She interrupted me after I got done saying I feel very at home here and got all sappy. She said it is a huge compliment that I said I feel at home in her house. So, I decided to leave it at that. She did say I would fit in very well here if I didn`t speak. Ouch. Burn, Nicole. Yet before dinner when a visitor came to the door she said my French was very good. I think my pronunciation is improving - I just have difficulty forming my phrases grammatically correct. I can get my meaning across but rarely say it properly. Nicole also said she was interested in visiting the states. So exciting!
And an fyi, this past week I`ve felt a little lost being in France. It just does not fit me perfectly. I`m having a great time exploring the city and trying this new city life but deep down I know it`s not where I`m supposed to be. When I was sitting by myself in a café people watching and thinking about how I used to dream of being a city girl and doing exactly what I am doing now; yet now that I`m here I miss the random adventures of living in a small or at least suburban town. I miss exploring random woods and knowing people when you go out into town! I`m thinking a lot about my future and where I want it to take me. Being here in France is exactly what I needed. It`s giving me the time for reflection that I haven`t been able to have the last couple years. It`s also teaching me to take chill pill and not try to overbook myself every second of my life. Just take every day as it comes and leave room for the unexpected.
Molly and I signed up for our first hike this weekend with the club. We`re planning on hiking Moraine de Bonnepierre in the Ecrins. Should be sweet. We signed up at the end of the day and it was a total fail. The guy at the front desk directed us to the wrong room, where an actual class was starting. So confusing! Then when we finally found the place to register I could not think of any French words and could not understand anything. Molly was in the same boat. Like I said, fail. Finally, we signed up and because of the challenging conversation the nice man was worried that we had no idea what we were signing up for. He said, “You walked before?” Meaning, do you know how to hike and do you even understand what you just signed up for. We said yes and ran out of the building. It was quite funny. I`m excited to meet real French people on the hike this weekend! I can only hope that my brain works and I can actually talk with them!
I`m also planning on taking the bus to Lyon with a small group on Saturday. I`m excited to explore a new place and not go to the London Pub again. I chatted with some of the girls in my class about how the Americans always seem to end up there and it`s super annoying! I got some recommendations of other bars to check out too!
Had a great discussion with Nicole about how the group should really try and speak French more. She said every weekend after I spend a night at a bar with my friends, she can hear my French dramatically get worse. That`s a goal for the weekend - speak more French! Also, I was trying to jokingly tell her that I feel at home here because just like in the valley, everyone is brown haired and blue eyed. She interrupted me after I got done saying I feel very at home here and got all sappy. She said it is a huge compliment that I said I feel at home in her house. So, I decided to leave it at that. She did say I would fit in very well here if I didn`t speak. Ouch. Burn, Nicole. Yet before dinner when a visitor came to the door she said my French was very good. I think my pronunciation is improving - I just have difficulty forming my phrases grammatically correct. I can get my meaning across but rarely say it properly. Nicole also said she was interested in visiting the states. So exciting!
And an fyi, this past week I`ve felt a little lost being in France. It just does not fit me perfectly. I`m having a great time exploring the city and trying this new city life but deep down I know it`s not where I`m supposed to be. When I was sitting by myself in a café people watching and thinking about how I used to dream of being a city girl and doing exactly what I am doing now; yet now that I`m here I miss the random adventures of living in a small or at least suburban town. I miss exploring random woods and knowing people when you go out into town! I`m thinking a lot about my future and where I want it to take me. Being here in France is exactly what I needed. It`s giving me the time for reflection that I haven`t been able to have the last couple years. It`s also teaching me to take chill pill and not try to overbook myself every second of my life. Just take every day as it comes and leave room for the unexpected.
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| check out where I'm going! Lyon, Massif des Ecrins this weekend and Chamonix and Annecy in early October |
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