la première semaine

As I round out my first week in Bordeaux, and continue to make contact with loved ones, I realize you all want to hear the same updates. It's all about how classes are going, have I made friends, are the French people mean, how's the weather, and so, I have decided to start a little blog. For those of you who don't actually want/need to talk to me, but would like to know my general activities, or, for those of you who just can't get enough, this blog is for you! Haha, no, but really....

Alright. To begin:
Class:
I am currently enrolled in the "Intensive Language Program" (ILP) and after a short test, I was placed into the advanced group. (yay, go me!) What that really means, though, is that I am with Isabelle. She is a teacher of french, a writer of books on gastronomy and a food critic for "just a few magazines." She's middle-aged, unmarried, and wears the same all black outfit everyday. (side note: The ILP is, as its name would have it, very intense. It's usually 4 hours of language work and then 2-4 hours of "orientation" to our region.) This being said, I spend about 4 hours a day with Isabelle learning grammar. I have noticed, that though her outfit looks the same, her clothes are slightly different everyday. It's a black long-sleeved turtleneck, with a large black bow pinned on her chest, a tight place leather pencil skirt, opaque black tights, and some form of black stiletto shoe. She's very direct and her class is pretty stressful because we're just racing through French grammar exercises, but I think it's going to help me.

After ILP (which ends Jan. 14 with a 10 minute presentation in French and a grammar test), there's a methodology class that I think I'm going to take. It's not mandatory, but highly suggested if you're in the humanities. Furthermore, because of the student strikes last year, all the universities (University of Bordeaux is split into 4 universities, named University of Bordeaux 1-4) are on different schedules because they were all striking for different periods of time. So I actually don't start class until Feb. 1, and the methodology class would fill the space between ILP and the start of class. So the methodology class meets for 3 hours a day until Bordeaux 3 starts, and then it meets just 2hours a week for the rest of the semester. As far as the other classes go, I won't know what I'm taking for a while. The French don't finalize their class list until the semester has started, or the very few minutes before! So, as I have for much of this experience, I'm flying blind, and because I'm in France, it's OK.

Friends:
Thus far, I have really only met people in my program. This means people from every UC (except Merced....BAHAHAHA). Even in France, UC Merced is the butt of UC System jokes. So far, I've been shopping with a few friends and had some really lively conversation over amazing food with others. The people are all really nice. I can't wait to meet some French students in my classes, also. I think it would be great to come back with friends from outside California.

French people and culture:
Thus far, outside my French family, I have had very few interactions with French people outside service interactions, which usually go like this:
"Bonjour, madame! Je voudrais du pain."
"Voila, ca sera un euro"
"Merci, au revoir!"
I'm trying to be inconspicuous and blend in, which means mcoldaintaining a "more French volume" of speech. Also, Californians are too friendly and smiley, so I have to try and stop smiling and apologizing when people bump into me, or smile at me on the street. It's much better just to look down, and continue walking or standing quietly (and this is very challenging).

Also, as far as French culture, this is the month of sales. The French government regulates the times that things can go on sale, and there are just 2 per year. We happen to have arrived at the beginning of the sales! This means tons of merchandise has its prices cut in half! most things are 10-50% off. Unfortunately this only makes it equal to what it might cost in the US thanks to the lousy exchange rate and terrible value of the dollar in comparison to the Euro. Now that I've mentioned that, though, I bought a very nice tan overcoat. It's so warm and was well worth the 30 euros.

My French Family:
They are really nice. It's a mom and 2 brothers. They are about ten and fifteen years old, and they bicker all the time and help each other play video games. They particularly like zombie video games like "Left for Dead 2" and "Rising Dead." They are gory and loud and violent, and, watching them play these games makes me feel like I never left the United States. It just reminds me of all my friends back home (at UCLA and in Orinda) who play video games for hours on end. They are really nice and will help me with my French and make fun of my terrible accent and grammar issues. But it's all very friendly, and the food is delicious.

The Weather:
It has yet to be above freezing, though I have high hopes for this week. It may get all the way up to 5 degrees celsius! I have never appreciated wool socks more in my entire life. and I am never not clothed from head to toe in at least 4 layers. Inside, I usually can wear just 2 or 3, though....I'm definitely not in Los Angeles anymore!

So I actually started this post at the beginning of the day, and after a whole day of studying french grammar, chatting on facebook and skype, and listening to my family and their friends speak french, I finish this post. Hopefully my posts won't be as long in the future, but will be insightful and help you get a sense of what I do during "ma vie quotidienne."