first day of class!

For starters, my host brother Paco loves to sing, and gets songs stuck in his head all the time. He likes to sing while he does the dishes. I've heard "Le lion s'endort se soir," the tune to Aretha's "I Will Survive," and the "muh muh muh mah" of Lady Gaga's PokerFace. (Because he speaks no English, and certainly no American, he just hums the tunes....) And, as I write this post, he's singing some song in French that seriously annoys Manu. (What else are little brothers for, really?)

and a little weather update:

Alright, now for the first day of class. It started somewhat poorly with the tram breaking down. It was a very strange experience, really. At the St. Nicolas stop, a woman's voice came over the loud speaker and said (en français, biensûr) "This is the end of the line. There has been an incident on the tracks between St. Nicolas and Doyen Brus." With very few complaints, everyone on the relatively full train got off and started walking. I don't really know how to describe it. 50-100 people got off the train and just started walking, without a word. It really was somewhat upsetting how everyone reacted, mostly because it seemed to be such a normal thing for them. (I really hope tram breakdown is not super normal...) Because I'm slightly OCD, I left about 45 minutes early for the first day of class. Despite the large cushion I gave myself, I still arrived in class 15 minutes late, because I had to walk for an hour. 6.1 kilometers.

As I GoogleMapped this, I saw that it actually could have been only a nice 5.5 km walk, but I don't know the streets well enough, so I just walked along the tram tracks....bummer.

Once I got to school, (only 15min late after floundering trying to find the class) I sat down to listen to my first TD (travaux dirigés). The equivalent of a discussion section in the US. It was for Renaissance Art of the 14th and 15th centuries, a topic I have covered. So, the info was not new, but the methods of testing were. I would be required to do a 25-30 minute oral presentation in French, as well as a paper. I chose a topic that would be presented in 1 week. AAAH!!! At this point, I am thinking I might drop the class, but I wanted to give the CM (cours magistrale) a chance. The US equivalent of a CM is lecture. The CM was in a large lecture hall filled with many first year art history students. Here are some observations:

1. The classrooms are pretty grungy. There was graffiti all over the desks, and the lights didn't work, and the seats aren't cushioned. Also, there were some lighting issues, the first half hour f class being conducted in complete darkness...

2. The French students talked and joked throughout class, with a volume similar to that of a US classroom. (that is to say, perhaps "CA volume" and "French volume" are more similar than I thought)

3. Le Petit Pause (no translation necessary) is a time for half the class to leave and smoke. A la fin du petit pause, everyone comes back in the amphitheater surrounded by cold air and cigarette smoke. It's really quite amusing.

4. The French "Frenchify" everything (my professor admitted to it). This means, Leonardo de Vinci (pronunication: lee-oh-nar-doe da vin-chee) becomes Léonard de Vinci (pronounciation: lay-oh-nar de van-si). It is more difficult than it would seem, because she says these names quite quickly, everyone knows them, and she moves on. All the while, I hear the name, think about it, say it slowly in my head, and then realize "OH HIM!" and then scramble to write down her thoughts.

After the CM, I decided to drop the class. I don't really want to do that huge expose next week, and I'm not going to get credit for it back at UCLA (because I've taken an equivalent class) so it's not worth the effort.

After a nice lunch, I went to my next 2 hours of class (hours 5 and 6 of class for the day) on "L'art du Portrait." It was much better. It's a class for 3rd year students, and though the professor is the same for the Renaissance class and this one, she cares more in this class. She goes slower, more in detail, probably because in this class everyone is listening to her. It was really nice. After class I introduced myself, and told her I study at UCLA. She asked me if I had been to the Getty. "Of course!" I replied, "I usually have to go there for my classes!" She really liked that, and I think we kinda bonded. So after a somewhat exhausting morning, it turned out OK. Through the rest of the week, I have Art et histoire littéraire as well as L'art du XIXème siècle, hopefully these will be alright as well.

Et maintenant, je practique la langue française:

A jeudi, je prendrai le TGV à Paris pour le week-end. Je suis ravie d'y aller. J'espère qu'il ne pleuvra pas beaucoup! J'essaie de parler plus en français, mais, comme d'habitude, je ne peux jamais m'exprimer précisement. Quelle tristesse!

Si vous ne comprenez pas, traduisez-le à "Google Translator"

Bon Weekend!