So, today is my third day of orientation classes at Reid hall... we have been learning about how to compliment your host family and when to be formal or when to be familiar. These lessons are very informative and helpful ( I have already learned that the first day I told my host mom I was pregnant instead of full, a common mistake made by Americans apparently.) Things have been progressing well these past few days, I have mastered the metro, I was able to buy a Parisian phone and I am generally able to navigate my way around the city. However, yesterday was a pretty bad day.
Similiar to my college in America, we have block scheduled classes and we don't meet for the same class every day... we met new professors yesterday who were not as patient as the professors we were introduced to the day before... we were yelled at twice to be quiet and we had to listen really hard as all three professors told us yesterday that "the French are the French and they would not slow down just because we were American students." It was all meant with good intention but it just made things harder for everyone. I was pleasantly surprised that after a few minutes of intent concentration, I was able to understand more than I have thought I would be able to. It was pretty exciting.
Now for the troubled times... Yesterday afternoon our "Paris Pratique" class was about how to buy and use French cell phones. That was easy enough to understand yet, we were not prepared to go to the store and buy them ourselves, what a spectacle it was for the other shoppers when they were locked out of the store while 23 American students tried really hard to speak French with the men who worked in the phone store. It took a few hours and lots of broken phrases but we managed to get what we wanted (with a little help from another store a few metro stops away.) I left my friends to take the metro home to my apartment and all went well... however, when I got out of the train station I was completely lost even though I knew I was only a block away. In Paris there are many exits and I always exit from a different place than I enter in the mornings. So, being my tired, cold, self yesterday afternoon, I did not know where I was. I asked three people (in French) where my street was and none of them knew how to help me... only direct me back to the metro stop with the same name as my street. It took me 35 minutes and the assistance of my lovely mom (yankeetransferred) using google maps to guide me home. Ugh, what a stressful day. I don't mean to rant and I know some days will be like this but it was my first after several amazing days.
I must go to my class now and learn about academics in France! A tout a l'heure ( A little later!)
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9 comments:
I promise...it'll be great. Just give it a minute.
OXOXOXO
Mom
Spend some time walking around and you will eventually be able to always find your way from the Metro. When you go into the Metro station, look for some little thing you can use to make sure you go back out the same way (a sign, a mark on the wall, a bench) It will all work out. I love you.
Susie Mom
Mlle. Madeleine:
You've already done SO much in a week, you lucky gal! Love the blog, and love the photos!
xoxox
Cheryl
oh, that sounds really stressful!
i lived in japan for a year and did not speak japanese. and i had two babies, so i hardly ever did anything that might possibly get me lost.
but one day, the babes were with a babysitter, and i tried to drive to a store that we had visited before. oh, man -- i got so lost! my landmark was this bizarre building with a huge bowling pin on top, but it turned out, it looks the same from any angle. this was in teh '80's, before cellphones. i could read no street signs. anyway, i was completely in tears, and finally got back only with the kindness of strangers. humbling, that is.
Your uncle and I got into a shouting match with a guy in the Paris train station. I was yelling in French "Il y a personne ici avec qui nous pouvons parler???" (is there no one here we can talk to, I think), and he yelled back in French "your talking with me!" It was all downhill from there.
You'll do great.
Love,
Aunt E.
"You're"
sorry.
Aunt E.
Phooey on those grouchy professors. Do they enjoy being stereotypes?
Your host mom isn't knitting booties for you now, is she?
I know what you mean about the metro exits--it's the same with the Underground here in London.
But you'll get better, and your French will improve (she says, having progressed very little beyond Ou est la boulangerie?)
(I'm a 'net friend of your mom's, and LeahF's mom (from Smith)).
Thank you all for your kind words, I am getting better each day but I need to work on my patience. I am very impatient with myself, especially when I make an error and that definitely didnt help that I am in a foreign country. I appreciate your stories similar to mine!
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