The End of Week #2

Bonjour everyone!  Woohoo!  It's the end of week 2 (and a few days hehe)!  Where to start, where to start?  Why not from the beginning?

This week has been a lot of fun, to say the very least.  We celebrated Bastille Day here, which is like the French version of the 4th of July.  It commemorates the storming of the Bastille (a prison that was holding French revolutionaries), and marked the kickoff of the French Revolution.  All throughout the day, we participated in different activities to celebrate and learn about Bastille Day.

We made French accessories (dubbed "French touches" by the staff here):

I was pretty excited about my finished crafts...if you can't tell.

Woohoo, we're gettin' patriotic up in here!

Later in the day, we had a big barbecue and a quick dance party where the staff put on quite a show.  Shortly afterwards, with our bellies full and our muscles warm, we left for the fireworks.  We got a pretty good spot at the fireworks, and despite the constant smell of cigarette smoke, it was a great show.  Check out some of my best pics:

(By the way, the stereotype is true: the French really like their cigarettes.  Whenever you go into town, you can smell cigarette smoke almost anywhere.)

I have been eating plenty of good food here.  I attended a dégustation (food tasting) that featured French favorites as well as a few regional specialties.  Just today, I visited a fromagerie with my culture and cuisine class.  "Fromage" is the French word for cheese, and we had the opportunity to sample plenty of it while we were there.  I don't think I've ever seen so much cheese in one place:

There were several good cheeses, but my favorite?  Le perail.  Best served with bread, it had a great flavor and texture and I felt very sophisticated and French-y eating it.  I unashamedly probably ate the majority of the wheel of perail.  'Twas a relatively small wheel, but still. :)

There's lots to see and do here, so among other things, I have visited the Montpellier botanical gardens...

...visited a French TV station...

...enjoyed a beautiful opera...

...and typed a document with a French keyboard...

...and that is a much more difficult task than you might think. :)

My comprehension has gotten much better, and I feel more at ease with the French language now, which is incredibly exciting.  I'm still having a hard time expressing my thoughts effectively, though.  An intelligent French thought is much more easily writtten than it is spoken.  I still have a long way to go, but I'm making progress, and progress is a great thing.  

It's now 1:00 in the morninghere, and we have an excursion to the city of Avignon tomorrow, so I should probably go to sleep now.  I hope you all enjoyed this peek into my life this past week.  It's an exciting life indeed. :)  À tout à l'heure!  Until next time!

Sincerely,

A Fromage-Eating, Accessory-Making, Partially Bilingual Self-Proclaimed Nerd

End of Week #1 (one day late)

Bonjour everyone!  So, yesterday marked the end of my first week here in France.  I said I would try to get a post out at the end of every week, so I'm one day late, but I'm still doing it!

This week has been crazy, to say the least.  Not necessarily crazy in a bad way, but definitely crazy, and I'll tell you why.

1.) I am from Detroit, also known as the Motor City.  With that being said, I am used to lots of cars everywhere, wide streets, and driving everywhere that I need to go.  In France, it is the exact opposite.  There are significantly less cars, the main streets aren't much wider than your average American side street (don't even get me started on the side streets here!), and everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, walks wherever they need to go.  Just look at the streets:

No wonder there are so few people overweight here!  I have never walked so much in my life.  My feet hurt on a continual basis, but I love the atmosphere and being able to go out and explore the city on foot.

2.) It is incredibly hot here.  I've never been in a place where it's so faithfully, constantly hot.  Granted, the weather is beautiful and exactly how you would imagine the south of France to be, but wow, it's hot.  It has only rained once the entire week, and the sky was completely cloudless for 4 straight days.  I can't remember the last time I sweated this regularly, but I love the sunny weather, and the fact that it's always a great time to go outside.

3.) The French language ain't no joke.  The 100% immersion aspect of the program brought me to the rude awakening that I didn't know as much French as I thought I did.  I mean, I knew I wasn't going to be the best by a long shot, and I knew I was going to struggle when I arrived here, but did I know it would be this bad?  No, I did not.  Would I have ever guessed it would be this much of a challenge?  Never in a million years.  Even things as simple as ordering at a restaurant or talking with newfound friends become brain-probing challenges and tests of levelheadedness.  I quickly realized that my biggest challenge is not reading or writing or even speaking, but comprehending.  At first, it was even difficult to understand my peers, so you can imagine how hard it was to understand the teaching/administrative staff and the natives!  It's hasn't been anywhere near easy, and tears of frustration have been shed, but I'm learning.  I'm getting better and understanding more every day.  I just have to be patient.

Hopefully, this whole post didn't sound like one big complaint.  That wasn't my goal.  Sure, there are things I could complain about, but why should I?  I'm fulfilling life dreams, learning a beautiful language in a beautiful city, and I'm marching my way (slowly but surely) towards bilingualdom.  It's exciting stuff.  Here's just a few photos for your viewing pleasure:

 

That's all for now.  I hope everyone who reads this enjoys it, and hopefully, next week's blog will be even better.  Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

An Achy, Tired, Learning, and Growing Self-Proclaimed Nerd

The end of Day 2

Well, it's the end, folks.  Er, the end of a long second day, that is.  Let's start from the beginning, shall we?

I boarded my first plane from Detroit to Paris just fine.  The plane ride was long but smooth, and I was seated next to a very mumbly but nice, middle-aged man named Bobby.  He enlightened me with his own travel stories and helped me with my carry-on because I'm short and it was hard to reach it. :)  I got about 3 hours of sleep on the plane.  Thank the Lord, that plane ride was uneventful.  It was when I arrived in Paris that things got interesting.

Paris-Charles de Gaulle is a huge airport. I ended up getting lost for about an hour while being very un-confident in my Français.  After asking 5 different information desks for help and almost breaking down in tears in the middle of the airport, I finally reached my gate with about 20 minutes to spare.  After that, it was pretty smooth sailing down to Montpellier.

The first day was mostly orientation, but it was all <<en Français>>, which made it much harder.  I met my roommate, and we have been getting along well so far.  I got mostly unpacked and got my first solid amount of sleep in about 36 hours.  It was glorious. :)

Today was the first day of classes, and it was interesting, to say the least.  Everyone in the program is supposed to speak French 100% of the time, and both of my classes are taught in French.  My first class is La France au quotidien (Everyday French).  Mon professeur (my teacher) is very nice, but it can get pretty hard to understand all that she says.  My listening comprehension is probably my "weakest link," so to speak, and it's definitely on the top of my long list of things in which I need to improve.  My oral sentence structuring is getting better, but I still have a long way to go.  

Now about my second class...I didn't go.  I didn't skip, though!  I've never skipped a class at my own school, let alone one in France!  Long story short, two of my friends and I were out to lunch and we didn't understand the schedule (which was also in French, of course).  The lunch period was way shorter than we expected, and as we were walking back to the school, my friend got a call, saying that we were supposed to be in class at that moment.  A staff member found us on the street just a few seconds later and proceeded to chew us out...in French.  I didn't really know what she said, but I could tell she was angry.  We rushed back to the school, all the while helping each other formulate our apologies and trying to recite them out loud.  When we finally made it to the school, they sent us to the office where we got reprimanded again...in French.  My class was out on a field trip, so I was spared the embarrassment of having to walk in right in the middle of class.  However, after all that confusion and misunderstanding, the tears were pretty close to flowin'.  I met my prof later, though, and she was really nice about it all.  Thank the Lord for mercy. :)

Just a few hours ago, we got to see the Tour de France come through Montpellier!  It went much faster than how it is on TV, but it was fun to see and a once in a lifetime opportunity, so I gotta say, it was pretty cool.  Check out some of my pictures:

All in all, the past 2 days have been exciting, frustrating, fun, nerve-wracking, and humbling.  I'm looking forward to the rest of the week.  It will probably be described with all of those same adjectives, but they will all be magnified to the 3rd power. :)  Look out for my end-of-the-week blog on either Saturday or Sunday!

Sincerely,

An Ever-So-Slightly French Speaking, Mentally Tired but Excited Self-Proclaimed Nerd 

Almost ready!

Well, here we are, everyone, just 2 days out from takeoff.  The whole notion of this trip is becoming increasingly real, but at the same time, it's still feels so surreal.  I can't believe I'm actually about to fly across the Atlantic Ocean and live in another country for an entire month.  It's mind-blowing, honestly.

As for my packing and prep, I am in the process of getting everything in my suitcase, and when you're gonna be away for a month, you definitely don't want to forget anything.  Right now, it's all still in the organizing stage...

...but I'll be finished soon, don't worry. :)  

The excitement is definitely building.  All of my good friends and family are very excited for me as well, and it genuinely blew me away to witness their generosity and support for me as I prepared for this trip. I would not be able to have this opportunity without their help, and I am incredibly grateful to all of them.

And with that, I am gonna go.  As you can see by the picture above, there is still plenty of work to be done. :)  The next time I post, I will be in France!!!  Be sure to check back because I'm going to try to blog shortly after I arrive on Tuesday and then at the end of every week thereafter.  Guys, this is gonna be fun.

Sincerely,

A Super Pumped, Soon-to-be World Travelin' Self-Proclaimed Nerd

Oh, this is NOT ok...

Has it really been almost TWO WHOLE MONTHS since I last blogged?!?  This is a sad state of affairs.  To my credit, the end of this past school year was some of the hardest months of my life.  I have never had to work that hard in school!  In the end, everything panned out fine and end-of-the-year report card looked pretty good to boot!

With that being said, do any of you remember that trip to France that I blogged about a few months ago? (If not, check that post out here.)  Well, now it's nearly here with the countdown at a mere 6 days until I fly out!!!  I am extremely excited, and I promise I will keep you guys up to date on it all.  I plan on blogging at least once a week while I'm there, complete with (hopefully pretty good) pictures of my adventures.  I hope you all are looking forward to this just as much as I am... ok, that probably isn't possible. :)

I really do apologize for the nearly 2-month lack of blogging, everyone.  Over the summer, and even going into next school year, I am really going to try to keep you all abreast with what's goin' on.  Until next time...

Sincerely,
A Very Apologetic, Ready to Start Blogging Again, Self-Proclaimed Nerd

Where has the time gone?

Hey guys!  I am soooo sorry that I haven't posted in so long...I didn't even post over spring break. :(  But I am back!  I logged in and saw that I had 41 more pageviews than I had the last time I logged on.  Thank you to all who may be reading!

Anywhoo, I'm in the final 2 months of school - the home stretch.  It's getting more difficult because I'm so ready for summer, but I have to stay focused because some of the concepts are only getting more complicated and building on all the things I've learned thus far.  Plus, I have 8 weeks to make sure that, when I get my report card in June, my grades are in tip-top shape. :)  Summer, where art thou?

French trip update:  I got my passport in the mail about a week ago, and through fundraising, I just raised enough money to purchase my plane ticket!!!  I should be booking my flight within the next week. :)

Once again, I'm so sorry for not blogging in so long.  It's been crazy lately, and I'm just trying to keep up.  However, I'm really excited for my trip in July, and I'm gonna try to blog as much as I can while I'm there!!!  It should be fun!

Sincerely,
A Busy but Excited Self-Proclaimed Nerd

France? Say what?!?

I'm gonna try to make a long (but very exciting) story as short as possible, so here we go.

So, ever since the beginning of this school year, I've known that I wanted to do some type of summer program this summer, and after having a good look around on the Internet and getting some tips from my teachers, I started getting my applications together for 3 different programs.  One of those programs was a month-long language immersion program in the south of France (Montpellier to be exact).  As exciting as the prospect was, the program was also the most expensive of the three, ringing in at a whopping $7,500!!!  My family definitely cannot afford that at the moment, so I applied for the scholarship and sent it in with high hopes.  They said I had to wait 3 weeks before I would hear anything back from them.

Exactly one week later, I come home from school, and my mom starts getting excited because she sees that there is an email from the program with the subject "Oxbridge Scholarship Results."  She clicked on it and then ran off before she could see anything, telling me to go see what the email said.  At this point, I'm very nervous because I don't know if something went wrong or what.  I hesitantly go to sit down in front of the laptop and see these words: "I am delighted to inform you that you have been awarded the African American Scholarship to attend L'Académie de France, and to express my sincerest congratulations."  This was the point where I just started screaming.  My whole family gathered around the computer and started screaming with me.  It was definitely one of the more exciting moments of the week. :)

So, from what it looks like, I will be spending almost the entire month of July in the south of France, just off the coast of the Mediterranean, learning the beautiful language of French!  This will be my first time going anywhere out of the country, so I'm very excited.  It's such a great opportunity, and I'm really looking forward to learning all about the language and culture of the country of France and seeing the sights.  It's gonna be awesome.  I know it's still a couple months off, but once the time comes, I will try my best to keep you all updated (complete with pictures!).  Until then, au revoir!

Sincerely,A Soon-To-Be World Travelin', Self-Proclaimed Nerd

New school year!!!

I am sooooo sorry that I haven't posted in so long, but I figured, since it's the beginning of a new school year, I might as well kick it off with a new post.  I actually started about 2 weeks ago, but it's the thought that counts! ;)
So, believe it or not, I'm a junior this year (upperclassman, woot woot!), and I think my schedule is pretty tough.  I have world history, drama, physics, honors pre-calculus, concert choir, French 3, and AP English.  I'm really excited for French this year because I have a really good teacher, so hopefully I'll be a boss at French by the end of the year (Parlez-moi francais? Oui, oui, je vais!).  I'm also really looking forward to getting really into varsity choir because it's a big commitment and we travel a lot, but it seems like a lot of fun.  I'll try to keep you all posted with what goes down in my relatively drama-free-but-somehow-pretty-interesting life. :)
By the way, it seems like I've had a spike of Russian viewers recently, which is SUPER exciting.  Hello to everyone in Russia!!!

Sincerely,
A Self-Proclaimed Nerdy Upperclassman

Bonjour! (My ATTEMPT at writing in French)

I really like French, and I just feel like writing a post in French, so here we go!  (I'm warning you, I don't really know more than basic conversational French haha.)

Alors, j'adore la francais et j'ai veux ecrire de la francais.  J'adore aussi ma famille, la musique et le chocolat. D'accord, c'est tout.  Au revoir!

Told you it would be basic!  I really do love the French language, though, and one day I'll be a fluent speaker and writer.  Until then, you have this to hold you over! :)

Sincerely,
A Francais-Loving, Self-Proclaimed Nerd

It's Friday, Friday!

...Gotta get down on Friday!  Oh, sorry.  I got a little carried away haha.  I am so sore from soccer and everything from my abs to my knees hurts like crazy.  I still have practice today, but not before I go to piano tutoring for an hour.  After that, I have to go home and study for my algebra final so that I can go to my friend's party on Sunday.  Oh, c'est la vie!  I hope my hair isn't gray by the end of the school year!

Sincerely,
A Super Busy, Self-Proclaimed Nerd

French

My friends always look at me like I'm a nerd when I say this (and I am a nerd, so they're pretty accurate haha), but I really love French!  I know that this is random, but I really don't care.  There's just something about the language that is so fascinating to me.  I've only been taking French in school for almost 2 years now, but this year especially, I've come to really enjoy the language and the class.  I'm even getting kinda sorta a tiny wee bit good at speaking it! :)  Well, that is all.  I just wanted to express my very nerdy love for a beautiful language.  Au revoir for now!

Sincerely,
A French-Lovin', Self-Proclaimed Nerd