Author Archives: pricemv

Museums, Euro Cup, and Mass Celebration on the Streets!

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People out on the streets celebrating Spain’s victory against Italy in the Euro Cup finals.

Post for July 2, 2012

Yesterday was such an amazing day! It all started with a morning talk during breakfast with my host family. I asked them what they recommended I should go out and do because I pretty much had a free day. My host mom generously sat down to make a list of things to go out and see in Barcelona when she remembered that the first Sunday of every month is when most museums have free admission to everyone who goes. I made a few calls and less than two hours later Yianni, Lauren, Arti, Michelle, Kelli, and I were meeting up near the Cosmo Caixa museum of science. Others met up with us later because we spent like three and a half hours there looking at all the exhibits and animals. I definitely had a great time, but that was only the beginning to the “amazing day”. After the visit to the museum most of us were hungry so we went back to Michelle, and Arti’s apartment to get some food and rest a little bit before going out again for Spain’s soccer game against Italy. It was the final game for the Euro Cup between Italy and Spain, and our plan was to go to a sports bar and watch it with several other people from our program. We had a very difficult time finding a place where we’d all fit to watch the game and we even missed a part of it but eventually we found one with two floors and huge projector screens where everyone could watch the game. It was an incredibly fun game to watch because Spain won four to zero against Italy and everyone went nuts after every goal. After the game we went outside into this small plaza filled with cheering people singing and waving flags everywhere. Some people were jumping in and climbing on the fountain in the center and it looked like so much fun that we decided to join in. As we continued to move on to “Las Ramblas” (Barcelona’s main streets) we encountered even bigger masses of people climbing everything in sight and making lots of noise. Everyone was celebrating Spain’s victory. After a while of watching all of that craziness we decided to go into a bar to get a few drinks and “dance” but the place was quite lonely when we first arrived. Eventually there were a few other groups that we tried to mingle with. This was one of my favorite parts of the night because I met people from Australia, Holland, Switzerland, Mexico, and southern Spain. I got to practice some French and have a good time with random people who’s names I do not remember already. We also had quite the adventure trying to find our ways back home after leaving the bar and tried to watch over a few of the girls with us who had more to drink than they could handle.

I think I finally made it back home around four in the morning and got a few hours of sleep before waking up this morning at 8:30am and leaving for my first day of school here at 9am. I made it through the whole day without ever falling asleep! It was an easy day anyways since we just went over the syllabus and introduced ourselves to the professors. After school I went back home and rested for a little bit and then went to the beach with Christal. I swam in the ocean for a bit while Christal and Taylor laid in the sun. Now I’m home and ready for dinner. I also hope to meet my new host brother who I may be sharing a room with. He arrived yesterday and is temporarily living in the other spare room but eventually there will be two girls coming from India who will be living in that room. I can’t wait to meet them.

Sincerely,

Jose

“To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.” – Bill Bryson

New Friends, Amazing Beach, Narrow Streets, and Delicious Food

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Amazingly delicious!

Post for Friday June 29 , 2012

Today was amazing! I love Barcelona so much already and I haven’t even been here for 2 days yet. Today I was reminded of the quote “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” because all of the amazingly delicious food we ate and saw has definitely made it’s way to my heart. I LOVE IT! I started off the day by meeting up with everyone in my program at our school and then we went to a place called “Barceloneta” which is by the beach. We walked around for a bit examining the  narrow streets and the architecture of the local homes and then we visited a nearby market with delicious looking fresh foods like seafood, meats, vegetables, and colorful fruits. I already have so many pictures from today that I will probably have to upload more separate from this post. While we spent some time walking by the beach I started to learn some new names and I made a few more friends. The best part of today was our lunch. We had an interesting salad, fried calamari rings with lemon, tiny fried and salted calamari, paella, pan con tomate, and flan for dessert. I thought I was in heaven because all of the food was delicious. This was actually the first time I had tried of any of these foods except for the flan and I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it. After lunch several others went to swim in the beach but I had not came prepared for that so my new friend Christal and I walked along the shore and explored parts of the city until we found a place where we could buy a cheap phone to use while we are here. Luckily we did find a place and now we can call and text our new friends which makes things a lot easier when we want to go out together.

Later Christal, her roommate Shelby, and I met up again near the port and explored the streets near the port. We had dinner outside a small restaurant as the sun was setting and we had our first glasses of Sangria in Spain. I also had some delicious shrimp spaghetti. After that we walked through a mall near the shipping dock and we stumbled upon a very fancy McDonalds that offers a much nicer dessert menu here. Eventually we turned back and stopped to look at some cool “pirate” ships. It was one great day. I am beyond satisfied with my first two days here that I cannot wait to see what else Barcelona has in store for me. I feel like I have been here for much more than two days too. I feel as if I have lived here for about a week now. Isn’t that strange?

Sincerely,

Jose

“I like to travel. I love touring, I love playing.” – Lita Ford

“I was always very determined and ambitious, and I knew I would do something that would let me travel and stuff, but I didn’t really know what I would do to get there.” – Rachel Stevens

I Made It Alive!

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I liked this view as we made our landing for my layover in Brussels, Belgium.

Post for Thursday June 28, 2012

Yesterday I left my home in Salem, Oregon at 5am with my dad to catch my flight from Portland to Philadelphia at 8:15am. I could hardly sleep with the anticipation of my flight and some nervous worries. I kept thinking about all the little things that could go wrong with my layovers or my luggage getting lost. I was also excited yet nervous to meet my home-stay family. Once my dad and I got to the Portland airport, everything went pretty smoothly. I got a window seat on my flight to Philadelphia and I sat next to a girl who was studying to be a biologist. I felt somewhat embarrassed towards the end of our flight because I suddenly started to feel nauseous. I was sweating heavily, I felt thirsty and started to get a headache and I almost vomited into the bag in the seat in front of me. I kept apologizing to the girl next to me. This was my least favorite of my three flights because, although it was not the longest, it was an uncomfortable flight and I do not know why I felt sick at the end. At the Philadelphia airport I got some delicious Chinese food without knowing that my flight to Brussels, Belgium would serve a meal. This was a much better flight because they gave us small pillows and I could sleep better even though it was my longest flight. I took a few pictures on my flights that I will post to share.

One thing I was disappointed in myself for was that I did not try any cheese-steak in Philadelphia, nor chocolate in Belgium. I completely forgot to get some. That’s okay though because I was just happy to make it to Barcelona without any issues. Once I arrived to the Barcelona Airport it took me some time to find my program mentors, but as soon as I did they gave me a map, and several other forms with information on where to go and what to do for the next three days. Once another student in my program showed up we took a taxi together to our homestays. The taxi could not stop in front of my building so it dropped me off at the end of the street and I was alone to find my way from there. I felt quite intimidated by my strange surroundings and uncomfortable as I looked for an unfamiliar building and apartment number. I found the right building and I knew I was supposed to go up the elevator to SA 2 which is the top floor but I mistakenly went to A 2 thinking I was at the right place so I awkwardly knocked on the door waiting for a response from a woman named Lety. I waited and knocked again several times but no one answered. I decided I would just wait since I was about 15 minutes early and perhaps they were home yet. Soon after an old lady with a little girl showed up and stared at me strangely as I asked the old lady if she was Lety. The old lady asked me which apartment I was looking for when I told her I was looking for Lety from SA 2 and she smiled and told me I was on the wrong floor and she kindly guided me upstairs to the last floor where we could here a radio from inside of the apartment I am now staying in. Apparently the radio is only turned on when no one is home so once again I waited outside the door until my host family arrived.

Lety and her two boys came out of the elevator and were surprised to see me outside of their apartment but quickly realized who I was and promptly introduced themselves and led me to my room. I could not quite remember what the names of the kids were because I remember thinking they were very unusual names. My host mom left me to unpack and settle into the room and told me that if I had any question I should feel free to ask her. Lety also gave me a set of their house keys so that I could come and go as I please and only asked that I please let her know when I was going to be home for dinner and when I wouldn’t be. I really liked this because I feared that my host family would be strict and limiting. After just two hours of being in my homestay I had to make my way towards an orientation at my school so I took my map and made my way to a (fairly distant) metro station. It was a scorching hot and humid day so I was quite sweaty once I finally made it to school. Our orientation was kind of boring but afterwards we went out to the main Plaza of Barcelona called Plaza Catalunya and we got some ice-cream. There I made my first friends Yianni, Arti, and Michelle and we walked down “Las Ramblas” towards the port by ourselves since everyone else wanted to go back home and rest. We were too eager to see Barcelona. Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me so I could not take any pictures but we had a long walk around the port and we got to see some pretty cool buildings and ships. Eventually I found my way home and I am glad to be back in my apartment to get some rest, although I am not sure how well I will sleep with all this heat in my room. I have opened my window but there is no air coming in our out so I feel like I’m in a sauna. Either way I am so excited and happy to finally be in Barcelona.

Sincerely,

Jose

“Just to travel is rather boring, but to travel with a purpose is educational and exciting.” – Sergeant Shriver

“When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.” – Clifton Paul Fadiman

Is This Real Life?

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It’s not the greatest, but I like it.

Post for Tuesday June 26, 2012

I cannot believe I leave for Spain tomorrow. So much has happened the past two weeks that I have not put as much thought to this as I think I normally would. Less than two weeks ago I finished my Spring term finals and my sophomore year of college, I said my goodbyes to my residents and friends, and I moved back home with my family. I have been spending some time preparing for my departure by doing things like getting cash Euros, doing some last minute shopping, and packing. My mom and my brother just left to Mexico four days ago and I am sad I will not be able to go with them. Before they left I asked to take a family picture just because we had not taken one in an extremely long time. It’s not the greatest picture because we took it just as we were on our way out to the airport, but I like it.

Yesterday I got an e-mail that described what my home stay will be like. The e-mail said I will stay in an apartmetnt with a large terrace right around the corner from Camp Nou (Barcelona’s Soccer stadium). It also said my host family has two boys, one three-year-old, and one seven-year-old. I am anxious to meet them and see the apartment, but I’m also very nervous because I hope they like me and I like them. Although I have been on several flights to Mexico in the past, I am scared I might get sick on the planes since I have never had such long flights. I do not know how well I will do with three long back-to-back flights. I hope I do not get sick though. I am almost done packing but I am not sure if I should take more because I was told to pack light but there is still a lot of space/weight left available and I feel like I should take advantage of that. I have learned that Barcelona is supposed to be pretty warm in July so I am taking a lot of shorts. My first flight is tomorrow morning at 8am, so my dad and I will be headed for the Portland Airport at 5am! I just want to make sure I don’t miss my flight though.

Besides my small fears and nerves, I am extremely excited to finally make this dream of mine come true. I have been hoping to travel overseas, to southern Europe in particular, for as long as I can remember. I know this will be a worthwhile experience and I cannot wait to share more about it.

– Jose

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine

Week 4 and more!

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Well the past week has been fairly normal. I finally feel like things are settling down, and I am getting into the the daily grind of school work and chores. I have been loving my courses so far and I think I prefer the university system over here compared to back home. Get ready for a culture lesson here!

First off, the education system is different starting from the very beginning. First there is reception, which I suppose we would call kindergarten, and that starts at the age of four of five. From there you have 6 years of primary, what we would call elementary school. When you leave elementary you are eleven or twelve, and here you begin high school, which is 5 years. This means you leave high school at 16 and start college, a two year school between high school and university. This has been one of the most confusing things for both the American and U.K students, because to the Americans College and University are pretty much interchangeable terms, but in the U.k they are totally different  levels of schooling.

Another interesting difference is that in year 10 (age 14) the students here begin to take more specialized courses, dropping the ones that they don’t believe they want to work with as a future career. By the time students reach Uni, they courses are highly specialized and one only takes courses in their field of study. This is part of the reason why Uni here is only three years- there is no such thing as general education courses. Personally I like this idea, although I am not sure how I feel about starting to make people as young as 14 decide what they are going to do with their lives. I’m 20 and frankly still unsure!
Whew, that was a lot to get through,and hopefully I explained it clear enough though. I still don’t quite understand some of the terms in education that people through around (like A-levels and GCSE’s?) but I am slowly learning just how different everything really is in regards to the education system. I knew there would be differences, but there seem to be many more then I previously thought. I am having a blast in my classes though, and now that I have finished that  complicated explanation I’ll add some photos from the photography class I am taking  to make it easier on the eyes!

ImageMessing with light and exposure during class.

ImageA photo I took representing depth of focus

ImageAnother one I took representing the rule of thirds as well as depth of focus

As far as the rest of my week not much has happened. Mostly just a relaxing week of chores, sleep, and coursework. I have several trips in the works though, starting with a trip home with a friend to Birmingham this weekend. I will be sure to take photos and let everyone know how it goes!

Hope you are well,

Summer

Week 6- Arenal

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This weekend I went to Arenal which is a volcano in Central Costa Rica. We visited the Baldi Hot Springs which were incredible. They had made saunas out of the rock and used the hotspring to heat it and they had 3 waterslides going into the hotsprings. We also went to the festival in La Fortuna where there was food, games and dancing. The last day that I was there we went to the La Fortuna waterfall. It was beautiful, however due to the heavy rains the night before the water was brown and muddy and it was unsafe to swim. It was a beautiful view none the less though. ~Koryn

Perspective

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“I wanna be like you, I wanna talk like you, walk like you too!”

Jungle Book 

 Funny how the lens through which we view a situation can change our outlook entirely. While listening to a conversation between my fellow Americans about their first impressions of people; I was fascinated with how each person’s experiences and expectations changed their opinions of others entirely. I don’t want this to sound like a class essay so I’ll try to avoid writing about the too-much-thinking I’ve done about this, but there are the cultural glasses we wear, in which we see everything through a lens based on our American (or whatever) upbringing. But even within the same American upbringing, there are so many different pairs of these glasses. So many other facets of our lives that effect how one interprets a situation and it is interesting how vastly different the same moment can look, through different glasses.

For example:  I was with several other girls one day at a restaurant hoping to order an afternoon snack. The waiter came out to serve us and there were three of us who each interpreted what happened next, very differently. I, usually more prone to the “let’s not cause a scene and just deal with it” response was not particularly offended by the waiter’s attitude and had no intention of reacting. However, another girl felt quite differently. She felt that the service we received was rude and racist and thus we ended up leaving the restaurant.   I remained quiet and kept my opinions to myself in discussing the event or recounting it to others. I don’t feel that I knew enough about the culture to pass judgment and draw conclusions about the waiter’s attitude. While I am fairly certain we were not doing anything gravely offensive, there may have been something about our behavior that triggered the waiter’s response, perhaps we were the ones that were unknowingly rude. Maybe he was not acting out of the ordinary for that style of restaurant in that part of the world, and he may have not had any racist thoughts. Perhaps he had dropped a plate on his foot 10 minutes before, or received an unsettling phone call from home. I’ll never know, and it doesn’t matter. It was a lesson on perspective and open-mindedness. The lesson for me is that I want to learn how to behave to fit in while I’m here.

Cultural Norms:

As I mentioned before, I had a fear of breaking little cultural unwritten rules while I learned how to blend in with the French people for a few months. Here is my report back. It happens all the time! It usually is not as bad as I anticipated but it’s still obvious. Such as wearing tennis shoes, or speaking English, sneezing loudly or chewing gum. There are too many to go over. For the most part, people just ignore us. Sometimes they are helpful and polite and giggle at our attempts. Riding the tram is a great place to stick out and watch the reactions of the French. We get stared at while talking to one another in English (would it be better or worse to speak in our broken French with a foreign accent?). I always catch people smiling to themselves when they see the homework I’m working on. Luckily, in this town people are used to exchange students.

Tennis Shoes AND Yoga pants, in a Chateau…. despicable.

Assumptions, Attitudes and Accusations:

One of my biggest pet peeves is when someone jumps to conclusions without enough information, and then acts on this. It’s bad enough at home where we know the unwritten rules and have more experience with what is “normal” or socially acceptable. But I find it really frustrating here, where we don’t know.  For example, if receiving “bad” service somewhere, why is the next assumption “They treated us like that because we are American! It’s so dumb and not fair! The French are racist!”? We have no idea actually and I can say with some certainty that there must be a lot more to it that meets the eye. Maybe it is the psychology major in me coming out; one cannot draw conclusions based on perception.

“I’m gunna bring America to France!” –anonymous student

This topic makes me think of the Jungle Book and sometimes, after a day of studying French and the culture I find myself humming: “I wanna be like you, I wanna talk like you, walk like you too!”. I think it is important that while we are here to study and to visit, we learn as much as we can, and adapt when possible and most of all, avoid just plowing through leaving an American trail and a bad taste in the local’s mouths. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean that I’m going to stop wearing my rain jacket because I get weird looks, I mean I want to avoid the attitude, of shrugging things off and dismissing local cultures while insisting on bringing my home culture here.

Acceptance:

While I’m on this deep streak, I might as well bring up that in my determination to be open minded I’ve had some surprises and found myself bonding with other Americans I may never have spoken to had it not been for studying abroad together. I have made some very unlikely friends that I’ll remember for the rest of my life. They have already taught me so much and given me a new perspective (or to get really essay-esk, new glasses) on life that I think will help me be less judgmental.  They have been a good reminder to always put forth the effort to get to know someone, and find out about people and why they are the way they are.

My final thoughts for now have to do with stereotypes.  I was about to post this blog but remembered a topic that came up in a class today. I may write more about this in the future, but for now I’d like to leave you with a question.  Basically, our discussion was about the different opinions of and labels assigned to various regions of France (the comparison being how each states views the other states or on a very local level, how Corvallis sees Eugene, (how Corvallis sees Corvallis), and how Eugene sees Corvallis (how Eugene sees Eugene)).  On my long tram ride home, the words of my professor still ringing in my ears, I began to connect that topic to the experience I was having locally and my constant comparisons of France and America/Oregon.
It was pointed out to us, that we stereotype on any level because it allows us to affirm who we are and assert who we need to be. I was intrigued by the concept of there being a model of who you are, within the stereotype you form about others. It is often seen in rivalries that what you say about another group of people (the negatives) is the opposite of how you would like to perceive and define yourself. For example, reading between the lines of saying “they are cold and snobby”, shows the opinion “we are warm and friendly”.
And now I am here, constantly looking for evidence to prove or disprove stereotypes about the French while learning the stereotypes that the French do actually identify with and what they believe about Americans.  So before I get too carried away with this, I’ll stop and just wonder aloud what do the stereotypes I knew about France before arriving have to say about how Americans perceive themselves?  Are negative stereotypes formed out of jealousy? Which came first, the stereotype or a sense of cultural superiority?

This picture was taken on an excursion. A day of observing, and being observed by the French!

Food for thought.
Emily

Poas and Irazu_ Week 5

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For week 5 we went to Volcan Poas, the La Paz waterfall gardens, Irazu, and had a tour of San Jose. At volcan poas there were lagoons and a massive crater that had water in it and everything… it was absolutely beautiful. The Waterfall Gardens were very extravagent and had a multitude of things to do… there was an aviary (with tucans that we could hold), a butterfly garden, cat exhibits, and orchid gardens traditional ox carts with oxen that gave people rides in the cart, waterfalls and wonderful food. La Paz is a well known hotel known for being over the top. On the way down the mountain we also stopped at the abandoned hospital which had some amazing photo ops and we bout queso palmita which is kind of like string cheese and is only made in the mountains: that includes Poas and Irazu. Hard cheese is made in Arenal and Monte Verde. When we went to Irazu, which is another volcano, it was so high up that it was hard for us to breathe let alone hike. We go to see the craters which also had water in them, but unlike Poas it was quite barren without much foliage. Later that day we went to see the church in Cartago again and we toured the city of San Jose briefly. ~Koryn

Left on Rue Bressigny

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Day 2: Left on Rue Bressigny….I think.

This is not Rue Bressigny but it is a street from the walking tour!

The feeling of “Where am I?!” when I woke up was brief, how could I forget?! I got ready and went downstairs to the breakfast and coffee spread that would greet me each day. Our host dad drove us to the school for the first day and it was a lot further than we expected. The drop off at the front door was wonderful since we had no idea where we were going.

First view of the school after being dropped off

I was relieved to have Brittany with me and we managed to find the office. For orientation this month, there were only 3 of us which made things go smoothly and quickly.  It was exciting to meet our third Westcoastian, Jocelyn (from Cali/U of O). There was all the information I wanted and more in a little packet for me. After some introduction we ate Sheppard’s Pie in a cafeteria I was also going to become very familiar with.
Full, acquainted and curious we set off on a tour of Angers. A former student that was visiting came along and offered another first hand perspective getting us more excited to explore and experience.

Soft Bar. One of the 3 recommended. Guess I’m in Europe where directors tell you which bars are best to go out to with the teaching assistants on Wednesday night…

Our heads spinning with café names, prices at shoe stores and times to see movies, we called it a day after un pause-café (a coffee break).

In case you are interested. Rebelle is playing at the theater on Foch street.

We returned home on the lovely, fairly new city tram to have dinner and meet our new roommate from Kansas, Carina! She had a different hair color than when we briefly met her the day before, but details aside, she seemed to be a pretty cool person that would be a good addition to the American possy forming in our Angers suburb. And by that, I mean that we live in a house in a town called Avrille about 40-50 minutes from the city with two people that do not speak English. So, the three of us would become quite a team.
As I fell asleep that night, I was very excited, sort of lost, not nervous enough for the placement test and most importantly, the DODs had vanished.

The next thing I remember was thinking, “There is no way I’m awake right now.” My bed was way too big and way too comfortable and an 8:30am placement TEST was not exactly motivation to get up. TOO BAD! The lecture hall was cramped and stuffy and my brain was empty and fuzzy. And that is how I took the two hour test. Needless to say, it didn’t go so well and I left regretting more than anything taking time off.
Afterward, I was quickly distracted with a field trip to Anger’s very own Chateau.

It had a moat with a garden!

It is beautiful and famous for its collection of ancient tapestries. Honestly though, I was equally amused by my classmates as I was the site itself. Having been traveling around for the past few weeks, I’d seen a lot of cool places and not that that made this Chateau any less cool, it was just slightly less novel. I loved having the new arrivals around (whenever we went anywhere) because their enthusiasm and awe was contagious! I realize I say that with the risk of sounding, oh I don’t know, pretentious, but I hope you know what I mean. I appreciated Brittany and Jocelyn’s appreciation because it reminded me to keep appreciating and not get so comfortable that I begin to take it for granted.
After the visit, the rest of the day was spent shopping around town, including one important stop. Sue, the site direction, found a dance studio for me to check out! We stopped by and I took a look around and got some questions answered. A DANCE STUDIO! HOORAY! I was craving ballet and here was my opportunity. A few blocks from school with hours that worked at a decent price and in France!!! Fun fact, it is NOT called “ballet” here. Go figure. I was told that “ballet” is an English word when I asked the other (French) dancers. For your future reference, it is “la danse classique”.

This is the entrance to the ballet studio. After going through a tunnel thing from the main road. To the left is the actual dance floor!

That evening, we had dinner together with our host parents, and I just can’t get over the meals here. They are so much fun, perhaps my favorite part of the day and so very different from home. Then, we got further settled in and prepared for day one of classes with our new French school supplies! I love my little French planner. I am probably too excited about it!

Yay! Planner is the black one that says “J’aime” on the front. Which is the same as “Like” when your facebook is in French! This picture also includes that packet of supplies and info from Sue.

I got in bed a whole lot more excited and a whole lot more comfortable that before. And slept, and dreamt of Sugar Plum Fairies.

Day 3: Bisous bisous! “Kisses, kisses!”
I report my feelings here, “Because paper has more patience than people. ” –Anne Frank.
It’s true. I’ve come to really enjoy blogging during this trip. In this case however, I am short on time to write and when the following story actually occurred, there were some pretty wonderful people with open ears, as much patience as paper, and with more kind words in return.

Class placement was listed. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to write about this or not but it was a significant event so why not, pourquoi pas! I guess I was surprised, disappointed and therefore upset about being placed in such a low level. That’s what I get for taking time off and not reviewing for the test.  However, not 5 minutes into my class it was evident I was incorrectly placed. The professor gladly signed my level change paper and I went to complete the paper work. Long story short, the man I met with was horrified that I wanted to move up. Curse my double A last name, he remembered me. The worse, most humiliating part was him telling me my test was absolutely awful. Over and over he told me I did bad and didn’t know anything. Even worse, he was speaking rapid French and being upset; I proved his point by asking “comment? (what?)” about twice per sentence. But eventually he did move me up and I left with the lowest self-esteem I’ve had in awhile, and eager to prove I belonged in my new level. When I got home, my plan to hide in my room was thwarted by an entourage of women. My host mom invited me to “Jus d’orange” Orange juice in the yard with them and asked how my day had been. I couldn’t tell them without breaking down. Their response to my story was animated. The complimented me and my French and assured me I spoke well. One woman even picked up the fly swatter and threatened the (by my American standards) blunt and impolite man. I had never met them before but my substitute moms fed me chocolate and turned my day around!

Moving on…

Lost in Translation….reversed roles!

Now it’s my turn. I’m the one saying silly things and making native speakers or other students giggle.

“We are arrived at late. Maybe 20 minutes. Sorry. See you later.” –Me (leaving a voicemail for my host mom)

“Is there free?” –Jocelyn (Pointing and inquiring if the news paper is free or not)

hehe

“Hello, It was Emily”- Me (when answering the phone)

And countless others that shall go unmentioned.

And just a note:

“wee-fee” = wifi
“Gross Keully” = Grace Kelly
Russie = Russia
“Alfrid Itch cook” = Alfred Hitchcock
Useful information.

7 Minutes and a Beeeeep

As I mentioned, the Berthelot’s house is a bit of a commute outside of town. We have options for transportation though. The first day, we were carefully shown our options. There’s a bus and a new tramway. The tram is a further walk but a smoother, nicer ride. The bus is closer but not as new and comfortable. I would just decided based on shortest commute time, but they end up about the same. Maybe when the weather gets worse I’ll switch to the bus, but for now I like the tram. It comes about every 7 minutes in the morning on weekdays and I often have to wait less than 3 or 4. Plus, I get to use my fancy tram pass which makes a very satisfying “you’ve been accepted” beep sound when scanned.

Our beautiful rainbow tram!

And the inside. Which never looks like this. I just took the picture late at night so innocent French people didn’t end up in some American girl’s blog.

Bread and Pressure

France. Where baguettes are an accessory. Now, that sounds like a tagline of whatever that you would hear as a joke or something but I’m not kidding. People really do just carry bread around in hands, purses, bags, etc, all the time! And it’s perfectly normal. The problem is, if that were a habit I was to bring home, people wouldn’t believe me and claim I was just trying to act French.
I sadly have no pictures to support this.

I may have already mentioned my English is suffering, but bear with me, at least I haven’t yet converted to writing in bad Franglaise (the word in French for mixing French and English). Speaking of French I found it interesting that it is way harder for me to understand when the person is talking directly to me. The pressure of having to understand becomes so much and so distracting that I end up understanding nothing. It is so much easier when I can just listen to a conversation between other people. Which makes sense, but it’s still annoying.  More positively, obtaining a second language makes me appreciate my knowledge of my mother tongue. It’s fun to speak in English and feel so smart when I use slang or big words. In fact, in a way my English may be improving. That is, when I’m not spelling things the French way or mixing up grammar rules and expressions!

Listen to your Elders

This is from a day I’ll talk about later, but it is of my host parents and their friends who are also host parents. Jean is the second from the right and Therese is the second from the left! (Carina – my roommate is far right).

So, not only are my host parents a different nationality and speak a different language, they are a very different generation. Both in their 70s, they have grown kids and grand children older than me. In my own experience, sometimes elderly folks can be difficult to understand of explain things to even when speaking English. They may have a different way of talking or just mumble a bit. That is in addition to their native speaker habits, such as breaking grammar rules and abbreviating. I am thankful that they are used to having students around and for the most part, consciously speak slower and clearly for us. They admitted that the shortcuts are difficult to learn.

While I’m on the subject, it isn’t just the way they talk that reminds me of my own grandparents. There are plenty of behaviors too. Once I accepted that age was another hurtle, I became a lot more entertained and a lot less frustrated with myself. It isn’t just my French skills that are a barrier.

Life is happening faster than I can write about it. Soon, I’ll write about my classes and the excursions we have gotten to go on!

A really old house place in Le Centre Ville Angers

A bientot!

Emily

Wait . . . What?

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I love the library. I love going to the library. I love looking at books. I love pulling out a stack of reserved items with my name on it. I love self-checkout machines. I love renewing items over and over because no one else wants them. The library’s great, and a library in England should be even greater, right? I mean, it’s in England.

I did my research ahead of time to make sure there was a library in Ormskirk. I like to read, but I also love watching movies. I watch a lot of movies, and I rely heavily on the library system to do this. I didn’t know if the campus library had many movies, but I figured probably not. A day or two after I got here, I applied online for a library card (because I didn’t know my address before) and I got it in the mail a couple days later. I had been keeping a list of movies I wanted to see that I couldn’t find in the U.S., and since almost all of them were English movies, they were all available in the Ormskirk library catalogue. (WordPress is flagging this for misspelling, and now I’m not sure how I usually spell it. The Ormskirk library site spells it that way, but I guess it can also be spelled “catalog”.)

Well, I finally made it over to the library today. I had a book and a few movies waiting, and I wanted to look around and see what the library had to offer. When I walked in, I saw a big display of movies in the center of the building, so I walked over to check it out. They had a surprisingly large collection, including some surprisingly new releases, and it looked like they accepted media donations from people. I found two more movies that I had been wanting to see, and I took them up to the front desk. I hadn’t been able to find a reservation shelf, so I asked if this is where I pick up holds.

The man seemed a little confused — apparently I had missed the reservation shelf right in front of the desk — but I think he realized I was just American and inept. He scanned the two movies I had brought up and said, “Ok, so that’ll be £4 for these…” and started to point out the reservation shelf for me.

I said, “Wait . . . what?” (I probably said something a little more than this, like “It costs to check stuff out?”)

“Yeah, it’s £2 for each movie, and then 60p for the book.”

I probably sputtered something like, “Oh. Oh, I didn’t realize . . .”

“They didn’t tell you when you were signing up?”

“No, I didn’t realize.” I am embarrassed.

He had pulled out my reserved stack by this time and laid it all out on the counter. “So do you want to keep any of these?”

“Um . . .” I tried to analyze quickly. So many movies, so many good movies that I had wanted to see, so many good English movies. “I’ll just take the book for now.” It was Faithful Place, by Tana French, the third in an Irish murder mystery series that I had been reading. Funnily enough, I had just yesterday come across this book for £1 at a book sale in a cathedral in Chester, but decided not to get it because I would picking it up from the library the next day.

While he pushed the movies aside, I attempted to count the change in my wallet, and discovered I was just short. I gave him a fiver. I had a scarf and a heavy coat on, and was feeling overheated and awkward. He gave me change and I left quickly, silently grieving over the loss of Benedict Cumberbatch and Iwan Rheon facetime. I took the bus back to campus and spent my feelings on an EHU hoodie.

I forgot about it for a couple hours and just now came back to do some research. I found the spot on the Lancashire library website where there is a list of charges:

So, apparently, the 60p I paid for the book was actually a reservation charge, not a charge for the checkout itself. Checking out books is free, according to this. This put me somewhat at ease. I could still check out things out,  I just couldn’t reserve them. But I could get over that. I’d just have to mostly checkout what they already had available in the library, which shouldn’t be too much of a problem because it looked like they had a pretty large selection.

No, then I remembered. DVDs are still £2 to check out, whether you pick them up in the library or reserve them. It’s very sad. I’m not sure what I’m going to do, especially since Hulu doesn’t work here, but I have a free trial of Netflix for now. My movie addiction was cheaply supported in the U.S., but England doesn’t seem to be as accommodating. Also, I’m sure some people would argue that I shouldn’t be watching movies while I’m here anyway, to which I say, fair point, but every artist needs inspiration. That’s right. I am an artist, of film, and I need my movie time.

I feel justified now. That’s all I have to say, and I think this is my first grievance filed against England. I doubt there will be very many, and I’m sure I’ll find a way around it. People here watch movies too.