On Y Va!

(photo of the entrance to the apartment building) To be honest, it’s hard for me to type in English for the moment. I just got done watching a film avec ma famille d’accueil qui s’appelle “Père et Maire”. C’était un très bon film ! Yves-Marie m’a dit que c’était un vrai film Américain. Ce n’était pas Américain, mais il m’a dit que tous les films Américains finissent avec les morales, et ce film était comme ça. J’imagine que c’est vrai, mais je lui ai dit que tous les films Français finissent avec l’amour. Il était d’accord. Maintenant je vais parler en English for those of you who probably didn’t understand a word I just said. Needless to say, it is becoming easier for me to converse in French. Hélène m’a dit que by the end of four months I will be fluent. J’espère que ce soit vrai!

(photo of the apartment - our's is the top balcony) Today I had my first real French class. It was quite entertaining. The professor was very funny and nice as well. When he called roll, there were some students whose names were left off of the list. This was no accident. The first student whose name was missing happened to be a guy who just arrived in Caen last Friday. I kid you not; he could hardly understand a word of French! For some reason he accidentally ended up in our class. When the professor went to ask him a question he responded in English. The professor then said, “Parlez-vous Français?” (Do you speak French?). Silence. I felt bad for the kid, but at the same time I wanted to throw a pen or notebook at him for waltzing his way into an advanced French class when he couldn’t even answer whether or not he spoke French. The next student whose name was not on the list happened to be a girl that decided she liked my class’s schedule better than her own. She therefore just decided to switch. The professor immediately got up and said, “On ne peut pas changer” (You can’t change classes!). “Aurevoir!” (Goodbye) “Il faut que tu ailles” (You must leave now). “Tu es très sympa, mais tu ne peux pas rester ici!” (You are very nice, but you can’t stay here !) « Désolé ! » (Sorry !) After that, the guy next to her confessed to doing the same thing. It was crazy! Who do these people think they are?!?! After we separated the men from the boys, we got to work. He put us in partners and had us find out five truths about one another, make up one lie, and present them to the class for them to decide which of the six things was a lie. I ended up with a girl from China who couldn’t understand much of what I was saying. I don’t know if that was her fault or mine. You know which one I’m leaning towards! I told her that she could tell the class that there are live Bears on my campus at Baylor and that they would think that was a lie. She; however, thought that this was the lie and continued to tell the class that it was a lie. When I interjected the professor could hardly believe that I was telling the truth. He told me he would have to search the internet to see if I was for real or not.

After class I met Linden in town for lunch. We ate sandwiches (the cheapest and most filling thing one can buy in France), and I helped her shop for some things for her dorm. I then went to the gym and then to a café to meet Rachel and Linden for an early evening coffee. It was very relaxing.

Tonight I came home for dinner and (WE HAD MEAT AGAIN) found out that at the end of this week, Yves and Benedict will be on vacation for two weeks! OH THE FRENCH! Hélène will also be on vacation because she works at a preschool. The three of them will be going to Bordeaux to see their brothers/son for two weeks while Yves-Marie and I hold down the fort. You know what that means? Butter! Cheese! MEAT! FAT! FAT! FAT!!!!! YAY! It’s going to be fun! I will miss having the other family around, but it will be nice to have the entire upstairs to myself! Yves-Marie is my favorite person in the family anyway, so maybe I’ll get more time to get to know him and learn even more French! He can’t go on vacation because he is a manager at a Bank. In France employees can only work 35 hours a week; however, managers can work as much as they want. This means that Yves-Marie works a lot!

Tomorrow I will have class starting at 8h20 and again at 9h30, 11h50, 15h10, and 16h20! Crazy! That’s five classes in one day! That’s a lot for someone who hasn’t had class since the middle of December! Here we go!