Salut!
I'm closing in on my 7th week here, and I'm sad to say that my french is still horrible. I think I'm understanding a lot more than when I started, but my vocabulary is pretty much non-existent, so I can't say what I want. I only have myself to blame for that, because I depend too much on the fact that my family speaks english. Instead of taking the time to look up words and conjugate the verbs, I choose to speak english instead, because I know it will be easier. But I'm not benefitting at all from it and it only means that my progress will be delayed. I've started looking through my old notes to refresh my memory on grammar and vocabulary, and I'm going to try my hardest to speak more french, even if it takes me eternity to form one sentence!
School is going pretty well, but one thing I find frustrating is the fact that we have to bring all of our books home with us. I was never exactly one for homework in the united states, I chose to do it during lunch or in between classes, so I've never really brought home a lot of stuff with me. But now I have all my notebooks and textbooks that I have to carry around all day in my purse and it's so annoying! I swear to god, girls here practically carry around duffel bags to hold their books. Guys use backpacks, but the majority of the girls just use an oversized purse. It gave me an excuse to buy this bag that's been taunting me for weeks, but after a while I get tired of lugging around this massive weight on my shoulder. And wednesday's and thursday's are even worse, because I have to bring a change of clothes and shoes for gym as well. But I guess it's something I'll just have to get use to! I'm still managing to get lost in school, because my schedule is so random so I haven't been able to find a routine yet. One of the buildings has a bunch of towers, and I can never remember which one has my art room on top. I always climb up the wrong one then have to go all the way back down and repeat until I find the right one... so at least my legs are getting a good workout!
Girls at school are always dressed up. Always. I don't mind looking nice every once in a while, but honestly, I love the days where I just roll out of bed, throw on some yoga pants and my XC hoodie and head to school. But nopeeee, not here! Girls never wear t-shirts (so that rules out all my favorite cross country shirts) instead they wear their fancy heels and flashy shirts. They always look like they’re ready to go out on the town for an evening of partying. A lot of the guys are much more composed than the united states as well. They often wear collared shirts underneath a sweater with a scarf. Which I have to say looks pretty nice, compared to the endless guys in Ohio with their hoodies and boxers hanging out of their pants. Although I’ve also seen a lot of guys just wearing t-shirts and stuff. Yesterday my math teacher was wearing a Guinness t-shirt, which I found amusing.
One thing that’s a little bit different is gym. Every month we can choose from 3 sports that we will play for the entire month. So for the month of October I had the choice of badminton, soccer or tennis. I chose badminton because that’s the only sport I don’t completely fail at. But sadly each time we play I have to pay one frank to use a racket. I just don’t understand that at all. And last week we played tennis and it was 2 franks for a racket. Why is the school charging me for equipment that I use for an hour and then safely return to it’s cubby? Also, a random thing to share, a lot of the girls wear wind pants for gym. Now I personally haven’t worn wind pants since I was about 8, but perhaps I’ll have to invest in a pair!
A few other notes:
- They are hardcore about taking notes in class. I’m talking about 20 different colored pens to label and underline. And they always use their mini rulers to underline stuff. Even if it’s like 1 word, they all whip out their baby rulers and underline it so it’s perfect. Fortunately I’m a champ at drawing straight lines, so I’m not too concerned about investing in a ruler.
- They can’t drive cars until they are 18, so instead a lot of kids get their scooter license at 16. I feel like every single person has a frickin scooter (including my host brother)
- It’s illegal to ride a scooter without a helmet.
- I’ve found a channel that is almost always playing Friends, which makes me really happy because that’s my favorite show. So it’s really fun to watch it in French. I’ve also found a British channel that also plays Friends, so I can see it in English as well.
- I think I have finally mastered the European way of eating (fork in left hand, knife in right) It took me forever because my left hand is completely useless. But here it’s considered rude to have your hand in your lap while eating (which is what I always do) so I trained myself to start eating with my left hand.
- I just discovered the band called Norwegian Recycling. You should go check out their songs on youtube. especially How Six Songs Collide, Miracles, and No Taylor No Scar.
I'll leave you with some John Mayer. I have no idea why you can only see half of the video though...
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