First week of classes!

Bonjour, tout le monde! I know I said I was going to try to update you each day this week about classes, but obviously that didn't happen.... This week was crazy. It was a whirlwind of great things, exhaustion, excitement, and disliking the french, sometimes all at once. And at the end of it all, I'm still not positive as to what my schedule will look like. (Although I do have a better idea now!) I guess the beginning is a very good place to start. (Sound of Music, anyone? maybe? hehe)

Lundi
On Monday, like I last wrote, I went and checked out a few classes. "Couple, famille, et genre" seemed pretty interesting, so I may stay in that one. The awkward began, though, because the professor called roll and asked everyone their age and why they chose this course. After she finished her list, she asked if there was anyone there who wasn't on her enrollment list. I wasn't, because I can't register ahead of time. Luckily I wasn't the only one, though. A few french students rambled their answers real quick, and I timidly raised my hand, and told her that "je suis une étudiante d'échange." I'm prettttty sure I embarrassed myself a little bit after that because I misunderstood one of the questions she asked me. After I replied, she was like, "no, but this is what I'm asking you." Oops. Had to get that out of the way, I guess.

After that class, I had an awkward two hour break to eat lunch, but I was out at the Bron campus, so I didn't know if anyone else was there. I think I was walking around like a lost little puppy dog. That was fun. Then on my way to my next class, I ran into another American student from UPenn. We were going to the same class, but no one else was outside the classroom. French universities pretty much do whatever they want, so they change rooms unexpectedly, especially on the first day of class. We figured this had happened, so we searched for the bulletin board, and yep! the room had changed. Luckily it was in the same building, so we made it on time. But the class was kind of a bust for me. The topic still seems interesting - religions and laicites in contemporary societies - but I couldn't handle the professor. He was real boring. I also think I took a class too similar to this to get credit for it at SLU. So no big loss there. Finally, I had another two hour break, so the other student and I traveled back to the downtown campus, which took about half an hour. When we got there, I walked around and found a snack - the bakery where I went had a "buy two croissants, the third is free" situation going on. You better believe that I was ALL over that. By this time it was about 5pm, and my class was supposed to start at 6. (It's a 6-8pm class because it's an elective, so they want to make sure it doesn't interfere with students' other required courses.) I waited around and read some of the newspaper, and eventually ran into a few of the other American students from my orientation. Eventually one of them said that the class, "la cour supreme," was cancelled for the night. We waited around for a little bit, but to no avail. So we ended up going to a little restaurant/bar a couple blocks down the street for a sandwich (camembert cheese and butter) and red wine. Yum. I ended up getting home around 8:30, chilled out in my room for a tiny bit, and passed out. But, I had made it through my first day of french university!

Mardi
Tuesday was another long day - rather, I thought it was going to be. In the morning, I went to a class called Gender and Politics - which was fantastic. I'm going to take that one this semester, for sure. The professor was really kind and the topic seems really interesting. And the first class, the professor talked about the background of gender and politics, etc., as an introduction, and I knew most of what she was saying already! woo! AND I could understand almost everything she said. Double bonus. After that class, I got lunch with a couple of friends from stage, and was killing time because I didn't have another class until 4 o'clock (the other one got out at noon). It got to be almost four, so I found the classroom for the other class (which was a history of photography class or something of that sort), but the classroom was a music room - like, for choir and piano and stuff. This wasn't right, so I went to find a secretary for the department (the only place to get info about classroom changes). They told me that all of the photography classes were at Bron - which is 30 min away. great. What did I do to relieve the stress of a) not knowing where my classes were. bah. and b) having two more hours to kill now? Went shopping. Duh! I was off to Place Bellecour, which is where most of the shopping is. I went into H&M for a little bit, walked around, was going to try some stuff on... but the line was too long. So I just bought two things - pants and a sweater - because they were 15 euros total and I could return them. (They ended up not fitting properly, of course.)

Anyways, I headed back to campus, which was only about a 10-15 minute walk away, if that. I made it back into the sketchy basement where my next class was. It was "Economy and Sociology of Music," which sounds really interesting, but wasn't so much in practice. The class was for first-year music students, so as a third-year student looking for a fine art elective, I already felt out of place. The professor was this old man who spent the entire time describing what sociology is, and the students kept laughing at him, but I didn't catch what was going on. I'm pretty sure that sometimes he made jokes, and sometimes they were like - wait, did he just say that? So the whole time, I'm thinking that I'm not gonna take this class. Nope, wasn't working for me. So THEN - this is the best part - he gives an example of "sociology" - as if it's this really difficult concept to get. He asks the class what color the french don't like. They take a minute, and then one girl says, "yellow." He's like, "Yeah! you're right! This and that reason why! - And look, there's only one person in the class wearing yellow!" Guess who that person is. YUUUUP. Me in my brand new (adorable) yellow scarf. So, spotlight on this girl. Then he asks me if I have french origins - "if I may ask." I said, "non" and went about my business writing "notes," aka occupying myself/trying not to fall asleep/die of embarrassment. So that was fun. It was like a fun game of "let's point out the foreigner in the room." Good times, music prof, thanks.

Needless to say, that class didn't work out, and after a long, exhausting day of not knowing what to do or where to go, I went home (after class got out at 8), had the food that my host mom kept warm for me for dinner, while talking to her, which was très sympa. I had had enough of the day, so I fell asleep again pretty early.

Mercredi
Wednesday was definitely better - and less stressful - than Tuesday. I went to "Genre et litterature francophone," or Gender and French-speaking Literature (not French lit, but rather french-written lit from Northern Africa). One of the Oregon students was there with me, so it was reassuring to have someone else there and to help clarify anything if I needed it. This class seems realllly difficult, but really interesting. I may take it without taking a grade - every. single. time. I forget the word for this. Oh, well. After that, Charlotte and I both went to a translation class for exchange students. Almost the entire Oregon program was there, and it was super nice to know that I knew almost all of them, and I met a couple people that I hadn't yet, too! Then, instead of going to my third class in a row without food, I went with a couple of the students to grab lunch. There's this little cafe in the hospital next door, but it's separate from the hospital - not a nasty hospital cafe - and the food there is soo good. I got an "indian" sandwich that had chicken and curry on it, from the advice of one of the other students. Best decision ever, it was delicious. Out of the four of us there, two had classes after that, but I was calling it a day. So I walked around with one of the students I met, Molly. We went to a pharmacy (which are EVERYWHERE, by the way. I think it was something to do with their socialized health care. just look for the flashing green cross) and then went shopping. Again. hehe. I ended up buying a sweater and a shirt, which I'm obsessed with, and Molly bought her first dress in france. As we were wandering/shopping/talking, we found out that we're pretty much the same person. Yay, friends! so that was awesome. Then, we went to a bar down the street from me for a beer, because it was happy hour, and because why not!? Then we both went home for dinner, and I ate with my host family and my "host grandparents" - the parents of my host mom are in town for the weekend, because both parents are out of town for work. I like talking to them because they tend to speak more slowly. But I also feel worse asking them to repeat themselves, so a lot of times I just smile and say "oui" and hope that they didn't say something to which that's not an appropriate response. lol woops.

Jeudi
On Thursday, I had my classes out at Bron again. The first one was "Anthropologie de la parenté," or anthropology of kinship. There was another UPenn student in that one - bonus for continuing to have fellow exchange students in my classes! This class is interesting, but I think is a broader introduction to the topic, but is similar to my other class, couple famille et genre - the monday class is more specific. So, I'm thinking that I'll stay in the monday class and not this one. I then had a break and had lunch with the Upenn students. After that, I was waiting outside the "amphitheatre," or lecture hall, for my next class. I made small talk with a french boy standing outside because I asked him which class he was there for, to double check. One of the first french people I've met! yahoo! Then a few of the Oregon girls came down the stairs, and it turns out one of them was going to the same class! It was "Problemes politiques de la mondialisation," or Political Problems of Globalization. The subject matter is pretty interesting, but I was fed. up. with the class by the end of it. I've never experienced this in either American nor French university classes, but the ENTIRE duration of the course, everyone was talking. Like, whispering, but louder, so no one could hear the professor. It was so frustrating. It's also a weird course that has a lecture + discussion section set-up, but some weeks you have to go to two lectures and the discussion? It's weird. prolly not gonna stick that one out. So that was weird and frustrating.

After class, Charlotte, the oregon student, and I made our way back downtown. We were going to meet up with Molly for dinner, but had time to kill and were hungry. So we bought a baguette from the best bakery in town (according to both Charlotte and my host mom) and some camembert cheese (my new favorite). We walked around eating bread and cheese and it was so wonderful. Minus the cold temperature. Then we went to the St. James's pub in Vieux Lyon and met up with another friend there. Eventually there was a group of five of us who ate dinner at this charming Indian restaurant down the street from my apartment (in Vieux Lyon). I've had more Indian food here so far than I ever eat at home, and it's all been delicious. After dinner, Molly and I hung out and had a few more drinks, then went to one of the boat bars - the Rhone river has a number of boats that are night clubs/bars. It was fun, but we didn't stay for too long, and then walked home.

Vendredi
Then on Friday, I didn't have any classes, so I slept in for forever, after this exhausting week. Eventually I got up and went out - I returned my clothes to H&M and bought a few notebooks/pens for school. Then I ate dinner with my family and we hung out and watched a movie. We watched For a Few Dollars More, which I had never seen before. It was so bizarre to watch a Clint Eastwood western movie, in french, and not comprehend hardly anything. It was frustrating, but probably mostly because the movie didn't interest me a ton, so I wasn't trying too hard. Everyone was just shooting everyone else. So that's cool.

I slept fabulously last night, and am off to adventure the city today! I will be sure to update you all on that, as I'm hoping it's an exciting day. Happy weekend to you all!