Day 29: Dirty Days Running on Dirt

29 septembre 2009 (Day 29)
Today was just a dirty dirty day. We learned potty words in all my classes. In writing everyone was telling funny stories about not knowing dirty words and our teacher was telling us about a book where a mole is trying to figure out who pooped on his head. It was pretty random. I got my first paper back; I didn’t do as well as I hoped.
Lunch was an adventure as always. Two days a week my classes end at 1pm and the cafeteria closes at 1:30. I scrambled to the Terte (the big cafeteria), waited in line for ten minutes, and they had ran out of food in the line I was in. I rushed over to the Ruby where there was no line and the smiling faces of the servers who were more than happy to tell me what everything was called in French. I got chicken and Brussels sprouts. It actually wasn’t that bad, or the taste of two things that only tasted okay made it taste better (eat the Brussels sprouts to get rid of the fish taste, get rid of the fish taste with the sprouts).
In theatre we also were informed of more dirty words. We received the script of the play we will be performing. It is called, “Au Theatre comme au Theatre” by Yoland Simon. It is basically a play making fun of other plays. There are little scenes from different famous plays and it is all strung together by a Fou, or court jester, and me, “the jeune fille” or the young girl. I didn’t want to be the young girl, but my classmates were quite sure that that was MY role. I would have rather been the fou or Margot, characters who have more of a storytelling role, but the class chose me to be the young girl. At least I don’t have to memorize a lot! I do have to be on stage for the entire play though.
We learned more dirty words in orale (I don’t know how- I wasn’t paying attention by then). We did a comprehension exercise and then got off topic yet again for the rest of the class period. I have just come to accept this as the norm for level 5. I suppose it is our little form of striking. I have also come to realize that niveau cinq (level 5) is really geared towards prepping students to pass the DELF/DALF (tests in France that say you know French). This is frustrating to me because I came to IRFLEE with the intention of learning the intricacies of French and all the rules so that I could be a professor. In niveau 5 we do exercises that are geared towards helping you pass the DELF/DALF. Classes like phonetics and grammar are in the lower level classes. Some days it is really annoying and depressing that I spent so much money to get an education that I don’t want (at least for the writing/orale classes which is 10 hours of the 18 hour schedule). I do love the ateliers though (art history, history of France, theatre, and French culture). I am hoping that I will be able to find classes at the university level that teach grammar, because I really need to learn all the rules so I can teach other people French. In niveau 5, the professors have the mentality that you already know the rules, the phonetics, grammar, etc. and just need a little help becoming more proficient.
I went on a run that made up for the craziness of class. The other day I walked home from school on the other side of the road (rebellious, I know). I saw a nice looking road and thought to myself, “Hey, I should go running down that road. It looks friendly and there isn’t a lot of traffic.” So I got home and changed into my running shorts (that need to be retired soon) and the comfortable hominess of my running shoes, set my watch for 30 minutes, and headed out to that nice looking street. It was a very nice street with some fantastic houses. Some looked very French cottage-esque while others had cacti (yes, as in plural catus…in France, I don’t know why). To avoid going back up to the main road I took the second left I saw (because the first had a private lane, do not enter sign). Happily, this road led to a dirt trail which I gladly followed. This trail went through trees and wandered inbetween a pond and some more student housing. I was so glad I found such a nice place to run and have a picnic a different day. While stretching I saw a group of college age boys running. Well, jogging. Most men here don’t run very fast. It is more like a slow trot. A really slow trot. Regardless, I decided to follow them to see where they were running to (I figured they must be going somewhere semi-worthwhile). It was most definitely worthwhile. We ran on a busy road for about a block (by ‘we’ I mean the group of guys and me far enough behind to be inconspicuous) and then they turned into the University’s boat docking area. I decided to follow them even though I thought it would be a dead end. But alas! It wasn’t! I followed a dirt road along the river for some time, and then I saw it. It was so beautiful, it was as if I had accidentally stumbled upon Central Park in downtown Manhattan among all the bustle and hustle of the city. I found trails, lots of trails. This area was filled with giant trees that stretched their limbs so high that they blocked out most of the sun. the trails meandered every which way, not caring if they were going in loops or crossing over other trails. It is the runner’s mecca of Nantes. There were quite a few people biking and running in this area. I really wish I had my camera; it was just so breathtaking. I stopped several times during my run just to stare in awe at the beauty of the giant trees and the stillness. I’m never going to get tired of running there. Sadly, I looked down at my watch and realized that I needed to turn back around otherwise I’d be running for miles exploring and have no energy to get back. With hesitance I turned around and made my way back through my haven. I continued along to the first dirt path and followed it. (There was a man peeing on the trail, just to keep up with the dirty day streak.) As you predicted, my non-existent sense of direction got me lost. I ended up missing the fork in the trail that went up to the road, so I ended up (not knowing it) running on a dirt path by the freeway for a couple of miles. Once I saw the crossing for the freeway and the sign that said ‘Orvalt Grand Vault’ (which is at the end of the tramway by my apartment) I knew I had gone to far. Let’s just say I was out running for about an hour and a half.
Wanting to enjoy all the dirty looks one gets from going to the store all sweaty and in workout clothes, I went to the Marche-U (I went this morning too). I got some really yummy museli (I don’t think that stuff can taste bad), yogurt, tomatoes, and some corn so that I could make some delightful pasta to stick my French hot dog in (I was getting sick of having them with baguette!). I got to talk to my best friend Amber on the internet, which made me happy as well.
I stayed up through the night working on correcting my friend Chris’ med school application. I didn’t think it would take so long, but I didn’t realize when he sent it on Sunday (due Wednesday) that it was fourteen pages long. The first nine pages or so, got lots more attention than the last few. I stayed up until 2am working on his application. He is a great kid, I hope he makes it in!