Hannah & Mari15 octobre 2009 (Day 45)
This morning I had a paper due in writing, so I woke up and wrote a lovely essay on the Patriot Act in French. I actually learned a lot about the Patriot Act. I turned it in and the rest of writing class wasn’t so great. I did not understand the concept Annick was teaching us. I tried asking her and she wasn’t getting what I was asking so she ended up making fun of me [sort of] and I ended up almost in tears as I was trying to explain what my question was and that it was a valid question. I had delicious kebab (like the kind on a stick) sauce today at lunch. I really wanted a falafel to stick it in!
I went to chat with Patricia Torres after class. There has been some confusion about whether I need to get a carte de sejour (55 euros, doctor’s visit, big card that says I can stay in France) or just have a long stay visa. She informed me (all whilst taking FOUR different phone calls while having this meeting with me) that I needed a carte de sejour and that I couldn’t go on my planned vacation to Switzerland and Sweden. She informed me that even though I have a passport, my visa is for France, and even though this visa doesn’t expire before I’d get back, this visa means that I can’t use my American passport rights and travel. She informed me that I could go to ONE country in the Schengen area and that neither Switzerland nor Sweden are in this area (google check: they are. Lesson learned: if you don’t like the answer you get, ask a different person). Luckily she did take so many calls while she was telling me this otherwise I am sure I would cry. I somehow composed myself enough to ask what I could do. After asking several times she finally said I could come back at the end of next week and get my carte de sejour early, but that she and I were both dead if I didn’t pass the physical exam.
This was a enough almost crying for the day. Even when I found out I could still go on my vacation (I was so broken-hearted when she first said I couldn’t) I was still about ready to cry in the downtown Nantes. I composed myself enough with the happy thought of Amorino ice cream that I went and bought some chocolate chip Amorino ice cream and ate it on the steps of a giant fountain at Place Royal.
Afton Tyler, winner of the happiest American in France award invited me to they symphony. I of course jumped at the chance of being able to avoid homework and go with her, Hannah, Carter, and Juan (a boy in Afton an my classes) to the Cite des Congres and watch the National Orchestra of the region perform. We actually met some of their Irish friends there as well. They have such great accents! For three euros we got to be up close with comfy seats for the symphony. This month’s “theme” was French music so I got to listen to the soothing sounds of Maurice Ravel’s (1875-1937) “Le tombeau de Couperin.” It was so beautiful that your mind would just drift away with the music and you wouldn’t even think. The second French composer’s music they performed was a contemporary oriental/Senegal/Saw XI at the symphony by Jean-Louis Florentz (1947-2004). It was called Magnificat and had a choir. It was supposed to relate the story of flying in an airplane and hearing bugs in a jungle, but it sounded more disoriented and scary. I was sure it would give me nightmares. Georges Bizet’s (1838-1875) was much better in my opinion. I listened comfortably in my seat with squishy armrests to L’Arlesienne suites 1 & 2. It was fun to watch the conductor and the musicians. It is so amazing that someone thought to create instruments and how beautiful they sound. Afton and I missed the tram home from Commerce by about 20 seconds, so we spent the next 30 minutes waiting for the next train in a popular Irish Pub with the others. The symphony was a good ending to a bad day.
