19 janvier 2010 (Day 141)
Today I woke up and went to an art history class. This class is all about the age of antiquity, so the 5th century in Athens. The teacher is really nice and the students are a lot quieter. The classes here are a lot different than in the states. You have class once a week and it is normally for an hour and then you have a ‘supplemental class’ that the teacher gives that is like a homework/preparation for the test class that you are supposed to go to. The semester is also only 12 weeks, which means for most of my classes I will have a total of 24 hours in the classroom being taught, versus the 64 hours in the states. I also went to the TD (the supplemental class) for the art history class. For their TD they have to get in small groups and research and do a presentation on a problem related to the various art history subjects she has. She got around to us so I explained that we were foreign students and she proposed us tagging along with a group and then doing a dossier (aka really big booklet thingy) on that subject. I don’t know how I feel about this. This class seems like it could be okay, but Mr. Oram has just put every other art history teacher to shame. (And ditto M. le Prof with French. :] Je t’aime )
On another side note, Hannah was going to just follow one Licence, or major, until Jane advised her against it. Hannah has therefore been tagging along with me to all the classes that interest me. A side note to the side note: The majors here in France are very specific. You have no choices. It is pretty much like doing what is the advised 4-year plan for your major except there aren’t really options and you can’t skip around.
I was really excited about the social psychology class that they offered. And once again, my mad choosing skills led me to an awful class. Hannah and I smartened up and stayed for only 15 minutes. The topic should have been really interesting, but the teacher was an older lady who was dry and who didn’t do powerpoint or anything so it was hard with notes and just how she taught wasn’t fun and it wasn’t ‘foreign friendly.’
Since I saved myself 115 minutes of class, I decided to use my extra time to go for a run. I went to the hippodrome, or horse track. It’s big! I didn’t realize how big it was until I was tired after going around it once. There was some man playing wall ball. In the dark. I don’t know how he was doing it. There were also several people with dogs. It is funny because I saw lots of dogs but no poop. In the city you see lots of poop but no dogs. How ironic.
After I ran and showered I called up Sam Fick (from Louisiana) to see if he wanted to go to the Autour de Monde Galette des Rois party. He said yes so we caught the tram to the party. It was good talking to Sam. He was telling me about his idea to rent a car and go on a road trip. This is a most excellent idea and I am hoping that we are going to do it during winter break in February. Sam enjoyed his first taste of the kings cake, we met some crazy giant (seriously SO big) dutch kid who speaks lots of languages and left early because Sam was getting a heat rash, lol.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Day 140: Day 1 of French Uni
18 janvier 2010 (Day 140)
Today Hannah and I met up with Jane Bayly, the ISEP coordinator here, to figure out what the devil we were supposed to be doing. She gave us some insight and the recommendation to go to way more classes than we plan on taking (in retrospect this was the best advice ever). I went back home after our meeting, cleaned up and had lunch and then went to a class that wasn’t there. This one was my fault (as the rest of the ‘oops, no classes’ of the week were cancelled).
The first class Hannah and I ventured into was a psychology of health class. The professor was this young stickly looking thing with brown hair who does research in the psychology of health in France (along with a few others). She gave a little intro and then when right into teaching. This was a Freshman level class and you could tell. The students would not shut up! We were in a large amphitheatre and it was really hard to hear the professor. They were so noisy that the teacher gave us a 10 minute break to see if she could get the talking out of them. It didn’t work. It is funny, because these people are silent on the tram but when they are in class, wham! The broca’s area of their brain is suddenly activated. The teacher is great though, she has a powerpoint and then when she says important things she gives time to write down what she says, or what is on the powerpoint. Memo to self: must remember to pause when I am a teacher!
After psyc I went to what I thought should be a great class, “Geography: A Great Power.” The only thing is, they forgot this part of the title, “: Brazil.” The geography teacher was this cute short but large man in his 40s that was really funny, but a whole class on Brazil, no thank you. Hannah and I didn’t want to randomly walk out so we sat and doodled, occasionally paying attention. After 90 minutes we did finally sneak out though (it was a two hour class).
I went for a run on the track with Hannah. She didn’t last too long and I was doing a sprint workout, so I was a while. It felt nice to be outside though. It was cold, but it wasn’t raining!
Today Hannah and I met up with Jane Bayly, the ISEP coordinator here, to figure out what the devil we were supposed to be doing. She gave us some insight and the recommendation to go to way more classes than we plan on taking (in retrospect this was the best advice ever). I went back home after our meeting, cleaned up and had lunch and then went to a class that wasn’t there. This one was my fault (as the rest of the ‘oops, no classes’ of the week were cancelled).
The first class Hannah and I ventured into was a psychology of health class. The professor was this young stickly looking thing with brown hair who does research in the psychology of health in France (along with a few others). She gave a little intro and then when right into teaching. This was a Freshman level class and you could tell. The students would not shut up! We were in a large amphitheatre and it was really hard to hear the professor. They were so noisy that the teacher gave us a 10 minute break to see if she could get the talking out of them. It didn’t work. It is funny, because these people are silent on the tram but when they are in class, wham! The broca’s area of their brain is suddenly activated. The teacher is great though, she has a powerpoint and then when she says important things she gives time to write down what she says, or what is on the powerpoint. Memo to self: must remember to pause when I am a teacher!
After psyc I went to what I thought should be a great class, “Geography: A Great Power.” The only thing is, they forgot this part of the title, “: Brazil.” The geography teacher was this cute short but large man in his 40s that was really funny, but a whole class on Brazil, no thank you. Hannah and I didn’t want to randomly walk out so we sat and doodled, occasionally paying attention. After 90 minutes we did finally sneak out though (it was a two hour class).
I went for a run on the track with Hannah. She didn’t last too long and I was doing a sprint workout, so I was a while. It felt nice to be outside though. It was cold, but it wasn’t raining!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Day 139: Dress Up at Church
Argggh!!
GQ
Queen for the day...and secret agent!
17 janvier 2010 (Day 139)
Today was the day to say goodbye to a lot of the missionaries. They all bore there testimonies and it was very sweet. Elder Poussard is done and will be going home to another part of France, greenie Baker is no longer green, and Elder Brooks won’t be seeing Nantes again on his mission. We will now only have two Elders, Elder Bourgeois and another Elder.
We had a crazy lunch today at church. There were lots of desserts being shared. Armelle gave me a piece of her lemon meringue tarte, someone made this gross pudding dried fruit thing, and the highlight was a galette des rois. I was pretty disappointed that I didn’t find the little ceramic in my piece, signifying that I was the queen for the day. Anne, Isabel’s “mother” here in France told me to take another piece. She also told me which one (it had the feve in it). I told her that was cheating and that it didn’t count if I knew so then she hid the cake and told me to pick a number. She of course cheated and gave me the piece with the feve. I promptly put on the crown and enjoyed trying to boss everyone around for the rest of church. I made a really funny joke about some of the choir people not being in my kingdom. What comes around goes around though, because I later got made fun of for not being able to sing high enough to be alto. It was recommended that I join the bass singers, lol.
Going home was so fun. This has got to be at least the fifth time in a row that we have had the exact same discussion about the ugly new buildings, and that some of the older new buildings look much nicer, and who approved of the ugly buildings design. Honest to goodness, it is like from the film Groundhog’s Day. The exact same things get said.
I had a lovely run in with several boys today at the McDonald’s that isn’t the one that I’ve been going to in Commerce. I was inside, messaging Hannah about when I could come over to watch the fireside and some boy (by boy I mean a 25-year-old idiot) was out in the play area with his friends and they were all staring and laughing and he comes in. he proceeds to ask me how old I think he is. I guess 25, which is exact! He goes back to tell his friends and then comes back in, offers to buy me a drink or something to eat, tells me that I have lovely eyes, and that he would really love to get to know him. I say no thanks and that sorry, I’m busy. This lovely group of gentleman continues to perturb me so I try to plan my exit since they were blocking some of the doors (I was supposed to go talk to them after I was done). Luckily I got away without having to use any of my kick-butt skills. I’m so glad I have that cold New York blood.
After the eventful time at McD’s I decided to get some professional help, so I asked John. Lol, he is in no way a professional with computers, but he pushed random buttons and got the internet working! I am so glad to have it in my room again so that I can look up classes online and avoid the McDonald’s crowd (honestly, what kind of boys pick up girls in sweat pants at McDonald’s)?!?!
Being at Hannah’s to watch the fireside was a much more pleasant experience. Hannah popped us some popcorn and we had a really enjoyable time. In the fireside Elder Andersen talked a lot about the journey that we are on and the future. It was really good. Afterwards Hannah said, “I can’t believe I was so stupid. That was so good. I can’t believe I’ve been boycotting going to them. It was so dumb of me.” So that was a good thing. She’s been making a lot of effort since the New Year started to do all the church stuff (institute, church on time, firesides, etc.).
I made some rice for dinner and then went to planning my schedule, because tomorrow is the start of school as a university student!
Day 138: Avatar
Crepes!
Coolest 3D glasses ever.
Creepy blue people.
16 janvier 2010 (Day 138)
Boy was it rainy when I woke up! It didn’t stop my lovely day of music with my oatmeal and then going into town to pay for that lovely ticket that I acquired last night and going to the market. I took along some English chocolate and a Book of Mormon for my vendor friend, Haiikel. He was really excited to see me again and to have a present so he came out from his side and gave me bisous twice (and he does 4 cheek kisses). I bought some clementines, apples, tomatoes, and lettuce and then headed to McDonald’s to catch some WIFI.
Cheryl and Isabel (the Brits) called and invited me to go see “Avatar” in 3D with them. I have/had no interest in seeing the film, but since it was being social and in French I said yes. I met them at the movie theatre at Commerce after hurridly eating my grilled cheese sandwich. It was practically pouring, so when Isabel and Cheryl got there they were soaking wet. They looked at the times wrong, so the 3D version had already started, but we went in anyway. Even though we were about 20 minutes late I think we only missed about 20 seconds of the actual movie, which was nice. Well, Avatar is pretty dumb. It is about these crazy blue alien people and humans wanting to take the blue alien’s resources from their land. The main actor is cute (when he isn’t in a blue alien body) and he is a paraplegic marine, so kudos to Hollywood for having someone disabled (although he does get a body better than a humans at the end) as a main character. The plot was dumb and the blue aliens with tails kind of freaked me out. The only thing that saved the film was the 3D. they did a great job with the special effects in that department and I am not the proud owner of the coolest 3D glasses that I’ve ever seen. They aren’t your typical blue and red 3D glasses. These glasses have plastic black geek frames and the lens is tinted with horizontal black stripes. Sadly, they do not block UV rays as they weren’t made for use outside of the movie theatre.
After the movie we went and got crepes. I got one with sugar, Izzie one with chocolate ice cream, and Cheryl got the crowning jewel: a crepe with chocolate, coconut, whipped topping, and vanilla ice cream. We found this really quiet little crepe shop to eat in that wasn’t very expensive. It was right next to a book store, so I took a quick peek to see if they had the Harry Potter books I need for my collection (they didn’t). We then went our separate ways and I read mylifeisaverage.com on the way home. For dinner I had ravioli and green beans. Afterwards I cleaned a little and translated some cookie recipes for Stephene.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Day 137: A run in with the TAN Controllers...duhn duhn duhn!
15 janvier 2010 (Day 137)
Well, today was fun. Instead of eating breakfast, and normal things like that I somehow started organizing my music genres and ended up doing so until around lunch/brunchtime. I had plain yogurt with frosted flakes. I forgot how much I love frosted flakes! There was a box on sale for a dollar when I went grocery shopping earlier this week, so I bought it. I did go on a run a little after brunch. I decided to go down by the school to run around the horse track. I did and went out another way and I ended up by the track by my apartment. I am still very confused. I did do a couple more laps on the track though and some drills. Hannah came over and I listened to her voicemail to be sure that she understood correctly. I then went to the frigid school to get wifi. I didn’t last too long this time either, even though I put on my thermals for the occasion. Happily I did open up lots of pages of my life is average so I could read them. If you are ever sad, you really should read a couple of pages of mylifeisaverage.com It is kind of nice not having the internet work, but I would love it if it worked some of the time, like when I need to look things up, such as schedules, or Facebook Hannah instead of use my texts. But it is good to use my time doing other things, like sorting my music, lol.
After having some ravioli and green beans for dinner I went to get Hannah to go to institute. On the tram the bishop called, but she had me answer it, so I just said that I was Hannah and proceeded to set up her appointment with the bishop for tonight. We ran into the tram nazi’s. I left my wallet in my backpack so I didn’t have my card…duhn duhn duhn. They were very nice though, other than taking down ALL my personal info, asking for a piece of id (uh duh I don’t have one, I forgot my wallet), being really confused that I was born in America (she had asked where my last name was from and I said Sweden). She also wasn’t understanding “les Etats-Unis” in French and the other tram people were telling her “USA” in English. It was pretty hilarious. I asked her if she wanted anything else and she said yes, to come visit me in my home. She asked where it was and I answered Utah, in the northwest where they had the Winter Olympics in 2002. She was still lost and the guys were telling her Utah in an American accent. It was really funny, but it took forever. We were barely done when it was our stop. luckily since I have a pass it will only cost me 6 euros. Normally if you get caught without a ticket it is around 50 euros.
We had to wait a couple of minutes for the bishop to come and open the gate, but we got in and had a nice time at institute. We girls weren’t paying much attention because Cheryl was writing me trying to convince me that Elder Smiley liked me. She gave up after a while and started making up nicknames for all the missionaries. We went over Alma chapters 1-7. I liked chapter 7 best.
Cheryl gave us candy (me and one other boy) candy on the way home. Luckily there were no Tan Controllers to see that I didn’t have my pass, or money to buy a ticket. I saw Andrei and his friend at commerce and they rode the rest of the way with me. I had my first awkward bisous (the kissing on the cheek thing) with Andrei’s friend, we’ll call him Igor, because I forgot his name. Basically, Igor and I kept trying to go for the wrong cheek, so we were doing this puckered lip dance and almost had a lip collision. Luckily we didn’t, but it was still really funny. I wish that would happen more often. I was honestly laughing out loud because it was so awkwardly great. Andrei is doing really good and looking for an internship for the summer. He goes back to Romania the end of February, so he said that we should go skating before he leaves and that I should call him to do so. Well, he actually asked if I liked ice skating and then said that we should go and that I have his phone number so I can call him any time. …If he wants a kind of date, he can call me. He also did this in a Sean Connery voice (Andrei is trilingual), which was hilarious. I told him I’d go if he talked in that voice the whole time.
I came back, had a snack, watched Stardust in French and caught up on journaling until midnight. Woot.
Well, today was fun. Instead of eating breakfast, and normal things like that I somehow started organizing my music genres and ended up doing so until around lunch/brunchtime. I had plain yogurt with frosted flakes. I forgot how much I love frosted flakes! There was a box on sale for a dollar when I went grocery shopping earlier this week, so I bought it. I did go on a run a little after brunch. I decided to go down by the school to run around the horse track. I did and went out another way and I ended up by the track by my apartment. I am still very confused. I did do a couple more laps on the track though and some drills. Hannah came over and I listened to her voicemail to be sure that she understood correctly. I then went to the frigid school to get wifi. I didn’t last too long this time either, even though I put on my thermals for the occasion. Happily I did open up lots of pages of my life is average so I could read them. If you are ever sad, you really should read a couple of pages of mylifeisaverage.com It is kind of nice not having the internet work, but I would love it if it worked some of the time, like when I need to look things up, such as schedules, or Facebook Hannah instead of use my texts. But it is good to use my time doing other things, like sorting my music, lol.
After having some ravioli and green beans for dinner I went to get Hannah to go to institute. On the tram the bishop called, but she had me answer it, so I just said that I was Hannah and proceeded to set up her appointment with the bishop for tonight. We ran into the tram nazi’s. I left my wallet in my backpack so I didn’t have my card…duhn duhn duhn. They were very nice though, other than taking down ALL my personal info, asking for a piece of id (uh duh I don’t have one, I forgot my wallet), being really confused that I was born in America (she had asked where my last name was from and I said Sweden). She also wasn’t understanding “les Etats-Unis” in French and the other tram people were telling her “USA” in English. It was pretty hilarious. I asked her if she wanted anything else and she said yes, to come visit me in my home. She asked where it was and I answered Utah, in the northwest where they had the Winter Olympics in 2002. She was still lost and the guys were telling her Utah in an American accent. It was really funny, but it took forever. We were barely done when it was our stop. luckily since I have a pass it will only cost me 6 euros. Normally if you get caught without a ticket it is around 50 euros.
We had to wait a couple of minutes for the bishop to come and open the gate, but we got in and had a nice time at institute. We girls weren’t paying much attention because Cheryl was writing me trying to convince me that Elder Smiley liked me. She gave up after a while and started making up nicknames for all the missionaries. We went over Alma chapters 1-7. I liked chapter 7 best.
Cheryl gave us candy (me and one other boy) candy on the way home. Luckily there were no Tan Controllers to see that I didn’t have my pass, or money to buy a ticket. I saw Andrei and his friend at commerce and they rode the rest of the way with me. I had my first awkward bisous (the kissing on the cheek thing) with Andrei’s friend, we’ll call him Igor, because I forgot his name. Basically, Igor and I kept trying to go for the wrong cheek, so we were doing this puckered lip dance and almost had a lip collision. Luckily we didn’t, but it was still really funny. I wish that would happen more often. I was honestly laughing out loud because it was so awkwardly great. Andrei is doing really good and looking for an internship for the summer. He goes back to Romania the end of February, so he said that we should go skating before he leaves and that I should call him to do so. Well, he actually asked if I liked ice skating and then said that we should go and that I have his phone number so I can call him any time. …If he wants a kind of date, he can call me. He also did this in a Sean Connery voice (Andrei is trilingual), which was hilarious. I told him I’d go if he talked in that voice the whole time.
I came back, had a snack, watched Stardust in French and caught up on journaling until midnight. Woot.
Day 136: I didn't really do anything...
14 janvier 2010 (136)
Today wasn’t too exciting. I went running in the rain this morning and then I went to the school for internet until my fingers froze. I came back to my room for lunch and then went to be Hannah’s translator at the CAF. The lady there was really nice and it didn’t take long at all for France. She even took all the papers and we didn’t have to go wait in line to speak with anyone else. I went to McDonald’s and used the internet there for about two hours, talking to Erik and my dad about flights. I went home and had a grilled cheese sandwich…who knew that gouda cheese made such great sandwiches. I also borrowed Stardust from Hannah and I watched that and wrote letters instead of looking at the class schedules that I downloaded when I was at MacDo’s.
Today wasn’t too exciting. I went running in the rain this morning and then I went to the school for internet until my fingers froze. I came back to my room for lunch and then went to be Hannah’s translator at the CAF. The lady there was really nice and it didn’t take long at all for France. She even took all the papers and we didn’t have to go wait in line to speak with anyone else. I went to McDonald’s and used the internet there for about two hours, talking to Erik and my dad about flights. I went home and had a grilled cheese sandwich…who knew that gouda cheese made such great sandwiches. I also borrowed Stardust from Hannah and I watched that and wrote letters instead of looking at the class schedules that I downloaded when I was at MacDo’s.
Day 135: Hitting the Sales
13 janvier 2010 (135)
Today I slept in quite a bit and then did some yoga this morning. The internet wasn’t working, so after lunch I went into town and did some shopping. Right now everywhere is having sales. I found a couple of shirts and a sweater, and lots of scarves for friends at C&A and H&M. The sales are pretty good. You can find things from 30-70% off. I went to McDonald’s for a little bit, and on my way out I went by a boulangerie that had mini galettes- 2 for 2E. Naturally I had to buy two because a small galette normally costs around 8 or 10 euros. I made some pesto pasta for dinner and then I went to the symphony with John and Hannah! John was a little late to meet up, because he had been shopping. It was raining and we met the Elders on the tram, completely soaked. Hannah talked with Elder Brooks while I talked with John. There were a lot of people in line for tickets tonight. Luckily we got seats…on the very top balcony. We accidently sat in the wrong seats, which was embarrassing, but entertaining. The seats that we were supposed to be in were better. First up was Mendelssohn’s Hebrides opus 26. It was nice, but nothing like Mozart’s Concerto for Piano No9. The lady playing the piano was quite large and had tiny fingers, but man was she quick. It was amazing to watch her. It was so beautiful. One of the ladies playing was even crying. The pianist got an encore so she played a piece on the piano without the orchestra. After Hannah and I got rather lost searching for the bathroom during the intermission, we got to hear Tchaikovski’s Serenade for String opus 48. It was nice as well, but I think Mozart was my favorite. I just love how the piano and orchestra mimic each other. The symphony wasn’t quite the same with Afton gone though. We walked to the tram (and walked some more because there was a lot of time before the next tram) in the intermittent rain.
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