First Week Of Classes...Check!

Hey everyone (including my mom who I know is following this diligently...love you)! Anyway, the first week of classes is complete and its been really great so far. My days, as I said, begin at 8 a.m. which I could complain about, but since I don't know any better since I had to change my sleeping patterns anyway...I don't think I can officially gripe about it.

So now's the time where I have to actually think about what I did this week. First off, my first day of classes went splendid. My teacher's name is Claude (that's splendid enough on its own) and my roommate Paige and my friend Sara (one more friend Sara to add to the list (love you Sara and Sarah!)) and I are in the same class. Claude has a really great sense of humor and loves making fun of us when we mix up words and stutter, and of course I had to be the first student to find this out since my last name is Andrews. Thanks dad. On the first day, he wanted to see how well we could speak, so naturally, we had to introduce ourselves and say what our lives were basically like back in the states. Welt it came out that I am in fact a part of a creepy cat family with four cats and a fat, epileptic dog that resembles a hippo, which I feel really made me stand out...in a weird way. But, as everyone talked about their life back home, we realized that we all have weird quirks and all was well. There are only seven of us in my class, and that's usually how big all these classes are. In fact, on the first day, I thought that we were just taking a tour of the dorms, but oh wait, that was the whole campus. This place is so small and I thought it might drive me insane a little bit, but unlike when I lived in Tampa (hi Pam!), I never feel trapped because Cannes is right outside and there is always something to do.

Anyways, so how this school works is first you are placed into your class based on how you do on an exam with an oral, writing and questionnaire section. The good thing about that is unlike the SATS, (Roo, by the way, don't stress about them; you'll be fine) if you don't agree with your standings, you can prove yourself by moving up all the time. Since there are only 7 or so students, the teachers are always looking for ways to improve your French so you can move up to the next level...and there's like a million levels or something close to that... like 15... so people are always looking to move up. I got placed somewhere in Intermediate, which means I can relate ideas accordingly, but I lack fluidity and some vocabulary. They didn't actually tell me that's my problem; I'm just stating that's what I think. Yea. Sooo what am I learning. Welt, this week we just did a quick, quick review of the imparfait vs passe compose and had a test on it today. And we've already begun a review on the plus-que-parfait which is what we'll be doing for the first half of next week. (For all of you that have no idea what I just said there, no worries at all, that was merely for anyone who asked me what I do during class and now that I am sure they probably have no interest in what that means...that will most likely be the last time I have to answer that question. Mission Accomplished.)

Outside of the school world has obviously been more exciting. Erin, Sara and I are still searching for that perfect French cafe that we can call our own and be like, "ohh that's our place." And so far... it has not been going well. We've been in town everyday this week and keep running into the problem that the French eat dinner at flipping 8:00 at night. And not only that, but they close their restaurants until then. And not only even that...that! A lot of places close sometime between 12-4 unless they have a lot of staff because they have hours-long lunches. First off, Iron Hill should learn a little about this idea of closing because they are open even with 20 inches of snow on the ground. But more importantly, you may be asking yourself when are these places actually open. My answer to you is 5 am. And it's not that I've even seen the cafes open then, Im just assuming that they have to be open sometime. So, Erin, Sara and I are still on that mission. I'll let you know when we can actually get inside a cafe. Also, on a cultural note, I think the French need to have a little less ham in their diet. I mean I'm all for ham, but it's in everything. I have yet to see a turkey sandwich. I'll let you know when I see one though. Oh, and there is wayyy to much mayo on everything. They must have learned that from WaWa or something because I could choke on it all. (That may have been too gross for some people; I'm sorry if it was; it made me a little nauseous writing that too). Another random fact, the French have no word for AWKWARD, which is the story of my life (not as much so as Cat though) and I just think that that is awkward on its own because they cant let each other know when they are in an awkward situation.

On Wednesday night, we had our first night out in Cannes yayyyy!!! Actually, I feel like a nerd saying that since we've been here for a week, but we just never did for whatever reason. And we also had no plans for going out that night either except that I was in the Foyee talking to my new friend, Cannon, who is also in my class with Claude, and he convinced me to convince Erin and Sara to go out. Not to mention I was just minding my own business and eating my dinner when all of a sudden there was a discotheque going on around me in the Foyee. It kind of inspired me. So, Erin, Sara and I made the 25 minute trek to some exclusive bar with half of AIFS (the program I went to France with) and we definitely looked like Americans/ college Freshman who travel everywhere in packs. We had some French people wave to our stampede as they looked out the huge windows inside the cafes (I guess some people finally got around to eating dinner at 1030) which made me feel stupid because they were probably waving like, "aww look at the cute American herd being led by the British man,'' and honestly that wouldn't be a lie, because that is exactly what was going on. Everyone followed a British kid that goes to the college and has been here for 2 years and apparently knows what bars to go to. A few of us ended up going to a bar called Morrison's which is like a well known "Irish" Pub with only French men in it, and I'd say the highlight of the night was the YMCA and Erin's, Cannon's and my decision to do our signature dance moves at the eiffel tower when we get to Paris...whenever that trip is planned for because I definitely am not organized enough to know. The night was short lived because I hadn't even done my homework yet, so we got back around 1 and I really started hating that 18th century cobblestones that I had previously loved so much during the day because it started taking a toll on my high heels. Boo.

This week I also went to the museum with the 15th century tower (I have pictures of the scenery from there and around my college in the album Les Couleurs de Cannes if you wanna see what it looks like here) and I also found an artists' work that I will most definitely be following while I'm here. His name is Olivier Mériel and his photography is based on black and whites and the contrast of light. It's really awesome. And if you're interested, (http://olivier.meriel.free.fr/) you can look at his Site. Anyways, the museum itself wasn't Cannes based like I thought, but I'll post some pics of the more interesting things that I saw from around the world.

I also met my French girl that I will be meeting weekly with to help my French! Her name is Sixtine and she is 18-years-old and so adorable. She is really enthusiastic about learning English and she made me feel totally comfortable as I babbled along in French for two whole hours. I'm going to be honest, by an hour and a half, my brain started turning into mush and I felt like I would never be able to conjugate a verb again, but somehow I made it, and next time she will have to speak ALL. ENGLISH. haha SIXTINE!! :-) I invited her, of course, to the states so she could learn more English and she was really excited and I think it was a really good match for us since we are both bubbly and eager to learn.

Lastly, (finally) I will be going to Monaco this Saturday to explore, so I will be letting everyone know what adventures pop up there. Also, Sara, Erin and I are going to start planning our Spring Break in Greece, soooo I'll let you know how my lack of organization and decision-making hinders our making plans.

Thanks so much for reading my second blog. I hope it wasn't too much because I know I talk a lot. I miss everyone and of course I'm thinking of you guys all the time!