Week 1: Taking on CF

Okay, so first real France blog. Pressure’s on. I’m dividing this up by subject so if you only want to hear about/ jump to certain things, I wont waste your time (although you should read it all because its great and not a waste of time :P). But I understand that most of you have lives, and this blog is HUGE. xoxo, Colleen.

Travels: (in a nutshell)

Packed too much stuff. Flight to Amsterdam was cramped (didn’t sleep, but had a nice chat with a girl going home to visit family in India), flight to Clermont almost made me puke (wind and a really tiny plane). Host families and the resident director, Joelle, met us at the airport (which seemed strangely deserted).

First weekend (not) in Clermont:

After about 10 minutes in the car driving from the airport to the apartment in Clermont-Ferrand, my host mom tells to pack a small bag for the weekend because we are leaving CF for the countryside in a few hours, not returning until late Sunday evening. So, I spent 2 hours unpacking all my stuff and then repacking to leave the place I was supposed to be getting to know, all the while thinking “what am I DOING here?!” The maison we stayed in was amazing. 8 bedrooms, built about 400 years ago. The family uses it as a weekend home, and rents it from a farmer, who has several sheep in the back yard and one donkey. Camille and I fed the donkey some apple slices on one of the days. Next door are some chickens. There is an amazing garden next to the house with about a million different vegetables. One night my host mom made a warm veggie puree soup and my host dad made a sort of casserole (with potatoes, onion, sausage etc.) baked inside of a pumpkin another night.

The Foucards had a really nice French couple come and visit for the weekend as well, Cyrile and Laticia, from Orléans. They invited me to come stay with them if I wanted to visit the Chateaux de la Loire. Cyrile and Laticia are big walkers, which seems to be really popular in general with the people of Clermont (going to the countryside to walk). And that’s how I got myself into two 3-4 hour hikes, a total of 22km, glad I brought my boots.

Hike 1: Saw a lot of white cows, sheep, and mushroom fields. I carried the family dog (Bretzelle) up a really steep/ rough terrain because she started to make whimper crying noises. She is a fairly small (but energetic) King Charles terrier.

Hike 2: A little more picturesque, but I forgot my camera. I was amazed at how many wild fruits were along the trail. We found ourselves munching on mirabelle, blackberries, grapes, and plums! As it turned out we were pretty much in the middle of a huge apple orchard, but we didn’t steal any apples (unfortunately) because those were a crop… and I think they weren’t ready to eat yet.

Ma famille d’accueil (my host family):

First of all, I feel SO lucky to have gotten the awesome family that I have. There is Dominique (father), Veronique (mother) and Camille (sister, 12). They also have 4 other children who live outside of the house: two living/working in and around Paris Marie (28) and Charles (26), one studying abroad in Colorado (Louis, 23), and one studying abroad in Spain (Anne-Sophie, 20). After about a week, I can tell that being with them will be a great experience. Yes there have been some awkward encounters and weird misunderstandings, duh. (such as me locking them into their apartment… and giving my host sister a weird look when she tells me that we’ll take the l’ascenseur to go up a floor. She means elevator, I heard l’aspirateur… which means vacuum.) I can tell they are really good people, and so far have been really accommodating to me. After all the stories I heard about students and host families, I decided to be more outgoing right at the beginning and ask more questions than I normally would. That was what saved me I think. They like to answer questions and they like that I’m trying to do things their way… from what I gather. Today my host sister actually showed me her room, all her horse riding stuff, some of her stuffed animals, and some of her favorite outfits. Much to my delight and surprise a few days ago my host dad suggested that I speak to him in the more formal "tu" form. This is a really neat thing because its showing that he wants us to be on equal grounds. Its like a change in the relationship, that allows people to view eachother as peers. Using the more formal "vous" form is for showing respect to authority and for people you meet for the first time. During the conversation where Dominique suggested using "tu", Veronique said nothing, so I continue to use the more formal speech with her... haha. Veronique is an AMAZING cook. She's already made tartes aux pommes and apple cake. Today at lunch, it was just me and Camille, she made "le beef-tech", which is basically steak. Wow. I am going to miss this place.

Making my first (successful) joke in French:

Disclaimer: I hate disclaimers. This joke isn’t that funny, but it made them laugh, so I am proud. Voici: Host dad sneezes once. I say the French “bless you” phrase. He sneezes again, I say it again. He tells me in a very friendly informative way that normally the French pretend that they didn’t hear anything and that usually they say nothing when someone sneezes. He sneezes a third time. I say “rien”, the word for nothing, with a smirk. Whole car bursts out in chuckles… I think they called me spirituelle or coquine I can’t remember (which means witty).

Second (almost successful) joke in French:

My host family was going to go up to “la campagne” again this weekend (up north to the countryside). The casual way to say it is, we are going “la haut” (up/ away, up north etc). My host mom told me that, and I said ooh, me too! At the movie theatre! She gives me a strange look, the pixar movie “up” is playing at le cinema and I was going to go see it with friends that afternoon the French name for the movie is “La Haut”. She laughed after I had to explain it…

First day at l’ESC (École Supérieure du Commerce):

Walking into the French business school as an international student, I had no idea that this was the day I’d up speaking the most English I had in the previous 3 days. The students were from all over, but our group of 7 K College Americans was by far the largest of all the nationalities (and probably the loudest, except for the Russians for some reason?). This year we really have a small group of us; two years ago 17 K students attended this same program. The K program is slightly different than the rest of the international plan, including intense French language/ grammar classes just for us (special treatment!) and certain tutors for our different classes. Next week, after our intensive French is over, we pick our “real” classes that include Marketing, Literature, Culture/History etc. I believe we get 4 classes total. This whole in class all day every day thing is somewhat unappealing… we start at 8.30am and don’t get out usually until around 5pm. However, the 1.5 hour lunch break is something I can live with... I guess… J. While I’m here I’m going to attempt to take Italian at the school. This will be useful for my 2 week Christmas trip to Italy with a friend from school Sal, who is now studying in Denmark but has family in Sicily and Rome. Taking a foreign language in a foreign language will surely be a fun/frustrating experience. Can’t wait!

As for the first few days with the international students, it seemed that everyone either knew French or English, but not both well enough to converse. The Americans lucked out in this department, so we were able to become somewhat proficient (and by proficient, I mean clumsy) switch hitters of the bunch. However it’s important to keep in mind that most of the other internationals were working on their 3^rd, 4^th etc. languages. I met a girl from Georgia (the country, sorry Aunt Shirley) whose native language was Russian, but who also spoke Georgian, French, and English! Impressive, with a capital I.

We were supposed to attend a class entitled “Studying Abroad in France” that really turned out to be “Crazy Leftist American Man Puts His Political Agenda Onto Innocent International Students Who Hardly Understand English Anyway (except the offended American students)”. He was gutsy to bring up the topics that he did, but what he was saying gave us literally no objective information and was put into the context of knowing American culture (which seemed ridiculous to me, at least when only 7 out of about 25 of us had direct experience with it). Topics of his 1-way, 3 hour “discussion” included headscarves in France, nuclear energy, witchcraft (faith healing), and a new French almost movement in destructuralization/ deconstruction (whatever that means!). Needless to say, (but I will anyway) after he showed everyone how “Americans” walk (which is like John Wayne apparently) vs. how “French” people walk (which is all closed off and anonymous apparently) I knew he was fou (crazy). Ugh, generalizations kill me. Yes we must surely have some John Wayne walk-alikes but please, my grandma does not have his gait!

In a later civilization/ intensive language course, we were shown a video of a web reality tv show, to air this fall. It’s a parody of temptation island, taking place right here in the lovely Auvergne region. The guy is a total goofball, and the aim of the show is to put Auvergne in a better light, showing that it is a cool, modern and young place to be. (unlike its reputation). www.auwwwergne.com

The Internet:

Had trouble getting internet at first, but now the wifi is finally working in the house. In France you say weeeefeeee for wifi. Just fyi. J Also, all the main public parks and squares here (Place de Jaude, Jardin Lecoq, Place Delile, and a few others I haven’t learned yet) all have free wifi in them, which is awesome. Some cafés (Café Cosy) around also have it.

The Circus:

Véronique (host mom) assured me that it would not be hard at all to find a place to do what I’d like. One night at dinner, they were asking me about how fire eating and spitting works. Kinda cool they are getting interested; I heard this wouldn’t normally happen. I found a small circus shop right down town, which sold all kinds of object manipulation stuff (poi, fire things, juggling balls, devil sticks, diabolo etc.) and spoke with the woman who owned it. She was able to give me two contacts of places close to Clermont where people are doing fabric! One slightly north of Clermont, one in a nearby city called Riom (about a 20min train ride). There also exists a huge organization called SIUAPS which is responsible for all sports in the city. Their office is slighty south of town, and I plan on visiting it sometime very soon (as they have something cirque related I think).

Last but not least, the everyblog edition of:

All the cute little things you want to hear about things that are “different” in this “foreign land”. Stay tuned next week for cute little things you want to hear about things that are “different” in “French school”. Maybe. If I find enough things to comment on.

- Food and eating it: (at least at my family)

o Forks are always prong down when not in use

o Elbows are acceptable on the table

o Cheese, bread, water, wine. Present at every meal (lunch and dinner) no exceptions. Yogurt usually.

o Feeding the dog from the table the bits from your cheese/ meat is acceptable once you are done eating it.

o Bread is eaten off the plate and set directly on the table to your left (usually).

o I had trouble keeping up with how fast they ate! (surprising, considering French meals are supposed to last a while. Ours usually do last a while, but we talk at the table for a while after the food is gone. Other K students have also mentioned to me about how fast their families eat too… perhaps a regional thing?)

o My host mom sets out stuff my breakfast in the morning: tea, juice, bread, homemade jam, and delicious fruits. Different? I think so, haha.

o Plates are nearly clean at the end of the meal using the side of a knife carefully and bread to swab up extras.

o I ate seafood for the first time in several years. My host mom made mussels, ICK. I had already told them that I am not used to eating “les fruits de mer” and that I hoped she wouldn’t be offended if it turned out I didn’t like them. Phewph, all was fine.

- Misc.

o Pillows are big and square. (so the horse themed pillow case I made as a present for Camille is the wrong size… my host mom tried to tell me it was fine and that they could fold the pillow… I think she was trying to make me feel better.) I think she’s going to find another pillow that fits it. The dried fruit gift was a hit though, they loved that stuff!

o Tons of the music here is American. My host sis was dancing and singing her heart out to Maroon 5 in the kitchen this morning. She also likes U2.

o Shampoo/ toiletries are always bought at the grocery store, not the pharmacy. I learned this by spending like 6 euros on shampoo (from which I had a super small selection), finding out later in the afternoon that it should have been like 3 and I could choose between about 15 brands.

In the next week:

A visit tomorrow to a city called Marangue with a friend of mine from K, Claire, and her host family, the de Gove’s. Claire’s host grandparents live there, and the city is having a big celebratory party (fete). French students arrive to ESC! Time to see if I can navigate the tricky social atmosphere of the jeune français. Pictures to be posted on Picasa! I might add some to the blog if I can, or just leave the web address.

Until next time,

~Colleen