La Montagne, Quatre Enfants, et L'Avenir

Bonsoir tout le monde!  Today is Friday.  As I write, I have here in front of me La Montagne, which is the local newspaper (www.lamontagne.fr).  I learned today in my civilization (current events) class that La Montagne has a very interesting history.  It was founded in 1919, before World War II.  During WWII, a new government was formed in France in Vichy, which took the side of the Germans.  This new government censured the press.  La Montagne, however, resisted their control as long as they could.  When it got to the point that they could no longer ignore the new government, La Montagne would just leave blank spaces where every censured article would have been, with the words "this article has been censured by the Vichy government" in order to let the people know how much of their news was being blocked by the government.  I think this is very cool. 

This has been an interesting week.  First of all, on Monday I missed my only class because they moved to a different classroom and didn't tell me where to go!  This particular class (and several others, actually) doesn't have a designated room; we just use whatever room is available, so I usually have to check the bulletin board when I get in in the morning.  On Monday I was a couple minutes late to begin with, so everyone would have already been in the classroom.  The schedule on the bulletin board did not have a classroom written in, so first I spent some time wandering around the building, looking in all the windows for my class.  Then I went back to the bulletin board and realized that there was a hand-written note near the schedule on the over-crowded bulletin board, saying the class would be next door, and listing three or four possible classrooms.  I went next door and wandered around for a while, but that building is rather more confusing than the other one, considering that the classrooms aren't numbered; they're named after authors, and also they had recently rearranged the groups and put people in different classes, so it's possible I may not have recognized some of the students as being in my class.  Anyway, I never figured out where my literature class was.

Then, I had no class on Tuesday.  At first I wasn't absolutely sure why, except that I had some paperwork to hand in, and the profs had some meetings to get the schedule worked out.  But that day, after spending quite a while waiting in the hall to hand in my paperwork, I found out there was another form I was supposed to hand in.  So I had to go to a print shop and buy a card because the form was online and I don't own a printer.  Then I had to go back to my dorm to fill it out, because I had to look at the OU catalog.  Finally, I went back to the same hallway where I had been waiting earlier, waited some more, and eventually, we Americans ended up putting all our forms collectively in her box.  Then we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Centre Ville window shopping, and in the evening we went out for fried chicken because we were feeling American.  So in the end we decided it was a good thing we had the day off, because the bureaucracy here is such a hassle!

A pretty mural in Chamalières

A cool fountain in Chamalières

Then on Wednesday, which is my normal day off, I didn't do much.  I slept in, and then Ashley and I went walking around looking for a Chinese restaurant to eat lunch at.  We never actually found one, but we walked to a cool side of town called Chamalières.  It was very pretty, and we saw some pretty architecture.  Pathica later told us that it's the wealthy side of town.  Ashley and I kind of want to get a cute apartment there!  That night, Pathica drove Ashley and I across town to an Asian buffet that was actually quite good.  She told us that there are Asian buffets in Clermont-Ferrand that aren't so good, just like Oklahoma, but that one was nice.

Thursday, I had two classes (which are quite long), so I was pretty busy during the day.  Then in the evening at 19:00 (or 7:00pm) I went to Mrs. Bauer's house for dinner.  I met her three boys and one girl (the girl is the youngest; she's about 2).  They were so cute!  They were all pretty young, and most of them were quite hyper.  And it was definitely a stretch for me to speak in French all evening.  I think I only heard one English sentence the entire night!  But I had a wonderful time.  I also met another girl they invited for dinner; she was a medical student named Haude; she was French as well.  The father worked late, but he came home just as diner had started.  He was very nice as well, and he had traveled in the United States, so I was lucky that he knew where Oklahoma was.  He even said he had been to Tulsa!  It was a wonderful experience, interacting with a family and having a normal evening visit, even though it was difficult because it was all in French.  The kids laughed at my French a couple times, but I didn't really mind.  I was pretty nervous to go, as I often am before meeting new people, or people I barely know, especially by myself and in a language I'm still struggling to learn.  But I would definitely say it was worth it.  I think for every time I've asked myself "what on earth am I doing here?" there have been at least three times I've said to myself "I'm so glad I'm here!"  Anyway, I think my evening with the Bauers was a milestone in my semester here, not only because I now have local friends I can turn to for advice or help (other than just students), but also because I practiced my French so much.  Ever since then, I've had a hard time getting out of French mode, and I keep wanting to throw in a French word or phrase when I'm speaking English.

So Ashley and I have been trying to plan out our weekend.  Originally we wanted to hike up Puy de Dome, which is the main local inactive volcano, but since it's still pretty cold, we decided to put that on hold.  We've discussed taking a train to Vichy or Lyon because they're both pretty near, and just spending the afternoon wandering around.  Lyon is bigger, so there would be more to see, but Vichy has the WWII history, so in that sense it would be interesting.  Then, the week after next, we have our first break.  So far, we've discussed going to Spain, Portugal, or the UK (I think).  Any of those places we could reach by train.  We would both really like to go to Morocco, but we're thinking about saving that for our next break, so the protesting can settle down some.  I've been told by some that I shouldn't go at all, but some people tell me that Morocco isn't as bad as Egypt, and it should be relatively safe.  So...  what do you think?  Who votes we go to Morocco over spring break?

I LOVE this house, it's so pretty!  I wish I could live in it.  It's right near the school.

"Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop." -Lewis Carroll

So, now that I have a clean room, enough clean clothes to last me a while, and a completed French essay, I think it's time for me to sit down and write another blog post.  I will start at the beginning.

First of all, I must tell you how our Wednesday went.  In the morning we had our "American" breakfast.  Most of the American students were there, along with a lot of French students who are planning on studying abroad in America, even at OU.  We chatted with them a while; some of them had a lot of questions about life in the states.  So it was nice to finally get to talk to some French students, but we mostly spoke in English.  Ashley and I did, however, have an interesting conversation with a couple French students about what happened in the area in WWII, which was one of the things we wanted to find out as one of our Wednesday goals.  Of course, the biggest thing that happened nearby was Vichy becoming the capital of the new French government that took the side of the Germans.  They told us that of course there was probably some French resistance in Clermont-Ferrand, but that it was everywhere.  It was interesting to me that they didn't seem quite as enthusiastic about the French resistance as I am and many of my friends seem to be, perhaps because they grew up hearing about it.

Wednesday night, I went with the rest of the American students and a couple French students out to eat at a place that serves food local to the Auvergne region.  I forget the name of the dish, but it was potatoes mixed with bits of meat and covered in delicious cheese, with ham, salad, and bread on the side.  It was incredibly good.  I practiced my French perhaps a little, but we ended up speaking English most of the time.

And of course I must document my experience with sleep paralysis I had the following night.  It is interesting to note that a person can be so affected by stress while at the same time they are having such a good time.  This is certainly the case for me.  When I first got here, I would collapse into bed every night and fall right asleep because I was so worn out from speaking and listening to French every day, and figuring out a new culture.  But this was my first experience of sleep paralysis (at least here in France).  I just remember being awake enough to know I was awake, being unable to move, hearing a really loud pounding noise (my heartbeat in my ears), sensing an evil presence, and feeling someone's hand gripping mine.  It only lasted about 3 seconds, but it was really quite freaky.  I couldn't go back to sleep the rest of the night, but luckily by then it was already six.  So, for those of you who may study abroad in the future, remember stress can do weird things to you, and you're not going insane (lol).  Actually, it reminded me very much of the episodes I had a few times after a major surgery, where I would wake up suddenly, feeling very frightened for no apparent reason.  After some reflection, I would guess that those were caused more by the stress caused by the surgery than the aftereffects of the surgery itself.  But that's another story.

Thursday and Friday I was very busy with classes, having two on Thursday and three on Friday.  Then Friday night, Ashley and two of her French friends, Pathica and Alexandra, invited me to go dancing at the club.  It was a completely new experience for me, as I've never been to a club even in the US (back home I'm under age after all).  But I decided I wanted to get to know Ashley's French friends, and see what French young people do on weekends, so I went.  It turned out to be a lot of fun!  I was a little uncomfortable with the weird, slightly drunk guys who would just come up and start dancing with any of us without even asking, but other than that aspect I had a great time dancing.  We danced for hours and hours (the clubs here stay open till 5am) and never even took a break.  The next day I slept until noon.

Sunday morning (this morning) I went to the protestant church Ashley and I found.  Unfortunately Ashley slept past her alarm and didn't get to come with me.  I was slightly terrified walking up to the church alone, since I was going to a church where I didn't know anyone, didn't know what to expect, and didn't entirely speak the language.  But when I walked in I felt a lot more comfortable, because a couple people came up and greeted me warmly.  I spoke to the pastor, and later when the service started, he announced to the whole church (which was pretty small) that I was from Oklahoma (lol).  That made me a little uncomfortable, but then after the service a woman came up to me and introduced herself.  Her name is Mrs. Bauer and she has four kids, and she invited me to dinner at her house on Thursday.  That will be great to get to know a French family.  I must say, even though the service at this church was entirely in French, and even so kind of different from what I'm used to at home, it just felt like a relief to be in an environment that was even a little bit like home.

So I've spent the rest of today cleaning my room (which really needed it), washing some clothes in the sink (it costs 3 euros to do laundry here!) and writing an essay in French (400 words).  But now I've come to the end of my update, so I'm going to stop.  Until next time!

Two trams rushing past in Place de Jaude

The main cathedral in downtown Clermont-Ferrand, where I went the first two Sundays

Allons-y!

So, I left of promising to describe my classes.  On Monday mornings, I have only one class, which goes from 3:15 to 5:45; that is my literature class.  So far, I think literature is turning out to be my favorite class.  For one thing, I just love reading, whether it be novels, short stories or poetry.  Also, I seem to understand it better, but that may be because my French class last semester was French conversation and literature, so a lot of the language is the same.  On Tuesdays I also have just one class, from 3:45 to 6:15.  That one is cultural history, and it is rather more difficult.  Right now we are studying about the Gauls, and when the Romans invaded them.  One of the most famous battles between the Romans and the Gauls occurred at Gergovia,  which is right around here somewhere.  Wednesday is my day off, so I always have to plan ahead what adventures I'm going to have that day, so as not to get bored.  Thursdays and Fridays are quite busy.  Thursday I have two classes; the first one being argumentation (a writing class, sort of like rhetoric I guess) from 8:45 to 11:15.  Then I have lab from 2:15 to 3:15, and immediately following, I have oral expression until 5:15.  These two are extremely difficult and exhausting.  Basically, in lab I watch a video twice (last time it was a news program) and take notes from it.  I have to understand it well enough, and take detailed enough notes that, in oral expression I can give a presentation with particular details like the name of the program, the name of the channel, and what problems and solutions were presented in the program.  Then I have to criticize it, adding personal experiences if possible, saying whether I agree or disagree, etc.  I tend to leave that class feeling exhausted and like I barely know enough French.  Friday I have three classes.  In the morning I have civilization from 9:15 to 11:45.  This is sort of like a current events class; we talk about newspapers, lyrics to popular music, etc.  Then from 1:15 to 3:45 I have narration, which is sort of like a creative writing/oral expression class.  This class so far has been a lot of fun, but difficult because I don't like talking in front of the whole class.  Immediately following narration I have my cultural option, which is a film class.  We watch movies in French, and then discuss them in their historical and cultural context.  It's very interesting, but rather hard to stay awake, being late in the day and the last of many classes.

The first week, all my classes were very big, so big we kept having to move to bigger classrooms.  So, this week they divided level five into two groups, and put me in group 5b.  So the schedule I just described to you was not my schedule the first week.  However, after they divided up the level, all the Asian students (and a couple non-Asian) decided they would just stay in 5a.  So now 5b has six people (which I LIKE) and 5a has a whole lot.  I wish they would leave it like it is, but they said if only six people keep showing up to the 5b classes (which have exactly the same teachers and exactly the same material) then they'll put the two groups back together again.  I think that would be too bad, because it's a lot less stressful for me to interact with a small class than a big one.  But anyway, I have no idea what my schedule will look like later on.  We'll see.

The campus here is not at all laid out like OU; in fact, it would be difficult to say they have an actual campus at all.  The buildings are kind of spread out over a particular part of town.  Every morning when I go to class, I have to walk past some shops, a subway, a bakery, and a couple restaurants before I get to the building where most of my classes are.  But that's ok, I don't really mind the walk.  I don't think it's really farther than walking across campus, it's just different being in the middle of a city.

Now that I've gotten a little more settled in, I've been working on a particular goal: to make some French friends.  You might think this would be easy, but no, it is not.  First of all, while all of my classes are taught in French by French professors, all the students are foreign students (from everywhere but France: China, Colombia, Brazil, Japan, Vietnam, Italy, Czech, Slovakia, Mars... even Bételgeuse).  It's great to talk to them in French, and learn about the fascinating places they're from, and often French is the only language we have in common.  But seeing as it's no match for a conversation with a native speaker, I've been looking for French students.  But it's hard to strike up a conversation; for some reason, French people just don't seem to be as open as most Americans (at least in the south).  I have had a couple brief conversations with the young woman who lives next door to me in the dorm, and she is very friendly.  But she always seems surprised when I say hello.  Also, one day, when Ashley and I were at the laundromat, she offered me a tictac, and then offered one to the French man standing on her other side, just to be polite.  He looked very surprised, shocked even, and said "no thank you, you are very nice, too nice."  And just today, I though I had a wonderful idea for putting myself in a situation to have a conversation with fellow French students.  I would go to the cafeteria by myself when it was crowded, sit by French people, and chat, even if it was just a few words.  Well when I finally got in and got a tray of food (the line was out the door), it was hard to find even one empty seat.  When I finally found one, I asked the people at the table if I could sit there, and they gave me the strangest looks!  One girl said yes, so I sat down.  They proceeded to look only at each other and speak rapidly only to each other, and they ate quickly and left.  It didn't take me long to figure out that no one asked permission to sit anywhere, and no one talked to anyone unless they came in with them.  So I am left brainstorming for ways to interact with real French people.  I'm hoping the protestant church Ashley and I found the other day will prove to be helpful on that account.  Otherwise, I don't really know what to do at this point.  I am finding that French people are difficult to make friends with.  Making new friends is hard enough for me back in the States, not being an extremely outgoing person, but here it's so much harder since I don't know the culture; I don't know how French people interact with each other.

Tomorrow, since it is our day off, Ashley and I have a few small adventures planned.  First of all, we have a breakfast meeting to go to in the morning.  It is an "American" breakfast, so I have no idea what kind of food they'll serve.  Grits, bacon, eggs, and coffee would be nice.  Probably it'll be donuts.  But then after that, we're going to go to Place de Jaude.  We want, first of all, to buy a normal pillow, because the pillows they gave us are very narrow and weird.  We also have some kind of official form we need to mail, and then we want to find out a little about what happened in Clermont-Ferrand in WWII.  We would love to have some stories about the resistance from right here in town, but that may be beyond the scope of just one Wednesday's adventures.  We'll see. :)

Bonsoir from Clermont-Ferrand!

As I sit here in my tiny dorm room eating cold leftover pasta, a small quiche, and a baguette with cheese, I'm trying to decide what to include in this blog post describing my trip here and the entire week I spent with no internet access, and the rest of the following week that I was too busy with classes to write.  But I suppose I should just start at the beginning, and skip the boring parts.

First of all, Ashley and I left Paris on the morning of the 1st, taking a taxi to Gare de Bercy (the train station).  We went to the ticket window to pick up our tickets, and while we were standing in line a man started talking to us.  He spoke rapidly in broken English, and asked us where we were from.  When we said Oklahoma, he got excited, and began to tell us about a TV show he watched when he was young called Jumping Juniper or something like that, about a cowboy from Oklahoma.  He then proceeded to impersonate said cowboy.  "I am a cool guy.  I shoot more fast than my shadow!"  He would then make swooshing noises as he pretended to draw his guns.  While he continued to repeat his impersonation, Ashley and I eventually managed to evade him as we got on the train.

Getting on the train was no easy task with all our luggage, but we managed it by one of us getting up on the train first and the other one handing the luggage up to them.  Then we went to find our respective seats (they weren't together), and the train began to move before we had completely gotten all our luggage, and selves, in place.  The trip itself was uneventful, save for the very polite, quiet, and strange young man who sat next to me, who spent most of the time reading or sleeping and the rest of the time sewing different colored buttons to the inside of his coat and scorching them with a cigarette lighter.  Getting off the train was a mess, at least for me.  There was no way I was gonna get my suitcase off the train by myself, so I got off first, and the kind gentleman behind me handed it to me.  I then promptly fell over and dumped all my luggage on the ground.  a few seconds later the person who had been sitting next to me appeared and handed me my ukulele, which I had inadvertently left in my seat, so I owe a good deal to him.

Ma petite chambre

Then Ashley and I found a taxi and took it to our dormitory, Philippe Lebon.  We checked in, and the receptionist gave us each tours of our dorms in French, and I was surprised at how much I understood.  Of course, I didn't catch everything, and so there have been plenty of things I've had to figure out myself.  But I think it's cool that they provide us with sheets and a blanket, and they wash them for us.

As I mentioned before, it took about a week for me to get my internet hooked up.  Getting settled in here, and getting all enrolled, has been ridiculously complicated, besides the language barrier.  For one thing, everything is on paper, nothing can be done electronically.  For a developed country, France seems rather underdeveloped.  Then we had to go back and forth from office to office, doing all this complicated business, and making sure we brought everyone the right papers.  One of the things we had to do was get room insurance, and in order to do that, Ashley and I had to open up French bank accounts.   Also, in order to get internet, we had to get our student cards, which required lots of other paperwork.  But it's nice to have the student card, because I can eat in the cafeteria for only 3 euros, which is a lot cheaper (but slightly less tasty) than eating out all the time.  Another thing we had to do was get local cell phones.  If any of you are in France, which is local, or Europe, which is cheaper than the US, ask me for my French phone number and I'll send it to you via facebook or email.  Of course, any of you can always contact me via skype.

The Friday after we arrived, Ashley and I took our French placement tests.  We were put in different levels, so we only have one class together.  For some reason, I managed to test into level 5 out of 6, and I'm not sure why.  But at least my French skills can be stretched to the max.  Our classes started the following Monday.  We were each given a schedule of classes to visit, and by the 22nd we will have to have enrolled in the classes we want.  But for those of us from OU there's not really much choice since we're required to enroll in at least 15 hours, so we have to go to most of them. 

Now I am quite tired... I have been sitting in classes and practicing my French all day; all week in fact.  You will have to wait until next time to hear my descriptions of the classes and of the city of Clermont-Ferrand.