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.