Sunday wasn’t too bad weather-wise: no sun, but no rain, so I’ll take it. I decided to be a tourist and went to Notre Dame and met up with Grace and Joscelyn. The cathedral is absolutely gorgeous! Granted I thought it would have seemed taller when seeing it in person, but the decoration of the interior and exterior is incredible! I could literally just sit in there for hours and just look around in awe. We didn’t go up to the bell towers, though- saving that for another day.
Yesterday (Monday) was the first day of class and I felt like I was going off to kindergarten all over again. Seriously. Thankfully, it was an art history course (Art in France from the Renaissance to Impressionism) and I felt right at home with the lecture. And with all of the courses I’ve taken at TCNJ, I know a good majority of the material already, or at least enough to get me by and let me really concentrate on the French itself and not the material as well. I think that’s going to be the main concern with my classes- I know the material for the most part, I’m just going to have to concentrate on the French. And the professor, who seems like a total sweetheart, told us that we’ll be having class IN THE LOUVRE in two weeks. Completely awesome.
So today I had my 9am French language course. Ugh. I hate early classes in the States when I only have to leave my room 5 minutes before to make it there on- imagine me having to leave 45 minutes early to ensure that I make all my metro stops and have enough time to walk there and get to my class. Ok so, I take a new route today that’s supposed to be quicker (but it actually takes the same amount of time as the other one), find my classroom, and wait to go in the classroom with a few people I know. Professor comes, we walk in, and sit down. All’s good. Come to find out a minute later that this class was for Japanese students (don’t laugh at me- a majority of the students at the Catho come from Asia and the ratio was the same as my class yesterday so I didn’t think about it). So we walk out, see that we were in the wrong room, and look for the correct room. Funny story- it’s not there- as in the classroom number is crossed out on the sign. Huh. Cute. Scenes from Harry Potter start to come to mind, with us needing to tap on the damn wall or something to find this class. So we ask a nearby professor, who confirms that the room we’re looking for isn’t in the building (although it clearly says it is on all of our schedules) and suggests that we go to the room it’s supposed to be in on Thursday (I have this class twice a week in two locations). Ok, it’s worth a try. So we hike it all the way across the campus and try Thursday’s classroom. No such luck- there’s a different class in there. So then we decide to go to the secretary in case they changed the room or something and didn’t inform us. We get there and tell the secretary “La salle de classe n’existe pas- ce n’est pas là” (The classroom doesn’t exist- it’s not there). Now she’s looking at us like we’re insane, which is a possibility at this point, so she decides to help us find the room (while thinking we’re insane- nbd). So as we enter the building again, she was going to go up the staircase like we originally did, but then one the people I’m with spots some non-descript sign the NO ONE saw the first time, saying we need to go back outside through a mini-courtyard and enter through a hidden side staircase, then go up two levels. Seriously? WHO THE HELL IS SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT?! AND WHY ISN’T THE DAMN SIGN LARGER?! AND PLACED IN A VISIBLE LOCATION SO I DON’T END UP IN A CLASS FOR JAPANESE STUDENTS?! We finally find the class, and the professor is more than understanding, thankfully- he actually seems really chill and we do nothing more that introductions and bs-ing for the three (well, two and a half, in my case) hours that we’re scheduled for.
After grabbing some lunch and discovering that everyone I know has class in the afternoon, I decided to do a little exploring of my own since it was such a nice day. As in the sun was visible. No clouds. Marvelous! (You need to understand that I haven’t seen the sun for more than a total of one hour since I set foot on French soil and the weather report this morning was calling for rain/snow/wind/cold. So yeah.) So I grabbed my journal, my book, and my iPod and headed over to the Eiffel Tower- why not? So I took a few pictures, was assisted by a few nice American tourists that let me hop in a few photos of my own, and just relaxed. It was lovely.
(The view from my park bench)
And dinnertime continues to be one of my favorite times of the day. The food is good, but really, between all five of us (Me, Louise, Daniella, Ana, and Nana), we’re never at a loss for conversation and we easily sit there for an hour and a half/two hours, just talking and eating. It’s not too much different from what I do at home! And I was complimented on my accent- everyone was saying that a speak really well, with none of my “Americanness” (their word, not mine) showing through my French, so snaps for me!
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