Passing Notes

Today in Perm, while passing notes with Cloe and Florine, I learned the following about French texting lingo:
L.O.L. is used, but more of in a mocking way
M.D.R. (Mort de Rire) is the French lol (I already knew this)
HiHii is the French heehee
HaHa is used, but not as often
^^ makes reference to happiness (I've seen this in the US, but I never knew what it meant)

A Completely Uneducational School Day

I didn't really get the chance to speak to my bus stop buddy this morning. She was still in E. Leclerc when I got to the stop. When she did come out of the store, she set her bags down and told me to put them inside the door to the hair dresser's if the bus came because she had forgotten to pick up her medication.
Of course, the bus did come while she was in the store. Thankfully, there were three other people standing in front of me to get on the bus, so I ran and deposited her bags in the salon and ran back quickly to get onto the bus. Once I was on, it started rolling, but the bus driver saw my bus-stop-buddy and put on the breaks. She was only half-way across the parking lot, so I told the driver to wait, jumped off the bus, ran back to the salon to the confused hair dresser with the bags in her hands, and back to the bus, where I gave the shopping bags to the old lady, who, by this time, had arrived at the bus.
English class was cancelled, so guess what? I had an hour of Perm! Yay! It wasn't too bad, though. I passed notes with Florine and her friend Cloe the whole time.
I can't believe that I actually got up to go to school for two hours of table tennis. That's the most rediculous thing in the world!
I've come to the conclusion that I like riding the bus. You know how a few weeks ago when I was having my bad day, I tried to sit in the back of the bus, but the seats were "reserved"? Earlier this week, in the front of the bus, Yamina and I sat across from two middle-schoolers. Yamina just so happened to ask them to maybe save us some seats every day. The following day, Heloise and her friend saved us seats across from them. Today, the two girls from the first day actually did save us seats! I was so excited! How nice of them, and how convenient for us! Unfortunately, Yamina was really late getting on the bus, so her seat went to a girl named Gloria.

Word One

Here is a list of English words and phrases that I have taught to my classmates this week:
yippy skippy
pencil sharpener
trash can
trash/rubbish
pony tail
pony tail holder/scrunchie
bun
braid
XYZ (examine your zipper)
eww!

Eww

I think I'm sick. For one thing, I couldn't find an upside to the rap music blaring from the back of the bus yesterday morning, and for another, I have swollen lymphnodes. It's nothing a little tea and honey can't cure, I hope.
In TPE yesterday morning before beginning research, we decided that the question that we would answer for our project is "The economical house: dream or reality?"
I learned that the noise/word "eww!" does not exist here and that I get strange looks when I say it, even when something is disgusting.
After Francais and Maths, I really wanted to just take the noon bus and go home because I was feeling so poorly, but I didn't. I even think that there is a possibility that I got a twenty on my first quiz in Italiano. We were quizzed on personal presentations, present-tense conjugations, and reflexive -arsi present-tense conjugations.
Walking to the bus after class, I decided that I did not want to sit and wait for an hour for the bus to pick me up at 4h15. Instead, I walked so incredibly slowly that it took me a full hour to walk the two blocks to the bus stop that it usually takes me five minutes to walk. MLIA

Half of a Good Thing is Still a Whole Good Thing..

I dreamt in French last night!!! At least, I think I did. I went to bed at ten last night as usual, but instead of sleeping through the whole night, I woke up at 1h30 am. It was one of those abrupt wake-ups where you sit up, but then you think that you've been awake the entire time. I looked at the clock and was so mad at myself for not having fallen asleep by one, but then I reflected on what I had been thinking. I had been having a conversation with myself in French. It was the most random dialogue (I can't remember now), and when I tried to think back to how it had started, I couldn't find the beginning! That's how I know I was asleep.
After doing a quick happy dance, I went back to bed and dreamed in English the rest of the night.

Yippy Skippy

Yesterday, when walking towards the bus, Yamina told me that she knew from a song that the word "yep" meant "yes". I told her that that was correct, and that one can pretty much use any word he chooses to mean "yes". I used for my example, "yippy skippy" or "yipper skipper". Marie, who was walking with us, asked me what "skip" meant. Not knowing the word in French, I acted it out and skipped like a dweeb on the sidewalk. (I do love skipping, but there comes a certain age when people start judging.)
Marie loved it and thought it was hilarious. So after going home and telling her parents, she went around most of today skipping randomly and saying "yippy skippy"!
I love the French!

The Delinquents

The Pastorale teacher was late to class this morning. As soon as the tardy bell rang, we all headed to the senior work room where I helped Margaux understand what we have done in Anglais for the past month. A quarter of an hour later, someone saw the teacher through the window, and we ended up having to finish the second half of the class during which we each questioned a partner chosen at random about her life and self-image.
We also partnered in Espagnol to write a dialogue about what servant women discuss when the men are not at home. In addition to giving us the dialogues to write, Mme. Holbecq also gave us back a DM piece that we had written. She gave me a fifteen out of twenty. I looked at the corrections on my paper and then corrected her on some of my corrections. She took my paper and changed the grade to a seventeen. I'm a little happier about that, but I still think that one of the other two errors that she marked is correct and that I should have received at least an eighteen or nineteen.
Mme. Blondel never showed up for Francais. For some reason, though, the door to her classroom was open, so instead of going to Perm like we were supposed to, we stayed in the classroom and talked. (We're not allowed to talk in Perm.) Half way through the "class" someone changed his mind and decided that we should go to Perm. The supervisor was furious when we all showed up thirty minutes late.
Our teacher for Economie had warned us that she had a doctor's appointment, so she might be a little late, but we didn't wait for her as long as we had waited for Mme. Blondel. I don't exactly know why, but we did not have to go to Perm for this hour. Instead, I moseyed about with Marie. In the foyer Constant came up to me and made me speak in French so his friend could hear my accent.
I'm glad that Marie is smart and a high-achiever because she made a study sheet for something in Maths, and it helped me so much when I copied it! On the other hand, this means that I didn't pay attention to the lesson since I was preocupied, but it was just a review of the homework for the most part, and I had gotten almost all of the questions right anyways.
In Histoire-Geo the Mme. DeGroote got semi-off-topic to discuss WASPs. No, not the bee but White Anglo-Saxon Protestants. It's always amusing when a teacher apologizes for her accent. She really can speak English quite well, though.
In SVT (Sciences) Maximilien sitting behind me answered almost all of the questions asked by Mme. Castelain. Eventhough I didn't say anything, I can proudly reflect that I knew the answer to every single one.

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful...

...but the fire is so delightful!
If it's that hard to guess, we are having our first fire of the year on the twenty-seventh of September!

The Potentially Bad Very Good Day

Heloise and I missed the bus this morning. That is always a bad sign. Thank goodness Sabine drove us all the way to school. That meant that she was late for her teaching job, but I was ten minutes earlier than usual. I didn't have a class first period, so I sat in a work room and watched Camille, Somaya, Florine, and Yamina work on the DM for Maths. Even though I didn't understand most of it, I had already done it and didn't want to try to understand something that would never come. (Even they didn't understand too well.) We had a good time exchanging stories about France and the US. At one point Camille asked me whether or not I knew any gros mots in French (cuss words). I responded yes. (It's hard not to know any. Everyone here uses profanity as often as they use the word Bonjour.) When she asked which ones, I had to reply that even though I knew how to say them, I don't use cuss words ever. Surprisingly, she thought that was funny. She then practiced what she was going to say in English class with me. (It was practically perfect.)
Wanna know a secret? We're going to be studying the song Papa Don't Preach by Madonna in English soon! No one else in my class is supposed to know, but the teacher gave me the heads up! Shhhh!
I did not understand anything at all that went on in French or Math. I was really excited because I totally got what we were doing in Math at the beginning of class, but then the teacher added so many wierd letters and numbers and symbols that she confused everything that I already knew.
Apparently there is a button to translate my blog into French! How cool! Nawel told me today at lunch. She also told me that she had showed my Facebook page to her mom who said that I was smiley! (That's my best translation for souriante!) Nawel also told me that she thinks I have a Colgate smile! She was very happy and bubbly today! I have no idea why, but I'm so glad that positivity is contagious! (At least it is for me!)
After lunch, Economy filled my head with confusing technical terms that made absolutely no sense whatsoever. By that time, I figured that today would be one of those days where all my classes would befuddle me, and I just had to take the bad with the good.
Mme. DeGroote began History by announcing that among the evaluations she had given (remember the test thing from last Monday morning), the lowest grade was a seven and the highest was a sixteen. (This is all out of twenty.) She came over to me first (I knew I had gotten the seven) and told me that she had graded me as she would any other French student. She then announced my grade in front of the entire class. I got a THIRTEEN!!!! I have never been so excited! I was sort of annoyed that she said my grade out loud (she said everybody's grade out loud), but I got over that quickly. I, the American student, did not have the lowest grade in a class that is not English! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! :)
The last hour Marie attempted to explain to me the math that we had done today, and I partially understood. Oh well, it's not like I'm going to use anything but basic Algebra later in life.
At home I showed Sabine my History evaluation, and even she said that it could have been the work of a French student!
I think I might know what my favorite subject this year will be.

L'Arc-en-Ciel

I saw the most exquisite rainbow this morning standing outside of the classroom for Sciences-Po! It made the full arch, and I could see each individual color from the ROY G. BV spectrum!
Unfortunately, rain comes with rainbows, and it disappeared quickly onces the clouds rolled in over it.

Three hour perm

Pop-quiz this morning in Francais first period! Yay! Actually, it wasn't that pop-ish because she told us that she was planning on having it on Wednesday, but she decided against it then and told us that it would be in the near future. Of course, I had only focused on the fact that we were having a pre-planned quiz in Economie and hadn't studied. I completely bombed the first question, but I think that there is a slight possibility that I answered the rest correctly! (I'm not getting my hopes up, though.)
There was no class after Francais, so everyone went in to Perm. After that we had double hour Economie! The quiz consumed the first hour, and I learned upon entering the classroom that I didn't have to take it. (So much for studying...)
After lunch was Espagnol. Then I was supposed to have double-hour Histoire-Geo, but after waiting for ten minutes for the teacher, we decided that she was a no-show. Instead, Histoire-Geo was replaced with Perm! I had not brought anything from home to occupy my time since I had only expected one hour of Perm (during which I studied for Economie). So, for the first hour, I created the first paper-airplane that I have made since elementary school. I even drew passengers and named the company Ennui Airlines. It was pretty legit. During recreation, I gave it to Marie, and she gave me something that she had folded, too. Boredom bonding! We still had one more hour of Perm, but we went into a different room where we could talk, and Marie and Yamina worked on the DM for Maths (I had already done it) while we all talked and listened to the random guys from Terminale play guitar.

La Chaleur

Two things are funny.
The first one is the French use of the word "funny". I get the feeling that my classmates have been taught the word "funny" in place of the word "fun".
The second thing is that today in EPS (P.E.), while playing table-tennis, mind you, every single person I encountered complained how hot it was. I can assure you that the gym was barely eighty degrees, if even that! I was the only one, for the first time in my life, not sweating! I guess it's a good thing that nobody here likes the heat since we do live in the north.
I'm still waiting for my winter coat to grow. Until then, I think I might curl up in a ball and hibernate, trying to soak up as much French using hypnopaedia. (Brave New World reference! Thanks, Mr. Glass!) I'm just kidding, by the way...

The Sous-Prefecture

So when I saw my bus-buddy this morning, she smiled at me, pointed to my face, pinched her own cheeks, rubbed her stomache, and said, "you've eaten well here, I see." Lovely. It's been less than a month and I'm already fat. I guess I'll just have to cut back on all of the cheese and chocolate that I'm not eating. She was nice, though. She told me a good piece of advice: "To have respect, you must respect." It's true. I already knew this, but it's good to have things that we already know repeated.
I missed my stop. I don't know how it happened. One minute I looked out the window and the sign said, "Bibliotheque" (which is what I thought the stop before mine was) and the next minute, we were pulling into the train station. Thankfully, I stayed on the bus and fifteen minutes later, on the route back, the bus driver dropped me off in the correct location in front of the Sous-Prefecture.

Merry Christmas to you, too?

So, I lied. Apparently I do have to do TPE (the year long project thing, remember?). It will be fun, though, because I'm parternered with Marie and Yamina, and our project is Ecology under the domain Man and Nature. Before class, Marie (not the same one with whom I'm parternered) told me that last night she dreamt that I sat next to her during her English test and helped her. During class, the girls behind me, Matilde, Sophie, and Margaux, peppered me with questions about life in the US and all of the differences between there and France. They always seemed so surprised and excited when something they had seen in a movie about the US turned out to be true. (Ditto) Everyone here wants to know whether or not life in America is like the movie American Pie. I should probably watch that. Until then, I'm responding with a categorical "no". (I've seen the cover at the movie store)
Walking to the bus after Italian, I saw a man wearing either an army uniform or a really spiffy suit and a Santa Clause Christmas hat! He made me laugh.

Intelligence

Today, on this twenty-second day of September, I saw the first Smart Car that I have seen so far in France!


It made me very happy.

Always the New Experience

Hugues picked me up from school yesterday on his motorcycle. Of course I chose that day to wear a dress to the Rotary meeting. When he saw my face, he said he would drive slowly, but, as we all know, everything is relative. It is safe to say, Daddy, that your little girl will not be running off with any bikers in this lifetime. I could not stop thinking the entire ride about all the carbon monoxide-filled exhaust I was breathing (that I wouldn't in a car) and how I was absolutely sure the bike would flip or run into a car when we turned. I survived, nevertheless, without a single scratch or bruise. Every day here is a new adventure.
The reason M. Polveche had picked me up from school was to take me to a Rotary dinner that we attended at seven. There were probably around twenty to thirty members attending (three of whom were women). I'm not really sure what was the subject of the evening, but I think it had something to do with notaries and a scholarship. At the end the former Director (Principal) of Lycee Saint Paul told a joke.
Here is the basic summary: Three grandchildren spent the night at their grandmother's house. When telling her goodnight, they were all naked. When she asked why they wore no clothes, they responded that nudity was the new pajamas. The grandmother showed her husband her "new pajamas" and he asked why she hadn't ironed them.
I am almost 100 percent sure that that has nothing what so ever to do with notaries.
Even though the Rotary meeting did not end late at night, I still spent the night at Hugues's in his daughter Sara's room again.

The Evaluation

This morning I had my first test. Technically it was an examination since tests are given during the four-hour DS period on Thursday mornings, but since this took up an entire hour of class time and involved extensive writing, I'll just call it a test. It wasn't that bad for a first examination. All it was was an extract from a book that we had to read and analyze, taking into account the information that we had learned from History class. Happily, I understood every single word from the text, and I feel like I did relatively well, even if I did write less than half as much as the others.
Next, in English, there was a quiz. Apparently, I don't have to take the quizzes in English class since I'm an exchange student. This seemed a little odd to me, seeing that I had just come from taking a test. Hey, who am I to complain? It was just as well because I hadn't studied, and when I saw the quiz, there would have been two words that I would not have been able to translate. (I knew what they meant, I just didn't know the corresponding vocabulary words.) Oopse!
Amazingly, I understood Math today! Then Economy and History passed as usual.
Since I don't have class the last hour on Mondays, I sat outside in front of a pharmacy (the benches were taken) with Yamina and we did the majority of our homework. She definately helped shorten two hours into thirty minutes (without giving me the answers). Thank you!

LV2 en Terminale

I spent the night at Hugues's house last night in his daughter Sara's room (she's already either in college or the real world). This morning, since M. Polveche is a dentist, he gave me seven mini-tubes of toothpaste! Unfortunately, since Hugues works in Lens, he had to drop me off at school at 7h45, and no one shows up until after 8h00.
I learned in Sciences-Po this morning that cheesecake does not exist in France! I do not know how the people here can survive without cheesecake! In Economie my teacher asked me a question, and I answered it correctly! Today was my first day of my Terminale (Senior)Espagnol class! Thankfully, I saw a girl that I already knew in the hallway in front of the classroom named Sara and sat next to her. When I sat down, the teacher looked at me funnily, then smiled and made me stand up to present myself to the class. I asked whether they wanted it in French or Spanish. I endend up having to explain in both. I really hope I get better at switching between the two! I like this class so much better than the other! The environment is much more energized, and the students participate a lot more. They are also more inquisitive and friendlier. We also studied a text, like I did yesterday, but I retained much more information from today. I think I'm going to ask to see if I can skip Anglais (every other Saturday at the same time as Espagnol) since I already speak it to take this class every week!
Sabine, Christophe, and I went on a walk in the marais (swamp) today. It's beautiful but happily not very swamp-like since it has not rained excessively recently.

Histoires & Reves d'Artois

So how cold does it really get on a Sepetember night here? Well, I don't know the all-time low, but I do know that it was seven degrees celcius here last night. I went with M. Polveche and we saw a performance of Histoires and Reves d'Artois in Saint-Laurent-Blangy. It was great! The performance was both simple and extravagant at the same time. I would call what we saw a play, but I really don't think it qualifies; in fact, I have no idea what to call it. Hugues and I sat among a few other Rotary members and a crowd of probably over a thousand people in something similar to a football stadium outside. The performance did not take place on a stage, like a play, but on the field in front of the stadium. There were only four out of 750 actors who had speaking parts. Those four people were a director, a costume designer, and two inspectors, and they more or less narrated what was happening. The spectacle began with fire. It was amazing because all of the actors walked out dramatically, carrying torches, and since it was dark, it looked like the line of fire went on for miles. From there it went through the history of Arras in Nord-Pas-de-Calais. The size of the cast was incredible, and had an amazing effect. The props and settings were great, too! There was a the biggest horse I have ever seen, a cavalry of at least twenty-five other horses. The actors set up a graveyard in seconds without being seen, as they did with most of the other settings. There were lights in the ground. There were a watermill, two fountains, fireworks, tanks, a fair that included a man with an actual old-fashioned camera, and a train! It was quite impressive! I only wish I could have understood more of what the four narrators said, but here there is a time of night when my brain stops functioning (I hope that changes soon).

Are there Christians in the US?

French, Science, double hour Economy, Spanish, and double-hour History made up today.
Highlight number one of today: Nawel came up to me at lunch and said, "I recognized you by your ear." (She was referring to the one without the eartag.)
Highlight number two: While inspecting Nawel's ruler (it had cool circle designs on it), Pauline told me, "This is what we use to hit people," to which Nawel responded, "Have you ever seen a ruler before?"
Highlight number three: I realized the classroom in which I take French has lilac colored walls.
Highlight number four: My Spanish teacher asked me if Spanish was my second language or if I spoke it at home.
Highlight number five: Talking about Pastorale with Marie and her friends, Marie asked, "Are there Christians in America?" I said that there were and that I was a Protestant (no one knows any thing about Protestants other than the fact that they're not Catholic) and she then asked, "Are Protestants Christian?"

My Mid-Day Thursday Bus-Stop Buddy

I have a new friend...I just don't know what her name is yet. I do know that she has two sons, two grandsons, and three granddaughters who are all in college or the real world except one who is fourteen. She is the same lady that I met last week at the bus stop. I have a feeling that she has a set routine of shopping at E. Leclerc and that I'll see her every Thursday from now on!
On the bus I saw some sketchy-looking guy roll a cigarette and throw it in the lap of the lady sitting across the asile from him. Off of the bus, I saw that she was actually smoking it. She also walked like a gorilla. I had to do a double-take to make sure she wasn't making fun of anybody near her, but she was alone and completely serious.
In English class we have moved on from Bend it Like Beckham to Bridget Jones's Diary. It's too bad that I haven't seen either of those movies. Oh, well!
I was hanging out with Marie during the end of the lunch period and one of her friends who I hadn't met yet came up to us. She kissed everyone in the circle, and then she held out her hand for me to shake. She was kidding but I thought she was serious because she knew that we don't really kiss that much in America. Apparently not because six minutes later I learned that she had had no clue that I was American. According to another friend of Marie, she's a fan of the US.
Double-hour P.E. was next. At least it was just ping-pong (I mean table-tennis because there's such a big difference). I started off at the third (out of eleven) table, got to the second, and ended at the fifth. It was so loud in there and the rules kept changing every five minutes, so I was lost and probably looking like a deer in the headlights most of the two hours. The P.E. class is comprised of my class and at least two others. I was surpised at how many people knew my name. I was not surprised that everyone knew that I was the exchange student who didn't know what was going on...

Anybody want Thinmints?

I felt like a good little girl scout when I helped a seventy-nine year old woman cross the street! One second I was walking to school from the bus stop, the next second she was asking me to help her because I had smiled at her. Who knew that good samaritans were needed in France, too?
I had two hours of TPE this morning. I asked Mme. DeGroote yesterday and she told me that I didn't need to take this class, but I went today to see what it was because I had nothing else to do. It is exactly what I thought DS was in the beginning. It's the year long project on any random subject that any student chooses. It actually sounds like fun (if I were an actual French student). DS, on the other hand, includes all of the tests and quizzes that I do NOT want to take. I guess that means I don't get any grades for this year! So much for having classes transfer... Anyways, in TPE (Travaux Personnels Encadres) the teachers, Mme. Blondel from French and Mme. Castelain from Science, gave us categories and we had to write any words that came to mind relating to the subject. I sort of enjoyed myself, but at the same time, I'm just as glad to be able to sleep in another day!
After that were French and Math. I hate it when I dislike a subject and/or teacher from the beginning of the year, but it's hard to like a class in which you're drowning. I'm most definitely drowning in Math. We got back the homework that Mme. Chanteloube gave us a week to do and that Marie had helped me complete and I still got a 7 out of 20! I wanted to cry. No one is supposed to fail the very first piece of work! It's supposed to be all review! Anyway, I didn't cry; instead, I decided that I would focus my energy on the language since that is the reason I came here anyway and not worry about Math. That will be the least stressful...I think.
Italian was better today. I think that I feel like I'm learning at least something if we learn a verb conjugation, which we did! Pauline and Nawel (Pauline's friend) even taught me a French phrase. "Hier, j'ai achete un grille pain," means "Yesterday, I bought a toaster." According to them, I should say this whenever someone tells me something that I don't really care anything about. How funny!
I had to wait an hour for the bus since Sabine can't pick me up Wednesday and Italian isn't on the regular school (bus) schedule. The old woman sitting next to me on the bench kept trying to tell me that it was only one Euro for the entire day to travel on the bus and kept going on even after I told her that I had a bus card and it was free for me anyways. I felt sort of badly for not paying particular attention to her, but I got over that when she left five minutes later.
It hasn't rained during the day all week! Today was a pretty good day!

The Law of Attraction

I slept all yesterday afternoon, woke up and wrote on my blog, then slept all last night. I feel great! I'm so glad to have yesterday behind me; today was such an improvement. I told myself first thing this morning that today would be a good day, and if it weren't, I would turn it into one. It began with Pastorale, a religion class in a room called la Source that I have to take once everyother week where we are supposed to talk about anything and everything. Seeing as there is a teacher in the room, I doubt any talking other than what she asks us directly will take place. It was fun, however, to sit in a circle! I felt like spontaneously bursting out into a lively round of Kumbaya. This is me we're talking about, though, so you know, of course, that I didn't. What really made my day super, though, was that the boy standing two people in front of me in the lunch line accidentally broke his glass, too. I know this sounds really mean, but all I mean is that now I know for sure that I'm not the only person in the world who has broken a glass and held up the line. It really is no big deal at all now (although I'm not planning on breaking any more cups). The cafeteria really should think about switching to plastic. To top of my good day, I actually got a seat on the bus across from Heloise! My day really wasn't really eventful, but it was good. After all, I'd rather have an uneventful good day than an eventful bad one!

The Bus Situation

Not that I was expecting any, but there are no yellow school buses in France. The public transportation system here is really good, and I wish it felt as safe back in the States. The one negative part is that now that school has started going strong, more students are taking my bus, and I'm having to stand up every day on the ride home. It really doesn't bother me that much, but last week the driver went sixty miles an hour the entire trip, and I defied gravity at least three times. Even the people sitting down almost fell out of their seats. It was actually pretty fun, but only for one trip. I don't want to make a habit of falling in to people more than I have to. To avoid that today, I headed to the very back of the bus where there were miraculously three empty seats. Unfortunately, a girl was already sitting in the middle, separating them, and when I went to sit down, she informed me that those particular seats were already reserved. Uhm, excuuuse me, middle schooler? I am NOT paying a thirteen year old to sit. ANYONE is entitled to a good seat if they get there first. Nevertheless, my mind wasn't functioning well in French, so I just rolled my eyes and took my place, standing in the middle of the throng. At least the non-deodorant stereotype isn't always true here!

Shattered

This morning started out fine. I didn't have a class the first hour, so I walked around Lens with Pauline and Ophelie. I now know where the PNB Paribas bank is if I ever need to take out money. My morning classes were English, French, and Math. No changes there. My day really declined at lunch, though. For some reason or another, my hand swiped over my tray, and I accidentally pushed off my glass which shattered on the floor. I was completely mortified. I then had to clean it up (which didn't really bother me) but I held up all the bazillion people standing in line, waiting for food behind me. Economy and History were my afternoon. I didn't have a class last hour either, so I walked with Yamina for a while and then waited for the bus. The highlight of the day was coming home to take a nap. Please tell me tomorrow will be better!

Coques and Foques

After going to bed after two in the morning last night, we were not very happily awoken around seven this morning. You just can't do that to teenagers! We went to the beach this morning, at least, because we didn't get to see it yesterday! It's really funny to hear foreigners (non-Americans, I have to specify here) try to say the word "beach" because it sounds like another word that I never use...you can guess. Everyone had scared me with stories of how the tide comes in like hundreds of horses at more than eleven kilometers per hour, and people who go out to collect moules get stuck, can't get back, and drown, or even how cars get stuck out there. I totally didn't understand how someone couldn't just run back to safe dry land because I'd never seen a beach that big...now I have. Goodness, the sandy part of the beach must have gone on for miles. We rode on the back of a tractor (wet, sandy baskets for seats) for at least five miles before we even saw the water! Before we saw water, though, we saw thousands of posts covered in moules! Someone later explained how it all worked, but it was pretty impressive. Despite the cold weather, I removed my shoes to squish my toes in the sand; I even played footsie with a crab! On the way to another site on the tractor, we all saw the dog of the fishermen/moulemen jump off of their truck and catch a seagull! It was shaking it all over the place and we were all moaning in sympathy and excitement. The son of the mouleman went and saved the bird from the dog. Apparently it was still living though because a few minutes later the son wrung it's neck. I'm assuming he did that to put it out of its misery because he didn't keep it for dinner or for the dog or anything; he just threw the seagull off the back of the truck.
Our next stop was to see coques (cockes/ the shell that's all over the US beaches). These coques were still alive, and I learned how to open the shells and eat one. It was not that bad actually; it was very salty, but that could have just been the saltwater. That was our last stop. Someone told me that there are foques (seals) at the beach, but we didn't see any. We went back to an area before the dunes and ate lunch and bonded over hugs. We all agree (save the Asians) that hugs are what we miss most from our home country.
Of course, after lunch I needed to go to the bathroom, and of course we were at the beach and there were no toilets to be seen. So, of course, I had to go in the woods. And, of course, I fell in a briar patch and cut myself everywhere. Lovely, just lovely.

You mean you actually WENT to school?

Saturday morning, I had my first class of double-hour Sciences-Po (Political Science) followed by Economy and English. I have no idea what I'm going to do in Sciences-Po besides give a forty-five minute presentation on current events sometime in November. The teacher seems nice, though, so the class shouldn't be too torturous. She made everybody laugh when she called roll (I'm the first name since my last name begins with "A"). She got to the third or fourth person on the list and asked her if she were foreign because she had heard that there was a foreign girl. Everyone looked at me, but no one said anything. At the beginning of the second hour, she looked at the list again, and correctly asked me if I were the foreigner...She got it eventually, and that's what's important. :)
At one thirty Sabine dropped me off at M. Polveche's house and Hugues (M. Polveche), Ingrid Neumann (my counselor), Michael (the other American who goes to my school), and Asaki (a girl from Japan who speaks neither French nor English except for maybe ten words in each), and I piled into Hugues's car and headed to Baie de Somme. I took about two hours to get to the beach. We were the first to arrive, but soon after other exchangers and rebounds came. There must have been fifty of us; there were SIXTEEN different nationalities! There were: Argeninian, Ecuadorian, Venezuelan, Brazilian, Mexican, American, Canadian, German, Japanese, Indonesian, Taiwanese, Australian, Finland, South Korean, Malaysian, and Indian students. One of my goals for this year is to become a good name remberer. Almost nobody spoke any French once the first word of English was uttered. Everyone was astonished that I actually attended school today because they had all (including Michael) had permission to skip. Oh well! We completed a ropes course after two hours of explication as to how to do it, ate moules (mussles), and sang our national anthems. The trip was called a "camping" trip, but thankfully we slept in a gymnasium on the floor. Sabine and Christophe had provided me with a cot type thing that looked like a flat beach chair on which to sleep along with a sleeping bag. They had told me before that I could get a guy to help me set it up because it was hard to do. They told me that if Michael (Sabine and Christophe are his fourth host parents) didn't help me, they wouldn't feed him. Three guys had to help me set it up, all while the girl sitting next to me was asking me "What the heck is that, a tent?" Another guy said, "Those are freakin' curtins." The girl could not get over the fact that there were sailboats on them. "Look! She has sailboats on that tent!" We had a ball! French people cry when they laugh! It's called, "PLEURER DE RIRE!"

The Aquarium

So, French+ perm+double hour Economie+Espagnol+Subway Sandwich+double hour Histoire-Geo=my Friday. I read my introduction in Spanish, and my teacher didn't even wait for me to tell her I was bored with the level. She told me at the beginning of class that she would find me an upper class. I now am taking a Terminale (Senior) Spanish class every other Saturday along with my regular 1ere Spanish classes. It was annoying, though, (not everyone else, but myself) because the people sitting around me kept on asking me how to say words in Spanish, but they asked in French, and it took me fifteen minutes to sort through the three languages to find the right word.
In Histoire-Geo we watched a clip of Charlie Chaplin because he appeared in a film that included aspects regarding the Industrial Revolution. In Histoire-Geo I learned that there is no Nobel Peace Prize for Math because Nobel's wife cheated on him and left him for a mathematitian. I think I had a sixth sense about that. I mean, why would I want to work hard at doing something when I can't even win a Nobel prize for it?
At seven o'clock tonight, Sabine dropped me of at M. Polveche's dentist office. We went to the Aquarium in Arras. I was so incredibly pumped because I LOVE fish and aquariums! Guess what? The Aquarium is the name of a hotel. How disappointing! On the brighter side, I met a lot of exchangers and rebounds (Frenchies returning from their year abroad). We had loads of fun and spoke mainly English. All I can say is that I'm so glad that I don't have to wear the French neon blue Rotary jacket! (not that mine is that much better) :)

DM

DM stands for Devoirs-Maison (homework). My homework for Histoire tonight was to write ten sentences about Charlie Chaplin and Emile Zola. I do not know yet how they tie in to what we are learning, but at least I got a few quotes out of it. Although I do not agree with it entirely, I found the perfect (at least for the first few weeks/ month) quote to describe my being here.

"Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself."
~Charlie Chaplin

Grasse-Matinee Thursdays

It's not fat Tuesday here for me; it's fat Thursday. At least, that's what the French call sleeping in late. "Faire la grasse-matinee" literally means to do the fat morning. In American terms it means I can sleep in! For my 1ere ES 3 class here, all of the students (saving me, bien sur) partake in four hours of DS every Thursday morning. From what I can tell, DS is like an all-year school project. It doesn't really matter to me, anyways, since I don't have to do it. After spending most of my morning laying about the house doing nothing, I walked to E.Leclerc and bought a few school supplies. The bus stop is right in front of the store, across from the parking lot, so when I finished shopping at around 12:15, I went and sat next to an old lady (she seemed to me to be at least 80). She was nice and we talked for a few minutes. She asked if I were a tourist, and i responded with my whole story about coming here. (Not really, though) The bus came fifteen minutes early. It was supposed to arrive at 12:48, but got there at 12:27 instead. I was glad that I had allowed for some extra time. (Imagine missing the bus! That would have been horrible!) Ten minutes later, the bus dropped me off at the Sous-Prefecture. Sabine, Heloise, and I had driven the route from where I was to be deposited to the school yesterday. Unfortunately, this bus stop was different from the one to which we had gone yesterday. Oopse! I noticed a few stores that I recognized, but couldn't connect any of them with the route to Lycee St. Paul. I ended up walking all the way to the end of the street and back until I asked another elderly woman where I could find the school. (I don't usually make it a habit of talking to complete strangers, but she looked safe. Don't worry!) She didn't exactly know, but at the same time, I saw a girl from my class and followed her. (At lunch time we are allowed to leave the campus, so that is why she was not at school.) Right before I got to the entrance to the school, Yamina (a super outgoing and friendly girl from my class) and her friend Alexia. So, instead of going on the high school's campus, I walked with them next door to the college's campus and we sat on benches there and talked for a few minutes.
In English class we read a small dialogue from Friends, the tv show! I was so excited! Sadly, the classroom tv didn't work, so we couldn't watch the episode. We wrote down synonyms and antonyms to English words, filling in the blanks and such. I at least felt helpful to Soumaya, who sat next to me and Pauline, Ophelie, Caroline, and Matine sitting around me. Someone (I haven't learned everyone's name yet) sitting across the classroom shouted that I had to sit next to him next class. Someone else asked Soumaya if she had just cheated off of me (which she didn't!) because that's what he would do. Following French, I had EPS (P.E.) for two hours. We did not actually go outside or do anything athletic, though; we just chose what we wanted to do for EPS and wrote out the introduction sheet. On the intro that we wrote, the EPS coaches asked us to write a paragraph about the difference between sports and EPS. The girls sitting next to me seemingly read what I had written and were astounded that I had not made any mistakes in my French. I, too, was astounded. For EPS the teachers gave us three choices. There were four sports in each choice. I ended up choosing the second choice of table-tennis (it's apparently the more athletic version of ping-pong), step (yes, like the stairmaster), accro (I think that's like acrobatics/gymnastics), and basket (basketball). I'm not completely sure because I wasn't paying attention the whole time, but I think that everyone also has to do a unit of swimming.

My Not-So-Half Half Day

This morning was supposed to begin with TPE. No one seems to know what TPE is, so I can't explain it yet because it starts next week. Instead, I went to perm and Marie helped me with my math homework again. I had French and Math after. Uneventful. Today was the first day of Italian, though, so I stayed with Pauline after everyone else left to go to class. There are maybe twenty people in the class and they are all in Seconde except for Pauline and me. Seconde is the French equivalent to tenth grade. The class was exceptionally elementary. We learned salutations and the alphabet during the full two hours. I have a feeling that Pauline and I are the only students who actually want to be there. The teacher speaks French with and Italian accent, and it's funny to me because, even though she rolls her r's and says half of the French words with Italian endings, I can still understand her! School, which was supposed to end at 12:15, ended at 3.

"J'ai une Grande Question Pour Toi..."

Today was a whole lot better than yesterday! I didn't have any class first period because I only have Pastorale (religion classes) every other week, but I still had to go to school. No grasse-matinee today! Fortunately, I saw a girl from my class, Marie, and we sat in the foyer for an hour. I don't know if she's really good at math or if she just understood what went on yesterday, but she helped me tons with my homework. For my first period after that I had Spanish! I was excited, but I had no idea if I could handle it with French surrounding me 24/7. I could. Even though we did barely anything in Spanish since it was the first day, I knew it was too easy for me. After class, I went and asked the teacher 1. What the students had learned until that point? 2. Were there any other upper levels of Spanish? 3. Could I switch in to the Spanish class for Terminale? I asked her everything in Spanish, and she responded that I should stay in the class for a few more days, and if I were still really bored at the end, she would switch me. Yay! Next I had French where we finished our personal intros, passed our sheet to our neighbors, and read them aloud. One of the questions the teacher, Mme. Blondel, asked us was: If you were stuck in an elevator for an hour by yourself, what would you do?
Some of the responses included:

• Drawing graffiti on the walls and denying it when the firefighters came.
• Dancing.
• Singing la Marseillaise.
• Sleeping.
• Pressing all of the buttons in hopes that the elevator would move.

Then I had Economie and Math. In Math class Mme. Chanteloube called on me second to go write a problem from our homework on the board. Uh, oh! I had understood the problem and had answered it correctly, but Americans answer math problems differently from the French, and my work was (not necessarily wrong) not 100% satisfactory. I felt like shouting, "I'm the exchange student from America! You're NOT SUPPOSED to call on me!" It wasn't so bad when a few students after me took thirty minutes to answer their problems, which were simple. In Histoire-Geo we discussed the Industrial Revolution. Whenever Mme. DeGroote started talking about the US, she would ask me a question or have me pronounce something in English.

During recreation, I asked Mme.Pruvost (the foreign exchange student coordinator) about my Spanish class. She said that the teacher was the one to change my class, and once she did, all I had to do was let her know. I also asked her to add an additional class to my list. I am now taking Italian on Wednesday afternoons after school!

My last period class was SVT (Sciences de la Vie et de la Terre) Earth Science. Mme. Castelain is nice, and I don't think the class will be too difficult. She is pregnant, and her baby is due in January. In part, I am happy that she is pregnant (because I love babies), but I'm also sad because she might potentially be my favorite teacher.

On the bus a girl from my class named Caroline came up to me and asked, (in French, or course) "I have a big question for you...do you watch Gossip Girl?" It made me laugh. Unfortunately, I had to answer in the negative, but she offered to lend me some episodes, so I'll catch up!

Tonight, I went with Sabine to what she called gimnastique. It really was just a beginner work out class for adults. Again, I was the only one under thirty, but I had fun nonetheless. At the end, all of the adults complained how hard it was. (It wasn't)

Madison, The Contractor

I wish I could talk as I pleased here, but most of the time I find myself saying no more than yes or no. I can, in fact, be classified with the contractor from the movie Under the Tuscan Sun. I remember Nino, the contractor, because he always made me laugh when he said, "Okay, yes!" Here in France I find myself with Nino's lack of vocabulary. Now I'm the one always saying, "Oui, d'accord!" (Yes, Okay) to everything.

Monday Mornings are ALWAYS the Hardest.

I hated waking up this morning after yesterday. At school first period I was supposed to have ECGS. I don't know what that stands for, but the schedule changed for today and I had Histoire-Geo instead. I could not keep my eyes open. That is why I always avoid sitting in the back. Thankfully, I had English next. Since today was the first day of English, we didn't do anything really and the teacher spoke in French most of the time. We did, however have to introduce ourselves in English; I don't think anybody can understand my accent. I'm glad that I have at least one class in which I can receive an A (or the French equivalent). I still can't believe that I'm the one who is the exchange student. Someone told me that my French accent was sexy today. English is not supposed to be the sexy accent: that's French! After English we had French followed by Math, a class which I will fail this year. Whoever said that math was the same in any language was a total liar. At the end of the day, my classes were Economy and Histoire-Geo again. I don't have a class last period on Mondays, but the bus doesn't come until five, so I walked around Lens with Auphelie, her cousin Sara, and Pauline. None of the cafes were open.

La Randonnee

Sabine woke me this morning at 8:30. Soon after we were out the door, dropping off Heloise at the stables. Christophe, Sabine, and I drove to Caucourt where a group of at least thirty people awaited us. At 10:30 we all began our 22 km hike. We stopped for five minutes here and there until lunch time around one. The unfortunate aspect of going on hikes is the lack of facilities. I had needed to go to the bathroom since we left the house at nine. I was the only one who did not go to the bathroom behind a tree or in a corn field. I hate to say it, but I was difficult and imposed myself upon some poor restaurant owner and used his toilet without buying anything from him. (apparently that's not good/common in France). The great thing about hikes is that they force you to meet people. I met the neighbors across the street, a man with a long ponytail, and a twenty-four year old girl who invited me to work out and go to Paris with her sometime. I think I was the only one under twenty-four, and I think that everyone else was over forty. I still had a lot of fun. On our walk we passed the Chateau d'Olhain, which was beautiful and from the XI century, and the pierre du diable de Gauchin. The pony-tailed man explained to me that way back when, when a woman was cheating on her husband, the pierre du diable would come and sit on her doorstep at night. There is a sign near it that reads, "Sit here if you are tired of your wife." The last seven km after that were the hardest. Fortunately, there was a shortcut! Yay! A few of us cut off two of the last km. We arrived back where we started around 6:45.

Horse-Ball

This afternoon (and tomorrow), Heloise's stables hosted a horse-ball competition. Sabine dropped me off with Heloise there at around three o'clock. What we didn't realize was that the competition did not begin until seven. Until then, we walked around, petted horses, and swatted flies. I have discovered my extreme hatred towards flies. I counted thirty on one light fixture and shivered because it grossed me out so much. I could honestly spend an hour swatting flies there and would not have made a dent by the end. At seven the first horse-ball competition took place between adults from the local stables and another team. The great thing about this game is that it is short. Because it is stressful on the horses, only two games of ten minutes each are played at a time. The bad aspect of it, like with any other sport, is that it is dangerous. We had a fright today when one of the players fell off of his horse in the middle of a competitive group of horses. To me it appeared that he had been completely trampeled, but thankfully he rose, mounted his horse, and joined back in the game right away. The players in the following included many of the girls who had attended the soiree Monday night. They won their game 7 to 2. It was around 9:45 when we finally left the stables to go eat. We ate at a restaurant calle Leon de Bruxelle, which specializes in oysters. Mine were superb!

Saturday School

Here, in France, I have school on Saturday. Fortunately for me, my first period Political Science teacher was absent today. This was a great event because I did not arrive back at home until after 12:30. Mme. Groote had told our class to come to school at 9:20 today, so that's when I arrived. Unfortunately, I generally have two hours of Sciences-Po, so for the second hour today, my class went into a room for silent study. After that, we hung out in the quad for ten minutes or so and headed to our next class, Economy. The teacher, Mme. Braun, is super nice. She has short curly hair and has the warm and fuzzy personality that is always appreciated in a teacher. We spent the entire hour of that class making introductions. It was not productive, but at this point, I'm fine with that. After economy my class has English every other week. We did not have English today, so I left at 11:20! I already miss sleeping in on Saturday, but at least I made some more friends at school today!

La Saucissonnade-Passation

Yesterday was a marvelous day! I did not have school in the morning as it was the integration day for students going into seconde, so I was able to rest most of the morning in the hammock outside in the warm sun. When Sabine came home around two, we went to visit one of her best friends Isabelle, who was terribly nice and funny.

At around 7:45 Sabine drove me to M. Polveche's dentist office because I had been invited, Tuesday night by the Lens-Lievin Rotary president, to a saucissonnade. Having no earthly idea what to expect at a saucissonnade besides sausage, I was pleasantly surprised when M. Polveche drove into the driveway at Chateau de Coupigny! I could not stop thinking the entire night that I, Madison Ayers, was a guest at a Chateau! Not only that, but when the lady with the microphone announced that there was free seating, I discovered that I could not sit anywhere I pleased, for I had a seat at the Table of Honor! Also joining me at this table were the former president and his wife, the current president and his wife, the owners of the fabulous chateau, and a few others.

The purpose of the Saucissonnade-Passation was the Passation part of it. This Rotary club changes its president every year, usually in June. This year, the changing of the president could not take place in June due to a severe illness. After that, it was the holiday break, so it was difficult to gather all of the Rotary members at the same time. So, the changing of presidents from M. Charles-Henri Bultez (who sat to my left) to M. Jean-Michel Degrugillier (who sat diagonal to me) took place last night, in September!

So, more about the party and the Chateau: The chateau, from the eighteenth century, is owned by a gay couple. Even though I did not know right away who owned the chateau, I could tell that it was the man who sat in front of me. He just had that air about him. He wore a leather jacket and a black shirt with the first buttons undone, and had an aura of confidence and posession surrounding him. The lady sitting next to him (a personal friend who commuted between Lille and Germany and who had spent the past month with the men in Germandy) looked to be in her late fifties. She had bleach blonde hair, a perfect tan, dark red lipstick, and wore a fur coat. The other man had a similar look to him as the first. They were all very nice. The first man, who sat in front of me, liked to practice his English on me. I could tell he was proud of his house. I would be too if I were he!

The chateau has a bird cage full of peacocks! Oh my goodness, I could barely contain my excitement when I saw them! There were also black and white swans and donkeys! Since this is me we're talking about, I was in absolute heaven! The party took place behind the house in the gardens, which were lit beautifully with candles. There was a fountain, and flowers bloomed everywhere!

Dinner was a buffet, and I tried almost everything. I felt like a true American with the amount of food on my plate, but when I looked around me, even the French had overflowing platters. Some even went back for seconds! I felt strangely reassured by this.

Some other guests of the club included Germans from the sister club Bottrop-Wittringen. I spoke to them in English since I do not know German, and for some reason, they did not wish to speak French. (It was strange hearing myself speak English in a conversation. Of course, I speak to myself all the time in English, but those were the first discussions I have had in English since I have been here.) Half way through our discourse, they learned that I knew a little Spanish. They, too, had been learning Spanish, taking a class every Tuesday. Suddenly, we started speaking in Spanish to eachother. How funny! For me, an American, to be in France, talking with Germans, and speaking in Spanish! I now have an invitation to visit their club in Germany in May! I also have an invitation from the former president's wife to go to Lyon, and another from another Rotarian couple to travel somewhere with them one weekend. I was given as well a pouch filled with lavender, so now my room smells lovely!

La Rentree

Today was La Rentree des classes! Unlike my past experiences with half-days at school, today began at 1:45. Sabine dropped me off in front fifteen minutes early so I could get adjusted. I spotted, almost immediately, Alexia, who had come to Heloise's soiree on Monday. She proceeded to introduce me to all the people we passed. I can remember nobody's name. We hung out in the main open square area until the bell rang; then we descended some steps to the amphitheater (it really just looks like a large classroom with a small stage). M. Le Directeur talked for a few minutes, and then he called out first the teacher's name, then the students in the class. I am in 1ere ES 3 with my primary teacher being Mme. Groote. She is also the Histoire-Geographie teacher. There are twenty three students in my class. Mme. Groote introduced the class, took roll, read out our schedules (I will post mine when it is more firm), and then released us for a petite recreation. I spent the first half of the recre with Alexia and her friends. At 1:45 the students in my class had their pictures taken (still during recre). When I entered the picture-taking area and saw the rest of my class, a girl (whose name I do not know how to spell yet, but sounds like Souaia) told me that I could hang out with her and her group. She was so nice, and the other girls in the group who were in my class were very kind, too. Oh, and Pierre (my third host family brother) is in my class with me! We returned to class for another hour or so and then school finished at 4:45. Three of the girls in my class also take my bus (not the school bus, the real bus!) and walked with me to the stop. When I sat down in a seat just behind two of the girls, Mateo (the charmeur from Tuesday) came and sat next to me. He is a grand baryotneur, as Christophe puts it, or very talkative. This is a good thing, since I am not, at least not here in France. I walked home with Pierre, who lives two houses down from the Pecqueurs. Seeing as Heloise missed her bus (apparently it did not even pass by her school) I had to wait until Christophe drove her home to unlock the door. I did not wait long.

Do You Speak American?

To all the Talledega Nights fans out there, Ricky Bobby was not lying when he said, "In America we speak American." I learned this when I went with Christophe (M. Pecqueur, my host dad) to an amature Lievin versus Vermelles 19-year-old soccer game. There was what seemed to be an abandoned announcer's box next to the field where a young boy was playing. I climbed up the steps and we started talking. He told me he had a brother. Minutes later, another kid with long blonde hair came up. I asked the first boy if the blonde was his sister... It was his brother, of course. They asked how old I was, and I told them. The first boy was eleven and the second, ten. Then the blonde said, "Hello. My-name-is-Alexander" in English. I automatically felt stupid. They told me I had an accent, which I already knew, thank you very much, and asked if I was English. I replied that I was American. A while later, the first boy (whose name I never learned) asked me if I spoke American. I said yes, then proceeded to inquire whether there was a difference between English and American as a language. Apparently, American is a mixed-up English. D'accord. I learn something new everyday here. I did not, however, learn the score of the soccer game. I think it was a tie.