A Month Already!

It was exactly a month ago that I set foot, sleep deprived and confused, in France for the first time! While it seems like no time at all, when I look at how much I've already learned and acclimated, it seems like a lifetime. Perhaps you would like to hear how my day went today, with a month of this amazing year under my belt.

I got up at 8:00, took my shower and got ready. I talked with my host mom over a breakfast of last night's baguette, yogurt, and a banana (I've already learned to manage without my morning peanutbutter). I glanced over the morning paper, saw an article about a car accident and read the weather forecast (20 degrees Celsius as a high).

At 9:10 I caught my bus, which runs from St Doulchard to downtown Bourges about every hour. On the bus I read Le Jour des Abeilles, a novel I got from the library and am nearly finished with. (Actually, I realized that it was originally written in English by an American author. The title is The Day of the Bees, and I recommend it- it'll probably be a quick read if you don't read it in French). I walked from the bus station to the school with one of my classmates who takes the same bus as me.

I spent the fifteen minutes before class began talking comfortably with two other classmates outside of the room. As the hall filled up, I kissed each new arrival I knew on the cheeks as we all greeted each other with the casual "Salut" (Hi) and "Ça va?" (How's it going?).

When the bell rang and we were all given permission to seat ourselves, my litterature teacher (or prof, short for professeur) recommenced last week's study of 15th century texts. While I have some difficulty reading poetry about the Hundred Year's War on my own, even with my pocket dictionary well at hand, I can at least follow the prof's explanation of it. Actually, my favorite classes are French and Litterature, since most the texts we're studying are either new to me or in their original untranslated form.

During break, one of my classmates invited me to go into town with her later that afternoon. This was notable because, though I've met a large number of friends in class, this was the first time I've hung out with someone outside of school. However, I'm comfortable enough now with my friends at school that I think we'll start spending more time together outside of class.

Another hour of class later, and we were free to go. I caught my bus home, and walked in the door just as my host family was putting lunch on the table. Paté and anchovies with miniature pickles for hors d'ouvres, followed by the main meal. Today, it was one of my favorite new dishes, ham and mushrooms in sauce. This is actually a Portugeuse dish, but eaten with plenty of fresh French bread. Then came cheese, then desert. For desert, I had what we would consider a pudding cup, but it here falls within the vast range of yogurt-like foods eaten from breakfast to desert after dinner.

After lunch, I went back into town to meet up with my friend. We talked and did some shopping, and though I didn't buy anything, I'll most likely go back to get a few sweaters I looked at. I didn't realize how under-equipped my California wardrobe is for winter here. (Well, maybe I did, but only because I knew that shopping here would be a valuable cultural expirience!)

After spending awhile downtown together, we met up with her mom and older sister at a cafe, where sat outside with our drinks and talked. Going to get something to drink at a cafe here is an expected a part of going out with friends. It's a pleasent way to spend time with people, and I enjoyed meeting my friend's family this afternoon despite the slight humidity in the air. As a side note, French has a wonderful phrase to express the feeling of humidity, "it's really humid today" translates roughly to "it's really heavy today".

After I took my bus home, I had a few hours with my host family before eating dinner at 8:30. I love spending time with them in the hours just before dinner, because everyone is usually home from their day, and all together downstairs. Though I didn't do any homework tonight- thanks to an especially gripping part of Le Jour des Abielles- I'll often ask Laurie for help with certain assignments, and I'm more than happy to help with her English homework in exchange. Thankfully for me, she's promised to help me decipher my Physics homework tomorrow.

After helping clean up the kitchen, I went to get ready for bed and to type this up... so I hope you enjoyed this day in the life just as much as I did!