A note: I wrote this post on and off for the past few days. There were big breaks in between writing, so if some of this sounds awkward, I was probably speaking in french right before. It's weird, once I get into french mode, even though I'm not very good, it makes switching back really awkward. I make all of my thoughts and sentences super simple in french. When I switch back to english, any sort of style, or humor, or even just complicated sentences seem extremely complicated. Just bear with me!!
TOURS! I'M HERE! FINALLY! SORRY I HAVEN'T BEEN ON!
Hi! I'm in Tours, now! I met everyone at the airport, then we all hopped on a bus and drove to Tours! It took a long time, about four hours. I made a comic about meeting people, but it's pretty terrible and I still haven't found a scanner. In the airport, I met Dani and Megan; they'd gotten in on earlier flights that day.
When we got to Tours, I looked out the window at this seemingly endless crowd of host families, and it was TERRIFYING. What the hell did I think I was doing? I can't speak french! I'm useless! Merde! This poor host woman is going to think I am a complete moron! I should just go back to Paris. I can just hide out in cafes for two months. Or the Louvre, it's big. Aw, fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. Merde. Fuck!
Anyway, I finally got off the bus and my host mere found me. Her name is Claudette, and she's great! She's patient and speaks some english, and when neither of us know a particular word, her in English, me in french, she pulls out this huge french/english dictionary and we look stuff up. It's kind of fun, like a tiny lesson, but in a good way. Also exhausting, but still. She has a cat, whose name I'm still not sure of. It sounds like Doushka when she says it, or maybe Toushka. She also has two grown sons, who live in Tours as well, with their families. I haven't met them yet, but they come to dinner a lot so I will eventually.
Claudette is hosting two other students besides me. They are both American; Andrew is from Georgia and studies Literature at West Georgia U, Brittany is from Florida and studies International Business at U South Carolina. They're both 20, I think, and very nice! Andrew is a little shy, Brittany is much more outgoing. We all seem to be near the same level of french, so that's good too. Whenever we are together we speak mostly english, but whenever we're with Claudette we all struggle through french. Uggggh. It can be so awkward! I know I'll get better, but right now I spend a lot of time in my room just to avoid speaking french for a little while. It's exhausting! Speaking of my room...
I made a diagram. can you tell I had nothing to doooo?
my view
We eat on the patio!
Bed
Desk
awesome, awesome wall!
tiny sink and mirror!
They hide in this closet thing.
bed!
The house is rather far from the school, across the river (the Loire), and up a huge hill and back a bit. It's about a 40 minute walk, which I took on Sunday. It's not bad going into town (downhill), but I took the bus back. Luckily, today the program payed for our bus passes, which are good for a month, so I don't have to wake up absurdly early to get to class or anything.
It's huge. Not huge for the US, but for France, for a city, it is huge. It's two stories. Andrew and I have the entire second floor to ourselves. There's a medium sized living room sort of thing, then an empty bedroom, then my room, then Andrew's room. Across from his is another! Also apparently there are two french twins who are studying here and rent the room over the garage. I've never even seen them! They aren't a part of the whole exchange student/study abroad/host family thing, so apparently they stay to themselves. The first floor is much bigger than the second. It has a big living room, the kitchen, Claudette's room and office, Brittany's room, the coat/shoes/gardening shit room, and the garage. In the back there is a patio and a giant yard, with a pretty garden and a bunch of trees, and in the very back there's a cherry tree! We've been eating a lot of cherries, and they are delicious.
Speaking of eating and deliciousness, Claudette is a kick-ass cook. For dinner, we have multicourse meals! It seems to be the french way. The first night, the first course was a salad. It was a little bit of lettuce in small pieces, and a bunch of tomatoes, skinned and cut up, with vinaigrette. Apparently I like tomatoes now, I guess? It was fuckin' delicious! Basically, everything she makes is delicious, even the food I don't normally like*. It's awesome.
*bananas are still gross all the time, ew.
Now I can't stop thinking about food. I'm hungry. Curses! Dinner should be soon though, so that's good.
Anyway, on Saturday I got here, we had dinner, it was awkward but whatever. It was fine. That night I was feeling totally wired, so I unpacked all my shit and arranged everything on the shelves (I made a diagram because I got bored) and folded all my clothes and put those away, and then I was finally tired, but it was still really hard to get to sleep. I would've liked to update this here blog, but my computer won't connect to Claudette's internet. It had been super hot the whole day and the night, too, and I think that might've had something to do with it.
I'm not gonna lie, Sunday kind of sucked. Kind of a lot. The first part wasn't bad, Brittany and I went into town. We were planning on taking the bus, but it passed by our stop and another didn't come for a half hour, so we just walked. The walk was refreshing, the weather had gotten much cooler and it was cloudy and supposed to rain. She and her friend from school went to see Sex And The City 2, which I was not so excited about (aka, no thank you I'd rather shove matchsticks under my fingernails), and I felt kind of like a third-wheel, so I just wandered around the city. I found where L'Institute de Touraine (the school) was, and La Gare (the train station), and L'Office de Tourisme (the office of tourism). By the time it was 3pm I was already super tired from walking and not sleeping much, so I just caught the bus home. My goal had been to get some shampoo and conditioner, a notebook, and a map, but every flippin' store I needed was closed! Grrr, arrgh! When I got back, I tried the internet again. It works on Brittany's computer, so I don't know what's up! I restarted the router and everything! So that was newly frustrating. I drew a little, then at 5 Claudette asked if I wanted tea so...we had tea. It was nice until she started asking about my family. Not that I don't love you guys, it's just very complicated. She didn't understand about Bill, and Dan, and Annie, and it was very confusing. The word we learned for step-father apparently actually means father-in-law, too, so that was awk until we cleared that up. It was all just really awkward to explain, and I had to do it in depth because she just wasn't understanding why I didn't like my "real" father. Afterwards I made an emo comic about it! oh well.
That's what the kitchen looks like, by the way.
The point is, after that I went upstairs and cried and was all mopey and it just hit me how much I missed everyone. I miss living with V and sleeping with Dean; I miss having the internet all the time so that I can chat with people and read all my webcomics and keep updated with everything; I miss East Lansing, and MSU, and my cozy dorm room, and watching Buffy with Dean and Cynthia. I miss cuddling. I even miss Laguna and my real family, my Mummy and Bill, even Annie! I've been so starved for human contact! I am a social, touchy creature, and I need the rest of my pack! ugh. So BASICALLY it was the most pathetic thing ever and I cried a lot. Bleh. Pathetic.
ANYWAY, today, Monday, has been good. In the morning we had a big group meeting at l'Institute. While we were waiting, I met Kelly and Alicia. They are both redheads, and I think they knew each other already. We are in the same class for the first month, and I'm glad! During the meeting, we got our student ID cards, and our class schedule for the month, and there was a lot of french I didn't understand. Madame Norris and Thao talk as fast as locals, and it's so hard to understand!! Also frustrating. I came here to LEARN more french, and there's no way for me to learn if I can't understand you. ARGH. After that, they sent us on a sort of scavenger hunt. We had to find things in the town and answer some questions about them. Dani, Kelly, Alicia, and I went together, and we went aaaaall over. It was so fun!! We sort of ended up just going where it looked the most interesting (like going across the walking bridge over the river), but we got most of the things on the list done. Tours is gorgeous; I promise that next time I will take a pile of pictures! At 4 we met up with the rest of the class and just sort of hung out. We talked about the questions, then Thao took those of us who live across the river to get bus passes. After that, I got some shampoo, conditioner (I think), and the most delicious smelling body wash liquid soap stuff. It's apricot and basil! I know it sounds weird, but it smells sooooo GOOD!
It's SO SO SO delicious!
We (just!) had dinner. Claudette's friend Monique ate with us. She was really fun! At first we (Andrew, Brittany, and I) were all nervous, but by the end we were all talking, and it was quite nice.
Tonight there's a group of people going to go to the bar, but I think I'm going to stay in. I haven't drawn anything today, and I want to do that, and I have to get up early for class tomorrow. Class's at 9, so I have to leave at least by 8:25 to catch the bus, and I need to get ready before that, and eat breakfast, and I forgot to buy a notebook today so I should do that. I'm not so excited about waking up that early. My classes end at 11 or 12 every day, so I'll have a lot of time to myself for the first month! The thing is, I'm not sure exactly what we will actually be doing in class, but whatever. I think there's something about french culture, and I know we have to keep a journal. Wooo I'm already working ahead! Hahaha. I don't know if I want to show this to Madame Norris, but Thao would probably think it was funny (he has an AWESOME sense of humor).
TUESDAY: Just had my first class! more on that later, and also some pictures with the actual camera, instead of crappy photobooth.
See you kids later!
A little background: In France, if the obligatory statue of Marianne in the 'salle de marriage' isn't looking towards a couple while they're getting married, IT DOESN'T COUNT. Seriously. It's not a legal marriage if Marianne isn't starin' at you. You're fuckin' weird, France. Fucking. Weird.
