Ces jours recents

Over the last few days, I've been doing a fair amount of school work (booooo), including a ridiculously hard reading comprehension test today. It was an economics article in French! I have trouble with that in English, good grief. However, I have managed to squeeze in some fun :)

On Wednesday afternoon, we went to the beach where I managed to soak up a little sun. I must say, my tan here is improving very nicely. Afterwards, I had the most amazing salad of my life, or at least somewhere close, at a cafe located on the Place de la Comedie. It had bacon, ham, eggs, tomatoes, croutons, lettuce, and oh dear goodness it was just what I had been craving! When I got home my French mom insisted, of course, that I have ice cream. Teehee...I love my family! She also offered to print all of the questionnaires that I need for my research project using the printer at her office. Too nice.

Yesterday, Thursday, the other William and Mary students and I had a fun excursion after school with the William and Mary professor who's leading our program here in Montpellier. She arranged for us to take a behind-the-scenes tour of the Montpellier mansions! And when I say mansions...they're enormous. However, they are no longer single family dwellings and have not been for quite some time. Most of them have been converted into apartments for 6-12 families to live in, if that gives you a good estimate of their size....Others of them have professional offices like lawyers or architects, but generally, they are used as really really nice apartments. The coolest thing about them is that they all have indoor courtyards. The giant door that faces the street is not a door to the inside. Instead, it's a door that leads into an atrium. All of them are unique, but they are all beautiful. They all have outdoor staircases that were once used by the nobility who originally owned the mansion, but now, most of them have several smaller, less grand indoor staircases and/or elevators that lead to the apartments. The other thing that I found really really cool is the fact that they're all a mix of disctinctive styles of architecture from the different centuries that they've stood through. They all have the gothic arches in the courtyard entrance, but sometimes the arches have been converted to a more classical style, sometimes to a more Greek style, but too cool. Window shapes and even the staircases have obvious elements of all the styles in them. Can you imagine living in a building that's from the 1300s??

On Thursday evening, our professor hosted a wine tasting, which felt a little ironic considering that (1) more than half of the group is underage and (2) our professor was actually supplying us with alcohol and encouraging us to drink it. At the end of the official tasting she kept insisting that we have more! We also had some amazing artisan bread and some stinky French cheese. I did try some....but the French cheese here is just too strong. I'm more of a Vache qui rit or Babybel fan, which when I tell French people, I tend to get snickers because those cheeses are so mild that they don't even think of them as real cheese. Anywho, I actually think that I learned more about French wine. I can now distinguish between colors of red and even taste subtle differences between the varieties. I'm so fancy. :holds up pinky finger:

Speaking of wine, I am about to head out to a wine and art festival downtown. I probably won't have any wine this evening since I had some last night. I also am getting up fairly early tomorrow morning to go to a castle all by myself...wish me luck. I'm a little terrified...

La saga du portable

It all began when I thought that it would be a good idea to get a French prepaid cell phone so that other people from the Montpellier/W&M program could be able to get in touch with me whenever they needed to. I also thought it would be great because I could call people back in the States and ask them to get on Skype so we could chat. False. All of the above very very false (and now that's it's mostly resolved, just hilarious)

First of all, three W&M students went together to get cell phones. We went into 3 stores before we finally decided on Virgin Mobile because it had the best cell phone prices. The entire transaction was in French, which was fine because all of us speak very good French and are in the top two levels at the university that we're studying in here, and the guy who helped us seemed really nice. At the end of this transaction we all were under the impression that we had purchased, for 29 euros, a cell phone with 100 minutes that could call anywhere, along with a card with 5 euros of credit that you could use towards texting, calling, whatever.

Nope. The use of 5 euros of credit turned out to be correct in that you could use it towards anything, including international calls, but I promptly used all those euros up calling people in the States and giving them my number so that they could call me if they wanted to. However, after the credit ran out, my phone stopped working, and so did the other students' phones, despite the fact that we had all received text messages on our phones that said essentially, "You are now the proud owner of 100 minutes! Go ahead and play!" So, we went back to the store. There, a different employee called Virgin's help line where we then discovered that you have to wait 48 hours after you receive the text message before you can actually activate the 100 minutes. And no the contract did not say this, I definitely read the entire thing before I went back to the store. In fact, the only place that it says this is online in tiny print after you click like 5 different things.

Alright, so now we get our 100 minutes. I attempt to call my mommy. Doesn't work. I am, however, able to call French numbers, including other cell phones that my friends have purchased in France. At this point, the other students and I realize that the guy did not by any means tell us the whole truth about these cell phones. We go back to the store for a third time and find him working again. We argue with him for upwards of 15 minutes about how he didn't disclose the fact that our 100 minutes only worked with French numbers. He insists that he did and then proceeds to try to blame our misunderstanding on the fact that with his particular French accent, "5" and "100" sound remarkably similar. They do; I will give him that. However, the word "minute" and "euro" do not sound the same. So when he said that our 100 minutes could call anywhere, we heard just that. We left the store frustrated, angry, disappointed, and not sure of what to do. I considered returning my phone and asking for my money back, but I decided to keep it because I could still call my friends with French cell phones and my French family, plus people in the States could still call me.

Um, well that didn't last long. Sometime shortly after we went to the store for that third time, my phone stopped working almost completely. I could no longer make any calls at all - not to French numbers, American numbers, no one. I was ticked, but again, since I had given out my number to so many people already and I could still receive calls, I decided to keep it in the hopes that somehow, miraculously, it would fix itself. It didn't. After almost a week of receiving the same message that said "Your credit is out. Please go on the virginmobile website to recharge it." I returned to the store yesterday afternoon. My favorite guy was working again. And this time, I meant business. (I also was on the verge of tears, which worked in my favor) He apologized profusely for all of the trouble that had occurred, although he still took no blame for any of it, and called VirginMobile. Within 45 minutes, I was able to use my phone again. YAAAAAAAAAAAYYYY! So, as of now, I have a cell phone that can call French numbers and receive calls from anyone who is willing to pay the international rate. You should email me and ask me for my number so that you can call me :D

At the same time as this ridiculous saga of the minutes occurred, a side plot developed. Apparently the number of which I am now an owner previously belonged to a woman named Nadine. I have received at least 4 phone calls looking for this woman, and it's a good thing I speak decent French because these people are definitely French! The first person who called was a woman, and when I told her Nadine wasn't here she promptly hung up. The next person who called was a man, and he was much more persistant and unconvinced that this wasn't her number. I repeatedly told him that I did not know anyone named Nadine, that I'd never met a Nadine, and that he had the wrong number. He, however, was quite insistant, and we he finally decided that I was not Nadine he then tried to get me to remember him! He asked if we had met in Marseille or Paris. I insisted no and told him that I lived in Montpellier. I then hung up rather promptly on said creeper. Next, I received sort of a sad piece to this mysterious Nadine puzzle. I got two automated calls for Nadine informing her that her electricity is about to be cut off. Now, I'm curious about what has happened to her. Has she run away and changed her number without telling her friends? Is she lost? Has she gone bankrupt? Finally, about an hour ago, I received yet another call for Nadine, this one from another French man. He, however, unlike the other callers, thought that I was Nadine playing a trick on him. This man tried to carry on a conversation with me as if I were his friend Nadine! I explained to him that he was the 4th or 5th person who had called looking for her, that I had just purchased this cell phone, and that she must have changed her number. He still didn't believe me and wanted to know if I knew her new number. Um no sir. I don't know Nadine...so I hung up on this creeper as well I don't know what it is about these people, because in the States if you call the wrong number, you apologize and hang up! Yeesh!

So if you're a French woman named Nadine and you're no longer with VirginMobile...could you please tell your friends that you have changed your phone number?

And to Nadine's friends, she has a new number. You should stop by her house and ask her for it or email her or talk to one another about it. Something. Please?

La vie universitaire

I have to say that the style of teaching over here, or at least one of my professor's particular styles of teaching, has proven to be quite a challenge for me. It has definitely been a learning and a growing experience to say the least, especially since the material that we're learning is very complicated French grammar. A friend of mine today called it "grammar theory" and I think that he was quite accurate in that. I'm learning to properly use verb tenses that I'd never even heard of before, let alone used! I'm also learning that no matter how long I've studied French, I can still most definitely use grammar lessons.

Unfortunately, the grammar lessons that I'm receiving, I sometimes have a hard time processing because I get so frustrated. The particular professor who teaches grammar (as opposed to my writing/culture professor) has a very caustic teaching style. And by caustic, I mean sometimes downright mean. I have learned to take criticism better since I've been in college and have learned that I am, in fact, definitely not "all that and a bag of chips" the way that I once thought...however, this type of in-your-face criticism can be a bit much for me to handle. Enough beating around the bush, here are some examples:

If you raise your hand to answer a question, and your answer isn't correct, he very bluntly says "Non!" (no) and moves right along on to the next person. Sometimes, he emphatically answers "Impossible!" instead. Other times he says "petit oui" which means sorta-kinda. There are also usually not-terribly-nice faces that accompany said phrases. Yesterday in class I made a mistake from which he inferred that I did not know anything about the differences between two very basic French verb tenses and then spent 15 minutes telling the whole class what the differences were for "my benefit".... Also, today, he corrected a very challenging grammar exercise that I had done alright on and then asked if he could tell me something that wasn't very nice. I said that I supposed so, and proceeded to tell me that only half of my mistakes were legitimate mistakes and that the other half were just stupid. Ummm, right, I saw that, however, I didn't need the whole class to hear it...

There is a silver lining to this rant of a post, though! Today, after class, he came to my desk and told me that he could tell that I was stressed by the way he was approaching me. I told him that I just wasn't accustomed to his teaching style and that it was hard for me to adjust. He then said that he saw a lot of potential in me and that if he didn't he wouldn't hound on me the way that he does. He also said that if it ever got too much for me, all I have to do is say so, and he'll stop for the day. What a relief! (Slash almost compliment)

Tour de France

So once upon a time the Tour de France came through the town of Montpellier where I'm studying!!! My friends from the William and Mary program along with a new friend from the University of Minnesota trekked from our university after classes to watch the Tour de France. My French dad, who is ridiculously nice, drew me a map of how to get to the Tour route and where would be best to stand. He was totally right too.

Our first location, from which we watched the parade, was on a turn/corner. Because of this, when the floats and cars came down the street, we could see them really well, get really good pictures, and rake in some free loot. We didn't get there until most of the parade was over since we couldn't exactly skip class to go see a parade, but some of my friends managed to catch some pretty cool stuff - hats, newspapers, etc. I didn't catch anything, though :(

We stayed in this first location through the end of the parade, and then we started breaking up into smaller groups. Some of my friends ventured up the Tour's route back towards the city center so that they could see the cyclists take off. I, along with a few others, decided to stay further down the route where it was much less crowded. In my opinion, this paid off ridiculously well. We too walked a little further up the Tour route to get to a shadier spot (Our first spot was in direct sun, and while I like to tan and was wearing sunscreen, I didn't need 4 straight hours of blindingly hot sun.). From our new venue, we were able to see perfectly, and we were right next to a lovely bakery from which, of course, we got snacks :)

In Montpellier this year, the Tour de France was a time trial. This means, for those of you who don't watch the Tour, that the cyclists weren't racing each other but rather racing against the clock. So, every 7 minutes a new team, along with its ridiculous entourage of reporters, extra bikes, ambulance, and police escorts sped by us. I made a point of getting at least one photo of every team. It was so cool. Since our spot wasn't crowded at all, we were literally 5 feet away from the cyclists. Awesomeness. And every time a new team would come by, the French police would run out into the streets, blow their whistles and holler for everyone to get onto the sidewalks and out of the way. This one poor man didn't do it fast enough and got in trouble...Fortunately, we understood the word for sidewalk (and the vehement hand gestures), so we were fine. The best part about it being a time trial was that I was really able to see every cyclist on the Tour...including the one and only LANCE ARMSTRONG.

Ok, are you ready for this story? And for all the doubters, I was with friends, and they will all vouch the verity of it. So, we know that Lance's team is next because (1) the teams ride in reverse order of who's winning, and Astana was winning, so they were last and (2) my friend who was up at the starting block called and said he was coming. My friends and I got our cameras ready (I put mine on video setting), and we screamed for Lance as he rode by. Best moment ever - because our spot had few people and most of them were French and don't like Lance, apparently our screams stood out. Lance, while speeding by us, must have heard us, turns towards us, looks right at us, and grins with the "Hey there, ladies" sort of smile/acknowledgement. ACKKKKKKK SO COOOL. I will forever treasure the aforementioned moment. It was pure amazingness.

Sigh. So after the Tour, we walked back up to the starting block where I got a boatload of official Tour de France stuff in a cool tote bag. If you're a fan of the Tour de France, you should let me know so that I can hook you up with some official gear :D

And THAT was my Tour de France experience.

Ce qui me manque la plus

It's hard to believe that my study abroad excursion is halfway over! And I apologize for not posting for the past couple of days (sorry, Dad!), but sometimes I feel like there's no down time here. Don't get me wrong, I love how much I've been able to see and do...but it can get overwhelming. On a related note, that also means that if I tried to include everything in this one blog post that it too would be overwhelming. As such, this will a series of posts about the past couple of days here.

So, I mentioned all of the strange/different things that I've discovered in France in my last post. I have since decided that there are some American things that I miss greatly. (Please note that I said "things" so just because I didn't list any people on here doesn't mean that I don't miss you, because I do!!)

1) Ice water - Why do they all drink lukewarm tap water???
2) Milk - Yes there's milk here. No it's not kept cold. Yes that creeps me out. No I won't drink it.
3) Free drink refills
4) My car - I love public transportation, but sometimes, like this morning when I ran for the bus stop and the bus driver looked at me and then drove away anyway, I wish that I had an alternative way to get around...
5) American dollars - The whole 1 euro and 2 euro coin thing really weighs down your wallet.
6) American prices - I greatly enjoy not having to use my math skills to convert prices everytime I shop or eat. Also, everything over here is more expensive.
7) Food variety - French food is awesome; I just wish that it was more common to have other cuisines readily available. Most of the restaurants seem to serve essentially the same French fare.
8) Air conditioning
9) My kitties
10) Public bathrooms - That's right, they don't have those. If they do, you have to pay for them.
11) My cell phone - I miss being able to call someone whenever I want to. I do have a French prepaid cell phone...but it can only call French numbers.