Week 1

So it's the end of week one and time for an update. I think I listed my classes I'm taking in my last update but as I went and change some of them around - this is my final schedule. From this point I would only drop a class or decide to audit it in which I go but don't get a grade. I don't think I'll be doing that though!

- History of France
- Geography of France
- Ancient Greek History
- French of International Students
- Technique Expression (French Grammar class - might drop this one... )
- French Literature - Marguerite Duras (she's a modern French author)
- Scriptwriting
- Performance Artistique (not sure exactly what this is aside from performance art)
- Practique du Jeu (again not quite sure what it is)
- Translation of French into English
- Translation of English into French
- Dramaturgie (drama lit class)
- Travail du Spectacteur (not sure yet either)
- Modern Art
- Modern French Literature


So that's fifteen classes. Naturally being the first week of classes was an interesting experience. Some classes I didn't add until after they had already met (Modern Art, Modern French Lit, Dramaturgie) so I do not know what they are like and will have to borrow someone's notes to catch up but that shouldn't be a problem. Some classes I had time changes or room changes and I was unable to get to them because of that (they are not at all fond of students coming more than 10 minutes late to a class and often wouldn't be let in) but this was only for two of them - Translation English to French and the Marguerite Duras Lit class. I also had a few classes cancelled because either the professor was sick or other reasons - this was the Travail du Spectateur and the Translation French to English. So I don't necessarily know what my classes all entail.

I have not had a class in English, and am pretty sure the only one that will be taught in English is the Translation of English to French but as they didn't happen or issues came up and I wasn't in class I don't really know for sure. Being the rest are in French has proved easy in some and difficult in others. The History and Geography of France classes are meant for International Students so they professors talk slowly and often repeat things other ways so those who are not well versed in French can understand. There are also many kids in those classes that I am friends with and we can easily swap and copy notes too. The other classes I had that were in French were tough. The one professor for the Scriptwriting and Performance Artistique class speaks very softly and often with her hand covering her mouth. Thankfully I met someone in those classes who is very fluent in English and we opted to be in the same group as well as she has no problem in helping me understand things in class.

I guess before I go more into my classes I should explain the French college system. There are many colleges here at Universite Catholique de Lille. I am studying in FLSH which is Faculté Libre de Lettres et Sciences Humaines - essentially Facutly of Human Sciences and Letters... like english, history, politics, etc. When a student comes to the university, the first choose which faculty they'll study in. Then they choose their License or major. Unlike back home where I have a checksheet of classes I need to take but can schedule for any class, here in France when you pick your License you are automatically assigned for your classes. They have it blocked out what classes you take each semester and no room for others (or at least not in my understanding) So you are always with the same classmates for your classes. Most of my classes are mixed between different Licenses or are for International Students only. However a couple of mine are in the Arts du Spectacle which is their new Theatrical Arts degree that is brand new this year. My Scriptwriting, Performance Artistique, Practique du Jeu, and Travail du Spectateur are all in that License so they are the same group of students. I will somehow try to figure a way to make a diagram of when I have my classes to help understand them all more but that will probably in another post. After the Practique du Jeu class on Monday I was lost and went to go ask the professor what I should do to catch up to the rest of the class as it is a course that started in fall and is just continued - and that's when I met Charlette (Charlie as she prefers to go by) who helped me translate as well as helped me out. Since I have all those classes with her, I've quicky become friends which also led to us being in the same group for the Scriptwriting class as well as for the group project in Performance Artistique. I hope that didn't get anyone lost in the explaination - I can try easier if you need help understanding!

But for the most part, the French is not too bad or I can easily copy notes from someone else in the class. We were all told in the orientation that most French students are willing to share notes as even they sometimes need help in understanding the class. Most classes I have quickly discovered do not believe in handouts unless absolutely necessary such as a map. Therefore, since it is common to discuss the grading plan and projects in the first class - that is what most of my classes entailed. The professor told us and we had to write it down in our notes. Most classes are taught as lectures as well. There are some classes that do also require participation and some of mine fall in that category such as the Arts du Spectateur courses and others. I will do another post right after this trying to explain more about each of my classes for those interested as I don't want this post to be incredibly long!

Now for the other things outside of class. I'm not sure if I mentioned it in an earlier post, but I got a French cell phone. The number is 06.25.64.61.14 however I beleive that to call me on it you have to dial in the international number for France first... which I believe is 33 but I buy minutes in packs and not sure what the cost would be to call me international from in the States. If anyone is interested I can look more into that, just let me know.

I have made a lot of friends here as well, though most are International students and we seem to speak mostly in English. I think we're all still adjusting and some of them have few if any classes in French. (Lucky them!) There is a cafeteria type set-up for lunch and dinner here. There are a couple choices for lunch from a sandwich place to just chose and eat on the go as well as a few more cafeteria lunch rooms where you go through the line. Dinner is only one place and it's a sit-down type place where they come and take your order (it's only two choices though and what drink) and they bring it out to you. You have the option of fries or legumes or both... which I have always selected. Legumes are vegetables and they are self-seve as well as a very basic salad lettuce and dressing. Drinks are simple and even include beer. So every now and then I've had a Heineken beer for dinner.

A couple of us have gone out and seen some clubs and bars. Some of these I think I mentioned before. However there was a party hosted by the AEU which is the agency in charge of housing, health, meals, and extracurricular activites on Thursday night. There is a club room which is incredibly nice in the basement of the AEU building which is also where the restaurants for lunch and dinner are. It cost 3€ to get in and then 1€ per ticket for beer or the option of 6 tickets for 5€ or 15 tickets for 10€. A friend and I went in together and got the 10€ deal and split the tickets. It started at 10 and we got there about 10:30 and it was dead. They had a free coat check though which was nice and by midnight the place was packed with students. It was a good time and we all had a good time.

Since Friday only has morning classes for me, aside from this week because the French history class met twice to make up for the week the professor can't be in class, I had the weekend free. I got a hold of my friends who I have numbers for - which still isn't that many (we always forget to swap numbers!) to see what they were doing. Some had friends coming to visit so would be tied up with that, or others werent' doing much. I did meet up with Charlie and headed to her flat for some of the afternoon on Friday to work on out synopsis for Scriptwriting class but that didn't last too long. Therefore last night I ended up just staying in my room and watched movies and read the rest of The Golden Compass which was an amazing book! I then slept in rather late today as I had nothing to do. I got up and got ready to go out. I did some small shopping and bought a couple things to drink in my room as well as snack on. There are over 500 types of cheeses and I've been slowly discovering the different kinds and tasting them. So far I like Gouda cheese and I just bought Emmental Francais which tastes much like Swiss cheese and Mozzerella mixed. There are also many types of beer in Europe which really put our American beers to shame. Heineken which is a more high end beer from my understanding back home is rather low on the scale over here. I've decided to try to keep a list of the cheeses and beers that I try just to see which I like and things. But anyways... I did some small shopping and I picked up a Sicilian Pizza as well for dinner.

Afterwards, I met Charlie at 9:30 at the nearest metro station which is only a block over. She had called me earlier and asked if I wanted to go see one of our classmates and his band play at a show. It sounded like fun and I had nothing else going on yet tonight so I said sure. I have avoided the metro since I've arrived hoping that someone who knows and understands it would be able to help me out and I'm glad! It was rather confusing, especially having to hop the different lines but we finally got to our desired station on the other side of Lille. From there we weren't really sure where we were going and ended up walking in circles and all down on the street trying to find the place. We finally found it and realized that we had passed it up a couple times but it didn't look like a place for a band to play and we didn't hear music. So we finally got in there, and it was a great time. Their music is all in English which surprised me but was explained that they would be able to spread their music farther if it was in English as well as apparently the conception that the French hate the English is not true and more a misconception. English music is very well favored here and I hear our music playing everywhere - even more than French music! But the band was great, their sound was very unique and I really enjoyed it. We couldn't stay that long though as we had to take the metro back and ended up missing the last train at the station where we had to switch lines. However it wasn't that far of a walk to where we each live as Charlie is just down the street from where I'm at. Since I got back I've been just relaxing here and decided it was time to update my blog!

I realized on Thursday night that I can withdraw money in ATMs from my banks at home so I had access to some money as my one loan came in but there is still things owed to Clarion and the Parentl Plus loan hasn't come in yet. So my parents put in an extra $100 into my bank account to help me make it till my loans come in. My dad and I sat down and talked about budgeting the money and I will have to pay close attention to my funds and spending but we should be good - only sucks waiting for it to come in.

Of all the things to talk about, it's hard to pick which. I think I've covered a lot in this post or at least the important things. I can easily go off on so many tangents but this is a long enough post already!

I have taken some pictures and will try to upload them into a photo album online. This blog is run through Google and they have a picture space as well called Picassa that I will be using and as soon as I get that sorted out and pics uploaded then I will post the link to the album on here. Adding pics to these blogs is just annoying and time consuming! So until the next post, hope thigns are going good back home!

Oh, and feel free to comment on these blogs and I'm hoping everyone is able to read them!