Things are going

So I have been here a week and a half and things are slowly moving along. And by things I mean to ability to understand anyone around me. The novelty has begun to wear off a bit and I am starting to miss the little things, mostly relating to food. haha. I miss coffee that is an actual whole cup of coffee and not a shot of espresso. I miss stores that are open 24/7 and understanding product names. I miss friendly people. The French don't like us as Americans, it's pretty obvious. But I don't know what to do about that. I try, and for the most part I think people understand me. I am not a forceful person though so when we are all in a huge group (which we almost always are, which is SO annoying) I can't get a word in to any French person that we meet. And Jade is very loud and dominant which means that I can not get any words in really when she is around. I am hoping that once classes start and I am not always around all the Americans and whatnot, things will be easier. We are living in this false America right now because we are making this dorm feel just like a dorm at home. When are here we forget that we are in France. When we are all together, we forget we are in France. When all we do is speak English, we forget we are in France. Except for classes, I barely experience the French people at all. I talk to them at the stores enough to say "May I have this, please?" or something small like that. But I haven't had to actually speak because everyone else around me just talks over me. They want to practice their French and the loudest person wins. I am so tired of Americans being SO loud. We break my eardrums everywhere we go and some people here just don't care. All the French people move away and they just keep being as loud as ever. It's frustrating. I am about at this grumpy stage though. I am staying up too late, getting up early, and barely eating. Today I have had half a baguette and 90g of cheese. And an apple. Not really supporting me. Once I get to my apartment life will be more settled. I just need out of this group. These dorms really kill any feeling of frenchness. We will see. I am understanding people better though. So something is coming out of all this.

Wine Tasting, and lots of other things

So I went to a wine tasting on Friday night and that was a lot of fun. Of course I did not know anything about wine so I just pointed to a bottle and said I want some of that, but oh well I tried. It's cool because you pay three euro and you get a glass to keep and 3 tickets to try 3 different wines. It's cool. It was really crowded but it's fun to be in a crowd of people that don't speak your language. The wine was good too. I tried a red, a rose, and a white. the rose was my favorite but that's always true for me. I talked to a French guy there and had a long conversation that made me much more confident in my French abilities because he said I spoke very good french for being in France for only 3 days and we understood each other very well. It was nice. He was black and they say "black" in American which just seemed weird to me but oh well. He asked about Obama and he thought it was cool that I supported Obama and he loved that Obama could be the first black American president. Then we came home and crashed. Scott, Jade, and I have become very good friends and it's really nice to have people that I get along with so well here. Jade is really awesome and I am glad that she is my roommate. Then on Saturday I spent the whole day doing nothing being homesick for American food with Renee who is also really cool and then had to walk around for 2 hours at 8pm doing a tour of the Medieval district of Montpellier. Tiring and hard to listen to. Today we went to Nimes and Pont du Gard which are Roman ruin places. Nimes is a town with an amphitheater and other Roman ruins within the town. We sat on the top of the amphitheater ( a Colosseum basically) and I walked on the top wall just looking over the village which gave Scott a heartattack. It was just so beautiful. The Pont du Gard was this amazing bridge/aqueduct that was massive and makes you wonder how they built it back then. It was a really hot day but everything was beautiful because the sky was a really clear blue. We got back to the dorm at 8pm or so and then Scott, Jade, and I had some champagne and then we all sat outside and drank. Jade and I had a drinking bonding experience and I think things are going to go really well with us living together. We will have a German roommate as well which will be interesting and I think really fun. We will see. Well I have class tomorrow so I have to go to bed and do homework/take a shower. So goodnight!

La Plage

Today, after our morning grammar and verbal practice classes, we went to the beach on the Mediterranean. C'est belle. I am not much of a beach person, but I did get to walk in the Mediterranean which is pretty cool I think. It was not cold but at the same time not really warm at all. But the sky was clear and there was a beautiful breeze coming off the sea. It was very very nice and if I was a beach person, this was a wonderful beach. The french however seem to not do anything at the beach other than sit on their towels or go in the ocean or play this ping pong-like game without the table. Many of the women are topless too by the way. Something you have to go over here in France. The pornographic magazines are not in plastic or anything so the cover is the cover and you see whatever is on it. The shock factor has begun to wear off of seeing breasts everywhere. But the beach was beautiful. However, I got burnt in really random places and I am not comfortable. One side of my stomach and thigh is burnt (Yes I was in a bikini). It looks weird. Me, Renee, and Jade are not beach people though so we spent the whole time waiting to leave after we got over the whole "oh wow this is the Mediterranean" thing. It's nice because we all really get along and have basically the same attitude towards things. In the evening, we went to the local cafe and got some paninis and beer and then Scott, Jade, and I sat outside on the stoop of the dorm drinking and then randomly everyone walked by and slowly joined us. We stay a little segregated though because none of us do the huge group thing well. It's really relaxed here. I forget that I am in France from time to time but there's little things to remind me. Such as topless beaches and the fact that it's difficult to eavesdrop on anyone when you barely can understand the spoken language. Well I guess it is about time for me to go to bed. Is anyone even reading this? If not, I might as well just stop and write in my personal journal, so just let me know. Bonsoir.

Settling In

Today started out with some intense language classes which are 1 and 1/2 hours long and are hard to stay awake through considering I had still barely eaten since I got to France and I am still slightly jet-lagged. Good times. I almost fell asleep a bunch. And after awhile of hearing French it just starts to bounce off my ears and I forget to listen. Since I have to listen extra carefully to understand, if I start daydreaming at all, it's all lost. Nothing sinks in without intense concentration. I have actually gotten to accept and like this end of town a little more. It has a certain charm to it that I missed the first couple of days just because I was expecting something so much more like downtown is. It will be different once all the french students return I am sure. Then I had a two hour or so break in the middle which I spent running to the shoppi for a notebook and some coca-cola light and then talking to my parents. Then I went to a two hour long civilization class. It's too long. Tonight I went out to dinner with some people at the cafeteria which was like less than 3 euros ( like 5 dollars) for a meal, which is really cheap out here. Everything is expensive. I bought a bottle of sunscreen for 15 euros. CRAZY. Then we walked to the shoppi for beer, but guess what? It's past 7 so of course EVERYTHING is closed. Frustrating. And you can't get take out anything here. Coffee is for sitting in the cafe in drinking, not walking around with in a styrofoam cup. Meals are mostly sit down. Take-out pizza is weird. So then we just sat around outside the dorm talking and whatnot and just enjoying the really nice weather we had today. We go to the beach tomorrow! Maybe yay? Well i really have to get to bed since I have class again at 9am and it's 11:30pm and I have not yet done my homework. (Yes homework already! What?!) I'm sure that was really boring, but that's what we do here haha.

My Second Day In France

I have been in France for almost two days now and was out of touch with everyone for 1 and 1/2 of them. It felt like a year. It's crazy how much you become accustomed to constantly being able to get ahold of everyone. Suddenly I had no working cell phone, no internet, and my calling card only had 12 minutes on it. It felt like torture and then I realized that it's been only a day and a half. That's nothing. But now I have the internet. So it's going to be ok. The flight here was ok. The first half from Newark to Paris was wonderful. I got to watch movies and spread out since no one was beside me. It went by really fast. Then we got to de Gaulle airport, the most confusing airport ever I think. We struggled to find where we needed to go, went through 18 security gates that all seemed pointless since they emptied out into...nothing. Then we sat there for 3 hours. I had not slept on the plane and suddenly it was 6 hours later than before. I am dazed. The next flight from Paris to Montpellier went well too. Except at this point I was aware that I was blaringly American and for the first time, I felt like a true foreigner. I have never been a foreigner before and it's a weird feeling being completely out of place. We don't know any of the small mannerisms and we don't know what mannerisms point us out as American. But they know. So then we got to the dorm in this run down part of town that has nothing in it, barely a shop. Which after not sleeping for 24 hours, being completely homesick, not eating for the whole day and being completely overwhelmed by France, was not encouraging. I felt horrible, exhausted. We walked around town a little and I was in an even worse mood. The dorm rooms themselves are really nice: single rooms, bathrooms, and kitchenettes. But they have NOTHING in them. No tv, had no internet, nothing to do. NOTHING TO DO. I was completely homesick and I had nothing to do to take my mind off my missing Jake and my family. I could not sleep without waking up every 20 minutes and feeling completely and totally alone. Awful. I wanted to go home so bad. I finally got to sleep after midnight my time (6:00pm back home). I woke up this morning feeling a little better but still horribly homesick. Took the french placement exam, oral exam, ate a buffet lunch, and went downtown. It is beautiful down there. Beautiful. Well I think we are going out for some drinks now. I will write again later!

My FIRST Post

Hello all. I am just writing this post before I go. I leave in a couple days and I pretty much have nothing done, but it's all good. I'll get it together tomorrow. Nothing really else to say since I am still in State College and everything is always the same here.