Mardi, My Second Day of Classes

Alors, Tuesday came as quickly as Monday left, and I was very much anticipating the day's courseload. As my courses didn't start until noon, I enjoyed the extra hour or so of sleep and then rushed off to the Métro to get to the classroom in time (which I did without problem!). My first course (12h00-14h30) is Travaux Pratique, the upper-level course. As a result of it being so large, they actually divided the group into two parts; everyone shares the same Thursday class (grammar-intensive, while Tuesday is oral-intensive) together. We discussed seem introductory material and began going through common mistakes that appeared on the placement exams. Grammar alone would be the primary reason why I wanted to take this course (instead of having two separate courses focusing individually on oral French and grammar); the secondary reason would be of my second course of the day: French 469- New French Identitites: Immigration and Citizenship in Francophone Cinema (Tu/Th 15h00-17h30). I don't know about you, but this sort of stuff is up my alley. It's the highest listed course, however, which means it's not going to be one of the easiest. To date, as I'm writing this post (Saturday, very early morning), I had to watch a movie (translated: Black Girl) in French (this time around also partly in Arabic) and provide a reaction to the movie, as well as to read two articles for Monday (I'm sure I'll mention this again later). In any case, I am nevertheless excited to continue my discourses on ethnicity and race as applied to immigration and questions of citizenship (as the title, of course, suggests).

If I haven't made it clear in this, or my past entry, do permit me to stress that all of the courses I'm taking are en français. I'm estimating that my speaking time is about 60/40 French/English, with English being less and less spoken. Already, it's my favoured language to use here.

After my second class, we had a scheduled conférénce. We were all a bit worried, however, because the meeting was scheduled for 18h00, the time when our now new President Obama would be sworn into office. Thankfully, our professors knew what was going on and we watched the inauguration ceremony take place from a classroom across the ocean. Great what technology allows us to do these day, yeah? Though the inauguration came to a close, our meeting still continued (and still in French). Odile talked about the educational system in France and why it's important for us to understand this (as the cultural/educational nuances would undoubtedly be translated to the workplace). In retrospect, this was quite important for us to grasp, as we would unbelievably be soon working with French people through our internships.

As it was inauguration Tuesday, many people (of course) wanted to go out and celebrate the fact that we have a new president and all that fun jazz. So pourquoi pas?, right? I joined a small troupe and we attempted to find some place open, but soon came to realise that those parties were more or less long gone. By the time we got out of our meeting, I don't think the French really cared all too much with our politics back home. So, Trevor and I split off from the group, and quickly ran to a Métro station, in the hopes that we could catch Franprix and/or our boulangerie before either of them closed, so that we could get some food, because we were defintiely starving after a long day. Unfortunately, we missed Franprix by about a minute, and the boulangerie--we would soon find out--closes around 20h00.

Well, we still had to eat, so we went to the more expensive boulangerie that is open until 22h00 and got a not-as-good and not-as-cheap baguette and went back to my room to figure out a meal. I whipped up a pseudo-American dinner which Trevor finds to be somewhat embarassing. But whatevs... you make the decision, I suppose. I cooked rice (which somehow picked up the consistancy of pap), sweet carrots and (naturally) bacon (apparently, that's the embarassing part). In any case, it was all very good, especially (surprisingly) the carrots. I also took the opportunity for us to try the chocolate milk and pineapple juice I bought, as well as to let Trevor know that I take ketchup with my bacon.