mon emploi de temps

I finally have my schedule for school - I dropped down from level 5 to level 4CC. My schedule (mon emploi de temps) is as follows:

• Monday - NO CLASS
• Tuesday - Grammar from 9-1, English Translation 2-4
• Wednesday - The 5th Republic 2-4
• Thursday - Grammar 9-12, Writing Stylistics 2-4
• Friday - Grammar 10-1

Traduction anglaise is my favorite. Today we translated a few sentences of Harry Potter. All the translation is from English into French. It's very difficult because there is no direct translation - we have to dissect the grammar and then also focus (this is the hard part) on the sentiment the writer is trying to convey - it's very interesting. For example, there is no way of really saying in French "they sneaked out of the conference" or "he dashed up the stairs" because in French the sentence structure is reversed. When I translate those sentences, I have to say "he climbed the stairs" and then add some adjectives onto the end like "à toute vitesse", meaning "at full speed." Or I say, "they left the conference furtively" or something. I love the class because we pull apart each word or phrase or idiom, often there are 4 or 5 that mean the same thing. But each phrase is like a recipe - different sentiments make up each one, they all have slightly different connotations, and choosing the right one to translate and convey accurately what someone is trying to say is actually pretty exciting.

If you're curious what languages I'm speaking on a daily basis, all of my classes are taught in French and so I speak French at school and with my house mother, but my American friends and I speak English a lot of the time. One of my friends from school is a Norweigan girl, Katya. She is 19 and taking a gap year before law school - in Norway, you don't have to go separately to university and graduate school. You have 13 years of schooling instead of 12 until the age of 19 and then you can immediately go to law classes! She tells me what it's like living in a very socialist country and how similar Norweigan is to other Scandinavian countries and languages. She says she can understand spoken Swedish because it is similar, but written Swedish is a mystery. She says Danish is ancient Norweigan, and that her language evolved from Danish, so she understands most Danish in writing, but not spoken - according to Katya it sounds like they have a potato in their mouths! 

My roommates, Lauren and Katie, are sweet girls with only very basic French. Lauren is 20 and from New York. She wants to go to law school and work for a publishing company, or become a book publisher. Katie is also 20, from Illinois, and her boyfriend is living in Aix as well - his name is Dylan too but everyone calls him DJ (luckily). I am still setting up my life in Aix, looking for items I did not bring at the Monoprix, such as a coffee thermos - to no avail! The French absolutely do not believe in coffee to go.  
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I just took a break from writing this email for dinner. Madame made a huge meal, but I had eaten a very late lunch, so I was no longer hungry. I only had a small portion of everything, and after repeatedly being offered another helping, which I tried to refuse, I finally accepted. I was so full I thought I would burst, and then she offered me a vanilla pudding. When I said "non, merci, je n'ai plus faim" ("no thank you, I'm not hungry anymore") she pointed an accusing finger at me and said "Regime!" which means diet! The French and their meals, its unbelievable! 

L'Isle-Sur-la-Sorgue, Roussillon, Gordes

Another fantastic excursion with CEA today, mais très fatiguant (very tiring). Our first destination was L'Isle-Sur-La-Sorgue, a town that gets its name from the river that surrounds it, la Sorgue. There are canals through the city, which is why it's nicknamed the Venice of Provence... or the Venice of France, depending on who you ask. On Sunday they have a famous antique and produce market where we shopped for a picnic lunch. On display at the market: foie gras, bowls of fresh olives, cheeses, wines, meats, tapenades, olive oils, bread, fruit, vegetables, satchels of dried lavender, and much more. This was the coldest day so far, but I bought a cute pair of boots (les bottes) on sale for 14 euro! In France there are only two sales every year - one in January and one in July. Stores are not allowed to have sales (les soldes) any other time of year! The winter sale ends Feb. 9 so I bought a pair of flats for 9 euro as well. Below, from left to right, is Matthew, Dorie, me, Allison, Olivia, and Megan. Behind us is one of the canals with a wheel churning the frigid water of the Sorgue.

I went to a great cafe with Matthew, Dorie, and Laura and we planned un pique-nique of apples, baguettes, camembert and brie cheese, and wine. We packed our bag and left the island city of the Vaucluse, bringing our picnic lunch with us to enjoy in Roussillon. 

Above is us perched on a ledge - something I'm sure we weren't supposed to do, since we had to climb over an official-looking fence to get out there. If you look at our faces you can see how nervous Laura and I were! Below is a picture of the cliff we were on from further away.  

The interesting thing about the hills below Roussillon is the color. Most of the rock around Provence is whitish-gray limestone. Here, the rock in the hills is reddish orange. There is a practical scientific explanation (ochre), but I prefer the legend of La Sirmonde. 

Long ago there was an evil man who lived in Roussillon - Raymond d'Avignon. He married a beautiful woman named Sirmonde, but she did not love him. He was very neglectful and eventually Sirmonde fell in love with another man - Guillaume de Cabestan. When Raymond discovered their affair, he killed Guillame one day while hunting. That night he cooked Guillaume's heart and fed it to his unfaithful wife for dinner. After the meal, Raymond told Sirmonde that she had just eaten le coeur of her love. Upon learning this, Sirmonde rose and exclaimed "Vous m'avez offert un si bon repas que jamais je ne veux plus en goûter un autre" - translated: "You have given me such a good meal that I never want to eat another." As she began to leave, Raymond took out his sword and killed her, then threw his wife out the window from one of the highest cliffs in Roussillon - and that is why the hills are red. In Roussillon nowadays you can get a snack at the Café La Sirmonde. Pretty wicked, huh? Gotta love the French.

Below is the town of Gordes. It's really very pretty, although here it looks fairly bland. The levels of the city reminded me of Minas Tirith from Lord of the Rings [nerd]. At the bottom of the mountain there is an abbey - the Abbey de Sénanque - but I have no picture of it. This is the town where Marion Cotillard's café was located in the film A Good Year.  

Sending my love once again, hope you enjoyed the legend of La Sirmonde. Bonne nuit.

This entire week has been a whirlwind, and this past weekend was no exception. On Thursday night, I had drinks and dessert crêpes at le Patacrêpe, which is the French IHOP in my opinion. I was with several CEA students: Jenny and Caitlin, who live in an apartment above the Place Augustine, and Adam, Caitlin's fiancé. Caitlin and Adam both attend Pitt, like me! They are both 20 and their wedding is July 31st. Also getting married is Jennifer, who is 20 years old but turning 21 before her wedding on June 26th. Both couples have been dating for 5 years. They all seem so young to be getting their own health insurance and living together, but most of all, planning their weddings from overseas! Its all so much, but they know what they want, they are in love, and so of course I wish them the best.

On Friday, there was a CEA scavenger hunt all over town. It was fun and took several hours. My partners were Clifton, Kevin, and Becca. This is a photo of New Aix with Mont Saint Victoire in the background, taken from the top of the Grand Théâtre de Provence. 

I found out after the scavenger hunt that I tested into niveau 5, which is the highest French language skill level - only three other students are in it. The classes have more freedom because they have no mandatory grammar class - these are basically classes a French university student would take. I was proud of myself for testing so well, however I did not pre-approve any of the classes in niveau 5 with my advisor at Pitt and the classes do not interest me as much as those in niveau 4. I will definitely drop down to level 4D, which offers more of the classes I want. For the first week there are no rigid class schedules. Instead, all students get a list of all classes offered and try to go to as many as possible. At the end of week 1, the teachers discuss whether or not they think we should change grammar levels. After 2 or 3 weeks of sampling classes we choose what classes we want to stay in.
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On Saturday I visited Marseille with Michelle and Kelly, two sisters from Minnesota who go to University of Wisconsin. Michelle, on the left, is a year student who has lots of useful advice. Kelly is younger, and just came to Aix for the spring semester. They both expect to travel a lot and Michelle wants to join the Peace Corps a year after our program ends. The arch behind us is the location where the bus from Aix drops you off - the archway is called the Porte d'Aix, or Porte Royale. It is a short distance from the main railway station, the Gare de Marseille Saint Charles. 

We walked down the Cours Belsunce to the boulevard Le Canebiere and over to the sunny Vieux Port to see the fresh fish market. Don't freak out, but all the eels and the octupus (on the left) in the picture below are ALIVE! Although most of the fish at the market were dead, some vendors chose to put just enough water in the bottom of the display trays to keep their catch alive, and when a customer chose one they killed it. Now that's fresh! The man who owned this stand lifted up the octopus to show the crowd that it was indeed living still, and some of the eels were moving around.

After that we went shopping for postcards, olive oil soap, and lunch. We sampled some cookies (biscuits) at La Cure Gormande and then we boarded a tourist tram up to the church of Notre Dame de la Guarde, which I believe is the highest point in the city. While we were waiting for the tram to depart, Michelle made the mistake of taking a photo of a mime who then began miming in no uncertain body language that he wanted a tip. When she didn't give him one, he spat at her! So French. The lesson to be learned here is that one should never photograph street performers without leaving a tip. 

I don't know how our tiny tram managed the steep incline up the hill to the church, but we somehow we arrived at the top. The view was amazing. The sun was out and the weather was cool; we couldn't have chosen a better day. Marseille is the second largest city in population in France, and is larger than Paris in size.

Below is a picture of the inside of Notre dame de la Guarde. It was colorful and ornate. There were miniature ships hanging from the ceiling and life preservers on the walls - a nod to the importance of shipping, which is the livelihood of the Marseillais. 

After the church we headed back to Aix. The bus to and from Marseille only takes 20 minutes and leaves from la Gare Routiere in Aix, only three blocks from my house! Yay, convenience. You can bet I'll be in Marseille whenever I have a free day on the weekends.

Les Baux-de-Provence et Saint-Rémy

Bonjour! Exciting and beautiful day, field trip about an hour away into medieval Provence. Below is a photo of me and several CEA students heading towards the top of the Chateau in les Baux de Provence, a famous medieval town with a stunning view. On the weekends it's a big touristy place so we were lucky to go on a Thursday when it's very empty. The downside was leaving the Tourist Office at 8:30am (2:30am USA) to get there. I still have trouble falling asleep here.

The views were so great: the mountains in the distance on one side, with vineyards and olive trees on the ground, and the town of les Baux in the hills on the other side. There was a "light" wind that nearly knocked me over, but Vivienne (the program director) said it was not nearly as strong as the Mistral. Hmm...

Scattered around the grounds were medieval weapons and illustrated plaques describing defense strategies and punishment in les Baux. You were thrown from the top of the hill if you tried to invade le Chateaux de Baux de Provence. In September there is a reenactment of an assault on the chateau where men dressed like soldiers of the middle ages actually use an ancient catapult contraption.  

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After Les Baux, we were privileged to go to a very special house for lunch. During the 10 minute drive to Saint-Rémy, we passed several flocks of sheep, which was unusual because they were unattended. In Provence, they still have trained bergers, or shepherds! We turned down a road in Saint-Rémy and guess where we were? We were right in front of the mental hospital that Vincent Van Gogh (or Van Gogg, as they pronounce it here) checked himself into after cutting off his ear following an absynthe drinking binge with fellow painter Paul Gauguin. The hospital is shown below. They had pictures of Van Gogh's works next to the trees he painted. It was amazing.

And right next to the hospital, mais oui, was the most exceptional house I have ever been to. It belongs to a man named Lolo.

Lolo is an impressive man of 85. He cooks a two hour lunch for 40 CEA students every year. This house has been in his family since the time of Louis XIV, the Sun King. In fact, he has the deed to his house with the official mark of the Sun King on it in a cabinet - it should be in a museum! The truly sad thing is, the entire house will be a museum soon. Lolo never married and has no children. He is the last of his kind.

This is the adorable Lolo - three kisses with him! 

Our lunch started off with apertifs, which are intended to wet your appetite. I indulged in a pastis. To pour your drink, you fill the little bulb at the end of the bottle with pastis, about one and a half ounces worth, and pour it into a cup. Then, you add five times as much water (Vivienne's orders) and voila - pastis! Emma is demonstrating in the photo below.

Each group of six people got one bottle of red wine and one of rosé. The meal started with pâté - and yes, this adventurous blogger tried it! And you can't just try a little in Provence - you must try a portion. There was pork pâté, and some kind of small bird pâté as well. They were very good by French standards. Then there was an olive omelette. It was brown, because the black olives were crushed up and added to the egg - SO GOOD! I had close to three servings and wiped my plate with bread. I used to think green and black olives came from different trees, when in fact the black olives are matured green olives, and you can't just eat them right off an olive tree - they take almost two weeks to prepare. Olive season is very nearly over in Provence. [The olive trees are much smaller here than in Greece, because not too long ago there was a devastating frost that killed all the olive trees in Provence! Or killed them all above ground I should say, because olive trees are eternal and the roots endured the frost and the trees eventually grew back. They have grown to a good size but are still small.] After the omelette, we ate Ratatouille! The eggplant in it was excellent and I was surprised to learn that the recipe was vegetarian. The next course was lamb with green beans. I did try the lamb but didn't like the taste. We finished our meal with some camembert cheese. Lolo has at least six dogs that I was able to count, and I fed scraps to them the whole time. At my table I talked to the assistant program director, Sarah, who is English and lived in Monaco for 25 years. 

Two years ago, Lolo decided to uproot the lavender field behind his house to plant olive trees. When Vivienne asked him why he took on a job that required such intense manual labor, he told her that without doing the things you love in life, you might as well not be living . And so, at the age of 83, he planted 100 olive trees.

Lolo's house was built near a quarry; consequently, it smells like fresh clay (and a wood fire) all the time. Everyone in the area gives Lolo their old farming tools and he has a fascinating and eclectic collection of equipment, including a very old wine press and ladders for picking grapes and olives. Lolo is leaving everything he owns to the town of Saint-Remy when he passes, but I now understand why Vivienne says the town will never be the same once he's gone. He's prefectly charming and his life is so well preserved and old fashioned. I really can't believe we were there, eating a lunch he personally made for us, sitting next to a giant armoire from the 10th century! C'etait incroyable (unbelievable).

Today was by far the best day I've had in Provence. Tonight I'm meeting some of the girls at O'Shannons for a drink because we can sleep in tomorrow for the first time! And I will find out after the Aix scavenger hunt which level of school I'm in and my class schedule. After that I can begin to plan my weekend trips. I haven't been terribly homesick, but when it does enter my mind, it is usually at night. I still haven't adjusted to the time difference so its difficult to fall asleep and I just think of home and start to miss everyone. It's been difficult but I'm putting everything I've got into pushing forward until it gets easier! They say the first 2-6 weeks are always the hardest. 

Cultural Adjustment: France

When you make mistakes, they are called les betises. Mistakes happen to everyone, especially in a new place and a new culture. Our on site coordinators from CEA are wonderful about preparing us to handle these situations. Here are several tips I learned today. First of all, it is a well known fact that the French take food and dining very seriously. We got a 30 minute lecture on etiquette for eating out or dining in, and on food. It was all "this is French" or "that is not done here." If you don't eat everything you are served and then wipe your plate clean with the bread provided, it is considered very rude. Putting your hands in your lap at the table is also rude because it is considered sneaky - hands are to be kept on the table. Salad is eaten after the main course, not before. 


My house mother is very frugal: We must turn out the light every time we leave a room, take 5 minute showers, and finish all food prepared to minimize garbage. Madame does not drink wine with her meals, which is not very French. But at the Happy Hour yesterday I did have a sip of pastis, which is the drink of Provence. I think it tastes like black licorice, therefore I don't like it. Another common drink is un kir, which is white wine with black currant liqueur (crème de cassis). If you replace the vin blanc with champagne, it becomes un kir royale. Maybe I'll have better luck there. 


I also learned that it makes one very identifiably American to speak loudly or smile at boys on the street. French girls only flip their hair and frown. I've been practicing this social restriction, but in America everyone smiles and even says hi to strangers! In France, "it is not done." Lots to adjust to.

La Ville d'Aix

Aujourd'hui je suis allée en ville; voilà une petite visite de la ville d'Aix:

This is the largest of the many rotondes. It is at the end of the Cours Mirabeau. The water in the fountains of Aix is perfectly drinkable; in fact, bikers sometimes stop beside them to refill their water bottles! Only if there is a sign that reads Eau Non Potable is the water not drinkable. My favorite fountains are those in the center of the Cours Mirabeau; they spout warm water and moss grows on the statues. Their source is the thermal springs. During the second World War les francaises did their laundry in them. 

View of the Cours Mirabeau, which is considered the second most beautiful promenade in France (the first being, bien sur, les Champs Elysees). It will look better when the trees bloom green and cast shade. In the spring, you will notice that on the right, in the shade, are all the banks, while on the left are cafes and restaurants in the sun.

Crepes a GoGo, where I ordered "le Fermière" cet après-midi, which was champignons, fromage, et oeufs (mushrooms, eggs, and cheese). I barely finished half because although the mushrooms were delicious, there was too much cheese. This creperie is actually located in a pedestrian tunnel that runs under the street. 

Les rues sont tout petits ici, barely large enough for a small European car. It's bizarre. If you look in the middle of the street you will see it is indented inwards. The immediately obvious reason for this is to channel rainwater into the drain. But everyone avoids walking in them because les chiens, dogs, are allowed to poop in them (51% of the French have pets) and it gets washed away. Gross. If you look at the building on the right, you will see a very typical color scheme for homes in the old city. Nearly all the walls are a yellow or peach shade, and the shutters, or volets, are blue.

Voila le Cathedral Saint-Sauveur. It is directly across from my University. (Interestingly, out of the 140,000 Aixois, 40,000 are students! I'm in good company.) It was built in the 5th century by the Romans, added onto in the 12th century, and again in the 17th/18th century. It has Roman, Baroque, and Gothic architecture. When the Romans built cities, they always had a main North-South oriented road and a main East-West one as well. This church is built on top of the East-West one at the center of Old Aix. 

The Hotel de Ville. People get married in this square every half hour in the summer. The three flags are, from gauche à droit, the flag of the European Union, the French flag (tricolor), and the flag of Provence. The colors of the last, you probably noticed, are similar to the Spanish flag. That's because the last king of Provence, Roi René, was also the Count of Barcelona. When René died in the 1400s, the rule of Provence passed to his nephew. This nephew died shortly after René, and Provence became part of France. 
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After Madame went out tonight, Juliette and I sat in the kitchen drinking coffee and talking. We switched back and forth between French and English. I learned a lot about her. She has two younger sisters who live in Nice with their father and step-mother. She has a sister who is about my age and is in her third year of medical school. She also has a sister who is 1 year old! And her dad is 60! He married a French woman who is 35 and she wanted a baby, alors... Juliette is bilingual in French and Spanish because her mother's family is Spanish. She is in French business graduate school, or Grand Ecole, studying management. After February, she will be working in a hotel in Monaco to learn hotel management. 


Cultural differences: When I mentioned that my younger sister is in a sorority, Juliette was shocked. I had to describe hazing so she could understand why a negative sorority stereotype exists - and to explain that my sisters sorority is nothing at all like that! She told me they do hazing in France too... But they don't have sororities, so I asked her where this happens, confused. She said they have "Integration Days" when you first come to les Grandes Ecoles, and many people are made to participate in silly or humiliating things, or drink a lot, to fit in. You can choose not to, as Juliette did, but it is not uncommon! Funny similarity :) Another awkward fact: I told you that the French sometimes use a slang called verlan, and today someone said to me jokingly, quoi de neuf, meuf? Meuf sounds like muff, so I was horrified. When I asked why meuf is a slang word for girl, Juliette told me that it is verlan for femme, meaning woman! It means what's up, or what's new, girl? In verlan, the first and second half of the word are switched, hence: les keufs are police ("f***" inside out - guess they don't aimer les policiers!) and pera for rap, or renoi for noire, or a black person. Strange! Anyways, it's 10:45 here so I have to call it a night. Gros bisou (big kiss).

Arrivée

Bon soir

I am safely in France! I have had a very long day but the French student also living here, Juliette from Nice, just got in and showed me how to connect to the internet. It's already 10pm here if you can believe it. I met my homestay mother this afternoon - she is very nice and says I have a good accent. I had to take a short nap and shower once I arrived so I missed seeing Aix during the day, but sunset was beautiful. Madame Raymonde drove me to a cafe across the street from the Cathedral Saint-Sauveur where I met many CEA students - I've made lots of friends already. Tomorrow is orientation and a walking tour of Aix, so I expect I'll get to know the other American students very quickly. I haven't taken too many photos yet, but here are several of Mme Raymonde's apartment:  

The kitchen where I share dinner with Madame. Tonight she made un potage, or hearty soup, for dinner, as she says she often does when it's cold out. I don't think its cold - it's about 50 degrees, but we are en Provence. Madame always plays classical music, and tonight she is attending un concert de la musique classique. There is a garbage chute on the far side of the sink, so we never take out trash.  In the mornings, coffee is made by boiling water and adding instant coffee powder to your cup. We have coffee, cereal, and baguette with Bonne Maman apricot preserves for breakfast.

The lonely toilette! All alone in it's little room. The sink and shower are in a separate room down the hall. I talked to a few of the other girls in homestays and apparently I'm lucky to have a shower curtain.

This is the view from our living/dining room. The second picture is a close up over the roof on the left, where I can see Mont Saint-Victoire on a clear day. There is a T.V. here where I watched the popular French soap opera Plus Belle La Vie - the actors talk very fast and the storyline is so convoluted that it's difficult to follow what's going on.

Now that you can picture me at home in Aix, I must go to bed. The quicker I can overcome the jet lag, the better. Bonne nuit!

The Decision to Study Abroad

I have always loved to travel. By the time I graduated from high school, I had:

• Visited Barcelona, Spain
• Traveled to Italy twice - visiting Venice, San Gimignano, Siena, and Florence in spring 2004, and staying in a villa in Tuscany for a week in the summer of 2008
• Vacationed in the Caribbean every February between 1999 and 2006, including a trip for my mother and stepfather's destination wedding - in St. Croix U.S.V.I., and St. Maarten and Anguila, N.A.
• Visited my best friend Nicole for a week in Ecuador in 2006, when she was completing her junior year of high school abroad with a Rotary program. We stayed in Quito, but ventured to Banos for bungee jumping and unbelievable views.

As a result, I was not only unafraid of traveling to new countries, but in love with it. In 2008, I started college at the University of Pittsburgh, and the bleak winter weather drove me into my dorm building to dream about having the freedom to travel wherever I wished. I began to research study abroad programs obsessively.

At first, I was unable to decide between South America, Asia, or Europe. Each new option I discovered (in the dozens of brochure booklets I had collected from the Study Abroad Office) made me more excited and less able to choose. I wanted every adventure described in those brochures to be mine. I created a protective circle of potential escapes around me on the floor of my dorm room - a shield against the unpleasant weather outside and the difficulty of schoolwork and making new friends - and for an hour a day I went there to lose myself and my worries.

Ultimately, I decided on France because I had five years of experience with the language from middle and high school, and because I was considering French as a major. The choice that then consumed me was which city or village to study in. Did I want to explore Paris, the Alps, Provence, the Riviera? I spent days researching each - the location, the weather, the regional differences, the food and wine - you've probably realized by now my limitless enthusiasm for travel.

In the end, I chose a program in Aix-en-Provence, France with CEA Global Education to live and study for four months at the Université Paul Cézanne Aix-Marseille III. I methodically completed the mountains of paperwork and applications, which required all manner of official documents, a renewed passport, and a trip to the French consulate in Washington, D.C.  By the time I was ready to go, I had already invested so much time, thought, and energy in my study abroad that my excitement subsumed all smaller emotions - apprehension, fear, and doubt. On January 17th, 2010 my family wished me Bon Voyage and I was gone.