Frasinettes!!

Right now I'm sitting in the courtyard of the Institute in Tours where I've been taking French classes. I'm here until next weekend (the ~8th we leave). My classes have been good - conversation and expression (grammar) everyday, cultural activities in the afternoon: a visit to a patisserie (when my housemate Sara fainted), visit to the Cathedral of Tours (with a history professor, it was fascinating!), and tonight a concert.

At the patisserie, the pastry chef who gave us a presentation irritated me a bit. He kept praising his method - where he avoided at almost all costs, or at least provided for alternative methods to, modernization. "You can't find that where you come from," he kept saying. Then, when he would ask us to confirm his view of the US where "all you want to do is modernize," the people standing closest to him (we were a big group) didn't say anything - probably because they didn't know how to convey respectful disagreement and explain the presence of artisans, etc. And the Amish? Hmm.

In class this week I gave an expose - I volunteered to change days so it was a bit last minute - and it went fine. I talked about the movie "La science des reves" ("The Science of Dreams) which was really interesting. It's directed/written by Michel Gondry, who also did "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," which I prefer. Basically, the movie is a mix of dreams and daydreams and internal reality and external reality and how they all mess each other up in the worst of situations. I recommend it just because there are some really sad moments (I cried - the opening credits are even really touching) and some hilarious moments - and the movie is 70% English, 30% French, so you have to pretty much be fluent in English to get a lot of the jokes.

My family has been good. The other night, Francois and Nathalie told us that Nathalie and the kids were going to psychiatrists to deal with what happened while they were in Lebanon. That was kind of important that they told us that, I think, because mainstream French culture doesn't look to fondly on psychologists/psychiatrists (at least according to anthropologist Raymonde Carroll's book that I had to read for the program). It was particularly appropriate that they told us, however, since we had been talking a lot about people we had recently lost and the distance we create between death and ourselves in the modern world. It turns out that my housemate's mother had recently died, which I had no idea about. Also, the other night, Thibault (11 yrs old) had accidentally kicked a box on the floor during dinner, and Nathalie screamed because the sound was so similar to that of bombs (which she apparently heard a lot of while in Lebanon).

We've gone out a few times - just to cafes, bars, etc. All I really want to do is go dancing, which we haven't done yet, but I have discovered that I do like sugary white wine (which I'm sure makes me a connoisseur). We drink it often at dinner. Francois also has "rosé" which is really dry and I don't like. Oh, and I almost forgot, the other night we had some pasta dish that strangely resembled skyline chili!

Anyway, last night, we did go to an Irish pub, and while I was waiting in the bathroom - which by the way, is co-ed, with two separate stalls with actual wall-to-ceiling doors that lock - I said something about the sink to a guy in French, and then we realized we both spoke English, it was too weird - he had an Irish accent and we were at an Irish pub but everyone was speaking French.

Today, we had class in the morning, but we didn't have an atelier this afternoon so a group of girls and I - I've met some really nice people here, including some people from Georgetown - went to a Lebanese restaurant that was *delicious*. I split a vegetarian plate that included hummus, a spinach-filled filo dough thing, salad, rice, and falafel, and of course pita bread. It was probably the best lunch I've had since I've been here. Then, I grabbed a diet coke (a can for 1euro30!!!!!!!) and 50 grams (I've learned to economize) of frasinettes, these squishy strawberry candies that were a nice snack.

Now I'm just working on lining up stuff for second semester and figuring out what classes I'm going to take in Paris!

I am really excited about my classes at Paris 7 (Denis-Diderot) and Sweet Briar. At Sweet Briar, I'm taking a class on North African writers and the body (I'm so excited about this one, I actually met one of the authors when she came to Georgetown because I asked her a question at a reception after a presentation that she gave, I was brave) and a class called "Atelier d'ecriture" which basically focuses really intensely on writing and grammar - which is exactly what I'd like, just to iron out my French. At Paris 7, I'm going to go to about 6 classes at the beginning - Sociology and Anthropology - and decide which ones I like the best. One of them that I am really excited about discusses specifically the sociology of gender. The only problem is that I'd rather not return to France in January to take exams, so I have to get professors' permission to have the exams sent to Georgetown, where I would have to go take them. Otherwise, I'd have to fly back to France in January, just to take a handful of exams, which could be expensive (of course) and really irritating. This is simply a Georgetown policy though - all of the other students work through Sweet Briar and don't have to approach the professors themselves. Georgetown just has a policy that we have to take the exams, unless the professors themselves make special arrangements with us. It's really irritating.

Tonight, I'm going to a concert of classic French music, which will be fun. I haven't slept enough this week, so I'd also like to go to relax and go to bed at a decent time. Tomorrow, I'm supposed to go to a Chateaux visit, but I'm also supposed to go see my friend Coline - who lived at Georgetown with me last year when she was an exchange student. She lives in Tours and just got back from visiting her boyfriend in DC, and I'd reallllly like to see her and meet her family. I would almost miss the Castle visit itself just to go to her house and hang out with her (!!), but hopefully we'll be able to work something out.