Warm Weather and Wine at a Cafe

Today was my long day of classes, which means an early start.  The weather, however, was incredibly warm, which made it a lot easier to go out and face the day.  In my first cinema class, which focusses on Classic Japanese Cinema, we watched part of The Seven Samurai, which spawned many foreign knockoffs, including The Magnificent Seven.  After that, I had a test in one of my grammar classes, which was not a problem.  Finally, in my lecture class for the cinema course, we watched quite a bit of Citizen Kane and some others from that period.  All in all, not a bad day of courses.

After class, some friends and I found a small café in Montpellier’s Old District where we camped out and split a small bottle of wine.  It was very pleasant just to relax in the sun amidst the ancient buildings and talk.  Tonight I will be going to a conversation hour event in town and then this weekend I will be visiting Arles with the Minnesota Program, which is high on my “to-visit” list, as recommended by Mr. Young.  So, be prepared for a photo-bomb next week when I get around to posting them.

Warm winter day

Today I worked out some more details for my accommodations for when I will be in Paris during my break in February.  I am getting more and more excited for that trip as each day passes.  I spent most of the day at the Minnesota Bureau working a group project and doing homework.  Afterword, I went to class and then returned home.  A minute note of good fortune: I have figured out the optimal measurements for making coffee in the Bureau’s coffee machine.  Hoorah for small victories.

I used to find the walk from the bus stop to my host-home to be rather tedious, as it is mostly up-hill and about 15 minutes or so long, but recently I have begun to appreciate it, using the time to reflect on my day and decompressing after class.

Today was exceptionally warm, in the low 60s Fahrenheit.  I went out without a coat and was perfectly content.  It also appears that this warm weather will hold, so I apologize to those of my readers who are experiencing the strange whims of Michigan’s winter while I enjoy the equivalent of spring.  It was definitely a good trade, weather-wise.

The interview with the place where I will be interning (no better way to phrase that immediately came to mind)

Today I met with the man in charge of the radio station where I will be interning at.  He was very nice and he filled me in on the background of the radio station and what sorts of things I will be doing.  It is a Protestant network radio station, but only a small part of their programming is religious, the other two parts are political and cultural coverage and music programming.  From what he told me, I will have quite a bit of leeway in determining what I exactly I will be doing for the internship.  I may choose to do some journalism or I could also have my own small radio show in between other programming slots, perhaps a political exposé or a music slot of a genre of my choosing.  So, I am pretty excited for it.  I start in two weeks.

The rest of the day was spent going to class and other routine activities.  For lunch, I purchased a sandwich and, as I was passing the counter, I noticed that the boulangerie/patisserie that I was visiting had a special deal of 5 beignets for 2 euros.  Thus, I had a small dessert to go with my sandwich.  It was an excellent mid-day meal.

Fourth week of classes...

Today I was in class for most of the day.  I am finding that I understand more of what my professors are saying, at least in the classes designed specifically for Americans.  We shall see if this holds true to my integrated courses.  I have also begun dining in the campus’s cafeteria, which is very inexpensive and the food quality is actually quite high.

Tomorrow I have an interview with the radio station where I hope to intern.  I am both excited and nervous for it, but I have confidence that it will turn out alright.  My internship coordinator tells me that they are excited to have me, so that’s good news. 

I am happy to finally be getting the details finalized.  There was a big SNAFU surrounding my placement that I didn’t want to write about on the blog.  The first place that I replied to seemed eager to have me, but they had to check with their higher-ups, and then they promptly ceased replying to follow up inquiries for about two weeks.  When I started looking at other options, I got a reply from both the new place (the radio) and the original place on the same morning and then had to choose between those two, both of which sounded very interesting.  In the end, I chose the radio simply by grace that they were quicker in responding.  Who knows what might have been?

Pancakes

Today I made supper for my host family.  They had wanted to try pancakes, so I gladly complied.  I can’t really claim that it takes great culinary aptitude to make pancakes, but a little bit of work into converting the recipe into metric measurements and I did learn the names of all of the ingredients in French.  Also, it was mildly more difficult than usual as they do not have pancake mix over here.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining that this made it difficult; all I was doing was mixing various powders, milk, eggs, etc.  They did turn out good and were well received by my host family.  We also used my father’s homemade maple syrup, which I had brought over with me as a gift and they really that.  Maple syrup is a uniquely North American delicacy.  My host brother had acquired a taste for it when he was on exchange in Canada.  So, dinner was indeed successful.  Other than that, I mostly worked on homework today.

Research at the Library and Easier Conversations

I spent most of today doing research for my senior thesis at the Emile Zola library in the Antigone district.  The library’s collection was very impressive and I found a number of good sources, including one book that I may end up purchasing from the bookstore in town to bring back to the states with me.  I am looking forward to doing research in the National Library when I’m in Paris in a month.  I took a study break at one point to peruse the library’s extensive collection of bandes déssinée, French comic books.  Study break well spent, in my opinion.  I also got quite a bit of homework done in the library’s café.

I am finding that I am getting better at French.  When I went out the other night, I communicated nearly entirely in French, even though most people present were fluent in English.  I find that being in a social situation I am under less pressure, which helps me stay relaxed and reduces the number of times that I blank out in the middle of the sentence and forget what I’m trying to say.  It is also easier to understand the people I hang out with as they do not have the accent of Southern France, which is just different enough to throw me off when talking to various people on the street or in stores.

So yeah, getting better all the time.