Classes & Open Market

Fromage du jour: Chevre. Yes, France, go ahead and correct me when I mispronounce the name of a Monseiur Seguin crepe and then turn around and pronounce a Jose crepe “Jo-suh”.

This weekend has been so lovely, which is great, because we received our class schedules. Nineteen hours of class each week isn’t so bad, I suppose, because I will not have a job. Here’s my class list:
• Comprehension and Expression—writing/grammar (4 hrs/week)
• Corrective Phonetics (2 hrs/week)
• France History & Culture (3 hrs/week)
• Comprehension and Expression—oral (3 hrs/week)
• Language and Literature (3 hrs/week)
• Writing & Oral Expression Workshop (3 hrs/week)
• Phonetics & Phronologie (1 hr/week)

One thing that is very different about French class schedules is that the classes meet at different times in different rooms each time they meet, and one day the class may be scheduled to last for an hour, while another day it may be scheduled to last for two. On Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays, I have two classes, which is nice. On Thursday I have three classes and on Wednesday I have four. Wednesdays are going to be loooong days for me! Class begins at 8:20 and I don’t get out until 5:10. There’s a one hour break in there somewhere.

Also, to answer a question many people have been asking, every word in every class will be French. Even when we’re asked what a certain word means we have to respond with a synonym in French. That’s the only common language between the students since we all come from different countries!

Enough about class! On Friday we went on a boat ride with the rest of the foreign students. It was free because it ended up being an advertisement for a local bank. They had representatives trying to get us to sign up for various deals the whole time. We made up for it by going to our favorite Chinese restaurant where we finished off a delicious meal with huge bowls of ice-cream. Yesterday we went downtown and had amazing goat cheese crepes. I also went to Carrefour to buy a hotpot, tea, and other things. The hotpot blows a fuse every time I use it in my room, but not in Erica’s room. I nearly cried! I’ll have the maintenance man look at that tomorrow.

Today is Sunday, and that means Open Market at the Port! Ooh, I am still so excited about it. I bought a beautiful winter coat for 35 Euro. It’s not exactly the coat I want, but it’s fairly close, and for that price I couldn’t pass it up. Plus, it’d make me look like a spy if I only had a fedora. I didn’t want to spend too much on one because when I go home for Christmas I can get the one I bought last year. The coat I really want is probably well over 200 Euro anyway! We wandered around for a long time, bought crepes, and went home for lunch where I am now. Open Market days are going to be my favorite, I can tell. There’s so much to see, so much to buy, and it’s very inexpensive.

Here is my class schedule. Each color of pen represents a different class.
I took this at the open market today.