So we are in the midst of orientation right now, I haven't really had a sense of time since I have been here, but looking at my computer it is Wednesday, so I have two more days of orientation before classes begin. Orientation is a little bit more work than I expected, but today was so much fun, because we went on a tour of the Universite de Nantes. It is so different than Southwestern, or really any University in the states because in France college is free so the colleges are not in the best of shape, they are pretty old and dirty. We learned though that at the university we can eat a complete meal for only 2E85 which is probably the cheapest thing we have yet to find here, besides the SOLDE (sale). The food wasn't even bad, we got dessert, bread, main course, and fruit or vegetable. We are supposed to speak French while we are there, but today we were speaking Franglais and it is was obvious we were Americans because we were so loud and confused about everything. But it was a lot of fun!
I think the highlight of my day today though was I bought my student bus/tram pass successfully. Also we went to take pictures for our student passes and we were going to use the passport machine which costs 5E, but then we realized that you can print your pics from a SD Card for only 0E25 so we took pictures in front of the wall and then printed them. The other really exciting thing that happened today is that I found H&M and went shopping! I got a purse, because my backpack is a dead give away that I am American. And I bought a scarf for like 3 E!!! Finding anything cheap in Europe is way more exciting than you would ever think.
Yesterday on the way home I had my first creepy experience...so I got on the tram with my friend, and we generally don't talk once we are on the tram, so that we don't give away the fact we are American, but I was just standing there when some guy comes up and whispers in my ear that his friend thinks I am pretty, and seeing we had just had our lesson on security I ignored him, but then he whispered in my ear that his friend likes me and I need to say something to his friend, and I continued to ignore him. Then after a couple of minutes he whispered in my ear that I was being mean, and I continued to ignore him exactly like we were instructed to do. The guys were not French though, because they were speaking to me in French, but then they would speak another language that did not at all sound like a Western European language. Then after leaving me alone for a while when they needed to get off he whispered to be Pardon, I said Pardon; like I didn't understand, though I understood everything he told me I just ignored it. Ahhhh craziness, this is why I don't want to look American everytime I step onto the tram.
It is a lot of fun, and the French way of life is beginning to grow on me, though my French still needs to improve A LOT! I guess it just takes time. I feel though that ability to communicate in English is impaired b/c right now my brain is just so confused. I am ready though to give up meat already, I like my vegetables and tofu, though I really love French cheese, it is so good!
I think the highlight of my day today though was I bought my student bus/tram pass successfully. Also we went to take pictures for our student passes and we were going to use the passport machine which costs 5E, but then we realized that you can print your pics from a SD Card for only 0E25 so we took pictures in front of the wall and then printed them. The other really exciting thing that happened today is that I found H&M and went shopping! I got a purse, because my backpack is a dead give away that I am American. And I bought a scarf for like 3 E!!! Finding anything cheap in Europe is way more exciting than you would ever think.
Yesterday on the way home I had my first creepy experience...so I got on the tram with my friend, and we generally don't talk once we are on the tram, so that we don't give away the fact we are American, but I was just standing there when some guy comes up and whispers in my ear that his friend thinks I am pretty, and seeing we had just had our lesson on security I ignored him, but then he whispered in my ear that his friend likes me and I need to say something to his friend, and I continued to ignore him. Then after a couple of minutes he whispered in my ear that I was being mean, and I continued to ignore him exactly like we were instructed to do. The guys were not French though, because they were speaking to me in French, but then they would speak another language that did not at all sound like a Western European language. Then after leaving me alone for a while when they needed to get off he whispered to be Pardon, I said Pardon; like I didn't understand, though I understood everything he told me I just ignored it. Ahhhh craziness, this is why I don't want to look American everytime I step onto the tram.
It is a lot of fun, and the French way of life is beginning to grow on me, though my French still needs to improve A LOT! I guess it just takes time. I feel though that ability to communicate in English is impaired b/c right now my brain is just so confused. I am ready though to give up meat already, I like my vegetables and tofu, though I really love French cheese, it is so good!
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