Thursday, February 11, 2010

The Macarena Reminds Me of...France?

I'm just having the greatest time here! More discoveries and adventures. The plans to go to Paris this weekend didn't work out :( but I've still been enjoying myself immensely, and we have a couple Paris trips planned soon.

1) The first week of classes is over. I'm going to be taking Grammar, Oral Expression, Language, Socio-cultural studies of France, French history, and European Political Systems. The last class is definitely the most challenging--it's meant for students who are almost fluent. It's once a week for three and a half hours, and the reading is really tough. The others aren't too bad though, and I'm learning a lot.

2)A couple days ago, my French mother warned Hilary and I about being careful when going out at night, especially around French guys. In my French mother's words, "It is my perception that American men have higher morals than French men do." hahahaa

3) Apparently baby showers don't exist in France. My French mother's daughter (who lives in Houston) is expecting twins, and her daughter was absolutely stunned at the whole process of people throwing a party for the babies and getting gifts for them. We all had a good laugh because apparently some American hospitals give the husband a sheet of things to say when the wife is in labor, and some of the recommendations were "You're number one" "I love you" "You are truly amazing."

4) I'm officially going to spend Easter in Rome! Just booked the tickets and everything yesterday! The price just about killed me, but I'm really excited!

5) Whenever we go to bars/clubs here, they ALWAYS play the macarena, and everyone dances. I'm not sure why France missed the fact that the Macarena came out in the 90s....? But it's a lot of fun and now the Macarena will remind of France.

6)I talked about the mixing of English and French in a previous post, but I think it's hilarious that the stop signs here actually say "STOP." Not "arrete", the French word for stop, but "stop" itself. Maybe the government is trying to save money with less letters or something?

7)I need to learn to resist the allure of French chocolate shops. I can't seem to go past one without buying just...one....thing....

8)I'm still getting used to military time in French. It's tricky because I have to first convert the time into English ("vingt heures" into "20 hours") and then into non-military time (20 hours=8 pm).

9)I went to the HUGE farmers market yesterday. unbelievable. They have a huge section for vegetables, one for fruits, one for cheese, one for meat/sausages, one for spices and dried fruits, one huge section for seafood (especially oysters), one for bread, and one for a flea market. It would take about an hour or so just to walk through it all without even buying anything. The prices were good and it was a great atmosphere. The market is all-year round, even though it was really cold this past week (it's been around 0 celsius/32 Fahrenheit...but no snow :). What I like about France is that most people choose quality over just price. You buy produce at the farmer's market, even it's a little bit more expensive than the store. You buy one really good pair of shoes that will last forever from the shoe store down the street once a year rather than buying five pairs from Payless that fall apart within a couple months.

10) I had my first scary encounter with a French person yesterday, at the market. I was trying to buy some strawberries, which I reallyyy wanted but weren't very good because they're out of season, and the vendor said how much they cost very, very quickly. I had to ask him to repeat it a few times (in French), and he got really angry at me, yelling, "You don't speak French? You're in France! Why can't you understand French? Are you Arab?" I was about 2 seconds away from crying/running away/throwing the strawberries at him/etc. when my friend Justine, who was in France last semester, came up and quickly sorted it out. So if you're ever in Angers and have a craving for not-in-season strawberries at the market, you better know your French. and not be Arab, I guess? Since I'm so tan and everything...

11) I went to my first French movie in a French cinema. It was actually not that great of a movie (It was called something like "Protegir et Servir", or Protect and Serve--a comedy about two French cops), but it was fun trying to keep up with all the French. It's also hilarious to me how the titles of American movies are translated into strange things here. For example, the movie "The Hangover" was "The Very Bad Trip" here.

12) My second mass experience here was wonderful. From what I had heard about European secularism, I assumed that I would be one of about 10 people going to mass in a giant church. What I found was something completely different. I've gone to two different churches for mass, and both were quite crowded with elderly people, families, and youth (and both were churches about the size of Cathedral in Omaha). There were two babies being baptized after mass, and three more were being baptized during the week. People crowd to be in the front, sit close together, and really get into the mass. EVERYONE sings. Even at Cathedral in Omaha, you usually have a whole pew to yourself unless you're with your family, and about half the people sing. It was great, and I reallyyy had to pay attention so I could understand the French. Today was especially great. I went by myself to 11:15 mass because my dear housemate was still asleep. I went to a different church, St. Madeleine. All French churches are FAH-REE-ZING. I'm talking see-your-breath-inside-the-church, don't-even-think-about-taking-your-coat-off cold. I felt bad for the altar boys, they were shivering in their little white robes. But anyways, I met this super super nice French lady who sat next to me. She gave me two mass guides (one for february and one for march) so I can follow along. Afterwards, she asked if I wanted to meet some French college students, so she introduced me to a few of them and we all talked for awhile. I looked up from where I was in the pew, and directly above me was an image of the Sacred Heart--I went to Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart, and it's very dear to me. In the back of the church, there was a statue of St. Therese, the same statue that my Mom has in our house back in Omaha. I just felt an incredibly powerful feeling, as if I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be at this point in my life. One of the things I love about being Catholic is that I have many homes all across the world. I walked into a church I had never set foot in, and I instantly felt at home. They said some of the Latin prayers at the mass, and I knew them. But then again, "catholic" does mean "universal"...

13)Almost everything is closed on Sunday. There's ONE pharmacie in the town that stays open (it rotates every week from pharmacie to pharmacie), a handful of bread shops stay open in the morning so people can get their necessary bread for Sunday dinners, and I know of ONE little crepe place in the whole town that's open for lunch hour. Otherwise, the town is deserted because everyone is spending time with family and friends. It's a really great thing, in my opinion.

14)I'm going to be living in Dublin this summer through the Keough-Naughton Irish studies department at Notre Dame!! I'll most likely be working at a non-profit--either Oxfam Ireland or at one of two Irish non-profits that do peace-building work between Northern Ireland and Ireland, as well as conflict resolution and research into war/violence related problems. One of them does a sort-of summer camp/conference with Northern Irish, Irish, Palestinian, and Israeli youth. I'll be living with four or five other ND going-to-be-seniors (!!!!). Pretty excited. So book your tickets to Dublin now, ladies and gentlemen.

15) Life is incredibly, incredibly good right now. I miss everyone from home (friends and family!) a lot, but every day here is an adventure. From the moment I wake up to the instant I fall asleep, I'm excited. I want to bottle this sensation and keep it for a rainy day when the wine, cheese, bread, and chocolate aren't so plentiful :)

La vie est belle.
Claire

2 comments:

  1. seriously? what do you have against the macarena? also i am already saving up so i can come visit you this summer. i cant imagine a place where they actually know how to correctly pronounce my name. also, i miss you!!

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