Tuesday, October 1, 2013

French Class and Fun

(This is the river in the park.)

Hello everyone!

I am now in my second week of my French class, and let me say...yikes!! I enjoy it, but it is quite intensive.  Our professor, Freddy, teaches us French by only speaking French.  I understand that by doing this, we are forced to try really hard and really pay attention, but for complete beginners in this language it is difficult!  If we don't know what he is saying by the 6th or 7th guess, Freddy will then switch and say a word in English to give us a hint, and then it is back to trying to figure it out.  We took our first tests yesterday and got them back today. I did pretty darn good and I was not expecting that! Excuse me for a second while I pat myself on the back. ; )

The first things that I mastered were learning the alphabet and being able to count.  I am pretty proud to now know the numbers because the French system is different than ours, and to be honest, a little weird.  They count 1 through 69 the same as we do. But then it gets a little difficult. For the 70s, they use 60 plus 10-19.  So 75 would be like us saying sixty fifteen.  The 80s and 90s are also different and even worse. And I won't even get started on how to say a year like 1993.  I can also introduce myself and participate in everyday casual small talk: "How are you?"..."What is your nationality, address, phone number?" and so forth.  I know the days of the week and terms that go along with them such as: morning, afternoon, night, tomorrow, yesterday, etc..  We have learned random phrases to help us get along in French life.  Now we are practicing grammar, verbs, a lot of food vocabulary, and many other things.  We do not get bored in this class!!
   

(This is Rue Sainte Catherine on a normal Saturday...packed!)

This past weekend I had some fun! My friend, Marine, and I did some shopping on Rue Sainte Catherine.  There were so many people! Then we went to Baillardran to get some famous French pasteries.  The Baillardran in Bordeaux invented the Canele, so of course it is a must to get one from there when in Bordeaux!  It was delicious! We also got some Macarons that were also delicious! Then we walked to a park that was very pretty and had a little river going through it.  We walked all over the city, followed the river for a while, and then went back to Marine's apartment for some coffee and girl talk!  She showed me a lot of pictures from her travels to the United States.  And of course I had to take a good twenty minutes to talk about the Green Bay Packers and Clay Matthews!!  The other day she said she was researching Clay Matthews! haha I am taking my Packer love international!! : )  Then we went out to dinner, got some pizza, and then it was off to the movies!  We went to see "Ain't Them Body Saints."  It was in English with French subtitles, so that was awesome!  It was a good movie!  On Sunday, my friend Lindsey and I went out to dinner.  We got some very yummy cheeseburgers and wine! Both of these days had bad weather though.  It rained so hard the streets were turning into little rivers.  I walked through puddles that went above my ankles.  My clothes were so soaked I could wring them out! But it was still a good weekend!

Last night there was a party at the night club Torito.  It was called "The Buddy" party.  It was meant for international students to find a French buddy.  It is a thing they do in France, so then if the international student ever needs help or has questions, they can go to their French buddy.  Usually you just get one assigned to you, but that wasn't working for our school.  So this year, we were able to pick our own.  Marine and I had already wanted to be each others "Godmother/niece," but we went anyways to meet more people and have fun! It was also a good night!  

Oh...also, I got a care package last week and I just want to say thank you again! It was so amazing! Today, two of my favorite movies showed up in the mail.  Thank you for that also.  I feel so blessed!!

Thank you all for reading! (I will try to post more often!!)

-Krysta  : )

"Don't wait. The time will never be just right."
-Napoleon Hill

3 comments:

  1. I'm finally caught up on your blog, awesome stuff!! Keep trying to throw pictures in if you can!

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    1. Haha well thank you!! and I will put pictures in as much as possible, I promise!

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  2. I swear the water in the park look fake, but so cool! I agree with Aaron, as many pictures as you can manage!

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