Bon soir mes amis! Comment ça va? Moi, je suis superb! Depuis mon dernière poste, j'ai été très active: j'ai fini ma semaine d'orientation, j'ai commencé mes cours, j'ai voyagé à Dieppe et Rouen et j'ai eu trois pique-niques avec mes nouveaux amis ici. Aussi, j'ai contacté mes amis qui habitent dans des autres partes d'Europe, comme Belgique, Angleterre et la Suisse et je fait des plans pour les visiter. Je me sentis établie ici et j'ai hâte de faire beaucoup de choses ce semestre. Comme j'ai dit à les autres filles canadiennes, TESEFUF (Tu es seulement en France une fois) alors je veux faire mon séjour ici à Tours et en France la crème de la crème!
Translation: Good evening my friends! How are you? Me, I am superb! Since my last post, I have been very busy: I finished my orientation week, I started my courses, I traveled to Dieppe and Roeun and I had three picnics with my new friends here. As well, I contacted my friends who are living in other parts of Europe, such as Belgium, England and Switzerland and am making plans to visit them. I am starting to feel settled here and I am looking forward to doing many things this semester. Like I said to the other Canadian girls, you are only in France once so I want to make my stay in Tours and in France the best of the best!
So backtracking to where I left off last time, the rest of my orientation week was pretty great. On the Thursday, I went to a meeting for a program the university is offering called Service Learning. In this program, exchange and international students are paired up with a French student and the pairs meet on a weekly basis to teach each other their native language. For example, I would be paired with a French speaker who wants to learn French and we would talk for an hour, talking for half an hour in each language. Over the course of the semester, the pairs need to accumulate 20 hours of conversation and then each person writes an essay and participates in a group discussion about what it was like to learn and teach a new language through conversation. A bonus of this program is that we can get 3 ECTS credits for completing the requirements. I have already talked to my academic advisors here and at Bishop's and will be participating in this course.
After the meeting, I went with two German exchange students, Anna and Maren to one of the school cafeterias for lunch. We had picked up our student cards that morning meaning we were finally able to start accessing things such as the library, the printers and most importantly, the cafeteria. As well, the cafeterias here are a really great option for students - for just 3 euros and 20 cents, you get a bun, an entrée (a salad, a small charcuterie plate, etc.), a fruit or a dessert, a cheese or a yogurt and the plate of the day, which is either a fish/veggie option or a meat dish with vegetables and a starch on the side. After you get your plate, you sit down and there are water carafes on each table. The meal was pretty good and was a great value - there is definitely no place else where you can get that much food for 3 euros. In addition to the food being great, the company was great too! Anna and Meron are both super, super nice and it was a good challenge for me to speak in French with them throughout the meal.
Later that night, there was an orientation event at the town hall. The town hall here is beautiful, inside and out - the town halls in Canada do not compare! At the event, the mayor of Tours and the president of the university gave speeches and all the guests were given champagne! Never in my life did I think I would be drinking champagne in a town hall in Europe but c'est la vie! Unfortunately, I was not able to understand majority of either speech so good thing I'm pretty sure it was just a "welcome to Tours" kind of speech. At least, that's what I think. I don't really have any idea.
On Friday, I met with my academic advisor in the afternoon. Her name is Carine and she is lovely! She helped me pick all of my courses and get my "emploi de temps" (timetable) all set up. Two big differences here with courses is that 1) not all courses are worth the same amount of credits and 2) not all courses start at the same time. In accordance with the Bishop's rules, I have to take 30 ECTS credits and since each course is worth about 3 or 4, I had to do a lot of picking and choosing. As well, students here are encouraged to pick many courses, try them out and then choose at the end of the month. For someone like me who just wants a definitive schedule, this has been a difficult adjustment as I have still not started all of my courses! I am hoping to have things finalized by the end of the week but as I am quickly learning, nothing here ever really goes as planned.
After my meeting with Carine, I returned to CUEFFE to get my results for my language test. I am happy to report that despite my nerves and endless hours of stress, I received level B1.2! I really do not understand what that means but if you want more information, I encourage you to check wikipedia as that is what I used. Anyway, I was very stressed after I took the test that I would not achieve a level that would allow me to take courses at CUEFEE so I was very happy when I achieved even higher than I initially expected! To celebrate, I went out with a group of German exchange students for ice cream followed by drinks at la Guingette!
So in typical exchange student fashion, the only club I have joined here is AUDICEE, or l'Association Universitaire de Dialogue InterCulturel plus les Étudiants d'Échange, (the exchange student club) and on Saturday, AUDICEE organized a tour for exchange students around Tours. Even though I had been on the bike tour and had been leaving here for a week, I still need all the help I can get with directions so I was an active listener for the whole tour. It was very helpful and informative and we learned everything from historical facts about Tours to fun places to hang out. After the tour, we were quizzed on the information presented and I am pleased to say that I was able to comprehend and answer some of the questions!
Later that night, I had my first potluck picnic with a big group of my new exchange student friends. The girls who organized the picnic wanted it to be an authentic French picnic, meaning we had to bring items such as baguettes, cheese and wine! I went to the market that morning and bought some fresh fruit to bring. There was a huge assortment of cheeses, crackers, spreads, breads, wine and dessert at the picnic and the evening was a lot of fun! We spread our picnic out on the river bank of the Loire and ate, drank and chatted the night away (in French, of course). There were students from Spain, Germany, Canada, Columbia and probably some other countries that I am forgetting but it was so cool that the one thing connecting us was our French! With great food and great company, it was a really, really nice evening.
Sunday, there was the Tours annual braderie. Essentially, it was a huge street market for which the main shopping road, Rue Nationale was shut down and was full of street vendors all the way down. All of the stores along the road had stands set up on the sidewalks and there also local craft and food vendors set up in between the shops. I think the entire town of Tours was out shopping that day! In between shopping around, we took a break to go wading in the Loire because it was such a hot day. In classic Erica fashion, when I tried to take the bus home that night, my friend Anna and I got on the bus going in the opposite direction so we got to go on a not-so-brief tour of the town next to Tours. Ooopps....
Monday was the first official day of classes, however none of my Monday classes started so instead, I just met my friends at the caf for lunch. After that, I went on a walk through the local botanical gardens with fellow Canadian exchange students Danielle, Rachel and Samantha. The gardens are right behind my residence and are open to the public every day of the week. In addition to flowers, there are also animals, such as tortoises, wallabies and goats. A strange assortment, I know. Later that night, there was a movie night in my residence and we watched The Butler (in French) and two of my friends came over to watch with me. But then it was time to rest up for my first day of classes!
Tuesday, I had my first class and it was French to English translation for exchange students. It was a very neat class and I am really looking forward to taking it this semester. I really like that it is just for exchange students because it takes away a lot of the pressure from being in class with native French speakers. In addition, a lot of my exchange student friends are in the class which makes it more enjoyable as well. After class, Rachel and I went to the caf for lunch and then that night, AUDICEE organized a soirée at a local bar for all the exchange students. I went over with Anna, Sam and Alisha and we met up with our other friends at the bar. Unfortunately, the last bus home was leaving at 11:40 so we could not stay too late but it was a still fun. And I just saw on Facebook that we are having another soirée tomorrow night!
Wednesday, I went to a local market in the morning and then went to the caf for lunch. I had planned to go alone and read my French magazine but I ran into my resident-referent and we ended up talking over lunch for an hour and a half. I learned that the resident-referents here are volunteers! They receive no pay or compensation for putting on activities for us! And if there are no students in a rez that want to be a referent, the residence doesn't have one. This made me feel very fortunate that I chose a rez with 3 referents and they are awesome! I also learned that my referent is looking at applying to Université de Sherbrooke for her masters! How small world is that?
Wednesday afternoon I had a class at CUEFEE. On Monday night, I received an email from the secretary of CUEFEE saying that there was a discrepancy with my test results and I could either be level B1.2 or B2 and I had the option to try both levels. Wednesday I tried B1.2 langue orale and I found it a bit too easy. However, over the course of the week I tried langue ecrite and oral for both levels and I am still super undecided!! B1.2 is too easy and B2 is very challenging! However, if I take B2 I can also have Fridays off. Decisions, decisions! I have until Thursday to make up my mind and I am still so unsure!
Wednesday night, I met up with my friend Rachel for coffee. Well, she had coffee and I had hot chocolate. I have noticed that the times I get the most homesick are when I am alone in my room so I simply sent her a text saying "let's meet up. I don't want to be alone in my room." She happily agreed to keep me company and we went to Place Plummereau, the hang out hot spot for students and young adults in Tours. We had a really nice evening and stayed out way later than expected. But thank you to Rachel for keeping me company and for keeping my homesickness away.
Thursday, I learned how to do laundry, which was a big deal! I had to ask the residence cleaning lady for assistance but I felt so accomplished bringing my clean laundry up to my room! I then met up with a group of exchange students for a picnic in the botanical gardens. It was really, really fun - great food, great company and a great location! I had a class that afternoon and then I went to play laser tag with my residence. I was nervous to go, but with all my experience from LaserMania at home, I felt pretty confident that I could figure out French laser tag. As expected, it was exactly the same and I had about the same skill level, aka no skills whatsoever, but it was still really fun and great way to get to know some more people in my residence. I am still really shy when talking to native French speakers but I am now starting to recognize faces in the halls and in the caf, which is making my residence feel a bit more like home.
Friday, I traveled to Rouen to see my friend Gaby, from Bishop's, who is studying at the NEOMA International Business School. I used a site called BlaBlaCar to find a ride, which is essentially the France version of KangaRide, the carpool site I use in Quebec. I am happy to report that my ride got me to Rouen safe and sound! It was about a 3 and a half hour trip and I arrived in Rouen at about 9:00. Gaby is studying in Rouen with her friend from high school Maggy and they live in residence together. One thing that is very different about her school from mine is that all her classes are in English so therefore all the students there speak English. As well, she lives in an international student residence so has floor mates from Canada, Ireland, Japan, Germany and a whole bunch of other places but everyone there speaks English. Her rez is a lot more similar to rez in Canada, with everyone in each other's room, talking and hanging out, unlike here where everyone keeps to themselves. Gaby picked me up at the train station and then we went back to her rez for dinner. We had planned to go to bed but then ended up going out with a bunch of Gaby's friends in rez to an electric dance party. What is an electric dance party, you ask? Well, the one we went to had a DJ playing techno music for a dance floor that was illuminated by crazy lights. It was so silly, but Gaby, Maggy and I had a great time dancing Bishop's-style in the middle of the French dance floor! After the electric dance party, Gaby and I skyped our housemates at school who were having a birthday dinner for Elizabeth at my house in Lennoxville. It was so nice to be a part of the birthday celebrations. Happy Birthday Queen Elizabeth!!
Saturday, Maggy, Gaby and I travelled to Dieppe for the International Kite Festival. Dieppe is a little seaside town on the coast of France and is about 45 minutes from Rouen. The kite festival was like nothing I had ever seen before. There were kites tied down to the beach all the way long the shoreline and they were in all kinds of shapes and colours. There were circular ones that turned in endless circles, there were animal shaped ones, etc. etc. As well, we watched an exhibition of kite performances, in which people moved their kites around to music. The coolest thing by far was the synchronized kite performances. I cannot even imagine the time, effort and skill required to do kite synchro!
In addition to the kite festival, we checked out the local market, visited the Canadian War Memorial and hiked up a small mountain to visit a chateau. We also walked out to the end of a fishing pier and I went swimming in the ocean! The water was a bit chilly but I did not care! Oh but I forgot to mention that this beach was not your typical sand beach. Instead, it was completely covered in stones, like the rocks people put in their gardens and have instead of lawns. This made it a bit painful on the feet, but was Maggy said, at least we did not get any sand in our shoes!
Sunday, Gaby made my Nutella crepes for breakfast and then we hit up a local market in Rouen. We bought cheese, muffins, raspberries and apple cider and then walked through a flee market to find baguettes and desserts. We took our picnic spread and ate in a park in front of a castle-like church. After lunch, we walked through Rouen, admiring the beautiful architecture and then she gave me a tour of her campus. We then boarded the bus and headed back to the train station so I could catch my carpool home. I was lucky enough to get a ride with the same guy who drove me on Friday so after saying goodbye and thank you to Gaby, I hit the road for the 3 hour drive home.
Today, I had my first oral translation class and while I think it will be very challenging, I really like the prof and the work we have to do. 80% of our final mark comes from our final exam session though which is very nerve wracking!! I also had my first sports class today, Cross Fit and it was a lot of fun. Who would have guessed that words such as jumping jack and burpee are also used in French? After Cross Fit, there was a pick up soccer, no pardon me, football game in the field behind my residence so I joined in for a little while. I forgot how popular soccer/football is here aka everyone here is really good at it, so I spent most of the time trying to stay out of the way of the play. I did make some good plays (in my opinion) so I was not completely useless. Also today, I received an email from a girl named Jade, who is my "French buddy" for the semester. I signed up for this program that pairs exchange students with local students to help us foreigners with settling in, our school work and anything else we might need. We have made plans to meet on Wednesday night and I can't wait!
So as you can see, I am keeping quite busy here but that's quite alright with me. Right now, I really need to find time to sit down and plan out my semester and try to figure out my traveling and visits and all that fun stuff. It seems like every time I turn around I find a different friend to go visit! Also, in about 19 days my grandparents are coming to visit me and I am so excited for that! If anyone else wants to come visit, you know where to find me! As for now, it is my bedtime as I must rest up for another exciting week to come! Who knows what I will have done by this time next week!
À bientôt!
Avec amour,
Erica xoxoxoxoxoxoxo
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