Mon premiere lundi

What a Monday! I think I’ll go ahead and write about some of my experiences while I’m in English mode. It’s difficult after hearing and speaking only in French to begin to form English structures again. Actually, I’m really not sure how beneficial it is to speak English while I’m being immersed in French, but I think if I don’t from time to time, my head will explode. I find myself thinking as much as possible in French, and my brain starts to process all information that way. Of course, I can’t process information as effectively or efficiently en francais as I can en anglais, so it creates somewhat of a “backlog” of ideas, questions, decisions, etc. Not the best situation – too stressful. (Not to mention, I start to form sentences quite strangely in English…) Yeah, thinking and speaking are so intertwined; it’s amazing.

Also, I didn’t realize how interconnected my mental, emotional, and physical reactions would be to the culture shock. When I was completely immersed yesterday during a barbecue with some of Elizabeth’s friends, I felt like I was actually bordering on an anxiety attack. It takes so much of my concentration to try to understand conversations, especially when the speakers are young natives, because they speak extremely fast and with a lot of slang. It evidently not only stresses my brain, but the rest of my body as a result. I think that this reaction of “culture shock” will not last long, though. (At least, I hope.) Another interesting aspect of culture shock is the fact that the legal drinking age is 18 here, so I’m offered beers all the time. The perplexed look on their faces when I say no is amusing. I wouldn’t mind sharing something with them if I had already had some experience with alcohol, but I doubt that this is the best place to drink for the first time. :P

Today, I went to the Université Laval for the first time and checked-in. There are TONS of students in this program, of all levels of fluency, from the newest beginner to the “superior” speakers. We were sent to our “oral interviews” so that they could ensure that we had been placed in the correct level for classes. I am classified in the level “Intermediaire Enriché,” which I think will be a good fit, and the interview wasn’t as difficult as I thought it might be. The students I spoke with in the hallways made me more nervous than was necessary (as usual…I should learn). :P There was a lot of downtime between scheduled events today, which was both good and bad. I didn’t like standing around, wondering if there was something I should be doing that I just wasn’t remembering, but it also gave me time to straighten out a mistake that was made with the credit card. When I joined the long, long line of students waiting to get their ID photos taken, I noticed that I didn’t have an envelope with the blank card in it that everyone else seemed to have. So, I ended up being sent to a different office, where they told me that my parents’ card had been declined. They sent me over to the “services finances” where I struggled to figure out in French with the woman what I needed to do to fix the problem. After a couple of phone calls to Mom, we figured out that the credit card company had declined the payment because the university attempted to run the card while we were in San Antonio. That triggered the company’s security measures. But, even though they called to ask Mom if it should be approved, they still rejected the transaction. We don’t know why they called if they were going to reject it anyway, and we don’t know why the university never contacted us. :P It was frustrating, but God took care of it all, and I didn’t have to wait in line for the card once I made the payment. (It took at least three hours to straighten it all out, because the school employees take a 1 ½ hour lunch. :P Convenient for them, but not for me.) At least I got my exercise today, too, walking up and down the stairs and in and out of the buildings.

Anyway, I spent a lot of time practicing conversational French with other students, and it’s slowly but surely getting easier. There will be a lot of organized activities for the students outside of class, like whale-watching, hiking, rafting, horseback riding, museums, a costume ball, a baseball game, etc. We are not allowed to speak our native language at any time during classes or activities. I’m actually looking forward to it because it’s like a game that everyone is playing, so there’s no need to be embarrassed.  

I need to decide if I’m going to buy a bus pass tomorrow or if I’m going to buy individual tickets as I need them. I don’t know which would be more economical yet. I can walk to school fairly easily, but the bus might be handy if it’s raining. I don’t know yet; we’ll see. By the way, it is beautiful here – a lot like the States in some ways, but different at the same time. I’ll see if I can express it better after I’ve been here longer. The food is also a little bit different. I haven’t tried a lot of traditional foods yet, but I’ve heard that the way they eat their French fries is quite interesting: with gravy and cheese curds. :P I’m sure I’ll try it before I return. I did try some frozen yogurt that was better than any frozen yogurt I’ve ever had at home the other night at a roadside dairy bar. It was a slab of actual frozen yogurt that was mixed with a machine to a creamy consistency with three different kinds of frozen fruit (of my choice). I put strawberries, peaches, and bananas in mine…and wow. So good. I’m also going to be spoiled by my host mother’s breakfasts: cereal with fresh fruit and coffee. And by fresh fruit, I mean strawberries, bananas, grapes, and even pineapple (my favorite). There’s nothing that fresh at UCA. :P

Well, that’s all that I can think of at the moment. I should probably get back to life in the house et changer les vitesses (change gears).

:) Au plaisir! Bonne nuit!