Getting settled

This week has started off much more agreeably: I feel more settled, more excited, more ambitious, but also more relaxed. I do have some new classes to attend this week, though, so I'm a bit nervous about them. Especially today's contemporary history class. It's sink or swim, so I hope I don't drown! I'm also feeling rather lost in my Didactic of English class, because she's assigning homework and asking us to prepare for the internship without realizing that she needs to give separate directions for the exchange students. Unfortunately, professors are hard to track down.

In any case, this week will also be interesting because our new exchange student has arrived in the house. She's from South Korea, so she asked me to just call her Soni, since her Korean name is too hard for us to pronounce. I was very, very thankful that I was here when she arrived, because she hardly speaks French, and understands very little of what Jacqueline says. I've spent the past couple of nights translating into English and trying to make her feel as at ease here as I can. It is very difficult for Asian students to pick up the accent and structure of French.

Last night was a wonderful French food night, because February 2 is the French holiday of La Chandeleur (Candlemas). I didn't know what it was, so I researched it a little and found that it was "originally Virgin Mary's Blessing Day but became known as "avec Crêpe Day", referring to the tradition of offering crêpes. The belief was that if you could catch the crêpe with a frying pan after tossing it in the air with your left hand and holding a gold coin in your right hand, you would become rich that year." I didn't test out the whole gold coin bit, but I certainly became rich in crêpes last night!

On a slightly odd note, I caught up on a little news from Arkansas yesterday, and I found out that UCA is not only reconstructing its sidewalks (in the same place), but they are turning Arkansas Hall into a science/math/technology residential hall. Interesting idea, but somehow I just can't see college students flocking to use study rooms called "Nerd Nodes." Really, UCA?

Anyway, I have to leave a little early today to show Soni the bus system (and hope that it isn't late)! A bientôt!