Sunday the 18, I went to the bus station early (just after 8am) to see if someone didn't show up for the school excursion to Marseille since I was second on the waitlist. Basically I was insanely lucky and two ppl didn't show up so I got a front row seat on a mini bus next to the other person who was waitlisted ahead of me. His name is Robin and he kept me company for the day. It was a fun trip. I chatted the whole way there and back in French. Visited Notre Dame de la Garde in Marseille and the isle off the shore to spend 2 hours at the beach. There was an amazing cave in one of the cliff sides that we swam to, it may have been a tunnel, but it was too dark to continue into without a light...
Monday there was class and afterward I spent the afternoon chatting and doing hw with Robin in a park. In the evening, I went dancing with a group of people. Tuesday I went to class and then I went to the Odysseum, a huge mall. I was exhausted but made myself wander around so I could see the different stores and such. Wednesday, class of course and my last conversation class. In my conversation class we walked around town and just chatted which was nice. Patrick said I'd made a LOT of improvement with my French!!!
Thursday - class as usual. Then I stopped in a store to pick up a pair of shorts since I've been needing shorts. This was actually the last day for 3 of my friends here so I hung out with them a little in the afternoon and then in the evening I went to a cafe with them. We all sat around and chatted. There were ppl from school and some French guys they had met. So I actually talked with one of the French guys for a while, and my French was working well for me :D
Friday was my last day of class. The morning quiz was us making Tapenade - delicious! Who would have thought? - add olives (which I don't like) and capers and tuna and anchovies (which I don't know if I've ever had before) with a few other things... and blend it all together and you get a spread that is really yummy. After school I hung out with the girls who were leaving before going to the library to study with Ashley. IN the evening Ashley and I went to a language exchange (the French speaking in English and the rest of us in French). It was fun! At the Estival that night Ashley and I were with a group of French kids our age from the exchange which was perfect.
Saturday Ashley and I went and took photos around Montpellier for a bit before going to the beach. Sunday I went on another school excursion, but this time to Narbonne and Carcassonne. So no one I've talked to in France has ever heard of someone not being allowed into a church because their shoulders are bare, but I took my scarf with me for the trip just in case. Did you know shorts aren't allowed in Cathedrals? I didn't. I understand I was wearing short shorts, but so were most of the other girls, but the man only stopped me to tell me I couldn't enter like that. So I wrapped the handy-dandy scarf around my shorts and he let me pass. That confused me. (That was in Narbonne).
Carcassonne was interesting. It isn't all it was hyped up to be. It's just another medieval town like the rest - there are not ppl dressed up in period correct clothing like I had heard. It was nothing like they were living in the old ages. Which was disappointing. When we were touring the Chateau, our guide was telling us about the place and ppl working there told him he couldn't talk to us since he didn't work there.... They literally stalked him and stopped him from talking to us about the chateau - and then they managed to separate half of us from him outside of the chateau. We couldn't get back in since he had the tickets and I had to talk to all the ppl working there to see how we could solve the problem. Finally I just called our guide and then directed the group of us to him. It was frustrating. At lunch we had a regional dish that consisted of delicious duck legs, sausages, and white beans. It was pretty good. It wasn't a complete failure of a day.
When I arrived back here, there was a new student. Her name is Lindsey and she is from Scotland. She speaks French well so that is an issue like it was with the two English gals before. The evening was passed with just chatting and I went to bed on the early side since I was wiped out.
Monday was the first day of my internship and I was dressed "très chic" (Lindsey helped me decide what to wear for the first day - we both agreed it was a good idea to be extra professional the first day). It turns out, I was dressed too professional and my shoes were not appropriate for all the effort we went through shopping. My first day was mostly just talking about what I'm going to be trying to do while I'm at my internship: 1) create a pamphlet for foreign students arriving with all the practical information they might need (I have to decide what should to in it and find the information myself and then create it as well) and 2) make a guide to the homestay families for the organization to have a better reference when placing students (to do this I have to call the families and make appointments at their homes to talk with them and secretly judge their homes). Those are my two main tasks for now and they look like they're going to be fairly challenging.
After work I went to the language exchange again. In the evening I went out with ppl from school to go dancing. I brought along Lindsey, she's at a different school with one class so there aren't as many people and not our age (she's 18). It was a fun night!
Yesterday my work consisted of going with my boss, Anne, and a handyman to a hardware store to look at new counter-tops for the office kitchen (it's also a self-catering appartement for 3 students). In the afternoon I went with Anne to a homestay family outside of the city and interviewed them and passed the afternoon at their house chatting and getting to know everyone. It was very interesting for me. It seems to me more and more that it's common for young people to not go to college and just start working and there are jobs ppl can earn a living off of without college. It seems like a much different mindset than in the US. Last night I talked with my Mom and Dad and worked on my Fulbright app some more.
Today was day three of my internship and I spent the morning working from home since I was expecting a package. It arrived, and now a have a great computer case to protect my computer while I port it back and forth from work (how on Earth ppl carry their computers about with them for class and work astonishes me - it SO HEAVY). Today I started making the pamphlet!
Now hopefully ppl are caught up. Yesterday morning I killed a mosquito in my room... MORNING... I think I currently have 13 mosquito bites... apparently they like me now.
Yup, all caught up. Thanks.
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