As per norm, Wednesday morning I went off to Metz for some classes. Because I knew which classes I had for the day, I had made a few plans for things to do. When I first arrived in Metz, I picked up and bought the tickets for my trip to Belgium before heading downtown.
I realized that not only did I not have my schedule with me, I didn’t have my map of the city, or list of trains for returning…. Luckily, I catch on quickly and already knew my way around a bit; really I can get from the train station to downtown and to the University (or any combination of those) without a problem and know the times the first two trains after class leave. I still stopped in the Office de Tourisme to get a new map and to ask where I could find used/cheap books.
My literature class went better than last week and I understood a lot more! I talked with the professor a little afterwards; he really likes to talk… He seems really nice. Right now the topic of the class is about the advent of translation and it's impact, which of course is something that interests me! I have to admit though, that I haven’t been able to connect his story about a princess (or just an noblewoman?), who got married 3 times to make political alliances, to the topic of translation… or really to the specific text either on or of translation (he talked about it before and after, so it wasn't a totally different topic).
I had lunch in a little café and read two newspapers I had been handed in the street. It was nice to relax out of the cold! After about an hour or so, I headed off to wade though the books at the bookstore. After about 15 minutes… I asked the women working at the bookstore if they could recommend an amusing, not sad, French book (and not some classic from school…). They pulled out about six books… and I picked the best out of them. So during my trip, I'll be reading "L'île des Gauchers" by Alexandre Jardin. I still had at least 30 minutes before my second class, so I set off to browse through some stores.
My linguistics class was great! Apparently I understand a lot more than most of the students, but then they are freshmen and didn’t learn French IN school, through it’s grammar like I did… But the class was extra great because I started making friends in the class. The girl I met last week asked if I would want to do something sometime and we exchanged contact info. Then she introduced me to 7 or more people. All were concerned with my comprehension in the class… and I had to explain that I understood and later even asked helpful questions in class (one stumped the teacher…). So, sometime after the vacation, I’m going to go out to a bar or club one night, do some afternoon shopping (for Christmas gifts, not that I’ll be buying many since (Sorry!) I won’t be mailing many gifts back home), and an English night to let others practice English. But those are three outings to look forward to in the future!
It was a good day, but exhausting! I must think too much on Wednesdays or something…
No comments:
Post a Comment