Friends, food, and flowers.

Bonsoir! Finally, it is I, Laura, after a very long break. From this blogger, anyway.

I think I'm going to take some more time to gather my thoughts and experiences from my two weeks in England, and after I have succeeded I'll proceed to place them here. For now, though, here is my recollection of what has happened after my return to Nantes.

I came back to a somewhat altered apartment. A very cozy place to come back to, with loving arms wide open to welcome me back. I missed Patrick immensely, despite my enjoyment with my grandparents. As posted below, Patrick has begun the journey of intense work with French, and even lessons in the art of capoeira. So far, he is doing just fine. A little tired, though.

He also mentioned meeting and making new friends: Theo, James, Jen (fellow English folk like me!), Nichola (Irish), as well as others who share classes with him. I've had the pleasure of meeting the Brits the night I had returned, the same night England won their rugby match, so needless to say the night was filled with the English language. They're incredibly nice people, with great senses of humor to match; all are attending the University de Nantes. We shared a few drinks at a local pub where many Englishman celebrated their victory in a humorous, drunken stupor.

Since Patrick is going to be busy with school, I'm needing to constantly keep myself busy with the area and its many sites. So far, I've walked around, viewing numerous buildings of great architecture, taking in the wonderful smells of many pâtisseries, and hearing a ton of French. Sometimes, it can be a bit overwhelming, but it is a good way to truly immerse myself within the culture. My interaction with the locals can be embarrassing, but I'm slowly learning. I've done my bit of shopping, and even picked up a parcel today from la poste.

One adventure took me to the local garden, the pride of Nantes, deemed the Jardin des Plantes. It was astonishing! Luckily, I brought the camera along:

The rest can be viewed in my photobucket album. The guest password is lolcat25

Today was the longest day for Patrick. Luckily, I bumped into James on the way down to Commerce. We had some coffee and tea, and then headed up to the university to chat with Theo. On the way James introduced me to a French-speaking German girl named Evelyn. All three of us went to the Uni's café to go online (the internet here has been down for several days). Theo and Jen came down, and we all huddled around chatting away like old comrades. It is very good for me to get out on my own and converse with people, especially when Patrick is away in school for long periods of time.

Well, it is very late, and I'd hate to wake Patrick up with constant clicking. I promise I shall post again soon about my vacation in Cardiff, Wales. Bonne nuit!

-Laura J. MARTIN

Wednesday - Four hours of class.

Thursday may be my longest day, but I think Wednesday is the most taxing. With only a 5 minute break to split it up, I have a solid block of French language instruction from 1 PM to 5 PM. Before and after I ride my bike about 3 miles to get to and from campus. It goes without saying that I am pretty pooped when the evening finally rolls around.

Laura will be back in 2 days, and things get easier each day. I got a phone yesterday. As far as I know it is free for me to receive texts and calls in France regardless of where the call originated. It may cost the caller a bundle though I would not know because I have not yet received any international calls.

My number is 06 42 02 87 48 if you fancy calling me.

I met several people from Northern Ireland and England yesterday, too. They were at my bank, luckily, and we have become fast friends. Theo and I climbed on top of a tram stop while waiting for one of the night trams. Several pictures were taken, but I do not have one yet.

My collegiate path to 2010

One of the reasons I am studying abroad in France is that it is easy to get credit. All of the classes I take here transfer as simply Pass or Fail, so I do not have to worry about making a C (8 or 9 on the French scale of 1-20) as long as I am learning something. That translates (no pun intended) to 30 or 31 college credit hours.

CLEP, or "College Level Examination Program" is simply a collection of tests you can take to get equivalence credit on a Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory basis.

Things I MUST CLEP:

• American Government*
• American History I (November 2008)
• American History II*
• British Literature (September 2008)
• Educational Psychology (April 2010)
• European Civilization I (February 2009)
• European Civilization II (March/April 2009)
• Macroeconomics (September 2009)
• Sociology (November 2009)

*Already completed

Year 1 (Music Education/Sociology Experimentation Year)
Fall
3 Harmony
1 Aural Techniques
1 Class Piano I
1 Jazz Band
1 Marching Band
1 Tuba Ensemble
1 Private Lessons
1 Honors 1010
3 American Literature
3 Music Appreciation
16

Spring
3 Speech Communication
2 Personal Development/Relationships
1 Social Intelligence
1 Jazz Band
3 Math 1010
3 Honors: The Latin language
13

Year 2
Fall
4 Astronomy 1010
3 French 1010
3 Psychology 2010
3 French 3510
3 History 1120
16

Spring
4 Astronomy 1020
3 French 1020
3 GEOG 1120 Human Geography
3 History 3360 American Military History
2 FOED 2011 Introduction to Teaching and Technology
1 FOED 1820 or 1822 Field Experience
16

Year 3 (Study Abroad: France)
Fall
3 FREN 2010 Intermediate French
3 FREN 2020 Intermediate French
3 FREN 3020 Communication in French
3 FREN 3100 French Phonetics
3 FREN 3112 Culture and Civilization of France
3 FREN 3040 Conversational French
18

Spring
3 FREN 3010 Composition
3 FREN 3110 Survey of French Literature I
3 FREN 3120 Survey of French Literature II
3 FREN 3200 or 4100 (Business French/Advanced Listening)
1 FREN 4910 (Directed study) or Minicourses
12

Summer
3 Political Science
3 Political Science
3 Tennessee Topics
9


Year 4

Fall
3 CUED 4150 Middle Level Curriculum
3 POLS 3610. International Politics
1 FOED 3820 Field experiences in education
3 FREN Senior Capstone
3 SOC 1100 Intro to Anthropology
3 FOED 3010 Integrating instructional technology into the classroom
3 SEED 4125 Materials and Methods of Teaching Foreign Language
19

Spring
1 FOED 3830 Field Experiences in Education
3 HIST 2410 Introduction of Historical Method
3 POLS 4960. Seminar in World Politics (Or 3310,3320,3610,3800,4360)
3 POLS 4510. Comparative Government: Europe (Or 3310,3320,3610,3800,4360)
3 READ 3350 Teaching Reading in the Content Areas
3 SEED 4124 Materials and Methods of Teaching Social Studies
3 Upper Division History (4730,40,50 or 60 if not completed OR 4550, 4530/4540/4560/4570 if not done)
19

Summer
3 Intro to Computing OR Computer Applications in Business
3 Political Science
3 History Upper Division (4730/40/50/60 if not completed in OR 4550, 4530/4540/4560/4570 if not done)
3 Political Science
Year 5

Fall
3 Senior Seminar (HISTORY)
3 POLS 3330 State and Local Government
5 SEED 4880 Student Teaching
2 SEED 4890 Seminar: Education and Society
3 History (Upper Division 4730/40/50/60 if not completed OR 4550, 4530/4540/4560/4570 if not done)
3 EDPY 3300. Evaluation and Guidance
19

Spring
5 Student Teaching
3 History (Upper Division 4730/40/50/60 if not completed in Fall OR 4550, 4530/4540/4560/4570 if not done)
3 ENGL (Upper Division)
3 SPED 3000 Teaching persons with disabilities in the regular classroom
2 CPR Safety Class
16

Only 18 hours of credit
may have a B for a 3.5 to be maintained.

13/09/07

I made it through my longest day just fine. I am so focused on understanding what is going on that I never even look at my watch. It was FASCINATING to be in a history class where a secular discussion about Christianity could occur. (Compare being in a class with at least 10 students from China to being in a class with no fewer than 50 bible-belt Tennesseeans.)

Laura returns on the 22nd. Until then I am just constantly cramming French into my head. Now that class has started I feel my communicative and comprehension abilities are increasing exponentially.

I helped this one Chinese girl find her class today. I felt bad because she was 15 minutes late because she didn't know some vocabulary on her schedule and the French teacher was a bitch to her as she walked in. (What's new? I kid. My teachers are actually quite bright and agreeable. She just happens to have a bad egg.)

I also helped another girl find the sport facility. She spoke Spanish, which I am MUCH more used to than French. (Even though my French is 100x better) I surprised myself because as she was talking to me in Spanish I somehow understood what she was asking. (She wanted to know how much it was to sign up.) Based on the vague bits of Spanish I know from childhood and living with a guy taking it in college I told her "Es treinta (or however you spell thirty) cinco". I even did the trill right. Languages are tough, but they grow on you...

12/09/07

I've begun getting my first pieces of mail from my bank. Setting up a bank account in France requires a private meeting! I felt like I was enlisting for the CIA instead of trying to get a Carte Bancaire.

By the way, my address is:

M. Patrick SIZEMORE (Or Mme. Laura MARTIN)
12 Rue Yves Bodiguel
44000 Nantes, France

Exactly like that, mind you. The French are particular.

Speaking of particular...I unintentionally broke my first French law yesterday. The tram police are generally incredibly lax, but for some reason they decided to hit me hard. My ticket, valid for only one hour, was more than a day old...and I had to pay 40 Euros or be detained. Seriously!!! No "your court date is in 6 weeks buddy, take care now". Simply a< <- NON QUARANTE EurOS. -> >.

---------------
I use the "<< >>" because that is how French novels display speech. That's right, no quotation marks! It's crazy!
---------------

I'm not upset about the fee because I didn't have my passport on me so I am not on the books. I hadn't been paying for tickets anyway because I had assumed that nobody really did...but upon further inspection of the ticket I bought today I realized that the reason that only a few people, at least to my eyes, had been validating their tickets was because you are only supposed to do it ONCE so the police can see when you first used it. I had been punching it every single time I got on a tram like an idiot. Live and learn.

Today was my first day of class. I am in "niveau 3" or level 3. I seem to be a bit further along than many of the other students when it comes to reading and writing, but English is so firmly ingrained into my ears that I have a hard time with aural skills such as dictation or exercises requiring me to deduce meaning from stories spoken rapidly by natives. A Chinese guy approached me after class and said "Tres difficle, n'est pas?" as he offered me a cigarette. I couldn't deny it after 4 straight hours of instruction. I asked him for his name (Comment vous appelez vous?) but when he told me I couldn't figure out how to say it. I guess Mandarin is next on the menu...

...anyway, here is my schedule:

M-Lundi 1PM-5PM FRENCH
T-Mardi 1PM-5PM FRENCH
W-Mercredi 1PM-5PM FRENCH
T-Jeudi 10AM-12PM FRENCH 1:30PM-3:30PM FRENCH HISTORY/GEOGRAPHY 3:30PM-4:30PM FRENCH
F-Vendredi 1 PM-4PM FRENCH

At least it's more diverse than my diet.

Settling In...

At last, it is Saturday and I have some room to breathe. I could go into lavish detail about everything which has occurred, but there is simply too much which has happened. Here goes!

We arrived at the Nashville airport bright and early. I exchanged some dollars for Euros, and then returned to wait with Laura and her parents. After a heartfelt goodbye we passed through security. The drug dog wasn’t around, but Laura was taken out of the regular security line and corded off. She was patted down and they used the handheld metal detector as well. It was like she was going to be sent to prison. Apparently E.U. citizens leaving the States are subject to more scrutiny.
The first leg of our trip took us to New York. Luckily Laura’s mother had given us some money in Nashville so we had some chicken and bread at JFK. While waiting to get on the plane to Dublin we encountered this French woman on the way to Tampa, Florida. It was adorable listening to her as she talked to her baby. She continuously repeated “Manger? Non?”. That was about the only word I could understand. Her thick native accent gave me a taste of the rude awakening we were in for upon arrival in France.
The flight to Dublin was only approximately 6 hours, but because of the time change it was 13! Ireland was quite different, but at least everybody spoke English. (The pilot also gave a greeting and farewell in Irish.)
This time Laura was given special treatment because all E.U. citizens get rapidly processed in Dublin whereas Americans suffer the cattle prod. (At least I got a passport stamp out of it..) We had our first taste of Coke with real sugar here. It is amazing what real sugar can do for a soft drink...
For the flight from Dublin to France we utilized a discount airline. We carefully weighed and measured each bag specifically for this leg of the trip but they did not even care! We finally arrived in Nantes and said goodbye to English for good.
For the first time in my life I felt completely lost. I never realized how much any of my intelligence comes from my ability to communicate in ENGLISH. When it comes to French I am about as communicative as a 4 year old. The receptionist pitied me and spoke in broken English. She booked a nearby hotel for us. I had to swallow my pride and pay the 40 Euros for it because I was so tired. The worst part about the room was that it was unbelievably small. It was no bigger than half of a typical discount room in the United States.
After a vending machine breakfast we hurried to catch the 6:55 bus to the center of the city. I muddled through asking how much a ticket was and eventually we were on our way. It was fascinating how different things were (roundabouts, tiny cars, NO ENGLISH) but also very intriguing how much of it was the same. (KFC 2 KM ahead, anybody?)
We spent a lot of time walking and the rest riding on the tram system. Eventually we came across some English speaking students who had a kind Moroccan interpreting for them. We were DESPERATELY searching for an apartment and he was able to talk to a person who had placed an ad at the student center. (She's a Norwegian woman, but she happens to speak decent English.)
Because I want to get started on my studies and there is no way to make up for lost time I am going to have to summarize a few things:

We stayed at the Youth Hostel of Nantes for a few days before moving into our apartment. We had a room to ourselves instead of the usual 4 strangers with 2 bunk beds arrangement.

Our apartment is 325 Euros a month. The deposit was 650 Euros, which is HORRIBLE...but unlike in the States the deposit is actually returned at the end of your lease, lol.

We are adjusting reasonably well, even though Laura got food poisoning from some goat cheese a week ago which resulted in her going to England for a bit. (She should be back within a week.)

I or Laura will post some pictures at some point, it is just very slow on the 1-bar free Wifi connection we get only because we are on the top floor of our apartment.

I'm going to try to update regularly henceforth. There is simply too much to talk about when I let days pile up.

A demain!