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. -> >.

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