Monday: I was meant to have a two hour sociology class. However, the professor never showed up--I must say, that is so French. All the other students who were also waiting simply left half an hour after class was meant to start. I stayed a little longer, but still no professor, so Monday ended up being a free day for me.
Tuesday: I started my morning with a two-and-a-half hour language class at CIEL, a building twenty-five minutes away by tram from the rest of the university. Apparently there was a strike, so the university restaurant we wanted to eat at was closed (again, that's so French), although this ended happily, as we now know a great sandwich and panini shop. Following lunch, I had my first American/British literature class, the only class I'm taking that is partly taught in English.
Wednesday: From 10 a.m through noon, I sat through what I thought was going to be my Art History class. I'm definitely dropping it and searching for another course, though; first, the course includes at least one oral exam (I'd die from that in English--never mind in FRENCH!) and second, the professor is also testing us on material from last year that he just expects us to know..... um, nope! After that, Kat and I grabbed some lunch at a patisserie (quiche Lorraine! yum). To kill time and to take shelter from the rain, we spent a good hour feeling so French and chilling in a café, drinking tea (for me) and coffee (for Kat) and watching the downpour outside. Wednesday afternoon was round two of my American/British literature class, and that went well, happily.
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| A rainy day in Strasbourg's beautiful Place Kleber |
Thursday: My first class began at 1pm, so Kat and I once again killed some time in the same café as Wednesday: Café Michel. It is now my number one favorite café in the city (because obviously I know them all after two weeks here). The staff are so extremely friendly and the hot chocolate with homemade whip cream is to die for! Thursday afternoons are going to be miserable though. First, we have our two-and-a-half-hour CIEL language class, then the group of us Holy Cross girls run to catch the tram and hurry (late) into our two-and-a-half hour History of Alsace class, which was super crowded yesterday. Plus, the overly-pierced guy sitting next to me kept glancing over at my notes and he was definitely judging my poor French and all my misspellings--then he found out I was American halfway through the class, so he kept turning to me and asking "do you understand?" in a very condescending manner. I seriously felt like responding with "Why no, I don't understand a word the professor is saying right now, silly me, why did I sign up to take all my university classes in French?" Of course I understood! Not every word of course, probably only about 75%, but that is enough (I hope).
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| Can't beat Café Michel's hot chocolate on a cold rainy day! |
Friday: NO CLASSES!! This is the first time in my college career that I have a day off from classes. Hurray three-day weekends! This is also ideal for the weekends I'm travelling, because it means more time to explore a foreign city!
Reflecting on this past week, classes didn't exactly go as well as I planned. I knew it would be challenging taking classes in another language, but... I feel unprepared for how demanding it actually is. I simply don't know a lot of the vocabulary that the professors are using, and when they spit out a year, it takes me a full minute to comprehend what they said (personally, I find that "1887" spoken in English is so much easier to understand than in French.... "mille huit cent quatre-vingt sept" is too much to grasp in two seconds). Hopefully the second week in classes will be easier? If not, I'll be frequenting Café Michel much more often, as a good cup of tea or hot chocolate from that cheerful café never fails to make me feel better!
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