I still want to give you a quick summary of my week in Strasbourg though, because some interesting things did occur. Last Monday and last Wednesday, I taught my ESL lessons at EPITECH, as per usual. Tuesday and Thursday, I had my CIEL classes (two-and-a-half hours of French grammar each day, ugh). During the rest of my free time? Well, I spent many, many hours at Café Michel, drinking tea or hot chocolate and either planning for my ESL lessons or reading. Riveting, right?
I must say, though, that last Wednesday was actually notable due to an 8:00 a.m. final exam. It was on the classic French novel Germinal, written by Emile Zola. I'm not going to lie.... I was having such a difficult time understanding all of the tiny details of the book that I took my mom's advice and read most of it in English!! I know it's terrible to admit, but I'm sorry, Germinal just not an easy--or a short--read in your non-native language! The exam lasted four long, miserable hours, every minute of which I ended up needing. Happily, though, I was pretty proud of the analysis that I managed to scrape up for the essay, even though I used the words "mob," "violence," and "liberty" about fifty times each--a stylistic element that simply doesn't fly in French writing. Oh well. C'est la vie! And of course, I wrote "ETUDIANTE ERASMUS" in big bold letters all over the exam, just so the person who grades my essay will know that I'm foreign and floundering instead of just a university student with the writing abilities of a 10-year-old.
Wednesday was also notable for another little drama. Remember my mentioning that I had opened a French bank account back in October? Yeah, well, over the course of the last few months, the bank employees kept losing my qualifying documents (I had to give them copies of my passport multiple times), and it turns out that, in the end, my bank account was never actually officially opened. Last week, my boss at EPITECH emailed me, saying: "We tried to pay you... but your bank account doesn't seem to exist." So when I went to the bank, the manager explained, "Well, you didn't seem interested in your account, so we closed it." WHAT??? Classic France, being as frustrating as possible. Now, though, my account is (hopefully!) in the process of being opened. We will see...
And of course, I ended last week with another mini adventure! Last Friday, Malou actually drove Arianna, Kat, and I to the tiny village of Saint-Louis-les-Bitche (yeah, we all had a good laugh at that name). There is a famous cristallerie there: the oldest glass manufacturer in France. We explored the museum that showcased the different styles of glassware produced throughout the history of the cristallerie, which was actually quite fascinating. Then, the four of us checked out the gift shop--if you can call it such--whose items for sale included 14,000-euro crystal vases and 95-euro shot glasses (both on major discount from the normal price, if your couldn't tell). Needless to say, I didn't walk away with any souvenirs.
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| Inside the museum. There were chandeliers everywhere! This one was the largest, and the prettiest. |
Okay, so now that we're all caught up, what is on the agenda for this week in Strasbourg? Classes! Yes, University classes have finally begun once more, and I'm getting back into the swing of two-hour French lectures. My courses aren't finalized yet, but I will say that I'm taking a History of Alsatian Vineyards class that I'm pretty excited about. The professor has already announced a field trip to the expansive wine caves under Strasbourg's main hospital (because why would the wine caves be located anywhere else?) and I can't wait!
And one last tiny, random anecdote: I just finished a funny dinner with my host parents. Over the mountains of mashed potatoes and boeuf bourguignon that my host mother heaped onto all of our plates, the three of us were laughing and laughing over a silly argument about the sounds that grandfather clocks make. Honestly, my host parents give meaning to the phrase "arguing like an old married couple!" Often, they have the arguments that come from knowing a person better than you know yourself; arguments full of teasing and palpable love. "48 years," my host mother reminds me. "Tu te raconte? Married 48 years."
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