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Published: January 12th 2011
Well wasn't yesterday just an interesting time all around?? Marissa and I definitely had a great adventure or two. Let's dive right in shall we?
At 11am we had a meeting with Etienne, the man in charge of registration at the university. From what our advisor here told, we would also be choosing our classes so we were really excited. When we got there ( we were right on time if not a minute or two early) there was already a lady talking to him. I knew from reading this book called "French or Foe" on French culture that we would probably have to walk a few minutes for them to finish whatever it was they were talking about before we could begin our meeting (even though ours was scheduled). Okay so 45 minutes later (no seriously) we finally got to talk to Etienne (I was kind of pissed by this point) and he got some paperwork together for us and then he took us to the lady who made the university cards so we could get our picture taken. In mine I look a cross between high and sleep-deprived. Can't wait to show THAT to my friends. The process was instantaneous so we walked out with our cards. When I asked Etienne when were going to sign up for classes he told me that he wasn't in charge of that. Apparently how it works in France is a week or so before classes begin they post the times of all the classes. You have to go to the department you belong in and look for the classes you think you want to take. On the day of, you show up and the teacher's like, "Look this is what I'm going to teach....take it or leave it." Okay.... Unorganized? yes. Annoying? most definitely. Anything I can do about it? nope. Once we figured that out, we decided a little bit of lunch was in order. There's a little stand out in front of the Fac called Le Sandwicherie. We hadn't been there yet so we went to check it out. I was delighted to see that they sold croque monsieurs. I remember when I first started taking French there was a chapter in the back of my French book on French culture and there was a whole page dedicated to the croque monsieur. It's a sandwich that has ham and cheese in it and you grill it on a skillet. I remembered it looked so good and I couldn't wait to try one and that dream was realized only yesterday. It was beyond fabulous. It really was. It was a menu item (their version of a combo) and I got fries and a peach flavored tea with it. Delicious. I even got ketchup! (a minor rarity here) After our lunch we messed around until it was time for our 13h30 appointment with the bank. When we got to the bank there was a sign on the door that said they were opening at 14h instead of their normal time. Hahaha Seriously?!?! They had just randomly closed. They aren't a family owned business it's definitely a chain. Well we couldn't do anything about it so we went back to our dorms to deposit the fruit we had bought while wasting time waiting for our appointment which apparently didn't matter. So we came back in 30 minutes and told the receptionist what we were there for at which point we sat down to wait for the bank dude. Everything after that went to plan and we are to receive our bank cards in about 5 days. The bank dude made a comment on the fact that Marissa and I have the same middle name. I told him that it must have been popular when our generation was born and he told us the same thing Fabrizio told us; that it was an old name.
We came back to the dorms to power nap because we were both really beat from staying up the night before and all of the walking and action we had that morning. I went to check my email and found a message from a girl named Shana that was another student here from the ISEP program. I checked on Facebook and she and her friend Ellen had asked to be friends. I looked at Shana's profile and realized that I knew her! Her and I had a film class together last spring and probably many others because we both go to VCU!!! I was so surprised! I was immediately pissed too because I realized my dumb advisor for VCU had failed to tell me this even though I EXPLICITLY asked her if ANYONE was going. Guess she forgot....Shana and I skyped for a little then I skyped with Ellen. Ellen is from Kansas. They're both so cool! I was really excited to meet them and they invited Marissa and I out for drinks at 21h30. Marissa was already asleep so I left her a message telling her to contact me when she woke up and then I myself took a cat nap to prepare for the upcoming night. While I was sleeping Titou texted me and invited me to have dinner with him at 19h. I was suddenly devastatingly popular. I was loving it. At 19h I met Titou at the cafeteria and we went inside and had a decent dinner. We both got spaghetti a la Bolognese, yogurt and bread. I got a pear and what I think was squash soup and Titou got a personal pizza. I told the cafeteria lady I was from America and she gave me extra food. I guess I was looking homely or something. We sat down to eat and talk. He told me he got a new camera, I'm assuming for his birthday that was the 1st of this month. He told me he had another exam tomorrow (today). After dinner we walked back to his dorm and ate nutella while listening to his favorite American artists until it was time for me to meet Marissa at the bus stop. We walked back to my dorm so I could put more layers on because it had gotten really cold. We met up with Marissa. Titou walked us to the bus stop and here I thought he would leave since he had his exam and told me he intended to study or sleep; however, he said he felt motivated by our excitement and was going to come afterall. YAY! I was glad to have him so I wouldn't have to exercise my gangsta upbringing in case Marissa and I got accosted, and also just because I wanted him to come hang out with us. We met Ellen and Shana at the fountain of Massena and walked a block or two to the bar named Akathor. This bar was special because all of the servers spoke English. Our bartender happened to be from Sweden and our waitress was English. It was comical because most of them didn't know a word of French so when the bartender didn't hear my order I repeated it in French thinking he would understand me better. Nah...he cut me off and said "I don't speak French!" Hahaha got it! ; ) He was super cute too in case anyone was wondering. Kind of an Elvis look about him. Very suave, and to my mother's delight....tattooed! WHOO! They had a live band but before they were done setting up they had a mix on and it was hilarious because it was all music from months and or years ago. Like they played Santana...It was a blast from the past. My drink of choice was wine. Every Tuesday they have lady's night and for 3 euros you get this tiny little wine glass that has unlimited refills on bubbly, rose, white, or red. Good deal although you had to get up a lot for refills. We laughed and took pictures. Ellen's mantoy showed up. His name was Florent and was a huge flirt. We left around midnight and took the night bus back to our campus. Titou walked us back to our dorm and Marissa and I stumbled up 5 flights of stairs to our rooms where we passed out happy and content. I'm so happy to have met Ellen and Shana. We all got along really well and I can't wait for our next adventures!!!!!!
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Galadriel
non-member comment
ha ha
gansta upbringing? ROFLMFAO that looks ridiculous anyway I love the blog it is nice to know your making friends. Even if they are mostly american. Love ya