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Published: January 17th 2008
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The Last View of the US
The last view I would have for the next six months of a "normal" square power grid pattern! Dear All,
It has been a busy week! The excitement and preparation that I had been putting off for the last three months has all exploded within 7 days. I left for France on Wednesday morning, Jan. 2 running on 45 minutes of sleep which I cannot recommend to anyone and will admit now that it was just a tad bit short of idiotic! In any case, I arrived in Chicago several hours ahead of my flight to Paris. I waited for the rest of the group that I am studying with to arrive from various places, although most were coming from Lincoln. The flight to Paris was filled with students from all over the nation going to Europe for their various study abroad experiences. I sat next to a girl, Rachel, who was headed to Montpellier in the south of France and there were two other people headed to various locations sitting directly in front of us. Rachel warned me early on that she talks - a lot - when she's nervous... it turns out she was nervous. Such as it was, we had some good conversation so she agreed to show me and my friends around the southern
Flying into the Sunrise
Not much sleep was coming to me, so (rare for me) I saw the sunrise and decided to snap a pic! part of France when we make it down there.
Between the chit-chat and watching various old American movies dubbed in French, I tried to catch some more shut eye, but wound up in Charles De Gaulle Airport with a pair of eyes to scare even the most grizzled of cocaine addicts. I am still amazed that I got through customs without being searched and questioned for several hours! However, lady luck had smiled on me and I passed through quickly and unscathed. I discovered that even English - never mind French! - is difficult when I'm as exhausted as I was. The excitement of finally being in France, however, kept me pressing on and I collected my checked bags (both of them sans problem) and we met our program adviser Professor Olds (M. Olds). We climbed onto a bus and immediately fell asleep. One of the attached pictures shows the view I had from the rear seat. You might have thought that myself and Brian were the only ones on the bus, but in fact there were 15 other kids hunkered down in their seats, fast asleep!
I had my first lesson on budgeting very quickly. About halfway
My First View of France
Admittedly, it was less than glamorous with all of the fog but it felt good! through the bus ride, we stopped at an "Autogrill" (contrary to its implication does not mean that we ate well-done Peugeots) which is the equivalent of a rest area directly off the highway that has several restaurants and a cafeteria crammed into a small building in typical European style. I ate at the "buffet" which was, in fact, not in any way a true American buffet. I loaded my tray and promptly waited with growing anxiety as the cashier pushed buttons and pushed more buttons and yet more buttons which finally accumulated into a total bill of 18,40 Euros (~$27.20). Ok, oops... I won't be doing that again, but I was well-filled when I finished eating! M. Olds tells us that the scenery along the way was beautiful, but nobody was awake to verify.
We arrived at L'Hotel du Nord (Hotel of the North... I'm not sure why it is so called because it is not really north or in the North of anything.) the evening of the 4th. However, the Hotel is very nice and we have all the great European amenities including a bidet, no shower curtain, and free breakfast! Honestly, my only true complaint is that
The Bus Ride to Besancon
Everybody was exhausted when we got to Paris... few stayed awake to see the beautiful scenery between Paris and Besancon my lack of sleep caught up with me and I am just now getting over a vicious cold/sinus infection that has left me with a chapped nose and everybody in my group thinking that I really am addicted to hard drugs.
I am now living with my host family, Jacques and Sylvie Guyon (gwee-oh-). They have two sons, Charles and Edward. Charles is 23 and is finishing his engineering studies in Paris and Edward is 18 and just starting English studies in Dijon. Jacques is a promoter for Pfizer, especially for Viagra. When he told me this, just after picking me up from the hotel, I couldn't understand that he was saying "Viagra", so he said, "...tu sais, la pilule qui donne le bonheur des dames!" which translates to "...you know, the pill that gives the good life to ladies!" And so began my relationship with my host parents! They are very interesting and Sylvie is a school teacher for the first level of school. She doesn't like to cook much, to my dismay, but I've had a chance to try some of the regional cheeses of Franche-Comte: le comte, la cancoillote.
I started my studies at
Pont Bettan
One of the many bridges in Besancon the Center of Applied Linguistics (CLA - Centre de Linguistiques Appliquees) on Monday with a placement exam and orientation. Fortunately, I placed in the highest level that I could so I will be able to take courses that will transfer back to UNL at a high enough level to complete my degree. The first day of class was today and it went fairly well, but the professors don't hold back any language for the most part and they speak with a normal speed. It'll take a few days for me to get used to their speech, but I feel comfortable enough at that level.
I apologize for the late arrival of this e-mail, but you all know how slow I am to write! Thank you for your love, thoughts, and prayers! More news soon.
With love,
Damon
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