continued...

Alright... so, 4 hours later and we finished our presentation yes!! Ok so back to my little conte about Paris. Monday the three of us had a yummilicious breakfast (free!) at the hotel (fruit, tea, croissants, cinnamon rolls, yogurt... too good!) and then headed out to Montmartre where we found the little café from Amélie (but only after Laura had sprained her ankle... trooper! ... luckily in France there's a pharmacy (or two!) on practically every corner), then we stopped to take pictures of THE Moulin Rouge and then toured the cemetière de Montmartre. After that we headed to les champs élysées and then had lunch on one of the bridges crossing la Seine. The rest of the afternoon we wandered around downtown, in and out of cute tourist shops before heading back to the hotel to regroupe and for me to grab my bags to head back to la gare Montparnasse from which I took the train back to Tours. Et voilà that was my little vacation for the semester. I loved it and have to admit that it's difficult (as always) to go back to "normal". The next couple of weeks are going to be jam-packed with schoolwork but luckily I only have about 3.5 weeks until I am DONE. And then I have to really figure out what I am going to do with myself over the holidays... : P

Ok so I have lots to tell you guys! ... and pictures to add but that will have to wait until I have time to kill at Macdo's. My week spent in Spain was awesome! It felt like a real holiday: there with my mom, Laura and Joyce, we went on hikes when the weather was nice (and even when it wasn't!), stayed in to play cards and read, wandered the streets of Sant Feliu, ate out at amazing restaurants and passed an EXTREMELY cold and rainy day in Barcelona. Laura and I even went swimming in the ocean ... very much an in-and-out because it wasn't a very nice day - rainy and windy - but we were determined to do it so we did lol. After Spain we all flew back to Paris to get the train to Tours. THAT is a whole story in itself... there have been people vandalizing the rail lines... like sabotage valdalizing ... so our train was delayed a nice 3 hours. Luckily we had cards, cookies and weren't in any real rush. Once we finally got to Tours we made our way to the cute little apartment that my mom and Joyce rented for the week and then (at 10pm) headed out to find some dinner. For the week that we were all in Tours, I toured us around the city and we shopped (new clothes!! yay!!), I went to class as normal while my mom, Joyce and Laura visited more of the sites of Tours. Thursday afternoon and Friday all day, we toured the chateaux de la Loire. And did we ever! On Thursday we went to Chambord and Cheverny and on Friday we went to Azay-le-Rideau, Villandry, Chenonceau, le Clos- Lucé (where Leonardo Da Vinci spent his last 3 years and eventually died) and Ambroise (followed by a wine tasting mmm!) I may even be missing a chateau in my list... we saw a lot! It was fun and the chateaux are absolutely amazing! I think I am officially chateau-ed out now though. I am supposed to be going to 2 more this weekend but I'm thinking I may have to pass. This past weekend Laura, Joyce and my mom headed to Paris (my mom had to fly back to Canada on Sunday) and after working on a project for school Saturday afternoon, I ended up heading out to Paris as well. It was quite the adventure trying to get to the hotel and I ended up getting picked up in a taxi from a metro stop in order to get there (thanks mom!). Sunday morning my mom and I headed out to Charles de Gaulle airport which also took a while to figure out (thing with the Paris transit system is that once you get it figured out, it's actually quite easy and super efficient but getting it figured out definitely takes a few tries lol). But we finally made it to the airport and had (or thought we had) just enough time for a quick breakfast (mmm croissants!) ... my mom left me a message on my phone later on to let me know that she nearly missed the plane because it took so long to get through customs... so maybe the breakfast stop wasn't such a good idea. Oops! I will have to talk to her in the next couple of days to get the full story. I went from the airport to the Louvre where I met Joyce and Laura (after borrowing a nice man's cell phone to send Joyce a message about where to meet me since my phone died on the way back from the airport... sympa...). We spent a few hours in the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa etc and then found a little restaurant for lunch (crêpes!!) and then wandered around Paris for a bit (I can't actually remember exactly what we did during that afternoon but hey...). After regrouping and resting back at the hotel, we headed out around 7pm to go see the Eiffel Tower. SOOOOO amazing. We rounded the corner from the metro station and weren't exactly sure which way we had to go and BAM! there it was! All lit up with blue lights with a big circle of stars on the front of it (the European Union circle of stars I'm guessing). I literally stood there bouche bée. It was too gorgeous. We made our way to the tower and took the elevator up it (not a long wait to get the 2nd floor but at least a very cold half an hour waiting to get up to the summit. Very much worth it though. Nothing can compare to our first sight of the tower though. I will remember that forever I'm sure. Wow! On our way back to the metro, Laura and I hit up the carousel where we got to act like little kids riding on the carousel horses. It was fun, especially since the guys running the carousel were laughing at us asking each other how old they thought we were. We didn't care though. I'm glad we did it. More soon... gotta go work on my presentation for tomorrow!! Yikes!

Halfway mark

Ok, so it's been a while since I last posted. Really nothing all that remarkable has happened in the last couple of weeks. Little bored actually. I hate to say that because I'm in FRANCE... that's not exactly boring but ya, wee bit bored. Classes are busy that's for sure, though. I had my first presentation in Mme EVIL's class (erg she's not nice at all... pretty much my age-ish but hates teaching and shouldnt BE teaching... great) ... overall the presentation was pretty good (me and another girl presenting together), but we went over the time limit and so the prof razed us pretty bad for it. But whatever. Sher and I have a presentation this coming Wednesday, presenting the question of whether French in Canada is threatened or not. I'm leaning towards no, but I have to admit that it isn't exactly THAT simple either. I'm hoping that Sher isn't too busy today so we can have a little tête-à-tête to come to some sort of a 'conclusion' of sorts to present to the class. I enjoy working on this presentation since I get to learn a lot about Canada, things that I wouldn't normally just look up for kicks lol.
My séjour here in France is pretty much half over now. As much as I enjoy it, I'm happy to think that in not too long I'll be back in Canada. Back to normalness (some of the things here in France are just a bit ridiculous... or moreso just different than the way that we do things in Canada) and back to where I get to see all of you guys that I miss (or at least be in the same country as you lol).
I have to head to the train station soon to buy my ticket to head to Paris on Thursday. Because... my mom, Laura and Joyce are flying into Paris that same day, so I am going to meet them later on in the evening and then we are flying to... Barcelona!! Yeah Spain baby! I'm super excited! It's my 'reading break' (semaine de pause pédagogique) so we're going to spend a week in Spain and then we're coming back to Tours where I will be in plein cours (ie work work work school school school ... fun fun fun??) and I'll get to show les Canadiennes around Tours = play tourist hi hi hi. (Read: hee hee hee... apparently that's how les Français laugh on msn... other than lol which they stole from we anglophones : P )
Oh, Thanksgiving: definitely had to do a bit of explaining to people here who were quite confused that our thanksgiving is in October and NOT November (no I'm NOT American... shudder). Sher and I (who remembered that is was Thanksgiving weekend on ... the Friday of, oops) had a somewhat pathetic and vegan Thanksgiving dinner last Sunday. Not exactly your turkey and pumpkin pie but we did have vegan patties (I couldnt tell you what was in it... brave no?), and lots of veggies. We even skipped the dessert we bought (soja puddings... I tried one a few days later and it was nasty, glad I didnt ruin the dinner with that lol) because we just couldn't be bothered. So it was... interesting. But at least we made an effort to be Canadian on Thanksgiving. I'll make up for it next year ; )

homesick

So I'm having my first real bout of homesickness. Partly, I'm sure, because I'm overtired... it's late but I can't get to sleep. But I really miss home right now. All day today I've been feeling just generally down. I figured it was nothing a good dose of Francis Cabrel couldn't fix (ahaha yes, don't ask, somehow that always makes me feel better), so... off I trek to FNAC to buy the CD (which I've been wanting to do for a while now but let me tell you... just TRY finding that in BC... uuumm.. "Francis huh?"). So I found an old FNAC receipt to double check that they are actually open on Sundays, and the receipt said 7 jours 8h30-20h. Perfect! Except that when I get there it's closed. Um... so I trek back home again (PS its raining and windy... this really is a good story lol). PS Tyne, if you're reading this: proof that you're right - I am the ditziest person you know - I reread the receipt that OBVIOUSLY lied to me... ya, those are the call centre help hours. DAMMIT!! No store hours even posted on the damn thing!! Note to self: read the whole bloody thing. Ok, rant over. I'm going to FNAC tomorrow...

My first race!!

So the 10 km race was today... and I did it!! I finished in 55 mins, 56 seconds. I'm super happy with that time for my first race, especially since I was pretty sure it would take me about 70 minutes. I was definitely tired by the end but it was SO worth it!! The atmosphere of the race was awesome and I actually really enjoyed running with so many people... quite the change since I usually run alone. I'm not sure how many participants there were in total (there were 2 races: 10km and 20km) but I was number 7749, so quite a few! In my age category for the 10km, I came in 176th out of 520... : ) I now have a fun medal to take home with me and Sher took some pictures and a video of the start of the race, that I will put up here once she sends them to me. I have NO IDEA what I look like when I run so if they're hilarious... tant mieux but don't laugh too hard lol.

Tomorrow is the beginning of week 3 of classes. So far all is going well, one of the profs is crazy and no one likes her but we'll live. I have my first assignment due on Wednesday so that's... ugh... fun? Maybe not. We were warned before leaving Canada that the marking system here is pretty different from at home and that a 14 out of 20, for example, is considered to be good. It's gonna take some sucking up of my pride to accept that as being good, and to realize that I might not even get that, so hopefully perfectionist me will be able to handle that without too much difficulty. : P

Classes!

Alright, so things are picking up here now. I have now officially survived my first week of classes here in France! All of the classes seem to be really interesting, and matches up pretty closely with what I did in my DLS classes in Ottawa. PS: not really sure why, but it seems that the longer I'm here in France the more I miss Ottawa. Maybe because things are so similar school-wise? Apparently I have un petit accent québecois (somewhat of a Quebec accent). Kind of bothered me at first just because it meant that people could pick out right away that I'm not from here but really there are lot of things that make it pretty obvious. And they all say that my accent is charmant, so whatever : P

To describe my classes a little more, everyone in the SODILANG (Sociolinguistics and Didactique (teaching) of Languages... roughly) Master 1 program (all 22-ish of us... it's a pretty small group, again like DLS in Ottawa... aww I miss you guys!!), we all take the same courses together. No choices as far as when the classes are offered which makes things a lot more simple. For Sher and I, and the guy, Dimitri, who is going to be coming to SFU in January, we aren't required to take all of the 9 courses since we have a full year after this semester. So we have 7 required courses but we are allowed to register in more if we want. I am going to register in the classes that I have to take plus one other one that I find to be really interesting. Shannon: in that class we're doing a unit on Simulations Globales... the prof made me try to explain it to the class... lol. I'm also going to show up to the other classes that are optional (except for a research one because, well, honestly it sounds boring plus it would be a fourth class with the teacher here that nobody likes. She's... special. Really hard to follow, jumps from topic to tangent to random topic and I guess she could tell that we didn't really appreciate her much because at one point during class she says, out of nowhere that she doesn't care if we like her or not, she's just there to teach us and it's the subject matter that counts.... we all just looked at each other like wtf??!!! So ya...) But... this is also for Shannon lol... going to either just attend or actually register in another optional class: Multimédia. Ya, and get this: went to the first class on Friday, and LEARNED stuff!!! Not exactly Dudley's class huh? I'm hoping it'll be a mix of my Dudley experience and yours... ie learn something but not ridiculously full of forums : P So far the prof hasn't even mentioned forums so I'm thinking I'm in the clear haha.
So ya, everyone in the program is really nice and it's a total mix. Not many, only about 3 people plus kinda me, did their degree in FLE (français langue étrangère - french as a foreign language)... PS pronounced flugh here (rhymes with ugh like ugh I dont want to do that lol)... no FLS or DLS here. I've learned the difference, sort of, between FLE and FLS - the S being second ... I won't bore you with the details here but it's interesting since I've only ever used langue seconde... basically because its Canada and since French is an offical language its not foreign ie étrangère so therefore seconde lol... oh god I am such a freak sorry guys!!)
Right so people in my class... lol how about those tangents? ... About half of the class is French francophone but there are a number of us that are not from here. Obviously Sher andI from Canada, Xiao from China, Tina and Solvenja (I think...) from Germany, can't-remember-her-name from Russia, and four people from Algeria (their names are hard to pronounce... Nassima is the girl but then there are 3 guys and I have no idea of their names... I'll learn them soon hopefully!) So it's definitly a mix of people which is awesome.
As far as course work, it's going to be pretty intense with presentations (ahh!) and readings but true to DLS form... NO EXAMS YAY!! In class devoirs sur table (basically written tests) at the end but nothing in the actual exam time frame so yay yay yay!
So that's school. Today (Saturday) Sher and I got internet!! It's a funky little USB Key that basically gives wireless internet. Not overly expensive (and we get the first 2 months at half price) but it's limited to 1GB per month for the price we pay and then we have to pay per MB after that so that makes things a little less yay. Buuuuuut it means so more Macdo nights which is a SUPER YAY and will be incredibly helpful for looking up little things for school, etc.
On a not so fun but kind of stupidly funny note: something's really messed up with the mail system (or lack of it) here. Sher and I went together to the Post Office here just over a week ago and set up a bank account there... everything was done for us both at the same time. Ok, got it? Same thing, same time, same address, same everything... since then she has received at least 5 things in the mail from them (documents that we need, a notice for her to go pick up her bank card)... me: nothing. I went with her to pick up the card and we asked there if there was any chance that I had a package (ie card) there too and yup, sure enough it was there. But my pickup notice was never delivered to me, we went downstairs last night (the courrier is kept with and sorted by the nightshift security people... dont ask, it's too weird) and nope, nothing for la petite canadienne dawson. So I'm going to have to figure out what's going on with that. However, the nightshift guards downstairs are tooooooo freekin hilarious! Sher and I spent a good 15 mins or so chatting with them last night. They LOVE that we're canadian. The old guy calls us his cousins because canada is like family to france lol. Apparently he watches all these reports/documentaries on Canada, so he was joking with us about Cariboo and Beavers (oh god Bear, beavers ahahaha) and what not. The other guy that was there actually listens to Radio Canada lol. The old guy kept saying tabernak câlice!! Sher and I were both like, ooo you can't just say that like that lol... it doesnt mean much to people here but being from Canada it's hard not to look around to see who heard him say that lol. It's like out of nowhere just shouting out FUCK SHIT!!! Ya... not likely to go over so well. But we knew he was just doing it to be funny ... and really it was so hey lol.
Anyway, I'm sure this only took you a sweet couple of days to finish reading (no comment on your reading skills ... ahem... more on my randomness and amazing tangent jumping skills). Can you tell it's been a while since I used English? I need to get it all out in one very long shot. Time to go cherche my laundry and hope I didnt put too much soap... it has a tendancy of going everywhere... : S
Ciao guys... miss you!!!

MacDo's... observations

So I spend a lot of time at Macdonalds here, simply because they offer free internet (although most of the time Sher and I are considerate enough to actually pay the ridiculous price for a bottle of water), and each time I notice some new interesting fact about MacDo's in France. I'm just going to keep adding to the list as I go along.

1. Other than the ordinary repulsive smells of fake food, the place is actually nice. Tables set out nicely, you can eat outside on the terrace... it doesn't really have the traditional cheap feel of Macdonalds in Canada.
2. Along with your Perrier, you can also buy beer. Yup, if a big mac and beer is your thing then just head to MacDo's and you're set. I have no idea if there's an age limit or what, I mean, this is France after all.
3. For the washrooms (free public washrooms are very hard to come by in France!), there's a code that you have to enter which is written at the bottom of your receipt. ie: buy something to get the code and then you can use the washrooms. Ya but, you really only have to ever buy something once, or maybe twice to get the gist of it, because the code is always the same. And not exactly easily forgotten either: 1234. So in case you find yourself in France, needing a washroom and not too far from a Macdonalds.... I wouldnt be surprised if it was the same in all of the locations lol.
4. They bring your food to you. Yups, service at a Macdonalds... what?! I'm not saying it's fine dining or anything though obviously... kind of reminds me of 60's diners where they'd be on rollerskates and bring your food up to your car or whatever.

À la recherche d'un trésor précieux (in search of precious treasures)

So... the residence that we're staying in here is, well, cheap VERY cheap and therefore kiiiiinda sketch. But again, very cheap so no complaints. However, on the sketch-note - no toilet paper to be found in the building when we arrived. Obviously a problem. So Sher and I were on a very single-minded mission to find some ASAP. We wandered all over town our first evening here hoping to find somewhere where we could get some tissue of some sort. But there are no 24-hour stores here (or at least not that we found) and our search for the night ended with me remembing the precious small amount of kleenex that we had taken from the plane. So the next day, on what turned out to be the wrong way to the university, it was all that we could do to restrain ourselves from mugging the guy walking down the street with what in his arms? Toilet paper. I have never looked so longingly after such a simple thing. We ended up stealing some from the washroom at the restaurant we ate lunch at and then FINALLY finding a supermarket where we were able to buy our own. So all's good now, mission accomplished - now if only the housing people would find us some pillows (i gave in and bought myself a cheap little thing but a real pillow would be amazing)!!
Today we went to FNAC (a store kind of like future shop) because Sher's new cell wasn't working. PS: my new number is 011 33 06 33 17 17 70. Text me, I'll text you back!
We also checked out the library and found out what we need to bring in to get a card... hopefully I can get that next week : ) Right now Sher and I are sitting in Macdonald's abusing their free internet... like we've done every night since we got here lol. There's no way for us to have internet in our residence so this is what we've resorted to. It stinks but hey, it's still France so they serve a small chocolate with your coffee.... things could be worse lol.

My France Address... please write, I miss you guys!

Résidences Universitaire Sanitas
Bd de la Lattre de Tassigny
B.P. 4130
37041 Tours Cedex
FRANCE

10km race (Course de 10km de Tours)!!

Check out this link to see the 10km race I'm gonna run at the end of September! (It's in French but you're all smart cookies so you'll at least be able to get an idea of what is all about!)

http://www.lanouvellerepublique.fr/20kmdetours.html

Pre-Departure - Almost set to go!

So another France adventure is beginning in just 5 days!! This week has been incredibly stressful and full of ups and downs. On Tuesday Sher & I got our visas (yay!!), Wednesday we booked out flights and (finally!) found out that *shocker* we actually have a place to stay once we get there.

So much stress leading up to all of that, what with not hearing anything at all about housing and going into the French consulate minus a key document, but it all worked out - I'm still reeling from the shock of it all lol. Today was my last day at camp Eminata, so very bittersweet!

So my summer vacation officially begins now. Time for packing, running, travelling and exploring (ie intentionally getting lost) in France!

I'm sooo excited about going but I will definitely miss all of you while I'm gone!! (Get ready for some fabulous postcards!!) And I promise to keep you updated as often as I can.