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!!!