Well it's been a week since my last update, so I thought it would be a good time to catch y'all up on what's going on in my life. I have had quite an exciting week! Last week classes started at the uni but since only two of my classes started last week, I have had a lot of free time! Last Wednesday I ended up hanging out with my girls, Paula and Dijana, and we went out to a bar with some other friends and we met up with a French guy who we had met at a club the weekend before. He was really nice and we had a great time! Thursday I had my second class, Modern History. The lecture was HUGE, probably a couple hundred people at least and every single French person took notes meticulously! They even use RULERS here to take their notes, I kid you not! So then that afternoon we went to the discussion section which is with one of the professors. It was my scariest class experience yet! The professor is about 30 minutes late for whatever reason, so he comes in and starts taking attendance. After he finishes the names, me and my two friends from the program haven't had our names called, along with numerous other French people. The French students raise their hands and tell him that he didn't call their names to which he responds (translation): "ARE YOU SURE YOU'RE REGISTERED!? WELL, YOU MUST BE MISTAKEN! GET THE HELL OUT OF MY CLASSROOM, NOW! GO, GET OUT!! THIS IS RIDICULOUS! WE SHOULDN'T HAVE 40 PEOPLE IN THIS ROOM WHILE OTHER SECTIONS ONLY HAVE 20. GO ON, GET OUT!!" I was TERRIFIED and I didn't know if we should go or stay, but then my roommate gets the courage to ask whether or not the APA students are allowed to stay, to which he responds "YES!". It was very terrifying and Im not so sure about this class now, but it is too late to change...
Thursday night I went out again. My friends at Sciences Po (the political science school) invited me to go with them to their "soirée d'intégration", which is where the school rents out a club for the night for all the students of the school and we just party and have a good time. Beforehand we went to Lorrenz's apartment. Lorrenz is this really cool guy from Germany who is studying at Sciences Po for the year and we hung out with him and his two French roommates. They were all really awesome. Then we walked to the club around 1am, where we arrived at the biggest shitshow I'd ever seen. Im pretty sure we were the only sober ones in the bunch. On the side of the building there was a group snorting cocaine and at the entrance we find a girl with her face in the bushes, puking her guts out. Lovely. Inside the club the shitshow continues but we end up having a lot of fun. They played some kuduro (although I was the only one who knew how to dance to it) and then towards the end of the night, they started playing weird American 80s songs and then they played Cotton Eyed Joe, which I just don't understand why it's so popular here. That would have cleared the dance floor if they played that in the States...
Friday night I met with my French family with whom I am doing an exchange. I am going to be working with their kids on English and then they will feed me dinner and we will speak only in French. My mom, Véronique and her daughter Dorine picked me up at the Rotonde. We greeted each other with the bise and then they drove me to their lovely home which is about 30 minutes from downtown Aix (45 in the traffic we had). They have the most beautiful home on a hill with a view of the other side of the mountain and the countryside surrounding it. They have a beautiful garden, pool, and just a beautiful home in general. Everyone was so welcoming to me and it really felt nice to be in a family environment since I am so far from home. We didn't even speak one word of English. Instead, me, Véronique, Dorine, and her other daughter Camille ended up watching a classic French film, Les Visiteurs, and then we had this amazing dinner and finished the movie afterwards. I spent 5 and a half hours with them and they drove me home around 10:30pm. I was so unbelievably grateful for their hospitality! I can't wait to meet up with them again this week! After that, I ended up meeting up with some friends for "tequila Friday". We drank tequila at my friends place and then went to a bar where there was dancing. We stayed until close and then decided to go home afterwards instead of going clubbing because we were too tired.
Saturday I helped my friend Emma prepare for our friend Ashley's birthday. We got some wine, cheese, bread, and a delicious "tarte aux framboises" (strawberry tart) which I ended up dropping on the way home, but luckily it was in a box and we just had to put a bunch of the strawberries back on top. A bunch of friends, new and old, came over to celebrate. We ended up chilling outside (literally, it was freezing) with a bunch of friends. Even Emma's proprietor joined in the celebration. Then we moved inside to play "la bataille corse" aka Egyptian Ratscrew. It was so much fun and so intense that David, our French/Belgium friend, ended up breaking the table! haha. Afterwords we went out for a little drink and then we all turned in early.
Sunday I spent the day with my roomie and another friend. We had a nice leisurely lunch and then we went to this big "vide-grenier" (garage sale) thing on the Cours Sextius. I bought Ashley a German-French dictionary for her bday and I bought two classic French books. Monday I had my creole class again, which I love, and then I got some books for my history class. That night a few of us went out to dinner with Ashley for her bday and we spent at least 3 hours at the restaurant. Im starting to love this slower pace of life here. It is nice to be able to just spend hours around a table eating food and spending time with friends.
This evening I am heading to the Fac d'éco to meet my boss so she can show me how to use the equipment in the room since I START TEACHING NEXT WEEK! WOO! I will be teaching 3 English classes all on Tuesdays. One from 9-10am, then 10-11, and then an afternoon one from 1-2. I am so excited! I think this will be a great opportunity for me and it will technically be my first real job in the career area that I am studying for! I am so excited! Plus, it'll be nice to be at least getting a little income while I'm here. Well, Im off for now. Finish some laundry and then I have to go out and get a baguette for my lunch and dinner.
Paix,
Doog
<3
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