Paris: Day Six

So it was my first day of school at Sorbonne!

I felt like a little French kid walking to school this morning. Upon arrival I discovered I tested into the second level (exactly what I wanted, not to hard and not humiliating for someone who has taken years of French without serious effort, well enough to be where I should after all these years). We got there at 8:30 as expected, and the receptionist told me my class start at 8:30 and the building was 15 minutes away.

Are you serious?

In France, many of the universities, well in Paris at least, have building spread throughout the city. It takes too much space (and money) to have a big campus altogether. This is where my metro pass came in handy. Your pass must have a signature and photo id and even comes with a laminate thing. Apparently they are really strict, but I have yet to see a metro office.

Anywho, I was obviously late. Once I walked into the classroom, I realized there were almost no Americans there.

Crap.

Asians, Brazilians, and the French professor. Only 2 other Americans. We had been advised that even the beginner classes would only be taught in French because that was the only common language that they could connect everyone with. I figured they would be the minorities, not me!

Thank God I wasn't the last to arrive. A brazilian girl soon followed (Valentina) and a delicious Italian who chose the seat right next to yours truly out of all the other empty ones.

His name is Sergo.

I think.

:)

We had that class for two hours and basically did introductions and such. I felt like I was definitely challenged enough and have a lot of hope for improving my French this month. I'm really glad I decided to force myself into doing this.

Our phonetics class immediately followed. A 30 minutes walk and 15 minutes metro excursion.

Metro it was.

This building was in an older part of town and had an awesome courtyard. In the lab our professor would say a phrase which we would repeat back into our headset together as a class and she would repeat the phrase once more. After we did about ten, that lesson was over and we listened to what we had just recorded and how we sounded against how she said the phrases. It was a really great learning tool that I wish we had in the states and that I had in my learnings in the beginning. After a half hour there, we spent a half hour in class. Actually breaking down words into syllables and phonetics. I don't think I even did that in English.

We will have phonetics for an hour everyday for the next two weeks. I really wish our French classes, or any foreign language for that matter, had this component. I feel like our professors have to cram so much in that phonetics kind of take the back burner.

Afterwards I went to the Pompidou. This is yet another art museum in Paris, but all the plumbing for the building is on the outside and it is just plain cool looking. There is a really incredible library inside that is open to the public. I spent my afternoon in there working on a project for History. If, for any reason you need a copy of the New York Times for an assignment or please, go to Pompidou. They have the New York Times dating back to 1969. Plus it is just so fricking cool. Coolest library I have ever been in, hands down. I can't wait to actually check out the museum.

Listening to my other study abroad friends, the once who have never taken French, I kind of wish I was in their shoes. To learn French right from the beginning. Not to learn it for two years then be correct or have gaps where you forgot.

I guess that is my greatest fear.

I think we go through a lot of trials and challenges in life that we soon forget. Do we ever actually permanently learn from anything? In just over 3 weeks, I will be back in the states. Without all the French around me. How quickly will I forget? All of this work just to forget again.

Will I go back to feeling dependent on my comforts of home? Will I ever travel again for extended periods? What happens when I don't "have" to go back to school?

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do

than by the ones that you did do.

So throw off the bowlines,

sail away from the safe harbor.

Catch the trade winds in your sails.

Explore.

Dream.

Discover."

-Mark Twain