first stories from Angers. :)

I love France, I love Angers, I love everything. Not once have I encountered any major language barriers. If I didn't know a word in French, I could describe what it was or how it works to get my point across.

My host mother is very nice. Her name is Claude. She has a son who is my age (adopted - he's African but completely French otherwise) and several other children. One of other sons has a daughter named Youna (spelling...I don't know) who is 3 years old. I have a French version of Lilli! :) She could never compare to the original but I will take what I can get at this point.

This morning I walked the mere .5 mile (or even less) to CIDEF for the language placement tests. I didn't know what to expect, but I wasn't really nervous anyway. The test was 120 questions - oral comprehension, written comprehension, grammar, etc. The test seemed incredibly easy to me, so I wouldn't be surprised if I were placed into the 3eme moyen or even Superieur. I think we find out the results on Monday when we start classes. That's kinda weird because how do we start classes if we don't know which level we're in??? Whatever, it's cool.

After the tests, we ate lunch at the University Caf. I can't even remember what I ate, but I remember that it wasn't very French. Maybe French fries with something else? After lunch, we took a tour of Angers - mostly of centre ville (downtown). There are 5.5 bazillion shops in the area and I definitely can't remember most of them. I remember seeing a Claire's (the American store...haha), H&M and Monoprix (that supermarché like Walmart and Target). Other than those, the stores were a mix of clothing stores, patisseries (bakeries...kinda), accessories, etc. We walked by the Chateau d'Angers, which is a castle-fortress that dates back to the Middle Ages. Recently there was a fire inside somewhere that did quite a bit of damage and they are in the process of repairing it. I don't know if that means it's entirely closed or just parts of it. I have pictures of it from the outside. If you want to see them, request and I shall upload. :)

After the tour of town, my feet were entirely numb from wearing boots with heels, so I went quickly back to my French home and changed shoes. A group of us then went shopping downtown. We went to Monoprix. I was looking for a book bag and a map of Angers, but all I found there was a map. I finally found a shop that sold book bags (for adults) on one of the main boulevards. It cost me 25 euros, which isn't too bad. It's light pink (hello!??! duh) and super cute. It was nearly dark by then, so we all decided to part ways and go back to our respective homes. Ani and her 2 other CIDEF housemates took the bus to wherever they live, while Mioko and I walked back to the Universite. We walked until Mioko recognized where she was and headed home and I walked back through the campus to get to my house (er, apartment).

I have 2 relatively funny stories to tell you. This morning when I entered the auditorium for placement testing, I was heading down the stairs and I fell - really, really hard. My knee hurt for at least 2 hours and there's a HUGE bruise on it right now. I asked one of the assistants for an ice pack, which I wore during the entire placement tests. My knee felt much better after that. Right after I fell, I swear that 3, 4, maybe even 5 people were hovered around me, asking how I was, what I hurt, etc. They told me to sit down in a chair nearby, so I did for a few minutes. After regaining my composure and telling them all that I was fine and I didn't need to go to the nurse's office, I made my way to an empty seat for testing. All day, every time I saw one of the women who helped me, they asked "ça va?" (basically means "are you okay?"), and I just laughed and said yes. Tomorrow morning, I'm sure the pain will return or my knee will be stiff. Either one, but I'm sure the "fun" isn't over yet. I always seem to make the weirdest first impression, but they seem to last because people always remember me, even years later.

My second story is from Paris the night we went to see the Tour Eiffel. In front of the monument and within probably a couple hundred feet, there are always people trying to sell Tour Eiffel souvenirs - keychains, light up Tour Eiffel's, etc. They bother you quite a bit, but if you just keep telling them no, they normally go away. Well, after visiting the Tour Eiffel, curiosity got the best of me so I asked one of them how much the light up ones were. They all pretty much told me the same thing: 5 euros. I told them (and this all happened in French - the ENTIRE time) that that was too expensive. They said, "Okay, 3 euros" and I said, "2 euros." They would always answer, "Non, 2,50 euros." (2.5 euros - when we used the "," the French use the ".". When we use the "," the French use the ",".) I kept telling them that I wouldn't pay more than 2 euros for it. I told several of them this and they kept saying at least 2,5 euros. I always said no, 2 euros only. One guy followed us down the block trying to get me to buy one, but I kept telling him no - that I would not pay more than 2 euros. He wouldn't accept the offer (he said it was too cheap), so I told him, "Vas-y, vas-y!!!" (Go away, go away!!!) several times. I probably told him 20 times before he finally left us alone. It was my first bartering experience ever, believe it or not, and it happened entirely in French. It was cool and even though it might sound sketchy to you, it was fun for me. So I have a cool story to tell people that want to know if I did anything crazy in Paris. It was crazy, but boy was it fun!!! :)

Okay, it's nearly 11pm here and I am soooo very tired. Tomorrow I have to go back to CIDEF for some sort of visit thing...I think maybe it's a tour of campus, since we already had a tour of the town today. If it's another tour of the town, I will tell them that I'm peacing out because my knees hurt from walking so much yesterday. Too much when I currently have 2 bad knees. Yes, yes, I know. I'm 20 years old and I have no right to complain, but my body doesn't have very much stamina for some reason. Sue me. =P


Je vous aime beaucoup!
jh

p.s - I learned a cool French word today - the word for heels is "talons." And it comes with announcement of extreme caution: if you don't know exactly what's on the agenda for the day, DO NOT WEAR "les talons"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's pretty much suicide.