School and....Stuff

Hi,

So by the time I had the time to write yesterday, I was way too tired to even try writing anything. But this way, you get to hear about my first day of school. Aren`t you lucky?

Yesterday we were divided into separate groups for vans to the train station; mine got up around six in order to catch a train at nine (I know; I was saying, `really?`too). The AFS volunteer at the station gave the four of us tickets to Orleans, and we were rather unsettled by this because only one of us was going even close to Orleans, and for one of us Orleans was almost in completely the wrong direction. But everything worked out; we got off at the station we were told to get off at, and an AFS volunteer met us almost immediately, followed closely by the members of our host families. Catherine, Lea and one of their neighbors in the grade below me named Marie-Eva were there (Camille will be at the university until April). We played some board games and walked around Mettray during the afternoon; that evening, they had a little party so that the neighbors and some of my classmates could meet me, which was really sweet of them to do. They had a good number of questions about New Mexico and the US in general; everyone seems fascinated when I tell them I can drive, and moreover that I drive myself to school. Oh, and when you hear about the French kissing each other`s cheeks when they meet each other-- it`s utterly true. When someone arrives at a party, they have to kiss everyone there. On the bus, everyone who knows each other kisses good morning. If you find someone you know in the hall at school, you kiss hello. I shouldn`t be surprised by this, but it`s just not what I`m used to (rather like the keyboard I`m typing with). Some people try to shake my hand since they know I`m American, and that just confuses me more, since I`m expecting them to offer their cheek and not their hand...

Anyway, school:

I got up at six-thirty this morning to go out and meet my bus while it was still dark and cold and raining (it actually snowed a little today). One of the neighbors in the grade below me named Jean walked me there, where I saw some more familiar faces from the party and felt better about things. One of them, a girl named Suzanne, decided she was going to be my mentor and showed me everything, which was a good thing: I was almost completely lost during some of the discussions of the schedule and etc. We worked that out during the first period over coffee: I`m following the Litteraire track, which means that most of my classes are in the language/literature/social studies category (two hours of math per week-- whoo!!!). I`m taking French literature, History/Geography, Spanish, Mixed Math (I`m told that since all the Litteraire people are in it that it`s pretty easy; I`m keeping my fingers crossed), Phys Ed (obligatory all three years in high school, but only for two hours per week), something called `scientific instruction` (which evidently translates into physics and biology, alternating every week. Another two-hour deal), a Social Studies, Theater/Cinema (the `heavy` track; five hours per week), and in place of Latin, I`m doing Italian...at level two (I think it should come fast, though, with my Spanish, French and Latin... I hope. But it seems really fun: they`re doing a study of opera right now, so we`re going to the opera next week as a class, which I`m looking forward to).

...You know, reading over that, it sounds a thousand times worse than it is. But it really isn`t as terrible as it sounds. The eight-to-six schooldays are definitely going to take getting used to, but I can follow the class material pretty well as long as my attention doesn`t wander (students talk as much during class as in the US and it is even more distracting when you`re having trouble understanding the language), and the day only goes until four on Tuesdays and twelve on Wednesdays, so I think I`ll survive. Besides, I`m guaranteed sucess in at least one class: English.

English is obligatory for all students, so I couldn`t opt out for being a native speaker, but after attending the first class today I`m glad I didn`t. The students were really excited to have me there, as was the teacher (who was really nice, and really funny). They made me a little video where they all introduced themselves, and it was really sweet, as well as funny: there was another Lost fanatic in the class (`I always watch the subtitled version, because the dubbed version sucks`), another person who loved tomatoes, and evidently more psycho-killers than you`d first be inclined to think (I think someone found psycho as a synonym for crazy, and the usage caught and spread like wildfire). And it seems I`m just as much of an oddity here as in the US: they all think I`m crazy for liking Proust and Baudelaire, and have heard of none of the things I read or listen to, while I keep disappointing them by saying, `No, I don`t really like Akon/MTV/Tom Cruise/etc`(I seem like a real idiot because I don`t recognize the French pronounciations of the American names a lot, but I usually get it when they repeat it and express their amazement, because everyone in the US knows X, right?).

So, yes. In short, thanks to Suzanne, who I clung to like a lost puppy, I survived my first day attending a real French lycee and am actually looking forward to tomorrow.

Dinner is soon, and I don`t really have much left to say, so from now on these are going to become a Saturday or Sunday evening thing (afternoon for you all). So, a bientot!