Unfortunately this is not because I am so good at French now that it has taken over as my main language. No no. My French is still much worse than my English, and I probably speak in French less than half the time. However, I find myself incapable of structuring English sentences, making spell right (wtf I just reread that) and pronouncing things in an actual way. I put this down to a mixture of the following factors:
a) Pretty much all my friends here speak English, and no two have the same accent so I am forgetting how to use my own accent and say words properly
b) Because most of my friends aren’t French, we speak in a retarded mixture of English and French and whatever other language they happen to speak, so when I try to stick to just English my head collapses
c) I have to use 3 different alphabets. Not only that, but the letters they consist of overlap allowing for much confusion. In class on Monday I had to read out some Greek written in the Greek alphabet. I don’t speak Greek. Then I had to read some French written in the Greek alphabet. In class on Tuesday I had to read some French written in the International Phonetic Alphabet and translate it into the Roman alphabet, before reading some Italian written in IPA and having to guess what language it was. Then I had to read out some English in IPA for a class demo, after listening to our teacher who isn’t from here say it in whatever accent he has. Sure, this doesn’t sound that hard, but when you’ve only had three hours of sleep and you’re trying to remember which one of the three different sounds “z” could have is applicable your brain goes a bit stupid. Z could have is applicable. See what I mean?
d) In case you didn’t know, I do linguistics which means I think about language too much and forget how to use it. Like when you think about the act of walking and it makes you fall over. No?
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
I'm not going to lie to you...
... the thing I just posted was actually written by past me quite a few days ago. I don't even remember what she said. Here's what I actually did today. After several classes (where I set myself up nicely to be that annoying foreign student who thinks they know everything probably because they already took the same class in their home country and answers every question in bad bad french so that they sound like an idiot), I ventured outside of campus into the dodgy end of town. I got in the smallest lift you've ever seen and went into a small room where I sat on a rickety wooden chair that didnt match any of the other chairs in the place and looked at some faded posters as they slowly peeled their way off the wall. Then an old man came and led me into another room that smelled like cloves where he said some incoherent things in a mixture of languages and then stuck his (ungloved) hands in my mouth. Then he poked my teeth with some metal tools and sent me home.
Hot Tip: Go to the dentist BEFORE you leave Australia.
Hot Tip: Go to the dentist BEFORE you leave Australia.
Chez Moi
So, today for the first time I looked around my room and actually felt kind of at home in it. As you read this blog, please feel free to imagine me here. In fact to aid this, and in case you were wondering what conditions a reasonably poor exchange student in france is living under, here’s a quick (read: longwinded) description.
When you walk in the door you’ll see every pair of shoes I have (there are 3). Hanging on hooks there are coats; one is mine, one was leant to me by someone and one was lent to someone else by someone else, but now I have it. To the left is the bathroom. You wont see much if you open the door except a clothesline (= piece of twine strung between the shower rail and the towel rail. That was bracket equals there, not backwards stupid face) with clothes somehow attached without the use of any pegs. Walk a bit further forward and you’ll come across the kitchenette on the left. The shelf is piled quite high with French biscuits and biscottes and every kind of lentil and there are teabags scattered everywhere because I used the box to make a pencil tin. The stove has a pot of water boiling on it so that in an hour’s time I can drink tea. The fridge has cat magnets all over it. They are there to remind me that I have a budget and can’t afford to waste money on stupid crap like cat magnets. Keep going forward.
To the right is my corkboard. I’ve pinned up all my important papers, like enrolment info, emergency phone numbers, map of the campus, a picture coloured in by a 5 year old, photos of my friends dressed as archeologists from 1895 and a James Bond poster from one of the Sean Connery movies.. I don’t think I’ve seen it. Now you’re in the main part of the room.
That big map on the left is the top half of France, in case I forget where I am. Then I have a mirror on the wall, which actually consists of several small mirrors. Sometimes they misalign themselves and it looks like my head is on crooked. Behind the mirror is a built in wardrobe with about 3 things hanging up and 80 shopping bags because I consistently fail to remember to take them with me. My bed has a bright stripey quilt and several old old blankets that I like to pretend aren’t there. Then there’s the heater. When the man showed me the room he gave me instructions and diagrams for the heater, then explained and showed me how to use it just in case. And yet, no matter how many buttons I press it just does its own thing and comes on whenever it feels the need.
Next to the heater is the window with a great view of the piles of uncollected rubbish (I think I mentioned the strike), some kind of mini forest and a uni residence that does have internet in their rooms. Then there’s my “book” shelf, which actually houses tourist pamphlets, gloves, watches, army knife, padlocks, an ashtray full of foreign coins and who know what else I haven’t really looked. That girl sitting at the desk / table next to the bookshelf is me. Didn’t recognize me? That’s because everything I’m wearing I bought here in France. What’s all that crap on the desk? Well there’s a lamp and some cords and booklets and the tea/stationary box and a Christmas card from my parents, but you were probably talking about the infinite sheets of paper I’ve been using to try and create a combination of subjects that don’t clash (we have to make our own timetables). I think I’m going to end up with courses from three different degrees. Not cool. Oops I have to go downstairs and get my other clothes out of the dryer. Until next time - high 5.
Actually, while I’m here,
Gross Things I Have Eaten #4
Vegetables with Thai Curry and Soft Noodles. This was in Glasgow. I really really felt like Newtown Thai so we went into a generic Asian place and I attempted to construct Thai food using the options on offer. Big mistake. Firstly it was ready in about 5 seconds, and batch theory does not apply since no one else was in there. Secondly, the noodles were not the rice noodles I was hoping for and I don’t remember the vegetables but I wasn’t impressed. Thirdly, the Thai curry wasn’t green curry or red curry or yellow curry… it tasted like mucus.
When you walk in the door you’ll see every pair of shoes I have (there are 3). Hanging on hooks there are coats; one is mine, one was leant to me by someone and one was lent to someone else by someone else, but now I have it. To the left is the bathroom. You wont see much if you open the door except a clothesline (= piece of twine strung between the shower rail and the towel rail. That was bracket equals there, not backwards stupid face) with clothes somehow attached without the use of any pegs. Walk a bit further forward and you’ll come across the kitchenette on the left. The shelf is piled quite high with French biscuits and biscottes and every kind of lentil and there are teabags scattered everywhere because I used the box to make a pencil tin. The stove has a pot of water boiling on it so that in an hour’s time I can drink tea. The fridge has cat magnets all over it. They are there to remind me that I have a budget and can’t afford to waste money on stupid crap like cat magnets. Keep going forward.
To the right is my corkboard. I’ve pinned up all my important papers, like enrolment info, emergency phone numbers, map of the campus, a picture coloured in by a 5 year old, photos of my friends dressed as archeologists from 1895 and a James Bond poster from one of the Sean Connery movies.. I don’t think I’ve seen it. Now you’re in the main part of the room.
That big map on the left is the top half of France, in case I forget where I am. Then I have a mirror on the wall, which actually consists of several small mirrors. Sometimes they misalign themselves and it looks like my head is on crooked. Behind the mirror is a built in wardrobe with about 3 things hanging up and 80 shopping bags because I consistently fail to remember to take them with me. My bed has a bright stripey quilt and several old old blankets that I like to pretend aren’t there. Then there’s the heater. When the man showed me the room he gave me instructions and diagrams for the heater, then explained and showed me how to use it just in case. And yet, no matter how many buttons I press it just does its own thing and comes on whenever it feels the need.
Next to the heater is the window with a great view of the piles of uncollected rubbish (I think I mentioned the strike), some kind of mini forest and a uni residence that does have internet in their rooms. Then there’s my “book” shelf, which actually houses tourist pamphlets, gloves, watches, army knife, padlocks, an ashtray full of foreign coins and who know what else I haven’t really looked. That girl sitting at the desk / table next to the bookshelf is me. Didn’t recognize me? That’s because everything I’m wearing I bought here in France. What’s all that crap on the desk? Well there’s a lamp and some cords and booklets and the tea/stationary box and a Christmas card from my parents, but you were probably talking about the infinite sheets of paper I’ve been using to try and create a combination of subjects that don’t clash (we have to make our own timetables). I think I’m going to end up with courses from three different degrees. Not cool. Oops I have to go downstairs and get my other clothes out of the dryer. Until next time - high 5.
Actually, while I’m here,
Gross Things I Have Eaten #4
Vegetables with Thai Curry and Soft Noodles. This was in Glasgow. I really really felt like Newtown Thai so we went into a generic Asian place and I attempted to construct Thai food using the options on offer. Big mistake. Firstly it was ready in about 5 seconds, and batch theory does not apply since no one else was in there. Secondly, the noodles were not the rice noodles I was hoping for and I don’t remember the vegetables but I wasn’t impressed. Thirdly, the Thai curry wasn’t green curry or red curry or yellow curry… it tasted like mucus.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Sigh.
To all my loyal readers (slash people with so much time on their hands they actually bothered to come back here even though I haven’t posted in a month), and a special shout out to anyone who was trying to do legitimate research on the internet and keeps getting blogs in their google searches.
How is everyone?
So okay, no I haven’t been blogging even though I claim I am in my email signature. But I have very good reasons and excuses, most of which involve me complaining about not having the internet. I cant be bothered updating you on where else I went. I’ll save that for when I have an assignment due. Instead, here is what I’m doing now, by which I mean last week when I wrote the following somewhere in my computer:
So I am in Orléans (France), which is where I’ll be living and going to uni for the next 6 months. I’m living on campus in a studio, which is pretty neat. Neat in an arranged sense also, because it’s hard for a room to get messy when you only have 55 + 10 litres of belongings.
It is exceptionally cold. Apparently it’s the coldest winter in a long while. This morning it was -10 degrees. Make no mistakes, that’s a minus before the 10 there. (I think that makes a difference of about 45 degrees between here and Sydney?) It snowed on Monday which was my first day on campus. So everything is white. And slippery. But amazing. The campus lake is frozen over and the campus forest is A FOREST ON CAMPUS.
Some other great things about France are: pastries, dubbed old tv shows that played in Australia about 10 years ago, weird keyboards, trams every 8 minutes.
Things I didn’t realize I would miss include: real milk, English breakfast (the meal, not the tea), driving, wearing skirts, coffee (only because there’s no café within 2 metres of here), garbage collectors (they’re on strike).
My place is basically next to the arts building, and just as close on the other side is the tram stop and the local shops. So I basically don’t need to go anywhere ever. I’ve started taking the stairs instead of the elevator so that I don’t get deep vein or something.
The people at Orléans uni are probably the nicest people I’ve ever met. I’d heard horrendous things about French administration and bureaucracy, but apparently they’re doing everything for / with us.. from showing us exactly how to enroll to helping us open a bank account and lending us plates. It’s pretty sweet. I would even say tubular.
So yeah if anyone got somehow directed here because they’re planning on coming to Orléans on exchange, feel free to read on for potential handy tips slash reassurances.
Bai4now
How is everyone?
So okay, no I haven’t been blogging even though I claim I am in my email signature. But I have very good reasons and excuses, most of which involve me complaining about not having the internet. I cant be bothered updating you on where else I went. I’ll save that for when I have an assignment due. Instead, here is what I’m doing now, by which I mean last week when I wrote the following somewhere in my computer:
So I am in Orléans (France), which is where I’ll be living and going to uni for the next 6 months. I’m living on campus in a studio, which is pretty neat. Neat in an arranged sense also, because it’s hard for a room to get messy when you only have 55 + 10 litres of belongings.
It is exceptionally cold. Apparently it’s the coldest winter in a long while. This morning it was -10 degrees. Make no mistakes, that’s a minus before the 10 there. (I think that makes a difference of about 45 degrees between here and Sydney?) It snowed on Monday which was my first day on campus. So everything is white. And slippery. But amazing. The campus lake is frozen over and the campus forest is A FOREST ON CAMPUS.
Some other great things about France are: pastries, dubbed old tv shows that played in Australia about 10 years ago, weird keyboards, trams every 8 minutes.
Things I didn’t realize I would miss include: real milk, English breakfast (the meal, not the tea), driving, wearing skirts, coffee (only because there’s no café within 2 metres of here), garbage collectors (they’re on strike).
My place is basically next to the arts building, and just as close on the other side is the tram stop and the local shops. So I basically don’t need to go anywhere ever. I’ve started taking the stairs instead of the elevator so that I don’t get deep vein or something.
The people at Orléans uni are probably the nicest people I’ve ever met. I’d heard horrendous things about French administration and bureaucracy, but apparently they’re doing everything for / with us.. from showing us exactly how to enroll to helping us open a bank account and lending us plates. It’s pretty sweet. I would even say tubular.
So yeah if anyone got somehow directed here because they’re planning on coming to Orléans on exchange, feel free to read on for potential handy tips slash reassurances.
Bai4now
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