Hello from La Rochelle

No, I have not completely disappeared, but I am thoroughly enjoying my vacances de Toussaint! To quote Mark,

You are already going on vacation!!!! Have you even worked!!!!

The answer to the first part is definitely yes, and the answer to the second is not really!

Right now I am in the city of La Rochelle, on France's Atlantic coast. It is sunny and about 65 degrees and there are tons of people around. This afternoon I stuffed some Camembert wedges into a demi baguette, packed up an apple and a clementine and picnicked on the beach.

I arrived here yesterday from Bordeaux (stories to follow) and I will get on a train to Nantes tomorrow. I should be meeting up with my mom's coworker's son who is studying there. I am not sure where I will go after Nantes, but I will be back in Montluçon on Monday to pick up my apartment key!

On learning French

I wrote an entry about a month ago about my expectations for learning French, especially as compared to my expectations for Spanish two years ago. Because I am interested in bilinguism and because I’m a second language teacher, I figure it’s only appropriate to reflect on my French progress.

First, it is almost impossible to evaluate precisely the level of my French because it depends on so many factors. Of course, if I am tired, it deteriorates; if I am caught off-guard I speak poorly; and if I have a couple drinks, my French disintegrates into Spanish, which actually improves after a drink or two. In addition, there are so many subtleties of pronunciation that any sort of background noise can ruin a conversation and all I can do is mirror the other person’s body language.

Strangely enough, I also speak better French when there aren’t any other English speakers around. The other English assistants are quicker with French than I am, so I tend to get lazy and let them speak for me. I speak so much better on my own and I’m happy to say that I’ve been brave enough so put myself on several solo situations that I never would have tried two years ago in Spain, like going to running club.

A final factor that influences the quality of my French is the characteristics of the person talking to me. This relates directly to my responsibilities as an English teacher: The best conversation partners speak slowly, are patient, are expressive, and use only French to explain words I may not understand, and never resort to English.

I may need my cross country spikes!

On Sunday I wandered over to the forum des associations which consisted of probably a hundred booths for all the organizations and clubs in and around Montluçon. There was quite a variety, including nature clubs, language clubs, history clubs, the Scrabble club and the “naturalist” club which has nothing to do with the environment.

Of course, I stopped by the table for Montluçon Athletisme, the local running club. I picked up a brochure and told the two men sitting there that I was interested in running. They just looked at me for a moment before one asked, “Est-ce que vous avez déjà couri?” Have you ever run before? Yes, three marathons. They looked a little less bored and asked me my best time. Suddenly they were a lot more interested in me and began telling me all about the club, which practice I should attend, and how there’s a really fast 25 year old woman on the team – oh, and here comes the president of the association!

So I talked to the president of the association for awhile, and he told me pretty much the same things that the men at the table did. Even after we said our au revoir and I wandered around to see the other booths, he found me again to make sure I would come to practice on Wednesday.

I realized after I left that I wouldn’t have been very interested in joining if there hadn’t been any women on the team, so it was a good thing that they mentioned the fast woman.

I was a little nervous to go to practice last night, so I sat down with my French/English dictionary and made a list of potentially useful vocabulary.

When I got to the Hippodrome for practice, I realized I didn’t know exactly where I was supposed to meet with the group. Fortunately, the person I chose to ask for directions happened to be the coach! He said he had been expecting me, and we talked about my running history. He decided that I would train for a spring marathon with a winter cross country season – perfect!

He introduced me to several people, including a few women and explained my workout to me. I tagged along with a couple of the women (including the fast one, Cécile, and a 3:25 marathoner named Karine) and a few men on a warmup three times around the Hippodrome infield for about 30 min before doing drills and then beginning the workout. Mine was a little different from Cécile and Karine’s because I haven't done any speedwork in a very long time. I didn't realiwe exactly how slow I was though until they two of them dropped me within five seconds of beginning the first interval! Still, I managed to stay within a decent distance behind them and we ended up cooling down a short time together before stretching.

Both Cécile and Karine were very nice and they seemed glad to have another woman on the team. From what I understood there are now four women running cross country, along with a few sprinters, throwers and jumpers.

After this I talked to the coach again and he gave me a rough plan for the next week. I am to come back Friday for my plan for the rest of vacation time. He also told me that I can run in the first cross country race of the season November 11 if I get my medical certificate in time! Obviously, I am very excited about joining this team. I love running and competing and it seems like an excellent way to make friends and to feel like I belong here.

list day

For my most loyal of readers (hi Mom and Dad!) I have made a few lists of arbitrary things I've been thinking about recently.

Places I want to visit that I have not yet (Eurocentric):
Belfast
Tallinn, Estonia
St. Petersburg
Moscow
Helsinki
Bratislava
Nice
San Sebastián
Barcelona
Strasbourg
Amsterdam
Le Puy-en-Velay
Casablanca
Marrakesh
Liverpool
Dublin
Turkey
Krakow
Warsaw
Bucharest
Brussels
Athens
Copenhagen
Sofia

Reasons I am glad to move into my apartment on Quai de Lisle:
It has a toilet seat
Share a shower with only one person
Quieter
Better mattress
No more four-mile round trips to go anywhere
Feels more like a home
Can get a landline and internet
Can host friends!
Refrigerator!
Doesn’t smell like pee
Only three flights of stairs instead of four
More space
No more climbing the hill
Closer to my schools
Closer to the grocery store
It sits right on the river

Goals for these nine months in France:
Learn French
Find some good French lit
Make French friends
Enjoy my job
Travel a lot (I realize I won’t be able to accomplish the above list, sadly!)
Don’t spend too much money
Don’t avoid experiences because of money, or any other reason for that matter
No more speaking English in the apartment after January 1
Join the running club
Run in the Paris marathon (see the following list)
Go visit my Spanish host family
Learn how to buy good cheese

Running goals:
Sub-19 5k
Sub-40 10k
Sub-1:03 15k
Sub-1:30 half marathon (March 5 semi-marathon de Paris)
Sub-3:15 marathon (April 9 marathon de Paris)

What I love about being here:
Making new friends already!
The kids I’ve already met
Allée Jean-Charles Varennes with the beautiful bridges
Running to the reservoir lake at Etang de Sault
Inexpensive chocolate
Travel possibilities
All the challenges, even getting a new watch battery
Great boots
Clothes in my size
The green hills
Having a ton of free time

French cities I’ve visited:
Paris
Montluçon
Maillet
Clermont-Ferrand
Néris-les-Bains

What I am looking forward to:
Mark’s visit and traveling over winter break
Seeing Sandra in Belfast
My parents visit
Uncle Jim’s visit
Moving into my apartment
Going to the big discothèque near Clermont
Racing in a Montluçon Athletisme singlet
My first day of real teaching
Speaking French well
Visiting Cáceres
Not having anymore paperwork for identity card, etc
Getting a bike
My birthday

Some thoughts on being cool

First of all, my clothes are not unfashionable, I just have a very unique sense of style. The fact that I run around a lot and in shorts makes me exotic. My tendency to make silly mistakes in French is just entertaining. Don’t forget I can speak English as well as anyone for miles around, and my Lonely Planet guidebook says that my terribly thick American accent is “downright sexy.”

More seriously, you just have to take your sense of humor, desire for adventure, love of challenge and willingness to try anything wherever you go. Here’s an excerpt from a paper I wrote reflecting on similar feelings while living in Spain:

I heard my disphonic accent and my awkward grammar saw how my clothes, my hair, and even my way of walking did not fit in. I assumed that I couldn’t find a way to fit in unless I remained unnoticed…without considering how using my voice would allow me to be an individual with a unique personality y and more than just a sum of my awkward speech and unusual appearance.

Clermont-Ferrand

I spent Monday throughWednesday in Clermont-Ferrand for the training session for all the assistants in the C-F area. Meredith and I arrived in the city around 2:00 and wandered around until we were allowed to check into our hostel. We managed to see all three of the main cathedrals, which were all quite striking. The largest is constructed of volcanic rock in the Gothic style so it is dark and very imposing. We walked up a million stairs to the roof for an amazing view of the city and the Puy-de-Dome, an extinct volcano and the largest nearby peak. I am going to have to go back there to climb it sometime this year.

We had been instructed to be at the hostel at 6 to check in and be assigned to rooms, but it was chaos when we arrived. There were loads of assistants and no director to be found. This was not entirely bad, however, as it gave a lot of time to meet people, most of whom I spent time with for the rest of the week. I ended up rooming with Suzanne, a recent Stanford graduate teaching this year in Riom, and three other Riom assistants, Valentina from Italy, Gabriela from Costa Rica, and Monika from Germany. I also met for the first time the other assistants in Montluçon, Joe, Dan, and Emma (all from England, though different parts), Jen (from Canada), Daniela (from Germany) and Flor (from El Salvador). For the most part, everyone was speaking to the groups that spoke their native language.

The first night we went out to a couple Clermont bars with Alan, one of the directors and a formet assisant himself. I met several more people, including Julia from Cardiff and Kim from Dublin (who needs last names!) and we were all thoroughly entertained by Alan and Meredith's antics.

The training itself on Tuesday was not so interesting as the previous evening's activities and for the most part I sort of just wanted to go to sleep. The best part (aside from lunch of course) was Alan's speed presentation and some advice from returning/former assistants. ('Unfortunately, the town I was placed in was a tiny village and stunk from the nearby tire factory. Fortunately, the lycée I was assigned was all-girls.')

After the first day of training, I met up with my friend Jenny from Kalamazoo, currently studying in Clermont. This was our conversation:
Me: Hi, Jenny! Guess where I am.
Jenny: You're in Clermont! You have your running clothes, right§
She showed me around town on foot and we got to see her university, talked about classes, host family, learning French and her new boyfriend. It was great seeing her all the way over here in France.

I got back to the hostel in time for dinner with Suzanne before the five of us went out to an Irish pub. I had been feeling very underconfident about my French up until this point so I was nervous to go out with people where there would be no other option. (Remember, three of my roommates were Italian, German, and Costa Rican.) It was also a little intimidating for me that they all lived near each other in Riom and had already known each other for a couple weeks, but fortunately, they were all extremely friendly and patient with me, and I think my French improved massively that night.

The next morning we went back to training, fortunately more interesting than the first day. A summary of what I learned:

1. My main goal is to push the students to speak English.
2. I should speak only English (no French) in the classroom. I am not sure how this will go over with young students with little English proficiency, but I'll try.
3. I should be very expressive, much like an actor. I have noticed that the best foreign language teachers at the beginning levels really put on a show in class.
4. I should make the class fun and interesting for the students.
5. I should use a wide variety of activities, each of short duration, and make back-up plans for failed activities (which there will be).

At the end of the day, I said good-bye to my new assistant friends, made plans with the other Montluçon assistants, and headed to the train station with Meredith. Normally I hate travelling, whether by bus, train, airplane, whatever; I am just too impatient. The train from Clermont to Montluçon is only an hour and a half though and it's beautiful.

Tomorrow I am going with Domonique to visit my schools and find out my schedule (finally). I expect that Wednesday I will be teaching a class, but that may or may not happen. Even if I do start working it won't be for long because the Toussaint vacation begins Saturday. I still need to figure out my vacation plans, though -- any suggestions are welcome!

A thorough update will follow, but...

I signed the lease for an apartment! The building is quite old and it sits right on the river in the centre-ville. The stairs leading up to the fourth floor (ok, 3ème etage) are painted red and twist around the foyer. There are two rooms with the front window looking out over the river and the back looking over the city. There is a tiny kitchen off the front room and a toilet room and a shower room in the back room. It's intended to be a single apartment, but I will be sharing it with Meredith so both rooms will be bedrooms. Consider this your invitation to our houswarming party the first week in November!

I am typing this on my laptop in the university residence and obviously I have become accustomed to French keyboards because my fingers are reaching for the ‘a’ and the ‘m’ in the French locations.

I am going to try to sum up quickly what I did this weekend. I wish I could write more because it was a ton of fun, but I don’t have a lot of time...however I do have a visual aid.

Montluçon, as seen from my window.

Friday night Meredith and I, along with our Algerian hallmate Marzouk and his friend from Lyon decided to check out the nightlife in Montluçon. Before we went out, however, a couple guys who had been cooking down the hall (I can hear everything from my room) knocked on my door, and told me something about Marzouk in French I didn’t understand. We ended up getting out my dictionary to translate the main verb: tremper, to soak or to flood. Well, I thought to myself they’re probably stopping by to see if I cqn help out with the problem, so I asked them if they needed a towel. At this they began laughing hysterically. I wasn’t sure exactly what was so funny, but I figured out that there wasn’t a flood down the hall. Finally, after some rapid discussion between the two of them we found out that the one had misspelled the word in looking it up! He had meant tromper, to trick. We talked a little more after that and it was especially interesting because they are both from Morocco and this is the month of Ramadan so they fast from sunrise to sunset.

After this, Friday evening consisted of stopping by a couple bars (including watching an amazing jazz band at Le Green) before going to one of the discothèques in town, Le Pirate. It was busy for such a small town, especially because there is a mass exodus of the majority of college students on the weekend. We ended up dancing for several hours and, although I was happy that people weren’t, um, physically friendly, I wish there had been more opportunity to talk to the others there. It has been hard meeting French people so far.

Meredith had been emailing with a woman and her husband a rental deal that hadn’t worked out. They were curious as to what Americans were doing here, so on Saturday he had an invitation to go to their house for coffee and I tagged along, excited to socialize with real live French people. Anne and Jerome are both teachers and they have two kids who are two and six, and incredibly cute. We talked over tea and bread at their house before they they offered to drive us out to a lake just outside of Montluçon to take a walk. They had both studied English some, so they were very patient and talked slowly, so it was a more natural feeling conversation than those I had been having in French over the last week. Jerome gave us a lesson on the EU, why he had voted against the proposed constitution; Anne told me about some places to run and to swim; and they gave us some housing advice. Besides that, the area around the lake was beautiful and only about 5k outside of Montluçon.

Sunday was another tagalong day for me, as one of the teachers had invited Meredith to come see her choir perform. The concert was in a tiny village called Maillet, with possibly 400 inhabitants, about 45 minutes away from Montluçon by way of some twisty country roads. While Sophie and her husband (the director) rehearsed, we explored the village: at an easy walking pace, it took about 15 minutes to walk from end to end. The concert was in l’église de Saint-Denis, a very small church but probably 15th century (my guess) in Gothic style. Unlike the famous Gothic churches I have seen, this one had not been well funded for renovation, so it was crumbly. The first half of the concert was a harpsichord soloist, and then a short intermission before the baroque choir sang. The concert was very good and afterward there were refreshments – some pastries and various salé (salty) foods – that were the best food I have tasted in France so far. We socialized with Sophie and some other musicians, and I think I may have joined the larger choir.

Besides all this successful social stuff, I discovered a great running trail about two miles from the university. I think I mentioned it before, but then I had only run maybe the first mile of it. On Friday I ran about three miles out on the trail, coming up to a footbridge over a valley a couple hundred feet below just before sunset. I haven’t described the geography here, so this context is perfect for that: There are a lot of rolling hills around town, reminding me of the Appalachian foothills. The area is very green, either wooded or grassy, with farms edged by stone fences. This region could be considered the Ohio of France; there is nothing spectacular or flashy that draws tourists, but the land is beautiful and there are sights for those willing to seek them. On the left side of the bridge the grassy land rose up with a farmhouse in the distance. On the rights side of the bridge the land remained low and I could see green for miles. Obviously I came back to run here again and on Sunday morning I found a second bridge a little farther than that with another spectacular view of course before I came to the edge of Néris-les-Bains, a nearby town and turned around to run back to Montluçon.

I just returned this evening from the training session in Clermont-Ferrand, so I have a lot of catching up to do, if not for the sake of my readers than for my own sake (more likely). The next update will include mention of fun times with new friends from such places as the England, Wales, Ireland, Germany, and California; visits to all three of Clermont’s Gothic cathedrals; the introduction of six teaching assistant characters from Montluçon; and a guest appearance by a cross-country teammate.

In the words of others...

From a paragraph entitled 'English' I received today from a student because it is my last day observing there:

A small word of our class for your departure. J'espère that you have apprécier this stay in our school, like our city. Good return on your island by wishing that you find schoolboys as wise as us!!!
Kassandra

And, although I am not in Paris, some very appropriate words in the inimitable voice of Ernest Hemingway:

If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.

Toilets and more

First the 'and more' then onto the subject of toilets and finally more 'and more.'

I spent the morning in a classroom of ten year olds today. Their teacher has been trying to get me in her classroom since I started on Monday so I was glad to finally be able to spend time there. She is very young and speaks English quite well. She spent some time in New York and also in Spain, so we have a lot to talk about. We actually exchanged phone numbers at the end of the morning, which made me ridiculously happy.

She teaches some English to her class so when I arrived this morning the students each had a question for me, ranging from my name and favorite color to some adjectives I would use to describe myself. They were all very enthusiastic and after I answered each individual question the individual would politely respond 'Thank you' (or 'Sank you' - the th is a very hard sound!) and Karine would ask if they understood. Non.

After a spelling test, an oral book report, poem recitation and a math lesson, there was some extra time before lunch, so it was decided I would teach the kids an American song. In the two seconds I had to prepare, the only song I could think of was 'Black Socks.' If you know the song you qre probably cringing right now, so please help me think of better rhymes to teach in the future!

My other huge thrill of the day after getting Karine's phone number was going out to lunch with her and another teacher. We went to a plce that served food cafeteria-style, and it was very good. I shamelessly copied the French teachers' etiquette, but clearly did not succeed completely when it came to eat a peach and cheese pastry and I was lacking a spoon. No one died because I had to eat dessert with my fork, so it was not a disaster.

Since I promised myself that I would take pictures of even the most mundane things, I suppose I should also write about such things when they strike me. The subject now is, of course toilets.
When I returned from Spain someone asked me what I noticed about living in the U.S. during the readjustment process. I have a knack for saying things that are just barely appropriate, so I started talking about American toilets: “They have so much water! Whenever I flush and the water starts to rise a bit I get so afraid it’s going to overflow. I have to watch to make sure that the bathroom doesn’t flood.”

Here in France I am having the opposite adjustment problem with the toilets: They hold so little water that I am nervous that it is not enough to carry the toilet paper away. I do not want to be known as the foreign girl who stopped up the toilet and made it overflow.

I have so much I want to write about and so little time to do it. I suppose my inspiration will wane some as I get used to my surroudings and my routine, but I really want to document everything as it happens so I'll have to be satistfied with a list.

• Today in class one of the girls raised her hand, and with a look of horror on her face announced, 'I heard they eat butter made of peanuts in America!' The other children looked disgusted and I couldn't really explain how good peanut butter really is.
• I hate coffee, and I only like the taste when it is mostly sugar and milk, but at the school all the teachers meet in the lounge during recess breaks and drink coffee so I've sacrificed my taste buds for the sake of fitting in.
• Speaking of fitting in, Karine and another teacher have a great sense of style, very French to me, so I am hoping I can find out from them where all the cool kids are shopping around here.
• I am surprised how often I am asked my age here. Of course I expect it when I am getting youth discounts for train tickets and such, but all of the teachers and university students I've met have asked me. I don't know if it is because it is confusing that I look so young yet have a job, or if it is culture.
• Finally, I love French kids. They are so respectful, curious, and enthousiastic. Plus, several of them have already given me drawings they've made, which are greatly appreciated in my bland dorm room.

A day off

Business
French kids do not have school on Wednesdays so therefore neither do I. I still had to get up early, however, to meet with Dominique. Meredith and I spent the first part of the morning filling out paperwork and applying for social security. We also had to get a proof of residence from the university residence - so now I have an address! We also went to the town administration to apply for the carte de sejour (so I don't get kicked out in three months when my visa says it expires!) and I got a work permit. I didn't even know I needed one. The next Dominique-assisted project will be opening a bank account in the next couple days.

Next week I have a training session in Clermont-Ferrand Monday through Wednesday. Dominique had the official information on the location and times today. I am planning to see Jenny there, who is studing at the university through the K program.

Strikes
On a different topic, strikes are very common in France, and yesterday I experienced my first. When I went back to the cafeteria residence during lunch time it was closed without prior notice, simply a note on the door that announced that the workers were striking. Today it is open again. I need to find out exactly why they decided to strike and what it accomplished. One of the teachers at school asked me if American workers strike as much. I said not but I had to admit that I wasn't sure why, except that it seems like a difficult process, so if anyone can explain why Americans strike less (or why the French strike more and what are the consequences) I'd love to know.

Running
After a week off recuperating from being sick as well as traveling, I started running again on Monday. Meredith went with me, and we managed to find the Hippodrome (which sadly has absolutely nothing to do with hippos, although when I hear the word I still picture them) and a trail. We ran out of time to go very far on the trail, but I think it might lead out of town. I hope so, because breathing diesel exhaust kind of hurts. Yesterday I went running alone and managed to get lost for only a little bit. I'm sort of glad I managed to get lost because it means that the town isn't so tiny that I know my way around perfectly already.

On Montluçon
First of all it's very conventient that this computer has a special key for the ç symbol, although I have been frustrated several times by the apparent lack of a question mark.

Back on topic, I've earned that Montluçon has about 40,000 citizens, though it used to have about 70,000. It was formerly an industrial city but now many of the factories have closed. I had noticed that the town seems physically larger than it's happenings so that fits in with the fact about the shrinking population.

For such a small town, there is a lot of diversity. There are a lot of Muslims, some refugees from the former Yugoslavia, and I've met several students from Francophone Africa. In the classroom I visited on Monday, there was one Lebanese student and one Turkish student out of 16 total.

The old part of the city is centered around the chateau aux ducs borbonnais, or possibly a variation on that spelling. It was built around the beginning of the 15th century and sits up on a hill. The rest of the old part surrounds it. I imagine many of those buildings are about the same age, but I'm not sure.

First day of school

Yesterday I had my first day of school at l’école primaire Aristide Briand. Dominique had shown me the school on Friday when we were driving around and it is very close to campus; it might be considered part of campus, actually.

I was supposed to be there at either 8 or 8:15 so of course I planned to be there at 8. Somehow I managed to get lost. I wandered up and down the hill, looking for the familiar driveway. I started up a couple of them before deciding that they couldn’t possibly be correct. Eventually I decided it was better to call Dominique at that moment than later when I was really late, so I called and left a voicemail at his office. Two minutes later I decided to re-check one of the driveways and realized I hadn’t quite ventured in far enough the first time. I made it to school at exactly 8:15, no crisis.

The kids don’t come until 8:30 so I met a few of the teachers. Of course, after work I was talking to Meredith and at the school he went to today there were only five teachers total. So maybe I met the entire faculty! Today I observed in the classroom of the principal. Yes, that is correct – in addition to being principal of the school, she also has a classroom of first graders.

We learned a lot about the letter s when it makes the sssssss noise (as opposed to the /z/ noise). The kids read aloud from a small textbook and there was a lot of repetition of the same four sentences. They also worked on letter recognition and production: how to write the syllable sa as opposed to so or as. It’s a bit more difficult than it sounds, considering that they must also be able to read and write all of this in cursive. On that note, this was also a handwriting lesson.
The kids had a 15 minute recess in the morning about an hour before the lunch break. At 11:30 la maîtresse and I delivered the students to their parents who were waiting in the playground. Nearly all the children went home for lunch, but some stayed and ate in the cafeteria.

I returned at 1:30 for the afternoon session, which included more reading from the textbook, this time each individual had to read successfully the four sentences. Naturally, everyone else was a bit bored and distractible. The children also had a math lesson, which to me seemed really simple for the equivalent of first grade. One of the tasks they had to do was look at a number and in the following blank space fill in the next number.

Another recess followed and in the final 45 minutes the children colored while the teacher principal graded their work and helped individuals correct mistakes. The entire day finished at 4:30.

While I was there I was a bit worried about how I was going to teach English to kids who were still mastering the basics of French, but later I realized that I am assigned to teach 8-11 year olds. It doesn’t quite make a lot of sense then that I observed 6-7 year olds today, but at least it does give me a better idea of the older kids’ French and English proficiency.

Today I am in a classroom for children with 'difficulties,' which seems like a mix of learning disabilities and possibly mental retardation. I am a lot more involved in the classroom activities today, and I've had a lot of fun so far this morning. I hope to write more about today's experience later.

I have to confess that I felt very much at home in the first grade classroom yesterday; the lessons were very close to being appropriate for my level!

More about my room

I want to add a little more description about my room here at the résidence universitaire. I am on the fifth floor, which seems just ridiculous after hiking up the hill, but it allows an amazing view of the city. I believe that this may actually be the highest point in the area. From my window (which opens wide) I can see the centre ville, the river (the Cher), and the surrounding hills. My desk sits right under the window so when I eat I climb up there. Since it has gotten cold recently I have started using the windowsill as a refrigerator.

Je me depeche

I learned the title phrase today - I am hurrying! I have about 20 minutes before the library closes.

Like I mentioned before, I am living in the residence universitaire for the month. Think of a very basic dorm setup. In my room, I have a bed, a desk, a folding chair, a sink, and an abundance of shelves that makes me wonder how so few belongings could have been so painfully heavy on the trip here.

The bathroom and shower room are down the hall and, to my surprise, they are co-ed. It's not a big deal of course, just unexpected. I rarely see anyone else in the hallways, but over the weekend I think most people left.

On the first floor, there is a cafeteria that serves meals for €2 and a food service shop that sells items a la carte. On the end of my hall there is a cuisinette, but the only resemblance it bears to a kitchen is that it has q hot plate available. So if I want to eat, I have the choices of cafeteria/snack bar, restaurant in town, or any nonperishables I keep in my room. This is the main factor for wanting to find an apartment; the lack of food options is already getting tiresome.

The residence universitaire is locqted on campus of course. Montluçon itself is situated in a valley but I live on top of a hill. It's actually fairly steep, and getting to the centre ville takes about 30-40 minutes.

I'll write more about the town later, and I hope I'll be able to find some way to post photos. I've made a resolution to take at least 5 photos per day, no matter how mundane things seem.

Je suis arrivée

I am in Montluçon! After two flights, a bus, a train, a cheap hotel in Clermont, qnother train, and another bus, I arrived here yesterday. My supervisor, Dominique, helped me find a room in the residence universitaire which is quite minimal, but very cheap - just under €125 for the month of October. There is another assistant here also. He lives down the hall from me in the dorm so we've been exploring together.

I am not yet accustomed to the French keyboard (several letters and punctuation are in the 'wrong' places) so it is more challenging than usual to type. I plan to write more about what I've been doing and I will post it later when I have more time because I believe my limit here is close to expiring.

I hope all is well with everyone, please leave me comments and send me emails.

And also, I needed the damn towel. I was so smelly yesterday when I arrived that a shower was inevitable. I had to stand in the stall and drip dry for a few minutes.