Measurements

I was making crêpes this morning and thinking about how the U.S. and the rest of the world use totally different systems to measure, well, everything. Miles/kilometers, cups/grams, gallons/liters, fahrenheit/celsius, dollars/euros/pounds/whatever, etc. It gets somewhat confusing when I look at a measuring cup and have to actually think about how much of something I'm putting in. It gets even more confusing when I have to explain a measurement to someone who isn't familiar with the American system. When it comes to the question, "How far is something in the U.S. from something else?" I usually start trying to explain then end up saying how long it takes to get between the two places. I can do temperatures pretty quickly thanks to chemistry class, but money is difficult because the conversion is never exactly the same. Maybe this is just a problem for me because I suck at math, but it is sometimes really difficult to a figure out the numbers and then to explain them in French! It would be so useful to all use the same system (not that I think that'll ever actually happen).

One Month

So...I've officially been here one month. Wow. It's gone by really fast, but it's been (mostly) great.

Almost had my phone line cut today because the company thought I hadn't sent them my address. When I tried to call their customer service line I couldn't understand more than four words of what the recording was saying so I had to rush downtown before class and take care of it. And that is my adventure of the day.

The Last Couple Of Weeks

Yes, I’m a terrible blogger. Even Andrew has been asking when I am going to post again, so here goes. I still don’t have functioning internet in my apartment-I bought the USB key but for some reason it is having trouble making an actual internet connection. I’m posting this from the McDonalds down the street from UHA.

Since I last posted, I’ve been on two weekend excursions and had a quiz in one of my classes. In my linguistics class, we took a quiz in which we were given a passage with certain words underlined and we had to identify the type of word (noun, adjective, etc.)  and then identify its properties (plural, masculine/feminine, type of noun/adjective, article, etc.). I thought I had done fairly well, but then she went over the quiz afterward and I know I didn’t write enough to satisfy her. However, based upon the groans of the rest of the class I don’t think I was alone. The class itself isn’t that difficult-my professor is fairly easy to understand and she repeats things if necessary. My most difficult class in that regard is Renaissance Literature, in which the professor does not speak loudly enough.

Last Saturday (12 February), most of the Erasmus Exchange Students took a trip (paid for by the University) to Markstein, which is a ski resort about an hour away in the mountains. We were originally supposed to cross-country ski to a little restaurant/farm about 5 kilometers away from Markstein, but there was little to no snow on the ground so we ended up walking the whole way. The food at the restaurant (la Ferme du Haag) was traditonal Alsacian fare called Fleischschnacka, which is essentially beef rolled into a snail-like shape. It and the blackberry pie that followed were fantastic. Eating as much as we did made the walk back to Markstein very difficult but it was quite an enjoyable trip. After I got back I met up with Caroline and her friend Pauline and we went to one of the local movie theaters and saw “Black Swan”, which I have wanted to see since it came out.

Last week was spent attempting to get my internet working and arranging this weekend’s trip to Basel. Thursday night a few of us went to the movie theater to see “Rien à Declarer” (an actual French movie!) or “Nothing to Declare” in English. It was quite funny and was worth going to see. Friday night two knew exchange students arrived from Spain so some of us went to a local bar to meet them. I got to have my first Guinness, and it was quite enjoyable.  The two exchange students don’t speak French so the night was spent speaking English, because everybody who was there can speak it to some degree. There were two native English speakers, one non-native speaker who studies in Scotland, and the rest have all studied English at some point. Many students in Europe are apparently required to study two languages, and English is often one of them.

Yesterday (19 February), Marilena (from Romania), Karolina (from Poland), and I took a train to Basel, Switzerland for the day. We left fairly early in the morning so we would have a lot of time to explore the city. The train ride is about 30 minutes and I must say that it does make going places much easier! The most difficult thing of the day was the language barrier-Basel is in the German-speaking part of Switzerland and none of us speak more than three words of German. Fortunately the people who work in the train station (where we needed the most help) speak French as well. We visited the Basel Münster cathedral, the oldest portions of which were built in the 9^th century. I tend to get very excited over buildings that are more than 400 years old because unlike my European friends, I don’t get to see that type of architecture on a semi-regular basis. All of the oldest and most famous buildings in the United States have a basis in architecture that originated in Europe, and I find it fascinating to visit these old buildings. We also visited the Rathaus, or the town hall of Basel. It was constructed over time between 1501 and 1901. We spent the rest of the day walking around the city, arguing over directions, and taking enough pictures that we compared ourselves to Japanese/Chinese tourists (the jokes have apparently made it to Romania and Poland). Overall, it was a fun day, though very tiring. One would think I’d get used to walking for hours, but so far I haven’t. Hopefully I will soon as I intend to go on more trips!

I have no idea when I’ll post again, but if I don’t post soon, feel free to leave me a message here, on facebook, or by e-mail-I promise to respond!

À bientôt!

I'm in Mulhouse!

Yes, I am aware that I'm already breaking my one post a week deal. Get over it.

So...I made it to France safely, which you already know if you're seen my Facebook or talked to my mom. I left Washington-Dulles on time and spent 8 hours on a plane to London. There was a crying baby and the man next to me kept elbowing me, so I didn't get any sleep on the plane. Instead, I watched The Social Network (which does not deserve to win the Best Picture Oscar, The King's Speech was MUCH better), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and one episode of The Big Bang Theory. I had 5 hours to kill in London which were uneventful. My flight to Basel was delayed by about 15 minutes, which had me worried since my ride wasn't going to be able to wait very long. Fortunately, it only took about two minutes to have my passport checked and to get my luggage. I met up with my ride and we drove the half hour to campus.

We went up to what was to be my living quarters for the next semester, and, well...the smell was reminiscent of my brother's freshman dorm. The room itself wasn't so bad (though small), but the kitchen appeared to be unusable and apparently only one of the four showers/toilets for 40 people tend to work at any given time. I was told instantly that I should consider changing dorms. I didn't agree right away, but I did call Caroline to come pick me up and take me to her house as we'd planned.

She came to meet me, and we drove back to her house, where I met her family. They've been so unbelievably helpful since I've been here. I apparently don't know French as well as I thought I did, so they've been translating for me and handling a lot of the business meetings to make sure nothing goes wrong, not to mention letting me stay with them while my apartment gets set up. I've had to set up a bank account, an account for electricity in my new place, and in general make sure I have al of the right paperwork in order to be in France and to attend classes. I did manage to get a new place to live this week. It's a studio apartment right next to campus. I'll post pictures eventually. The main downside is that there isn't any internet and I can't connect to UHA's wireless network from there so I have to go to the library, the café, or McDonald's to use the internet, and both the library and the café close at 8 pm on weekdays and are only open part of the day on Saturday. Hopefully I'll be able to buy a USB connection this weekend.

My classes so far are a mixed bag. I am taking the (essentially) required Français Langue Etrangère course and its associated writing course (9 hours total), two linguistics classes, and a Renaissance Literature course for a total of 18 credits. Each class only meets once per week, so I have Mondays and Fridays completely free, which feels very strange to me. I've only had each class once so far, so it's kind of hard to tell how the semester will go. I do have to say that only in France would you have a three hour block that is divided in half for a coffee break. I've met some pretty nice people since I've been here (mostly exchange students), and I think i'm going to have a lot of fun while I'm here!

Hopefully I'll update again soon. Until then, anyone reading this knows how to contact me.

A bientôt!