My daily schedule during the week generally consists of waking up for class, eating breakfast that my host mom left out for me (homemade yogurt, bread, fruit, and coffee), walking to class, sitting through 3 hours of Oral Expression and French Language classes, going out to lunch with friends, and usually doing something around the city (like the excursions or just wander a little) before coming home. We always eat dinner together, and after dinner I’ll either stay in if I’m tired, go out to the bars in the old section of town with friends, or go to a movie with my host mom.
When I first got here, I was absolutely terrified. The unpleasant reality is that I’m honestly not good at speaking French, or understanding when real French people speak to me. I almost panicked at first, but I’m slowly starting to understand more and gaining a little confidence talking to my host mom and other people. I know it’ll take time to improve, but the thought that I will be studying at a French University with French students is daunting!
Tours is gorgeous and I’ll be sad to leave in a week, though not too sad because I’ll be heading to Paris! Tours definitely has a fun nightlife, lots of museums and sites to see, and has all of the perks of being a smaller city such as nicer townspeople and adorable markets. I have a few favorite places in Tours right now. This is odd, but on my walk to and from class everyday, I pass a corner a few blocks from my house that smells incredible. There’s some tree on the corner that must emit this amazing fragrance! I wish I could somehow bottle it up because I know that once I leave Tours, I may never smell it again! Another one of my favorite places is a small park not too far from my house or the Institute. It only takes a few minutes to circle the park, but it has grassy areas and a pond with swans and huge trees and it’s just very peaceful and beautiful. The park also smells good because of all of the flowers.
One random observation: French people are in fact much skinnier than Americans. Which is amazing considering how much they love/eat dairy! And I see most people eating sandwiches for lunch! Not to mention there are many pastry shops that carry gorgeous desserts that smell even more amazing than they look. I haven’t indulged yet but I definitely will before I leave.
I’ll detail a couple of interesting nights out to liven up this blog a bit:
I got to Tours on a Friday. On Saturday night, I went out with my roommate and a bunch of other people from our program. In the old part of town, there’s a square that we affectionately call “Place Plume” that contains the nightlife of the city. It just has a bunch of bars, cafes, and restaurants and it’s always busy on the weekends. We hung out at one bar but decided to move on to another one since our group had expanded. What we didn’t account for was the fact that the place was so crowded and we couldn’t find a table big enough to accommodate us all. Somehow, we managed to find a table with 2 French guys already sitting there and they let us sit with them. It being my second day in France, I was still too scared to say much to them, but we did talk a bit. They bought a round for the table and then told us about a night club that they would be heading to later. We decided to accompany them to the dance club. It was empty at first but more people starting showing up until it was very crowded! It was hilarious! They played a lot of strange British Pop and American oldies. We danced and had a good time, but I couldn’t help just being amused by the French people dancing and singing along. At one point, one of our French friends from earlier tapped me on the shoulder, said something in French, and looked slightly upset. In French, I asked him if he wanted to dance with us (meaning the group), but either I said it wrong or he had other things in mind, so he grabbed my hand and we swing-danced to some song. It was so incredibly awkward and funny. He dipped me at the end of the song but nearly dropped me! (He definitely was not sober). When the song ended, he thanked me for the dance and disappeared and I went back with my friends.
My other amusing story comes from last night. Thursday nights are supposed to be a big night out in Tours, so we decided to see what it was like. My roommate and I met up with some friends at a store to buy some wine and we walked to the Loire River to hang out. Apparently word had gotten out, and there were already about 20 people from my program hanging out there. We all sat under the bridge and had a good time until a group of about 8 French men walked up to us and started harassing us. I had one guy sitting next to me, talking to me and getting increasingly closer. Don’t worry mom, there were a lot of us around, including boys, so nothing bad was going to happen. The guy who was hitting on me asked me for my number (in French) and said some cheesy pick up line. I said I didn’t have a phone. After a little bit, we started getting annoyed by this intrusion, so we all picked up and some of us headed to Place Plume to hang out more. We stayed there until the bar was closing. On the way home, I wandered back with a few friends. We were talking along Boulevard Beranger and goofing off as we were about to head our separate ways for home when 3 people on bikes rode by us and stopped. One guy on the bikes explained in perfect English with an Irish accent (but he was French) that he and his friends were heading to a party not far from there. He and his friends (and everyone at the party) were in medical school and would speak to us in French and we should absolutely come with him. After some debating with my friends, I decided I wanted to go, so we all walked there with these random French people. We asked the girl in the group if we could trust her guy friends and she said yes, so we deemed the situation safe. We got to the apartment and went inside. The party was a little dead, most of them were already probably coming down from being drunk. However, we did talk to some of them and they were really nice! It was so cool being able to talk to French people around our age, especially med students! Half of our little group went home early, so when I finally decided to leave, I was with 2 other friends. Our English/Irish-speaking host walked my 2 friends to the street that they would take to get home, and he actually walked me to my gate. By the time I got to bed, it was already 4 AM. It was definitely an eventful night!
Well I think this entry is plenty long. I would write smaller entries but I don’t have internet in my house so I can’t post as frequently. Don’t forget that you can all write me emails at dscooper@wustl.edu or send me snail mail at Sweet Briar College, 34, rue de Fleurus, Paris, France, 75006.
Au Revoir!
When I first got here, I was absolutely terrified. The unpleasant reality is that I’m honestly not good at speaking French, or understanding when real French people speak to me. I almost panicked at first, but I’m slowly starting to understand more and gaining a little confidence talking to my host mom and other people. I know it’ll take time to improve, but the thought that I will be studying at a French University with French students is daunting!
Tours is gorgeous and I’ll be sad to leave in a week, though not too sad because I’ll be heading to Paris! Tours definitely has a fun nightlife, lots of museums and sites to see, and has all of the perks of being a smaller city such as nicer townspeople and adorable markets. I have a few favorite places in Tours right now. This is odd, but on my walk to and from class everyday, I pass a corner a few blocks from my house that smells incredible. There’s some tree on the corner that must emit this amazing fragrance! I wish I could somehow bottle it up because I know that once I leave Tours, I may never smell it again! Another one of my favorite places is a small park not too far from my house or the Institute. It only takes a few minutes to circle the park, but it has grassy areas and a pond with swans and huge trees and it’s just very peaceful and beautiful. The park also smells good because of all of the flowers.
One random observation: French people are in fact much skinnier than Americans. Which is amazing considering how much they love/eat dairy! And I see most people eating sandwiches for lunch! Not to mention there are many pastry shops that carry gorgeous desserts that smell even more amazing than they look. I haven’t indulged yet but I definitely will before I leave.
I’ll detail a couple of interesting nights out to liven up this blog a bit:
I got to Tours on a Friday. On Saturday night, I went out with my roommate and a bunch of other people from our program. In the old part of town, there’s a square that we affectionately call “Place Plume” that contains the nightlife of the city. It just has a bunch of bars, cafes, and restaurants and it’s always busy on the weekends. We hung out at one bar but decided to move on to another one since our group had expanded. What we didn’t account for was the fact that the place was so crowded and we couldn’t find a table big enough to accommodate us all. Somehow, we managed to find a table with 2 French guys already sitting there and they let us sit with them. It being my second day in France, I was still too scared to say much to them, but we did talk a bit. They bought a round for the table and then told us about a night club that they would be heading to later. We decided to accompany them to the dance club. It was empty at first but more people starting showing up until it was very crowded! It was hilarious! They played a lot of strange British Pop and American oldies. We danced and had a good time, but I couldn’t help just being amused by the French people dancing and singing along. At one point, one of our French friends from earlier tapped me on the shoulder, said something in French, and looked slightly upset. In French, I asked him if he wanted to dance with us (meaning the group), but either I said it wrong or he had other things in mind, so he grabbed my hand and we swing-danced to some song. It was so incredibly awkward and funny. He dipped me at the end of the song but nearly dropped me! (He definitely was not sober). When the song ended, he thanked me for the dance and disappeared and I went back with my friends.
My other amusing story comes from last night. Thursday nights are supposed to be a big night out in Tours, so we decided to see what it was like. My roommate and I met up with some friends at a store to buy some wine and we walked to the Loire River to hang out. Apparently word had gotten out, and there were already about 20 people from my program hanging out there. We all sat under the bridge and had a good time until a group of about 8 French men walked up to us and started harassing us. I had one guy sitting next to me, talking to me and getting increasingly closer. Don’t worry mom, there were a lot of us around, including boys, so nothing bad was going to happen. The guy who was hitting on me asked me for my number (in French) and said some cheesy pick up line. I said I didn’t have a phone. After a little bit, we started getting annoyed by this intrusion, so we all picked up and some of us headed to Place Plume to hang out more. We stayed there until the bar was closing. On the way home, I wandered back with a few friends. We were talking along Boulevard Beranger and goofing off as we were about to head our separate ways for home when 3 people on bikes rode by us and stopped. One guy on the bikes explained in perfect English with an Irish accent (but he was French) that he and his friends were heading to a party not far from there. He and his friends (and everyone at the party) were in medical school and would speak to us in French and we should absolutely come with him. After some debating with my friends, I decided I wanted to go, so we all walked there with these random French people. We asked the girl in the group if we could trust her guy friends and she said yes, so we deemed the situation safe. We got to the apartment and went inside. The party was a little dead, most of them were already probably coming down from being drunk. However, we did talk to some of them and they were really nice! It was so cool being able to talk to French people around our age, especially med students! Half of our little group went home early, so when I finally decided to leave, I was with 2 other friends. Our English/Irish-speaking host walked my 2 friends to the street that they would take to get home, and he actually walked me to my gate. By the time I got to bed, it was already 4 AM. It was definitely an eventful night!
Well I think this entry is plenty long. I would write smaller entries but I don’t have internet in my house so I can’t post as frequently. Don’t forget that you can all write me emails at dscooper@wustl.edu or send me snail mail at Sweet Briar College, 34, rue de Fleurus, Paris, France, 75006.
Au Revoir!
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