Thursday, March 17, 2011
I Will Post More Later! Promise!
Hey everyone! Samantha here. I really wanted to update the blog today, but I totally just spent about an hour on Facebook checking my five million and one notifications, so I really need to get off soon. But I promise I will find some time tomorrow -- maybe during a free period -- and tell you everything. Here's a little teaser of what's to come about Paris -- two words: Opera Garnier. More later!
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Monday and Tuesday
Hey there! Jeanne here!
I have been blessed with so many things that I cannot begin to describe how I feel!
Monday was spent in Abbeville. I spent almost the entire day with her! At 1:00, I left her and had a wonderful interview with the music teacher of Claire's school. I was very nervous going into the interview because she was my first taped interview in french. Thank God Madame Shaw was there to help me!! Right after her interview, the four fellows: Chebon, Kristen, Samantha, and I had an interview with a local journalist who is doing a story about us in the paper!!! I am going to find the paper and bring it home for you all to see!! He had us talk about our projects and our time in France! He was super nice and I cannot wait to see how the story looks!
Tuesday was spent in Amiens. At 8 in the morning, Madame Shaw and I stood in front of the school in Abbeville and waited for Mr. Simmons to arrive. He had graciously offered to drive us from the school in Abbeville to Amiens. On the way there, Madame Shaw and he talked about everything under the sun; and I understood only half of what they said. I concentrated on not worrying too much about the day. I was very nervous because I was to go with the music teacher who did not speak much English to a rehearsal where I was to meet the two professional Bassoonists who did not speak much English to talk to them about music. I was then to meet two friends that I had not seen in two years in front of the Conservatoire of Music, without having a phone number to call them to let them know if something went wrong.
But, I should not have worried! At all! The rehearsal was a rehearsal of L'Orchestre de Picardie, which is a professional orchestra that travels around the Picardie region giving performances. I am going to attend one of these performances this Thursday night. :-)
During a break in the rehearsal, I was introduced to the two bassoonists and we had a wonderful talk about music. We, of course, spent most of the time talking about bassoons and bassoon music and french composers. He gave me quite a list of french composers who have writen brilliant bassoon music! I got quite a lot done during this rehearsal and I was really happy that the music teacher had arranged for me to go!
The rest of the day was spent with Allison and Cassandre. For those who do not know, I visited France with Madame Robillard in 2009 and I stayed with a family: Allison's family. I was so happy to see her and Cassandre because, as I said before, I had not seen them in two years! We talked and walked around Amiens for a few hours as we caught up. I was so sad when it came time for them to leave!
They said something really nice to me; since I stayed with them in 2009, they knew that I did not speak french very well. Today, one of the first thing they said to me was that my french was GREATLY imporved! I could actually understand what they were saying!
After a wonderful afternoon, Madame Shaw and I drove back to Abbeville with Mr. Simmons and I just had a wonderful dinner!
Paris, Part 2, is tomorrow!
Till then
I have been blessed with so many things that I cannot begin to describe how I feel!
Monday was spent in Abbeville. I spent almost the entire day with her! At 1:00, I left her and had a wonderful interview with the music teacher of Claire's school. I was very nervous going into the interview because she was my first taped interview in french. Thank God Madame Shaw was there to help me!! Right after her interview, the four fellows: Chebon, Kristen, Samantha, and I had an interview with a local journalist who is doing a story about us in the paper!!! I am going to find the paper and bring it home for you all to see!! He had us talk about our projects and our time in France! He was super nice and I cannot wait to see how the story looks!
Tuesday was spent in Amiens. At 8 in the morning, Madame Shaw and I stood in front of the school in Abbeville and waited for Mr. Simmons to arrive. He had graciously offered to drive us from the school in Abbeville to Amiens. On the way there, Madame Shaw and he talked about everything under the sun; and I understood only half of what they said. I concentrated on not worrying too much about the day. I was very nervous because I was to go with the music teacher who did not speak much English to a rehearsal where I was to meet the two professional Bassoonists who did not speak much English to talk to them about music. I was then to meet two friends that I had not seen in two years in front of the Conservatoire of Music, without having a phone number to call them to let them know if something went wrong.
But, I should not have worried! At all! The rehearsal was a rehearsal of L'Orchestre de Picardie, which is a professional orchestra that travels around the Picardie region giving performances. I am going to attend one of these performances this Thursday night. :-)
During a break in the rehearsal, I was introduced to the two bassoonists and we had a wonderful talk about music. We, of course, spent most of the time talking about bassoons and bassoon music and french composers. He gave me quite a list of french composers who have writen brilliant bassoon music! I got quite a lot done during this rehearsal and I was really happy that the music teacher had arranged for me to go!
The rest of the day was spent with Allison and Cassandre. For those who do not know, I visited France with Madame Robillard in 2009 and I stayed with a family: Allison's family. I was so happy to see her and Cassandre because, as I said before, I had not seen them in two years! We talked and walked around Amiens for a few hours as we caught up. I was so sad when it came time for them to leave!
They said something really nice to me; since I stayed with them in 2009, they knew that I did not speak french very well. Today, one of the first thing they said to me was that my french was GREATLY imporved! I could actually understand what they were saying!
After a wonderful afternoon, Madame Shaw and I drove back to Abbeville with Mr. Simmons and I just had a wonderful dinner!
Paris, Part 2, is tomorrow!
Till then
The Weekend
How lucky can two girls be!!
Hello everyone; Jeanne here.
I just want to say that I love sleeping in! Saturday morning I did just that! But I totally dreamt in French! Which was really wierd. And I do not remember what happened, only that it was in French.
After everyone woke up, we had a nice sit down lunch and then Claire's mom, dad, Claire, and I hopped into the car and we drove to Amiens. On the way we stopped in a little village to pick up Claire's best friend - Claire. Yep, thats right folks, Claire and Claire. It was really very interesting.
The five of us went on to Amiens. The three girls; Claire, Claire, and I; went to do some shopping! Claire's Mom and Dad - I have no idea where they went. Anyway the three of us met up with Kristen and her correspondant Anne and we looked around together. Kristen found lots of cute clothes. I found jewelry. We ended our little shopping spree with a quick treat from McDonalds. Yes. McDonalds. But I only had a small McFlurry! Don't worry! Heheh.
Sunday was, again, a day for sleeping in. Regretfully, we did not make it to church. I really wanted to because it was really cool the last time I went with Madame Robillard but, it did not happen. But we did go to Saint Valery sur Somme, the sea-side. It was really beautiful. And, quite by accident, we ran into Madame Shaw and Samantha! I promise it was pure coincidence! Wasn't it Samantha?
That night for dinner I had, for the very first time, muscles! They were so good! Heheh.
And that, my friends, was my weekend!
Hello everyone; Jeanne here.
I just want to say that I love sleeping in! Saturday morning I did just that! But I totally dreamt in French! Which was really wierd. And I do not remember what happened, only that it was in French.
After everyone woke up, we had a nice sit down lunch and then Claire's mom, dad, Claire, and I hopped into the car and we drove to Amiens. On the way we stopped in a little village to pick up Claire's best friend - Claire. Yep, thats right folks, Claire and Claire. It was really very interesting.
The five of us went on to Amiens. The three girls; Claire, Claire, and I; went to do some shopping! Claire's Mom and Dad - I have no idea where they went. Anyway the three of us met up with Kristen and her correspondant Anne and we looked around together. Kristen found lots of cute clothes. I found jewelry. We ended our little shopping spree with a quick treat from McDonalds. Yes. McDonalds. But I only had a small McFlurry! Don't worry! Heheh.
Sunday was, again, a day for sleeping in. Regretfully, we did not make it to church. I really wanted to because it was really cool the last time I went with Madame Robillard but, it did not happen. But we did go to Saint Valery sur Somme, the sea-side. It was really beautiful. And, quite by accident, we ran into Madame Shaw and Samantha! I promise it was pure coincidence! Wasn't it Samantha?
That night for dinner I had, for the very first time, muscles! They were so good! Heheh.
And that, my friends, was my weekend!
The Last Five Days (I don't think anyone gets this but me)
Samantha says...
So...it's been a couple of days or five since I last blogged. Sorry about that. I've just been extremely busy, and now I don't even know where to start. I haven't blogged since Thursday, so I guess Friday would be a great place to start. Well...Friday was my birthday, except, it didn't really feel like it. I mean, don't get me wrong, it was fantastic! It just didn't feel like my birthday, and I certainly don't feel like I'm seventeen now. So anyways, on Friday, we went to Normandie -- a little depressing for my birthday, but so important. I really enjoyed it, even though we spent more time on the bus than out of it, and we only ended up with about fifteen minutes at the American cemetary. We did manage to find a couple of Oklahoma soldiers for Madame Robillard in that time though! Yay us! And when we got back to Abbeville, Maëliss, Ann (Kristen's host), and some of their friends greeted us by singing Happy Birthday to me; I was really glad to see them after a day of being surrounded by rowdy French sophomores. I think we all missed our host families. From the train station, we headed over to the bowling alley (sans Jeanne -- her family lives too far from Abbeville to keep driving back and forth), where we met some more school friends and the English aids (they're from England and come here to help student practice English) from some of the local high schools. All I can say about bowling is: I didn't fail. And it was pretty fun. When we got back to the house, I opened the gift from my mom -- tickets to a Josh Groban concert! AHHHHHHHHHHH! Needless to say, I went to bed exceptionally happy.
Saturday I got to sleep in -- hallelujah! Ten o'clock never looked so good. And when I woke up, I played some games with Esteban and Soléne (Maëliss's friend who is coming to Oklahoma in October to study Native American heritage, and she will be attending none other than Westmoore High School). This was followed by shopping in Amiens with Maëliss, her mom, Soléne (it's pronounced soh-lyn, by the way; I think I'm naming my future daughter that), and Chebon, who generously volunteered to carry all of our bags. I ended up not buying anything because, as it turns out, the French are too fast at shopping for me, just like everything else. Maybe I'm just really slow...I've been reflecting on this thought a lot lately. At this point, it seems pretty probable. We did get our make-up done in one of the stores, which was pretty fun (but not for Chebon). Maëliss and I were then dropped off at Maëliss's boyfriend Mathieu's house to get ready for the party we would be attending that night and also to meet his ferret, Dorian (named after Dorian Gray), who was adorable. Apparently in France, it's really weird to have a ferret as a pet. On a side note, Mathieu's mom really likes Betty Boop -- she was all over the living room. It's also really funny when French people say Betty Boop...
Anyways, the party...at times, it was really interesting and very out of the ordinary for me, but at other times, it really drove home for me, that despite the different language and culture, French people really aren't that different from Americans, or really probably from any people. There were several times over the course of the night that someone would remind me so much of someone I know back home, it was weird. And everyone was so nice to me and so genuinely interested in learning about where I live, I rarely felt like an outsider. This was also thanks in great part to Mathieu and Maëliss, who rarely left me alone and were always eager to talk to me. In fact, to be honest, I don't think anyone I've met here so far has been rude to me. We, the Fellows, and Madame Shaw have taken on the project of destroying the stereotype that French people are snobbish -- it's not true! They're very sweet...well, except this café owner; he was a little rude to us. But other than that, French people are all very nice and mostly just curious about Americans. Back to the party...all in all, it was actually pretty fun; I mean, parties still aren't really my cup of tea, but I had a good time. Oh, and the food was GREAT. Big surprise there.
Sunday, Maëliss had some, or rather, a bunch, of homework to work on, so I went to the seaside with Esteban and my French mother. We went to the towns of St. Valery and Le Crotoy, which were both picturesque and perfect. These were the towns where Jeanne d'Arc of imprisoned for a time, which was exciting for me because I love Jeanne d'Arc! I guess everyone had the same idea of visiting the sea because we ran into Jeanne and her host family and Madame Shaw. Even in France, it's a small, small world. We also stopped by the fish market to pick up some fresh poissons and some sort of sea snail, that I tried at dinner that night. Not sure if it qualified as escargots, but I think after you've tried one type of snail, you've tried them all. And smothered in sauce, it really wasn't that bad. :) Plus, I got that delicious strawberries and creme dessert afterwards.
Monday was just your run-of-the-mill school day (imagine that -- me calling a school day in France run-of-the-mill!). We had two hours of math, where Kristen and I attempted to do some of our own homework, to no avail. In history class, the teacher actually made us talk and participate, can you imagine; luckily, they were just talking about the events leading up to World War II, so I actually understood what the teacher was reading. The worst part was when he made me read outloud from the textbook; I felt extremely self-conscious about my accent. After lunch, we went to an English class to answer some of the kids questions. They were all too shy to ask many questions in class, but afterwards, two students came back to get our Facebook names and talk with us some more; one of them really connected with Kristen and told her the names of some of her favorite stores in Abbeville, as well as her favorite French singers.We also had to meet with a reporter, which I think was a little nerve-racking for all of us, especially when we walked in the room, and there was this big, really long table with microphones all around it. Luckily, it wasn't for us, and the interview was really pretty casual. We were still scared talking about our projects in French, and I think we all kept second-guessing ourselves.When I got home from school, I played cards with Esteban until dinner (he really likes playing games...A LOT), which was the most delicious fish ever. I've never had such fresh fish. Oh, I also went and met the Lopez-Garcia's elderly next-door neighbor, Maurice, because he wanted to see a real American. I was a little nervous that he would be this grumpy, old Frenchman who hated Americans and would tear me apart as soon as I got there, but, just like everyone else, he was nice (I really need to find a new word). I even managed to understand almost everything they talked about and participate in the conversation with the occasional "oui" or "non".
Today, I've been in the library mostly. Maëliss has a big project due on Thursday, so she's been working on it all day. I attempted to read Uglies in French, since I already read it in English, but literary French is even harder than conversational French. I did manage to get through most of an entertainment magazine, though; day by day, I'm getting better. Kristen, Chebon, and I (Jeanne and Madame Shaw are in Amiens) went to another English class today, where we were interviewed by some of the students. I really like English class because, in there, I'm the one who knows what I'm doing. Then we went on a little downtown adventure to Le Mie Câline, one of our favorite boulangeries. Man, I'm really going to miss those boulangeries. In four days, I can't just walk down the street to get delcious, fresh French pastries. How depressing...okay, I need to stop thinking about that. I am now back in the library again, where I will be spending the rest of the day. And tonight, the reporter from yesterday might be coming over for dinner to see how me and my host family interact. Kind of awkward...
That's all for now. Look out for Paris, part two,soon! More later.
So...it's been a couple of days or five since I last blogged. Sorry about that. I've just been extremely busy, and now I don't even know where to start. I haven't blogged since Thursday, so I guess Friday would be a great place to start. Well...Friday was my birthday, except, it didn't really feel like it. I mean, don't get me wrong, it was fantastic! It just didn't feel like my birthday, and I certainly don't feel like I'm seventeen now. So anyways, on Friday, we went to Normandie -- a little depressing for my birthday, but so important. I really enjoyed it, even though we spent more time on the bus than out of it, and we only ended up with about fifteen minutes at the American cemetary. We did manage to find a couple of Oklahoma soldiers for Madame Robillard in that time though! Yay us! And when we got back to Abbeville, Maëliss, Ann (Kristen's host), and some of their friends greeted us by singing Happy Birthday to me; I was really glad to see them after a day of being surrounded by rowdy French sophomores. I think we all missed our host families. From the train station, we headed over to the bowling alley (sans Jeanne -- her family lives too far from Abbeville to keep driving back and forth), where we met some more school friends and the English aids (they're from England and come here to help student practice English) from some of the local high schools. All I can say about bowling is: I didn't fail. And it was pretty fun. When we got back to the house, I opened the gift from my mom -- tickets to a Josh Groban concert! AHHHHHHHHHHH! Needless to say, I went to bed exceptionally happy.
Saturday I got to sleep in -- hallelujah! Ten o'clock never looked so good. And when I woke up, I played some games with Esteban and Soléne (Maëliss's friend who is coming to Oklahoma in October to study Native American heritage, and she will be attending none other than Westmoore High School). This was followed by shopping in Amiens with Maëliss, her mom, Soléne (it's pronounced soh-lyn, by the way; I think I'm naming my future daughter that), and Chebon, who generously volunteered to carry all of our bags. I ended up not buying anything because, as it turns out, the French are too fast at shopping for me, just like everything else. Maybe I'm just really slow...I've been reflecting on this thought a lot lately. At this point, it seems pretty probable. We did get our make-up done in one of the stores, which was pretty fun (but not for Chebon). Maëliss and I were then dropped off at Maëliss's boyfriend Mathieu's house to get ready for the party we would be attending that night and also to meet his ferret, Dorian (named after Dorian Gray), who was adorable. Apparently in France, it's really weird to have a ferret as a pet. On a side note, Mathieu's mom really likes Betty Boop -- she was all over the living room. It's also really funny when French people say Betty Boop...
Anyways, the party...at times, it was really interesting and very out of the ordinary for me, but at other times, it really drove home for me, that despite the different language and culture, French people really aren't that different from Americans, or really probably from any people. There were several times over the course of the night that someone would remind me so much of someone I know back home, it was weird. And everyone was so nice to me and so genuinely interested in learning about where I live, I rarely felt like an outsider. This was also thanks in great part to Mathieu and Maëliss, who rarely left me alone and were always eager to talk to me. In fact, to be honest, I don't think anyone I've met here so far has been rude to me. We, the Fellows, and Madame Shaw have taken on the project of destroying the stereotype that French people are snobbish -- it's not true! They're very sweet...well, except this café owner; he was a little rude to us. But other than that, French people are all very nice and mostly just curious about Americans. Back to the party...all in all, it was actually pretty fun; I mean, parties still aren't really my cup of tea, but I had a good time. Oh, and the food was GREAT. Big surprise there.
Sunday, Maëliss had some, or rather, a bunch, of homework to work on, so I went to the seaside with Esteban and my French mother. We went to the towns of St. Valery and Le Crotoy, which were both picturesque and perfect. These were the towns where Jeanne d'Arc of imprisoned for a time, which was exciting for me because I love Jeanne d'Arc! I guess everyone had the same idea of visiting the sea because we ran into Jeanne and her host family and Madame Shaw. Even in France, it's a small, small world. We also stopped by the fish market to pick up some fresh poissons and some sort of sea snail, that I tried at dinner that night. Not sure if it qualified as escargots, but I think after you've tried one type of snail, you've tried them all. And smothered in sauce, it really wasn't that bad. :) Plus, I got that delicious strawberries and creme dessert afterwards.
Monday was just your run-of-the-mill school day (imagine that -- me calling a school day in France run-of-the-mill!). We had two hours of math, where Kristen and I attempted to do some of our own homework, to no avail. In history class, the teacher actually made us talk and participate, can you imagine; luckily, they were just talking about the events leading up to World War II, so I actually understood what the teacher was reading. The worst part was when he made me read outloud from the textbook; I felt extremely self-conscious about my accent. After lunch, we went to an English class to answer some of the kids questions. They were all too shy to ask many questions in class, but afterwards, two students came back to get our Facebook names and talk with us some more; one of them really connected with Kristen and told her the names of some of her favorite stores in Abbeville, as well as her favorite French singers.We also had to meet with a reporter, which I think was a little nerve-racking for all of us, especially when we walked in the room, and there was this big, really long table with microphones all around it. Luckily, it wasn't for us, and the interview was really pretty casual. We were still scared talking about our projects in French, and I think we all kept second-guessing ourselves.When I got home from school, I played cards with Esteban until dinner (he really likes playing games...A LOT), which was the most delicious fish ever. I've never had such fresh fish. Oh, I also went and met the Lopez-Garcia's elderly next-door neighbor, Maurice, because he wanted to see a real American. I was a little nervous that he would be this grumpy, old Frenchman who hated Americans and would tear me apart as soon as I got there, but, just like everyone else, he was nice (I really need to find a new word). I even managed to understand almost everything they talked about and participate in the conversation with the occasional "oui" or "non".
Today, I've been in the library mostly. Maëliss has a big project due on Thursday, so she's been working on it all day. I attempted to read Uglies in French, since I already read it in English, but literary French is even harder than conversational French. I did manage to get through most of an entertainment magazine, though; day by day, I'm getting better. Kristen, Chebon, and I (Jeanne and Madame Shaw are in Amiens) went to another English class today, where we were interviewed by some of the students. I really like English class because, in there, I'm the one who knows what I'm doing. Then we went on a little downtown adventure to Le Mie Câline, one of our favorite boulangeries. Man, I'm really going to miss those boulangeries. In four days, I can't just walk down the street to get delcious, fresh French pastries. How depressing...okay, I need to stop thinking about that. I am now back in the library again, where I will be spending the rest of the day. And tonight, the reporter from yesterday might be coming over for dinner to see how me and my host family interact. Kind of awkward...
That's all for now. Look out for Paris, part two,soon! More later.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Friday
Hello everyone, this is Jeanne.
I know this section is entitled "Friday" but I did not want to leave out my wonderful Thursday.
So thursday, after hanging with Claire and her friends at school for an hour, I went to music class where the teacher had me conduct. I know I am so not as good as any of Westmoore Drum Majors but it was fun. Even if I totally screwed up: all the time. After that class, Madame Shaw took Samantha, Kristen, and I to the open-air market! It was so much fun to walk through all the stands of vendors and look at everything. I bought two écharpes (scarves) for 2 euros each! It was so much fun! After four wonderful hours, we had to go back to le lycée (the high school) :-( Heheh.
Anyway, Friday was our lovely trip to the Normandy beaches! The four fellows; Chebon, Kristen, Samantha, and I; and Madame Shaw boarded a train from Abbeville to Amiens. When we arrived, we had to run out of a "Harry Potter door" (Please do not ask me to explain that one, Samantha understands it so much better than I do.) So, as i was saying, we ran out of this "Harry Potter door" and ... waited for the bus. They made quite a fus over the necessity of being swift and running from our train so as to not make the others wait on us. Whatever. C'est la vie - That's life. Once the bus arrived, it was a four hour drive to our first stop; The Utah Beach. On the way we passed under this awesome bridge - Le Pont de Normandie Bridge.
(I posted a picture, but I dont know if it worked or not...)
We, meaning the Classen group along with L'Alliance Français group, had a wonderful tour guide - he was a history teacher in the Normandie region. He told us all about the beaches and the history of D-day.
Side note: the French call D-Day Le Jour-J. It means the same thing, I just thought you would like to know. :-)
On our tour we saw the Utah and Omaha beaches, along with a German cemetery and the American cemetery above the Omaha beach. And Madame Robillard, I had enough time to find one of our Oklahoma soldiers. We had lunch at Le Ponte du Hoc, inside a crater.
Yes, inside a crater. It was fun :-)
The ride back was just as long, but I got to talk to Rachel, a girl from Classen, which was nice. My Friday ended with a lovely dinner - hand-made by Claire's mom.
A Bientôt
I know this section is entitled "Friday" but I did not want to leave out my wonderful Thursday.
So thursday, after hanging with Claire and her friends at school for an hour, I went to music class where the teacher had me conduct. I know I am so not as good as any of Westmoore Drum Majors but it was fun. Even if I totally screwed up: all the time. After that class, Madame Shaw took Samantha, Kristen, and I to the open-air market! It was so much fun to walk through all the stands of vendors and look at everything. I bought two écharpes (scarves) for 2 euros each! It was so much fun! After four wonderful hours, we had to go back to le lycée (the high school) :-( Heheh.
Anyway, Friday was our lovely trip to the Normandy beaches! The four fellows; Chebon, Kristen, Samantha, and I; and Madame Shaw boarded a train from Abbeville to Amiens. When we arrived, we had to run out of a "Harry Potter door" (Please do not ask me to explain that one, Samantha understands it so much better than I do.) So, as i was saying, we ran out of this "Harry Potter door" and ... waited for the bus. They made quite a fus over the necessity of being swift and running from our train so as to not make the others wait on us. Whatever. C'est la vie - That's life. Once the bus arrived, it was a four hour drive to our first stop; The Utah Beach. On the way we passed under this awesome bridge - Le Pont de Normandie Bridge.
(I posted a picture, but I dont know if it worked or not...)
We, meaning the Classen group along with L'Alliance Français group, had a wonderful tour guide - he was a history teacher in the Normandie region. He told us all about the beaches and the history of D-day.
Side note: the French call D-Day Le Jour-J. It means the same thing, I just thought you would like to know. :-)
On our tour we saw the Utah and Omaha beaches, along with a German cemetery and the American cemetery above the Omaha beach. And Madame Robillard, I had enough time to find one of our Oklahoma soldiers. We had lunch at Le Ponte du Hoc, inside a crater.
Yes, inside a crater. It was fun :-)
The ride back was just as long, but I got to talk to Rachel, a girl from Classen, which was nice. My Friday ended with a lovely dinner - hand-made by Claire's mom.
A Bientôt
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Paris, Part 1
This is Jeanne. Oh my goodness, I do not know where to start.
Well, I had to wake up at 5 in order to catch our train. I felt really bad to make everyone get up so early after watching "Edward Scissorhands" the night before. By the way, it was my first time to see it and I saw it in French. I think thats a score!
Anyway Claire and her mother and I arrived at le gare (the train station) by 6:20 where I said goodbye. I joined Madame Shaw, Samantha, Kristen, and Chebon and in came the train. On the 1 hour 30 minute trainride from Abbeville to Paris, the five of us sat discussing our plans for the day and for the rest of the stay. We sat in an enclosed car where there was a very nice french gentleman. He spoke to us all the way, in french of course. It was so awesome to talk to a native speaker that was so nice!
We arrived in La Gare du Nord around 8 and went straight, by the subway, to Notre Dame. It felt so wrong to be inside the church as a tourist on Ash Wednesday. From Notre Dame we went to the Assemble Nationale and got a private tour! It was so cool! Only problem is that I though the officials had said "No picture taking" but by the time I found out I was wrong, it was too late. :-(
From that point on, the fellows of the l'Alliance Française split off from the Classen group and we went on our way. Our first stop was the Musée d'Orsay! Where we were absolutely not allowed to take pictures. Sorry. The museum was originally a train station that was converted, after years of laying empty, into the beautiful museum that it was yesterday!
After the wonders of the Musée d'Orsay, it was off the the Champs Elysees! But first we stopped in Les Jardin des Tuileries. (The Tuilerie Garden) where we witnessed first hand the awesomeness of the line that runs from the glass pyramid in front of the Louvre, to the Obelisk of La Place de la Concorde, to the Arche de Triomphe, to the Arche de Défense. It was soo cool and I will upload pictures as soon as possible.
More Later
Samantha says...
Hey everyone! It's been a couple days since I last blogged, and since then, a lot has happened. So you're just going to get the stand out moments. And I'm sorry, but I didn't really have time to read Jeanne's posts, so you might hear some of the same stuff from me.
One thing I know she didn't tell you was my bathroom story; she promised me the rights to that one. Thanks Jeanne! Okay, so for those of you who don't know, you have to pay to use a lot of the bathrooms in Europe. On Tuesday, we were at the Gare du Nord (train station) to get tickets for Paris, and we all really had to use the restroom. As it turns out, the only bathroom they had was the paying kind (it cleans in between each section as well). The sign on the outside said that you could stay in there for fifteen minutes after you paid, so we thought we'd be crafty and trick the bathroom by holding the door open between each person, that way we could get five people in for the price of one. So Madame Shaw paid and went first, then it was my turn. I went in, and as soon as the door shut, water started spraying out of the floor...then the lights shut off. I was, of course, terrified, and I ran to the door and started screaming out the crack. Madame told me to push the red button, but I COULDN'T SEE. What red button? It wasn't until they had payed again and gotten me out that I saw it, right by the door. Needless to say, I still got to go to the bathroom, but I probably won't be using a bathroom you have to pay to use for a long time. They're far too smart for me.
And then Paris...oh, Paris. You really are the greatest city in the world. Oklahoma City needs a better public transportation system because the Metro is awesome! I don't know why, but I really enjoyed riding it. Everything in Paris was just fabulous. I don't really have enough time to go into detail about it right now. If I had to pick my favorite moment from the day, it might be Montmartre, even though we were only there for about fifteen minutes. It was just so perfectly French! I also really liked standing in the middle of the Tuileries Gardens and being able to see l'Arc de Triomphe, Place de la Concorde, the Obelisk of Luxor, the Louvre, and l'Arc du Carousel (I don't know if I'm saying that all right) all at THE SAME TIME. The only thing wrong with Paris was all those annoying tourists and all the people smoking. Other than that, it was perfect; I really hope we get to go back next week. Fingers crossed.
Today in a very small nutshell: we went to school; I think the Physics teacher made fun of me (and talked about spaghetti); we went into town to the open air market, where I bought a cute shirt and Kristen got to do some haggling; we ate lunch at a café where the owner did not like us very much; we conducted our surveys in English class; I practically slept through Maëliss's last class; we picked up Esteban from daycare; I watched French cartoons with Esteban, played "keep the balloon up", shared Crazy Core Skittles, and discussed the many merits of Batman ( he didn't seem to understand that Batman is the best superhero, poor confused kid); Esteban, Maëliss, and I played Blink; then we had some sort of muscles or clams for dinner (a local special) with French fries, and it was delicious. And there you have it.
More later.
Well, I had to wake up at 5 in order to catch our train. I felt really bad to make everyone get up so early after watching "Edward Scissorhands" the night before. By the way, it was my first time to see it and I saw it in French. I think thats a score!
Anyway Claire and her mother and I arrived at le gare (the train station) by 6:20 where I said goodbye. I joined Madame Shaw, Samantha, Kristen, and Chebon and in came the train. On the 1 hour 30 minute trainride from Abbeville to Paris, the five of us sat discussing our plans for the day and for the rest of the stay. We sat in an enclosed car where there was a very nice french gentleman. He spoke to us all the way, in french of course. It was so awesome to talk to a native speaker that was so nice!
We arrived in La Gare du Nord around 8 and went straight, by the subway, to Notre Dame. It felt so wrong to be inside the church as a tourist on Ash Wednesday. From Notre Dame we went to the Assemble Nationale and got a private tour! It was so cool! Only problem is that I though the officials had said "No picture taking" but by the time I found out I was wrong, it was too late. :-(From that point on, the fellows of the l'Alliance Française split off from the Classen group and we went on our way. Our first stop was the Musée d'Orsay! Where we were absolutely not allowed to take pictures. Sorry. The museum was originally a train station that was converted, after years of laying empty, into the beautiful museum that it was yesterday!
After the wonders of the Musée d'Orsay, it was off the the Champs Elysees! But first we stopped in Les Jardin des Tuileries. (The Tuilerie Garden) where we witnessed first hand the awesomeness of the line that runs from the glass pyramid in front of the Louvre, to the Obelisk of La Place de la Concorde, to the Arche de Triomphe, to the Arche de Défense. It was soo cool and I will upload pictures as soon as possible.
More Later
Samantha says...
Hey everyone! It's been a couple days since I last blogged, and since then, a lot has happened. So you're just going to get the stand out moments. And I'm sorry, but I didn't really have time to read Jeanne's posts, so you might hear some of the same stuff from me.
One thing I know she didn't tell you was my bathroom story; she promised me the rights to that one. Thanks Jeanne! Okay, so for those of you who don't know, you have to pay to use a lot of the bathrooms in Europe. On Tuesday, we were at the Gare du Nord (train station) to get tickets for Paris, and we all really had to use the restroom. As it turns out, the only bathroom they had was the paying kind (it cleans in between each section as well). The sign on the outside said that you could stay in there for fifteen minutes after you paid, so we thought we'd be crafty and trick the bathroom by holding the door open between each person, that way we could get five people in for the price of one. So Madame Shaw paid and went first, then it was my turn. I went in, and as soon as the door shut, water started spraying out of the floor...then the lights shut off. I was, of course, terrified, and I ran to the door and started screaming out the crack. Madame told me to push the red button, but I COULDN'T SEE. What red button? It wasn't until they had payed again and gotten me out that I saw it, right by the door. Needless to say, I still got to go to the bathroom, but I probably won't be using a bathroom you have to pay to use for a long time. They're far too smart for me.And then Paris...oh, Paris. You really are the greatest city in the world. Oklahoma City needs a better public transportation system because the Metro is awesome! I don't know why, but I really enjoyed riding it. Everything in Paris was just fabulous. I don't really have enough time to go into detail about it right now. If I had to pick my favorite moment from the day, it might be Montmartre, even though we were only there for about fifteen minutes. It was just so perfectly French! I also really liked standing in the middle of the Tuileries Gardens and being able to see l'Arc de Triomphe, Place de la Concorde, the Obelisk of Luxor, the Louvre, and l'Arc du Carousel (I don't know if I'm saying that all right) all at THE SAME TIME. The only thing wrong with Paris was all those annoying tourists and all the people smoking. Other than that, it was perfect; I really hope we get to go back next week. Fingers crossed.Today in a very small nutshell: we went to school; I think the Physics teacher made fun of me (and talked about spaghetti); we went into town to the open air market, where I bought a cute shirt and Kristen got to do some haggling; we ate lunch at a café where the owner did not like us very much; we conducted our surveys in English class; I practically slept through Maëliss's last class; we picked up Esteban from daycare; I watched French cartoons with Esteban, played "keep the balloon up", shared Crazy Core Skittles, and discussed the many merits of Batman ( he didn't seem to understand that Batman is the best superhero, poor confused kid); Esteban, Maëliss, and I played Blink; then we had some sort of muscles or clams for dinner (a local special) with French fries, and it was delicious. And there you have it.More later.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Tuesday
Hello from Abbeville; this is Jeanne.
Everything is wonderful here in Abbeville: I just figured out that you do not pronounce the e so it sounds like Abville. Just a side note. Anyway today started in the same as before, waking at 6:30 except we left at 7:30 today. This morning I attended 4 English classes. Yes, 4. In a row. Heheh. The first class I was with Claire and the entire class asked me questions in English. It was wierd to be a "native speaker". But it was nice. They even said that my English accent was prettier than their teacher's.(All the English teachers have a British accent when they speak and it is kinda funny.) They asked me questions anywhere from what I liked to do to what I thought of France to what I think about Barrack Obama. I really like the accents they have when they speak English.
After that English class, I met up with Chebon and we went downstairs to a class that had a British teacher; it was in this class that we compared British English with American English. It was cool to talk to the teacher. After one short period with him, we stayed and had another. The class did the exact same thing. Anyway, Samantha and Kristen eventually came down to the class and the four Americans were together. After the second class comparing British and American English, we went back up stairs to yet one more English class. The cool thing about all these English classes is that they were not the same: each hour had different students and a different attitude and it was interesting to see.
After the 4 English classes, I went to my first French Math class. And they were learning about the unit circle. It will never leave me alone :-( But I paid attention and should get extra credit, ;-). Hahahah. Anyway, we then went to lunch with Madame Shaw and she told us that we could be good students and finish out the school day, or we could skip school and go with her on a tour of Abbeville to buy our tickets to go to Paris.
And by the way, we are going to Paris tomorrow :-D
So like the horrible students we are, the four Americans skipped school and walked all around Abbeville.It was so cute! All of it could be on postcard. I took photos and as soon as i figure out how to upload them, I will put them on this blog. Like I was saying, we went all aound and we saw the local cathédral and stopped in at a few shops. And I regretted eating lunch because there were so many pasteries that I wanted to eat them all. Heheh. I am a sucker for French chocolates and sweets. :-) We must have walked around for 3 hours. It was awesome! But the fun had to end and we went back to the school and I went with Claire to her last class today: science.
Madame has taken the liberty of putting some pictures of Abbeville here so we can have a visual:
A convent that was bombed and destroyed in World War II:
The church of St. Vulfran
It is getting so much easier to talk to everybody because they are starting to remember that they speak too fast for me to understand them. I feel like I am teaching them English in exchange for this because, besides the English teachers and the other fellows, no one speaks to me in English. (Unless they are, of course, in English class) I find it really nice, because it forces me to listen to everything they say.
Oh Madame, you would be so proud! Yesterday, Samantha and I were talking in French and I forgot how to form a certain tense, so I pulled out the notecards we made. Yay for notecards!!
One thing that really struck me is the architecture. On one side of the road there are very old buildings with pock marks from the second world war still scarring their face. And on the other side, you have a completly modern house with a satillite dish on the roof. It seems funny to me.
Anyway, I believe that is al from today. Tomorrow is our first visit to Paris!
à bientôt
Everything is wonderful here in Abbeville: I just figured out that you do not pronounce the e so it sounds like Abville. Just a side note. Anyway today started in the same as before, waking at 6:30 except we left at 7:30 today. This morning I attended 4 English classes. Yes, 4. In a row. Heheh. The first class I was with Claire and the entire class asked me questions in English. It was wierd to be a "native speaker". But it was nice. They even said that my English accent was prettier than their teacher's.(All the English teachers have a British accent when they speak and it is kinda funny.) They asked me questions anywhere from what I liked to do to what I thought of France to what I think about Barrack Obama. I really like the accents they have when they speak English.
After that English class, I met up with Chebon and we went downstairs to a class that had a British teacher; it was in this class that we compared British English with American English. It was cool to talk to the teacher. After one short period with him, we stayed and had another. The class did the exact same thing. Anyway, Samantha and Kristen eventually came down to the class and the four Americans were together. After the second class comparing British and American English, we went back up stairs to yet one more English class. The cool thing about all these English classes is that they were not the same: each hour had different students and a different attitude and it was interesting to see.
After the 4 English classes, I went to my first French Math class. And they were learning about the unit circle. It will never leave me alone :-( But I paid attention and should get extra credit, ;-). Hahahah. Anyway, we then went to lunch with Madame Shaw and she told us that we could be good students and finish out the school day, or we could skip school and go with her on a tour of Abbeville to buy our tickets to go to Paris.
And by the way, we are going to Paris tomorrow :-D
So like the horrible students we are, the four Americans skipped school and walked all around Abbeville.It was so cute! All of it could be on postcard. I took photos and as soon as i figure out how to upload them, I will put them on this blog. Like I was saying, we went all aound and we saw the local cathédral and stopped in at a few shops. And I regretted eating lunch because there were so many pasteries that I wanted to eat them all. Heheh. I am a sucker for French chocolates and sweets. :-) We must have walked around for 3 hours. It was awesome! But the fun had to end and we went back to the school and I went with Claire to her last class today: science.
Madame has taken the liberty of putting some pictures of Abbeville here so we can have a visual:
A convent that was bombed and destroyed in World War II:
It is getting so much easier to talk to everybody because they are starting to remember that they speak too fast for me to understand them. I feel like I am teaching them English in exchange for this because, besides the English teachers and the other fellows, no one speaks to me in English. (Unless they are, of course, in English class) I find it really nice, because it forces me to listen to everything they say.
Oh Madame, you would be so proud! Yesterday, Samantha and I were talking in French and I forgot how to form a certain tense, so I pulled out the notecards we made. Yay for notecards!!
One thing that really struck me is the architecture. On one side of the road there are very old buildings with pock marks from the second world war still scarring their face. And on the other side, you have a completly modern house with a satillite dish on the roof. It seems funny to me.
Anyway, I believe that is al from today. Tomorrow is our first visit to Paris!
à bientôt
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