Before I start; you are welcome to make fun of me, I'm not offended. I will someday laugh at this too. Someday soon hopefully...
Well my day started at 7:30 a.m. with a quick shower & breakfast on the run. The bus was to pick me up at 8:56 and have a direct ride to school; about 10 minutes. Well, not today. As I stood at the bus stop, a bus arrived at 8:50 so I hopped on! Totally was the wrong bus. I knew the route the bus was to take & it wasn't taking it. So I hopped off when it stopped next. Which was right in La Rochelle. So I had no choice but to talk French & find my bus (which is to be #17). I found someone who spoke English and took me to where I needed to be; which was the bus station where ALL the buses eventually stop at; obviously. But no one knew where I could get on the bus I needed. So I stood and saw the bus coming that said 'Les Minimes' which is also what I needed. So I hopped on! Well this one was driving in a familar area to me and eventually came to the end of the route, so again, I hopped off, which was at the Port where I visited the other day. I knew a general idea of where the school was so I just started walking. Then I found a bus stop with #17! So I stopped, waited for the bus, & hopped on! & it took me right to where I needed to be! Thank goodness! I knew I'd get there eventually.
The good news about all this is that my first meeting started at 9:30; I arrived about 10:15. But the whole meeting was in French, so I know I didn't miss a thing! Not sure why we (English speaking people) even had to be there! I then made my way to the room for the French test where I met all the English speaking people! Finally! Met people from Oooooklahoma, Norway, Latvia, & Hong Kong!
Afterwards we went to lunch at a cafeteria-like place across the street. Please note my school is NOT La Rochelle University, there is such a thing, however it's Groupe Sup de Co. Which is a business school that is run by the Chamber of Commerce.
After lunch we went back to the school where we had a meeting from 2:30-5. All in English! Basically an introduction to everything, typical first day. Then I learned something; not sure how to feel about it. BUT, I don't have class this week? Nor next week & possibly not for the next 2 weeks after that! (that brings us to the end of February for those calculating) I will probably begin my French class next week, but who knows! This is the French system way of college I guess! Glad I waited until the last possible day to come here!
With all this time off, Cindy, Claudia, (from Oooooklahoma) & myself will be traveling to Paris this week; as they are in a similar situation as myself.
I guess you want to know about my ride home from school too, eh??
Well it's not quite as exciting as the morning, BUT I did get on the right bus to come home (sigh of relief) and wasn't sure about the stop. When we passed the stop I took this morning (on the other side of the street) I hopped off at the next stop because he turned off the main road! I was going to back track to the main street (not far) and go home but thought, I should probably see where the bus was going to. So I went that way only to discover I'm going to get myself lost walking, alone, at night, in a foreign country. I turned around and walked allll the way back to the main street and home I am. What a day!
Some side notes:
The best thing that could've happened since I'm here is meeting new people; it's soo helpful with EVERYTHING. Everyone I met came at least with one other person; they found humor in my story from the airport in Paris to La Rochelle. It really helps traveling with someone, but I guess it's all part of the experience by yourself! I've been told the French are unorganized, this class schedule shows it. I am to check everyday to make sure the room hasn't changed or that the class hasn't been cancelled for the day.
Yes, other foreigners think Americans are all overweight...all we eat is McDonald's; huge joke to them all! The people I met from Hong Kong, typical school day is 8 a.m. - 3/4 p.m. Just like us; so why are they so much smarter than us?! Ooooklahoma really is in the middle of nowhere. All we do is walk everywhere or take the bus (here), and Americans are criticized for driving themselves everywhere. While in America we get looked at funny when walking to Boyer's.
This was certainly a long one, but hope you found some humor in it along with interesting facts. You'll have some nice photos when we return from Paris. Not sure when or how long we will go for, but sure to be a nice time.
Until next time,
Au Revoir!
No comments:
Post a Comment