Adjusting

Friday, Sept. 28

So, I have now been here for a full day and I seem to be adjusting ok. We have had a problem with the internet in our apartment. We have a wireless network set-up, but no one seems to know the password for it. This afternoon, we tried to find the man at the school who is supposed to help us, but he had already left for the weekend. But the last 24 hours have been eventful, nonetheless.

I boarded my 11:58 train with no real issues. There was hardly any room for my suitcases, but a nice French lady helped me move things around to make space. I got the station with barely anytime to catch my next train, because I had to buy my ticket at a counter since the machines do not take cash. Again, I bought the ticket all in French. I am sure the lady at the counter laughed at me after I left. I only had 5 minutes to catch the train, which isn't necessarily a big deal, but dragging two heavy suitcases makes it much more difficult. Anyway, I got to the platform completely out of breath, and then the train was delayed for 20 minutes. Oh, well. I arrived at my stop and waited only 15 minutes for Anne to pick me up. She was very nice and drove me around Roussillon a bit before taking me to school and my apartment.

Shortly after I arrived, the German assistant got here as well. Her father was with her, and they are both very nice. She speaks English also, so that is helpful for making sure we both understand French. And then later, the Spanish assistant arrived. She only speaks Spanish and French. So, that means French almost all the time in my apartment, which I thought would be a big deal, but so far it is okay. I think that is because we all speak relatively slowly, but I do not have the major headache I was planning on, so I believe that's good. Our contact people treated us to Moroccan last night, which was nice since we did not have time to go grocery shopping. I ended up going to bed at 8:30.

I slept until after 10 this morning, but that seems to be all that I needed to switch time zones. I'm a little tired now, but it's after 11 here. Since my German roommate (L~) and her father rented a car until he leaves tomorrow, he kindly drove us all around today. We went to the big supermarket in the next town over so we could simply buy everything that we needed and then he took us for a drive in the across the Rhône River, which is just west of the village. We went into the beginnings of the Massif Central, the mountain plateaus in south central France. It is actually quite close and it was neat because from the mountains we drove up in the Massif Central, we could see the Alps to the east. I got some neat photos that I will post when I have access to internet. This evening the Italian assistant arrived, and she speaks a little English, but we have really only spoken in French today. L~ and I speak in English a little bit, but not often. We all want to improve our French, so that means we have to use it.

We got a TV in the apartment today. Only French channels, but the interesting thing is that so many shows are American, just dubbed. We watched NCIS, one of the criminal shows that takes plane in Miami (the name was a weird translation), and the old Adventures of Superman and Lois Lane. All in French, but some had subtitles which was helpful. The car has to be returned tomorrow, so we are all driving to Lyon and dropping of the care and L~'s father at the airport and then we are exploring Lyon for few hours and then coming back before the last train. It should be fun!

From Roussillon with love