Ici on parle le français trop vite et sans respiration.
Do you understand? No? Well, that is how I feel. :D
Everyone speaks very fast, and when they realize you speak English they revert to incomprehensibe English. Not that I'm complaing; I just haven't ever been in a situation where everything was in French.
Some people speak English to me, but not many...
Le voyage
(Interesting fact the word, "la journée" does not mean the journey, but "the day" in English. "Le voyage" is the best translation. Maybe that's not very interesting.)
I arrived at the Memphis airport at about 12:15 in the afternoon. I arrived in Angers at 6:41 the next day, making my trip just 35 minutes short of 24 hours.
The most awesome thing that happened during the whole trip was sitting next to these two Bohemian looking women. I thought they were mother and daughter, and when the younger woman went to grab some food, another woman asked her mother if it was India Arie. I ended up talking to her mother for a while. They were in Memphis because India was the entertainment for the Dalai Lama when he received a civil rights award on Wednesday. The Dalai Lama also spoke at the Cannon Center that evening. Her mom showed me the pictures of India Arie and the Dalai Lama. She was really friendly and pretty much awesome.
I flew into Minneapolis, which was uneventful
The least awesome thing was my 6 hour flight to Reykjavik. My seat was in front of the emergency exit and did not recline. I slept, but I also got a migraine.
Also, there was no free food on that flight.
In Paris, I ran into some other assistants at the baggage claim, none of them were headed to Angers or Nantes, but it was nice to meet them. It's nice to know other people are also terrified.
Then, the next worst part -- and this is totally my fault -- ... my bags. They were so heavy. I'm talking 85 lbs. together. I lugged them from Charles de Gaulle to the Train Station, to Le Mans, where I changed trains, to Angers. C'était terrible!
My arms still ache.
In Angers, a very nice man, M. Daniel, met me and took me to the foyer where I am staying. He did not speak very much English, but I probably had my best French conversation to date with him -- probably because I had to...
The people here are nice. M. Daniel was unbelievably friendly, gave me his telephone number; he will be the person who coordinates my schedule among the (apparently, they don't bother to tell you all of the schools where you will work) 3 schools where I will work. Mme. Morange took me around today and visited a couple banks with me. And the people who work here for the most part are very friendly. But, the French girls who stay at this foyer are not particularly warm and fuzzy.
It's one of those things that (international) people always tell you, Americans smile too much. I wouldn't say I am über friendly to everyone I see, but French have a different way about them.
I haven't put my finger on it yet, but I will explain it when I do.
I'm tired. I think this all I will say for now. I will try to make future posts more interesting.
Bonne chance tout le monde!
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