The beach, experential learning, and a visit to the mayor

The past few days have been pretty exciting—so exciting, in fact, that I haven’t even had a chance to write a blog post. But I will do so now!

We were placed into our French language groups (I’m in niveau trois – advancé!) and elective groups (I’m in conversation) where we basically practice experiential learning. For example, I think I have approached 1000 Laurentin(es) so far (je me plaisante) asking for their names, asking them questions about cinema, asking them questions about la festivale de Cannes… at first when they told us we had to do that, I froze up—me? An American, speaking to native French? But then I realized that was the only way I was going to get better. After talking to some people in the streets, in the park, on the little playground they have, I realized that Laurentin(es) are very open and nice! They’ll have a conversation with you, ask where you’re from, ramble on about favorite American actors/actresses…it’s so awesome. And I feel like it’s always exciting to talk with natives rather than sitting in a classroom. By the way, all of our teachers are French natives except for one, whose English but is going to graduate school for French--this is absolutely fabulous because sometimes I converse with one of the teachers in French, and they know all the French culture quirks and such. And of course, they can guide us through France.

Besides our classes, we have also gone on excursions; for example, on the fourth of July, we went to the St-Laurent-du-Var beach (see pictures)—and it was absolutely gorgeous! The water is so blue and bright, and when I went swimming…it was magnificent. I could swim in the deep portion of the sea all day because it felt so good. We went to the restaurant Dylano after and ordered anything ranging from pizza to omelettes to salads (and the funny thing is, they have huge portions, but apparently the French don’t usually allow you to take the leftover food in boxes! L ) and, after, desserts. The tarte tintin and the mi-cuit chocolate cake? Delicious.

The day after, we took classes as well and took a tour of la vielle ville (the old city) of St-Laurent-du-Var; we learned about St. Laurent and his fate (he was burned alive on a grill), about St-Laurent-du-Var’s history, about the Gueyeurs who carried people on their shoulders across the Var, etc. Then we went to the town hall where they make city decisions. It felt so cool to talk with some officials about the government, how it’s different from the US (unitary vs. federalist), etc. We also met the mayor and after, they had a little presentation on civil baptisms in France as well as how gay marriage has not been legalized in France but is put on the agenda for next year’s general assembly. Maybe to some people this was boring, but my interest was piqued, especially since I was on the We the People team, unit Four—which included comparative governmental systems.

That night, we also went to a concert of un sossie (imitator?) of Johnny Hallyday. Apparently, he’s the French Elvis Presley and was popular all over France. Me? Let’s just say I don’t really like rock/hard rock/songs that I don’t know or can’t sing too. It was cool to see how French concerts differed from American concerts though…which was…not very much. In both situations, the audience is actively clapping, dancing, etc. which I thought was cool, and there are a lot of lights and sounds and such.

Other interesting things or differences here in France…

The French take short showers (5 minutes) and it’s really bizarre to them that Americans take 20-30 minute showers.
There are only two periods in France when a store can advertise SOLDES (sale) – one month in January and one month in July. Literally every store has a sale, and there are massive crowds at the mall. This sale period is sanctioned by the government. All other times a store has a sale, it’s called a “Promotion.” Thus, we came here right in time for all the massive sales, which is exciting.
The French do eat bread with every meal. And no, not everyone is carrying baguettes, although I do see people from time to time doing so.
There are a lot of bugs, and I’m getting a lot of mosquito bites.
It’s also sunny and I’m getting very tan.
Apparently, the rich in France get taxed very heavily, so they usually move to Monaco, Luxembourg, Switzerland, etc. to avoid taxes.

I simply just love having conversations with M. et Mme. Mulet (along with my roommates) because they talk (in French) about anything from the drinking age to religion in France to French history to how bees are dying to the weather in St-Laurent-du-Var…the dinner table is truly the moment when I learn a lot about the part of French culture that I can’t experience directly. I also think I’m becoming more fluent; I can definitely understand almost everything that anyone says in French, it’s just about perfecting my speaking skills and gaining more practice there. I hope I can be fluent by the end of the program!

Anyway, we’re going to Cannes today (Cannes Film Festival anyone?), so lots to see and do! I will probably post some stuff about that later (in whatever little truly free time I have haha).