Orientation

At this point, I have been through too many Orientations to count (not really). You’d think it might have lost a little bit of its lustre by now, but I still think every day of Orientation is the most exciting thing. Whereas over the weekend I could barely drag myself out of bed, these past three days I have practically bounded out the door. I showed up 15 minutes early on the first day, although those of you who know me will probably find that difficult to believe.

This orientation experience, unlike the previous three, is actually a three-week long process composed mostly of classes. Yes, there are social activities and yes, there are city explorations and yes, there are lots of new friends. But this is an academic orientation above all. I have 10 hours of class on the methodology of the French University, which is both an incredibly fascinating cultural introduction to the French and probably the most useful orientation lecture I’ve ever had. I also have 16 hours of French language instruction and 4 hours of French conversation workshop. And in between all of this, I have classes on how to select courses, immigration information sessions, university tours, and course selection meetings.

As for the food…. Yesterday, I discovered a new crêpe and panini stand with some other CUPA students. I bought a soft ham, tomato, and mozzarella baguette panini and a bunch of us ate together while wandering the Jardin de Luxembourg.

Then in the afternoon I purchased my first French crêpe from a stand on Boulevard du Montparnasse and ate it while wandering the sunny street. Buttery, sugary, and crisped to perfection.

Today wasn’t quite as pleasant outdoors; it was drizzling and so me and two other girls ended up in an indoor crêpe restaurant, ordering the prix fixe (fixed price) menu. Luckily I was very hungry, because it was a lot of food! The meal started off with a savory galette (pictured below) which was so huge I could barely finish it despite my hunger, and was followed by a sweet dark chocolate crêpe.

Even more impressive, the three of us spoke completely in French for the entire hour that it took us to eat! Yes, we’re all pretty much fluent in the language, but I still consider it an accomplishment. While meeting completely new people, it is all too easy to morph back into using English outside the CUPA offices because we don’t have the rapidity of language necessary to get to know each other as quickly as we would like. When you know that you could express yourself better in a different language and be understood better, it’s very difficult to have the willpower to keep speaking French.