The French Cinema and My First Autumn

Sorry I didn't get a post up yesterday. I had the opportunity to stay up talking to my host sister instead and took that option. I have been here for over two months, but I'm still acting a little bit sycophantically with people in the hopes of cementing a friendship. Every time someone wants to do something with me or just talk, I jump on the opportunity. I'll do things they want to do even if I'm tired or need to update a blog. I think it's working, a bit. But anyways, I'm here now. Although this will probably end up being a short update.

By the way, I learned the word "sycophantically" from Harry Potter. Which is almost in theaters!!! It doesn't come out here until the 24th, but I am soooo excited! I plan to see it with as many people as I can. People are talking about it here but they are definitely not as super-psyched as my American facebook friends. It's anticipated, but not in the "OMG I CAN'T HANDLE THIS" type of way. I wonder if it will be dubbed? That would be interesting. I enjoy going out to movies here. The theaters are pretty much identical to those of the US, so it's not a very different experience, but it's fun all the same. So far I have been to three movies here, of which only one was French, but all were with French voices. They do a good job of dubbing, though, to the point where it looks like the actors could be speaking French. It makes it a tiny bit more difficult to understand every line, but I'm finding that I can follow the plot just fine. Saturday night I saw "Due Date" and I understood it enough to get some of the jokes which I think is promising. My comprehension is lightyears past where it was at my arrival; I'm even starting to dream in French sometimes. I do still wish that the rest of the fluency would hurry up and get here. I still stumble while I talk and while I am aware of my grammatical errors, I find it really hard to not make them when I am trying to speak fast. But I am happy to notice the improvement in my comprehension. In fact, my main frustrations now don't have to do with not understanding. My main frustrations now are when people think I don't understand when I do. Every time I didn't hear something and say "huh?" they assume I didn't get it and sometimes when I nod my agreement to a statement they think I just don't want to ask for clarification. They think I'm doing the whole "just nod and smile" thing, when actually I do know what they said. It doesn't help with the confusion that my speaking skills aren't as good as my understanding skills. I'm hoping this won't be too long of a phase.

The Swedes have returned to their country. I miss them a little, they were cool people and it was fun to laugh and let loose around them. I hope I will see them again someday. As soon as I get home I am going to get a job and start saving money for a return trip to Europe, and maybe then I can drop by Sweden and see just how cold it really is. Speaking of cold, it is cold. Colder than Berkeley cold, finally. Cold enough that there are days when my hands sting in the open air. This is just Fall so I wonder what I'll be saying around Christmas. But while the cold may be a drawback, there are also advantages to having seasons, which you don't really get in Berkeley. All the leaves have changed color and are stunning. There are a lot of trees in Normandie, and when you look out the window you see a sea of red and yellow and orange. It's even better at sunset (which occurs before I get out of school some days) with additions of pink and purple. I can see why the painters here were so inspired.

I had three tests last week. Math was okay, French was better than expected, and Economics was a disaster as expected. I would love to go in after school for some help, but I never know where to find the teachers because they have no set classroom or teachers' lounge. I will just have to survive with my textbooks and occasionally a sympathetic classmate. I'm hoping that the next round of tests will be an improvement. I mean, the all around goal is just to keep improving, right?

Much love from across the ocean! And again, if you can, write to me!