A Day in the Life...

So, Hi there! I know I havent updated in forever, but I am having computer... issues. Meaning that my computer has been taken hostage by the French government and I have to write a letter to them telling them that I am a student and that I am leaving in December and taking my computer with me and I also have to find, somehow, the repcit for a computer that I bought two years ago, which wouldn't be a problem except that that paperwork is in storage in Seattle!!

So about Grenoble, I really like it.

The family I am living with is tres sympa (very nice) and my French is getting better by the day. In my host family there is a mom, Valerie and a dad, Stephan, and two kids, Maxance, 11 and Eloise, 5. I really enjoy being in a family with kids because Eloise dosnt hesitate to correct my French and Maxance is just taking English so he was super cute and asked me to speak with him for a few minutes every day and I also told him that I could help him with his homework. Other than the family there are also 3 other students living here (all French) and they are really great to hang out with because they are all just a little older than me and know all of the cool places that have live music and the like. There is also a dog, a little Apolapso, who is actually very cute and not annoying and also a cat, who is a gray one with one of those funny squashed-up faces.

My classes are going very well. They way they work is kindof cool. You are assigned a certain level of language classs that you have 4 days a week, then there are also 8 elective classes and you get to chose four of them. SU kids have to take the translation class, so that means I get to pick 3 more, but I cant decide (in usual Libra fashion) and I think I am going to take 4, the 4 being French and Francophone Literature, Contemporary History of France, French Politics and Economics, and Art History of France. Each of the electives (including translation) meets once a week in the afternoon, where the language classes are in the morning.

So as far as what I do every day other than classes, I and the other SU kids hang out alot at cafes and bars (because that is what you do in France) and I also spend a good chunk of time with my host family. Like yesterday for example, I went for drinks after Lit class with most of the other SU kids, then came home for dinner with my host family, after which Valerie (my host mom) as well as Alise and Baptist (two of the students who also live here) played Trivial Pursuit (in French of course), needless to say I lost worse than I have ever lost at TP, (those out there who have played it with me know how rare that is) but it was really fun and a good way to practice my French anyway.