Today was hard, I'm not going to lie, but cool, too. After taking 2 buses to school, I met all of Solène's friends and they kiss for everything. And I mean everything. It's just something cultural that I'm not used to. I also found out that smoking is just as common as IPhones are in the United States. The students smoke, the teachers smoke, and it's just normal for them. It's definitely illegal in the United States haha but the teachers don't mind at all here. Solène was kind of surprised when I said that I'd never smoked before. Tu te fume? (Do you smoke) was probably one of the most common questions that I got throughout the day. And they have a very long day at that. We left at 6:45 and didn't get back until 6pm! The first class that Solène had was French and that was hard to understand cause they were talking about a French classic. After that, we just left and went to a movie in Italian because I think it's part of her class. I was actually proud of myself because I understood it with the subtitles.
Then we went to lunch and the cafeteria is so small compared to the one at Millbrook! I had some sort of onion with pasta. It was good but I was trying to listen to them talk and I hardly ate anything. For her next class, the teacher just didn't show up haha so we went and hung out in front of the school. It's so relaxed.
Then we had math for 2 hours. She saw my calculus and said I was advanced! Yay! I think I'm learning a lot.
While we were waiting for the bus after school, it was actually tough. I guess this boy didn't understand why I couldn't understand what they were saying, even though they talk super fast. I'm pretty sure he made fun of me, so I didn't know what to say. They talk so fast, it's crazy. We got home and while here mom went out, Solène and I watched Eragon (in French of course) and had dinner. I'm really tired now so I'm going to go to bed.
Bonne nuit!
Alexandra
Hi Alexandra, thank you for posting about your unusual day. A fascinating day with some unusual events - no teacher showing up and smokes for everyone. So it makes me wonder, is the United States too bossy saying that teenagers cannot smoke? Or is France too hands off and not reading medical reports about the connection between cancer and cigarettes - or maybe there is no connection in France because France has different manufacturers of cigarettes than we do here in the United States. The United States manufacturers do put fiber glass, among other horrible ingredients, in their cigarettes, so that they are addictive.
ReplyDeleteAn onion for lunch! Who knew! No french fries, I guess. Ha ha! :)
Just smile at the boy next time. What a goof ball to be so rude.
Hey Mom!
DeleteOf course! And I don't know! Solène said everyone knows it's unhealthy, but everyone does it anyways. Just a different culture I guess! I actually had french fries for lunch today haha! If I was more fluent in French I would have said something witty haha to that other guy.
Thank you for writing. With your permission, I would like to show to my French 3 class. We are currently talking about traveling to Paris and I think it would be wonderful to show your blog to them. First hand account! By the way, sometimes I wonder if it would be better or easier to not have a substitute teacher for class.
ReplyDeleteOf course! Haha I wonder that, too :)
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