A quick description of french classes

Let me just give you an idea of what my french classes were like.
I was in an apartment just a quick five minute walk from the school.
Classes were from 9am until 12:15 every day with an extra 2 1/2 hours of classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays ( I was there for three weeks.)
The first day we had to take tests to determine which group was best for each of us - written, reading comprehension, oral comprehension and an interview.
I must have done alright because they put me into the most advanced class.
Our teacher's name was Dany and we had from three to five students - all women - depending on the week.  Two of the women were with me for all three weeks - Wegdam from Saudi Arabia who is 23 years old and Petra from Switzerland who is 42 years old.
The first week we had an older German lady and the last week there was a 45 year old from Denmark and a 74 year old from Colorado Springs.
Every day we would talk about readings, grammar, listen to radio reports, etc. to try to perfect our written and oral french.  Mostly the mornings would fly by.
Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, we would sign up for classes that were more fun and had other students in each class.  There were people - both men and women - from Switzerland, the Emirates, Saudi Arabia, the States, England, Germany, Singapore, Denmark, ....  it was a real United Nations!  All ages too - from 20 to 64.  It was interesting and people were pretty good about speaking french most of the time - sometimes just because it was the only language we had in common!

I think that I made a mistake in not staying with a french family - I had thought that I wouldn't like living with strangers for three weeks - and there were a lot of good things about living on my own, but I think that I would have learned more french living with a family.  Oh well, next time.
Why Tours?? They have a wonderful spoken french here and the countryside is extraordinary!  Truly, there are beautiful fields,  forests and a chateau around every corner.
Would I do this again and was it worth it??  Yes!

Erin arrived on Tuesday of last week!  She was tired from the flight and the train ride to Tours, so we had a pretty quiet evening...
And the next day, her friend - our family friend - Julia arrived!!  Julia in all her glory - she is very dramatic and we love her dearly!!  Out for dinner and then they retired to their futon in the kitchen to sleep!
The next day, I took part of the day off of school so that we could catch the train to Chenonceau.  This is the most famous chateau in the Valley I believe and we spent the afternoon exploring the chateau inside and out.
Thursday, I went to school for the day and the girls took a guided trip out to the chateaux of Chambord & Cheverny.  Apparently it was only the two of them in the mini van - awkward!!  But they had a great time!!  Dinner at a creperie - Julia's favourite!
Friday afternoon we caught the train (the TGV - tres grande vitesse) into Paris and somehow made our way to Versailles...  long story but Erin would be glad to tell it because I messed up!!
We didn't have a hotel reservation, of course, so we wandered the streets with our bags until we found an Ibis - great location but the rooms were very...efficient!!  The size of a walk-in closet back home.
Of course, we watched an episode or two of Downton Abbey and then went to sleep!
Saturday morning, we walked to Versailles and strolled through the gardens until the ticket office opened.
It is amazing how immense the grounds are!!!  We were among the first into the chateau so we raced ahead of the crowds and managed to be basically alone in a lot of the rooms - even the astounding Hall of Mirrors!!
Alas, Julia had to return to Prague, so we sent her off, RER map in hand, to get to the Charles de Gualle airport on her own.
Erin and I had, by chance really, decided to get the tickets that included the Grands Eaux - which turned out to be amazing!!!  They turn on the fountains and play baroque music - we must have walked from fountain to fountain plus a side trip to the Grand Trianon, for a couple of hours!!  We had, unknowingly,
timed it perfectly too.  The show was only for an hour in the morning, and it began just 15 minutes after Julia left.
Once we were tired enough, we walked back to the hotel, picked up our bags and headed into Paris.
We caught the metro from the train station and found our hotel - the Hotel d'Aubusson in the Saint-Germain district.  Erin and I had stayed there once before (she was in grade nine) thanks to a recommendation from Coco.  It is a beautiful, elegant, very Parisian hotel - perfect location and absolute luxury.  The two of us were tired and were in love with our room, so we each had a bath, walked for miles to a bakery we had read about (Poilane??) and bought ham and cheese to go with our bread - ate it in our room and tried to watch Marie Antoinette on a DVD borrowed from the hotel.
Sunday morning, we again hated to leave our room, but eventually managed to pull ourselves together, pack up and leave.
The Paris Marathon was on and there were also some big political rallies at the Concorde, so Paris was very busy!!  We went to the Champs Elysee to shop for clothes (for Erin, of course) and then headed to the Musee d'Orsay where we had lunch and wandered the galleries.
Finally though, it was time for Erin to head to the airport and for me to catch the TGV back to Tours.....
Love you Honey!!

A weekend touring around Tours!

Easter weekend, but oddly enough, Friday was not a holiday but Monday was!

In any case, two other people in the school - a Swiss woman from my class and a Swiss man from another class - rented a car for a couple of days.  We had to speak French - it was the only language the three of us had in common.  I am much funnier and much more intelligent in English... odd that...

Objective : to see the chateaux of the Loire Valley!
First stop (picture only) the chateau of Amboise, and then the town of Blois where we wandered the streets of the old part of the city, and then had lunch in the shadow of the chateau.
Onward to Chambord where we explored the inside of the chateau and the beautiful grounds.
Final stop Cheverny - aren't the names themselves beautiful??
It is thrilling to be driving in the countryside and suddenly a beautiful chateau rises up beside the road...

Day two began in Vilandry which has the most amazing gardens!  Next Azay-le-Rideau which is a lovely little town and a chateau.  The town of Chinon next where we had lunch in the village square - eating duck outside in a square in a french medieval town - la vie est belle!!
Finally the town of Richelieu and then the city of Loches.

It was a wonderful two days - and I didn't have to drive!!

And so I have finished my first week of classes!  I think that there is hope for me yet - another two weeks and I should be doing well!
It has been quite cool here this week, especially first thing in the morning, but there are flowers everywhere- so beautiful.
Three of us are going to rent a car tomorrow to tour the countryside, in search of a chateau or two....

I am proud to say that I survived my first day of classes!  I am in a class with three other women - two of whom feel a very strong need to examine the grammar of each phrase - not so fun!
I am finding it challenging to not only feel that I have to remember how to speak french again, but I also have to figure out the European culture.  I have studied in France before, but with other Canadian and/or America students.  This is the first time that I am definitely the minority and that there is a great deal that people assume that everyone knows!  It is hard to feel stupid about most things....
The afternoon was spent in a couple of classes that were more about having fun learning...
I even managed to go to the market and ask for the ingredients for a salad - oddly enough, you have to ask for each vegetable and the man goes to get it himself - you are not allowed to touch the vegetables until after he has bagged it and you have paid for it.
I saw lilacs today!!!  (one of my favourite flowers!)
A bientôt mes amis!!

First day in school...
Today was introduce yourself day and TEST day!  Can't remember the last time I wrote a test...
but as the prof said, this is not an intelligence test so don't worry.
An interesting mix of people; many from Switzerland, a retired gent from Ireland, a man from Saudi Arabia and a military American based in Germany.. wonder who will be my classmates??
And this afternoon, we had a two hour walking tour of Tours.  I think that this will be a great place to spend three weeks - especially if the weather stays this beautiful!
It is so odd to hear that this was built in the 15th century, this is only two hundred years old - Canada, you are so new!!

The first few days : in Paris

Paris in the spring - they do not exaggerate, it is absolutely beautiful!  The sun was shining each day, the sky was blue, flowers everywhere, the trees blossoming and turning that most luscious shade of early-spring green... especially coming from Calgary in March; cold, windy and brown..
My friend, Nadine, has a friend who has a bachelor apartment in the Le Marais district where I could stay - walkable to everywhere a tourist would want to go.
And that's what I did for the four and a half days that I was in Paris - I walked... and walked and then walked some more. The thought of descending into the bowels of the city - the Metro - was simply inconceivable.
So I walked to all of the usual tourist sights - I saw the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Musee d'Orsay - all of the well-known places.  And because I was on foot, I also saw the everyday places - the Place des Vosges, the Eglise de St. Eustache, the Place de la Madeleine and the sidewalk cafes, glimpses of courtyards, unexpected squares teeming with people enjoying the sun...
I left my camera behind until the last two days so that the lens wouldn't get between me and the city, but I hope to post some pictures on Facebook if you would like to see them...
Oh, and thanks to another friend, Reina, I had contacted a teacher before leaving Calgary.  She came to meet me and we walked, talked, listened, laughed and roamed the city - she took me to the Place des Vosges, the Canal St. Martin, to a small cafe in Bercy near the Bibliotheque de Francois Mitterand and the Pere LaChaisse cemetery- all with a little grammar lesson or two as well. It was a great way to attune my ear to French again and gain a little confidence in my ability to express myself.
No internet in Paris, but I took the TGV to Tours today, found my little apartment for the next 20 days,
and can now go on-line!
Tomorrow class begins....