I have just finished my third week of school here in Paris and boy am I not feeling overwhelmed that all of my classes are in French. Strange, huh? Before coming to France, people would always ask me, “But aren’t you scared?” I assumed they were implying the difficulties of adjusting to a foreign culture AND a foreign language. I always responded, “Not at all.” And really, I wasn’t scared. At all. Until just a few days before leaving, I started to worry about the fact that all of my classes would be in French. That is terrifying. But now, three weeks in and the fact that all of my classes are in French hasn’t sunk in yet. I do sometimes get lost in some of my classes, namely any class that has to do with history, but really, I don’t feel any the difference between the courses here, taught all in French, and the courses back at home. Yes, the language barrier definitely makes things more difficult to understand, but besides that, I feel fine.

So, what classes am I actually taking? In my last post about school, I said that I needed to drop some courses. Well, I finally did. I dropped Writers and Paris and a class on art from 1848-1914. The Writers and Paris course sounded very interesting (although I did find the first day of class to be a bit dull). It’s more interesting in theory than in practice. But what did it for me was the timing. It was my only class on Monday and I wasn’t too fond of how it took up my whole afternoon, from my lunchtime until babysitting time. The location was convenient, but I had already taken a 2-week intensive French course there two weeks prior and I just did not feel like returning. Fortunately, the professor told me that he would be offering the same course again next semester. So if all goes well, I might be able to take this course again!

As for the art history course, it was offered at two inconvenient times: the CM (lecture class) at 8:30AM on Fridays (meaning, wake up at 6:30AM) and the TD (discussion class) at 1PM on Wednesdays, giving me only one hour to commute from my course on Wednesday mornings (where we always go on field trips and end up in locations that I am not familiar with, especially not to get onto the metro and to class on time). I still love the topics for this course, but in the discussion class, one of the assignments was to read a (French) novel and write a paper on how it influenced the art of this period. I am not ready for that. Even in English, that’s difficult. But in French? Maybe if I was taking very few classes and if I had a better command of the French language. Also, everyone in the class speaks French natively so there are no provisions really to help me, a foreigner, overcome the language barrier to comprehend the lessons and successfully complete the assignments.

My other courses (that I have not dropped) are as follows:

• Ecrit 2 – a level 2 writing class, heavily focusing on grammar and, well, of course, writing. A very basic, straightforward, and easy class. Also, unchallenging. But being the optimist that I am, I shall say, unchallenging so far. (This is a French class for foreign language learners.)
• Oral 2 – a level 2 speaking class, with emphasis on not only speaking, but also listening comprehension. This class I find perfectly suited to my speaking and hearing level. I think this class is the most useful and helpful. (This is a French class for foreign language learners.)
• Civilisation française – a course on French history, culture, and government. Very broad, but necessary for my major! (This is a French class for foreign language learners.)
• History of Paris – a course on, well, the history of Paris. I really enjoy this class because the professor is very nice and super quirky. I also learn a lot, but how much of that information do I retain? I’m not sure… We go on field trips every week. J’aime bien! (This is a French class with my MICEFA, my exchange program, so all the students are from North America, aka aside from with the professor, we all speak in English to each other…)
• Art of the 17th century in Europe: an art history course focusing on European art from this time period. It is in the same style (CM & TD) as the other art history course I talked about before. For this course, I understand about 70% of what the professor says, but I have the tendency to zone out or lose my track of comprehension. Therefore, I record all the lectures and discussion courses. (This is my one and only course with native French speakers. Basically, I am dropping in on their regimented course of study.)

And that’s it for my courses. I have a four-day schedule, with one class on Tuesday morning, one on Wednesday morning, two from Thursday morning until afternoon, and two on Friday morning. Back in NYC, I would never start class before 11AM because I did not want to wake up any earlier than 7:30AM and because I wanted to avoid morning rush hour in the subway. (It takes me a long time to commute in NYC.) Here though, I don’t mind morning classes because (1) I wake up at 7:30AM, just 20 minutes earlier than 7:50AM, when I had to wake up for my 11AM courses in NY, and (2) I like the feeling of finishing classes in the early afternoon. I get several hours before work to eat lunch at home, rest, take a nap, or do whatever. Basically, after classes finish, my day is not over. It’s just beginning and I still have time to take things slow. As for the morning commute during rush hour, I don’t mind it at all. But more on commuting in another post. There’s more that I want to say about how my classes in regards to the way they run, talking to professors, etc, but this post is getting way too long. Instead, I’ll save that all for another post. Until then~