Bonjour,
Well, classes started. I've had a real tough time figuring out what I could do or even what I could do, but I went to five or six different classes. The only way you can figure out where classes are offered here is on bulletin boards in each separate building. (In the college of humanities, there are no course descriptions posted anywhere. And most professors don't give students syllabuses.) I realized that almost all classes are offered as one session a week, which makes it simpler. Next week I'll go to three or four of those again, plus some new ones. At the end of next week, I'll decide what I'm going to take. In high school, French students spend about as much time at school as we do in America, but college is totally different. It's really hard to get concrete answers from people around here, but I believe people typically take 5-10 hours a semester. My French as a foreign language class already will be eight hours, I believe, so I'm actually planning on taking on a heavy load here. Well, a lot of classes anyway; I don't want to do harder classes that require a lot of outside work, but I really think it'd be good for me to spend a lot of time in the classroom.
In a couple classes, I was really lost, but I was able to understand most of the professors. In the three translation classes I went to, I was of course the only anglophone so I got a little more attention than I would have liked, but it's better than being ignored and getting lost! I'm taking a French-to-English class with a lady who's already been very helpful to me, and I think I'll be able to learn a lot there. There are two classes that I really wanted to go to on Wednesday, but the entire department was shut down--they cancel classes all the time over here.
Both last Saturday and today I went downtown. Last week it was with some Portuguese and German girls to go on the canal tour. Amiens is the "Petit Venice" of France, supposedly. It was a 45 minute boat ride through absolutely beautiful gardens, a lot of which were private property--our tour guide kept talking to people who were sitting in front of the river in their back yards. The guide was funny, and he knew a ton of stuff about those canals. I just wish I could have understood half of what he said! When I come back to Amiens after I can really speak French, I'll have to take that tour again. It was nice just to look at flowers for a while, though. Also, I barely spoke in English at all that day, which was nice for a change.
Today, I went au centre ville with the Americans, and Lami, one of my British friends. I bought a SIM card for my cell phone finally (the country code is 33, then you dial 6.80.70.88.91) and got my own mic for Skype. Skype has been down for a few days now, and it's pretty frustrating. I spent two or three hours the first night changing proxy settings and looking up information before I gave up. But everyone else is having the same problems, and the Université is working on it. So maybe in a week or two... Anyway, after I bought my electronics I needed a snack so I stopped at a patisserie, and picked up a nice little pastry. It was actually bigger than I thought it was, but once I opened it, I had to eat it all because I couldn't keep carrying it around. So, I sat on a bench in a tiny park (there are probably a dozen of them downtown) and ate three servings worth of dessert. It was pretty good. Afterwards, I went to the theater and watched Shoot 'Em Up. a new American movie for those of you who haven't heard of it. It was dubbed, which bothered me a little bit, but I wanted to listen to French, so I wasn't too upset about it. There were three or four really good action scenes, but it's not a movie I'd recommend to most people. Ask me if you want details...
I still don't have a church here. I haven't seen a single one in Amiens. I've e-mailed people all over the world, asking for leads on a church near here, but I haven't gotten anything besides more references. I'd appreciate your prayers as I keep looking.
It's been a good week. The scariest part was going to that first class, which fortunately was a lecture class, so I didn't have to do anything (I'm not going back to that one.). I feel a lot more comfortable now, and I'm excited about seeing what other classes will be like.
Good night,
Stephen
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"...I believe people typically take 5-10 hours a semester..."
Actually, for French people (at least at UPJV) it's usually 5-10 CLASSES a semester. Having 20-25 credit hours is not unusual. That's what Courtois and other French students told me, at least. I took 6 classes while there (including the 2 FLE courses).
And as far as churches go, I'm guessing you're ruling Catholic churches out because France is FULL of them. :) I'd still recommend going to one of the Masses because it's in French and very interesting. One of my American friends there was Hindi but still went to some Masses in various churches for the experience. Go to the Cathédrale while they are still holding services there! (They stop in the winter and hold it in a side building.) There are lots of Catholic churches and Mosques in France, but if you're looking for a Protestant church or anything else, it's going to be a little hard! For what it's worth, I heard tell of a Protestant church (I don't know which denomination) in or just outside of Amiens, but I didn't hear where it was.
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