Orientation

Orientation started with a bunch of nervous chatter from all of the students. We waited anxiously in the lobby wondering what was to come. We talked about simple things, our names, colleges, where we were from, what our major was. Then a lady walked in announcing her presence by singing "bonjour, bonjour, bonjour bonjour bonjour." We laughed uncomfortably and then she starts talking to us very quickly in French. We all looked around having no clue what she was saying. Then she turned around and left the room! Someone said, she said sortie, and she said ensemble. That means to leave and together, so we followed, not sure what else to do. She walked into the "street." I say that because all of the streets are alleys. They really aren't big enough for cars but somehow cars squeeze through them occasionally. After a few moments of us talking to each other she turns around and says, "Il y a trop bruit." There is too much noise. "Maintenant, il n'y a pas l'anglais, seul francais." Now, there will be no english, only French. It's amazing how quiet it was the rest of the way.

Those first few minutes of silence were the worst because we were all wondering what we got ourselves into. But, once we started talking in French, it was easy to continue. We went to a building where our classes will be held. She talked a lot, most of which we didn't pay attention too because we were all so exhausted from our flights in. But then we fianlly got to eat. Pizza. I thought it was funny that our first meal in France was pizza.

Speaking of the pizza, who in the world puts unpitted olives on a pizza. I thought my tooth was going to fall out after biting down hard on that. It's good now though, no worries.

Yesterday started with a tour of Arles. While this was interesting to see, no one could understand Bertrand because it was windy and we couldn't understand his deep French accent. To me it is so much harder to understand males because they emphasize the throaty sound even more then the women. He took us to a cell phone store after a while and told us to buy our cell phones there. But then he left, leaving us alone and helpless with our little bit of French. After someone got the courage to start the conversation we were all able to make it work. However, I still don't have a cell phone because the guy was really slow and we didn't have time to wait. But that's okay. I'll get it Monday.

Yesterday afternoon was long and exhuasting. We sat through 3 hours of orientation about safety policies, what are classes would be like, and how to treat our families. It was amazing to us the stereotype that French people have of Americans. Bertrand talked for a long time on how we can't binge drink here because it's not Spring Break. I'm pretty sure that he's never even been to America. We also found out that only 10 percent of the population of Arles speaks English. That's such a small number.

After orientation we went to a house that was in the Alpinnes. It was a beautiful house with a pool and an amazing view of the mountatins. We all "swam" for the 2 hours they gave us to swim. I sat on the edge of the pool for a bit and then got to cold and had to change back into my real clothes. We ate dinner there. Chicken, that still had feathers on it. I'd never even seen that before, but I just pulled the skin of and ate it anyways. I also ate tomato with mozarella on it. Apparently that's a really big thing here. Oh and i forgot to tell you what I had for lunch yesterday. It was salad with hot goat cheese on the top. Haha. It acutally wasn't too bad.

Today is Sunday now and we are all just waiting around to meet our families. I believe they are supposed to be here around 11:30 ish and then we move in at noon. Around then. But I have to be out of my room within the next 15 minutes. So I really should probably go. I'll tell you all about my family and house in the next post.