Et toi, _____?

I woke up at 5:30am on Monday, flew to Philly at 8:30am, exchanged currency, waited 5 hours for the next flight at 9:00pm (during which Adam Godfrey, another junior at Merrimack, joined me) and finally arrived at the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris at 10:30am on Tuesday. Exhausting? Oui, yes, absolutely, but totally and completely worth it.

After collecting our luggage, Adam and I found our way to La Gare (or Train Station). We got our 12/25 cards (which gives anyone between the ages of 12 and 25 a 25-60% discount on rail fare in France and parts of Europe) and bought our train ticket to Angers (pronounced On-jay) for 27,50 euro (approximately 40USD). After about two hours on the train (during which I fell asleep), we arrived in Angers and then navigated our way to first my dorm and then his. The Foyer is three blocks from Le Chateau d'Angers (the Angers Castle) and I feel so lucky that I get to walk by it everyday to go to school. This is the first castle I have ever seen and while it may not be the grandest or most beautiful, it is truly spectacular and I can't wait to explore it. The chateau is complete with drawbridges, flags, arrow loops and moat; the latter has been transformed into a garden.

Last night dinner was baked potatoes with a creamy mushroom sauce and a meatball (just one, don’t ask why, I have no clue). I thoroughly enjoyed the food, but maybe this was because I was famished or because I’m really not picky and like trying new food. At any rate, I paid better attention to what I was eating at breakfast and I can tell you that everyone was right when they said French croissants are the best. They are. And the baguettes with jam are really good too.

The girls in the Foyer are really nice, but it’s really hard to not speak English. Sarah is from England, Moe (pronounced Mo-ay) and Sachiako are from Japan, Gaelle is from France and another, I think its Francesca, is from Germany. It looks as though I’m the only American, but I’m not positive. All of them speak far better French than me. I have never spoken this much French in my entire life. And by speak I mean bumble along with my extremely broken French. Seriously, I was trying to talk to Moe this morning and said "Le chapeau est tres beau" instead of "Le chateau est tres beau." Le chapeau is a hat. Yeahhh, I definitely felt like an idiot. But I’m good at laughing at myself and besides, if I don’t make a fool out of myself by trying I’ll never learn anything. Still, it’s really hard trying to find the right words to say and often I resort to easier phrases to help me limp along.

My favorite phrase has quickly become “Et toi?” It simply means “And you?” and it is far easier than trying to phrase my own question. And not to get off topic, but it reminds me of Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar. (Et tu, Bruté? Et toi, Bruté?) Here’s how most of my conversations went:
Good French Speaker (GFS): “Bonjour Heidi! Comment ça va?”

Heidi: “Ça va bien, merci. Et toi?”

GFS: “Bien, bien. Quel âge as-tu?”
Heidi: “Vingt ans. Et toi?”
GFS: “Vingt ans aussi. Où habite-tu?”
Heidi: “Californie. Et toi?” …
As you can see, my conversation was really thrilling.

Moe has already become one of my good friends here. Moe, Adam and I walked around La Centre Ville (the center of Angers) after we took the placement test this morning (don't want to talk about it, it was really hard). We all bought the same Orange phone (Orange is the store, nothing to do with the color) and then went into Saturn (the French version of Best Buy) where I got a straightener and adapter/converter. Buying the adapter was important because I discovered the one I bought in the US didn’t fit the socket here (apparently I was supposed to buy some other component, oh well). But I now have my computer all set up and all’s well that ends well.

I went to bed at 8:30 last night (in California time that would be 11:30 in the morning which is unreal) and will probably end up doing the same thing again (still jet lagged, I’m afraid). FYI, I can only use the internet from 7am to 12pm so that's 10pm to 3pm West Coast time and 1pm to 6pm East Coast time (sorry Sarah, you’ll have to calculate what that is for Alabama).

Bonne nuit for now!
Heidi

P.S. My dad read my last post and wants to reassure everyone that he has plenty of other equally useful skills that Liam Neeson doesn’t have and a list of contacts who can rescue me if I needed saving. Haha, thanks dad!