Jour Deux.

Jour deux. 2/9/10.

Très fatiguée. Je suis trop fatiguée.
Last night, Christine and I finally gathered the courage to ask the red-headed lady at the front desk how we get to the metro…and it’s a good thing we did! We braved the metro together, found Université Lile III’s campus (just off of the metro stop at Pont de Bois), and then took a metro in the wrong direction before getting back. We went to le Centre Commercial V2, located at the Hotel de Ville station. We had some absolutely delicious pizza for dinner and I had never been in an Auchan before, and I’m not so sure I want to make it a regular happening. It’s a super Wal-Mart on les drogues français ou quelque chose comme ça. The Auchan in the mall is 2 floors. Haut: clothing, cooking/kitchen, bed/bath, school supplies, books (and while there today, I did indeed spy the rest of the Harry Potter series that I need to buy...), cars, luggage (good to know, as my suitcase broke on the journey over), and, well, vraiment presque tout. Bas: food, makeup and toiletries, cleaning, et presque tout les choses qui n’étaient en haut. The entire experience was overwhelming. I tend to loathe going grocery shopping with my parents, and I’ve never had to go grocery shopping by myself or for myself. That has certainly changed. Last night, I bought some awesome Special K cereal (with both French and Arabic on the box), some small, unrefrigerated bottles of milk (I DID refrigerate after opening though, as directed), a loaf of bread (“style américain”), hand soap (note to self and others: don’t buy vanilla scented handsoap; it just makes you want to eat vanilla flavored things as soon as you use it…), toilet paper (buying my own makes me feel weird and grown-up), yogurts (“yaourt” may be one of my favorite French words), and confiture trois fruits (it’s just fruit preserves/jam, mais delicieux!). Glad I can take care of the basics for myself… I happened to go back to Auchan today, and I managed to spend too much time there, to buy cooking supplies (a pot, a set of two skillet things, a spatula –red!, and a lid), some trashcan bags, and eggs (which I can now cook with my cooking supplies!), to be approached and asked if we (myself and another girl) would like to sign up for Auchan Rapide (a sort of…personal price gun thing to total the costs as you go, and then you basically just print and present a receipt plus rapide than going through a regular check out. We said no, but only after we stared at him blankly, he asked where we were from and kind of stared and decided to explain in French anyway…), to get lost/separated from the group of four other girls with whom I went, to correctly tell the man in line behind me what time it was (I probably wouldn’t have noticed what he was asking if he didn’t point to his wrist –sans montre) to accidentally make the cashier think I was harboring stolen goods in my green backpack (“Excusez-moi, est-ce que je peut voir votre sac?” “Oh, désolée, désolée!” –Smooth.), and to find Monika, the Polish girl who had disappeared within Auchan while we were shopping with three Brazilian girls (Carina, Christiane, and Taynà, the last of whom lives practically just across from my room), and to almost forget my eggs (thank goodness for Monika!) So yes, in all, Auchan is a place I don’t want to visit too frequently.
But enough of Auchan. This morning, Christine and I met the aforementioned three Brazilian girls and the Polish girl and led them to the university via metro. We arrived without problem, found the room for our test, discovered that our test would be in the afternoon, and waited for a welcoming/informational session to begin. Mainly confusing and completely in French, the session felt long and made me more tired than I really wanted. Afterwards, we ventured into the newly re-opened CROUS restaurant (Cheddar panini? Delicious.) and the computer area for International Relations. Our test lasted nearly two hours and was nothing short of unpleasant and tedious, complete with fill in the blanks, a short answer, and a great little essay complete with six arguments and three examples of a side about whether or not the European Union should have just one language. I lost everyone but Carina, Christane, Taynà, and Monika after the test, and so we walked back to our dorm, gathered our things, and went back to the Auchan, which I’ve already described. I tried to buy a French sim card and minutes for my phone, but the man wanted my passport and I will have to try again tomorrow, this time with my passport. Also tomorrow morning, a trip with Monika over to the International Relations office so I can introduce myself and get lots of wonderful information about school, Lille/Villeneuve D’ascq and use the computers. Once I do get my French cell number, I will be able to have 24h internet access (Libre! C’est bien!) and then subscribe for internet in my room for 20€ a month.
An aside:
Today at Auchan (See, it’s overwhelming: taking over my daily trips, my money, and my blog post…), Taynà pointed out Becherelles (I think?) dictionaries and grammar books, telling me how cheap it was here for €89, because in Brazil, they cost 50 (I can’t even imagine how to spell the currency of Brazil, and without internet, it is not easily available, so forgive me, s’il vous plait.). I thought I was misunderstanding, because Taynà kept going on about it not being as expensive as Brazil. It wasn’t until about 2 minutes of her going on I realized that the Euro symbol (€) comes AFTER the main amount of money, and it was really 7€89, not simply €89. Now I’ve noticed at least, so I’ll stop thinking of it like the $ which comes before every number…

Rosalind, Sarah, and Christine (the three other girls from the US and ISEP that I’ve met) just stopped by, saying they’d been looking for my most of the day. We’ve been talking for a very long time, and it’s now 11:22. I’m exhausted, but can sleep in a bit tomorrow. I’m actually looking forward to a bowl of cereal in the morning, this time with cold milk.

This weekend is the famous Braderie, a giant flea-market/festival thing throughout Lille. We’re really looking forward to going and buying souvenirs/useful items. It lasts the entire weekend, and I’m excited to go see downtown Lille and old Lille, as we live and will go to school in a smaller (but still very pleasant) suburb, Villeneuve D’ascq. I’m also going to try and get in touch with my penpal Camille, as soon as I have internet, to see if she’ll show us some interesting, local (and possibly inexpensive) restaurants, grocery stores, places to relax, etc.
Alors, c’est tout. This language thing is getting to me already. I keep throwing French words into English sentences, or the inverse, without noticing right away. I told my story about the Auchan Rapide man by telling the ISEP girls, “It’s an inscription…..What? I mean registration for…” I also said something along the lines of, “We should wait for her ici.” I suppose that mean something in my brain is working, yeah? Oui? Oh, and more languages? All around. Taynà taught me, “Oi. Como vai voče?” and she, Carina, Christine and I have all studied Italian, so when we talk about it we use that too. So much German and Italian that I’ve noticed, outside of French. Even some girls from somewhere in the UK with very…distinctive accents. It really makes me wonder what other people think, or if they really understand, if we use English in public, or if they hear us stuttering through French (as I do with Monika and Taynà, as they aren’t so comfortable with English and I clearly know nothing more than a few words of Polish or French. But enough.
Sleep. Le sommeil. Even without Ben the Frog and with only one pillow and a foam mattress, sleep comes easily in my exhaustion.
Bonne nuit.