Lilac Wine is Sweet and Heady...

{Wednesday, September 10}

I have my first class this morning…sort of. It’s really a “language-intensive session”, or something like that, but we can just call it a French class.

On Monday morning all of the exhausted IES kids headed over to the FIAP {I have no idea what it stands for}, and had some more orientation. Before our brains were clogged with academic, safety, and housing information, most of which had been available in previously sent IES materials or should be obvious by now, I made a new friend from California, a chemistry major named Amanda. She’s very sweet, and looks a lot like Jennifer Aniston {maybe I should call up Yannick and have a celebrity look-alike party}. Together, we sat through hour after hour of semi-useful information, which included some amusing moments, both in French and English.

Bertrand, on meeting French people: Les Français sont beaucoup plus directs que les Américains; si vous rencontrez quelqu’un dans un bar et vous, comme vous dites, ‘make out’…you’ve got a boyfriend now.

{French men are much more direct than American men; if you meet someone in a bar and you, like you say, ‘make out’…you’ve got a boyfriend now.}

Bertrand, on the love life of one of the older professors: Même Jeanne…à l’époque, Jeanne sortait avec deux ou trois mousquetaires à la fois.

{Even Jeanne…back in the day, Jeanne would go out with two or three Musketeers at a time!}

Rosa, on conserving water while staying with a host family: I really don’t know what you’re doing for twenty minutes in the shower. Explain me.

Edit: Yeah, I think I need to clarify that one - this was not something someone said to ME, it was part of Rosa's presentation to all of the IES students on living with a host family. I do not take 20-minute showers xD And, even if I did, it wouldn't matter because my host brother, Cyprien, takes 30-minute showers.

During lunch in the FIAP’s restaurant {crab-stuffed puff pastry, braised leg of duck, and chocolate mousse – yum}, I met two other girls named Meredith and Shaina, both from Ohio and both bio majors at the University of Indiana. Very content to have female friends, I sat with them during the rest of the presentations, and we all decided to hang out afterward. Samuel, however, also invited me to go get coffee with him, Julian, and a couple of other guys, so we tried to all do so at once – this meant that there were now eight of us. We took the metro in the direction of the Centre Pompidou {which made me think of you, Lauren; remember that project freshman year?}, getting off at the Place de la Bastille and planning to walk the rest of the way, then go to a café in the area. This plan lasted about 15 minutes, or until the guys spotted an Irish bar and decided it was time for a Guinness. Well, turnabout is fair play, and the girls and I weren’t interested in Guinness at the moment, so we went to another café and agreed to meet at the Centre Pompidou.

A couple of carafes of white wine, some girly stories, and a pile of bird poop later, we went shopping, as it seemed like a better idea at the time, and the boys had clearly not been thrilled to have us around. I realize that this entire excursion is ridiculously feminine and fairly un-Caroline, but my experience in Paris thus far was severely lacking in the estrogen department. Besides, sometimes making new friends merits doing something you wouldn’t normally do, but aren’t wholly opposed to, either.

I returned home and recounted my adventure to my host mother Bénédicte, who then spent most of dinner making fun of me for drinking at 4 in the afternoon. “Caroline picole,” she giggled, explaining that someone who picoles is someone who enjoys drinking wine…often. I pointed out that I was not partaking of the table wine, and Benoît recited the French equivalent of that well-loved proverb, “Liquor before beer and you’re in the clear; beer before liquor, never been sicker”, which is “Blanc sur rouge, rien ne bouge; rouge sur blanc, tout fout le camp” {“White after red, stomach of lead; red after white, throw up all night”}. And yes, while I realize that’s not a direct translation, I thought it would be more entertaining if it rhymed; gotta practice for that eventual translation career!

Tuesday morning, I dragged myself out of bed at 7 to head back to the FIAP for our placement exam. On the way there, I had an interesting experience on the crowded metro with a guy who tried to take advantage of the rush hour conditions by getting too close for comfort. Fortunately, he stepped off at the next metro stop, which saved me the trouble of attempting to relocate.

The test itself was multiple-choice and went fairly quickly, after which I made the acquaintance of a guy named Cody, who is from Kansas. More orientation, then lunch, where I met Monica {the history major from Chicago, ha}, who seemed much more my type of person than the other girls I’d spent time with so far. Nonetheless, Meredith, Shaina, Amanda, and I grabbed coffee at the end of the day, and I found a French poster for “Dan in Real Life”, but here, the title is…

"Love at First Sight in Rhode Island" :)

which I think is a prettier title, but doesn’t change the fact that the movie itself was not very good {so I hear}.