Week 4: Getting into the swing of things…

This week for me was a lot about getting used to things here, namely classes. Not that I haven’t already started getting used to the culture in general, because of course that happened from the moment I stepped off the plane, but more of daily life and becoming an adult getting ready for the real world.

The second week of classes was better and worse. It was mostly better, because I mostly had my schedule down and I knew where to go, but also worse, because I kept having to change classes around, and then I missed some classes just because no one had told me there had been a room change, for example. I have found out after only having two formal translation classes in my life that I am really interested in the nuances of how translation works, so that will definitely be something I explore as a possible (part-time or full-time) career. I have classes that differ somewhat in subjects, but almost all of the ten courses I’m in are either taught in French or the focus of the class is French. Overall, I am liking my classes so far.

Outside of academics, I’ve been challenged to make my own dinner every single night this week, and it went pretty well! Below are some pics of some of the meals that I made (or helped to make). I liked this challenge because it taught me a lot of basic things about cooking and food, and also I feel about an inch closer in the miles I have yet to go to become a “real” adult. Also, grocery shopping alone was what I didn’t know I needed!

Making a simple, traditional French dish: ratatouille!

Big dinner Tuesday night! - salad, carbonara, couscous, baguette, and of course some Orangina to drink! Thank goodness James and Grace shared the cooking (and food!) with me.

Noodles & eggs - one of my favorite dishes from home :)

This weekend was pretty spectacular in and of itself (and hopefully the last one for a little bit that included no international travel). Friday I had no class, so I slept in, had lunch with my friends Katherine and Maria, and then ended up spending the afternoon and evening with them. It was really fun, and my favorite part was definitely watching the movie Intouchables while sharing wine and chocolate. What a great night!

Saturday was a very fun (and very long) day! I started the day off at 8am by going for a 6K run. Holy cow, that was invigorating! It’s good to know that I can last at least that far… and I’ll need to be stepping it up if I want to actually run a 10K in Tourcoing (a neighboring city) in a few weeks.

At the Journée inter-résidence! Ivona, Rebecca, and Willy were a lot of fun to hang out with :)

Obstacle course!

Zumba - my favorite part of the day!

Human foosball!

Jumping over the spinner :)

Human bubbles!

A few hours after my run, around 20 students from my residence and I hopped on a bus and made it to a sports complex for a Journée inter-résidences (Inter-residential day), which was really fun! There were many different physical activities for us to participate in, including a wrecking ball balance game where you try to knock your opponents off a wobbly platform, a Wipeout-style spinning bar that you had to jump over and be the last one standing to win (but not quite as high in the air!), a human foosball area, a blow-up obstacle course, plastic bubble suits to play human bumper cars and roll around in, and last but certainly not least, aerobic step and Zumba sessions! All of it made for a very fun day, and despite the rain at the end of the event, we all had a wonderful time (and I’m definitely sore today!). After all of this physically taxing activity, we then got to go to a soirée to socialize more and of course dance the night away with students from the different residences around the city. Needless to say, today I have been pretty tired… Time to get some sleep to start off next week right.

On Sunday Katherine and I had been planning to do something to celebrate the French Journées de Patrimoine (Patrimony/Heritage Days - sorry, the link is in French), and so we went to see a French film called “Gemma Bovery” (2014). After that, I decided to take it easy for the rest of the day and get some more homework done (and write this post of course!).

Next weekend Katherine and I are hoping to travel and see more of Europe. After at least a few weekends of not quite making it out of the country (except for our little foray into Belgium last weekend), we want to make sure we start to travel while we’re here in Europe. We've been discussing where we want to go and whatnot, and so hopefully soon we'll get it all figured out. We’ll see where we actually get to in my next post J

After straightening out most of my classes and continuing my journey of growing up and getting used to life as an independent adult, and now taking a step back to reflect, I’m slowly starting to create my own life in the real world, step by baby step. Hopefully the future holds many bright stars and bold adventures for me. For now, I’m taking it one step at a time. On that optimistic note, I will see you on Sunday! À bientôt!