Oui, je suis en France...

I imagine that, for the next while, I will be blogging more since I think it may be the best way for me to keep people in the loop of my current adventure...
First of all, I thought I'd include a map to show you just where Tours is located in France and just where I am over these next few months. Yes, I have moved to Tours as of August 31 and will return on time for Christmas in Canada!

There are some things that Tours is known for and I figure I'll pass these things on to you over time.  First of all, one of France's large rivers passes through Tours, the Loire.  Here is a picture of the Pont Wilson, the stone bridge that crosses the Loire, from North Tours (where I'm living and the side from which the photo is taken) into the centre.

Since I have no idea who all is reading this blog these days, perhaps I ought to bring you up to speed...After 10 or so years with YWAM, I returned to school in 2009 with the intent to fulfill a few personal goals: achieve more competence in the three languages that I had gained some experience in over the years (Portuguese, French and Spanish) and to acquire further education.  I was able to combine these all by pursuing a BA in Languages at Wilfrid Laurier University in the city I was already living in!  By my second year of studies, it became clear to me that I would not be able to achieve the level of oral competency in French that I would like without an immersion experience, hence this single term of university in France!  (I'm sure there is more insight to be found into this journey of mine amidst my former blog postings.)

For awhile, people were asking me if I was excited about this adventure and I honestly didn't know how to answer.  I had some reservations about leaving home, etc. and, also, compared to the other university exchange students, I felt a lot of "been there, done that".  Nevertheless, I did feel good about my decision to choose to live with une Française and to make a home while here, as opposed to finding myself absorbed in the student traveller life, which yes, is not at all where I am at.

And yes, it is working out well!  I am living with a woman about my brother's age and her 5 year-old daughter and, well I've been forced to speak French a lot!  The apartment is lovely and the neighbourhood is nice; it's removed from the downtown and the university area, but those places are still walkable.  It is truly nice to share a home and meals with someone and to have an automatic companion who is able to help me assimilate!

Speaking of companions, it also has been great to know one other person, a Laurier classmate who is also here on exchange.  We travelled together (which included the flight to Paris and then two trains to Tours, plus lots of fun carting around the luggage...erg, I am not a fan of packing for a longer stint and my big suitcase caused me much grief and embarrassment) and we've gotten together each day to help each other figure out things around the school and city.  For example, today we successfully got ourselves some cell phone numbers, electronic bus passes and ate some amazing street baguette sandwiches.  Here I am on our first day of exploring, enjoying my first quiche Lorraine.  Notice the very European scooter behind me.

And here I am on some promenade of sorts.  Certainly, many things remind me of the months I lived in England, yet strangely, some things actually remind me of Latin America!  I can't quite explain it, just certain types of buildings, something in the air, the sound of television or radio commercials....And then there are all of the public toilets that you have to pay for!  (Although, I remember that in Italy too.  It's very annoying.)

It seems that Tours is a good fit for me; it's not too big, but it has lots to explore.  There seems to be some neat little nooks and particularities to discover.  Tomorrow is market day and there are some special open-air "clearance markets" happening in addition to the regular weekend open-air food markets.

There is also this atmosphere of students arriving and the city is bulging a bit with it, very much like this time of year in Waterloo.  And just like I feel in Waterloo, I'm not a big fan of the streets crawling with students from wherever.  Just like at Laurier, I'm predicting that I will find myself somewhat out of place, being an "old" student.  I had a thought the other day about how nice it would be to just live and work and to get to avoid going to campus and school all together!  Ahh well, I'm sure it will be fine.

It definitely is quite tricky navigating the administrative side of the school.  We STILL do not know what classes we will take, when they start, when they finish, when any holidays are....!  Lots of fun!  :)  I do know that I have a 3-hour French test on Monday, in order to assess my level and place me appropriately.  I'm still really hoping (and needing because of my degree in Canada) to take Spanish and Portuguese, but I'm waiting for some direction about this.

Tours is similar to Kitchener-Waterloo as well in that they are in the process of making space for a Tram!  It seems that a day does not go by without hearing some local talk about "les travaux" (the construction) and just how it's changed everyone's usual route to wherever.  I can't tell if they're happy about it or not, everyone just seems rather matter-of-fact.  It was our initiation to Tours as well, where, upon exiting the train station, about 10 of us stood at an empty taxi stand for over 30 minutes!  "It's because of les travaux, le tram...." we were told.  Here is a photo of some of les travaux (these orange and white barriers are the marker) with an interesting building behind.

I've had some neat conversations with my housemate, including one today where I learned that Tours does have bit of an aristocratic-type mindset/culture to it, so I guess in that way, it's not quite "me".  But their French is considered "unblemished" (you can check out the Wikipedia article about Tours), so this should serve me well in my pursuit of French!

But wow, have I ever found myself at a loss for words...like all the time!!  It is so frustrating how limited my vocabulary is!  Sometimes, I really miss what people say too, even really simple things that I should know, but I just don't "hear" it.  But the worst is the fumbling to be able to express myself out and about.  Ironically, I feel that the clearest I have been in my expression was this evening when I was describing very detailed things to my housemate about Canadian and Quebec culture and history!  Ha ha.  There's our French curriculum for you...tons of reading and writing on these types of things yet no practice in how to leave a message on an answering machine, how to order a taxi, how to explain what type of adapter you need because the one you brought doesn't fit the outlets properly!!

(Yes, this is the first time I've used my laptop, because I have no way of recharging it thus far....)


Anyway, that's my update for now.  Here are a couple of interesting architecture pictures for you photo lovers.