springish

Woke up today totally unmotivated to go to class, so I skipped my morning one. I was just too tired. I ended up running into my morning class teacher and she said, "Ca va, ma cherie?" (Are you okay, my dear?) And then she came over and hugged me and kissed me on my forehead like your grandmother would if you were sick. If this was America, that would be weird, but she's a really sweet French lady and laidback and wears huge Lacoste sweaters and big ass glasses like Adrien Brody in Darjeeling (but not tinted) so that makes it okay. Very affectionate to the girls in the class (always bisousing), and she absolutely loves Italian boys. I had an Italian classmate named Manfreddi, and she'd always call out to him whenever he came into class late. "Manfreddi!"

Afternoon class was okay. There are some American girls in this class who can't speak very well or are not so confident, so they'll sometimes start in French, and then when they don't know the word in French they'll say it in English and as a question. For example, "Il joue...joue. Joue?...Plays?" (Joue--from jouer--means play or is playing). The other students talk much faster and have interesting analysis. I've only spoken once in class, trying to analyze a sentence from a Marguerite Duras excerpt, and the prof shot me down, so I haven't fully recovered yet.

I felt bad for these poor girls because they seemed embarrassed to be at their level while everyone else has clearly had French for more than 4 years, and I can't help but feel embarrassed myself because I'm also an American and not that great of a speaker. All I could think was, "This does not bode well for us Americans." Just how these foreigners are seeing us.

Today felt like the first day of spring, but only for a little while. The sun was shining finally, and you could really feel the warmth. And for a bit I didn't have to wear my scarf. Met up with Melissa and Kathy at Starbucks after my class, and we chatted it up for a while. Lots of students go there to study. And I mean seriously study. They had their laptops out and highlighters and various papers and books. Kathy had a newspaper, Melissa two books and a notebook, and I had my planner out and later some reading I had to do. But we mostly chatted. I can't study or do homework in groups. It's too distracting.