September 15, 2014

Today was the beginning of classes. I only had two in the morning: French and History and Religion of Nantes. I don't like the French level the program has put me in; a lot of what we covered today I already know. I will talk to Julie to see if it's possible I can move up a level, otherwise the credit won't transfer. Fortunately, I like the prof, Mme. Deschanel, who will also be teaching my French Phonetics and Conversation class. The History class was a little difficult because the prof spoke very fast in French. At the same time, he had visual maps for the historical geography of Nantes, so that made it easier as a visual learner to take notes.

Azelia and I finally were able to send off our post cards today-I had 30 to send off! It's a bit of an obsession, so hopefully at some point family and friends will receive them soon. I continue to enjoy my conversations with Azelia. I liked when she mentioned, "Do you notice how we Americanize our French? No French person is going to smile and say "Ça va? How are you?" to a casual acquaintance, but we do it all the time." 

 A petting zoo at the park 

Since I only had two classes this morning, Christine and I visited the park, Jardin des Plantes that I visited during my previous day trip to Nantes in January. The park is even more colorful and lovely in summer and I saw many new additions to the plants, including one as a "grand oiseau" big bird shape. I like that Christine and I can have the majority of our conversations in French, and then if necessary we switch to English. I knew she would love the park just as much as I do. It's one of my favorite parts of the city. 

 "Le grand oiseau"

These bizzare bird flower pot heads