Minor Blunders, a rainy day, etc.

And so today I woke up at 6am for my 8am class. Knowing it required two long walks and a tram, I left the house at around 7 after a very small breakfast and a brief brief chat with my parents(!). It was dark when I left the apartment, and still seemed night. There were very few people on the roads, and it was very strange and a bit eerie for me to see the streets of Nantes so empty. Most of the people out were big burly men working garbage trucks or other maintenance vehicles. The rest were all toting back packs, and so I assume, students at the university. Bleary eyed, like me, from want of sleep. I made my way to the tram station, hopped the number 2, which was surprisingly full of people considering how deserted the streets had been, and got off 7 or 8 stops later at the University.

The University of Nantes is attended by around 30,000 students. It is huge, ugly and modern. The buildings are all nearly identical, with graffiti all over the walls, ceilings, floors, desks, chairs, bathrooms, ATMs -- it is seriously everywhere. I eventually found my classroom (Amphitheater 4) after going in one wrong building and asking directions from one student and one employee.

My class room was huge. There were about fifteen long rows containing about thirty to forty-five chairs each in an arena type arrangement. I took my seat as close to an end as was possible but still felt claustrophobic. I chose Sewanee because I never wanted to be in classes like this - and yet here I was. The professor started speaking, and as I'd feared, I could hardly hear him at all because he was so far away and speaking a language I can only partially understand in the best conditions.

The class was on Sociology of Contemporary French Society. The professor started talking about European geography and history. He started drawing diagrams up on the board - a time line, first - but then a strange graph with words I didn't know and symbols I'd never seen. I couldn't even copy them down to look up later because the board was so far away that even with my glasses on I couldn't make out the letters. He rattled off a list of books we were expected to purchase and read - I couldn't hear him well enough to write down the titles or the authors.

Forty five minutes into class, I started jotting down my thoughts rather than notes. When at fifty five minutes into class we were given a five minute (smoke) break, I decided to cut my losses, grabbed my back pack and left the class - forever. In defense of my cowardice, one thing they always tell foreign exchange students is that if you cannot understand the professor, do not take the class. It typically does not get better, they say, or it takes so long for you to catch up that it does not matter.

So! Outside, I quickly went through the course offerings - found a class that suited me better and that conveniently another IES student, Olivia, was planning on attending: Comparative Literature - The literature of the strange at the end of the 19th century. Works included Edger Alan Poe - if you aren't aware - French people are obsessed with Poe, and I think that alone will make it an interesting class. Not to mention, literature classes are supposed to be easier for IES students to take, not to mention, the class will only have around 40 students instead of 400.

The class met at 10 - which meant I had around thirty minutes of free time. I called a friend from Sewanee, Elisa, who I knew was headed to the University as well for a different literature class; she was on her way and we arranged where we would meet up. And as I was waiting for her, Olivia walked up and we started talking.

Then we looked at the course offerings again, only to discover that all of the literature classes didn't start to next week. Bleh.

Walking home, it started to rain. The rainy weather that Nantes is (in)famous for. The air is chilly here and starting to feel very much like autumn; the leaves have just started to turn and I cannot wait! Mostly, I am glad that this morning that I'd dreaded is over. I took a tram by myself, in the dark. I went by myself to a huge university, failed miserably in my first ever French class, and everything is still okay! My schedule, by trial and error, is going to be far better than I'd hoped.

So, I am grateful.

My schedule, almost definitely, will be as follows:

Monday: 12:30-2:30 Translation (at the University) -- 3:00-4:15 French Poetry at the turn of the Century (at IES) -- 5:00-6:15 French Writers and Foreign Nations (IES)

Tuesday: 12:15-1:30 French Poetry -- 3:00-5:30 The Palestinian Question from 1945 to today (IES)

Wednesday: 10:00-12:00 Comparative Literature: Literature of the Strange (University) -- 5:30-6:45 French Writers (IES)

Thursday-Sunday: relax, do homework, travel

C'est parfait!!!