Don’tcha hate it when things have been going along smoothly and then, bam! Everything happens at once!
Yup, I decide to go to school and the business gods decide that and working full time just aren’t enough to fill my days… and nights… and weekends. Two and a half weeks ago, I got to work to find an email saying the company I work for was sold. It’s been controlled chaos ever since. Through the transition, I’ve been working overtime and a smidge of double time, some of that on weekends. It’s been challenging, to say the least. But there’s light at the end of the tunnel. One more payroll with special handling next week and things should settle back to normal. I’m lucky that we’re all being retained, with our benefits and seniority, so I can’t complain. Yawn and whine a bit, well, yeah…
Then, I realized that I should have been doing homework in the workbook and lab book (listening to MP3s online and answering questions) all along, in addition to the online work… *sigh* So, I spent what I’d hoped would be a restful weekend catching up on all that… I will say, though, it was a good review for the big test we took last week!
Watson “helping” me with homework:
So far I’ve been doing ok on the quizzes we’ve had:
I hope I did almost as well on the test last week. I didn’t start off well--part of the test was done on a scantron, you know those papers that you fill in the bubbles for your answers. Several of us (thank goodness it wasn’t just me!) used pen and the machines won’t read the answers unless it’s in #2 pencil… So Abeer has to grade those individually, plus the written parts of the test, so we should get our grades next Tuesday. Fingers and toes crossed that I did ok.
In class, we’re moving along: greetings, university/classroom, verbs, adjectives, conjugation, time… But speaking is slow and putting sentences together is still tricky. But the class is pretty fun. We do a lot of verbal activities in class and everyone tries to help everyone else and there’s a lot of good natured ribbing and laughing. Most of the students are in their early 20’s and I haven’t figured out yet whether they like me or just consider me a strange being in their midst. They do encourage me and I’ve exchanged phone numbers with a couple of the kids who I sit with at the back of the class, Nancy and Rudy.
I’ve also attended a few tutoring sessions. Very helpful! Abeer, our teacher, is really fun and patient but she has to move fast to keep up with the curriculum. Joel, our tutor, has the luxury of taking a little more time with explanations and getting us to talk and pronounce better. And we have the opportunity to ask specific questions that we need help with. Last week, I had him all to myself since no one else had signed up for that block of time. We’ll see if that happens again this week.
So, student life is going well but I wish I had more time to do the actual studying… Soon, life will quiet down and I’ll have more time to go back to a more organized study pattern. At the beginning of school, I was establishing habits that seemed to be working and I’d certainly like to get back to that. I feel like I’m flying by the seat of my pants and that seat is going to rip and I’ll be in a free fall of French garble!
One thing I really want to do when I finally get some time is to plan a trip to France in 2015. I always love the planning phase as much as I love the travel itself. I’ve been thinking of what I want to do there and now I’d like to make a proper wish list of places to go. It’s occurred to me lately that I don’t want to stay exclusively in Paris. I’d like to visit more of France, maybe take a cruise on the Seine (I know The Husband would like that, too). The more I think about what I’ll use the French for, the more I’ll keep it up.
Speaking of keeping up, I’ll try to write more often here. It’s what I started the blog for, after all!
Here’s the parking structure that welcomes me every day I go to school. Just thought another picture in the post was needed :-)
Tomorrow is a new day: begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
So much to tell!
My stomach was all upset Tuesday, my first day of school, but the nausea was completely unnecessary. I think it’s going to be a very successful semester.
Here I am--had to have the traditional First Day of School picture :-) Too bad my eyes weren’t open yet…
Here are my observations, reactions and whines:
**I got to school my first day an hour and a half early, anticipating horrible first week parking. I drove around the structure just long enough to see that the best option was to go up and park on the outside tier, where there were still plenty of spaces. It actually took me three times as long to leave at the end of the night as it did to find my parking space! Second night, I lucked into a space half a tier down and it only took twice as long to get out :-)
**Had a leisurely snack wrap and soda at the nearby McDonald’s. Then walked back to the zoo--I mean, the campus bookstore. I looked for what I thought was my French 1 textbook. Went into shock and left--more later. Second night, I drove through and got a burrito to take to school. Here’s where I ate:
Nice, huh?
**Before class on the first night, I sat on a bench in the shade and read for a while. It’s been an extraordinarily mild summer--of course, the first week of school it turns blazing hot.
**First night I didn’t think I was the oldest in the class but the second night thinned out (people dropping, not coming back…) and so now I know I definitely am. That includes the teacher…
**The classroom--can you say “sardines”? Little desk/chair combo’s with just enough space to walk through. Claustrophobia! Even the teacher doesn’t have much room to move. Like I said, though, we lost some folks, so the second night wasn’t so bad. With a few empty seats, it doesn’t seem so squashed.
**Textbook--$162.50!!!! Well, to be fair, it’s a textbook, two workbooks, a lab book and the key to the Supersite website that goes along with the class work. When I saw the package at the bookstore that first night, I really thought I was looking at the wrong thing… Then someone in class had already gotten it and quoted the price. Amazon only sells the textbook, not the other things and even that was outrageously expensive… The teacher says it covers both French 1 and 2 and most people just take the first class and use the book to continue their study afterward… And to add insult to injury, the textbook is loose leaf, so then you need to get a binder!! The Husband went out and bought me a purple one the next day :-)
So supportive!
**Our teacher’s name is Abeer and her first language is Arabic but she sounds like a native French speaker. She’s a lot of fun, working us hard but also making us laugh. For some reason, she reminds me of Kate Winslet in The Holiday. She doesn’t really look that much like Winslet but it’s something about her facial expressions.
**We are required to have four hours of tutoring at the Skills Center, with two more for extra credit. Joel, the main French tutor, came to speak to us the second night, explaining all the rules. He can take a number of students at a time, so it won’t necessarily be one on one but he’ll have time to answer the questions we don’t get to in class and keep us current on pronunciation and grammar. All tutoring is free, which makes me very happy because I know I’ll need it for math…
**The first week, there are stations set up around campus (see the blue canopy in front of the library) to assist you with questions and information. So thoughtful. Since I’ve been to this campus before, I was ok but I’m sure there were a lot of straight out of high school freshman who needed a little guidance.
**The bookstore is very efficient. Tchotkes and snacks at the front, books by alphabetical order of the class name in the back. I went late Wednesday afternoon, the day between my classes, so I could have the package and look through it before my second night. All of the registers were open and the line to pay snaked through the aisles. A young guy behind me talking to his girlfriend nailed it: “Yeah, they have you walk through the aisles so you’ll grab a greeting card for your aunt’s birthday, a bookmark and an energy bar”. I admit, since I was writing a check from my savings, I figured I might as well buy a t-shirt and support my school…
**Never thought I’d have to relearn the alphabet but it was like first grade all over again! The pronunciations are very different, especially Y (i grec--how do they get that??!!). We’re already speaking in class and doing some conversation. I’m there to learn, so I did do some speaking in class--but I didn’t raise my hand to do the whole alphabet--although I did spell out my name :-) I’m usually The Quiet One, so this is going to be interesting!
**This morning, I logged onto the Supersite and took a look around. There are no assignments yet, so I clicked on a few things and watched some video’s in French--they go along with the lessons. Right now, we’re on greetings and goodbyes. Once we all have our books/website keys, required by tomorrow, it will start to move a lot faster. Whee!!!!!
“Life is only as interesting as the number of times you say yes.”
Harvey Fierstein
