Classes

I just finished my third week of classes and here's a snippit of what I've been learning:

MONDAYS

9:00am-12:15pm: French Civilization

This class is by far my favorite. Although it's super early on Monday mornings it is so interesting! I have been learning all about the French culture. In the first class, we spent an hour talking about things we thought about France before we arrived. Answers ranged from wine and cheese to smelly people (apparently King Louis 14th only had two baths in his entire life..eww!). My teacher also showed us a map of France and went through every region and told us what they were famous for and where we should visit. Also every week for homework, we have to write a paragraph about something we read in the news about France and then we discuss our findings in class, so that's been very interesting. Did you know that France likes strikes?? And that only 7% of France is unionized? Anyone can go on strike in France. Last week, passengers on a train went on strike and wouldn't show their tickets to the ticket inspector because the train was late. We've also been looking at statistics of France and comparing them to our own countries. Did you know that France consumes more wine than Canada?? (shocking I know!) but I'm pretty sure Canada wins beer consumption!

1:00pm-4:00pm: Essentials of Project Management

I also enjoy this class. We have just been talking a bit about projects and defining what a project is and the difference between project management and business planning. We do a lot of group work where we have to plan a project and go through the steps needed to successfully complete the project. In my first class, we had to go one by one throughout the class saying our names and where we're from, etc. When I said I was from Canada, a girl sitting in front of me turned around and asked me what part. It turns out she went on exchange at Saint Mary's two years ago!! That was so cool! 

5:00pm-8:15pm: International Negotiation

This class has been a lot of fun. We also do a lot of group work in this class. In the first class, we had to use the concepts of game theory for a class exercise. 5 groups went into one classroom, and 5 groups stayed in another classroom. We had to chose an interest rate and write it down on a piece of paper and our prof would take it to the corresponding group in the other classroom -depending on the interest rate our corresponding group in the other classroom chose, depended on how much we gained. After a few rounds, we got to send one person out into the hallway and negotiate with the other group. My group sent me out, so I negotiated with this girl to both chose and interest rate of 5%. I went back to my group and we thought it would be fun to backstab them and chose an interest rate of 6%. I felt bad about it, but when the other group sent us their interest rate, they had tried to backstab us too! Oh mon dieu! This went on for the rest of the game, it was a lot of fun :) Then in class this week, we did another similar exercise except we were negotiating face to face with our corresponding group. We got assigned roles to take on, and my group was supposed to be harsh and direct when negotiating. Apparently our corresponding group was also. When we finally met to negotiate, it got intense. We were fighting and arguing and weren't accomplishing anything, but we tore the other group to shreds eventually. I don't think I've ever been as mean as I had been in the group (and didn't realize I could be as direct as I had been) but it was all role play and there were no harsh feelings afterwards (that I know of hahaha). But yea, fun class.

TUESDAYS

1:00-4:00: People Management and Leadership and Team Building

I think this is my least favorite class but I still enjoy it (most of the time). We've just been talking about a lot of stuff I've already learned and taking lots of personality and leadership tests. We do have to shadow a leader for a day in a group which I think may be fun. My group wants to shadow the Rouen Dragon's Hockey Team's coach. Everyone in my group is from the North and our common interest is Hockey, so we're looking into it.  

WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY: WEEKEND!!!!!

Mont Saint Michel

Last Sunday, Culture Connections (my school's student association for international students) organized a trip to Mont Saint Michel. It's a little rocky island between the Normandy and Brittany boarder in France, population 46. We left at 8:30am and took a 3 hour bus ride (it was long, but I can't complain after a 48 hours bus ride to missip). We arrived and had a few hours to explore the island. It was really cool with little alley's here and there and SO many stairs (do you see a reoccurring theme in France?) ...I don't think elevators have been discovered yet. Here are some pictures!

PARIS

Finally made it to Paris and what I time! I went with Elina, Julie, and Rasha and we left last Friday. We caught the 4:57 train leaving Rouen and arrived in Paris around 6:00pm. We headed the the metro and we bought 10 passes for 12 euros which lasted us the whole weekend. We took the subway to the station closest to our hotel and set out to find it. We made one wrong turn and ended up lost for almost and hour. We were wandering the streets trying to find the Garden Hotel but it was not to be found! It was getting late and there weren't many people on the streets and it was raining and we were tired, so we finally found another hotel and asked them directions and then we found it! It ended up being a 5 minute walk from the station (oops). We checked in and we ended up being on the top floor. The elevator was teenie weenie (aka can only fit two people in it) so we decided to climb the spiral staircase up 7 flights of stairs (the French count the first floor as 0, and the second floor at 1, and so on and so on so technically we would have been on the 7th floor if I was back in Canada). We finally got to our room and Julie tried using he key and no luck. Then Rasha tried using the key and no luck. Then I tried using the key and no luck. Then Elina tried using the key and ..success! We got in and Voila! Two single beds. UH OHHHHH. So Elina and I went back down (we took the elevator this time and never took it again after). The guy at the front desk apologized for forgetting to mention to us that the other two beds were under the beds..what the? So back up the stairs we climbed and low and behold, there were beds beneath the beds that we had to pull out. Here is a picture of our luxurious room:

All in all, it wasn't a bad hostel for the price! Everyone was super friendly and the location was aight. After we settled in, we caught the metro to the Eiffel Tower. We got off and asked someone which direction it was in and they pointed so we started walking and OH, there it was out of no where. It was so magical!! I am in love. We took LOTS of pictures and just kept walking closer and closer until it start sparkling at 10pm (another magical moment!) Here's a picture:

We then realized we hadn't eaten since breakfast - and fun fact: there are NO places to eat near the Eiffel Tower except the restaurant at the top which is a little above our budget. So a nice couple told us to hop on a bus and take it to a certain stop where we would find cafes. So on we hopped and hopped off and Voila! The Louvre was sitting right in front of us. So beautiful again, we stopped, took photos, and by the time we were finished we found a little cafe where we stopped for supper at midnight. The waiter was hilarious, he would sing and dance while outside having a smoke (another fun fact: EVERYONE smokes here). As we left he told me he loved me..awwww :) Must have been love at first sight (well at least for him). We then caught a taxi back to the hostel.

The next day we got up super early (10am) and hit up a local cafe for brunch where I had a yummy omlette. We then caught the metro the the champs elysees which was heaven because France has their wicked sales for 5 freakin weeks! We walked to l'Arc de Triomphe and of course decided to climb it (but I remembered my camera grams and gramps so we only had to climb it once!) And oh boy it was quite the climb. This group of guys behind us I'm pretty sure lapped us. But we made it to the top and was it ever worth it! Here's a picture as proof!

We then climbed back down (a little easier) - Here's a picture:

And then hit up the shops for shopping. Julie et Rasha hit up Louis Vuitton and Elina and I hit up H&M a little more in my price range. Julie and Rasha met us back there and one thing I've learned about Julie is she LOVES shopping. She came back with a LV bag that could pay for one's all inclusive trip to Cuba...but it is gorgeous :)

We then went to this little creperie where we all had delicious crepes! We all had the chocolate one which was chocolate heaven with white chocolate ice cream on top...I've never tasted anything as yummy as this:

We then caught a metro to Montmarte (my favorite place!!). We got off the metro and noticed everyone was taking the elevator up so we decided to walk up the stairs (BAD decision). TWICE as many stairs as l'Arc de Triomphe. Jeeze Louise, what is it with Paris and stairs.  Out of breath, we then exited the metro station and went to find the Sacre Coeur. Headed in the wrong direction but of course. We then asked someone for directions and began to head in the right direction, and guess what? It was all uphill!!! We climb and we climbed and we climbed but it was SO pretty especially because it was night - cheese shops, macaroon shops, lights everywhere, cobblestone roads, artsy buildings, accordian playing, parks with benches, so cute! And we climbed and we climbed and we climbed, and there it was, the beautiful Sacre Coeur. Here are some pictures of our climb and the SC:

The steps that you see above were really cool. There was a guy playing guitar (U2, Train, etc) which was absolutely amazing while everyone was sitting on the steps drinking beer and wine - it was just a really chill atmosphere. We went into the Sacre Coeur and walked around - it was absolutely beautiful! We then walked all of the way back down the streets and met up with Ava and Roxy and we went and took pictures outside the Mouline Rouge:

We then didn't know what to do next and Ava and Roxy hadn't been to the Sacre Coeur yet so guess what? We CLIMBED back up the mountain (they should make climbing hills an olympic sport..I'd get gold for sure now). On the way we bought a bottle of wine and went back to the steps of the Sacre Coeur and had a glass of 4 euro wine while listening to the music (adults: you may ask if its is legal to drink on the streets? Technically no - BUT the police were there joining in on the fun..that's France for you). We sat there for an hour and just listened and people watched - a grand ol' time. We then started getting cold so we took the metro back to the champs elysees at 11:30pm and went shopping at sephora until 1am (I know! Stores are open so late..AMAZINGGGGG). We then cabbed back to the hostel for some much needed rest.

Up we got at 10am and grabbed some brunch. We then went back to see the Eiffel Tower with full intentions of climbing it but we had to check out of our hostel that morning and you're not allowed to bring big bags on the tower and we had all of our luggage with us so we weren't allowed to go up (we'll do that next time). We however took lots of pictures ! Here are some of my favorites:

We had then planned on going to see Notre Dame Cathedral but the metro stop was under construction and we were too tired to figure out the buses so we went and caught the 5:00 train back to Rouen. We have a list of things to do next time in Paris, and hopefully we won't be as distracted by the amazing shopping!! Taylor Swift and Katy Perry are also going to be there in March, so is Drake, and so is Disney on Ice (Woooo!!) so I plan to go see some of those shows hopefully! I'll hopefully fill you in on more of my life in Rouen tomorrow :)

Salut!

Residence

Thought you might be interested in seeing where I live! I've pretty much finished putting it together so I finally snapped some photos. I live in the international residence so I have floormates from England, Ireland, Scotland, Finland, Canada, US, Argentina, Russia, China, Singapore, and I'm sure I'm forgetting many!

The first night I lived in residence was a bit scary. I was alone and decided to go try calling my parents from the payphone downstairs so as I was walking down the hallway to the staircase, the lights in the staircase went out and it went pitch black just as I entered. There was no way I was walking down three flights of stairs in the dark...so back to my room I went. Half an hour later I tried again and the lights were on this time. The next day, I found out that the residence likes to conserve energy and every 60 seconds, the lights in the hallways and stairwells go out, and there's buttons every 5 ft that you can press that turn them on for another 60 seconds (which are not doorbells as I soon came to find out!) Here's a video to show you how ridiculously creepy the lights are at night:

Now for my room, here are some pictures!

The outside of my dorm.

View of my room from my door. It's no longer this clean. Shocking!!

My little kitchen equipped with a mini fridge, hot plate, and a sink...let's just say I need to get a little creative with cooking.

My itsy bitsy teenie weenie closet :(

View from the other side of my room. My "kitchen" is on the right of the green door.

My wall of fame...and my bed.

The door next to my vanity opens into this. The first door on the left is the toilet, the second door is the shower, and the third door is the entrance to Julie's room.

First Few Days in Rouen

 Bonjour! Sorry for taking forever to write on this blog. In order to get internet in my room I need a France cell phone number, and in order to get a France number you need to be able to speak French!! (who knew.) So I finally went to the cell phone company with a group of people and between all of us and our knowledge of French (mostly Elina) we got our cell phones and some sort of plan (I say "some sort" because all of the details are in French so not 100% sure what the plan includes...BUT at least I have a phone!..and internet!)

 So I'll start from day 1! Arrival at the airport: My airplane ended up being delayed 1.5 hours so I went through a huge hassel to call my french taxi driver picking me up, and papa ended up having to call him but never the less I ended up in France with my French driver awaiting with a sign saying "Rouen Business School". He took me to his taxi where I hopped on in. I was told that the driver would be able to speak English (no dice). I tried communicating via French, and again, no dice, so conversation was limited but he was very nice. We drove to another terminal to pick up Noora and Maija from Finland. We then ended up driving to another terminal where the driver said something in French and Noora who speaks french told me that he was telling me to get in the cab infront of me. So I hopped in that cab. Then before I knew it, he had pulled out a knife (not a butter knife, a REAL knife, and I started to PANIC), then he started peeling an apple or something...all is good. We then ended up picking up 6 students from Morocco and he drove us 1.5 hours to Rouen. Once in Rouen, he took us on a driving tour of the downtown area and took us to a look-off point of the city: here is a picture of moi et un etudient from Morocco:

I was then dropped off at my residence and was given my key and taken to Le Chateau (no..not the store, the administrative building which happens to be a castle!!). I got registered and then hopped on a shuttle to Carrefour (the France equivalent to Walmart) to buy food and dishes for my room. I had only been in my room for 2 minutes so I wasn't sure what it was equipped with so I just bought the bear minimum. I then headed back to residence and guess what..my luggage hadn't arrived yet...and apparently ALL of the luggage had been delivered (Uh oh!!!!). The French students helping us move in were still there so they called around and my luggage was dropped off at the wrong residence, so it was brought to me (yay!!). I spent the night unpacking and went to bed at 9pm, and woke up at 10:30am the next morning (je suis fatigue then..forget passive tense right now hahaha)

Le Chateau

Day 2: Woke up and got ready to head to Carrefour again. Apparently we're not supplied with pillows so yet again another pillowless night (I think pillows must hate me). I walked about half way to campus (whole walk is about 10min), then realized I forgot my Carrefour bags (they don't give you bags at Carrefour, you need to buy the environmentally friendly ones). So I walked back (I should mention it's pouring rain right now), got my bags, walked halfway back to campus again realizing I needed my passport in order to get a cell phone at Carrefour, so back to res I walked. FINALLY having everything I needed (and a change of socks later) I headed back to campus, and of course made one wrong turn and ended up lost. I walked about twenty minutes one way (I don't know what I was thinking, I knew it was only a 10min walk), then decided to back track, and I finally found the castle. I hopped on a shuttle and was the only one so I had my own personal driver named Constantine (he's a student at my school and plays rugby for RBS...I've now been roped into watching every rugby game every Thursday..what is rugby again?). He was very nice and told me the ropes of Rouen and he watches How I Met Your Mother (I told him I was from Canada and he asked me if I knew who Robin was...but of course!!). I told him I was going to buy a cell phone and he said no one at the cell phone place speaks English so he came in with me but the line was so long so I didn't even bother.

After shopping I came back to res and my neighbor Julie had just moved in. She's from York Uni in Ontario and she came with her friend Rasha so back to Carrefour we went! We then met our neighbours Roxie from England, Elina from Finland, Shumin from China, and Mikael from Finland. We had a little potluck of food for supper and then got ready for the welcome party. We all met in the common room of my res where everyone turned up and then we bused to downtown where we went to La Luna nightclub. There we met so many people from all over the world...and of course more Canadians!

Here's a picture of Rasha, me, Elina and Julie waiting outside the club:

Thumbs up for being Canadian:

Blurry picture of the disco. Fun fact: discos in Rouen are open until 5:30am or 6:30am. We left at 2:30am...and we were the first to leave. I think Halifax has some competition.

Day 3: Orientation at 10am (blah blah blah describes that), then lunch, then the forum where I bought insurance, bus cards, and opened up bank accounts. Then headed to Carrefour (yet again) and got cell phones...then internet! Bought some more stuff for my room, then headed back to res and just lounged around for a bit, then nighty night.

Day 4 (Today): Woke up (with no voice!!), headed to French lessons for 9:00. I am in the very beginner level (A1-1). I was in a class with 9 other students who most had NEVER spoken a word of French before (a lot of them from Singapore) and here I was with 9 years of French background in school. Because I had no voice I couldn't answer any of the questions, and the first question my teacher asked us was "What words do you know in French?". Oh mon dieu, I wanted to speak so bad but I couldn't!! Then we learned the alphabet (AHHH get me out of here). Then finally after lunch (side note: we went to a market and got baguettes and ate outside on benches, with pigeons...had to add that last part because it sounds European, ci?) Then after lunch I finally got fed up and tried whispering the answers whenever they were asked and the teacher finally asked me if I wanted to move up to the next level (Merci!!!!!!)...but there was only one hour left of lessons so I didn't want to have to explain my no voice situation to another professor so I just stuck out the rest, and learned how to count to 100.

After lessons we went out to supper in downtown Rouen. We explored for a bit then found a little whole in the wall and ate delicious pasta and pizza! Then we went to a pub and got a glass of wine. Got home at about 12 and there was a res party going on a floor below me so we decided to go check it out. Here are some pictures!

Elina et Mark eating Baguettes (the pigeons are MIA but I swear they were there)

The street we ate supper on tonight..tres beautiful!

Rasha, Mikael and Shumin at the restaurant

Me, Roxie, and Rasha sipping on some wine at a pub...thought I might as well start practicing now!

Departure

Oh mon dieu! Packing seven months of your life into two suitcases is A LOT harder than it sounds. I ended up filling one suitcase just with shoes...I had to make a few cut backs to say the least. This is a picture of my bedroom at midnight the night before I left. I was packing literally up until 5 seconds before I departed for the airport this morning. I hope I didn't forget anything!! (Oh wait, I did. I forgot my airplane pillow. Sore neck after my 8 hour flight to Paris? I think so.)

I am now currently in the Montreal airport writing this post. The flight here was swell and made it on time. I had 5 hours (now 3) to kill until my connecting flight so I whipped out my laptop and voila! Free wifi!

First thing I did when I got off the airplane? Rush to the bathroom! (1 large green tea and two water bottles later will do that to you).

Second thing I did? Got my last taste of Tim Horton's for seven freakin months. There were 4 people in front of me in line and I stood there waiting for TWENTY minutes. When it was my turn (finally) I walked up to the counter, and realized that the Tim's lady did not speak English...great. So I thought it would be a great time to practice the French I accumulated on my flight to Montreal (thanks to the instant French cd santa brought me). I started with "Bonjour"..she responded "bonjour" (success!). Then I came to a blank (excellent). "May I have a toasted everything bagel with strawberry cream cheese sil vous plet?" The lady asked me a question, I looked confused, she thought asking it again would help...not the case. So I just smiled and nodded. My order number was called and I received a plain bagel with butter AND cream cheese. At least it was a bagel. I didn't want to go back and try to get what I asked for so I sat down and ate it. Turns out the bagel was amazing!! My new favorite at Tim's. Hopefully I'll remember this 7 months from now.

Third thing I did? Checked flight status. Nearly had a panic attack when I saw that my flight wasn't listed. I walked ten minutes one way checking every board and nothing. I then looked at of the times of all of the flights and turns out that they weren't posting flights later than 7:45 (mines at 7:50). So I waited a few minutes and low and behold my flight appeared (panic attack over). So far my flight's on time but at least half of the flights right now are delayed because of the snow here so keep your fingers crossed!

I'm now going to go wandering and see what my dinner selections are! (I think I'm going to skip Tim's this time).

Until Next Time...