East Coast Ramblings of a West Coast Girl

At Versailles

Remember how I told you guys about the preliminary course? And the placement test? Maybe I didn't.

OK, on Friday, we had to take a placement test to see which preliminary course we'd be placed in for the next two weeks. The purpose of the preliminary course is to really engage us in French language in order to prepare us for our courses over the semester. Of course Program I and Program II are different, so Program I and Program II took different tests.

I took the Program II test, and basically we could be placed from anywhere between groups 5-9. Nine being very, very advanced. Group one is no French experience at all. So, you can probably guess the other levels.

The Program II test was a little more intense than I'd thought with sections of reading comprehension, grammar, listening, and finally, an essay. I hate the subjonctif, do you hear me!? I feel it's a lame excuse to conjugate more. For the essay, they asked us to write about something wrong in American society.

I wrote about obesity, for lack of knowledge about economics and such.

On to the juicy stuff: I was placed in group seven. I'm emphasizing that for my IB HL Math teacher in high school. SEVEN!

Anyway, this course is pretty intense. I go in each day pretty scared. From 9:30AM to 1PM we are drilled and drilled.

9:30-11: Written expression. We explore the "glory" of grammar, and very soon we have to finish a book that we just bought: Un cirque passe. The end of the course brings an essay or two.

11:30-1: Phonetics. We explore the "glory" of spoken French. No, now, seriously, this part is great, actually. The professor intimidates me like no one else, but it's good. He's really off the walls, but we're really put on the spot to practice our French pronunciation, which is good, right? We'll actually get "fixed."

Often, we go around the room (we sit in a circle) and say a French word. It's only intimidating when he needs to correct us.

This was me today. We had to recite a name on a long list to practice French syllables and such.

First name: Pierre. That's only one syllable. "Pi-erre," I say. Very American of me.

"Une autre fois."

"Pi-erre..."

"Autre fois."

"Pierreee," I finally hit it.

"Bien. Autre fois." He kind of rotates his hand towards me.

"Pi-erre." Oops. I mutter "damn" to myself.

"Non, non..."

"Pieerrree." I hate that name now.

"Très bien. Essayes le prenom suivant." The next one is Isabelle.

"Is-a-belle."

"Parfait." Then we go around and around, and I am faced with another challenge: Alexandra.

"Alixandra," I say with my American intonation, completely disregarding the "e".

"Non, autre fois. Regardes le tableau..." And on the white board, we'd had all this phonetic garble written.

I sigh. "Al-ex-an-draaa."

"Bien. Est-ce que tout le monde peut écouter le différence?" He turns to me and asks me to do it again.

"Alixandra." Ggaaah...I do it again. "Al-ex-an-draaa..."

Isn't it funny how some little things can inhibit your ability to function properly for a while?

Yeah, I don't think I can not speak French now without thinking about my accent. Then I think so much about it, I just refuse to speak too loudly. Christ, this is such an intensive course. You could never even begin to guess the great differences between French and English until you have to actually convincingly speak with accent and all.

With a world as globalized as it's becoming (note: "globalized" is a very posh term), you find it more necessary to be able to break apart from your own culture in order to learn more about someone else's. The United States' history is considerably short when compared to the lengthy revolutions of China, and the romances in France. As my mother and I walked around Versailles, and I discussed Lous XIV, Marie Antoinette, and Napoleon to her (like, for instance, how the three of them did not coexist in Versailles together engaging in ménage-à-trois), I realized how very vast the world seemed to be back then.

Without any means of transportation except for a ship, Napoleon (that manly man) stretched himself over many countries, even with territory in the US. People back then, could we argue, were genuinely interested in the world around them. When Napoleon sent his troops to Egypt, he also brought along a team of researchers and scientists with him!

My point is not to defend Napoleon (though I think he's great), my point is that now everyone is so easily connected with someone in a different country. Thus, shouldn't we all graciously open our arms to readily embrace the world around us? It's only too often that we take for granted all of our newfound ability to communicate across oceans in a matter of seconds. It should be taken to our benefit to learn about others, and through that, enhance our own knowledge of our own roots.

Just a thought, especially since everyone's so eager to find their "true selves" while in college.