Parlez-vous?

Things are starting to pick up in Paris with the arrival of the rest of the program and a very structured and culture-focused Trinity orientation this week. We have french classes in the morning, which has been interesting since I last sat in a French class my senior year or high school (and let's face it, there wasn't a lot going on during senior spring). The 2 I got on my AP test stands out as a testament to how much French I ever actually learned, and how much i've forgotten since then. Luckily, I signed up for the intermediate class, and we focus mainly on conversing about activities and things to do in Paris or we talk about food. The practical component is very useful because it gets us talking and also allows us to eat cheese and hard cider during class. What's not to love? The orientation also includes dorky things like walking tours of the neighborhood, a bus tour, meetings with our "mentors"--french students who went to Trinity last year who are there to answer our questions: for instance, "Where can I find an American bar?"

The good thing about having french classes is that I actually am starting to communicate more freely and easily, whether that be in restaurants and stores, at home with my homestay family, or with random Brazilian waiters I meet on the metro. We both speak perfect english but for some reason I thought it would be more fun to try to get by with french. A couple of glasses of wine in me and I feel nearly fluent. The other night I sat with my host parents after dinner and talked in french for almost an hour, though there's still beaucoup de gesturing and translating, since my sneaky host dad, it turns out, speaks pretty excellent english, he's just been hiding that skill for two weeks. Well, I really want to become nearly fluent, so the more practice the better! Waiters and shopkeepers here will speak to you in English as soon as they realize you're not a native french speaker, but I've just been soldiering o, trying to order in french as they respond in perfect english. Usually I think they appreciate the effort and will joke around with me a little, sometimes I think they're just annoyed at my 'orrible accent.

This weekend I actually went to a pool with my host sister, Constance, and got some swimming in (very little). All the pools were still closed because it was still "vacances," when all of paris shuts down,  so this one was the only one open and it was very crowded. There were locker rooms and showers, but were basically shared for both genders. Swim caps were required, too. There were three lanes open for lap swimming and I joined the lane for "naguers rapides (>3 km/hour)" where I was the only girl. I bravely joined the land of speedos and attempted to swim some laps, but I was (proudly) catching up to all the men and having to maneuver around them. there were about ten people in the lane so it was hard to get a real workout in, and Constance was floundering a bit over in the baby pool area so I tried to show her some crawl techniques and such. She says she really wants to get better at swimming this year, and there's no such thing as after-school sports for students here, so I think we will go together on the weekends, which will be good for me! I also went for a run in the park just north of my house called Buttes Chaumont, which is a 19th-century garden with lots of (fake) rock formations, bridges, cafes, gardens, trails, etc. It's really beautiful, if a bit hilly, and was filled with hundreds of joggers on a Saturday morning, so I didn't feel as conspicious as I do running in the streets around my neighborhood. Gyms are really expensive to join here, so I need to be sure to take advantage of running in the nice weather before my fromage consumption catches up to me!