30 Avril 2010

Le vendredi je suis alle a Amboise. J'ai vu la maison de Leonardo da Vinci, Close Luce. Apres jes suis alle a la boulangerie where I had a fruit pudding bar. I was confused, it looked like a bar of chocolate, but it was bon de toute facon. Par la suite, les etudiants et je suis alle dans les grottes aux champignons. It was a bon day.

Ma Chambre

Here is a description of my room in French. My room here is just a couple of suitcases and some clothes so I'll describe my room in the United States. Ma chambre est petit. Mon lit est au-dessus mon salon. Mon lit en face de la porte. Mon placard est a cote de la porte de la chambre. Il ya une etagere en face de mon placard. As I said, my room at home is very small and that is the jist of it unless I went into the indescribable trinkets I have.

Ma famille

Here is a description of my family and I in French: Ma pere est d'un certainage, ils est les cheveux noir et ils oreilles son bleu. Ma mere est mince, elle les cheveux brunes et elle est gentille. Ma soeur ainee son les cheveux noirs, elle est grande et elle est comique. Ma petite soeur est petit, les cheveux blonde et elle est jolie. Je suis de taille moyenne, les cheveux brun et je suis raisonnable.

24 Avril 2010

Je suis alle a my host family's maison. I ate lunch with my host father's parents. I also had some vin blanc. As a group we chante oyeux anniversaire a Fabien. Il est de huit ans. Afterward, I joue a futbol avec les juenes. They also gave me dinner and told me stories of old Pontlevoy. I discussed my amore back home whom I can't seem to get my head around and they gave me some conseils.

Vondradi, Avril 2, 2010

I went on a tour of the Scottish Highlands on this day. The majority of the tourists were from Canada, Allemagne, Suisse, or les Etats-Unis. We went to see Loch Ness and Uquart Castle as a part of a tour lasting dix heures au total. I befriended a guy de la Suisse nomme Viet. We had a bon time as did the rest of the group. La chauffer du bus etait drole. After that long day, I was ready to head back to l'auberge de jeunesse.

Samedi, 3 Avril 2010

I took a tour of the city of Edimbourg, Ecosse. It was une visite gratuite. I learned a lot about the city's history and about the alliance between the French and the Scots. This was brought up at the sight on the very old buildings of the fleur de lie all over. Before Scotland was really posessed by the Anglais, the Scots had formed a military and trade alliance with France. But when the Anglais tried to take them over (which they did), the French did not help them, so no more buildings were built in Ecosse with the Fleur de Lie on them after this time period. France in all fairness had enough trouble with wars elsewhere and did not want to involve themselves in another one.

Dimanche 11 Avril 2010

I flew into Tours out of Loudres Stansted. I tried walking from the airport and quickly realized that I had bit off more than I could chew. A nice older French woman drove up in her Volkswagen and asked if I needed a ride. There was a young student de Anglettere with her who was studying French and was riding back from the airport with his host mom. He asked where I needed to go and I said la gare central if it's not too far out of your way. He asked the woman who was driving and she said that that would be fine. Because of construction, she had to leave me off a few blocks away from the station, but I didn't mind. I was sure to say, "merci beaucoup madame." So many Americans think the French are rude, nasty people, but I can tell you that this was just another example of the kindness I've received from the French.

Dimanche 28 Mars 2010 First day of Spring Break

I flew out of Beauvais Airport to Glasgow Prestwick. On the way to Beauvais, I had to buy a bus ticket to get there. At first I said to the man working at the register, "Je voudrais un billet por Beauvais sil vous plait." He started talking to me in French and I had to say, "Desole, je no comprends, parlez vous anglais?" He did and he begrudgingly sold me the ticket. It seems like when I start speaking in French to people and then fall short on vocabulary and have to revert to English, people almost seem to be more offended than they would be if I just used English from the beginning, but I don't know.

Dimanche 21 Mars 2010

On this day I went and saw the opulent and mansion of Versailles. Versailles c'est belle et grand. Ensuite, I went avec Madame Faux et Mademoiselle Heather a la cirque. La cirque was ferme, nous sommes alles a la maison de les amis de la madame. Their son and I nous sommes joues at pool pendant que Heather was shown some musique francais. Les madames talked most of the time, catching up on the details of life since they last met. Eventually Heather et moi went back to l'hotel.

Jeudi, 25 Mars 2010

On this day I went with Dr. Dakhlia's group to two museums and around the city. Along the way we stopped for lunch. I ordered off the menu bifteck avec frites et un entre saumon avec fromage. Little did I know I had ordered goat cheese with my starting dish. It's not that I don't like goat cheese, but that and the saumon were very difficult for me to stomach. Le bifteck était vraiment bon. I just have to remember to when in doubt ask before just ordering something, but overall it was a bon meal.

13-14 Mars 2010

On my way back from Pisa I was to stay in un hotel at Beauvais Airport. I took a taxi ride out to this hotel. When the fare started to rise drastically I asked the driver, "Parlez vous anglais?" to which he replied, "Non, desole. Mais parlez vous fraincais. It took plus d'une heure to reach l'hotel et cien soixante sanque euro en total to cover the bill. The next day when I went to le reception, I asked la femme, "Ou est la gare de train?". She replied that it was dix minutes down the main rue sur le cote droit. And so I took the train to Paris Nord, la Metro to Paris Austerlitz and I went to a cafe and ordered la platte de joure which was saumon. Je retour a Montrichard a dix neuf heures.

Mardi 16 Mars 2010

Ce soir, j'ai regarde Les Visiteurs. It was a film comique sur deux hommes who go forward in time rather than backward to save the life of the father of Godfry de Papincourt's love, Freregonde. Beatrice c'est sa progeniture vivant dans les temps modernes. She mistakes him for her crazy cousin Hubert, whom she does not know what he looks like except that he es grande et il a le nez de la famille.

Lundi, 8 Mars 2010

I watched the movie, The Four Hundred Blows. Antoine is the main character who gets into a lot of trouble. Antoine essayé d'être bon, mais il copie Balzac. His teacher was constantly saying c'est stupid. Antoine alle a juvenille prison pour avoir volé une machine à écrire. He at the end of the story escapes and finally gets to la plage.

26 Fevriere 2010

Last Friday in Blois I purchased a DVD from a small bookstore. I spoke to him using only French, well I really did not speak much at all, but I was congenial and I used my French to repeat the amount due back to him, toi euro, and I thanked him and wished him a good day, something I learned how to do that day. I really need to go back and research that so I can remember what I said because it was great. I hope other transactions can go as smoothly or better in the future.

24 Fevriere 2010

Last Wednesday I saw "La Vie en Rose." It was a terrific movie about Madame Piaf and I was very moved by it. I do not know why I had never heard of her before, but I am glad I did get a glimpse into her life. I recorded the answers to the four questions for French class and so here it goes: 1) Qui est Nomone (Simone)? C'est l'amie de Piaf. 2) Qui est Marcel? Marcel c'est l'amour de Piaf. 3) Ou a Piaf grandi? Elle a grandi en Normandie, avec sa grand mere dans une maison close et apres avec son papa dansun cirque. 4) A quel age elle muert? Elle muert a 47 ans. She was a great singer and she lived through a lot. I would definitely recommend that those who do not know anything about her to at least watch the movie.

24 Fevriere 2010

At lunch I turned to professor Lares and said "Vous voudrais passe moi la pan s'il vous plait?" She corrected me, I cannot quite remember what she said. I'll have to consult my notes, but I did try to use my French at the lunch table at Le Commerce.

French 101 Journal

23 fevriere 2010

Today I visited my host family at their home and had dinner with them, the whole bit. Well, le madame asked me how many countries I would echelle. I did not know what she meant and we used google translate to figure out that she was asking how many countries I was going up to see (literally how many I was going to ladder). It doesn't have a direct English translation, she simply was asking me where I wanted to go. So once that was established we discussed some options and the conversation returned to a normal flow.