More news from Avignon

A few more things about Avignon that I forgot to mention before I get into the classes: At first I found the wall surrounding the city quite charming, until I realized that that’s the reason the city is so cramped and insane; everything has to fit inside it. According to my Economics professor, most cities have gotten rid of theirs for that exact reason, but apparently in Avignon there’s a possibility that the Rhône might rise with heavy rain and start to flood the city, so they kept the walls to keep the water out. Regardless, in the event of invading Germanic tribes, never fear, I’ll be safe within these walls.

L’Institut Americain is located in an old chapel that was built in the 13^th century. Various pieces (including a wall or two and the ceiling) have collapsed since that time and been rebuilt, but the two long side walls are still original. I was talking with another student yesterday about a bunch of marks that we noticed on the walls that looked a little like Greek letters. They were all over the place, but we were trying to figure out what they meant. He went to ask the Director of the program, who explained to us that when the chapel was built, each person who worked on it had a certain mark that they would scratch on a stone. At the end of the day, their pay was determined by how many stones with their mark had been added. She also said that historians can use the symbols when comparing different buildings. For example, they can look at Le Palais de Papes, also in Avignon, and see if any of the same people who worked on this chapel worked on other buildings. I was discussing with another student whether or not the stonecutters could change the mark someone else put in to look like their own mark and thus get more pay, but we weren’t sure people were conniving enough to do that back in the 1200s.

Classes started this week and they seem fine. Two of the classes I was going to take, one that was a Philosophy and one that’s a French writing course, were scheduled at the same time, so I had to pick between the two. I eventually decided on the French writing course, not because it interested me any more than the other one did, but rather because I’d be required to take it for my French minor at some point, and I decided it’d be better to do it here rather than back at Marquette, especially since there are Philosophy classes at MU that will interest me more than the current one does. I’m also taking a Translation class, which is taught by an Anglophone and Francophone professor. Considering I’m a Writing-Intensive English major, it’s really interesting for me to talk about the nuances of words and meanings, so I’ll probably enjoy that. My Political Science class is going to be a lot of work, but the subject matter seems interesting. Economics seems very interesting as well, and I’m looking forward to everything that we’re going to learn with that. I’ve been working on the first reading, and it seems to build really well off of my Comparative Politics class from last semester. Because two of my classes were offered at the same time, I decided to pick up another class just so that I’ll have more to do here. It should count towards my French minor, so even though it wouldn’t be my first choice of classes to take (It’s on French film and culture), it won’t be a complete waste.

I’ve finally stopped getting lost on my way to and from L’Institut, which is a blessing. Because of that, I’m slowly starting to expand the number of places I’ll go to, and I’ve found some nice spots in the city. I’ve gone running around the city walls a few times, which is quite hazardous (lots of traffic, but it’s still easier than running in the city). Thursday evening, I went out to eat at a place called La Flush (We thought the name was so funny that we couldn’t resist going inside) with three other girls from L’Institut. The food was pretty good, as well as being cheap, so we’ve discussed the possibility of making that our place to go during the one night a week we don’t eat the hosts. While there, we got hit on by a drunk guy who was speaking English very poorly to us. His friends kept apologizing for the guy’s weirdness, but he wanted us to go out with him after eating. We kept trying to explain that we could speak French perfectly well, so there was no reason for him to keep trying out his English on us, but that couldn’t quite get through the haze of alcohol he had consumed. It should be no surprise that we did not join him that evening.

Today (Saturday the 19^th) I also wandered around the city for a while. This morning my hosts told me they were leaving for the weekend, which was a little sudden. I went to Les Halles, a market a bit like the Public Market in Milwaukee, where there was a cooking demonstration. They have a different chef each week who hands out a recipe, explains how to make it as he’s making it, and then there are samples for everyone to try. Four other students from L’Institut were there, and we had a good time. We bought lunch afterwards, and ate it by the Palais de Papes, which was beautiful. The weather has been amazing here; yesterday it got up to 63 and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was higher today. I was fine walking around with just a light sweater. It’s pretty easy to differentiate the visitors from the natives here, because this is the coldest time of year for the locals, so they’re all bundled up with hats and scarves and gloves. Those of us used to slightly cooler temperatures instead go around with just a sweater or light jacket. It’s pretty funny to notice that difference. We looked around the Palais de Papes, then went outside the city walls and crossed over the Rhône to L’Île de la Barthelasse, where we explored for a good hour or so. It was really calm and much more open than the city. We saw a group of British lose their soccer ball and then decide to jump in the Rhône to swim after it. They succeeded, but I couldn’t help thinking that they really ought to get a tetanus shot after that experience. We kept walking to the mainland on the other side of the island, and we looked around there for a while. The day was perfect for exploring, with a really nice temperature. The only downside is that there aren’t water fountains anywhere to be found, and a bottle of water costs about 2.50€, which is more than I usually spend on lunch. As a result, I spent most of the day dying of thirst, but aside from that it was very enjoyable. We walked by a lot of shops on our way back in, and it was much more crowded in them than it is during the week.

Tomorrow I’m going to go for a run in the morning and then try and find my way to a church. If I get lost on my way (it’s not unlikely), I have the schedule for all the masses in the city and which churches they’re at, so I can just keep moving along until I make it to a church in time for a mass. I’m looking forward to seeing how much I can understand. They have French masses at MU once a semester that I’ve been to before, but a real French mass will be quite different, I imagine. After that I’ll probably just look around for a quiet place to sit and read—I might go back to the island, since I really liked it there. I also have some work due at the end of next week, and I’m hoping to get that done this weekend. I’m not feeling very well due to a cough and a sore throat. I’m hoping it doesn’t get too much worse, though I’ll admit I’m not optimistic. I’m going to have a quiet dinner on my own now, then do a little work and be off to sleep.

I’m adding this on Sunday. I went to church this morning at St. Pierre, which is just a few blocks from where I live. The Director of L’Institut was there, and she introduced me to the priest, who’s in charge of the student masses with L’Université D’Avignon. They have mass each week on Wednesday, and I think I’m going to go this Wednesday. The mass was (as expected) very different. There was a choir there singing, but almost no one else sang along, and they didn’t tell us where in the prayer books to find the songs. It was frustrating to not be able to say the prayers along with the congregation. I found a few (the Nicene Creed, the Our Father) in the prayer book, but most of the others were nowhere to be found. I’m not sure how long it’ll take me to learn the prayers in French—I can’t remember not knowing them in English, since I’ve been going to church since birth. The average age of the congregation was probably 55 or 60. At first I was sure I was the youngest person there besides the two altar servers, but at the end I saw one other girl there with her family, and she was probably 13 or so. A very different atmosphere both from the family masses at home and the student masses at school.

This afternoon I walked over to the island again with another girl from IAU. It’s much nicer over there, away from the cramped city. Some guy was pushing his piano along the walkway next to the Rhône, and he ended up parking it and then starting to play for everyone who was walking along, and that was pretty cool. I did some reading for school and we talked for a while, but when the sun started to set it got a little cooler, so we walked back. It wasn’t quite as warm today as it was yesterday, but it was still quite nice (and much better than the high of 10 that was forecast for Chicago today). They actually covered Chicago on the French news when talking about the cold weather in the US.

One of the things that bothers me a little bit here is how infrequently the students speak French amongst themselves. Inside L’Institut, we’re allowed to speak English between noon and 2pm, but the rest of the time has to be French. That seems fair enough to me, but I’d really feel better speaking French when I’m out in the city. Speaking English feels very conspicuous, and I hate standing out in the crowds. However, I think some people have a bigger language barrier than others. One girl told me that she just can’t seem to communicate what she wants to in French, and she’s really struggling with speaking French so often. On the other end, there’s a few students who were here last semester. One was even working as a waiter last summer (he hasn’t been home since last summer), and he just got thrown into speaking the language all the time. Another girl who was here last semester has been taking French for almost ten years (compared to my meager 5 and a half), and her accent is almost perfect. Either way, I’d really rather speak French more, but I can’t control the rest of the group very well.

I hope everyone at home is doing well. I miss the States a lot, especially everyone at Marquette. I feel like I’m missing out on a lot that’s happening over there, so please keep me updated!

Days since skim milk: 10