So what I thought would happen is happening. I figured I was pretty good at French in the States, but I knew once I got over here I would struggle a little bit. People know I am American just from the way I speak French, which is pretty embarrassing. I can't communicate very easily with my host mother which means I have to ask a million questions just to make sure I understand correctly, and even then I'm never quite sure if I have. And if someone isn't speaking directly to me, I can't understand them at all. Little snippets of side conversations on the street don't catch my ear like in the US. (Where I overhear everything someone is saying whether I want to or not.) It's a little disconcerting but I have to keep reminding myself it's only been a week, I can't be perfect. Communicating with the other CIEE students is a lot easier because we're all in the same boat. People just speak so fast here!
I have had a few breakthroughs, though. I was able to help my host mother figure out how to make her wifi work. I bought stamps at the post office. I figured out how to buy a cell phone (in Franglish and with lots of help... but still). And I asked someone if I was in the right place to meet up with my host mother last night. So I can get along ok, just not as well as I would like to. And like I said, people start speaking English to me once they hear my accent. =(
Tomorrow (Monday) starts the "pre-program," which is two weeks of French language and culture classes at whatever level we tested into. I'm really hoping I got into the same level as my friends!!! So we can all get better together.
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