Oh Man, Was Today Long or What

Oh wow so today was a long day. I didn't eat breakfast because I was on facebook and ran out of time and then I didn't eat lunch because I forgot papers in my room that I needed for the afternoon in the dorm (res hall) so I had to run across town to get those and bring them back. So let me preface with that.

First thing in the morning, our own French Ross Geller took us around the Archaeology Museum in Le Mans. I've never met or seen anyone who gets more excited about the mesolithic period. The museum had some interesting artifacts, but there's only so long I can be focused on artifacts from 50,000 BCE on an empty stomach.

The real adventure began, however, after lunch time because today was the first day for the internship, which I didn't realize/remember when I woke up. It was then quickly a whirlwind where I was whisked away in the car of a master's student, named Corentin (I think), to the business school in Le Mans. On the way there, I talked to the doctoral student, Fatima (from l'Université du Maine, the school at which we're living and studying) the woman who set up the internship and when we arrived at the school, she told the people there that I could understand pretty well if they spoke slowly (everything was in French). For the first hour and a half at the school, we, Ben (another French student from Akron) and I, got a tour of the school, it was quick because the school's not too big. Then the two students, myself, Ben, and Fatima sat and talked with a couple students from the school until the professor was done with whatever he was doing. We talked about Akron, the popular sports in Akron, what we do at Akron, what they do in Le Mans, where they're from, and how we like France this far. Then Ben and I sat in a conference room and observed as the professor went through progress checks with Corentin and another masters student, Maxime, because they were at a "Checkpoint". They are both in separate work placements and at the end of July, they will both be done with school after a final presentation. So this checkpoint was to make sure they were ready, or at least starting to prepare for this final presentation. I didn't understand much of their projects, but it was helpful to be able to listen and read what they were talking about projected onto the wall as they edited the word document for the presentation. Everyone at the school was so incredibly kind as Ben and I stumbled and tried so hard to answer their questions and ask some of our own. A lot of nodding and saying "oui" or "d'accord" occurred today because I understood only about half of everything that was said to me.

Maxime was so nice and drove us home, since he lives in centre ville, close to a tram stop for us to take the tram back to the university. When we talked, he spoke in English and I spoke in French. Neither of us spoke the other language especially well, but well enough for us to understand each other. Also, conversations go quicker when the French speak English and the Americans speak French because neither of us can use words that are too confusing and the other person can immediately understand it all. After he parked, we got out of the car and Maxime shook Ben's hand. I also went in for a handshake to which he said, "Non, in France we faire les bises". So we did, which wasn't awkward, but I felt awkward that I forgot that that's what they did. So today was a huge, slightly frustrating learning curve because it's not fun to not always be understood/able to understand others. I think I'm going to enjoy this internship and I'm sure my French will improve immensely, but until then, it's frustrating to not be understood or able to say exactly what I want to say because I don't have the perfect word for it. Language is surprisingly significant - who knew!