Ces cinq années

(An English translation of this post is below.)

En octobre 2008, grâce à Lauren, j’ai découvert la musique d’un chanteur québécois (dont vous connaissez tous le nom, je crois).  Il ne chantait qu’en français, et moi je parlais seulement anglais, mais j’adorais sa musique et je voulais bien comprendre ses paroles.  Le problème, c’était que je n’étais pas étudiante à l'époque et je n’avais pas de moyen d’étudier le français.  (De toute façon, mon ancienne école n’a pas de cours de français.)  Alors, que faire?

J’ai commencé à étudier le français en avril 2009.  J’utilisais des sites-web pour apprendre le vocabulaire, la grammaire, etc.  Je regardais des interviews et d’autres vidéos sur YouTube pour écouter, pour répéter et parler.  Toutes les sites-web que j’ai trouvé à propos de l’étude des langues m’ont dit que la meilleure façon d’apprendre une autre langue, c’était l’immersion.  O.K., mais comment?  Moi j’habitais au Kentucky, c’est tout à fait impossible d’avoir l’immersion dans une langue qui n’est pas l’anglais.  Alors, je parlais aux gens sur les sites comme Facebook et d’autres forums dédiés aux langues.  Je pouvais écrire et lire, mais parler et écouter, c’était très difficile.

(Et c’est toujours difficile.)

Après deux ans, en 2011, j’ai passé un examen pour apprendre le niveau de français dans lequel j’étais pour prendre des cours ici à Truman.  Même après seulement deux ans, j’étais dans le troisième niveau (aujourd’hui je crois que j’étais vraiment dans le quatrième niveau, mais… bah).

Aujourd’hui, en avril 2014, j’étudie le français depuis cinq ans.  Je suis dans ma troisième année de l’université où j’étudie le français et la traduction française.  J’ai voyagé au Québec deux fois; la première fois pendant quelques jours, la dernière fois pendant cinq semaines.  Je vais obtenir mon diplôme en français dans un an.  Après ça, qui sait?  Je voudrais obtenir un master au Québec en traduction française, mais c’est possible que je vais aller à la France pour enseigner l’anglais pendant un an.  Tout ce que je sais, c’est que ma vie sera entourée par le français, sera faite par le français.  Je sais qu’après cinq ans je fais toujours des erreurs quand j’écris et surtout quand je parle, mais j’essaie très fort, j’ai beaucoup de passion pour cette langue et cette culture.

Alors, aux cinq prochaines année et bien d’autres encore!

In October 2008, thanks to Lauren, I discovered the music of a Québécois singer (whose name you all know, I believe).  He only sang in French and I only spoke English, but I adored his music and I really wanted to understand his lyrics.  The problem was that I wasn’t a student at the time and I didn’t have any way to study French.  (Anyway, my old school didn’t have any French courses).  So, what to do?

I began studying French in April 2009.  I used different websites to learn vocabulary, grammar, etc.  I watched interviews and other videos on YouTube to listen, to repeat and to speak.  All of the websites that I found about the study of languages told me that the best way to learn another language was immersion.  O.K., but how?  I lived in Kentucky where’s quite impossible to be immersed in a language other than English.  So I spoke to people on the websites like Facebook and other forums dedicated to languages.  I could write and read, but speaking and listening was very difficult.

(And it’s still difficult.)

After two years, in 2011, I took a test to learn what level of French I would be in to take courses here at Truman.  Even after only two years, I was in the third level (today I believe that I was really in the fourth level, but… bah.)

Today, in April 2014, I’ve studied French for five years.  I’m in my third year of university where I’m studying French and French translation (and also English).  I have traveled to Québec two times; the first time for a few days, the last time for five weeks.  I will receive my diploma in French in one year.  After that, who knows?  I would like to attain a Master’s degree in Québec in French translation, but it’s possible that I might go to France for a year to teach English.  All I know is that my life will be surrounded by French, will be made by French.  I know that after five years I still make errors when I write and especially when I speak, but I’m trying very hard, I have a lot of passion for this language and this culture.

So here’s to the next five years and many more to come!

Life's not SIMple

Okay, so it’s that time for the monthly blog post that I seem to have become too busy to make.  However, as this blog has been being kept (yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s grammatically accurate) since June 2011 and there has been one post made at least once a month, I am determined to keep it up.  For posterity and all that whatnot.

Since my last post, two pretty cool things have happened.  The first is that I got the job at JBA!  I’ll be a preceptor for Dr. D’Agostino’s creative writing course whose name escapes me, as well as a sort of “camp counselor thing” to a group of girls for three weeks in June.  So my summer is pretty much planned out!  I’ll spend the month of May staying with Kat invading her personal bubble in her apartment (hey, at least I’ll be paying half the rent) and then June will be spent back on campus for JBA.  What does the month July bring?  That brings me to my next “pretty cool thing” that happened.

So there’s this guy.  His name’s Theo.  I like Theo.  He’s my boyfriend and he makes me all fuzzy inside.  I could go on and gush, but his head would get too big and people might want to shoot me due to my gushiness.  Suffice to say that this dude is the bee’s knees (do bees even have knees?).  He lives not toooo far away, but definitely not in the state, so we can now correlate my two points: travel!  At the end of JBA I’m going to catch a ride with Kat and her family on their way down to Florida for their annual vacation.  They’ll drop me off and voilà: I’ll be with Theo!  I’m excited, to put it mildly.  After spending some time with him, I’ll fly to KY to be with my family for a month before flying back to MO to finish out my final year at Truman.  Oh, boy; talk about terrifying.

So I’ve been intensely stressed lately and Lauren, Kat, and Theo are the only ones keeping me sane.  I’m meeting with my advisor tomorrow, though, so hopefully he can help me clear my head a bit in terms of some decisions that I need to make.  I’ve also got an English paper to revise, a French paper to write, not to mention other French work I need to prepare.  Oi.  The Sim I made of myself graduated university with all As and on the Dean’s List—why can’t real university be that easy?

Well, that was unexpected.

So.  Guess who will be the new Vice President for Pi Delta Phi (The National French Honor Society) next semester?  Yep, me.  I know, I'm surprised, too.  I wasn't even planning on running for a single position, but when people were standing up and telling people why they should be the new V.P., I suddenly got the desire to do so, too.  I won't pretend that I made some amazing, grand speech that was incredibly inspiring or anything.  On the contrary, I just made people laugh, told them I had good leadership skills because I had four younger siblings, and then really stressed that I loved PDP, French culture, and how much I wanted to share that love with everyone.  Awww.  Either way, for someone, I got most of the votes.  Weird.

In other news, I had my interview with JBA last Saturday.  I personally think it went well, but I won't know for sure for another week or two.  For some reason, I'm not driving myself insane waiting to hear a response.  Luckily, they'll tell me if I don't get it and won't leave me hanging.  That would suck.  If I get it, then my current plan is to stay in Kirksville after the semester ends for the month of May and the first half of June (which is when I would do JBA) before flying to Kentucky for the rest of June and all of July.  If I don't get the job, then I'll just fly to Kentucky once the semester ends and stay there for May, June, and July.  Kat and I move into our apartment in the beginning of August, so that's when I'd be back.  We'll see!  I think, ultimately, as much as I would love to do JBA, I'll be happy with either decision since I would love to spend three months with my family, as well.  So I've got some good choices!  I wouldn't be "settling" for anything.

Also, thanks to my friend Tyler, I've been having some fun life crises.  I realized the other day that I do not want to get into Library Science.  I don't know why.  Honestly, I've found myself just looking for careers that would allow me to live and work in Québec.  The only job I've had in mind that has remained constant is one: translation.  It's the only one I can imagine myself doing (other than being an author, obviously) where I'd be happy and not really settling for something.  I was looking at grad schools last night, and obviously my dream school would be one in Québec.  At first, I thought the price would be an issue.  But then I did some digging on the government financial aid website and found out that they do offer loans to get a degree abroad, whether it's undergrad or grad school, depending on the school.  The school I have in mind, McGill (although there are other options), is one their list of accepted schools.  Another thing is the fact that the tuition for McGill is about $10,000 to $20,000 cheaper yearly than the schools in the U.S. that offer Master's degrees in French translation.  Obviously there aren't the only factors, but the prospects are looking good!  I'm excited to look into this further.

punch the damask

New year, a new phrase I'm not gonna explain.  Woo!

I generally make an effort to make at least one post a month.  And for the past thirty-one months (holy crap), I've been successful.  All throughout January I've been meaning to write something, but my schedule has been absolutely insane this semester.  So what's the me been up to?

First of all, Kat's back in Kirksville, which means lots of merriment and fun.  It also means apartment hunting for Kat and me since we're going to be spending one more year here in this fabulous town before finally graduating and "spreading our wings," as it were.  Lauren will be graduating this May, so Kathy and I will be left to fend for ourselves.  Hopefully we can manage.

I also started my new job in the Special Collections section of the library here at Truman.  It's actually a pretty daunting task even though I'm just a lowly Reading Room assistant.  My main job is to help patrons who come in looking for a book, whether it be part of a specific collection really old, rare, and/or valuable.  While this may not sound difficult, there's a lot involved and it's a lot to remember.  Because the area doesn't get lots of traffic, most of the time I'm in the back dusting the stacks, looking through piles of newspapers in case something is featured that needs to be archived, or making lists of books for a project.  So far, because I'm still "in training," I haven't really been assigned any big projects or anything like that, which is fine with me.  I actually find the job to be quite stressful, mainly because I'm so worried about messing up.  It's slowly getting better, however, so fingers crossed that it'll continue to do so.

In other news, I finally applied for a position as a preceptor at the Joseph Baldwin Academy, which is a three-week-long program over the summer for gifted middle school students.  If accepted, I'll work in a creative writing class with a professor, as well as be something of a "counselor" for a group of girls, fairly similar to what I did at Girls Camp.  It comes with a $1,400 stipend, so I'm really hoping I get the job.

If I don't, there are some pretty awesome alternatives.  I'll either go to Kentucky to spend the summer with my family (which I may do after JBA, anyway), or I may stay a little longer in Missouri to see Eddie Izzard in St. Louis.  Which. would. be. AMAZING!  So while I would love to have the job, seeing as it would immensely help apartment prospects next semester, I do have other things I could look forward to.

Also, I like Sherlock now.  And Benedict Cumberbatch isn't as ugly as I thought he was.  WOO!

Highlights of 2013

Okay, so that time of year has come once again, the time where we (or mostly I) review the year that has passed!  It has been, perhaps, the most amazing year of my life.  This won't be a terribly long post, but it's pretty mandatory in order to keep up the tradition from the past two years.  So!

What's happened in 2013?  Hmmm.  Let's think.

Gosh, what could it be?

Oh, right.

Québec.

The main highlight of 2013 was, of course, traveling to Québec City, Québec and studying there for five weeks with Lauren.  It was an experience I would never trade.  The only thing that would have made it better would have been if Kat had been there with us.  We missed our bestest friend like crazy, but thank God for Skype, right?

So!  Highlights!

• June 16 - July 3 - I got to fly up to Michigan to spend my grandparents' fiftieth anniversary with them.  It was a wonderful time, and I'm so grateful that they were willing to put up with me for two weeks.  I got to see everyone from that side of the family: my brother and sister, my grandparents, my aunt and uncle, my cousins, and my nieces and nephew.  Not to mention I got to see my father, stepmother, and siblings for the first time in five years.  I got to spend some special time bonding with everyone, especially my father when he and I went out to lunch one day.  I also drove around and got lost in Marshall with my sister, Sarah - that was fun - before going with her to pick up Dawn, our older sister.  I have so many great memories of those two weeks.
• July 4 - We spent Independence Day in Canada!  I was amused.  This was also the day we arrived in Québec, which was definitely monumental.
• July 4 - 7 - Lauren, her family, and I got to spend a few days as tourists in and around Québec City.  We saw la chute Montmorency, la basilique Ste-Anne, and we even  went to Trois-Rivières to see their favorite jazz artist, Emilie-Claire Barlow, at le Festivoix!
• July 13 - We tried poutine for the first time.  It was incredible.
• July 27 - Lauren and I took a three-hour bus ride, getting up at 4:30 in the morning, to Montréal.  I got to meet and have vocal coaching from one of my absolute favorite singers, Gabrielle Destroismaisons.  She was so nice, and beautiful, and talented, and it was such an incredible experience.  Not only that, but Lauren got to stay and meet her, as well!
• July 28 - I got to meet my friend, François, for the first time after meeting him several years ago on NaNoWriMo.  He was, apparently, surprised that I liked so many Québécois musicians, me being American, so we got to talking.  We finally met, and he made fun of my French, and we went into a library, rode in the elevators, and left.  It was awesome.
• August 3 - Lauren went back to Montréal for the day and I got to hike up Mont-du-Lac-des-Cygnes.  My feet are still tired.
• August 8 - The big finale of our trip in Québec.  Lauren and I took the ferry to Lévis and saw our favorite singer of all time, the reason we are friends, the reason we were in Québec: Bruno Pelletier.  We got to meet him before his show, we got to meet Ekaterina, a woman we knew online but never in person, we got to see his sound check, we were right in the front for the show itself. . . . Everything was perfect.  It was amazing.
• August 10 and 11 - Not a good highlight.  Lauren and I had a nightmarish trip back to the U.S. thanks to the incompetency of Delta.
• August 29 - I turned 22!  WOO!
• Some point in November - I got a job as an assistant in the school's Special Collections for next semester.

Okay, so it wasn't a short post.  I lied.  Obviously most of the highlights of the year are due to Québec, but that's okay.  I can't wait to go back.  Hopefully I won't have to wait another four years.  All in all, 2013 was absolutely amazing.  Here's hoping 2014 is just as good!

I have green nails.

Clearly, I was having trouble thinking of an interesting entry title.  And I still didn't succeed.

Anyway.  Hi.  It's been over a month since I last posted.  So what's been going on then?  Well, more stress, for one thing, specifically with two of my classes.  The other three are going pretty well.  But anyway, I don't feel like talking about classes, because classes are stupid.

So!  Classes for next semester!  (See what I did there?)  Of course, I had some difficulties getting into the ones I wanted, because that's what happens to me every semester.  Because I have about the lowest amount of credits a person can have while still being a junior, I have the last choice when it comes to upper-level classes that I need for a major.  This is never a problem with French, since the classes are always so small, but it's a bitch with English.  The 400-level English classes fill up extremely quickly and thus make it impossible for me to even get on the wait list for them.  After some maneuvering, I did manage to get on the wait list for an American literature class and then finally into the actual class, but now I'm hoping not to take French Civilization II next semester, so I'm on two different wait lists for a couple English writing courses, but I'm position 9 for both, and I have been for quite a while.  So it's unlikely that I'll get into those.  But, for the moment, my classes for next semester are:

French Literature II

French Civilization II

Contemporary American Literature

Introduction to Computer Science I

JINS: Page and Stage to Screen: Sherlock
University Chorus

I guess it's not too terrible of a schedule.  I'll be much happier if I can drop French Civ, though.  Also, I didn't realize that my JINS course was based on Sherlock when I bid on it, and I'm just not interested in Sherlock at all.  That genre of literature has never interested in me.  Oh, well.

We also finished the French play for the semester a couple of weeks ago, which is a bit of a relief.  I was worried that everyone, including myself, would have trouble having lines memorized in time, but we all pulled it together.  Personally, I feel like this semester's play was the best one we've done so far, especially on the first night.  It helped, probably, that my character was pretty much typecast in that he was an overly dramatic grammar Nazi which is, y'know, me.  And, as always, I love getting to know each new cast.  Lauren's last play will be next semester, and I've got three more on the way.  Part of me is considering doing something else during my senior year, but I feel like I shouldn't stop now.  Why not go for all eight semesters like Lauren has done?

In other news, I am positively in love with Thor: The Dark World.  I have seen in multiple times, mostly with different people.  I just love it so, so, so much.  And I like to think I'd like it without Loki, but he is a huge draw since his character development is one of the main reasons why I love the movie so much.  Ah, well.  It's wonderful.  I want to see it again.  I'm not sure I'll be able to wait the much-too-long length of time for it to come out on DVD.

Stress in the fast lane.

Well.  Where do I begin?  Normally I write blog entries more frequently, but it's been over a month since my last one.  Nothing particularly monumental has happened, except some bumps in the road here and there, and a whole lot of stress.

In terms of classes, that's a big part of where my stress is coming from.  My crappy memory really bites me in the butt when it comes to having to remember things like facts and dates.  I just have a hard time remembering things unless I drill it over, and over, and over, and sometimes even then it doesn't really work.  I can set my keys down somewhere and literally two seconds later, I can't find them.  I simply cannot remember where I put them.  Sometimes I'll say something and have absolutely no memory of saying it a minute later.  Lauren and Kat insisted that I did, in fact, proclaim my hunger, but I don't remember doing so.  So my inability to remember a lot of things worries me when it comes to, not only my French civilization class, but also my statistics course.  Luckily, for the test, we'll be allowed to use a formula sheet, which is good since my biggest obstacle is often remembering formulas.  But for French Civ. . . . I'll just have to drill facts and things into my head and hope they stick.

Speaking of things that are wrong with me, I have recently realized that I most likely have what is called stereo-blindness.  It is most often present in people who had lazy eye as a kid (moi) and who only use one eye most of the time (also moi).  To explain the latter part, it's not that I'm blind in one eye.  I just don't really use my right eye unless I'm looking at something far to my right that my left eye can't really see.  I can often close my right eye while looking at something and realize that my vision doesn't really change at all.  My mom noticed that I did this as a kid, and took my to the eye doctor, but nothing really came of it.  This is the reason that I can't see things in 3D and why the huge craze in releasing movies in 3D really sucks.  People  who see 3D use both eyes together constantly, but I can't really make myself do it.  Watching Toy Story 3 in 3D in theaters resulted in a nasty headache.  Sometimes I get flashes of 3D, like random confetti floating around the theater, but other than that, it's mostly lost on me.  Stereo-blindness also affects my depth perception, which explains why I can't catch a ball to save my life and why I really suck at basketball and can rarely make a basket.  I can't really judge how far away from me an object is.  For some people, this is extremely debilitating in that it makes it impossible for them to drive since they can't see how far away the other cars are, but that's not the case for me.  If I do have stereo-blindness, it doesn't, luckily, affect my driving at all.  If anything, it makes me more careful.

Driving.  Ah, yes.  I love it.  It's immensely fun.  But what's not fun is sitting in the Wal-Mart parking lot, the car in park, and watching some guy back his car up in an arc and smack into the front left side of your car. Lauren and I were fine, of course, but shaken and pissed off beyond belief.  The guy felt awful, his son in the back seat looked terrified, and he apologized profusely.  The car didn't hit the headlight, but just beneath it and right above the tire, leaving a very expensive dent.  (Luckily, the guy fully admits that it was HIS FAULT and is contacting his insurance agency and whatnot so he can pay for it.)  We weren't sure if the car could drive.  It didn't look like anything was touching the tire, so David and Deb told us to try to drive it home.  However, as soon as we turned right, we heard a scraping noise.  We managed to get back to the Wal-Mart parking lot, so as not to stay in someone's driveway, and attempted to call people for a ride home since David and Deb weren't in town at the moment.  Unfortunately, it was midterm break and no one was in Kirksville at the time.  Luckily for us, our wonderful friend Liz was available, and she and her husband came to pick us up.  Aren't they lovely?

But yes.  That was a fun-filled night.  We're fortunate that no one was hurt and that it's fully clear that it wasn't our fault.  The fact that I made the effort to park away from most of the people and we still got hit.  Ugh.

Anyway.  Because the car is undriveable at the moment, our magnificent marvelous Kat is coming to Kirksville today to pick us up and take us to Hannibal to spend the weekend with her.  YAY!  The Folklife Festival is coming, and I've been looking forward to it all year, and I am SO EXCITED.  I can't wait to see Kat.  My day ends at 1:30, and then I am FREEEEEE!!!

To explain the title: this semester is going by extremely quickly.  Holy crap.