Back to School

I’m writing to you from a coffee shop in Dijon called Miss Cookies, my current favorite place (decided in the last two minutes).  They have fancy coffee drinks (to go), free wifi, outlets, and chocolate chocolate chip cookies.  What’s not to love?

Since I last wrote, I’ve been in Dijon for a little over a week consecutively, a new record.  I’ve finally had a chance to settle into my home city and homestay a little more, and I’ve gotten over the shock of not being in Paris anymore. 

After the placement test at Université de Bourgogne last Monday, the rest of the week was spent finishing Prof. McNelly’s class.  We had quite a bit of work and a test on Thursday, but now we’re pretty much done with the Wake class, save for a few short papers, and we can focus on our new classes at the university.  We got our placement test results and class schedule on Friday, and luckily, three other girls from the Wake program are in my section.  I’m in one section of level 5 (the highest), so I guess my French is better than I thought!

We started class at the university today, and I had Oral Comprehension.  It seems like it might be a tedious class, but I’m sort of excited to start taking more language focused classes.  Our other class was more history focused, so the vocab is more specific and not exactly useful in everyday conversations. 

Aside from school-related things, I spent a good majority of the weekend sitting by my host family’s pool, trying to make the most of possibly the last warm weekend.  My host sister Marine and I rode bikes into town Saturday morning to look through the market, and later Caroline and Ginny came over, and we had a nail painting party (fyi, greige nails are so in).  That night we made our second foray into Dijon nightlife, and we even made a new French friend!

Sunday, my host family had a big lunch outside by the pool, and I got to meet Mimi, their grandma.  I couldn’t really understand a word she said, but she seemed nice.  Later that afternoon, my host mom and I took Maya, their Bernese mountain dog, on a walk and we went up to the top of the big hill in Fontaine-les-Dijon (the suburb where I live) to see a cool view of the city.  She then drove me to the hill in Talant , another Dijon suburb, to see the view from there and peek into an old church.  I’m feeling so much more comfortable speaking with my host family, and I have much better bearings in Dijon, so the love affair with France continues!