Grenoble
I walked into the grammar class to be greeted by 6 other students. I discovered that half the class had gotten an email over night to move to another class, created after people had demanded to move the day before. The new class would be a level higher, B2. I didn’t understand why I hadn’t been moved, until the professor told me that I wasn’t supposed to be in her class. I had been moved to B2+. I was thrilled. I headed upstairs to where they were doing a listening lab. It was on the subject of wild life in the praire and the negative effects of pesticides. I was shocked to discover it was a recording of a real news story. It was actually challenging! I was thrilled. It turns out that the B2+ class has a new theme each week, new vocabulary to learn, and only listens to real news reports for listening so they can understand how native speakers work.
In our culture class we talked about recent scandals concerning laïcité in France. I presented on the Charlie Hebdo affaire, while other talked about burkinis, etc.
Class was finally over for the week. I felt like I had survived the impossible. I never had an 8:30am class before in my college career. Despite feeling exhausted and a little sick, I went out to lunch with another group of students to celebrate. We went to a small Italian restaurant, where I got lasagna (not as good as in Annecy). It was great to sit and chat, but I was so thankful to get home and take the longest nap of my life.
I spent the evening relaxing watching TV and calling my friends on the phone.
Mary-Est-En-France 