2003-09-05
The Great French Novel, Part III

3:33 p.m.

I hate computers. I do, I really, really do. The first day that we registered and received our computer accounts, mine took the longest. First, it said I couldn't change my password. Then, it said that I couldn't log on, period. Finally, I was able to log on. Then, yesterday, it wouldn't let me. Again. And today, too. So my password was reset, and still I couldn't log on. I am on now, fortunately. But what a pain.

I have not been having a great day. Just little things. This includes only having a candy bar for lunch because we didn't have time to go anywhere, and the food dispenser was broken. Go figure.

However, here is more of my journal that I kept on my computer. Again, long, very long. I included two days this time. I have a lot to write, including the trip to Luxembourg, and the planned one to Paris this weekend. I'll get to it all, I promise.

Strasbourg, CIARUS Hostel, 24/8/03

Today I have had the best day since I have been here, and it had nothing to do with France. I met up with a British guy, Richard, and an Australian girl, Irina, and we spent the entire day together, and most of it inside just talking. We had a terrific time, especially when comparing the different sayings of each of the three countries, and comparing the different meanings of the same words. Because of what Val had said about Chris� reaction (Chris is a former ISU student who did his internship at JSC, and is from Australia) to �root� when the �Take me out to the ballgame� song was sung at an Astros� game, I sang it for Irina�s benefit and she thought it was hilarious, especially when I told her that it was sung at every single baseball game in every single park in America. For those who do not know, �root� is dirty word for sex in Australia. We talked about everything, and I mean everything, from obscene gestures to war to sex to history to philology. It was amazing. Richard spoke decent French, so I am afraid that when it was required, Irina and I depended on him more than we should have and put out minimal effort. Richard is extremely funny. Steve, I have met your British counterpart. He is just as full of random trivia and just as funny. Unfortunately, he is heading off to Switzerland tomorrow, and Irina is traveling to Germany, so we will not see each other, but we have exchanged e-mail addresses, they have my business cards, and Richard has said that he will likely be back in Strasbourg at some point in a couple of months. He said that my British accent was not bad at all! I was very flattered.

We also met this guy, Gregor, who is German, but he was really creepy. He wanted to hang out with us, to practice his English I guess, but he wore his sunglasses inside, and even though he was facing a window, it was already dark outside, so he had no excuse. And they were REALLY dark, so you couldn�t see his eyes at all. He would just fire random questions into the fray, in the middle of some other conversations that we were having. By this time, we had met up with Brooke and her friend, Ray, who just arrived today and who is also going to ISU.

I have to deal with my apartment stuff tomorrow and check out of here. Speaking of which, my room key disappeared. What I think happened is that I had it out with my stuff, and one of the other girls took it this morning. They came in very late last night, but they came in together so they likely only took out one key and the other girl kept hers in her bag. This morning, they left at 5 AM and when they saw my key lying on the desk, one of them probably thought it was her key, never remembering that she had left hers in her bag, so she grabbed it and turned it in as hers, when really it was mine. No, I did not lose it; I had to have had it to get in the room last night, and I searched through my bags, the bed, the desk, everything, but it�s not here. So, that is the only thing that I can assume. Fortunately, when I explained this to the girl at the front desk (who speaks French, English, and German; it�s not fair), she was very nice and understanding.

There is a McDonald�s here. Actually, there are several within range. I haven�t gone there, but I did have �les frites� today, and a ton of them. I think that I am done with fries for a while. I had them at the hostel cafeteria today. They were cooked in a different oil than I am used to, which gave them a slightly different taste, and which got old quickly.

Tomorrow, I will be in my own flat! Tonight, however, I have no roomies so I have a cheap room that sleeps four, all to myself! It is a very small room, however, much smaller than my one at Becca�s. The room is essentially two bunk beds pushed together with boards at the heads of each so that you are not breathing into the other person�s face. So, while that is good when there is someone next to you, it is not so good when there is not because if the boards were not there, then I could spread out and have a double bed. Ah well, supposedly there is a two-person futon in the apartment. So, for at least a while, I will not be sleeping in a single, which seems to be my fate wherever I go.

G�night, me dears. Hope you enjoy my story so far.

Strasbourg, my flat, 25/8/03

Well, here I am in my new flat. There are some good things about it, and some not-so-good things, and some things that would have been nice, but aren�t. The not-so-nice things are that it is one floor above where the elevator stops (elevator goes to the 5th floor, and I am on the 6th floor), there is no AC, only one window, and it smells a little like an old, musty house. Those aren�t too bad � right now, the biggest one is the fact that there isn�t any air conditioning and with only one window, it is very difficult to get a breeze going. Fortunately, it�s not going to stay warm for long (supposedly), and then it will be cold and being on the top floor will be nice as I won�t have to use very much, if any, heat. Today, even, it has cooled down quite a bit, so it is coming, but, it is still very hot and very still in the flat. The musty smell I plan to take care of with candles, which, Brooke says, they sell for pretty cheap at Auchan, the major grocery/sundry store around here.

The would-have-been nice items are the lack of a balcony, loft, or TV. The latter I missed the most when I was laying on the futon and heard the distinct music of �Will and Grace�. It occurred to me that I have not seen any TV, except for the news that is on constantly in the hostel�s lounge, for five days. I did not really miss it until today, and even now, only really �Friends�, �Will and Grace�, and the other Thursday night line-up on NBC.

The nice things are that it is on the top floor, so I can at least see the sky (people on the floors below must really crane their necks to see it) and can see the Cathedral�s spire sticking up. The REALLY great thing is that because past ISU students have used this flat, there is a ton of stuff that they have left here. There are reading books (not too many that are my taste, unfortunately), guidebooks, a French dictionary, desk items (pencils, pens, erasers, paper clips, tape, etc.), bathroom items, dishes, utensils, pots, spices and similar cooking items, blankets, sheets, lamps, chairs, toaster oven, refrigerator, stereo (score!), exam study guides, towels, shoe polish, clothes rack, basic tools, phone books, a half-dead plant, telephone and answering machine, an alarm clock, vacuum, iron, ironing board, and various other items. The floor is hard wood; fake or real, I haven't really noticed, but it looks nice. All, in all, I am quite pleased.

Dealing with the rental agency was A LOT less painful that I expected. Writing French where you can check it and speaking it are two different things. I was very happy. Maybe I am doing better. Anyway, there were three keys: one to get in the door, the next for the mail, and the third is this really funky-looking key (I took a picture) that is my apartment key. I got the mail, and in it was a flyer for Pizza Hut. Reading the advertisement, my random German, in this case, �Ich bein eine ananas� (I am a pineapple), is actually coming in handy as it turns out that not only is �ananas� pineapple in German, but in French, too! (It means the same thing in Russian, as wel;.) They also advertised �le pizza Texane� with ham, ground herbed beef, mushrooms, onions, and bacon.

It really is random all of the miscellaneous English that pops up. There are two posters advertising a Garnier hair gel that show a picture of a man or woman with normal hair, and also with wild, gelled hair and it says �Dr Jekyll and Mr/Miss Hard�. There are also a couple of Levi�s stores, a �Horse Equipment� store (which I drooled over), a Lerners New York, a Body Shop (took a picture of that one), US Forms, Copy Shop, and several others. Also, 99% of the t-shirts that I have seen, if there is writing on them, it is in English. I even saw someone working in a restaurant wearing a very wrinkled e-trade shirt, the type that they give out when you sign up for credit cards. The other thing that I find amusing is that all of the stop signs say �Stop� instead of the translation in the local language. Looking in my German tour book, this seems to be the normThey show all of the major traffic signs that one sees in Europe, and their explanation for that one is �duh�. I like that.

As for my four phases, I really am messed up. I think I skipped the whole honeymoon phase, and kind of slipped through the disillusionment phase; that one really started right away, and was move of an �oh-my-goodness-what-have-I-gotten-myself-into� phase where I was fairly overwhelmed, frustrated because I couldn�t speak better French, and in general, just feeling very alone. After picking up my key and being able to communicate wholly in French with the apartment agency, I was feeling on top of the world and happy and wonderful. The weather was great, I was feeling better about the language, more optimistic, and excited to start school. That feeling has abated somewhat � replaced by one of it just being too dang hot, one that is very familiar, living in Houston � but hasn�t really gone away. It�s really starting to feel like home, helped by the fact that I do have my own apartment now, and I am feeling more comfortable with the city. Tomorrow, I have to go meet Nick at the airport. I received a message from him that he is going to arrive tomorrow. If he is up to it, I�m going to drag him to ISU so that we can check our e-mail (I have a feeling that he won�t be too hard to convince) and talk to people at the school.

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