Half way there!

It is hard to believe that I have been here for two weeks already, with only two left to go. Between 8 hrs plus of instruction a day, homework and extra curricular events to enhance your learning, there is not a lot of down time. Needless to say, I haven't done much sight seeing or posted many blogs. That is why I am trying to catch up this week-end. 

Last week was really tough for me. I sometimes wonder if I am even capable of learning the language. 

My brain just doesn't fire quickly enough and I have the retention of a gnat. There is so much to learn and integrate and it is obviously going to take me more time than some. I keep thinking that perhaps I'm in a level that is too advanced for me, but my prof assures me that I belong where I am. During one of our oral language labs, he realized that I was pretty anxious. He chatted with me after and basically said that it is stress that is blocking my progress. Without a doubt, I am one of the weakest students in the class, but Bruno said it is his job and responsibility to move all the students forward and he felt that I have made progress. You could have fooled me! However, after our chat, I felt considerably better. I just hope that lightbulb goes on one of these days.

We were sad to see three of our classmates leave yesterday. They had signed up for only two weeks of instruction, so our class will shrink to 7 on Monday. The three were lovely women from Norway and Sweden. Two of them have purchased residences here or nearby and the third is looking for a place. I took this picture of our class on Friday. Bruno, our prof, is the man in the middle of the other two men.The two women on the left, Disa and Vivica are on their way back to Sweden and Denise, the woman in the lilac sweater is returning to Norway. 

In my books, this school is first-rate. Instruction, extracurricular acitvities, meals, and facilities are excellent. To give you a couple of examples, each week, Julien hosts the cinema club in the evening. Last week we watched a French movie titled "Les Femmes du 6ème Étage". He kindly stopped the film periodically to give us a bit of a synopsis which definitely helped me understand more. I quite enjoyed it while trying to get the gist of the movie on my own. Friday afternoon, during our "séance pratique" Julienne taught us about the production and varieties of cheese in France followed by an opportunity to taste some of them along with a glass of wine. That's classy! On Monday, the whole school is going by coach to St. Paul de Vence, Vence and Tourrettes for the day. 

One piece of advice that our prof gave us on Friday was to take the week-end off to relax and re-energize. That's what I plan on doing.