Learning French

I think I've made some internal progress today, because when I logged onto Facebook after getting home from class, I looked at a name of a random place and automatically read it the way it would be pronounced in French. My brain is slowly being taken over. Class today was a bit difficult, but good. We worked on different vowel pronunciations, which are really hard. There are so many different details of intonation that if you say the same word, but with a different emphasis, it will mean something different. This doesn't really happen a lot in English, so it's a strange concept to accept. I can write pretty well and grammar is probably the easiest thing for me so far, but speaking is nearly impossible. It's very easy for me to get discouraged with speaking and not want to practice. I haven't talked to many French people at all, and I suppose my horrible shopping experiences during the first few days have made me cautious. I do want to talk to people but I'm not sure how to seek out and find those opportunities. I think my listening comprehension has probably improved the most. After three hours everyday in class, my teacher's voice is still in my head all day.

My host mom showed me the Pau River a few days ago, and today I went back to check it out for myself. The water flows down from the mountains, so it is very clear and very cold. It was lovely to sit by the river and read. There were also people practicing kayaking. People here love to stop and watch the kyackers, which is funny because it's not really that interesting. I think my favorite part of Europe are the old couples. There was one walking on the path through the park and they were adorable. Also, little old French men walking tiny dogs. Adorbs.

 I want to swim so badly! 

 These little flowers are literally everywhere. I love them.

For dinner tonight we went out with my host mom's father, who was an English teacher. He was an adorable little Frenchmen with a little potbelly. We started talking in English and he said, "Do you know the longest word in English? It's 'smiles', because there's a mile between the first and last letter." Meals are kind of awkward because I pretty much listen to them speak French the whole time, but I try my best to pay attention and listen for key words. We ate dinner at a cafeteria (buffet) that was connected to a grocery store. I had their specialty duck, and it was amazing. Also, creme brulee. When we got back from dinner I went on a walk around our neighborhood and tried to find the entrance to this huge cemetery across the street from our apartment. Alas, it was closed for some reason (I couldn't understand the sign), so I walked around the chateau. I'm starting to get a good handle on the downtown area by my apartment.

Chateau de Pau and a typical French day

This morning started our second week of class. I feel like I am learning, but it's so hard to remember everything. I recently started remembering things mainly by the first letter of the word, which I haven't really done before. It's quite strange. After class and a nice lunch of salad, cheese, bread, and coffee, our group headed to the Chateau de Pau, but not before stopping at a local chocolate shop to get some free samples. They have special chocolate covered raisins that were amazing.

 You can actually see this chateau from our apartment, and it's really beautiful. The tour was pretty boring, and the history wasn't all that interesting, but it was pretty. The chateau has the largest tapestry collection ever outside of Paris. The tapestries mainly depicted hunting scenes, and their advanced age proceeded to make the majority of the group sneeze.

These tapestries were threaded with real gold. 

After the chateau we walked around and stopped for some lovely refreshments. Spending time at an outdoor cafe was wonderfully relaxing and French. 

España

The three day weekend (they have off here for Pentecost) left a few of us wanting to go somewhere. Being so close, we chose Spain. We rented a car and hit the road into Basque country to the amazing city of San Sebastián. Upon arriving, we explored the beach and downtown area and had an amazing lunch at one of the many, many tapas bars/restaurants. I had spider crab crepes and fresh shrimp. It was completely amazing.

After walking around, we checked into the hotel, changed for diner, and took to the mountains. It was great having a rented car, because we could go places we would have never seen had we taken the train. For example, this mountain field and Spanish graveyard:

The ocean view was unbelievable. I couldn't believe my eyes the whole time. We then drove to the top of one of the main mountain points in the town and climbed an old castle. 

Seeing this in real life was more amazing than I can put into words. For dinner we went to a restaurant that has had many American articles written about its amazing food.

The top left is butter, the bottom left is my entree of glazed suckling pig with apple garnish and dried apple chips. The top right is a traditional Basque dessert curd of goat's milk with walnuts, and the bottom right is an appetizer of Spanish iberico ham, which originally looks like this: 

These legs were hanging everywhere, and they cost thousands of dollars for only one. The meat is shaved very, very, thin and is the most amazing meat I've ever tasted. 

The next day we headed to Bilbao, which is about an hour west. We had a lunch of paella, ribs, and flan. 

It was Sunday, so almost everything except the bars were closed. We stopped by the Guggenheim, and checked out their older section of town. 

We sat in this mist for like 10 minutes. 

Dinner that night was at one of the extremely few places open, a tapas bar also. 

The top picture is fried pork's cheek and red peppers. I'd never had cheek before, and it was amazing. Left to right is season green peppers, a different type of ham that I don't remember, and helado fresca. All completely amazing. I'd live in Spain just for the food. 

Overall, Spain was really fun. I love the sights, the company, and the food, and I loved trying to speak Spanish. I think this trip helped me on the road to not being scared to make mistakes while trying to speak a different language. Being in a different culture at first was completely shocking, but I'm starting to really like it. Tonight my host mom took me for a walk through a beautiful park across the street from the apartment that leads to the Pau river. It flows from the mountains, and I cannot wait to swim in that bad boy. Walking around in a bathing suite not on a beach or at a pool is illegal here, so I'll have to cover up quick! 

For some reason Facebook isn't letting me upload pictures, so check back soon for more shots of Spain!