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.