Les cours commencent

Bonjour!
It's been a couple days and a lot has happened. Let's see...well, last Friday was the Abroadco welcome dinner. It was very nice. The thirteen girls went out with our program director and a student from last semester, Hugo. We had roasted red peppers, kind of a pork curry with rice and pineapple, and this great gooey chocolate dessert. Afterward, almost all of us went around the corner to the Irish pub, O'Shannon's. I got to show off my previous French bar knowledge since I knew what a 'monaco' was (beer, seltzer/orange juice, grenadine). Then we went over to a place called Le P'tit Bistro, where most drinks are only 2€ and there's outdoor seating. I didn't get anything, but it was fun.

Saturday was a free day, but it was rainy and gross. I did some exploring with a girl Sam from my program. Then Sunday, all of us went to Marseille, where Pamela actually lives. She took us to Notre Dame de la Garde, this gorgeous cathedral up on a hill looking out over the rest of the city. We also walked around a cute neighborhood by the Vieux Port and saw an old building that used to be a homeless shelter (I would've wanted to be a homeless marseillaise in the 19th century). Oh! And then I touched the Mediterranean for the first time. It was really cold, but there was an older French man swimming anyway!

This week is the first week of classes. And it's even more tiring than it will be normally, because in addition to my required 10 hour language class and 2 hour phonetics class, I have to sit in on all the elective courses for my level to see what I will take. So I think I've narrowed it down to these four:

-Regards sur les médias--basically a conversation class, but with emphasis on current events in France and Europe.
-Traduction--translation; it'll be difficult but useful, since it's kind of a review for grammar and writing.
-Contes populaires--the professor for this is certifiable, but interesting. I don't even know what we're going to read, but last semester they did the short stories of Maupassant, so maybe something of that genre.
-La Vème République--the only polisci-related course offered, about the current French government. We'll see, I have yet to actually go since it's tomorrow (at EIGHT AM!)

I guess that's it for now. I'll put up a link for the facebook album of Marseille (you don't have to belong to see it, no worries).
Bisous!
Maggie B.