La confiance

During my placement interview this afternoon, the professors determined that I need more confiance--confidence. The setup of the interview was kind of intimidating, though the actual interview itself was very relaxed. It was three on one. It reminded me of an interrogation room. Three professors sat behind a long table, and the single chair facing them was for the lowly student. But the questions were simple: Why France? Is this your first time? What classes do you want?

Though I originally opted for Level I of the program, after looking at my placement test results and listening to me answer their questions, they placed me in Level II. Now, instead of taking one elective and two French classes, I get to take two electives and one French class. I was not too confident in my ability to excel in French class, which is why I chose Level I. I don't really like taking French, which is why I haven't taken a class in over a year. I figured Paris would be a much better classroom than BU, and much more efficient, too. In just a week, I've already gotten better. But I must admit I was happy that I passed into Level II. It means that I can now take a French culture and cinema class that is restricted to Level II students. However, it also means that I’ll have to put in the extra work to fill in some gaps in my education. "J'avais peur," I explained to them. (I was afraid I was not prepared for Level II.) The professors assured me that I would be okay, and that I could handle the more advanced material, so I feel better.

It’s the silly grammar, you see. I’m convinced that prepositions are entirely unknowable. You jouer à baseball (play baseball), but jouer de piano (play the piano); téléphoner à (call someone), but avoir besoin de (have need of). Finir (to finish) is followed by de, but commencer (to begin) is followed by à. Plenty more of these curious phrases exist in the French language. Thankfully, I brought my old textbooks along with me to refresh.

Orientation has been going well. It’s nice to ease into things before starting classes. The director of our program is a lively American woman and BU grad who moved to France after falling in love with her beau during her time in Grenoble as a study abroad student way back when. The professors introduced themselves and their classes today. They all seem like nice, reasonable people.

It was kind of funny listening to Emmanuelle explain how she trained our French professors to be nice when grading our work. (Emmanuelle is sort of our guardian. Her technical title is "academic coordinator." She's a French woman who has taught in America, and who helps bridge the gap between cultures.) Apparently, the French education system is too tough for us friendly folks from les Etats-Unis. French teachers don’t understand constructive criticism. They forget the constructive part, and focus solely on the criticism. They have no concept of the student as customer. The professor is the dictator, and the students will conform. Or go on a grève. They enjoy that sort of thing here. The grading system is out of 20 instead of 100, and in France, a C is a something to celebrate. Everyone’s eyes got sort of wide, and we all held our collective breath when we heard this. French teachers do not have to answer to students when questioned about grades, but Emmanuelle has trained our professors to provide sound logic behind the grades they pass out. Essentially, Emmanuelle’s got our back, and our professors are cool people who know to be gentle with us, but who will still stick it to us if we screw up. They know that it’s okay to give A’s and B’s, and we shouldn’t worry. Too much. (Hehe.)

Tonight is dinner with my host mother and her nephew, then maybe exploring a bit with some girls from my program. Nothing too extravagant—we’ve got another day of orientation in the morning.