Today I finally got WIFI in my room so I feel a little more connected to home. I talked with Dave on MSN from Brussel. And then he called me on my cell through the use of SKYPE. It was really cool to talk with Dave. He seems to be having a good time in Brussels too. Here's the link to his blog: http://davearoundtheworld.blogspot.com/
I have a week off in Mid February so I think I'm meeting Dave in Marseille and then head to Monaco... we'll see.
So, I had my first class today. It's Called Prog Systems. I walked in class a little nervous not knowing what to expect over here. Sure enough the teacher walks in, hands out a paper with specs on Unix shells and says :"Code this in C++"..... 101 on how to make an exchange student bad trip. First of all I don't know anyone in class, second of all i've hardly ever touched C++ let alone integrate it on a unix console.
Luckily 1 of the students named Kevin asked me if I wanted to sit with him and do the lab together. Thank God he was there, because I was soooo lost, especialy in French. A lot of the terms are the same in English but they pronounced them in french so sometimes even though I should know what he's talking about I have no Idea what he just said... Anyways the teacher seems like a real dick and I can only hope the rest wont be like him. Total opposite Student/Teacher relation here in France, not approachable and even less willing to repeat himself.
After class Kevin asked me if I wanted to go over to Pierre's appartment and drink a bit. I couldn't say no, especially after being so nice to the new kid... besides I would get to meet some people from around here. So after super I met Kevin at the Tram station and we went down about 5 stops to Pierre's appartment. He has a really cool appartment, everything is in 1 room besides the bathroom. I had a really good night we talked and drank for about 3 hours and 2 other of their friends joined us , Manu and Antoine.
By the time we left, the trams were no longer in service so we took a bike back to the residences. The bike service is provided by the city itself, You put 1 euro in the machine and a bike unlocks itself from the rack. The only thing thats a little tricky is knowing where the closest rack is to your destination because you obviously need to return it. So we took 1 bike... haha 1 person peddled and the other sat on the seat, we alternated along the way. I couldn't help thinking :" I'm sitting on a bike in Europe with a guy I met this afternoon, I never saw this one coming"
Anyways I have a Java course tomorow morning at 8... Should be ridicuously easy.
MOM:
- Yes i'm getting used to the dialect here. There are a lot of words that they use that I'm trying to use in my vocabulary but it's hard... And people don't always understand me, I really have to slow down and try to avoid the Quebec accent although they think it's quite funny. The really weird thing here is that it seems to be a student thing to say certain words backwords.... they call it "Le Verlan" backwards for l'envers... aparently it's not only here in Lyon but throughout France. So for example when they say :" C'est chom..." they really mean "C'est Moche" which means "C'est poche" here in Quebec.
- I will try to get my address tomorow and post it on the next blog
Melissa:
keep sending some funny Jazz stories they really make my laugh
Papa:
J'ai sorti de l'argent de l'interac hier mais la machine ne m'a pas demander de quelle compte le retirer... Peut tu verifier que ca n'a pas pris du compte pour la char.
Dorval Crew:
Keep me updated on life!
Martin
3 comments:
Hi Martin,
I hope your class in Prog Systems goes better and I'm glad you met Kevin. It sounds like it was a little rough and I hope your Java course goes better. You seem to be making alot of new friends. I loved your story about the bike. It made me laugh. Alot different from getting around in a car right!! I talked to Papa about your account and he left a message with the bank but we're sure you're withdrawing from the right account. I put some money in there around the 27th. Good news about Dave. What a jet setter you'll be!! Talk to you later.
Love you,
Mom
hahahaha... that bike story actually made me laugh out loud! I have a friend from France and he told me all teachers are usually really "prétentieux" (pretencious? dunno what that is in english) and very hard to talk to because they have the biggest egos and think they are above the students. Anyhow, i hope not all your teachers are like that!
Nick started his new job telemarketing and works till 11h30 pm most of the week so i haven't seen him much, and Simon is still going to a bunch of interviews, he can't stop talking about when he'll go meet with you in Europe! As for the rest, same old...
i'll try to get some verlan translations for you! hahaha... its pretty easy though, you'll get the hang of it!
Martin,
Your story makes all of us laugh very much. About the bike, I thought you would have gone on the handle bar.
I'm checking on the car, but I'm pretty sure everything is OK.
Last night I was at the Bell center. They retired the sweater of Ken Dryden. It was very nice, then the players warmed up for 15 minutes and then they did the ice. By the time all of this was done, it was 9PM.
The Habs won 3 to 1 against Ottawa.
They played much better than against Toronto.
All is well here, very cold.
The latest news from Grand Papa is that he is thinking of moving with his girlfriend. But that is a story for another time.
Lyne is well and says hi! She looks at your blog everyday, but like me she has a hard time to log in. It is a trial and error process.
Stephanie started her new job at La Senza and seems very happy.
Hope your courses are better than the first one.
By the way, I write in English because I am clueless about where the accents are on the keyboard.
It is like an Europeen keyboard when I switch it to French.
Happy you are doing well and meeting so many people.
Papa
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