First Day

Today was the first day of class. Not really class, more like an orientation session. We took a short tour of the city, I took a few pictures. I met people from all over the world, and couldn't necessarily rely on English. It's amusing, though. Today I was talking to a group of girls from Australia, Belgium, Korea and Japan, and French was our lingua franca. After all, French was the original lingua franca before English rose to prominence. Lingua franca. Get it?

Anyway, I'm kind of proud of myself today. I found my way around the city to the post office to mail in my little immigration/visa thing and I asked for an envelope and a stamp. Yay! I went to the tourism office and asked for a map of the city. Yay!

We took oral tests today. I performed better than I actually speak because the questions they asked were basic ones. I can talk about basics: talk about my family, what I studied in school, a vacation I went on. But if I have a real time conversation with someone about more complicated stuff . . . (i.e. with my host mother) it's a different story. I mean, it's fine. I understand her and she understands me, but I still struggle and make lots of mistakes. I'll find out what level I've been placed in tomorrow.

Okay, jet lag is starting to catch up with me, so here a just a few pics I took today. Enjoy!

(This is the same building in the pic in my blog's header. Hotel de Ville, or City Hall of Tours)