First Day of School

HOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLY CRAP! This is going to be a longg entry. I am SO confused and just overwhelmed by everything. My school is huge, there are 6 floors, at least, and I'm at the top for almost all of them... more on that later, though.

Yesterday, I had that meeting with one of the guys at the school and my host mother. He printed out a sheet of all the classes they offered at the times during the week. Holyy crap was that confusing to look at! They have A weeks and B weeks, which alternate every other week, and they go from EIGHT TO SIX every day except Saturday and Wednesday. My classes don't always take me that late though. Right now I'm at home for my break from 1-4. Anyway, he looked at my transcript from South High and then signed me up for things I'd taken before, including LATIN and THEATRE! OHH GOD. NOT EXCITING. I really SUCKKK terribly at Latin, and learning it in French is going to set me back even further. Then theatre, oh jeez. I tried that class last year, and it was fun because I knew a lot of people in it and everything, but I am really lacking in the acting department. It should be a good way to meet new people and develop my French skills though. I'm really nervous about having to be in a production and having to say a lot of lines IN FRENCH considering I've got a terribly heavy accent. Some people have trouble understanding me as it is, and then I get embarrassed. ha ha. We can make this work, though. Even if I embarrass myself completely, I only have to live it down for 6 months. Then I can put it all behind me and move on! Haha! Anyway, each day I have a different schedule, which makes this even more difficult. And to all of you who told me that I wouldn't change classes, you told me wrong! In this school, at least, each class is in a different room. I stay with approximately the same kids, though, so they were pretty helpful.

My weekly schedule is as follows:
MONDAY: Theatre - 12:00 and that is all i know. I don't understand which of the rest of the classes I'm taking that day, but I THINKKKK it may go: Anglais LV1 - 1:30; TPSVT or TPSPC (no idea what those are) at 2:30; Anglais LV1 (again) - 4:00; Français - 5:00.
TUESDAY: no clue. Possibly Latin - 8:00, Français - 9:00, Histoire & Geograph. - 10:00, Français - 12:00, LUNCH - 1:00 and I dunno about the afternoon.. it's really confusing.
WEDNESDAY: Maths Informathique - 9:00 Theatre - 10:00; and that's it. Not a very long day, but that will NOT be a good one. Math is superrrrrrrrrrrr hard. I have no idea what the hell is going on in that class right now and my teacher seems kind of mean. To make things worse, I don't sit by anyone and I'm right in the front! I'm not sure if I have to sit in the same spot every day, though, so maybe next time I have math i can copy someone else's stuff. And I only have maths twice a week, which is SUPER nice.
THURSDAY (today!): Histoire & Geograph. - 8:00; Français - 10:00; Maths Informathique - 11:00, Anglais Complementaire - 12:00, Lunch at 1 followed by a break, so I just return to school for Français from 4 to 6 on B weeks; on A weeks I'm done with school altogether at 1.
FRIDAY: Latin- 8:00, Français-9:00, BREAK - 10.00, Anglais LV1- 11:00, Lunch at 12 til 3, when I have more Anglais and then I'm done at 4.
SATURDAY: I might have "Devoirs" from 8 til 10, but I don't know. And don't ask what that is, because all they can tell me is "tests" soooo, yeah. It doesn't sound like a great Saturday morning activity, though.

Yesterday after the meeting with the schedule guy, my host mom and I went home and got Pierre Alexandre for his physical therapy (i think). While he was there, my mom took me school supplies shopping! I got a few things to start out with, and if I need more, she told me she would take me again on Saturday. She even paid for all my stuff! I offered to, and was expecting to, but she insisted on paying, so that was really nice. We picked up Pierre, and then brought him home so he could get ready for Dance. Once we had dropped him off at the dance studio, my host mom and I went to her mother's house. I met my grandma and my uncle (who lives in Paris and writes plays). We talked about Obama for a while and then about me and the US. Around nine, we left to go pick up Pierre. For dinner, we had PIZZAAAA :D! I haven't had that in a while! It was really good, fresh tasting pizza, too. :)

Today, the big day; the first day of school. Surprisingly, I wasn't really nervous. I wasn't exqctly excited, either, but I had expected to be a bit more nervous seeing as how big the campus was and how hectic and confusing my schedule is and how there are multiple buildings to navigate around. I got to school a little late, which was okay, because I had to go upstairs and meet with the schedule guy again. My host mom walked up there with me and then we talked about what I was doing for the day where I would have lunch, etc. Tomorrow I guess I'm catching the bus in the morning. I dunno about lunch or the end of the day, if my mom will pick me up or not.

After a while, one of the ladies in the office took me to the building with my classes and brought me up to my first class on the 6 floor. She was really nice and explained everything to me very slowly so I could understand. She brought me into my first class, which was Histoire & Geograph. and told the teacher I was a new student from the United States. The class got really loud. Everyone was talking and some were laughing and I felt slightly uncomfortable and self conscious. I was assigned a seat in the front of the room next to some guy. He was really helpful and read through my notes and corrected them when i copied something down wrong. We were talking about Hitler and concentration camps, so most of the information, luckily, was fairly familiar to me.

My next class was Français. It was just down the hall a couple doors, so i didn't have far to walk. Most of the other students in my class were going there, too, and were very helpful. There was this one girl who came up to me on break and asked me if I knew French. When I replied "only a little," she scoffed at me and asked me why I had come here. I didn't really know how to explain it in French, so i just said "I don't know." She was really rude. I don't like her. Unfortunately I have been asked that question a lot, though. "Why did you come to France if you don't know much French?" I learned to answer it by saying, "I want to learn French." That's the best response I can come up with, but so far it's been working, i guess.

Français was a pretty basic class. We mainly just read a poem and talked about it. My teacher speaks a little English, which was helpful. She also was nice enough not to call on me. I sat next to this girl who let me copy all the notes she was taking, which I was grateful for.

Following Français was MATHS. Dun dun dunnnn. The room was all the way down on the first floor, so I had to go down a million flights of steps and then stand outside the door until the teacher came. I talked to a few students and they told me that this teacher was "strange." That kind of worried me. I hate math enough as it is, and now i've got a nutty teacher. Wonderful. When the teacher came, he questioned who I was, and when I tried to explain, he flat out said "Je ne comprend pas" which translates to "I don't understand. That was a little frustrating. Fortunately one of the students I was with explained for me and he got it this time. I didn't know where to sit, so I ended up sitting all by myself in the front row in the corner. When the lesson started, I had absolutely no idea what was going on. To make things worse, some kid (the one i sit next to in my first class) screwed off in the back and my teacher SHOUTED at him to get out! It scared me, to say the least. The kid tried to defend himself, but with no success. He ended up marching out the door and slamming it shut behind him. I'm really scared of this teacher. This class does not seem enjoyable. And did i mention i have noooooooooooooooo clue what the effing hell is going on? I don't know where the numbers are coming from or what the equasions mean or how to fill in the tables or even what kind of math i'm in (algebra, calculus, etc)! Thankfully, I turned around and asked the kid behind me for help. He couldn't explain it to me, but he allowed me to copy his work. Another plus is that I don't have that class again until next Wednesday. THANK GOD!

Finally, we get to my FAVORITE CLASS of the day(not surprisingly)-- ANGLAIS Complementaire! I was so excited to be in that class that I smiled for like the first half hour. To my dismay, the kids in my class told me that this teacher is a little strange, too. I don't care though. This is English. I'm good at English! My teacher speaks British english, and with a heavy accent. He made me introduce myself to the class and talk about my home and family and stuff. He was strange, but not a mean strange. Rather, he was just odd and kind of puts you on the spot a lot. There are only 7 kids in that class (including me). I'm not really sure what the complementaire part of the course title means, but my teacher told me this was a "special" class and I will probably get bored. I could use that though, after coming from math. The students had a test today on the phonetic sounds of words. Honestly, I think I would of failed that if he would have made me take it! I have nooo idea how the pheonetic alphabet works and the markings are all just really weird. The spoken and written stuff is pretty easy though. I think I've got a good hold on everything else. ;)

At one, class got out and I went with a girl from my class named Amelie to the front entrance. There, my host mom was waiting for me and she took me home. For lunch I had a croque monsieur and potatoes :D! Soon, at 4, I'll be going back to school for two hours of more Français. I think that pretty much covers everything. Sorry it was so long, but like I promised, I won't leave out anything of importance.

As always, I miss you and hope things are well back in the States!
-Miranda

PS- I will really start screening the things I put on here and will say nothing more about dates and will not go into detail with my social life if these emails don't stop. I'll just be blunt with you. I'm not going to let myself be "taken advantage of" and I'm not going to get involved with drugs, NOT ONLY because it would get me sent home, but also because I PLAN ON STICKING TO MY MORALS TOOOOOOO. Just because I'm not at home with youuu doesn't mean I'm going to go crazy and wild and whatnot! Alrighttt?!

PPS- AFS really likes how well I've been doing with my blog and plans on featuring it on their homepageeeeeeeeee :D

A mind once expanded by a new idea never returns to its original dimensions. -Oliver Wendell Holmes