I thought for this blog I`d talk about what I`ve been up to for the last week as well as the whole home stay experience, because in one of my comments someone asked what that was like. 

So… last week was actually kind of odd because we were finishing up les examens du mi-session (midterms) in some classes, getting grades back in others, and in all we were immediately talking about les examens finales (finals). I suppose that the nature of a 5 week program is such that there`s no time to really catch your breath between exams, but that`s ok. One thing that I`ve found here that is contrary to what I`ve heard about a lot of other study abroad programs is that the coursework is incredibly difficult. Not that I mean to say that the other programs abroad aren`t rigorous, just that the work here seems a lot more strenuous than what I`ve heard students talk about in classes at Penn State. One of my Canadian friends assures me that the grading scale is different here (he says an 85 is still considered an A in Canadian universities) so if that is the case it makes sense why the courses are so tough. My grammar examen was literally a story with all the verbs lifted out that I had to fill in, which doesn`t sound so bad, except that it was 60 verbs and any of the tenses and moods were fair game. It was definitely the most difficult examen de grammaire (grammar exam) that I have ever had- in the grammar classes at Penn State we were tested on all the verbs but separately, never where we had to pick among all of them for each blank.

I think that this method of testing is better, though. It was definitely un d�fi (a challenge) but it also made me think a lot harder about what I was writing, and I feel like I have a better understanding of everything now.

This weekend I spent some time with friends from class and from the CIC program. There is a fairly large Brazilian population here in Qu�bec and one of the women in my class had a f�te (party) and I went with some friends, thinking nothing of it at first. When I got there, I realized that our only language in common was fran�ais (I still don`t know how this fact hadn`t occurred to me prior to going), so it was une soir�e francophone (a french-speaking evening). It was cool, though, to have another reason to use mon fran�ais outside of the classroom in a social setting. It made the language seem more useful and less textbook. Even though I`m surrounded by people speaking it every day, and even though I use it outside of the classroom every day, it`s still different to use it in a party setting… I can`t really explain it other than to say that it makes it feel more real. 

Last night, Universit� Laval had a croisi�re fluviale (river cruise) to celebrate the last week of class. C`�tait une soir�e tr�s chic, et tout le monde �tait sur son trente-six… It was a very fancy soir�e and everyone was on their thirty-six (haha… I know that doesn`t make any bit of sense in English, but it`s a Qu�b�cois expression that means everyone was all dolled up and looking sharp). It was an amazingly fun time and it felt good to relax and dance and everything with everyone else in the program here- there are about 500-600 students in the French immersion program here this summer and I would say probably half of them were on the croisi�re. 

It wasn’t the best weather for the cruise, but we all had the chance to take photos of the Ch�teau-Frontenac, which was as always beautiful. 

For my atelier obligatoire (mandatory workshop) this week, we went exploring another quartier (neighborhood) of Qu�bec. We got to see some of the oldest streets of Qu�bec, including the Place Royale, where Notre-Dame des Victoires is located, as well as a bust of Louis XIV. Le Roi Soleil (Louis XIV) is oddly not looking towards La Nouvelle France, but rather towards the ocean… because he apparently wanted to be facing towards France at all times, even in his non-living representations. Notre-Dame des Victoires (Our Lady of the Victories) is a fairly nondescript church, but other than being really old and historic, it has another claim to fame: It was featured not too long ago in the film starring Leo DiCaprio Attrape-moi si tu peux (Catch Me If You Can). 

Now, about my homestay… I live with my host mom and three other students who are from the States as well, but not in the same program. My host mom`s name is Lise and I`ve had a really great experience living here in her home. Her sous-sol (basement) is set up like an apartment and she rents out the rooms to students during the school year, but in the summer she works with the university and takes only students who are in the French immersion program at Laval. I actually live on the rez-de-chaus�e (ground floor), whereas the three boys live in the basement. 

All four of us chose to take d�jeuner (breakfast) and souper (dinner) with Lise (when you get accepted into the program you have the option of taking both, one or no meals with the homestay family), so we all eat together twice every day (except when one of us has something going on, or sleeps through the breakfast alarm on Sunday morning… oops). I`m really glad I chose that because it`s more time every day that I spend speaking French, and it`s a good way to practice with other students as well as a native francophone (French speaker). Lise worked for a travel agency for a long time so her English is pretty good, which helps when there are words here and there that we don`t know. I would still say that 95% of the meals are in French, though. 

I got really lucky for my homestay because Lise isn`t just doing it for the extra money- it`s very evident that she takes on anglophone (English speaking) students every summer because she feels strongly about preserving the French language in North America, something that is becoming more and more of a struggle with each new generation who gets more exposure to English. Another chanseux (lucky) aspect is the proximity to the campus- I have to walk maybe 10 minutes to get to my classes, which is about what I have at Penn State. Most people in homestays don`t even live close enough that they can walk, but the bus system here is excellent so it`s still not too much of a problem. 

Well that is enough studying procrastination, it`s high time I start to �tudier (study), malheureusement (unfortunately).

� la prochaine fois! (Until next time)

Bisous!