Today was kind of boring. I woke up and filled out applications, practiced my flute for a while, then read some of Cyrano de Bergerac. I swear, that guy has panache! After that, I talked to Kayla on Skype for a long time, then met up with Alexandra for lunch. Guess what I had: two crepes! Yup: oeuf/fromage (egg/cheese) and then nutella for dessert. They were delicious. There's this bakery near St. Michel - Notre-Dame that makes the best crepes. I love their egg/cheese ones because they make sure the egg gets cooked completely so the crepe isn't runny, like my nose. And about that, my stuffiness is almost completely gone, so my new and improved French accent is back to the way it was before again. I need to figure out how to talk like I'm sick all the time. Then, I'll sound French.
The way I see it, French people talk inside their mouths and noses a lot more, whereas in English, we use our lips and teeth to create the majority of the sound. The way their sentences are structured too, there's a lot more that's internal, since they put objects before the verb. You don't say "I gave it to him" in French. You say "Je le lui ai donné" - the him and the it come before gave. When you examine that, it's not as surprising that French professors care just as much about "les plans" or "the outlines" as what you write in your paper.
Overall, though, it was a pretty boring day. It's still relatively early, so I'm going to get ready for bed and sit comfortably and read more of Cyrano. Hopefully, I'll finish that soon. Tomorrow will be a great day, though. Monday's always are. But tomorrow especially - I'll get to take my favorite l'ENS walk twice! The first time to go to my class, and the second to go to a George Steiner lecture. I just looked him up on Wikipedia, and I think he's my new hero: comparative literature expert, translator (he speaks four languages fluently), mathematician, physicist, philosopher, professor, novelist, journalist, and more. According to my friend, he can also fly. It wouldn't surprise me. Anyway, I'm curious to see what language he will lecture in and if what he says is beyond my scope of comprehension. It's just a shame that I won't be able to see his lecture on Wednesday because of my history class. At least I'll be able to see him again on Friday. Lu (my new Chinese friend) can fill me in on what I missed.
A demain!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment