Oh-la-la! Today was Class #1.

I set out to arrive early for the first day of class, only to find some changes on the premises that slowed me down. They moved the entrance to a different door, and the personal human greeters with iPads have been replaced with one large screen mounted on the wall, listing classes, professors, and room numbers. Alas, the digital board only showed the morning classes, and I am enrolled in an afternoon class. On y va!

This meant waiting in line, and there was only person behind the desk. Quite a few of us weren’t in the system, didn’t receive emails from our profs, etc. So, I stood there and watched as all my extra time dwindled away. Yep, I was going to be late for my first class, just like I was a year ago. Merde!

I entered my class, and was met with a wonderfully kind professor. I wasn’t really that late – they were still on introductions — but there are only four of us in the class, so basically when I walked in, it was my turn to present myself. (Again, shades of last year!)

A lot of books, tapes, courses, and apps out there will tell you that you can learn French in 30 days, blah, blah, blah. They’re lying. They’re lying so bad! First of all, there is NOTHING linear about learning a new language. Add to that all the components – reading, writing, listening, speaking – idiomatic expressions, slang – and you wonder how anyone becomes fluent.

Once more, I am the only American citizen in my class. And again, there is a nun in my class. She’s from India. Two other gentlemen are from Spain and Saudi Arabia, respectively.

After I introduced myself and explained I’d been at Alliance Française last year for 5 months, and was here for only a month this time. The professor then asked me if I’d lived in Paris before? I thought maybe I didn’t speak clearly, so I politely reiterated, yes, last year, but she said, no, I mean before that. You’ve lived here before, right? No, I said. I wondered if I looked familiar to her or something. I was confused. She said it’s just that you have no American accent, and you have wonderful French pronunciation, I thought for sure you lived here before.

Welcome to Cloud 9. Enjoy your stay. It won’t last, so enjoy every minute of it!

If you followed me last year, you’ve no doubt noticed the non-linear pattern of learning French. Yes, that was an insanely wonderful compliment from my new Alliance Française (!) professor, right? Hold that thought.

Class continued, and since there are only four students, it was a very active class. We did more reading, speaking, learning, pronunciation than I thought possible in 3+ hours. Learning French properly, with a French accent is what this class is about. Intonation, expression, the melody, the rhythm, the phrasing. It’s beautiful, and I love the class. It wasn’t offered last year; it’s new. I think of it as Les gymnastiques de la bouche because speaking French really requires a lot of mouth movement to achieve all the right sounds.

Again, like last year, the students in class are living in Paris, and have been here for quite awhile. They’re all excellent in understanding, and expressing themselves, but have strong accents from their native countries. The one gentleman has a tremendous amount of difficulty with pronunciation, which as you all know along with reading is my strongest suit. I could tell he was a little self-conscious because at break he made sure to tell me he was an English Linguistics professor and had gone to Harvard.

Noted.

So after class, I went into the hall to throw away my coffee cup, and noticed a woman standing there looking at me. Oh my goodness! It was one of my professors from last spring, and she remembered me! Beatrice! I loved her! It was so nice to see her. My heart swelled if you couldn’t tell by the exclamation marks. I would have hugged her, but they don’t really do that here. I was fatigued from the class exercises, but guess what? Beatrice wanted to talk. In French. Only ever in French. (I’m surprised she didn’t pull out a pop quiz for me.) She and I walked together, and I tried to find the words to engage in a nice conversation, but I admit I struggled. (Refer to non-linear learning.) I just wanted to go home and quietly review my notes and study. We were into the grammar, tenses (including Subjonctive on day 1, really?) as well as intonation, and I could summon none of them at the moment. Beatrice didn’t care. She wasn’t going to let me off the hook and knew it down to the core of my being. She knew I knew. We walked along, and she said, Ah, we can can do this on Wednesdays and Fridays – when I have class, since my class ends at the same time as yours. Yes, of course we can, Beatrice. And I know she’ll be looking for me. I do love her.

I have to laugh. This is what I want, right? Isn’t that what I wrote in my blog just yesterday? I’m doing what I want? Je fais ce que je veux.

I’m home now, having stopped at my favorite boulangerie to buy a baguette, which I haven’t taken a bite out of yet.

I’m so happy to be back at AF. I love the school and the people. Yes, I am sad for some of the changes. For example, there is no longer a restaurant. It’s gone to machines. I was stunned. I miss the camaraderie. It’s where I met so many friends and we all used to stand in line together to have our individual exchange with the one guy à la caisse who never missed a day. He waited on all of us with patience – all of us with different accents from all over the world, and different abilities in French.

I used one of the machines to order up a nice hot cocoa. I think it was .65, and it was delicious, but no greeting came with it. I’d honestly rather pay the 1.10 euros and have the exchange. My new prof, Fabienne, agreed with me, and we both lamented the changes that apparently came with the new administration.

Ok, I think I took only one photo today. And I have to decipher my notes and figure out what my homework is. There’s a lot of it, as usual, and this is a semi-intensive course. There’s no slacking here. Ever. And I love it. Doesn’t everyone get this excited diagramming sentences?

À toute a l’heure!

P.S. I’m on the third floor again, which some of you know really means the 6th floor (if not higher) in that building.