Je Comprends!

I am on the tail end of my cold. Luckily my host family carries Sudafed, a drug I recognize. Whoa. So that helped, along with a home remedy of warm milk and honey recommended to me by my host sister Julia. My nose kind of looks gross, but other than that I'm feeling like I can actually leave the apartment.

I've also had two successful French conversations. The first happened while attempting to cash a check at LCL, a common European bank. I was told that because my bank did not exist in France I would have to set up a bank account needing my passport and a proof of residence. I was able to explain that I was an American student living in France just until the end of May. Not until I left the bank did I realize that I did not have to ask this man to repeat anything he said nor did he look at me like I was a complete moron.

My second successful conversation happened at dinner tonight. Julia made pasta for the two of us and we got to chatting about our families and the difference between our universities. I found out that in Germany, one only needs nine general education classes in order to complete their degree and I discovered that her family went to Russia and stayed from the time Catherine the Great took power until the two World Wars. I forgot exactly which one she said. I also came to realize that I didn't have to ask her to repeat herself and she didn't have to speak any English for me to understand what she was saying. I did have to search for words occasionally, but the only English I spoke was to tell her one of my classes was called "Contemporary Indian Society."

All this being said, I'm counting two huge dashes in the victories column.

Also, I may or may not have corrupted a Japanese guy by introducing him to Avenue Q after studying for our exam on Wednesday. We'll see how this pans out in the following weeks. In other unrelated news, I bought tickets to see professional productions of A Comedy of Errors and La Vraie Fiancee at Theatre de la Croix-Rousse.