Orientation
Bonjour, tous le monde! Today Dad and I drove down to Bloomington for orientation for St. Brieuc. While we did get a little lost, we managed to make it there all in one piece. First was distribution of course materials, pictured here—as you can see, looks like we’re going to be kept quite busy. Then after reviewing the rules, the instructors were introduced to us. I was very impressed by the four professeurs. Rebecca, who is the Student Director and Grammar instructor as well as my small group leader, reminded me of Natalie Portman post-V for Vendetta haircut.
When the students split from the parents to do icebreakers in the foreign language, I must say I was a bit intimidated and overwhelmed. I got a better sense of just how difficult it’s going to be for me to assimilate. After lunch and info sessions in English with our small groups, I felt much better, and dare I say more excited. We got to hear from alumni as well who were quick to reassure us how incredible this experience would be for us.
I still do not know who my host family is going to be, but I should know by the end of this week, and I plan to update you all on that! Also, it is still up in the air whether I will be able to access this blog and/or have the capability to post pictures when I am in France. I may decide that it will be easier to use my one hour a week of Internet access to simply send out a mass email, so please keep an eye out for that if you see I am not updating this blog!
I also learned today that Annie, my literature teacher who is also in charge of public relations, has set up a blog that she plans to update weekly. So, if you’d like to keep up with the group as a whole in addition to my blog [or possibly emails] then feel free to visit this link: http://stbrieuc2009.blogspot.com/ Currently, the blog is privated and requires a Gmail account to view it. By emailing ashailer@indiana.edu from your Gmail account that you would like to follow the blog, Annie will grant you viewing access. It seems like a rather complicated process, and I’ll be sure to let you know if the blog is made public [doesn’t require email sign in to view, etc.]. Also, keep in mind that their blog will cover the trip more broadly, while my blog would focus more on my own personal experiences and pictures.
Thank you all for your support, and I am excited to share my adventure with you!
To wrap up, I thought I’d give a geographic visual of approximately where I’m going to be.
