This is my REAL first week. Last week was made of paperwork and sleeping, a dubious existence at best. I have had four of the five classes so far that I am taking this semester, the fifth being a French class on Thursday and Friday mornings. I am very excited about my classes so far, and anticipate a fun and moderately challenging semester.
I also had my first Frisbee practice with Sciences Po last night.
I had looked up the directions to the stadium where practice would be held, but felt a little unsure about looking for it alone late at night in a part of the city I’m unfamiliar with. I found the actual stadium without too much difficulty (it’s a stadium, it’s huge and lit up, hard to miss) it just took me a little while to find my way in and where I needed to go. Once I did, I found the small group claiming to be the Frisbee team. They showed me where the changing rooms were inside, and I headed in to change into my cleats, not wanting to take my shoes off in this cold. I was dismayed that we would be playing outside on the field. I guess I should have expected as much, but I have grown too accustomed to playing indoor Frisbee from mid-November until mid-March. Never had I tried outdoor in January, and I was not dressed for it. I came out in shorts and a T-shirt with my large, very feminine winter coat over it, shivering. I guess I looked very silly partnering this with a pair of cleats.
By then the whole team was assembled, and the coach introduced himself. I was not the only new member of the team, though there were very few of us in total. I was, however, the player who had been playing the longest. I say longest because this is fact, and I cannot judge for how much this attributes to my overall skill. The coach directed us to walk to another location a few blocks down so that we could watch a video on the technique. I clacked noisily down the street, still unnecessarily wearing cleats, and laughed it off with the others while we made introductions.
We only watched the video briefly, and mostly just on the different throws you can make. While I have had a considerable amount of practice in these throws, I was fascinated to learn the new terms in French. For example, Backhand is le Revers, and Forehand, or Flick, is le Coup-Droit. I realized I might have a lot of new vocabulary to learn. I was assured, however, that a lot of the same terms I know and love, like up, turnover, stack, and zone are the same. I slid pretty easily into stalling in French (un, deux, trois…) but I may have to watch myself or I’ll stall in English.
The practice went really well, despite the cold. They claimed not to be a very good team, but I think that’s a matter of perspective. They seemed fairly skilled to me, though this year will be the first time they compete in a tournament at the collegiate level with other French Universities. Sounds exciting to me, so long as it is warmer by the time March rolls around. Next week I’ll be sure to wear layers >.<
My other adventure today aside from classes and immigration paperwork: grocery shopping!
I broke one of the most important rules though.
Never shop for food when you are hungry.
Oops.
I meant only to get a sandwich, salt, and milk. Sandwich because it was past 4pm and I hadn’t eaten all day, salt because, well, I like to salt my eggs, and I needed milk for cereal. That was the bare minimum.
But I really didn’t have enough food for the week; why not get spaghetti and sauce?
I could use a few more soups.
But I also need tea.
And while I’m in this aisle hot chocolate.
What about a can of peas?
That’s an INSANE deal on ravioli.
… OMG OLIVES!!!
And I’ll snag a bag of potato chips and get the heck out of there before I get out of hand.
One last thing: why can’t I fry sandwiches right? I always seem to burn the bread juuuust too much. I will get the timing right soon, or at least I’d better; I don’t want my neighbors seeing me with the windows open, waving a frying pan around in the air to cool it off.
À Bientôt!
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