Submitted by Taurence Chisholm on the 2018 winter session program in Martinique sponsored by the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures…
This week, I learned a little bit more about myself and how I manage stressful situations. After classes, we are able to go to the beach, which we did as we’ve been trying to all stay together and when we tried to get back home the buses wouldn’t come. It was difficult enough trying to understand the bus schedule, but this time there were no buses. So we had to walk back to the University, and coordinate with some of the other host families and our TA to contact everyone who needed to be contacted. It wasn’t until later that we found out that there was a bus strike.
Aside from small hiccups in transportation, everything continues to be good. I think I’m beginning to understand Madame Limer a little better. I think that talking to her and her granddaughter, who is an adorable six year old over dinner every night is helping. Speaking of dinner, the food is great. Madame Limer has cooked us fish, chicken, lentils, turkey, salad and even made bread for us to eat. The lunch at the university is definitely better than ours.
Something that was very difficult was understanding the money, and wrapping my head around the Euro to American dollar ratio, which makes it hard to keep track of money. I still haven’t figured it out, but I think I will.
Speaking of money, somethings here are dumb expensive, but the food is definitely worth it. We traveled to a little art village type thing called Josephine’s pottery house. There, we watched a man make pottery and I got a chance to buy my baby cousins T-shirts and practice French with the locals which I had actively avoided, and still sort of do. My comprehension is getting better, but I still have trouble responding. When the woman asked me a question, I knew what she asked, but I was dumb-founded. She looked at me and asked me if I spoke French and I said “a little” and she just said “ok”. Another man, after hearing me speak French, then leering at me for a little, asked if I was Canadian. All in all, my French is definitely improving and the classes are a good supplement as we go over commonly used phrases and words everyday.
