From Test-Taking Nerves to Mountain-Top Vistas

10 September 2012

Today was the day that all of us were fearing...placement exams at the University (CUEF, we call it. Centre Universitaire pour les Etudes Françaises). After a poor night's sleep of tossing and turning and praying that my six years of studying French would pay off, I entered the auditorium where we took the written portion of the exam with as much confidence that I could muster. The test was placed in front of me, and I flipped through it and became much more confident, telling myself "I can do this, this is French! This is my baby, my dream!" and before I knew it, I was flying through the test, answering questions left and right, feeling almost as smart as an actual French person taking this test! After finishing the test as soon as they called for pens to be put down (these French don't play games, you don't get much time to finish a test, you just shut up and write until your hand hurts. Then either switch, or keep writing faster on the tear-stained paper.), I felt very confident that I did well. But the time to relax was still far in the distance, because now it was time for the oral exam. It's amazing how one can get so nervous about an oral exam that involves speaking with a professor in French, that you almost forget that you're in France and everyone around you is speaking French. Calm down, American, and just talk to them! So when a professor came in looking for his next victim, I was summoned over, and I did just that. I talked to him, plain and simple. I said hello, told him my name, my school history, what I've studied, why I'm in France, how happy I am to be here, I told him about my host family, told him about my friends...and before I knew it, it was over. And he looked up from his papers, smiled at me, and said "Quand je parle avec vous, c'est comme si je parle avec un autre français." Which means, "When I speak with you, it's as if I am speaking with another French person." And as if this wasn't already the best thing I heard in my life, he said that I would most likely be placed in the level B2.4, the highest French level for a foreign student studying French. We'll see what level am I placed in tomorrow, but until then, I am going to seize this moment and be the happiest little American student to step foot in France! You hear that, everyone? I AM French person. Well, almost...

After hearing the fantastic news and calming down so much to the point where I was almost sedated, our group went on a little tour up Les Bulles and up to the Chartreuses mountains. I thought nothing could be more beautiful than seeing the mountain from the city...I was wrong. The most beautiful thing I've ever seen is seeing the city from on top of the mountain. It was absolutely, positively, 100% without-a-doubt amazing. When I was in those mountains, feeling the wind dance around me, looking down at the city and around at all of the other mountain peaks, it all felt so right. Everyday I find something new that makes me even that much more happy that I came here to study in Grenoble. I'm not going to lie, I was very tempted to put on a plaid shirt, buy an ax, and retreat into the gorgeous mountains and live the rest of my life as a lumberjack! =P But since that would be absolutely ridiculous, I settled for enjoying the view and blowing bubbles into the mountainous wind!

Looking down on the rooftops from Les Bulles

Watching the other Bulles come down as we go up!

Just me on top of a mountain, no big deal.

We also hiked a little further up the mountain and explored through some of the caves they had up there. That was an amazing experience as well. I could feel and hear the mountain breeze whistling through the caverns! All of us joked about having a Halloween costume party up in the caves come October...but we'll see soon enough whether or not we were truly kidding!