Will you be my neighbor?

After a month and a half of living in my apartment building, I figured it was time to meet the neighbors.  So last night between 6:00 and 10:00, a girl on my floor was hosting a small dinner party and along with my friends Abby and Hannah, we ventured to the gathering a bit nervous with a baguette in hand.


Upon entering the dinner, we were pleasantly greeted by everyone.  The only awkward part being do we shake hands or do the traditional French kiss on either cheek?  We went for the latter and in retrospect it was a good decision.  Most of the people at the dinner party were students like us, some younger, some older, and from all different areas of France.  It was a wonderful atmosphere and great to get to know some of the people living in our building for the first time.  

My apartment on Boulevard Brune

Some people seemed to be particularly curious about the United States, especially one young French guy who had never been to the US....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tK6nNOWBPs4

He kept referencing this video which at the time I had no idea what he was referring to so I had to look it up when I got home.  "Do your parents own guns?  Will you own a gun?"  My friend Hannah and I were questioned about every possible American stereotype for at least an hour last night, but hopefully we were able to set him straight on somethings about the US.

We met a 23 year-old girl named Charlotte from Marseille who invited us to a language club called "Franglish" on Thursday that has quite an exciting concept.  For a 10 euro entry fee you can do what she called "language speed dating" where you speak to a French person for 7 minutes in French and then they speak 7 minutes in English with you.

Franglish

My friend Hannah and I have been trying for the past few weeks to get into a similar language club offered by our study abroad program but it always seems to fill up before we can even reach the sign up board.  I feel at this point I am fairly comfortable understanding French but less confident in my own ability to hold a conversation, it is my hope that this Franglish club will help me with that.  I will let you know how it goes this Thursday!  Wish me luck because I am sure that I will need it!

Mercredi heureux!

Bisous bisous,
Mary