Tu me manques

Bonjour mes amis,

It seems it's been a long while since I've done any posts truly French related or using the language, and seeing as I need to prepare for the AP test come May, I figured I should start up again. First I must apologize because I only have twenty minutes to finish this post (I'm at school) and because I don't have my dictionary with me and it's been a while since I've reviewed my grammar. I'm planning on increasing my study time after the first trimester ends so I won't have anything to get caught up on or the like.

Aujourd'hui... c'est comme ci comme ca. Pas mal. Mais j'ai un examen pour les maths, et ce n'etait pas bon. Le choeur, aussi, n'etait pas bon. Apres l'ecole aujourd'hui, j'irai a Cub pour robotiques. Nous sommes sacherie nourriture pour l'argent. Je suis desolee, mais je n'ai pas l'accents et je n'ai pas les temps! Mon francais, ce n'est pas bon mais je practiquerai plus souvent. Je n'y manquerai pas.

A demain,
Mlle Delphine

Rambling Because Life is Good

Bonjour mes amis,

As the title states, this post is me rambling. I don't have any specific topic, I just feel like writing, and I haven't in a few days since this was my first week back in school. But really? Life IS good. I'm managing my classes (Yes, even Physics! ... Thus far) pretty well and on Monday during my open period I get to go chat with my counselor to get the information I need regarding independent study for AP French Language and AP Psychology. I've also been submitting some more applications trying to find a job. Hopefully something will turn up!

Extracurriculars are going well. I'm going to be throwing together a French club as best I can this year, at the wish of Mme Hanson, the district's French teacher. Then the other four days of the week will be teching after school for the school musical. I might audition for the winter one acts or just tech again, I have plenty of time to decide though. In late winter, Speech will be starting and it's my first year doing it even though I thought it sounded like fun last year. Oh, and the information for Spirit Players should be given out at some point next week! I'll have to make a post dedicated to that activity to give you an idea of what the hell I'm talking about.

My social life is ~*amazing*~ thus far this year. I caught the attention of my dream guy over the summer and while I can't give too many details, I can tell you, he is wonderful. Also, I noticed this week during school I'm much more outgoing than I have been in the past and it's nice to see that my hard work is paying off and I'm finally breaking free from my shell. In all of my classes I have people I can chat with (well, except APUSH but all focus is on the teacher in that one) and I always run into random people in the halls I talk to, even if I don't have classes with them. Plus, while I haven't made many plans with people, I am going to go shopping with my friend after school this Friday for new clothes and to get her a dress for Homecoming. We're kinda short on money so I'm just using my dress from last year, all I need are new shoes.

Oh, and did I mention my braces are FINALLY getting fixed tomorrow at 4pm? YEAH!!!! For the past month, the wires have been out of the back two brackets and as a result have been slicing and re-slicing open my cheeks. Pain comes most when I am forced to say "Quebec" instead of "Québec" (although mental pain always accompanies that no matter what) and while doing vocal warm ups in choir.

Yeah, life is good. :)

À demain,

Mlle Delphine

Junior Year: Day One

Bonjour mes amis!

Today was my first day back in school since early June. It was mostly what I expected, to be honest, but still worth mentioning here. I got my license over the summer so it was my first time driving to school. I'm thankful my step dad warned me to go in the side way without the stop lights. He was right: there was already an accident there by time I arrived around 7:40am. School starts at 8:05. After standing in line for a half hour to get my schedule because they decided to make EVERYONE print them out individually after changing ALL of the passwords instead of just having them in the gym like previously, I went to AP U.S. History (Furthermore known as APUSH) about ten minutes late, feeling ready for the test I stayed up until midnight studying for. When I walked in, however, I was told I had open today. The class is a hybrid (Class every other day, opens when we don't have class) because there are so many students, but they never explained to us how this would work until we stumbled into class frantic about a test on the first day of the school year.

Second hour was AP Language and Composition (Furthermore known as AP Lang). We spent the whole hour listening to him give us directions explaining the summer homework.. that was due that day. Or so we thought! He extended the due date. I was kinda mad, but I just turned it in anyways instead of correcting a few mistakes- chances are he won't notice them anyways. Then he went over the syllabus we'd already signed and turned in at the end of last year. It sounds like this class won't really be covering any new material that Pre AP didn't cover. I'm a little disappointed, but we'll see how it goes.

Third hour is Team Sports, for my required gym credits. I hate gym with a bloody passion, but the teacher seems pretty nice, and to my surprise I knew one Sophomore in the class: Syd. She's a theatre buddy! I'm still trying to find a shirt to let sit in my gym locker for the next 3 months minus the occasional washing.

Fourth hour is Pre-Calculus Honors (furthermore known as Precalc). Simple stuff on the first day, but it's still a bit of a struggle because of how long it's been since we've worked on any of this slope crap. Worm is funny though, he picks on people and it's hilarious. I will probably end up spending time getting extra help before/after school. My goal for math this tri is a B+.

Fifth hour is choir. I love choir. 'Nuff said.

Sixth was open period. Not much today, I did my math homework and read a little bit. Tomorrow starts the French review.

Lastly, I had Physics Honors. Oh dear. I think I'm going to fail that class. I really hope I can get a study group together. It's not a normal college-level AP class, it's TWO YEARS of class shoved into one, and there is a high expectation for good math skills. Have I mentioned that math is my worst subject? We're starting math stuff tomorrow, and then on Monday we have our first test. Homework doesn't go towards our grades, period. I'm f'ed, that's usually what keeps me at a C or B in math class. Please, please, oh friends of Facebook, respond to my bribes of lots of home-baked goods at a study group!!

As for theatre, I've decided to just tech. While I do want to audition, Mme Hanson wants me to basically lead the French club, which I am totally enthused about, but I couldn't miss a day of practice for it every week without getting kicked out of the production. So I'll stick to being a costume/makeup/hair techie! Also, I wanted to ask Mave about Spirit Players (Acting for little kids to educate them about living a healthy life style. Think "Live Above the Influence" and that sort of thing), but I didn't see her after school. I think she leaves early or something, I'll try to find her again tomorrow.

So yeah, that's pretty much my first day. It was long... but I think this school year will be interesting. Challenging if nothing else.

Bring it on, Junior Year! (Just kidding. Please be nice.)

À demain,

Mlle Delphine

Balance

Bonjour mes amis,

Purpose. That was the word a woman once gave me to focus on. I don't know how she knew I needed a purpose, as I only saw her for a few hours out of my whole life and I never really spoke with her, but she was soooo right. That was probably one of (if not the) hardest year(s) of my life, and I still think about it pretty often today.

Success. This is my motivation, the concept of being successful. It is my reason for living and pressing on, no matter the circumstance. More for me than for other people I know, because my family is quite unsuccessful. My mother, father, and step-father are high school drop outs, my half-brother and brother are high school drop outs. My sister graduated high school, but failed out of college and has lived in her fiancé's parents' basement ever since. She has no job. I WILL make it farther than them. Let them laugh after I've gone and made myself who I want to be.

Balance. This is a new word I found today. I'm a hopeless romantic, when someone catches my eye, I get tunnel vision. Which kind of takes away from the concept of "success" and "purpose" especially with the guy I've had feelings for for a long while now, because he's one of those people you can just totally be yourself around and they always make you happy. However, no one can be happy with just one area of their life, you have to work on your work/schooling, your family life, that sort of thing. Oddly I have to thank Yahoo's horoscope for this word (and even Weird Al, since he prompted me to go check what my horoscope was).

So here's my effort to balance:

School starts on September 7th, and I have put a lot of thought into AP French and the things I need to do and work on, etc. But I need an actual plan. I'm an organized person, but I'm a lazy person, and without a plan I know things will fall apart by the second or third month of school. So you, my lucky readers, get a post filled with fluff you probably don't care about whatsoever. But if you do, feel free to comment or add suggestions!

[Week One]

9/7/10 (Tues) - Nothing. Use today to chat with people you haven't seen in ages since you're not going to after today. HW: After school, visit Mme Hanson, ask for the textbooks she mentioned.

9/8/10 (Wed) - Scan through textbooks for ideas on weekly vocab lists, begin HW. HW:Create 30 lists. Due Mon.

9/9/10 (Thurs) - Review tenses! Passé Composé (participes passés irréguliers), imparfait, conditionnel, subjuctif, futur, imperative, reflexive verbs HW:Create 30 lists. Due Mon.

9/10/10 (Fri) - Review lui/leur/en/y, conjugations of avoir, aller, etre, faire. HW:Create 30 lists. Due Mon.

[Week Two]

9/13/10 (Mon) - Go over conjugations of List 1 (present, p.c., imparfait, futur, conditionnel) & make some flash cards using them. Review other areas again based on need/time. HW: Print out 1 news article en francais (France/Quebec/Other).

9/14/10 (Tues) - Review List 1 flash cards. Spend hr in labs chatting onSharedTalk/LiveMocha. HW: LiveMocha complete lesson.

9/15/10 (Wed) - Review List 1 flash cards. Read article 1... a) WITHOUT resources b) looking up main words essential for understanding c) any other words you do not recognize. Summarize en Francais. HW:LiveMocha complete lesson

9/16/10 (Thurs) - Review List 1 flash cards. Search French About (Quebec!). HW: None.

9/17/10 (Fri) - Review List 1 flash cards. Journal 1 about your week en francais. HW: Watch a film in French you have already seen, without subtitles.

Basically each week during my open period I'm going to learn another list of vocabulary, read a news article switching off where it's from (France/Quebec/Other) each week, mix in other activities like chatting online with native French speakers in the computer lab, and end each week writing a journal using every vocab word I used. I'll be exposing myself to French music and movies as often as possible, and once I get a webcam I'll be able to practice speaking French more than just reading the paragraphs at LiveMocha to work on pronunciation.. What I do work on for actual speaking French will be at home. I'm too self conscious to do that at school.

Also, by the third week I should have my book, The Story of French, which I'll give myself a couple days each week to read it. It's in English but it should still be interesting, and hopefully I can get some French or bilingual books for Christmas since it's really only a few months into the school year. :)

Now that I'm sure you've either left my blog or fallen asleep...

À demain,

Mlle Delphine

Here's the Mail, It Never Fails. It Makes Me Want to Wag My Tail!

Bonjour mes amis,

Today I woke up to the sound of shattering glass... on my carpeted bedroom. I love my kitten. I then proceeded to clean it up, get dressed, throw on shoes and grab an umbrella to go across the street in a solid downpour to check the mail for my movie. It hadn't even come yet. It was about nine in the morning. Heh. Heheheh. *Twitch* I went to bed after two in the morning. What's wrong with me? Why can't I sleep in until noon?? Je suis malade! T.T

As for the retelling of yesterday's tale:

I ran out to grab the mail again (Er, not again since it was first? Je ne sais pas.) except this time it had come, and a letter from the College Board came! I had it opened before I made it back across the street, and guess what? I PASSED!! I get college credit for World History, assuming my college of choice in Québec accepts it. I know McGill does, and that's a definite possibility right now. I just saved myself about $1-2,000.

When my mother came home, of course she asked about it and had some things to say, and then she went through the rest of the mail. Oh look, my driver's license came finally! Sweet! It had a bad picture though and I knew it, so I hadn't really been looking for it.

"And Delphine proves her dorkiness yet again! She notices her score on a test but not that her driver's license came." Thanks Mom. Love you too.

I also started my day off with listening to a Yale professor lecture about music. It's pretty cool, I found it with StumbleUpon and it's got a ton of free lectures you can look into. I also went on iTunes and grabbed a bunch of free ones from elsewhere. There was some stuff on French, but either it was really really basic or a level or two above me, unfortunately.

As for my blog, I found Blog This! It's actually pretty neat for Google Chrome users. It gives you an icon next to the address bar that you can click and it'll open up a new window with a new post, starting with a link to the page/title and whatever text you have highlighted. I tried it out with the video I posted a few days ago (and granted, you can't highlight a video..) but I did like not having to come all the way to blogger when I felt like sharing that.

I think I'm going to wait until noon before I check the mail again.

À demain,

Mlle Delphine

AP French Language

Bonjour mes amis!

Next year will be my first year since sixth grade that I haven't studied French in school. If I leave it be, the colleges I apply to will see "French II" and "French IV." Two years of French. Most colleges look for at least two, if not three or four. I wish I could take four years of French! I'm thinking to solve this dilemma, I may independant study AP French Language. A friend of mine who graduated this year said that on his applications, they didn't even ask for scores, just how many and which AP tests he'd taken. Granted, he took like 20 something because he's a genius, but still. Even if I don't get college credit, it could still help me get into a better college!

From the looks of it, the test is challenging, but I think if I really studied and took up the offer to practice avec mon ami en français, I could probably pass it. I'm still waiting to get the letter in the mail regarding my score on the AP World History exam I took this May. It should be coming soon! A few of my friends were thinking about studying AP European History but I don't think that is going to happen, and I don't think I could handle the course load of two AP history courses on top of the challenging math and science courses I'll be in next year.

But I could keep my open period that I signed up for and just do independant study so it shows up on the transcript, and then take the AP test in May. Unfortunately, the school isn't going to pay for it since the AP French Language exam isn't offered here, so it would be the full price, around $80 or $90. Comparing those prices to the prices of a college course, however, makes them seem much nicer. Not to mention it'll be coming out of my parents' pockets, not mine!

What do you guys think? Should I add a third year of French to my transcript? I do want to go to Québec for college, and I'm going to France after I graduate. I adore the language. The passion is there.

À demain et merçi beaucoup,
Mlle Delphine