Dear Summer 2010

Bonjour l'été 2010,

School starts in eight days. I didn't get much of anything accomplished that I had set out to accomplish this summer. I spent time with friends but not enough. I got a piano but no stand (still!) and thus never finished learning a song. I didn't practice sight reading for choir. I never finished reading Wuthering Heights (I got bored after Cathy died...) or bought a second pair of jeans. Although to be fair, the jeans one will be cured in a few weeks. I don't have an awesome tan, and will yet again stand out like a sore thumb next to all the rich students at my school who spent their summers abroad or just vacationing in the states. I never got in shape, although I am going to work out today. I didn't find my job, but I am still filling out applications and turning them in. I didn't stick to my idea of being a choir director, but I'm not sure I want to risk not finding a job if I become a French teacher.

Thinking about all of this a few weeks ago, I was mildly disappointed in myself, but then I stopped to think of everything I did do this summer. I came to terms with quitting Synchronized Swimming. I improved my relationship with my parents. I discovered that Eminem actually has a song I like. I got to know my awesome friend, Kayla, better. I finally saw (and cried while watching) The Notebook, and P.S. I Love You. I got my license. I helped make my Renaissance Festival costume. I got in touch with an old friend of mine that I hadn't spent time with in years. I stayed in touch with a friend I've known since my early years in elementary school. I found a man who makes me feel beautiful, and as amazing as I think he is! I never gave up on getting a job, even though nothing has turned up yet. I learned how to cook French Toast and mini cinnamon rolls. I rediscovered my inner artist and discovered that I LOVE to paint. I managed to keep brushing up on my French, even though I've had no one all summer telling me to do so; I did it because I love the language. I've decided that I want to study in Québec, for sure ,100%. And, perhaps most important of all, I've worked to pursue my dream of studying in Québec. I've researched tons and I know I want to be in the Montréal area, and I have my first choice for a university already picked out. I know all of the legal processes I'm going to have to deal with when I do study abroad (Passport, Letter of Acceptance from a University, CAQ, Study Permit, but I don't need a temp resident visa). I've set goals for the coming school year (4.0 GPA, baby!) and you can be damn sure I'm going to do my best to accomplish them, even at the cost of my social life. I'm going to audition for every theatre performance this year because I'm *going* to get some sort of role this year. When I don' make it, I'll tech like last spring. I'm finally going to join Speech like I've always wanted. And, I'm going to join Spirit Players!

Yeah, I'd say summer 2010 has been a productive one. Much more than summer 2009, that was filled with endless partying and unfinished summer assignments. Now to go finish my summer assignments for *this* summer...

À l'année prochaine,

Mlle Delphine

Update: Studying in Québec

Bonjour mes amis!

I've already made it quite known on my blog that I really want to go to Québec for college (here was me excitedly talking about it if you missed that post) so this is sort of a little update as to how things are going.

The more and more I think about it, the more and more I find myself wondering: If I want to study music so badly, why did I completely drop it this summer like every other academic activity I dislike, yet continue brushing up on my French? I'm still not 100% positive where I want to go with that, but I'm really leaning more towards French. Even though I've been ridiculously lazy with incorporating French into my posts this past month (and a half..) or so, I have been doing other things related. I love French music! And I've been chatting online with people in French, and I've even taught my parents quite a bit of French. We'll see where things go, I have plenty of time yet.

However, I'm not quite so open with my family about how excited I am to go to Québec because I got a pretty negative response from my mother when I brought it up one evening. She's kept it in mind though, and I think the longer she dwells on the matter, the more she's starting to come around. When my aunt was over, she mentioned right away that I was thinking about Canada. She also must have brought it up at work, because today she said one of her co-workers recommended looking into a Canadian college (in Ontario, but the thought was still appreciated!) and instead of just ignoring it, she passed the message along. And then we were talking about the ACT versus the SAT (as most students here just take the ACT, but she wanted me to take both) when she asked me to see about the colleges I had been looking at. Which she of course knows, are in Québec. Mind you, I haven't brought this up to my father yet. I'm nervous about that because it will either be really easy and he'll be great, or he'll be very upset and will disapprove.

As for actual colleges go, my first choice all around is McGill University in Montreal. It's world renowned for being a great international school and it's made it into the world's top 25 university lists multiple times (the only Canadian school to do so!) among Harvard and Yale. It also offers courses that are in French but designed for students who've only learned it as a second language, along with English courses and whatnot. Very versatile. My other two universities I've looked at would only be if I indeed decide to pursue French as my major, which are UQAM (Université du Québec à Montréal) and the University of Montréal. My concern with these two is that while they are excellent schools, the classes are only taught in French, with little no help for English speakers. You also have to pass a test to prove that you are proficient enough in French to go to these schools at all. It's a little daunting, but either way I'll probably try. After all, my French comprehension is very high- it's just lacking more when it comes to writing and especially speaking. But I could stumble through a conversation. Let us hope I get to take French at the local University next year, or I'll never make it.

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