The Big Day! Starting Classes in France

I had my first day of school on September 2nd to start my study abroad program in France. It went alright, but school is a lot different than I expected. For one, my Lycée (high school) does not have lockers. It is normal for everyone to carry their books everywhere they go. Also some classes are an half an hour, an hour, or two hours so people come and leave as they please according to their classes which change every week.

The students in Carcassonne are really shy, it could be because it is my first day but I found it was a but difficult to talk to them. The teachers speak really fast. I could understand maybe about a quarter of what they were saying but it will come.  French is a difficult language to learn but if you stay motivated it will get easier.

After my classes I had lunch in the cafeteria with my host brother Jakob, another exchange student from Germany. After that the students go home because on Tuesday it is a half day. Wednesday we also have the day off school. Overall the school is very nice the teachers are very patient with me and knowing that I have to learn how to speak French. It will take some time to get used to the way things work here, but it’ll happen.