Squirty Cream?

"J'ai rendez-vous chez mon petit chouchou a Rolle"

["Ok, Tanya, sans "petit chouchou"]



-Me, proudly providing my sample sentence to the class
-My teacher, tired of me using "petit chouchou" in EVERY example, telling me I have to make up a new one

Oh what a week it's been! I started language courses on Monday so I officially made it ONE WHOLE WEEK! Woohoo! It was a bit of a surprise at first since the teacher spoke zero English--I mean, I know this is the intensive course, but I don't know an ounce of French! But by the second hour of the first class, I was so surprised to be following the teacher, and knowing the answers to her questions, regardless of the lack of language. So cool!

My classes go Monday through Friday, from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm. There are eight people in my class and I'm the only one from the States (2 Peruvians, 1 Spanish, 1 Australian, 1 British, 1 Austrian, and 1 Chinese). It's a great mix of personalities and ages--I just love it! We have two professors who are amazing and extremely patient (it's interesting because one is French and the other Swiss--and I'm beginning to notice the different French accents and pronunciations of certain words, i.e. for the number 20 [vingt], the French teacher doesn't pronounce the 'T' but the Swiss teacher does). It's funny because I never thought I would be able to use my Spanish here in Switzerland, but I find myself helping the Spanish speakers in class when they don't understand--I listen to the French, translate it to English for myself, then translate it to Spanish for my friends. I love it! It's gotten to the point where my friend Alejandra (who speaks a teensy bit of English) and my other friend Jesus (who speaks NO English), will wait for the teacher to stop speaking, then look at me and say, "Que?!" (WHAT?!). All in all, the left side of the brain feels pretty sore after leaving each day--but I love it.

After classes, a group of us usually go to coffee or lunch or just walk around the hilly shopping centers of Lausanne. It's amazing how quickly you become friends with people who are in the same boat as you! We've organized a 'night out' next Tuesday--should be fun. I've grown closest to the girl from England, named Katie, who is my age and her boyfriend works in the A-One Business center (same as Nathan) for Yahoo. She's very community-oriented like myself, and we're often the ones pushing people to come get coffee, or go out together. It's so incredible how international my friendships have become! I even notice myself saying words I would never say (mostly due to my friends from England and Australia)--such as "footpath" instead of sidewalk, "quite"--like, "that's quite right"--or, a new one I heard today was "squirty cream" instead of whipped cream. Now I don't think I'll use that one as frequently...but I still love hearing these new ways of talking, these new cultural insights...and making fun of my dear friends when they say them (don't get me wrong, they try to imitate my accent and it's frightening--I hope I don't sound like that!).


Here are some photos of the area I go to school. It's in an area called Le Flon which is a new, "posh" area with night clubs, restaurants, and ice rink, cinema, etc. I love walking to school each day and passing through this vibrant area (even during the day, there is a lot of foot traffic)!