L'apprentisage

My "sisters" off to school tomorrow!  Sixtine (left) and Brune (right)

Learning (or "apprenticeship")~ Today I learned how to write an essay.   I also learned how a teacher interacts with his or her students, how grading works, and how to sign up for classes.  My time right now is a bizarre mix of first grade, seventh grade, and freshman year of college.  But such turmoil can be a beautiful aid in reuniting with one's childlike curiosity.  Instead of telling me I am Hermoine here, my friends say I am Shirley Temple.  Although I wouldn't say that either character is a perfect allegory, the contrast in metaphor is striking.  Each day is an adventure, each new word like a spoonful of chocolate mousse, and in language and action, I mimic my environment like my "little sister," Brune (3 years old).  Clandestinely watching a group of French girls about my age, I alter my scarf slightly; I order at a boulangerie (bakery) using the same phrase as the woman in front of me; and I stare at my teacher in awe, hoping that someday I will master the lilting, songlike, perfect beauty of this language I love.
      The French education system is, of course, relatively different from that in the United States.  It is (more so historically, but currently as well) based on the concept articulated by a professor at Rennes II (my university): "On ne valorise pas la réussite- on stygmatise l'échec."  Essentially, "a teacher does not value success but instead devalues errors."  It is a system of elimination, meant to reward the persistent ones, the bright ones, the ambitious ones, with merely a degree at the end.  A university degree is rarer than one would think given that university here is almost entirely free.  Those who do not have the persistence, the intellect, or the ambition of their university-bound classmates can obtain an earlier degree resembling a technical degree in the united states, but offered in high school.  As such, teachers in France are essentially "professors."  They are not there to encourage their students but to correct them.  They "profess" their knowledge (obviously much greater than the students') in the classroom, and we, France's students, listen.  We are "apprentices," if you may, to whatever intellectual realm a professor may represent.  I find the system intriguing, and I am working on my "apprentisage" in every day life as well here in Rennes.

My other "sister," (the oldest) Alix!

     The rentrée (first day of school, work, etc...but not for the university) is tomorrow!  My three "younger sisters" are going to pre-kindergarden (l'école maternelle) and elementary school (l'école elementaire), and they to will begin their apprenticeship for the year.  The rentrée should be another sunny day, which is unusual for Rennes, but with my small sample of days, I would find it common.  I am impatient to begin university classes, but our pre-program is an apprenticeship itself, reviewing language and learning cultural necessities that will render us more like pre-teens than five-year-olds when we are tossed to the wind of French university life.   

study spot...

Ratatouille and pasta...from the cafeteria     

     Our little tastes of this life, though, have been lovely:  a run at the university track, four course meals at the R.U. (Restaurant Universitaire), and a bit of study time at the "parc du thambor," the largest and most beautiful park in the city.  I think I might just love this apprenticeship- that of words, whims, and where to find pure pleasure in oneself.  À bientôt!