Get my learn on

I have met some really great people here. They are interesting. I enjoy spending time with them. I could not ask for a better group of colleagues. The problem is that, aside from a Spanish girl (who speaks PERFECT English), we are all native English speakers. I have broken French conversations with Jay. My end of the conversations with Maryse are usually little more than me nodding and saying yes and okay. And at school the parlering French is limited to the students saying “Miss, what’s English for…” Then I answer. SO, in order to improve my French, I had two options-find French friends and start hanging out with them, or take a French class at the university. I like my English speaking friends too much to stop hanging out with them (not to mention, how does one even make French friends?), so I opted for the French class, which started this week.
I apparently have learned nothing about French people in my 4 ½ months here. I showed up to class 10 minutes early. The teacher showed up to class 10 minutes late.
In the interest of not supporting European stereotypes, I hesitate to even write this next sentence. But for the importance of providing my faithful readers with the most accurate description possible, I’ll say it anyway. There were several armpits in the room that had obviously never felt a stick of deodorant glide over them.
The class is an interesting mix of nationalities. I was the only American. There’s one other English speaker in the class, from Wales. Otherwise there are several Germans, a few Turks, a Pakistani, an Egyptian, a couple Spaniards, a couple Japanese guys, one Chinese girl, a Polish girl…and that’s all I remember.
I have my second class tonight. I am kind of looking forward to it. Class is 2½ hours long, but last time it went by quickly. We did have a 10 minute break. Almost everyone returned from break smelling of cigarettes, coffee, or clementines.