cararolime

[cararolime]

19 novembre 2023

It’s been a month. Oops.

Anyway, quick semester update. This past week was probably my busiest yet. Sunday evening I went to a concert by myself. It was an orchestra playing different themes from Zelda and it was amazing!! Tuesday night I went to the opera with a friend and saw Beatrice et Benedict. It was a bit hard to follow along but they had subtitles for the singing so it got it well enough to. We sat in the 3rd and highest balcony and had to bend our backs in order to fully see the stage. But, for 12 euros I can’t really complain much. The next day, Wednesday, was a cultural festival. I went with the same friend, but we were both pretty exhausted so we didn’t stay long. And finally, my friends and I went to Paris for the weekend!! We saw the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, and the musée d’Orsay. I also was able to see a friend who is studying abroad in Scotland since he happened to also be in Paris for the weekend. It poured all day on Saturday but i didn’t mind, I was just happy to be there with my friends.

Anyway, I have a quiz tomorrow on the passe compose, so that is the main subject of tonight’s post. Yay!!!!

So the passe compose, or the past tense, is pretty simple. Take your pronoun (je, tu, nous, etc.), + the matching conjugation of Avoir or Être (“l’auxiliaire”) + the participe passe of the verb you’re using. For example…

Manger - to eat

J’ai mangé

Tu as mangé

Il/elle a mangé

Nous avons mangé

Vous avez mangé

Ils/elles ont mangé

Make sense? Well here’s where it gets a little tricky. There are around 14 verbs that use l’auxiliaire être instead of avoir. I haven’t really found a trick to remembering them, you just have to memorise it. Those verbs are monter, descendre, sortir, passer, naître, mourir, aller, venir, retourner, tomber, rester, entrer, partir, and arriver. Also, pronominal verbs also use etre! So for example…

Rester - to stay

Je suis resté

Tu es resté

Il resté

Elle restée

Nous sommes restés

Vous êtes restés

Ils sont restés

Elles sont restés

Se promener - to walk

Je me suis promené

Tu t’es promené

Il s’est promené

Elle s’est promenée

Nous nous sommes promenés

Vous vous êtes promenés

Ils se sont promenés

Elles se sont promenées

Do you notice something a little different with the participe passe with the être verbs? That’s right, être verbs change their endings slightly! Add an extra e at the end if you are talking about a girl or a group of girls (elle, elles), and add an s if you’re talking about more than one person (nous, vous, ils/elles). But remember: this rule is only for être verbs!!

Ok, got all that? Well here’s where it gets a little trickier: 6 of those 14 verbs i mentioned earlier actually do use avoir sometimes, but only under certain circumstances. The verbs monter, descendre, entrer, sortir, passer, and retourner use l’auxiliaire of etre when you’re talking about a place (ex. Using words like sur, par, de, dans, au/a la, en, etc.), and l’auxiliaire of avoir when you’re talking about something direct (words like le, la, les, mon, un, une, des, etc.). I know it sounds a bit complicated, but i promise that’s about the worst it gets.

Finally, I’d like to mention really quick how to make a negative. In the present tense, the negative is formed by putting “ne” in front of the verb, and “pas” directly after. In the passe compose, the ne…pas goes around l’auxiliaire. For example…

- Je n’ai pas mangé

- elle n’est pas allée

- nous ne nous sommes pas promenés (notice how with a pronominal verb the ne…pas sandwiches BOTH words)

And there you have it!!

One final word - since these are very common verbs, I would like to share the past participle of them.

avoir -> eu

Ex. J’ai eu un café

Être -> été

Ex. Elle a été invitée

(Yes, the past tense of avoir and être both use l’auxiliaire of avoir).

It’s very late and I am exhausted from my trip, so I will leave it at this tonight. If anyone reading this has any questions, please feel free to ask!! Also, if anyone notices any mistakes, please let me know!! The French parts of this blog are really just for me to learn. Next week (if I remember) I will make a post about the imperfect tense. It’s pretty simple, but for me it’s hard to know when to use it instead of the passe compose, since English doesn’t really have an imperfect tense. Anyway, that’s for another time.

Bonne nuit!!

[cararolime]

15 octobre 2023

Bonjour!!

Sorry there was no post last week, there wasn’t much to say and I was feeling lazy lol. Anyway.

Yesterday I went to Finistère sud and it was so beautiful! I was really cool seeing the Atlantic Ocean from the other side, and all the little towns were so pretty! Also you know I had to buy a bowl with my name on it in Quimper. I tried to find one for my sister as well so we could match but alas, her name is too american :/

Speaking of my sister, she’s asked me some questions about French so since I have nothing better to write about, lets talk about verbs!! *collective groaning* (jk) (but actually)

So the basics of French verbs in the present tense are actually pretty simple, but before I talk about that I have to give a short lesson about pronouns. These are the basic pronouns you will encounter when starting French:

Je (I) - (important info: if the verb following ‘je’ starts with a vowel or the letter h, drop the e and replace it with an apostrophe. Example below.)

Tu (You [informal])

Il/Elle (He/She)

Nous (We)

Vous (You [formal])

Ils/Elles (They) - (important info: if the group is a mix of boys and girls, use ils)

Ok so now that that’s out of the way, we can actually talk about verbs now. So all French verbs (that I know of) have one of four endings: er, ir, re, oir. The way the verb is conjugated in the present tense depends on the verb ending.

For example:

‘ER’ verb - Acheter (to buy)

J’achète

Tu achètes

Il/Elle achète

Nous achetons

Vous achetez

Ils/Elles achètent

As you can see, in order to conjugate most ‘er’ verbs, you drop the ending and e, es, e, ons, ez, or ent.

‘IR’ verb - Finir (to finish)

Je finis

Tu finis

Il/Elle finit

Nous finissons

Vous finissez

Ils/Elles finissent

‘Ir’ verbs have a little more variety in their conjugations, but generally they are conjugated by dropping the ir at the end and adding either is, is, it, ons, ez, or ent.

‘RE’ verb - Écrire (to write)

J’écris

Tu écris

Il/Elle écrit

Nous écrivons

Vous écrivez

Ils/Elles écrivent

As you can see, generally ‘re’ verbs are conjugated by dropping the ending and adding s, s, t, ons, ez, or ent.

‘OIR’ verb - Voir (to see)

Je vois

Tu vois

Il/Elle voit

Nous voyons

Vous voyez

Ils/Elles voient

Generally, ‘oir’ verbs are conjugated by dropping the ending and adding s, s, t, ons, ez, ent.

Here’s the thing: French, like many other languages, has a thousand million exceptions to these ‘rules.’ From my experience, verb conjugations are one of those things where you just have to keep writing them over and over and over again until you can see when it just looks right, you know? Unfortunately, some of the most common French verbs are irregular, such as:

Être - to be

Avoir - to have

Aller - to go

Faire - to do/make

Let me know if you’d like a separate post about the present tense conjugation of these verbs. Avoir and être are especially important because you need their conjugations to do the passé composé (past tense) and you need aller to do the futur proche (future tense).

Finally, my sister asked me specifically if French had a command form for verbs and the answer is yes! The command form, called L’impératif (the imperative) is used to give orders. To use it, you use the present tense conjugation (what we discussed in this post), but drop the subject pronoun (je, tu, etc.). IMPORTANT NOTE - the imperative is only used with the conjugations of tu, nous, and vous. IMPORTANT NOTE #2 - ‘er’ and pronominaux verbs drop the s at the end of the ‘tu’ conjugation in the impératif form (ex. Tu joues -> Joue!).

L’impératif example:

“Vous arrêtez.” - ‘You stop.’ (Phrase) (présent)

“Arrêtez!” - ‘Stop!’ (Command) (L’impératif)

Make sense?

And as always, there are a few irregulars. Être becomes sois, soyons, or soyez, avoir becomes aie, ayons, or ayez, and savoir becomes sache, sachons, or sachez.

Anywho, that’s about all for tonight. If I remember I’ll make a post about other basic parts of speech since this was pretty fun to make. It also counts as studying since I have a test next week. Also if you like this style of language learning blog but you wish it was in Japanese, follow my sister @neonmeron !! Her blog is my inspiration!

Finally if you catch any mistakes or have any comments, let me know!! I’m still just a student and I’m trying to learn more everyday.

Bonne nuit!!

[cararolime]

1 octobre 2023

Words/phrases learned this week

1.) Que-ce que tu fais? - “What are you doing?”

For some reason, I have such a hard time remembering the phrases that start with some form of “que” as you’ll also see from the next phrase.

2.) Qu’est-ce que c’est? - “What is this?”

Again, basic phrase that I always forget haha. I feel like once I finally get these question phrases down I’ll be unstoppable.

3.) Essuyer - “to wipe”

Whoever my host mom hand washes containers I always ask “Je sèche?” (I dry?) But the other day she let me know that essuyer would be the better word.

4.) Vitrail - “stained glass” - went on a short trip over the weekend with some other exchange students and visited some beautiful churches with stunning stained glass windows. I’ll attach some pictures below!

5.) Cannelle - “cinnamon”

Mmmmmmm, cinnamon apple sauce…

7.) Moelleux au chocolat - “chocolate cake”

It’s interesting that in english we have a whole separate word for the small, dense pieces of chocolate cake as opposed to a whole, fluffy cake. Makes me wonder where the word brownie comes from. Anyway, as someone with a big sweettooth and a love for chocolate, you better believe I was happy to have one for dessert tonight.

Made it through another week!!

Not much to report, though like I mentioned above I did go on a small excursion to Brocéliande on Saturday. It was really cool hearing about all of the legends and seeing such beautiful places. There was even a few short hikes that I really enjoyed. It was nice being able to talk to the other exchange students since I dont see them on campus much.

Tomorrow I have a meeting to finalize my class registration, so hopefully after that I’ll finally be set for the semester. I think at this point I don’t even care about my credits. I just want to make sure I’m not going to come home to any surprises.

Bonne nuit!!

[cararolime]

24 septembre 2023

Words/phrases from this week:

1.) peut être - maybe

2.) vas y - go ahead

3.) J’ai besoin - I need

4.) Donc - so, therefore (formal), alors - so (casual)

P.S. if you see any mistakes or have any comments, let me know!! I like making these little lists to help me remember the new stuff :)

Week one of classes: done.

Ahh, where to begin. It was an interesting week, that’s for sure. I’ve been having a lot of difficulty making sure I’m in the right classes since there was a problem with my school and credits and whatnot. At this point I’ve realized that there’s no way I’m going to walk away from this semester with all of the credits that were planned and signed off on, but there isn’t really anything I can do about it. I also still haven’t gotten my university email, which causes more problems the longer I don’t have it since that’s what allows me to be officially enrolled in classes and given access to the online classroom pages. Arrgggghhh.

On a lighter note, my classmates are all really nice. We all went out to lunch together on Thursday after class and as awkward as I felt it was still really nice to be included in all that kind of stuff. I also found out that I am by far the youngest in my class, and some of my peers whom I thought were the same age as me are actually 5-10 years older haha. At least we get along just the same. It’s a bit difficult for me to just have friendly conversations with them since both my conversational and listening skills are so poor put everyone has been super kind and patient with me when we’re talking. I’ve decided in order to help me with my listening skills that I’d only watch TV shows and movies in French the entire semester. Unfortunately that means I can only re-watch things, but French Netflix has so much stuff that’s not available in the US that I haven’t had a problem finding something to watch. It’s kind of annoying, but I know it will be a big help in the end.

I have exactly 90 days left in this country. Hopefully it goes by well!

Bonne nuit!!

[cararolime]

18 septembre 2023

First day of school!!

To be honest, I think I walked around looking like a lost puppy the whole day, though I’m proud to say I made it through the day without any major embarrassments or mistakes (or tears!). Some of my teachers are more difficult to understand than others, but hopefully I’m not missing anything too important. I had three classes today, and tomorrow I only have two in the morning though I do have a meeting after that. Also the wait to get food on campus was longer than my lunch break so I had to settle for a vending machine lunch. Oh well. I stopped by a grocery store on the way home and bought some granola bars so hopefully I dont have to eat chips and a candy bar every day for lunch haha.

I’ve been getting along with my host mother a lot better recently. Yesterday she took me on a tour of the opera house nearby and the parliament building. I got a little dizzy waiting in line and had to sit down a bit, but hopefully she wont judge me for that, although I did sob in front of her on Thursday so its not like that’s the most embarrassing thing that’s happened to me in front of her.

I’ve been getting along a bit better since Thursday. I was able to video call my best friend and talk for a bit, which was really nice. It still hurts of course, but there’s no other way but forward. I don’t have any classes on Friday, so I think I’m gonna sleep in, buy a sandwich and something sweet, and go to the park to watch the ducks. It’ll be a nice way to unwind after everything.

Welp, homework waits for no one! (Also French phonics got me writing in enchantment table fr)

Bonne nuit!!

[cararolime]

there's nothing quite like having to figure out how to tell your host mom in french that your friend died.

[cararolime]

13 septembre 2023

In honor of officially reaching the one week mark of my stay here in France, I will be rating all of the new foods I've tried while being here. (And this is no hate against my host mom, she's an amazing cook and I'm so grateful for everything she's done for me during my stay here :))

1.) Salmon - 3/10

Wrote on my forms that I hated seafood, but was served salmon on the first night. Honestly, it wasn't the worst thing ever. What WAS the worst thing ever, was the lemon-y cucumber concoction that it was served with. *shiver* I feel like I got the worst out of the way eating that meal first.

2.) Mushrooms - 6/10

I knew I didn't like them going in but I've been served them multiple times and honestly? Not terrible. They don't seem to have a huge flavor and everything I've eaten with them in it must have masked them pretty well. Most of the points subtracted here are for its weird texture.

3.) Cantaloupe - 4/10

My dad buys cantaloupe often but I've never liked it. My host mom has given it to me many times and I obviously eat it as to not be rude. I have to take a sip of water after every slice but despite how much I dislike it its definitely not the worst thing that could be served to me.

4.) Ham and cheese galette - 5/10

I've had two; one that was just ham and emmental cheese and one that had ham, cheese, mushroom, tomato, and probably other things. Both were eh. Wouldn't mind eating it again just because it could be worse.

5.) Whatever it was my host mom made for dinner two nights ago - -2/10

Let me set the scene. I walk into the dinning room and on the table there is... something. It is long, bright green, and spongey like a cake. It is hot and has chunks of what I believe was salmon. A mysterious liquid seeps out the bottom and onto the plate. It smells and tastes like a reheated microwave hotdog that has been sitting in an open package in the refrigerator for too long. The texture, as expected from the observation from before, is like a very moist sponge cake. I did not feel very good after dinner.

6.) Ratatouille- 6/10

Idk what that food critic was on in that movie, ratatouille is not that great lol. I'm starting to think I just don't like a lot of vegetables. Hmmm.....

7.) Tirimasu - 11/10

I LOVE TIRIMASU!!!!!! SOO GOOD!!!!

[cararolime]

12 septembre 2023

Super short update today:

Got my schedule, but have to change a class and add another, so it's not quite right yet. I'm kinda nervous about that since classes start in less than a week, but hopefully I can get it figured out before then. I also made my first friend during thay meeting! Tonight there was a soiree at a local bar and I am SO glad I went. I didn't think I'd have any fun since I don't drink alcohol but I met so many amazing people. I gave out my Instagram and phone number to a bunch of people today, and its really made me much more excited for the semester.

Bonne nuit!!

[cararolime]

11 septembre 2023

Salut!

I rode the metro all by myself today. Not gonna lie, I was so nervous that I gave myself a ton of extra time to get to where I needed to be this morning in case I messed something up, only for it to go perfectly smooth. I ended up being a half hour early haha. Better safe than sorry I guess. Tomorow I go to the university alone again and get my class schedule. I'm really excited to see what it looks like, but also super nervous because I'm afraid I won't find the right meeting room. I guess I'll just have to see how it goes.

The weekend was pretty uneventful, although my host mom did take me with her to a huge outdoor market. Fruits, vegetables, bread, pastries, meat, fish, bread, wine, seasonings, flowers, and more. It was super cool seeing all of the local farms and business all around, and I'm honestly kinda jealous we don't really have thay in the US. I mean, there is a small "farmers market" that has started to pop up every Thursday near my house, but from what I can see, it's just one vegetable stand and like three or four MLMs, but that seems to be the trend with farmers markets and flea markets these days. *sigh*. Anyway.

On a final note, I hung out with some of the girls in my group today inbetween events and I'm honestly so glad they're here with me. They are all so kind and it makes me feel so much less self conscious. I may be struggling a bit with the changes this semester has brought me, but at least by choosing to go this semester with these girls I've done something right. :)

Bonne nuit!!

P.S. here is a cute little bird thay was hopping around today

[cararolime]

8 septembre 2023

Words/phrases learned today:

1.) sèche (f) - to dry

Ex. "Je sèche les assiettes."

2.) prends une douche - to take a shower

Ex. "Je prends une douche après le dîner."

3.) nous nous sommes une promenade - we took a walk

Ex. "Nous nous sommes une promenade autor la mairie."

(P.S. I'm rly unsure abt that last one as I couldn't quite remember what my host mom said. If anyone sees any mistakes plz let me know!!)

Salut!

Today was pretty fun. It was nice walking around with the group, even though I felt a bit awkward. All of the girls are so nice, and there's one in particular that often checks up with me and asks me how things are going. I'm so glad they are all here with me. I think my host mom is warming up to me too, which is great. I'm a little nervous for tomorow though, since it's our first weekend and I'm not sure if she has something planned or not. I'm perfectly happy staying home and doing nothing, but it's important to me thay she's ok with that too. Like I said in a previous post, I don't want her to think I'm avoiding her.

On a separate note, I can't wait for classes to start. We still have another week before then, bit I just want to get started already so I can fall into the comfort of a routine. Plus, I think some busy work will help me with the stress of all this.

15 weeks to go!

Bonne nuit!!

[cararolime]

7 septembre 2023

Today was a little better. My group and I spent the day walking around the city, getting out metro cards, filling out forms, etc. I was kind of frazzled this morning because i just felt very lost on a lot of things when everyone else seemed to already know what do do. In one of the forms I filled out, I accidentally put 8 instead of 9 for the date and didn’t realize until after I had handed in the form. Luckily I was able to email someone later and address my mistake, and it seems like it wont be an issue. I got home at around 14h30, where I sat in the living room and read in the company of my host mom. She, like myself, doesn’t seem to be super sociable, so I think doing our own thing in the same space is a good middle ground. I also wanted to make it clear I wasn’t avoiding her, since I didn’t go to the kitchen to get breakfast this morning.

Tomorrow we have the day free, so the others in my group and I are going to meet up and go shopping. Honestly, I’m not really a shopping mall kind of person, nor am I super trendy in the clothes department, but the others seem to be good friends already so a day of shopping seems like a small price to pay for us to get to know each other, and hopefully make me less awkward around them.

My host mother and I started trying to speak more French with each other tonight. It’s very difficult because I dont know a lot and to be honest, I’m still kinda scared of her, but I think I made a good start. Hopefully this trend continues and the days keep getting better. If only this heatwave would end!

Bonne Nuit!!

[cararolime]

6 septembre 2023

Officially made it to my host mom!! Not gonna lie though, its been pretty tough, though I'm sure it'll get easier once classes start. Unfortunately I have at least a week and a half of meetings first but at least that will prepare me for walking around the city.

I think my biggest struggle right now is understanding the cultural differences between Americans and the French when it comes to living in a space together. I am also naturally a very shy and anxious person, so that isn't helping. For example, ive been awake for two hours now and haven't worked up the courage to knock on the door to the kitchen/living room where my host mother is. I know it will get better as the weeks go by, but these first few days sure are difficult.

Any advice is appreciated :)

[cararolime]

6 septembre 2023

“A Rare Gift”

[cararolime]

4 septembre 2023

Vacation update 2

The Netherlands is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. I was particularly excited to go since my grandparents are from there, and my mom literally cried from joy when our plane landed in Amsterdam. We rented a car this time so we were able to get around on our own, but it was very difficult for my dad to get used to the small roads and bike paths. The very fist day we drive across the country to Enschede to visit the place where my grandfather grew up during WWII. His house is no longer standing, but it was still cool to see the streets and train tracks from his stories.

The second day we went to Delft. I loved walking around the market and looking at the stunning architecture. There was also a cat walking around that I got to put which made the while day perfect.

On day 3 we spent the day in Amsterdam. We took a boat tour along the canal and rented bikes to ride through the city. It was definitely a cool experience, but now that its done I would recommend to those visiting to not rent bikes if you are in a group bigger the 3. I was in a group of 6, and not all of us can go as fast as others, so you can imagine the chaos that ensued. Still, I'm glad that I can say I did it.

Day four we went back to Delft where I picked up a gift for my host mom and visited my great aunt and uncle for the first time. It was honestly kind of awkward bit I'm really glad I got to meet them. After thay we drove to the beach and got dinner. This was supposed to be our last day, but as we were sitting in the restaurant we realized that our train tickets, which we thought were for first thing the next morning, were actually for the day after. Oops. Luckily we were able to make accommodations with the hotel and rental car relatively painlessly haha.

On day 5 we were all pretty tired, so we just spent the day driving and looking at the deltaworks.

As I type this, our train is crossing the border into France!! Super exciting, though it also means I meet my host mom the day after tomorow 😵‍💫

Attached are some pictures thay I took in the Netherlands. It really is such a beautiful country. I hope I can come back one day in the spring when all the tulips are in bloom!

[cararolime]

31 août 2023

Vacation update!

I ended up being in Ireland for 3 days, and it was amazing!! Ireland has such a beautiful landscape and I wish I could have seen more of it. We visited the cliffs of Moher which was just incredible. We also stopped in Galway on our way back to Dublin and had a blast walking visiting all the little shops. Unfortunately we didn't have a ton of time to spend there so I hope I can go back one day and explore a little more.

Yesterday we flew into the Netherlands where we will spend the next couple of days. I'm super excited, especially since my grandparents are from here. Its been pretty nice to not have to worry about a language difference as much since we have my mom as a translator, though that makes me a bit nervous since that means I will have to be the translator when we take the train into France. Oh well!

Attached are some pictures I took.

See you later!!

[cararolime]

26 août 2023

Totally forgot about updating until a few days ago oops. Anyway.

My summer job ended up being amazing. I really loved all of my coworkers and the friends that I made. It was also nice how chill and easy the work was haha. My last day was two days ago and I'm honestly going to miss it, but I'll probably be back there next summer.

In other news, I'm all packed up and ready to leave for Europe. I'm actually in the car driving to the Airport as I'm writing this! My semester doesn't actually start for another few weeks, but my family and I decided to leave early and spend some time together over there as a vacation. I'm not gonna lie, I'm terribly nervous to be on a plane since I haven't been on one since I was 7, but at least I won't be on it alone. I've been trying to review some fench on duolingo and watching shows in french, but I'm definitely not prepared at all in that regard 😅. Oh well.

I have some more artwork ready to post but I'll save them for another time. Also, any advice about being a student abroad is much appreciated!! And as always, if you like my artwork and would like to see more, consider following me on Instagram @ cararolime.jpeg

Wish me luck!!

[cararolime]

21 juin 2023

Salut!

I didn’t mean to take so long between posts, but here I am 😅 I’m also starting a new job tomorrow so I need to make this quick since it’s already almost midnight.

Todays post is a piece that I am particularly proud of. You also might recognize it as this blog’s header! Also, I definitely need to practice drawing backgrounds haha

Pose referenced from Alphonse Mucha’s “Summer”

As always, if you like what you see and you’ll like to see more, feel free to check out my instagram! @ cararolime.jpeg