#mainly the french words are ones I can't remember in class

[paintmeblueandgreen]

hey brother,

I sometimes think about a world where we'd never met. had my brother's french teacher never made his class read Harry Potter, had I never stolen his book to read it under the dining table, had I fallen in love with another book series, had found another platform to make my silly little blogs on. Had I changed anything, who would we be, now?

It's hard to picture myself without you, though. Is it because of my brittle sense of self, or because you've become such an inherent part of my life? Either way, I think about you everytime I take up the courage to write, to create, everytime I make a decision, everytime I buy a new notebook and I remember how you tell me you have them stacked in your room, full of creative secrets.

You're family to me, I hope you know that. You gave me colors, building blocks of who I am. You inspire me too, your resilience, your cynism juxtaposed with your childlike ability to breathe magic into anything and everything you ever write about. Everything becomes poetry when you touch it, clear skies and crowded rooms alike.

You are the smile on my face, too. When it's two am, my phone's screen painting my face blue and green, and I am laughing to your jokes. When it's the early morning, and I have a thirst for words, that only you can quench though I've already read your stories a thousand time. On busy afternoons too, when a lovely song plays while I'm studying.

You're the blood in my veins, carrying itself, when my heart is too tired to pump it anymore. You're everything I could ever wish for, you're pixels on my screen, so far, yet near to my heart. You're a voice in my headphones and a hand I can never hold.

You're a teacher, too. You taught me a little on how to live, how to create, but a lot about myself. You're a hero, you're so many things I can't even begin to describe.

But mainly, you're my friend. The friend I fought with, the friend I wrote with. The friend I built and destroyed with. The friend studying political science I vaguely mention, the number in my phone I've been hiding from my mom for half a decade, you're one of the people I trust the most, but I talk about the least. You're my heart's best-held secret in a way.

Happy Birthday.

[kjaerekrake]

5 (12) words a day

Norwegian 1. skjønnhet - beauty 2.  en gaffel - a fork 3. ei skje - a spoon 4. ei såpe - soap 5. ei pute - a pillow 6. ei lampe - a lamp 7. ei hylle - a shelf 8. et klesskap - a closet 9. et nattbord - a bedside table 10. en vask - a sink 11. en dusj - a shower 12. et kjøleskap - a refridgerator

Finnish 1.  tunne - emotion 2. hymy - a smile 3. hymyillä - to smile 4. toiveikas - hopeful 5. Kana - chicken 6. tänään - today 7. vesiputous - waterfall 8.tarvita - to need 9.  suuri - large 10. iso - big 11.huone - room 12. lentokone - airplane

Spanish 1. la química - chemistry 2. oeste - west 3. un bosque - a forest 4. zorro - fox 5. la nube - the cloud 6. la sombra - the shade 7. la sudadera - the sweatshirt 8. el anillo - the ring 9. el sosten - the bra 10. los tacones bajos - flats 11. las grafas - glasses 12. mientras que - whereas

French 1. Combien de - how many 2. dimanche - sunday 3. une affice -  aposter 4. une craie - chalk 5. un cahier - a notebook 6. une chaise - a chair 7.un mur - the wall 8. ouvrier - factory worker 9. avocat - lawyer 10. trouver - to find 11. la vaisselle - the dishes 12. une randonnée - a hike

[z-iridest]

(A/N: Okay, guys, I hope you enjoy a little Denki Kaminari fluff ^.^ A big thank you to @lxvely-mha for helping me with the idea, if you haven't checked out their blog, YOU HAVE NOT LIVED! Lxvly, this is for you, and I hope you don't mind if I drew from your headcannons for Denki Kaminari as a boyfriend)

Hungry Eyes: A Denki Kaminari x Shy & Clumsy Female! Reader One Shot

It all started with a dance....

As the daughter of a pro hero, I had to be ready for anything. A villain attack, random people wanting an autograph from my Dad, and my Dad's infamous loud as hell outbursts to name a few. Considering that the Pro Hero I'm talking about is Present Mic, it's actually kind of ironic that his daughter is a silent, shy klutz that has a similar quirk to his. Mine is literally a sonic scream.....

My clumsiness is going to be my death one day. It's why I've never danced at any school dances, preferring to be either sitting on the sidelines, or next to the DJ booth (sometimes in it if my Dad was the DJ). I'd already embarrassed myself several times tripping over anything and everything, no reason to do it with an audience. To be fair, my Dad did try teaching me how to dance..... Hours of sore feet on my Dad's end later and me falling on my rear way too many times, we were both ready to call it quits. Speaking of my Dad....

There's only a handful of people I've ever talked outloud to: My Dad, My Mom, and my Uncle: Shota Aizawa (yeah, Aizawa is my godfather, get over it). Everyone else, I talk to using JSL or writing down what I want to say. I only talk to people I'm not comfortable around when it's an absolute necessity. Why? Allow me to take you back a few months ago....

See, when I first started at U.A., I started dating this guy... You actually know him. Remember Monoma from Class 1-B? Yeah....

Well, everything was going great with him... Until I caught him making out with a different girl. He had the audacity to tell me it was my own fault for not measuring up to his "perfect standards" and told me I'd never be good enough to live up to my Dad's rep as a Pro Hero, that I was a waste of space. I kinda just shut down after that, refusing to talk to my Dad or Uncle Shota for a while, especially since Monoma spread a rumor around school that I was quirkless. That got me bullied a bit until Dad got wind of it.....

Boy, was he mad....

But don't worry! Everything's fine now. The rumors died down about a month ago, though I think that was mainly due to me joining the BakuSquad.... For those who don't know, the BakuSquad is a group of a bunch of loveable goofballs and their explosive pomeranian of a leader: Katsuki Bakugo. Mina was the one who brought me into the group, and thank god, they never pushed me to talk. I mainly just listened to their antics and tried to hold back fits of laughter. It almost felt normal...

Almost....

Since we broke up, Monoma has a bad habit of cornering me at my locker after school to try to get me to go back to dating him. I always tell him no, and he pushes me around until either Kirishima, Bakugo, Sero or Kaminari come looking for me. I think deep down, he's scared half to hell of Kaminari, because the one time Monoma didn't stop when Kaminari told him to... Oh boy, Pikachu Boy went all out on Monoma, shocking him until he made a run for it. It was actually really funny to watch, I won't lie.....

Back to what I was saying: As the kid of a pro hero, you have to be ready for anything. But, that's where fate'll get you good...

When you least expect it, fate can just (excuse my french) bitch slap you out of nowhere. For example.....

"You did what?!" The only reason I was talking to Mina and Jiro at that second was out of shock. We were in my dorm room, so there was no one around to hear me talk anyways outside of Mina and Jirou.

"Mina decided to nominate you and Kaminari for the couple to do the first dance at the Mid-Summer Dance this year for the first years, and you guys won the school's vote." Jirou told me. I let out a humiliated whine and plopped facedown onto my pillow. The Mid Summer Dance was a school wide dance party to have fun in the final days of summer. One couple from each year did the first, second and third slow dances, the first years being the ones to kick off the actual dance. I felt a hand on my back.

"Aww, come on, Y/N, it's not that bad." Mina's voice told me. I sat up faster than Iida can run, and looked at her with a look that told her I thought she was crazy.

"Are you forgetting who you're talking to? The resident klutz of U.A. High, that's who! I'm gonna die, that's it! Game over, no pro hero career for me! Y/N Yamada, dead at 16! Cause of death: Embarrassing tumble in front of the whole school! I'll be lucky if the dress I wear that night doesn't rip or something on the way there." I burried my face in my pillow again. "Besides, I don't know how to dance. I've always avoided the dancefloor at parties or anything like that."

"Why don't you just ask Kaminari to teach you how to dance?" Jirou asked.

"I've never talked in front of him, remember? And I can't ask him, it'd be too embarrassing." I reminded Jirou.

"Fine, if you won't ask Kaminari to teach you how to dance, I'll ask him for you." Mina's words pierced me with more horror than any thriller movie. Believe me, that's saying something because I hate horror movies.

"No, no, no, no, no!" I shouted, jumping up, but Mina was already out of my room, calling for Kaminari. I raced out of my room after her, but by the time I caught up, she was already telling Kaminari. Crap....The second Kaminari locked eyes with me, I bolted back into my room and hid in the closet. Damn it, Mina! I felt heat rise to my face. Great, now I'm blushing.... Just a few minutes later, I heard footsteps. They stopped before I heard voices.

"Jirou, have you seen Y/N?" Kaminari's voice.

"She's hiding in there." Traitor. I heard footsteps walk away. Okay, maybe Kaminari walked away. Maybe he...

"Y/N?" Damn it, he didn't walk away. "Why didn't you tell me you couldn't dance?" I slowly came out of the closet and signed my answer in JSL.

I thought it was obvious. I'm the resident klutz of U.A., so....

"You're scared of falling in front of everyone? You always seem so fearless." Kaminari told me, sitting on my bed. I gave him a You've gotta be kidding me look as I sat down next to him. "I'm serious!"

Looks can be deceiving. I'm scared of everything. I put on a facade during training to make it look like I'm not scared when I actually am.

"You're still such a badass... Anyway, back to the dance. What were you gonna do when the night of the dance came and you still didn't know how to dance?" Kaminari asked me. I shrugged.

I would have figured out something.

"Like what, bailing on the dance all together?" Kaminari asked, raising an eyebrow. I opened my mouth, but quickly closed it. That had been the last resort. "That's what I thought." He stood up and offered his hand to me. "Come on, the dance is a couple weeks away, but we'd better start now if you're gonna be ready." With no other choice, I placed my hand in Kaminari's, a sudden spark flowing from me to him.

And it wasn't from his quirk.

I didn't have time to ponder what the spark even was, because Kaminari pulled me up off my bed and started pulling me to the gym where the dance would be held. I had just enough time to notice how perfectly my hand seemed to fit in his. What's wrong with me?

It was then that the real work began. While keeping up with studying and homework from all my classes (which I had to help Kaminari with most of), and planning the dance with the Dance Committee, I was taking dance lessons with Kaminari. Surprisingly, no matter how much I stepped on his toes, he stayed patient and helped me through it. Everytime I tripped and started falling, he caught me easily. "Now that the worst's happened, you don't have to be scared. I've got you." Kaminari had told me with a wink the first time I had tripped and he had caught me. I have no idea why, but I started blushing like an idiot around him, and kept tripping outside of our dance lessons, worse than my normal clumsiness. If this is what having a crush was, I was falling hard for the human Pikachu.... Literally.

Before I knew it, it was the day before the dance. Kaminari and I danced alone in the gym, and much to my own surprise, I didn't trip. Not once. Kaminari was grinning wider than a Cheshire cat when we finally finished.

"Yes! I knew you could do it, that was awesome!" Kaminari exclaimed with the biggest smile on his face as he pumped both fists in the air. I covered my mouth to keep a laugh in, but it slipped out in a giggle. When I looked up, Denki was looking at me with the most adorable look ever. His head was tilted to one side slightly, and his eyes held this just... Adoring look. "Y'know... Your laugh is adorable." I felt the heat rise to my face as I looked away from him. "I mean it." He made me look at him, giving me a sweet smile. He was so close, one single move from either of us, and we'd be kissing. He cleared his throat after a good long minute, giving me a sheepish smile. "Want to run through it one more time?" He asked me. I nodded and we danced again. I couldn't stop the smile on my face as I danced, feeling happy for the first time in a long time. I noticed that the more I smiled, the more Denki smiled. As we finished the routine perfectly for the second time that day, I felt Denki interlace his fingers with mine, the look on his face serious. He raised one hand, gently cupping the side of my face. My heart started pounding fiercely against my chest. What was going to happen next? "Y/N.... I want to ask you something...." He told me, his eyes and his voice soft. Just as he opened his mouth to continue, my phone rang. I groaned.

"Sorry, I gotta take this." I shrugged before answering my phone.

"Y/N, where are you? We have to do the final preparations for the party!" Mina's voice shrilled at the other end. Iida must have been right there, otherwise she wouldn't have called me about something like this.

"Do I really have to be there?" I asked.

"No, I just need you to answer a couple things over the phone." Mina told me.

"Go for it." I told her, giving Kaminari an apologetic look. He gave me a thumbs up as if silently telling me it was fine. I leaned against the wall behind me as I listened to Mina's questions, answering each one. Everytime I talked, I noticed Denki having that same adoring look on his face. Just as I shifted against the wall a bit, I saw Kaminari start to walk over to me.

"Y/N?" Kaminari called my name, and I noticed he had a determined look on his face."I was wondering... Do you want to go to the dance with me?" I put the phone down for a second, feeling a little confused.

"Yeah, I mean, the BakuSquad's all going together, right? I think Bakugo has us leaving the dorms around 7 or something..." I told him. I heard Mina call my name and put the phone back to my ear. Jeeze, how many more questions did this girl have?

"No, I mean, with me." Denki told me. What was he getting at?

"Yeah, I can swing by your dorm around 6:30." I told him. He did mean arrive there as a group with the squad.... Didn't he? Mina asked me another question before I could think about what he meant. "Yeah, when you're facing the stage it has to go on the left... Right." I shook my head as Mina sounded confused. "No, the left, not the right." I heard Denki mumble something under his breath, something along the lines of,

"Oh man, this is gonna be hard." I suddenly felt his hand on mine as he placed his other arm on the wall next to me. Is he... Doing the kabedon on me? I felt my cheeks turn bright red, as he was really, really close to me now. I was forced to look into his gold eyes, which held a very serious look. "Y/N..." He moved my phone fully from my ear, keeping my closed hand in his. I swear, Mina was intently listening in, because I could hear her suddenly go silent on the other line. "Would you.... Be my date for the Mid-Summer Dance?" A smile crept onto my face, which caused him to chuckle a bit. "And... If you don't absolutely hate me by the end of it... Would you... consider... Maybe, being more than friends?" I smiled up at him brighter. I was getting asked out by my crush! "Maybe?"

"Like... Boyfriend and girlfriend where we can... Hold hands instead of just fist bumping and slugging each other all the time, and... We can text, and I can tell you how great you are, because, Kaminari, you really are great, and I'm the luckiest girl in the world, you're so sweet and adorable, and..." I suddenly felt something warm and soft against my lips, effectively cutting me off. Despite the dark blush on my face, I melted into Denki's kiss. When we finally pulled away, he grinned down at me.

"First of all, you call me Denki. And second, if anyone's the lucky one, it's me, sweetheart." I closed my eyes and blushed darker, if it was humanly possible, as he softly kissed my forehead. I giggled and hugged him, feeling him hug me back. "Well then, milady, until tomorrow night." He grinned goofily as he held my hand in his, bowing and pressing a soft kiss to the back of my hand. With a wink and the most adorable smile, he was gone.

When I got back to the dorms, I was greeted by all the girls, each one having the stupidest smile on their faces as they all sat in the common room. I blushed under their stares and said only two words, knowing Mina had heard what had happened after dance practice and had told all the girls. "Shut up." I told them, causing all of them to burst into a giggle fit.

Right after school the next day, the girls of 1-A practically dragged me to my room to get me ready for the dance. Mina, Momo and Ochaco teamed up on picking the dress while Toru and Jirou teamed up on curing my hair. Once my hair was finished being curled and fully hair sprayed, Toru pinned one side of my hair out of my face with bobby pins before Mina, Asui and Ochaco carefully helped me into the dress they chose: an adorable white, off the shoulder sundress that fell to my knees in length. While Ochaco grabbed a pair of white heels for me to wear, Mina did my makeup for me. I put my heels on myself once Mina was done and grabbed my purse, blushing when I saw that all the girls were admiring their work. "Twirl, Y/N! Twirl for us!" Toru cheered at me. I blushed and twirled. The dress spun before falling back into place, the girls awwing before I spoke up, looking at the time.

"Uh, guys? It's 6:45." My words forced them into action, a unanimous:

"Oh, crap!" Leaving each of the girls as they scampered off to go get ready, realizing they had very little time left to ready themselves because of fawning over every little detail when it came to me. I giggled and looked at my reflection. I didn't look completely like myself, but for the first time in a long time... I felt... Beautiful.

At 7, I left the comfortable confines of my room to join everyone else in the common room. I felt my face turn dark red as the chatter from the boys suddenly stopped, all attention on me.

"Damn, Yamada, you look great." Kirishima spoke up first, a grin on his face.

"Great? Try goregous!" Sero spoke up. All the boys except for Bakugo, Midoriya, Todoroki and Kamin... I mean Denki, started arguing about what word was best to describe me. I snuck a look at Denki. That teasing bastard was wearing black dress pants with really nice black shoes and a tucked in, white button up shirt with the top two buttons undone. He just had to dress like that for tonight... I exchanged glances with Denki, and I swear, there was a shit-eating grin on Kaminari's face as he wrapped his arms around me.

"Man, if I'd known you'd get all cleaned up this good for me, I would have asked you out weeks ago." Denki told me as he looked down at me.

"Blame the girls, they wouldn't let me out of my room until I accepted their wish to do a full on makeover." I blushed darker. "You cleaned up really nice too, by the way." He grinned down at me before pressing a kiss to my forehead.

"Only for my baby... Besides, girls should know you didn't need to put on makeup and style your hair just to impress me, princess. You're beautiful to me no matter what you look like." He whispered in my ear before softly kissing the tip of my nose. I hid my dark red face in his chest as Kaminari spoke up over the guys, cutting off their arguement. "It's all very flattering, but the best word to describe her is simple: Angelic." I could practically feel the cheesy smile he was shooting at me in that second. I looked up at him and opened my mouth to respond, but the girls had joined us just then.

When we got there, Dad was blasting music left and right, doing his DJ thing as always. I laughed a bit as I saw him living up. I had to admit, the decoration committee did an awesome job at turning the big old gym into a dancefloor. I felt Kaminari kiss my cheek and I turned toward him. "Go ahead and say hi to your Dad, I'll grab us some punch." He told me. I smiled and nodded before pulling him down into a quick kiss... Which he turned into 3 sweet little pecks. I giggled and he winked before leaving my side. As I made my way toward the DJ booth, Jirou caught me.

"Y'know, we all knew he had a crush on you. As soon as you guys started doing dance lessons, he suddenly stopped flirting with all the girls and started keeping Mineta in line." She told me.

"Seriously?" I asked. She nodded.

"Yeah, Mina and I knew it was a matter of time before he asked you out. We just weren't expecting it to happen yesterday." She told me. I smiled. "I really am happy for you guys. You especially look extremely happy."

"I haven't smiled like this in a long time, Jirou." I told her honestly. She smiled and we exchanged a hug before I continued walking toward my Dad. He grinned when he saw me and exited the DJ booth for a second to give me a hug.

"You look beautiful, baby bird." Dad told me, tucking a stray curl behind my ear. I smiled up at him.

"Thanks, Dad." I told him.

"You nervous for the dance?"

"A little. But, I've been practicing for the past two weeks, so I think I'll be okay."

"Who is your partner anyway? Everytime I was about to find out, I got pulled away."

"You'll see, Dad." I winked at him before leaving to rejoin Denki. Instead, I ran into the only person who could ruin the night for me.....

"Wow, Y/N, you never dressed like this for me." Monoma crooned at me.

"I never felt comfortable until now, please excuse me." I said as I started to walk away. My heart came to a slamming hault in my chest as Monoma grabbed my wrist, stopping me from going anywhere. "M-Monoma, let me go!" I told him, feeling a panic attack coming on. My anxiety was shooting through the roof....

"You're not going anywhere with him." Monoma hissed at me. "You're mine."

"Not anymore." I yanked my wrist out of his grip, gingerly holding it. "Denki cares about me way more than you ever could care. You don't care about anyone but yourself, and I'd take back dating you if I could." I told him, trying to calm myself down. He growled, roughly grabbing my arm and pushing me into a corner. My breathing got so short, I couldn't breathe.

"Wrong move." He snarled at me. Right before he could touch me, he yelped, a spark of electricity zapping through him. Behind him was Denki, his quirk crackling in his right hand, and boy did he looked pissed.

"Denki." A breath of relief left me as I scampered behind him, feeling his right hand hold mine as Monoma growled angrily, getting back up.

"Nobody puts my baby in a corner." Denki snarled, aiming a bolt of his quirk at the ground near Monoma's feet. That blue eyed, selfish blond screamed like a girl and ran for it, his classmates laughing at him while Kendo scolded him. As soon as Monoma was gone, Denki deactivated his quirk, turned around and wrapped his arms around me protectively. "You okay, babe?" He asked. I nodded.

"I am now." I told him before kissing his cheek. "Thanks for saving me." He grinned down at me and winked just as my Dad announced that it was time to dance. He let go of me and offered his arm.

"Shall we, milady?" He asked. I giggled and took his arm.

"Do you even have to ask?" I questioned in counter. He chuckled before leading me to the dancefloor. Once of the floor, we took our starting positions before the beat of the song started. (A/N: Start listening to Hungry Eyes by Eric Carmen for this part ^.^).

As soon as the beat started, we started to move, our eyes never leaving each other. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see all of Class 1-A gathered around us, watching us as we danced. "Everyone's watching us." I whispered to him.

"They don't matter right now. It's just you and me right now, baby." He whispered back with a grin. I giggled as I had fun, dancing with him. I knew, without a doubt, that my Dad was watching us, and I mentally cringed. Denki wasn't exactly popular with the teachers in a good way..... My thoughts distracted me enough to make me trip over my own feet after the second verse. Thank God for Denki, because he caught me and made it look like he was dipping me, which caused our classmates to cheer. He winked. "Told you I'd catch you." He softly told me. I smiled and we continued to dance, Denki spinning me at certain points and the next dip he did being during the instrumental after the bridge after twirling me again.

We continued dancing until the music started to fade out, stopping in the middle and slowly bringing our conjoined hands down. A roar of applause thundered from the crowd and Denki pulled me into a hug. I did it.... I danced with my boyfriend without getting embarrased! I felt him tense a bit after a second and I turned to see my Dad giving Denki the "I'm watching you" look. I rolled my eyes and pulled Denki into a kiss, feeling him hold me tighter as we kissed.

This night couldn't have been more perfect.....

Epliouge ( A/N: Extra just for fun!)

A couple days after the dance, Monoma tried to corner me again, this time being stupid enough to do it while the BakuSquad was still around me. I heard a snarl leave my boyfriend, but I put my hand out, stopping him from doing anything as I glared at my ex as he fired off insult after insult at me. But, he really crossed the line, pissing me off in the process, when he insulted Denki. Finally having had enough, I slammed my locker shut and faced Monoma with the sharpest glare on my face. If looks could kill.... "Monoma, you are absolutely pathetic. You can say whatever you want about me, but insulting my boyfriend? It's about time you GET A LIFE!" I used my quirk on Monoma, letting out the loud energy I had contained for months on end thanks to him. He flew backwards and hit the wall while Sero, Kirishima, even Bakugo laughed their asses off. Denki smirked as he wrapped his arms around me.

"Told you: You're a badass." Denki told me.

"Come on, guys, let's get the hell out of here." I told my friends, walking out beside my boyfriend.

(A/N: Tada! ^.^ Hope you guys enjoyed!)

Taglist: @lxvely-mha @fakeanimefanntnt

[cee-of-thoughts]

I'm going to add my own personal experience (as a teen) if no one minds

Okay so, this year, i was in junior year highschool

I had an amazing history teacher this year who was also, like, my head teacher (idk the word im french leave me alone). And i am kinda bad at history (mainly because i can't remember the dates)

I had failed that one exam (like an F) and i was ready to just, silently cry until the end of this class and lock myself in the bathroom during the break

And then i get my exam back

I did fail but she wrote on it

"Don't lose hope, you can do it, i'm proud of you"

i FUCKING CRIED I LOVE HER SM

consider: teenagers aren’t apathetic about everything they’re just used to you shitting all over whatever they show excitement about

[ask-remy-lebeau]

please remy you can start a conversation with what anon said.... mainly about the fact anon made a mistake in every word of that expression (I'm french). like "it's sacrebleu for one and why you talking like a granny?" or "you need an acute accent on the first e, not a grave one, and you forgot an e to make the word bleu (translates as blue)." or " did you know bleu is supposed to replace god? it's like how gosh is said instead of God around some young kids in english to avoid blasphemy"

To play devil's advocate, I have no clue if they were using a laptop or phone and most computers don't automatically let you type with accents, you have to turn that on in settings and then remember which accents are wear on the keyboard that's written exclusively in English here in the states. I also don't know where they actually learned french from, they could just be learning from Disney movies like Beauty and the Beast, because they definitely didn't learn that in my class. Also, if they are learning in a school setting I've heard that language classes in American schools are pretty shit, for instance I have a student who's stepmother insists on the student calling her ma grand-mére thinking it means my great mother, the student refuses to correct her because she hates her stepmother due to the controlling, emotionally manipulative, and spiteful behavior she's always aimed at the student. The student enjoys calling her an old lady in French every time she sees her. The student's younger brother mispronounces it as merde instead of mére, which makes the student even happier. The student has an actual French to English dictionary because they were so deeply interested in learning French and happened to have a middle school french teacher who had lived in France for a while and did her best to teach the students in the same way you learn to speak it as your first language when you're a child, making it easier for the students to learn. This student has issues making new connections with words, though, so they don't remember most of what they learned conversationally, but their vocabulary is the best I've seen for a student who can't speak anything but English. She's able to recognize lots of written french words and what they translate to, especially if you give her context like an image, but she can't use her vocabulary conversationally. She can't form sentences in French. The words she recognizes best are food and makeup related, because that's what was easiest for her to practice with at home, most makeup brands include French on their labels and you can buy French foods at certain stores where English labels aren't used

[umichenginabroad]

Salut, Hello, (Almost) From Paris!

Hi everyone! My name is Ian Rosenberg, and I’ll be your blogger for #IPEParis this summer. I just finished my freshman year at University of Michigan, and I’m looking forward to continuing the great time I’ve had over the last eight months, but this time, abroad! I’m studying Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering here at U of M, and now, I’ll be taking thermodynamics and French Sports and Culture in Paris. In my free time, I play the viola and enjoy learning languages and about the world. Hence, I’ve traveled far and wide, and I’m psyched to add France to my list. 

I’ve done a lot of traveling in the past, so at this point, I’m not too worried about the actual traveling experience. In fact, I’d say that I can speak French fluently, so I’m feeling rather confident about my abilities to get around the city. I’m just more curious, I’d say, about what it’ll exactly be like. I know I've begun to look at some places I may end up studying, some boulangeries (bakeries) and markets I may get my food from, and even charted my commute over to class. I spent a while on the phone with a friend yesterday looking at all the cool places in store for me on Google Maps, and I can't wait to see them in person! For now, I can't wait to make it to the Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris (City of Paris Historical Library), as it looks like a stunningly beautiful building with study spaces galore.

Not to drag on too much about this, as it's something I really enjoy talking about, but I find it often very interesting to see how American culture has worked its way into different places. Of course, we tend to associate Europe as being more similar to the US than, say, East Asia, but I find myself always pleasantly surprised at the little differences that we see in Europe—the city life and greater respect for public spaces that comes along with it, the history that weighs down on you when you even just walk through the streets. That library I was talking about is just in the middle of the city! But one aspect of American culture that has not made its way, at least in my experience, to Europe is the friendliness to strangers. When I was in Bulgaria, nobody smiled back at me, and when I’d ask questions to shopkeepers or people on the streets, the vast, vast majority would have one-word answers to me. I remember, though, one shopkeeper. Though he didn’t speak English, and I only spoke the most rudimentary Bulgarian, I was interested in the art he was making. I came into his shop, and though he had a right to disregard me and continue on his work, we talked for about twenty minutes over Google Translate about his drawing process and the beautiful city that we were in. I greatly appreciated his enthusiasm, but I understood that the cultural norm in Bulgaria is to keep to yourself, don’t greet people, and small talk is not so appreciated. (Of course, none of this is to discourage a visit to Bulgaria… the cities, history, and scenery is absolutely stunning! Totally worth the trip). 

In the other direction, one of my favorite little tidbits to share is that when I was in Mongolia, I got the once in a lifetime experience to visit Mongolian Barbecue, the American chain, in Ulaanbaatar! Here's a picture...

One last thing before I go. To say I'm passionate about classical music is an understatement; it's pretty much all I listen to. France, and Paris especially, has long been home to great composers such as Ravel, Saint-Saëns, Debussy, Enesco, and Stravinsky after his exile from the budding Soviet Union. That being said, I have listened to very little music by any of these composers. My impression of French classical music is that it’s rather subdued. Lots of introverted and quiet music, for whom texture is the most important aspect. It is not meant to show off, rather, present something nice to listen to. The works are mainly piano solos, string quartets, and sonatas—works that are much smaller scale than your typical Germanic symphony. I much prefer the German style of music, with its impressive and emotional climaxes, thought provoking works set to stories, and symphonies that require upwards of a thousand performers. I think they match my energy much more than that calm French music. I get excited by the fiery nature of Spanish dances and Argentinian Tangos, and the angst of a Soviet composer’s music never ceases to capture my thoughts. But I’m excited, however, to experience what it’s like to be in Paris. To live amongst the architecture, see the art, and most importantly, be immersed in the culture for six weeks. Maybe with this, I will finally be able to understand the beauty and great traits of the French works. I'm also excited because I've bought tickets to go to a Philharmonie de Paris concert the day after my birthday, and it's a fantastic conductor, and they will be playing one of my favorite works, Richard Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra (which opens with the 2001: A Space Odyssey theme, for those of you who'd recognize it by that).

A Bientôt! Talk to you all in Paris!

Ian

NA&ME UMich '25