The Quest

So begins the epic tale of my quest to find my class at the university...

I just had my first experience at University of Nantes (besides the guided tour last week) and OH MY GOD. This was the most confusing thing I have been through here so far. On Tuesdays I have a French History course and the only information I have about it is that it starts at 10, it's in amphitheater A, and the professor is Monsieur Lepage. Since I really do not know my way around too well and I didn't know if anyone else from IES was in my class, I left super early in hopes that if I wandered around for an hour or so, I would eventually find it. So I got there and realized I didn't know what building it was in because there are two buildings for Arts & Sciences. So I went into both twice before realizing which one it was because the numbering was different. You'd think if I knew I was in the right building I'd be able to find a huge amphitheater with no difficulty, right? Wrong. I walked around the same building for an hour and could not find this amphitheater. Finally, 5 mins before the start of the class I ran into another IES student who said she was in the same class. However, she said she found the amphitheater, but no one was in it. Then I realized our professors warned us that the classes often change. Often times, the room will change and they don't tell anyone. I seriously felt like I was at Hogwarts or something (Beware... the staircases often change!). Also, there were some classes that weren't starting until next week.

My fellow American and I then set off to find the history department to see if there were any signs about our class being moved or not starting until next week. It probably took us about 15 minutes of wandering to find it, then finally we saw the history bulletin board. Unfortunately, we could not find any information about our class. Also, a whole group of French guys sat there laughing at us while we searched through all the papers in order to find out something useful. Finally around 10:30 we decided the class probably just didn't start till next week and we just left.

However, my adventure was not yet over. We went to the sports building so I could sign up for a weights/cardio class and a rock climbing class and had to wait in line there forever and when I finally got to the front, it was really awkward because the guy at the desk and I could not understand each other at all. It would have been a little humorous had I not been so stressed out. After this we decided to go to one of the university restaurants and get something to eat. Well in order to eat at one of these, you have to get a meal ticket. The line for the meal tickets was literally out the door and down the stairs. We waited in line for a half hour and when we finally reached the end, we were told we couldn't buy tickets there for the restaurant we wanted, and all the others didn't open till 12. At this point we just got fed up and left. I'm just hoping next week goes better. Especially since I'll have two classes at the university next week.

This has been the most confusing day of my life. Mind you, it's only 12:37 so it can still get a lot more confusing. This is also the first time since I've been here that I've hated being foreign.