Meet my French "buddy"

(Camille and I eating quiche Lorraine for dinner at her apartment)

Camille is French.

She is my buddy or marraine.

She is my facilitator during my foreign exchange in Lille.

Tonight at her apartment, we had a scrumptious dinner of tomato salad with vinaigrette, squash with corn and cheese, quiche Lorraine and crumble aux pommes. Camille cooked the quiche and crumble with her roommate, Charlotte, and I cooked squash with corn and cheese.

I arrived with a plastic bag in hand ready to cook a side dish for the entrée. I did squash with corn and cheese. Camille and Charlotte had never tasted the legumes together like that, and they liked it.

More than just an invitation to her apartment to dîner together, it was an invitation to me, to my background, to my culture, to my person. I was very ecstatic to speak with her en français and get to know her.

How she became my buddy? Simple. I took initiative to become a part of an international student group "Oh My Globe" through Facebook.

This club is originally for IESEG (School of Management) students, but I sent an email to the secretary (Camille--surprise!) explaining how I wanted to immerse myself more as an international student even though I study at La Catho.

Et voilà Camille emailed me and told me she was available to be my marraine. I am so happy that I have met such an open-minded, intelligent, belle and nice person like my buddy!

Merci Camille :]

(Crumbles aux pommes)

Wednesdays: Club Franco-Américain

"Hi! My name is Gitzel, and I come from Arizona. I will be teaching you English. Now, for today's lesson..."

(Photo: handout of useful phrases given to my beginner class)

I am on my own. I am an instructor. I am teaching English to people three times my age.

Yes, of course I am nerveuse to teach.

My travail or job every Wednesday evening is to teach English at the Club Franco-Américain de Lambersart near Lille. I get picked up by the secretary of the club, Marie-Thérèse, in front of the gates of La Catho to start the one and a half hour sessions. Mes élèves are French who want to improve their English language skills, and the majority of them are retired.

How did I end up teaching English in France? Well, I received an email from Madame Bray, my international coordinator at La Catho, and scheduled an interview with the president of the club. There were three interviewees: a Canadian, another American and I.

I got selected for the job as an animatrice or instructor based on my interview and journalism CV. Before I knew it (the first week of classes actually), I was engaging in conversations with the club members to test their English compétences.

By the following Wednesday, I was introducing myself in front of the beginners and intermediate classes and giving them vacation-themed worksheets I put together to start le travail. Everyone talked about their favorite vacances around the world using the vocabulary in the worksheets. I encouraged them to ask their classmates questions about their trips to engage in more conversation exercises.

Today, I dictated a text to my students while they filled in the blanks in the worksheet. I prepared this lesson specifically for oral comprehension (to see how well they understand English orally). At the end, I had two students volunteer in a greeting using a skit I created.

While this job requires a lot of researching to prepare lesson plans and material, I am enjoying it to the fullest. Not only are mes élèves motivated and animated to learn and talk in class, I am learning from them as well. There are times that I do not know the English/French translation of a word (like today épeler=to spell), and they help me with my French.

I am very contente for having this great opportunity in which both the students and teacher are learning from each other--the language, the background, the culture, the countries. I could not have asked for a better start to my foreign exchange experience in Lille than this petit travail.

Now, I can not wait to prepare for next week's classes! A lot of creative ideas are crossing my mind even as I am typing this... perhaps, singing in class, showing them movie clips, the teaching world is vast!

(Photos taken by: Diana Platek)

Tuesdays: Soirées entre Filles

BON APPETIT LES FILLES!

What: soirée entre filles or girls' night

Who: girls from all over the world

Where: my apartment

When: every Tuesday

Why: to have a great meal
in an agréable atmosphere

Every Tuesday evening I host a soirée entre filles with some of my new girlfriends. They are international students, just like me, at La Catho. The ones who attend are from Canada, France, Germany, Korea and the United States.

It all started from a girls' night I had with my girlfriends back home in Arizona. We had it every Tuesday actually, and it was such a success (thanks to Ikram, Kafiyah and Jessie) that I decided to start a tradition here in France.

We all meet at my apartment and take turns cooking different cuisines (to experience different cultures). The first Tuesday, I cooked a mélange of turkey, squash and corn with a side of Spanish rice. I was going for the Latin American touch... The rest of mes amies brought Camembert cheese, baguette, red wine and for dessert pain au chocolat.

Then, it was Julie and Lisa's turn to cuisiner, and they made a delicious pasta with a thick, milky sauce and salad on the side. We all have a wonderful time polishing our French language while we enjoy a hearty meal. I think that one needs a support system like this sometimes, especially in a different country where one stays for half a year.

I am very happy to share every Tuesday with my international friends learning from each of them every time!

Merci pour les soirée entre filles à tous!

Did the room number change again?

I knew something would happen to me today, and in fact, it started this après-midi on my way to class.

I had to print five newspaper articles and press releases before my two-hour journalism course so I went to la boîte à copies close to my school, Universite Catholique de Lille (or La Catho for short). Once I printed and paid the lady two euros for my copies and for using the Internet, I crossed la rue to begin my favorite class so far with Monsieur Visse. I had 10 minutes to spare, but it still was not enough.

I went to the original room number as the first week (because last week that room was occupied by another class so we all, as a group, looked for an available one), but there was no one there. I checked the schedule outside the room, and bien sûr, my course was nowhere on the list. I could not remember last week's salle number, so I went to the information d'accueil on the third floor.

Madame Aviez gave me the right number salle 144.

By this time, however, I was five minutes late but descended the stairs as fast as I could to the first floor. I vérifié the schedule outside the door, and it was the right one.

I thought I could possibly not be the only one confused by the change, but as it so happens, I was.

I turned the knob to go in, but it did not budge. Yes, I got locked out.

How ironic, I thought. Last two classes we started 30 minutes late, and this day when I happened to arrive five minutes en retard, the class started on time.

I found the nearest chair and started reading the articles and looking up words I did not understand. I decided to wait until the end of class to talk to le professeur.

My waiting episode. . .

It takes two to tango

When it comes to sensual dances, tango is definitely one of them.

Women evoke a kind of sophistication with their upright posture, dresses and talons. Men evoke gallantry with their careful grip as they guide the women à travers the dance floor.



I did not have to go all the way to Argentina to experience this beautiful, Latin American dance, even though I would not mind some day, instead I took a 20-minute walk to La Vieille Bourse, the 17th century old stock exchange in centre ville.

Inside this 350-year-old monument the tango association, Sous les Marronniers, have their tango nights. They are usually free to everyone, and people from all ages come with their partners or alone to dance le soir away.



After a few hours of taking pictures of the elegant dancers, I decided I needed to sway too, or at least try. My partner's name was Mustafa, and we only danced one song.

That is because 1- even though I had a great time, I felt I was in the way of the many skilled danseurs and 2- I needed some time to interview les musiciens of the night: the talented duo of Rudi Flores and Juan Carlos Carrasco.

Below is a short video of my tango experience in France: an intro, the dancers and an interview with Rudi.

Celebrating Europe's culture: weekend du Patrimoine

Fountain in front of Palais des Beaux Arts

Today is the last day of the European Heritage Days or Les Journées européennes du Patrimoine.

I was part of the 27th annual celebration of Europe's cultural patrimony this weekend. Every third week of September, more than 12 million people take advantage of the free guided tours, exhibitions and performances across Europe. I walked for about six hours yesterday en découvrant Lille and visited le zoo, le Palais des Beaux Arts et l'Odéon, musée de la musique.

Granted the zoo is always free and about five minutes walking-distance from my apartment, I still went. I not only had a guided tour with it but was given a souvenir--a piece of le poil d'alpaga, alpaca's wool. Yes, the farm animal's natural fiber... I thought it odd too.

Here I am asking the guide, "Qu'est-ce que c'est?", what is it?




Then, I asked her exactly, what I would do with it haha I hope it was not impoli of me. I decided it was time to leave and explore Le Palais de Beaux Arts de Lille.

Once inside, I took part of an art activity using color chalk. I drew and colored a platter of vibrant vegetables that was on a stool in front of me. Well... the tomatoes I improvised haha



While I worked happily on my masterpiece along les enfants, I interviewed the artist in charge of the activity during the patrimoine and also made a petite friend.

Here is a short video of my drawing and interview with Vincent:

A walk through the biggest market in Europe

Mussels and fries or moules-frites are part of the special menu in the biggest flea market in Europe.

It is the Braderie de Lille.

Hundreds of restaurants along les rues had outside tables for the visitors offering them special menus of kiches, sandwiches, drinks.

I am eating moules-frites at Flunch. (Photos by Mayra Resendez)



I experienced the tradition of the Braderie, which takes place on the first weekend of September, right before schools starts. I walked through the crowded streets while groups performed musical acts and danced to Latin music.

My friends, Mayra, Morgan, Pierre and I stopped at Flunch, a cafeteria chain in France for some moules-frites, jambon et du vin.

I wanted to test my reporting skills in French, so I set out on my quest to find a busy restaurant.

The journey was short thanks to my roommate Mael. He works at a petit restaurant, Tout et Bon, and his managers gave him the green light for an interview.

The patrons, Benoît Bonduelle et Marc-Antoine Toulemonde, gave me a quick overview of the restaurant's specialties and granted me an interview. Merci :)




Here is the a video of the interview with a short introduction to the Braderie.

CNN iReport: Proud to be a Latina in the U.S.

I did a 30sec video for CNN iReport about what it feels like to be a Latina in the U.S. (ironically from Lille, France).

Hola soy Gitzel Puente y estoy orgullosa de ser Latina en los Estados Unidos. Gracias a mis padres, primeramente, por venir a este lindo país pleno de oportunidades y querer perseverar. Soy estudiante de periodismo en la Universidad Estatal de Arizona y gracias a mi educación ahora me encuentro en Francia por un cambio estudiantil. Saber dos idiomas, Español e Ingles, me ha llevado lejos pero quiero continuar con el Francés para ver donde más me puede llevar. Gracias a ASU por darme la oportunidad de viajar y aprender otras culturas… Go ASU!