Bonjour tout le monde!
So this week is FRENCH WEEK, yep, La Semaine Française. It's recognized nationally and at LC it's celebrated with some awesome francophone activities, and more importantly, some buttery French cuisine. It also includes more work for me! It's my favorite though. Today I presented about the research I did in France through the Dinah Dodds Endowment. After finishing up my academic semester in Strasbourg, France, I stayed after research a local poet in a national library. The poet is named André Weckmann, and he is Alsatian, or from Alsace. Alsace is northeastern provence of France, bordering Germany. It has a pretty unique history, having switched hands back and forth from France and Germany five times, four times in the change from the nineteenth to twentieth century. Before I get too carried away talking about an obscure French poet, here is the French club flyer:
So this week is FRENCH WEEK, yep, La Semaine Française. It's recognized nationally and at LC it's celebrated with some awesome francophone activities, and more importantly, some buttery French cuisine. It also includes more work for me! It's my favorite though. Today I presented about the research I did in France through the Dinah Dodds Endowment. After finishing up my academic semester in Strasbourg, France, I stayed after research a local poet in a national library. The poet is named André Weckmann, and he is Alsatian, or from Alsace. Alsace is northeastern provence of France, bordering Germany. It has a pretty unique history, having switched hands back and forth from France and Germany five times, four times in the change from the nineteenth to twentieth century. Before I get too carried away talking about an obscure French poet, here is the French club flyer:
My presentation was one of today's events, and I was SO NERVOUS. Public speaking = hard. Public speaking in foreign language = AHHHH. However, it's over now! It took me a while to become slightly less nervous, but I think I got my enthusiasm for the topic across. Plus I got to show people some beautiful and sad poems in a language they have never heard before, Alsatian. André Weckmann wrote most of his works in Alsatian, French, and German because he thought each was important to the culture. I can only understand the French poems, but what I can understand, I love. I will be writing my Honors Thesis on him in the spring. I can't believe that's happening...
Here is a pic of me presenting:
Even though I was busy prepping my presentations, I managed to have fun this weekend. I was Dumbledore for Halloween, complete with a beard made out of fake snow. The LC students in my neighborhood (Sellwood) opened their houses for Halloween parties, and it was awesome to see everyone's costumes and meet some neighbors. I will upload photos soon, once I find out which housemate was the photographer. Other than that, it's been a rainy week. Here is a pic of the Dovecote, our school café on a rainy day. The girl next to me seemed to be interested in what she was doing, so like a real blogging creep, I took her photo. I checked to make sure it was okay though! Her name is Jackie Bersson, and I found out she is going on the same trip to Seville, Spain that I went on. She has no idea how great it's going to be.
Sorry this post was so random! It's been that kind of week. I just want to remind y'all that LC has awesome abroad trips and research opportunities that I have personally benefited from. Keep them in mind while making your choice. I'll leave you with one of my favorite pics of studying in Strasbourg. This is Amaya and I at the castle Haute-Koenigsborg:
À toute!