Tuesday 3 February 2004

This morning I moved rooms at INSA, my previous one having expired and not been available for longer. The lady at the counter was a little disappointed, indicating that I was supposed to have moved the day before, but all my mail said Monday, so I could offer little by way of an outlet for her. Anyway, I guess I'll find out tonight whether the common room in my new corridor (same building) is any less of a sty than that of my last.

In the afternoon I had my first French lesson, in town, with a group of about 5 girls, 3 japanese and 2 German, I think. In some ways (pronunciation, comfort with the present tense) I am ahead of them, but in others (vocabulary, past tense), perhaps behind. I will buy the text tomorrow, and endeavour to remedy the latter, as soon as possible. I suspect I will have to accelerate my own studies at some point, since they were very slow coming to grips with the difference between 'u' and 'ou', which seems to me very obvious.

After my French lesson, I met with my advisor and another student. Its the first meeting in which we've really discussed things, and I was a little worried, since I have some pretty grave concerns about the directions in which he was looking, but it was not too bad a dynamic, and there seems to be room for lively discussion, which is important after what I was used to in my previous role in Australia.

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