Everyday life made challenging Year in France offers student insights In class last week, the lecturer asked what would soon be tak ing place in the French coun tryside. I, sitting in the back row and seeing no hand raised in front of me. blurted out "grape harvest" almost automatically. For this time last year, I was in the French coun tryside. And I was harvesting grapes. Reporter’s notebook by Catherine Merten Studying with the Univer sity's program in Foiters, France, was, to put it tritely, a wonderful experience. The ac tivites during those nine mon ths — moments that seemed monumental at the time — are now lumped together under the vague category of "my year abroad.” Traveling, learning, discover ing different places, different people and different parts of myself, I was so caught up in being in France, in absorbing the French culture, that it all seems somehow unreal in retrospect. What was for almost a year an intensely all encompassing new way of life has lost the powerful grip that it had then, now only affecting my life by the mental pictures of memories. Distanced geographically, I am also distanced emotionally. Hack in the U S for my senior year of college, I am repeatedly asked, as are surely all students who studied abroad, "Didn't you go somewhere? How was your year away?" Most people ask these questions casually while passing me on campus. My "year away” was such a complex and marking ex perience that it could never bo appropriately expressed, especially in passing So I usually respond with a smile: "It was great." which is of course true. But it’s also the big gest understatement of my life. Every day last year, all of us "foreign students" were challenged. Shopping for food, doing banking business, getting Correction In an article previewing the ASUQ's Wellness Sym posium in Monday's Oregon IJaily Emerald, Father Carlos was misidentified as a represenative of the Sanctuary Movement. Father Carlos is with the Newman Center, CONTRACEPTIVES The Rubber Tree • Condoms Over 50 Varieties • Foams. Creams. Jellies. Sponges • Books. T-Shirts, and more • 10-40% BELOW RETAIL FOR A FREE MAIL ORDER BROCHURE WRITE ZPG-SEATTLE, Dept: MO 4426 BURKE N.. SEATTLE. WA 98103 A Non-PntfU Protect o/ ZPC-S—ttl* a haircut — all are undoubtedly a part of a student's quotidian life Yet in a different culture, with a foreign language, these routine tasks became challenges. Eventually we learned to buy fresh vegetables at the open-air market We learned how to use our automatic teller cards. We learned how to describe the desired haircut (sometimes not until after having once suffered with the hair stylist's own ides of what they thought you wanted). Being able to function in such a society inevitably in creased our independence and self-confidence. Further, encountering people from historical and religious backgrounds often conflicting our own put into question the very elements of our own socialization and heritage. In Poitiers, we met students from all over the world These people, along with those 1 met me this fall Though last year seems far away. French ways still mingle in my American days On Sun day. I expect all stores to be closed and no trucks to run on highways. I'm continually sur prised at the relative lack of cigarette smoke in public places I frequently find myself confused in writing, stuck bet ween the French and English languages And. unfortunately. I still drive as if them were no speed limit. The first week of classes here. I went to the French department and saw the professor who I had had for French as a freshman Speaking French last year became natural for me. I was eventually fluent. Hut when I saw my professor, I could not speak to her. I choked on the words; my lounge twisted with the accent; my mind raced to translate my thoughts It took me a number of days Though at times I felt lost and uncertain last year, I came out of it feeling stronger and more comfortable with who I am. while traveling throughout Europe or while picking grapes in Beaujolais. all possessed some! idea, opinion or stereotype of America and Americans. Exchanging ideas with them made me ref]pct on my own culture, my own identy. Though at times I felt lust and uncertain last year. I came out of it feeling stronger and more comfortable with who I am However, it feels like I was away for much longer than nine months. The campus is renovated. Store hours have changed My favorite coffee place is gone. More friends have cars And since I turned 21 in France, we now meet fora drink — legally. My off-campus house offers a much different living arrange ment than the women's dorm I lived in last year in France Ten of us Oregon women lived with roommates downtown in a predominately French dorm (the building in which loan of Arc was interrogated in H29). Maids cleaned regularly (I'll never forget someone coming in at 8:30 a.in. to vacuum under our beds.) The front gate locked at 7:30 p m Phone calls no later then 10 p m Yes. my two bedroom apartment welcomed What Study-Crazed Students Say About Onsen HOWUy NOT IUt MMtAI CaN 345-9044 for rosorvattom. 1000 Gordon Avo.. logon# before I could reconcile my " Frenchness" with this en vironment that had always been strictly American Now, though. I've settled into equilibrium. I.ast Friday I shared bread, wine and cheese with other French speakers at the French House. I made crepes for my housemate, using the ap propriate French technique that friends had taught me As a French teaching assistant. I lead six hours of conversation each week France is still, and will always lie. a part of my lib* When I recently ran into a guy I lived near two years ago. he didn't recognize me. "Have you changed somehow?" he asked. A lot, I thought to myself To him. I simply attributed the dif ference to my haircut (Catharine Morten is currently a student at Brown University. Providence. K I OOE Recycle This Paper CAREER FAIR '87 October 20 21,1987 10:00am-2:00pm 167 EMU ( «ifrr PiaiiMMtq and Flacamant tcruuat • Hrndnili Nall • fctft 1*’11 EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES IN JAPAN Bi lingual? Interested In learning about career opportunities In Japan? Sltusftoku Joho, the employment lournal ot Japan, provides Infor mation on opportunities with presti gious Japanese and foreign capital companies operating In Japan. To rocohro IN latest mws In cortor opportunities In Japan. Iron ol charge, please dial (800) 423-3387 in California; (800) 325-9759 outside California A service of Recruit U.S.A., Inc. "Wto Communicate Opportunity" DON’T GET f STEPPED ON! Find out the FACTS about FREE LEGAL SERVICES W FACT 0 FACT FACT 0 FACT 0 Legal Services handles a wide range of legal problems from Divorces to Landlord Tenant Disputes. There is never a consultation or settlement Legal Services staff members are experienced, qualified professionals. Legal services are FREE to U/O students through ASUO funds ALSO: The Office of Student Advocacy offers non legal services including, but not limited to: Academic and Administration Disputes Contact Legal Services, EMU, Room 334 (Third lloor above the Fish Bowl). Or cell 686-4273 to set up an appointment. DON'T SETTLE FOR LESS!