Onward!

So much for my prediction!  It's just...  So many adventures are happening, and I have to talk about them!

I took my French placement test on Wednesday morning.

Just to see what it'd be like, since metro tickets are up to $3 this year (the most expensive in the world by a large margin), I bundled up in my ankle-length down coat, insulated Kamik snowboots, insulated gloves and a sparkly black wool scarf I knitted, wrapped three times around my face and neck so that only my eyes were showing.  Armed with my iPod and paperwork (jauntily placed within my snazzy new houndstooth backpack), I set out on a 25-minute trek to McGill University; it was -16 C (3 degrees F).  I wanted to see what it would be like to walk both ways in extreme weather conditions.  It was fine!  One moderate hill, and then a nice amble northeast up Rue Sherbrooke, past the museums, ritzy hotels and outrageously expensive clothing stores.  I could easily do it every day.

I say "extreme weather conditions" in a very hopeful tone, since last February there were two mornings of -40 C (-40 F as well; this dismal point is where the two systems meet).  That's beyond extreme; more like deep space-esque.  I had to wear three pairs of socks, a pair of long underwear, pants, a shirt and a coat, all under a fleece blanket when I woke up those mornings before the house had been heated to a bearable 10 C (50 F).

Anyway!  Enough digression, it's depressing.

So I successfully trekked to my new university, #19 in the world, and so reasonably-priced!  Classes are in a high-rise tower, and I was impressed by the people I talked to.  I am extremely gregarious in academic settings and anticipated the usual Montreal standoffishness, but nope, everybody responded cheerily and with much wit.  Everything was in order and I seemed to be miles ahead of the other students in my program, most of whom had not been in Canada for very long and were basically frazzled tornadoes of paperwork and forms.  Many Europeans, Koreans, Chinese, and quite a few Canadians from other provinces; maybe three American citizens in my placement class.  I was all paid up, had my public health insurance card, passport, work permit, student permit and CAQ (permission to study full-time).

I arrived early and gave my card to the young test moderator, but told him that I was a beginner; at that moment, one of the two main French profs came in and shook my hand in such a nice, friendly way after overhearing me.  He told me to come chat with him, so I followed him to his interview classroom and we talked in English and French for 15 minutes or so.  He was perplexed by me.  My ear is abnormally good, my reading comp and writing are both passable...  My speaking is Not Good.  Not my accent, which he described as "very nice," but my ability to synthesize sentences on the fly, mostly due to crippling perfectionism.

He told me I had a knack for languages (not sure what preempted this comment), and that I was across the board in all four areas.  He said that true beginners are exempt from the placement test, but he told me I should go ahead and sit for it in case the results would allow me to skip a level.  A paragraph on the front of the test booklet warned students that "levels are very large, as level 1 is 'beginner' and level 5 is 'mastery'" and instructed us to try not to overestimate our skills.

So I sat for the test in high spirits in a multicultural group of maybe 20 peers and finished in only 20 mins (the advanced students took 3 hours!) and walked home.  Results posted on Monday!  I don't really care where I am placed, but if I do skip a level, that's $1500 saved.

If I go straight through this program without stopping for any reason, it is possible for me to achieve the Certificate of Proficiency by the end of October 2012.  At 30 hours of class per week, it will probably be the most intense period of studies I've ever undertaken.  It starts next Monday at 9 AM.