kismet apres paris

in my search for work i have discovered that my menial knowledge of french isn't good enough to get a job. it would truly be a miracle if someone would hire me based on my experience and good looks alone. i need to communicate with the french, which means i need to speak french. yes, most french people have some knowledge of english, but it's not their native language, so when in france...

i have been studying on my computer program (rosetta stone) just about each day, but i'm not learning fast enough. so i decided to enroll in the alliance francaise, a french immersion school here in paris that is pretty well-known. i will be taking classes monday, tuesday and thursday, three hours a day for four weeks (to start).

my first day was yesterday. because i have some knowledge of french i was placed in a slightly advanced beginners class. i had to introduce myself to the other students and tell them what i do for a living, and they had to do the same for me. one of the other americans in the class is a young woman from new york (julia) who is a residential interior designer! she's not currently working, but i think we might be able to help each other; we are meeting for coffee next week to discuss business.

i decided that the class i was initially placed in was a bit too advanced for me; i could understand about 70% of what the teacher was saying. so today i was placed in a class one level down. still not complete beginner, but fairly elementary. in this class i understand the instructor about 90% of the time, so it's much better for me. did i mention the instructors speak only in french? we follow a work book that has illustrations as well as text, and the teacher uses her body a lot to describe what she is trying to convey. i sat down randomly next to a young woman from miami (millie). turns out she went to my high school in florida (go chargers!).

now what is the likelihood that i would make a connection with someone in both my classes? kismet! i just need to continue to find contacts and make connections in order to finally land a job. i hope that happens soon.