I am sitting in front of my desk, thinking about what I should do tomorrow, listening to a recently-discovered awesome band called The Velvet Underground (well actually not really recent since one of their songs was the soundtrack of JUNO), and once again embracing the miracle (?) that happened to me yesterday.
Yes, actually I am here to talk about the 'miracle.' It can be a little boring but it marked a quite important history in my life so I will have to talk about it.
When I first arrived in France in this January, I did not know any French except Bonjour and Merci. I started my French course at the Sorbonne in February as A1 student. (the levels are A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2. and obviously A1 is the most basic one). When the course first started I had no idea what the professors were talking about. I had to always ask around and with my guessing skills, figure out what they were saying. After three months, I finished my course and got a A1 certificate.
During the summer this year, I spent some time working on myself on French at home. I always talked with the family I live with in French and watched some TV shows in French. Then September arrived. The month of registration. The month of French level test. The month that can determine my academic life for next few years.
I arrived at the center early in the morning, quite nervous. I had to write two essays in 30 minutes then there was listening and answering questions and finally oral exam. I was quite confident when I finished but still quite anxious since I had to get at least B1 or luckily B2 to apply to university.
Yesterday the result came out. I arrived an hour earlier than the time the result was supposed to be posted on the bulletin board, for I had no idea when it was going to come out. I was waiting there with a girl when suddenly a staff came up to us asking if we were there for the result. We said yes and she told us to follow her so that she could show us the result before the others arrived. We followed and I found out that I had got B2 on the exam. I was ecstatic! With B2, I could apply to university right away. Then the staff told me something more surprising: that I could maybe talk to the director and ask if I can go study in C1 class. I couldn't wait to go talk to her and after waiting patiently for my turn, finally got to sit in front of her desk, asking the question I wanted the answer to be a big YES.
At first, she looked at me and said, the staff just can't tell everyone that they could change the class like this. She didn't look that satisfied. But she asked for my name to look for my test in the stack. When she found it and read my essays again, her complexion changed a little and said, 'oh you were the student.' Then she preceded skimming through the essay and wrote down a huge C1 on the top of the page. She asked me if I already had the certificate of B2, and I told her that I had only A1 right now but I studied by myself during summer. She became completely positive and welcoming, saying that there should be more students like me.
So the miracle is that I got to the level of C1 in half a year of studying French (I would just apply for master's if I had bachelor's now). I really didn't expect it at all. But well, I got it. Yes, I am bragging here but it's something that truly made me happy. Oh the days I couldn't understand a thing and felt so left out and miserable... Now it's gone. I can communicate with people in French!
So people, don't give up, keep trying. There's nothing you can't do if you try your best!
xx
Liz
No comments:
Post a Comment