French Friday!

This week I officially registered for my classes, signifying the beginning of my master's in French comp lit! ...Quite a change from the sports management master's program I completed a year of but ditched my studies in favor of a full-time job. But that's a story for another time.

On my plate for Fall 2011 will be Teaching Methods for my TAship (I'll be teaching 1-2 introductory undergrad French grammar classes), Théâtre du XIXe siècle (19th Century French Theater) and a cultural class that's cross-listed in the French, Italian and comp lit departments: Paris & Florence in the Middle Ages. I'm beyond excited to get started. However, a small part of me is fairly nervous/apprehensive. I haven't officially taken, spoken, or read French since 2008 and feel like I needed to do something to prepare myself over the next three months.

Enter {French Friday}! During the week, I am hoping to absorb all the French news/movies I can in effort to retrain my ear and cultivate my knowledge of French language/current events. These posts will feature various elements of French culture, cuisine, linguistics, literature, politics, geography, etc. Basically, it will be a little piece of France every week, from me to you :)

We'll ease into it this week with some of my favorite things right now. I present to you one of my favorite all-time songs, Complainte de la Butte by Rufus Wainwright (eh, who cares that he's Canadian and speaks English, the song is in French haha). I would say extra points if you can guess what movie it's from but it says it right on the video, oops :) Yes, Moulin Rouge! has been my favorite movie since 2001. So great.

The other video I have for you is a recent discovery. Grand Marnier has begun airing commercials in my area and I LOVE THEM! They're vintage and fun, like all the old French travel posters I adore. And of course, they're entirely in French! Here is a longer version of the one I keep seeing:

Grand Marnier - Balcony from Bo Opfer on Vimeo.

If you were curious about this Grand Marnier ad campaign, read more here. Oh and they also have an iPhone app. I'm definitely checking it out :) Please note, I have not been compensated by Grand Marnier to write any of this. This purely stems from my love of the French language and vintage French designs!

Bonne journée à tous! xx