The Olde Bulldogge

After 6 straight hours of class, a quick at-home workout (I used a cast iron skillet to do triceps), and a dash to the Monoprix for toiletries (shampoo, conditioner, and deodorant was 14 euro a.k.a. too expensive), I went for a language exchange at the local British pub: The Olde Bulldogge.

I arrived thirty minutes early, so I milled around the Old City Centre for awhile. Of course, the clouds opened up and it began to downpour. I ran to the nearest store, hovered inside, checked the price of an umbrella (15 euro too much) and decided I could wait it out. Luckily, five minutes later I was out on the street again.

The Olde Bulldogge can sit comfortable about 20 people-- and by the time I arrived, chose my seat by a friendly looking French girl, and ordered my hamburger and fries, the pub housed at least 25 students all eagerly waiting to practice their French or English.

The friendly looking French girl was named Julie. She is 18 and studying Chinese, law, and English at the local university in Aix. She was very patient with me, as I have had 2 years of French, but she has had 8 of English. She was very polite about correcting my mistakes, and didn't seem bored when it took me at least ten minutes to describe a funny incident involving Zach, the Castro District of San Francisco, and an ice cream shop.

I'm glad I went, and I will definitely be going again next week, if not for the practice, for the delicious burger. Karinne ordered a hamburger at a cafe the other day, and it was served to her bunless and slightly seared a.k.a. very, very pink (I might even describe it as red). The Olde Bulldogge does it up right, with buns, cooked meat, and even the luxury of ketchup.

Slightly unrelated note that might restore my faith in phonetics: I did learn one interesting thing in Phonetics about differing English and French word emphasis in sentences.

In French, all the syllabuls are strung together with equal emphasis until the last syllabul in the sentence, which is drawn out and emphasized. If I were to draw the sound, it would look like a flat line with a spike at the end.

For example: Je veut aller au magaSIN.

In English, we alternate emphasizing words, so our emphasis in a sentence goes up and down. If I were to draw the sound, it would look like waves.

For example: I want to GO to the STORE.

My phonetics professor was saying that Amerians think the French way is more "sexy" because of the big bang at the end, while the French think the American way is more "sexy" because it is up and down and all over the place.

Which do you think is more sexy? Have you ever thought about your sentence pronunciation being "sexy"? Think about it next time you tell someone you want to go to the STORE.