Lesson learned

Today we had our first round of placement exams. This consisted of several sections, including oral comprehension, written comprehension, and written expression. Tomorrow I go back for the final and most challenging part of the test- oral expression. I have a 10 minute one-on-one time slot with a professor who will be grilling me on an unknown topic. Yikes! Fortunately for me I’ve heard they weigh your written proficiency more than oral competency. Testing wasn’t really too bad, either. I think I did fine. Plus we had a short break in the middle to venture off, stretch, get snacks, use the restroom, etc…(why are lines for the men’s room always so much shorter than ours?). 

After today I promise to [try to] never blog about bathrooms again, but something interesting happened the other day that I think is worth mentioning. I got locked in a bathroom on campus. I know that in hindsight it’s really funny, but at the time it was terrifying. We had just finished class for the day and I went to the cafeteria with 2 other kids in our group. The food isn’t great, but it’s pretty cheap and fast. We were in a hurry to eat because we had to be back to our director’s apartment to meet up for a group excursion. So we ate our lunches and I went to find a bathroom. After wandering aimlessly for a couple of minutes, I found one.  Another weird hiccup about this bathroom was that the toilet paper was NOT in the stalls. You had to grab it from a dispenser shared between all of them. So after clearing that up I went to a stall, but come to find out the lock was broken. So I go to another one. The lock works and I have TP in hand. I think I’m out of the woods…but I’m not. 

It turns out that this particular lock worked a little bit too well….so well, in fact, that I couldn’t unlock the door at all. So I’m standing there twisting, pulling, turning the lock and nothing is happening. The stall door goes from floor to ceiling, so I couldn’t even crawl under.  I start to worry. Then I realize I left all of my things at the cafeteria table with the other students. I don’t even have a phone to call for help. No one has come by this bathroom in the entire time I’ve been here. I pound on the door…nothing. I call for help...still nothing.  Finally I hear someone come in and I shout

-Excusez-moi!

-Oui? (I’ve never been so relieved!)

-Je ne peux pas ouvrir la porte! (‘I can’t open the door!’)

(My panic was momentarily overshadowed by the burst of pride I felt for being able to form a coherent sentence in French under such extreme stress.)

She struggles with the door from the outside, but to no avail. She tells me to wait while she goes to find help. After she leaves I feel worry start creeping back in. What if she doesn’t come back? What if she gets distracted by the bacon quiche and forgets to find help for me? Fortunately I think that I scored the last bacon quiche, so no distractions, and she came back a minute later. She said someone was coming with a key. I thank her and she leaves. Soon someone shuffles in and I hear the lock turning from the outside. The door opens, and I’m free! I thank the janitor and she says “Oh yes, I forgot that this lock is broken.”

All’s well that ends well, I suppose…but why would they not put a sign up? How many people have to get locked in the stall for them to bother? Oh, well. Lesson learned- never go to the bathroom alone. Or if you must, at least check the lock and make sure you have your cell phone to call for help.

Word of the day:

Plume (noun)- a bird feather, or the adorable grey and white fluffy cat whose fur is covering all of my belongings. Cat hair everywhere…I feel so at home!