La vie quotidienne

Now for my previously planned update about the first week of class and other adventures:

First of all, let me say "whew!" I survived. In fact, all things considered, my first week went much more smoothly than I initially anticipated. Here is a look at my schedule:

Monday: 12h30-14h30 Arabic; 14h45-16h45 Construction of the European Union (lecture); 17h00-19h00 French.

Tuesday: 19h15-21h15 Arabic.

Wednesday: 12h30-14h30 Political sociology (lecture); 19h15-21h15 Urbanism and Parisian politics

Thursday: no class.

Friday: 14h45-16h45 Construction of the EU (section); 19h15-21h15 Political sociology (section).

I can already tell that I like having Thursday (and most of Tuesday) free. I plan on making a concerted effort not to waste that time; I think I will choose a museum or something else to visit every week. However, it feels weird to only have Arabic twice a week, and on consecutive days. At Georgetown, most classes that meet more than once a week are spread out (ex. Monday and Wednesday). Also, I'm not wild about having class until 9pm three times a week, especially since one of those days is Friday. I have already discovered that it's hard for me to focus at that point, after a long day/week.

On the bright side, I have only encountered one class where I have trouble following along. The professor for my political sociology section is quite eccentric, and he speaks faster than anyone I have ever met -- imagine the voice that reads disclaimers on TV or radio commercials, and that should give you a close approximation. I think I will have to come up with some more creative strategies to make sure I know what's going on in this class!

Two observations about the structure/content of the courses themselves:

1. When I saw that my 2 lecture courses had discussion sections, I assumed that these would be similar to the ones at home, essentially an opportunity to review the week's reading and ask questions about the lecture. French sections are quite different; they are more like separate, independent classes that happen to follow the same thematic outline as the lecture sequence. They are taught by full professors, not graduate students, and all of the reading and other work (other than the final exam) is assigned and evaluated in the sections. It's different, but I don't know that I like it any more or any less than the US model.

2. A word about homework. It might well be too soon for me to draw any kind of conclusions here, but I suspect that my workload will be comparatively light for most of the semester. This week, I was assigned a 10 sentence essay in Arabic (this brings back fond memories of level 1 at Georgetown) and roughly 80 pages of reading in total for my other classes (20 pages of which are in English, strangely enough). I'm used to getting at least an hour of Arabic work per night, and somewhere from 50-100 pages of reading per class, per week. Over the course of the semester, I will also have to give 4 10-15 minute oral presentations, 2 of which will be done with a partner, a funny sort of essay for my political sociology class (explanation of French assignments to follow at some point), and a group research paper for the same class.

I'm sure all of this will seem much more stressful when it comes time to actually do the work, but for right now, I am "cautiously optimistic" -- that seems to be my standby catch phrase these days!

And now a brief weekend update:

Yesterday, Saturday, I went on a walking tour of the 9th arrondissement with a friend I met during orientation. Among the highlights were a garden where Chopin and George Sand consorted, a very famous and very tempting sweet shop, and a covered street lined with book, toy, and antique shops. We stopped for hot chocolate in a cafe because we thought we spotted peanut butter and jelly jars on the tables -- they turned out to be hazlenut spread and homemade cherry preserves. Not quite what we had in mind, but delicious nonetheless! We met up with a few more friends for dinner in the Marais district, and we all decided to try some hot mulled wine before the definitive end of winter. It was good, although the steam made it feel like it was going up my nose -- very sophisticated, I know.

Today, I met up with a friend from high school for a day trip to Auvers-sur-Oise, a small town about an hour north of the city where Van Gogh spent the last two months of his life. It was nice to roam around such a cute, pollution-free little town. The museum dedicated to Van Gogh was still closed for the winter, but we saw his gravesite, wandered through fields and forests along dirt paths, and explored the gardens of the chateau nearby. We had a bit of confusion finding the right train to get us back to Paris, but we both made it home safe and sound eventually.

It seems like this weekend flew by. My host mother reminded me at dinner tonight that I have been here for 3 full weeks. I can hardly believe it. One of my high school friends is coming to visit from Florence the week after next. My parents are coming 2 weeks after that. Spring break is 2 weeks after that. Then it will be May already, and my brother and grandma are coming the second week of June. If I'm not careful, I'm worried that the semester will run away from me...but I'm making up my mind to take full advantage of every day here.