Just thought I'd mention I survived my exams...and I'm pretty sure I passed.
Yesterday, I took the final for my political sociology class. The topic was "La participation politique dans les democraties occidentales" (Political participation in Western democracies). It was a general enough subject that I was able to incorporate examples from a number of different lectures/topics. Hopefully that's a good thing. It was a four hour-long test, and I surprisingly actually used about 3 of those hours...however, that may have been partly due to the fact that my brain was sort of foggy from a combination of a cold, DayQuil, and sleep deprivation. Oh, well.
This afternoon, I had the exam for my class on the European Union. Brain was still foggy. This time, I had to write on 3 topics in 3 hours. I've stopped wondering about the imbalance here. My topics were: "Le Traite de Lisbonne va-t-il resoudre les problemes de l'Union europeenne?" (Will the Lisbon Treaty solve the EU's problems?), "L'Union europeenne protege-t-elle ses citoyens?" (Does the EU protect its citizens?), and "L'Union europeenne est-elle une puissance internationale?" (Is the EU an international power?). Using brainstorming and outlining techniques that I learned in my AP European History class in high school -- gotta love how everything comes full circle -- I think I was able to pull together coherent answers for all three. I won't find out for sure for at least a month or so, when my grades are sent to Georgetown.
I am now officially done with school for the semester. Now, I have 2 full days to say goodbye to Paris before I leave for Morocco...to start school again. I'm trying to remind myself why I thought this was a good idea. I'm sure I'll remember by the time I'm sitting on the plane on my way to Fez. Fez. I've always wanted to go to Fez... (If you couldn't tell, the brain is still a bit foggy from Quil of both the Day and Night varieties.)
Here is the "programme" for the next two days:
Tomorrow, I'm going on a Chocolate Tour of Paris with my friend J and her mom. Yes, you read correctly. I've been looking forward to this since February, when I discovered it existed. It's like my birthday and Christmas, all rolled up into one Parisian-coated package. Excellent.
Afterward, I'm planning on going to the Musee d'Orsay and/or the Musee Rodin. I'm determined not to let this cold (by the way, is there anything worse than a sniffly, stuffy cold in the summertime? I think not.) ruin my last days here, but at the same time, I'm trying to take it easy because I don't want to be sick when I get to Morocco. Ugh.
Runny noses aside, tomorrow evening is the annual Repas dans la rue for all the neighbors, so I will join everyone for dinner outside on our little street. I will probably end up holding babies and entertaining kids for most of it. Some things never change.
And as for Friday...I'm not sure what I'll do. Laundry, first of all, so I can finish packing. And I need to take a box of books to the post office. Other than that, I think I might just take some pastries and fresh fruit to the Jardin du Luxembourg and enjoy the sunshine. I'd go crazy if I tried to race around the city to say goodbye to all my favorite places. Plus I think I'd make myself too upset. Maybe it's better if I don't say any "official" goodbyes. I know I'll be back someday. There's a saying that "you never truly leave the ones you love." I think that applies to places, as well.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
You know you're on study abroad if...
...you can fail your final exams and still pass your classes. True story. I just did the math. Actually, this would probably be true of most of my class at Georgetown, as well (aside from their rule that you have to pass the final in order to receive credit for the course), but it would never occur to me to do the calculations.
Yes, it is now officially finals season at Sciences Po...and one of the most relaxed finals seasons I have experienced. I am already done with 3 of my classes: I have my grades and did quite well (if I do say so myself) in my Arabic and urban planning courses, and I have no idea what I got in French -- but knowing the professor, I'm not worried. That leaves my two "big" classes -- political sociology and the history of the EU. As I mentioned, I took time out from studying today to realize that I don't even have to pass the exams in order to get a passing grade in each of them. This is a very odd experience for me, and thus I feel fully justified in taking a mini-vacation for the past week.
After the Georgetown girls left last Tuesday, I had a few days to catch my breath (and finish my last expose) before my brother and grandmother arrived on Thursday. I had my last day of class on Friday (including the dreaded last expose) while they museum hopped and took a bus tour of the city. On Saturday, we did a fairly impressive Paris mini-marathon: Notre Dame, Sainte-Chapelle, the Conciergerie and Berthillon ice cream in the morning; a lunch break at the apartment with my host mom; a trek to Montmartre for Sacre Coeur and the view; and finally dinner at a delicious fondue restaurant to celebrate my birthday and my brother's high school graduation. Sunday morning, we caught the Thalys to Holland, land of blue skies, green grass, happy cows, and family.
Bright and early on Monday morning (and I can only say this because Holland is far enough north that it is actually bright at 6am), we caught the ferry boat to Terschelling, an island to the north, and spent the day biking around the Oerol theater and music festival. It was such a different atmosphere from the hurried, formal -- dare I say Parisian? -- feeling of Paris -- and such a welcome break. On Tuesday, we spent most of the day visiting with family. Much tea was had, along with sukerbolle (bread with little clumps of sugar in it that sounds gross but is actually delicious), Nagel cheese (very strong cheese with cloves in it), and dropjes (dark licorice that actually is disgusting, no matter what my Nana says). In the evening, we all went to my aunt's choir performance. She sings in a group that specializes in international music, and aside from the fact that they sounded really great, it was fun for me because I could understand the songs in French and English!
On Wednesday, my little brother set out with one of our uncles on a 180km cycling trek across Friesland. I chose to spend the day at the house, reading while surrounded by purring cats and a very affectionate dog, with a short break to run some errands with my aunt in town, and later to help "fetch" the neighbors cows for milking (yes, you read correctly. I did indeed fetch the cows). At the end of the day, we were both very happy campers. And yes, I'm sure we are related.
Sadly, all vacations must come to an end, and so I headed back to Paris on Thursday. The trip ended up taking a bit longer than expected: there was a problem with the local train that resulted in me missing my connection to the high-speed Thalys. I was able to get a seat on the next train a few hours later, though, so it worked out just fine in the end.
I spent most of the day today settling back in to the peace and quiet after my marathon 2.5 weeks of visitors and traveling. Despite my lack of usual finals period panic, I managed to get a fair bit of studying done today, in addition to making a list of things to do and see before I leave for Morocco a week (!) from tomorrow:
-visit the Musees d'Orsay and Rodin. Stand in awe of amazing European art.
-visit the Calder exhibit at the Centre Pompidou. Make host mother happy for (finally) taking her suggestion.
-finally go inside the Ste-Germaine-des-Pres church after walking by it every day on the way to school.
-buy English-language reading material for the plane at Shakespeare & Co bookstore.
-stock up on books for thesis at Gibert Joseph.
-figure out how to transport/mail above-mentioned books in the most cost-effective manner.
-drink mint tea at the Mosquee.
-buy strawberries on rue Mouffetard.
-carry strawberries to the Jardin du Luxembourg and eat them in the sunshine while watching adorable French children float boats in the fountain.
-drink coffee in a cafe while reading Le Monde.
-take pictures of everything. Even if it makes me feel like a tourist.
-try not to become too sentimental thinking about how much I will miss this.
-promise self to come back someday.
I'm not sure if I will have time to update again before I leave for Morocco. However, at some point (using an idea borrowed from a fellow study abroad friend!) I plan to post a series of lists -- things I will and will not miss, things that surprised me, things I learned -- to sum up my "sejour" in Paris.
One more week... Time has been behaving very strangely lately. Sometimes I swear I can feel the seconds ticking away unbearably slowly. Other times I look at the clock to realize an entire day has slipped away without notice. In February, I had no idea what it would feel like to have just one more week. But I'm not going to spend my time thinking or writing about that now. That's a subject for another time.
Yes, it is now officially finals season at Sciences Po...and one of the most relaxed finals seasons I have experienced. I am already done with 3 of my classes: I have my grades and did quite well (if I do say so myself) in my Arabic and urban planning courses, and I have no idea what I got in French -- but knowing the professor, I'm not worried. That leaves my two "big" classes -- political sociology and the history of the EU. As I mentioned, I took time out from studying today to realize that I don't even have to pass the exams in order to get a passing grade in each of them. This is a very odd experience for me, and thus I feel fully justified in taking a mini-vacation for the past week.
After the Georgetown girls left last Tuesday, I had a few days to catch my breath (and finish my last expose) before my brother and grandmother arrived on Thursday. I had my last day of class on Friday (including the dreaded last expose) while they museum hopped and took a bus tour of the city. On Saturday, we did a fairly impressive Paris mini-marathon: Notre Dame, Sainte-Chapelle, the Conciergerie and Berthillon ice cream in the morning; a lunch break at the apartment with my host mom; a trek to Montmartre for Sacre Coeur and the view; and finally dinner at a delicious fondue restaurant to celebrate my birthday and my brother's high school graduation. Sunday morning, we caught the Thalys to Holland, land of blue skies, green grass, happy cows, and family.
Bright and early on Monday morning (and I can only say this because Holland is far enough north that it is actually bright at 6am), we caught the ferry boat to Terschelling, an island to the north, and spent the day biking around the Oerol theater and music festival. It was such a different atmosphere from the hurried, formal -- dare I say Parisian? -- feeling of Paris -- and such a welcome break. On Tuesday, we spent most of the day visiting with family. Much tea was had, along with sukerbolle (bread with little clumps of sugar in it that sounds gross but is actually delicious), Nagel cheese (very strong cheese with cloves in it), and dropjes (dark licorice that actually is disgusting, no matter what my Nana says). In the evening, we all went to my aunt's choir performance. She sings in a group that specializes in international music, and aside from the fact that they sounded really great, it was fun for me because I could understand the songs in French and English!
On Wednesday, my little brother set out with one of our uncles on a 180km cycling trek across Friesland. I chose to spend the day at the house, reading while surrounded by purring cats and a very affectionate dog, with a short break to run some errands with my aunt in town, and later to help "fetch" the neighbors cows for milking (yes, you read correctly. I did indeed fetch the cows). At the end of the day, we were both very happy campers. And yes, I'm sure we are related.
Sadly, all vacations must come to an end, and so I headed back to Paris on Thursday. The trip ended up taking a bit longer than expected: there was a problem with the local train that resulted in me missing my connection to the high-speed Thalys. I was able to get a seat on the next train a few hours later, though, so it worked out just fine in the end.
I spent most of the day today settling back in to the peace and quiet after my marathon 2.5 weeks of visitors and traveling. Despite my lack of usual finals period panic, I managed to get a fair bit of studying done today, in addition to making a list of things to do and see before I leave for Morocco a week (!) from tomorrow:
-visit the Musees d'Orsay and Rodin. Stand in awe of amazing European art.
-visit the Calder exhibit at the Centre Pompidou. Make host mother happy for (finally) taking her suggestion.
-finally go inside the Ste-Germaine-des-Pres church after walking by it every day on the way to school.
-buy English-language reading material for the plane at Shakespeare & Co bookstore.
-stock up on books for thesis at Gibert Joseph.
-figure out how to transport/mail above-mentioned books in the most cost-effective manner.
-drink mint tea at the Mosquee.
-buy strawberries on rue Mouffetard.
-carry strawberries to the Jardin du Luxembourg and eat them in the sunshine while watching adorable French children float boats in the fountain.
-drink coffee in a cafe while reading Le Monde.
-take pictures of everything. Even if it makes me feel like a tourist.
-try not to become too sentimental thinking about how much I will miss this.
-promise self to come back someday.
I'm not sure if I will have time to update again before I leave for Morocco. However, at some point (using an idea borrowed from a fellow study abroad friend!) I plan to post a series of lists -- things I will and will not miss, things that surprised me, things I learned -- to sum up my "sejour" in Paris.
One more week... Time has been behaving very strangely lately. Sometimes I swear I can feel the seconds ticking away unbearably slowly. Other times I look at the clock to realize an entire day has slipped away without notice. In February, I had no idea what it would feel like to have just one more week. But I'm not going to spend my time thinking or writing about that now. That's a subject for another time.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Georgetown visitors, and the end is in sight?
Whew. It has been a whirlwind of a week and a half. M and K, two of my close friends and former roommates from Georgetown, arrived last Sunday for a ten day visit. They stayed with M's cousins in an adorable little apartment for most of the trip. Someday, when I have a job, I will come back to Paris on vacation and rent a cute little apartment like that. It's important to have long-term goals in life, no?
Even though they were only here for 10 days, it was a jam-packed 10 days. On Monday, we went to Montmartre to see Sacre-Coeur, the view of the city, and the winding little streets filled with artists and ice cream -- a winning combination in my opinion. On Tuesday, K, M and M's cousin spent the day at Roland Garros (otherwise known as the French Open) while I frantically tried to finish my part of what turned out to be a 37 page group paper. Oy. On Wednesday, I had class and a final exam in my urban planning class (side-note: we had a little party after the test. I brought home-made peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, and all of the French kids raved about them, if I do say so myself. I felt as though I achieved quite the culinary victory!).
On Thursday, we took a day trip to Giverny to visit Monet's gardens. We rented bikes next to the train station and soaked in all the green (or at least I did). It was a little hard to imagine the serenity that Monet must have found in his garden due to the hoards of tourists, but the flowers were certainly pretty. We made it back to Paris just in time to claim our seats at the Opera Garnier for the ballet, which was supposedly based on Proust. I'm not sure I understood the literary connection, but the ballet itself was incredible.
Friday was another class and homework day for me (the one downside of having visitors during the last official week of class: you don't get to spend as much time with them as you'd like). On Saturday, K and I took a day trip to Strasbourg, where she studied in the fall, while M and her cousins went to Versailles. Strasbourg is a funny little town; it feels like it can't decide whether it wants to be French or German, which I suppose makes sense given the history of the Alsace region. French, German, or just European, however, it is so charming, and I can see why K misses it! We spent the day wandering, visiting some of her favorite places, and dodging the rain.
On Sunday, several of my friends here joined us for brunch at Breakfast in America -- every study abroad student's dream. I feel as though I can state that with authority, since I have taken every friend who has visited me this semester to eat there, and they seem to have reached a consensus. Sunday also happened to be free museum day, so we stopped by the Centre Pompidou (modern art) and the Musee Marmottan (Monet and others) -- an interesting combination. We had tea at La Duree on the Champs Elysees and stopped by the Arc de Triomphe before rounding out the day with dinner at a delicious Indian restaurant near my apartment, still dodging the rain.
K and I went for tea at the Mosquee and walked through the Jardin des Plantes on Monday morning, then she and the other girls went shopping while I went to class -- notice the hint of bitterness? To celebrate their last night in Paris, we went to see the Tour Eiffel all lit up. No matter how many times I see it, it's still magical.
M had to leave pretty early on Tuesday morning, but K and I had time to visit the Pantheon and have a lovely (indoor, due to the perpetual rain) picnic before she left for the airport.
And that brings us to today. I've been playing catch up with emails and the last remaining bits of homework for most of the day. I'm hoping to have my last assignment (an expose for Friday) finished before I go to bed tonight because my brother and grandma arrive tomorrow afternoon. They'll be in Paris for the weekend, and then I'm leaving with them on Sunday to visit our relatives in Holland before my final exams.
Once again, whew.
Even though they were only here for 10 days, it was a jam-packed 10 days. On Monday, we went to Montmartre to see Sacre-Coeur, the view of the city, and the winding little streets filled with artists and ice cream -- a winning combination in my opinion. On Tuesday, K, M and M's cousin spent the day at Roland Garros (otherwise known as the French Open) while I frantically tried to finish my part of what turned out to be a 37 page group paper. Oy. On Wednesday, I had class and a final exam in my urban planning class (side-note: we had a little party after the test. I brought home-made peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, and all of the French kids raved about them, if I do say so myself. I felt as though I achieved quite the culinary victory!).
On Thursday, we took a day trip to Giverny to visit Monet's gardens. We rented bikes next to the train station and soaked in all the green (or at least I did). It was a little hard to imagine the serenity that Monet must have found in his garden due to the hoards of tourists, but the flowers were certainly pretty. We made it back to Paris just in time to claim our seats at the Opera Garnier for the ballet, which was supposedly based on Proust. I'm not sure I understood the literary connection, but the ballet itself was incredible.
Friday was another class and homework day for me (the one downside of having visitors during the last official week of class: you don't get to spend as much time with them as you'd like). On Saturday, K and I took a day trip to Strasbourg, where she studied in the fall, while M and her cousins went to Versailles. Strasbourg is a funny little town; it feels like it can't decide whether it wants to be French or German, which I suppose makes sense given the history of the Alsace region. French, German, or just European, however, it is so charming, and I can see why K misses it! We spent the day wandering, visiting some of her favorite places, and dodging the rain.
On Sunday, several of my friends here joined us for brunch at Breakfast in America -- every study abroad student's dream. I feel as though I can state that with authority, since I have taken every friend who has visited me this semester to eat there, and they seem to have reached a consensus. Sunday also happened to be free museum day, so we stopped by the Centre Pompidou (modern art) and the Musee Marmottan (Monet and others) -- an interesting combination. We had tea at La Duree on the Champs Elysees and stopped by the Arc de Triomphe before rounding out the day with dinner at a delicious Indian restaurant near my apartment, still dodging the rain.
K and I went for tea at the Mosquee and walked through the Jardin des Plantes on Monday morning, then she and the other girls went shopping while I went to class -- notice the hint of bitterness? To celebrate their last night in Paris, we went to see the Tour Eiffel all lit up. No matter how many times I see it, it's still magical.
M had to leave pretty early on Tuesday morning, but K and I had time to visit the Pantheon and have a lovely (indoor, due to the perpetual rain) picnic before she left for the airport.
And that brings us to today. I've been playing catch up with emails and the last remaining bits of homework for most of the day. I'm hoping to have my last assignment (an expose for Friday) finished before I go to bed tonight because my brother and grandma arrive tomorrow afternoon. They'll be in Paris for the weekend, and then I'm leaving with them on Sunday to visit our relatives in Holland before my final exams.
Once again, whew.
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