Voter abstention and DayQuil: finals week at Sciences Po

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.