University

Again, I find myself at Book in Bar, which is the quaint little British Book store in town. I've just reviewed my notes from one of my electives, "History of the Fifth Republic," with Holly. The class seemed filled with lots of information and super intense, but after reviewing them, I'm realizing that it's just a harder to process simple things when they're presented entirely in French. It took us probably 10 minutes to review the conditions for becoming President of France, which took an entire three hour class to present. 

I've finally ironed out my schedule. I'll be taking two hours of French Monday mornings from 9-11, and then 'History of the Fifth Republic' from 1:30-4:30. Tuesday is going to be a mind fry. I have French Language from 8:30-12:30, 'Mythology in Art' from 1-4, and then 'Translation/Interpretation' from 4:30-6:30. That's 9 hours of class on Tuesdays! Wednesdays I'll have French Language from 8:30-12:30 and then it's the weekend. I suppose I shouldn't complain because I have a 4.5 day weekend.

The classes aren't necessarily difficult, they're just taught very differently. Classes are much less structured than in the United States. In the US I usually refer to the first day of class as "syllabus day." The professors pass out readings and course materials for the semester and you can get a good guage on what the layout of the semester is going to be like. Only in one of my classes here did I receive a syllabus - on it - 3 bullet points with the general topics we'll discuss. The first day of classes here they jump right in giving a full lecture without mentioning the aim of the class, which is frustrating because I don't know whether these courses will be too hard for me.

At the same time, I'm ready to accept the challenge and I'm eager to see how my French will be upon my return to the USA!

Off to Paris tomorrow - à bientôt!