Papers due Friday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Three are worth half my grade, one is worth all of my grade (OH JOY). Katie visiting from Thursday night to Tuesday morning. Flight home Sunday morning.
If I can make it to next Sunday evening, I will vomit with relief.
Now I'm just sitting around rubbing my face and ears because they're all NAKED and there are no jingly sounds when I do it. It feels niiiiiiiice. I also took a picture of my ear because it looks weird with the empty holes.
/overshare
I just finished course registration for next semester, and it actually went really well. But it was SO DAMN INTENSE!
They basically just open up all the courses to all exchange students and an orgy of selection begins. The one course that I didn't get, Histoire de Paris, filled completely in THREE MINUTES. Oh well.
He's my schedule!
1. Food and Foodways : A social and political history of eating (Fuck. Yes.)
2. Minority and Politics (seems sort of blah, but the reading list gave me hope)
3. L'identité sexuelle en question (We get to read Gender Theory!)
4. Black music and politics in the U.S 1950-Present (SO EXCITED!)
5. Online Social Networks (The course description mentioned facebook, myspace, google, and twitter. I was sold.)
6. Orientalism revisited (Western/Arab images! Edward Said! Yay!)
7. Best Sellers (This is what I got instead of the History of Paris. The reading list includes 'Gone With the Wind', 'Lolita', and 'THE DA VINCI CODE'. I'm actually really excited.)
I freaked out for a bit because losing the History of Paris course meant I was down a history course, and Best Sellers is probably going to count as a Literature course, which really doesn't fit into my degree. I also only got one French course. But then I was like "OH FUCK IT." Because I am on exchange, and I want to take interesting courses. This semester was full of such crap courses lol, I'm so jonesing for February :D
Also, I sat down and though about it, and it actually sort of works out. I'll have taken 6 poli sci courses, 6 history courses (because one of the ones I took this semester is 4 hours a week and kind of counts as two courses), and 2 random others (one sociology and one literature)
/excited ranting
So last week my T.A announced that the "devoir sur table" (wth, homework on the table?, I guess it means "in class assignment") would be that we would be given a topic, and have to write an essay/exposé outline for it. This would involve :
Full Introduction
Point I - Snappy Title
Sub Points : A. B. C.
Point II - Snappy Title
Sub Points : A. B. C.
Point C - Snappy Title
Sub Points : A. B. C.
Full Conclusion
Okay... so it's an outline. Cool. But we're getting the full two hours of tutorial for this. Two hours. Two write an outline.
Now, I have absolutely NO DOUBT that the French kids will be writing until the very last second. Me, on the other hand, I'll finish some shit outline in like 15 minutes and start freaking out.
Uggh, WHY do they take their outlines here SO GODDAMN SERIOUS! When I write a damn outline, it's like "WRITE EVERYTHING I KNOW. MAKE UP SOME SORT OF COHERANT LOOKING ORDER. DONE". The only way I can see this taking two hours is because of the full intro and conclusions. But SERIOUSLY? I've had full EXAMS that have been two hours. That involved two FULL ESSAYS.
THIS IS JUST ONE OUTLINE GARBLE GARBLE WHINE.
I think I'll bring a light snack to occupy the 1 hour and 45 minutes I will have to spare. Or I guess I would need a three course meal.
Or else write really slowly...?
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I QUIT.
*deflates*
Edit : Haaaaa, I'm reading about the Gulf War and I came across this gem.
"Each nation participating had its own operation name for its contribution: U.S. - Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm; UK - Operation Granby; Canada - Operation Friction; France - Operation Daquet etc."
And Canada picks a name that sounds like a gay porno.
My one class for today was canceled (yay!), but I wanted to go to school for around 12 to go to the library and get to work on my last four papers. I woke up, though, still somehow feeling like satan's left testicle. It has officially been over 48 hours, this food poisoning thing NEEDS TO BE OVER.
So I leave at about 1, but then I miss my subway stop by about three stops because I was just zooooooooned out. The walking up to the building, zoning out again, I tripped on the curb and body-checked the wall (face first).Some tiny French girl helped me up and seemed very distressed, People are nice here.... sometimes.
Then I go buy a sandwich, eat, do barely any work (the book my prof suggest I write on is so booooooooooring), and as I got up to move to the library, I knocked over the high chair I was sitting on. I just kind of stared at it and the guy was coming to help me, but I righted it and ran away.
Chilled in the library for a couple hours, then left at about 5pm because I was supposed to go to that "Foreign Kids Remedial Help" thing. Well, I get there and wait and no one shows up. Swank.
On my way back to the subway, I see a guy collecting donations for AIDS, and give him everything I have (which was, sadly, only 5 euros). Then I realised I had no food in my fridge, and now no money. So I went to the grocery store (thinking I'd just use my French bank card), but found that they had Knorr chicken noodle soup packets for 54 euro cents! Jubulations!
So I bought one (and looked like a winner at the cash), and get home to find that the DemonChild is home and feeling screamy.
Actually, now that I've written it out, it really wasn't that bad at all. At least I have soup. :D
But I starting like, tripping balls while trying to fall asleep and kept seeing baby seals and swirly patters. Once I actually fell asleep I had really weird fever dreams where there was some sort of student riot at school, and I became leader of the "Food Poisoning Front" and people told me that my 'political blog' inspired them into activism (I know, right? Delusions of grandeur much?).
I woke up at 3am and I guess it had passed, so I shucked my like, 80lbs of extra clothing. This morning I was SO HUNGRY because I hadn't eaten anything since 3pm yesterday. I ate a metric ass-ton of food lol.
All in all, very odd.
20 DAYS! :D
Excuse me please to be going to die in a corner now lol.
/tmi
So the opera singing and the recitation of lines from ZORRO and the screaming and the horrible horrible soul crushingly repetitive whistling and clapping combination has begun again and and and...
fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-
I swear, swear, that no 6-year-old I watched when I worked in that first grade class was as mind-crushingly LOUD and INSANE as this 10-year-old kid is. Even that art class gig with
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
rabby, the kids all seem like FREAKING ANGELS right now.*flail*
In other news, Paris is disgustingly wet and horrible and dreary. Also, a guy followed me through a subway station asking me out over and over and over and tried to follow me onto the next subway before I told him to go away.
I think he even outright asked me to go home with him.
Oh Paree...
Her : "Sorry! Can I borrow your cell phone to call my mom quick" (the mom's gone for the weekend)
Me : Oh I'm sorry, I actually don't have a cell..."
Her : "................no cell?"
Me : "Nope"
Her "No..... other means of communication?
Me : ".......................................
I wanted to be like "What other means of communication, smoke signals?"
Seriously, is it so freaking weird to not have a cell? Especially since I'm only here for a year?
Well, I guess it is, but people are like, HORRIFIED when I tell them. One of my friends was like "BUT HOW DO YOU MAKE PLANS???" and I was like "Well, I email/message/use a land-line phone/talk to them in person, and then stick to the arranged plans". Is it really that hard to make plans in advance and actually FOLLOW THROUGH?.
At this point I'm considering not getting a phone at all just because A) I've already been here three months B) It seems to anger people and I find that funny because I'm a jerk.
Maybe it's because I only got a phone my first year of uni, but HONESTLY, KIDS THESE DAYS. >:(
I just got an email from my cours magistrale that basically said, if I may summarise...
"I know it must be hard taking this course in a foreign language/the pace of this class is fast/your other courses, I'm going to have extra help sessions just for the foreign kids!"
(and for those of you who happen to read French : Consciente de la difficulté pour vous de suivre, dans une langue étrangère, le rythme de travail imposé dans le cours d'Histoire internationale, ainsi que dans les autres cours que vous pouvez suivre au sein de Sciences Po, je me propose de vous aider en vue de la préparation du devoir qui aura lieu en cours la semaine prochaine, jeudi 3 décembre.) I know she's just being thoughtful, but on some level I'm really sick of getting special treatment because I'm foreign. And it's stupid, I know, because this IS the class I'm doing the worst in (it's four hours a week, twice the work of the other classes, and I hate it with a fiery passion), so I should really really really take advantage of this opportunity.But...
THE SECOND I STARTED READING IT I WAS ALL LIKE "BITCH DON'T KNOOOOW ME. I DON'T NEED UNSOLLICITED OFFERS OF EXTRA HELP! SCREW YOU I'M FINE.
It's also the fact that it was sent out ONLY to the foreign kids in the class, no French kids. (No special help for them!) It just makes me so defensive lol.
So I sucked it up and signed up for "Foreign Kid Remedial Help".
I've basically decided that I'm taking at least LESS French courses next semester (At the very least no cours magistral...). It means I'll have to take 7 courses (Oh GOD), but taking these courses in French is breaking my soul and not improving my French.
Because the whole reason I came to France was to practice my conversational/daily French. I feel that I've hit my saturation point for what I can learn in a class setting after like 3278973289 years of French classes. Plus it's not like I'm being taught the language in these courses, I'm just getting my soul destroyed (although I do learn lots of new (useless) French equivalents of (useless) English terms. NATO = l'OTAN, le SDN = the League of Nations etc).
Sciences Po is one of those experiences that I'll be grateful for in the long run, but that I hate with the fiery passion of a million suns right now.
*twitch*
LJ deleted this entry at one point. I guess it was trying to tell me to stop being a whiny bitch lol
Last week I haded in two papers and did a presentation. Tomorrow I have two 20 minute presentations and a test. Once that's done I have four more papers in two weeks, two French two English. One of them is worth MY ENTIRE MARK.
I can't....take it anymore.
*quiet sobbing*
Hee... It reminds me of the Carol of the Bells rounds we used to do in the hallways in high school. :D
It.Is.Epic.
It's basically any songs that are A) Tied to ANY sort of inside joke B) Are inappropriate for a wedding C)Were on the original list (I am kind...) D) Have a cheese factor of 11 E) Remind me of Kromas or The Group for any reason F) Are just funny.
I will also consider requests!
I'm excited.
I love the reporter at the end who was like "SHE UNFRIENDED ME :(("
I was working on a paper with a French friend and I used the word "dactylographier" and she was like "Wat" and I was like "Let me guess, no one uses that word?" and she was like "Dear God that's old. It makes me think of a type-writer..." and I was like "...............*sigh*".
I swear I had teachers in highschool use that word. Or else how the fuck do I know it! DX GAWD!
Everyone hates on Canadian French. Or maybe it's just my French. WHO THE HELL TAUGHT ME THIS OUT-DATED SHIT? Everyone makes fun of me lol.
Also we were making our paper plan (as a point of reference, French methodology is EXTREMELY FUCKING ANAL ABOUT THEIR OUTLINES. They have to be, as my methodology prof called it "a well ordered French garden. Super specific format that is completely foreign to me as a... well... foreigner. Anywhos, that's a whole other post...)
The point is, were were working and I gave a suggestion for some section topics and she clapped and said I was turning into a "vraie francaise" and then introduced me to a friend as "the most francaise canadienne".
Fuck I need to get out of here. THEY ARE TURNING ME INTO ONE OF THEM. NO.
But I have a couple bones to pick...
A) THEY KEEP CALLING ME AMERICAN. The thing is, they seem to realise that I'm not from the U.S, but they don't seem to realise that using the word "American" to refer to "North Americans" doesn't really work. Or they're like my "Wars of Memories" prof who just actually thinks all the Canadians are Americans (there ARE NO AMERICANS IN THE CLASS). I need to show everyone that Arrogant Worms video explaining how Canadians are not Americans lol. It's not that I'm all "FUUUUCK I H8 AMUURICA" but it's like "Heeeeey.... my country exists! Outside of the U.S! Why does no one love us..."
B) Second, every time I talk about Québec and the French in Canada they're like "QUEBEC ISN'T FRENCH" and I'm like "WELL THEY'RE FUCKING SPEAKING FRENCH AREN'T THEY?". I guess it's the opposite of my "American/North American" pet peeve. In Canada when we say "that French guy" we mean that they are francophone. (Ie: someone from Quebec? French person. Someone from France? French person. Someone from Haiti? French person.) But I guess that's incorrect. But they could stop acting that being associated with Quebec is like, the shitiest shit shit ever... (Omg, this is exactly my "America/North American" arguement in reverse. I'M SO TORN.)
Thank you lj. You let me talk out my cultural crises to avoid writing a paper. <3
<_<
>_>
(.......................................
So I never forget JABAJA...
Yessssssssssssss
Edit: OH YEAH! This reminds me of when I was hanging out with a french friend, trying to convince him to do his exchange to Canada because he could see awesome things. Like moose.
But he didn't know what a moose was, so I told him to google it and when he did he screamed.
What three items would you place in a time capsule to help future generations understand you? Submitted By |
Three Internets.
OR FIVE.
The one I have on now, the underwire is broken in three places. The other one, two places. Nnnnnngggghhhh IT STABS ME. SO MUCH.
EDIT : GOT MY PLANE TICKET TODAY, DEFINITELY COMING HOME! LANDING DECEMBER 20TH AT 10:30 IN MONTREAL, MARK IT ON YOUR CALENDERS LOL.
Planes though.... urhhhhggg.... :(
