For the first time in weeks (maybe even months), my heart is beating at a comfortable rhythm. I stepped out of my last course of the day, and didn’t rush off to study Edmund Burke at the library, nor to research EU policies on my computer, nor to argue with one of the many frustrating institutions constantly trying to make life difficult. I survived Sciences Po midterms…
“Midterms” is the nice way to put it, actually. My last 3 weeks (and weekends) have consisted of research paper after research paper with a test and presentation here and there. Unlike most schools in the states, Sciences Po doesn’t have a week of exams to test your comprehension. The lecture courses normally give a test while the electives normally consist of an essay or presentation. I say “normally” because this is not always the case and ---- sticking with the trend now so apparent in my year abroad----somehow I fell away from the model again. English courses in general give more assignments versus the courses in French that assume you are doing the readings and give you one BIG (4 hours) exam at the end of the semester. Personally, I prefer the English approach as it is what I am most accustomed to. When my SEVEN English classes decided to follow this rule, the results were not pretty. I hope to never repeat the weekend that I just emerged from…and to spare you from a gut-wrenching stomach-ache, I won’t go into details. In short, it included: me, 4 days, a laptop, about 15 books (to be fair, I didn’t read them ALL cover to cover…), pajamas and a lamp that was rarely distinguished.
I survived however, and surfaced with 2 especially brilliant research paper (oh I wish!) to cross off the slowly shrinking list on my wall. I haven’t stopped smiling since Monday night at 5:02. The ice-skating rink at the Hotel de Ville is frozen and dancing with all levels of skaters (some who think they are much better then they really are!). The lights on the Grande Rue just behind our house are now lit and include a glittering, blue “Joyeux Fêtes!” The Champs-Elysées was (supposedly) illuminated last week. The wooden huts that had been standing outside of my church (St. Germain des Pres) for 2 weeks have now revealed their true identity: adorned with tinsel and holly, serving mulled wine, and selling every Christmassy item you could ever imagine—les Marchés de Noël have arrived in full force. Besides the onslaught of tourists and increasingly un- navigable department stores, Paris is utterly perfect right now. Now that I am breathing again, everything is ten times more fantastic then before –when I was catching glances of it all from inside libraries.
The cool thing about Paris is that even if you are stuck inside studying, you can do it inside an engineering masterpiece. I spent one whole day inside the Centre Pompidou last week. The building is built “inside-out” so that you can see all of its guts. When it was first built, a lot of people didn’t like it, it was an eye sore in the middle of the monotonous 18th Century buildings. I think it’s just cool. Th
e facility is the home to rotating exhibitions, an art galler
y, a cinema….and one amazing library. It is so amazing that my French Revolution professor forbid us to go on Sunday when the line to get in can reach 2+ hours. Lucky for me, I only had to wait 1! It’s an open stacks library: meaning that you can’t check the books out but it has more then enough space to read and work while looking out over fountains and tourists down below. To think that so many people come to Paris—and even to the Centre Pompidou--without ever seeing it makes me appreciate the chance to be a student here. (Even if it means an over-abundance of work!)
As if the lines at the Centre Pompidou weren’t enough, I got another test of my patience 2 weeks ago as I lined up outside the Billancourt-Boulogne prefecture to find out the status on my still non-existent Carte de Sejour. I arrived at 7am (it opened at 9) and was the first at the door—only to be followed 30 seconds later by 3 others…the line grew unceasingly until reaching about 200 when the doors finally opened. The wait wasn’t as bad as it sounds...knowing what to expect, I had brought homework and bundled up—but never could have predicted having to put up with the most annoying French man I have yet to meet—standing just behind me the entire time. I honestly didn’t know that someone could have so many criticisms of a place they have never been…I responded with a few “well, most Americans are not George Bush…” but avoided stating too much opinion. At least I got to practice my French. After 2 hours of waiting, I finally got up to the counter, proudly presented my temporary carte de sejour and demanded to know why—2.5 months after getting my temporary card and 0.5 months before it expires, I still had not had my medical exam to receive the real card. The woman smiled…yup…she smirked… “C’est normal! Vous avez besoin d’être patiente.” The expiration date of my temporary pass is on December 24th…and there is NO way I am going to go to the doctor on Christmas Eve… “Be patient”—I would like to know the definition of that word here!
I now have one more thing to add to my list of “Things that make me an official Paris resident—aka..NOT a tourist!” I had to get my boot fixed this week and hunted down a leather repair man online. When I got there I realized I didn’t know any French vocabulary about materials or shoes (“the leather on the toe is ripping at the seam”, etc…) So I pointed and used as much as I could…she took the boot, smiled, and told me to come back the next day…5 euro later, I have a perfect boot! (PS…that backpack of shoes is coming in handy…Paris has already eaten 2 of my shoes whole…the boots would make 3!!).
Carly’s sister, Emma, has arrived to stay with us for the next 2 months. Believe it or not, this now makes me the shorted one in a household of 3! They disappeared to Vienna last weekend—leaving me a perfectly silent study space and returned to help put up paper snowflakes. We hosted “Carly and Cassie’s Christmas Calamity”—clever I know! It included far too much sugar: hot cocoa and cookie-decorating. You never appreciate American super markets until you try to bake in France. After hunting down the closest things to US baking soda and flour we could find (the type in the stores here is meant for bread…the trick is to buy the Monoprix Bio one) …we cut out our own shapes with a knife before ruining a perfectly baked first batch---a side effect of the absence of (my now very-admired friend) Pam!! Greasing up the pan with enormous amounts of butter led to the production of some delicious and pretty creative cookies. After a few pans of the normal stuff—angels, trees, snowmen etc… we decided to make the most Christmassy items we could think of. This included among others…a penguin, an intricate gift-box, and, my favorite (if only because it was mine…) a Christmas ham! Who knew that a night with a few Australians, Americans, and Canadians-- a good month before the holiday season --could bring so much cheer?!
PS. My dad just e-mailed me to tell me about the package bomb in Paris today—I hadn’t heard about it yet! It was near the Champs d’Elysées and close to the homes of some of my friends…definitely a reality check in this Paris Wonderland.
“Midterms” is the nice way to put it, actually. My last 3 weeks (and weekends) have consisted of research paper after research paper with a test and presentation here and there. Unlike most schools in the states, Sciences Po doesn’t have a week of exams to test your comprehension. The lecture courses normally give a test while the electives normally consist of an essay or presentation. I say “normally” because this is not always the case and ---- sticking with the trend now so apparent in my year abroad----somehow I fell away from the model again. English courses in general give more assignments versus the courses in French that assume you are doing the readings and give you one BIG (4 hours) exam at the end of the semester. Personally, I prefer the English approach as it is what I am most accustomed to. When my SEVEN English classes decided to follow this rule, the results were not pretty. I hope to never repeat the weekend that I just emerged from…and to spare you from a gut-wrenching stomach-ache, I won’t go into details. In short, it included: me, 4 days, a laptop, about 15 books (to be fair, I didn’t read them ALL cover to cover…), pajamas and a lamp that was rarely distinguished.
I survived however, and surfaced with 2 especially brilliant research paper (oh I wish!) to cross off the slowly shrinking list on my wall. I haven’t stopped smiling since Monday night at 5:02. The ice-skating rink at the Hotel de Ville is frozen and dancing with all levels of skaters (some who think they are much better then they really are!). The lights on the Grande Rue just behind our house are now lit and include a glittering, blue “Joyeux Fêtes!” The Champs-Elysées was (supposedly) illuminated last week. The wooden huts that had been standing outside of my church (St. Germain des Pres) for 2 weeks have now revealed their true identity: adorned with tinsel and holly, serving mulled wine, and selling every Christmassy item you could ever imagine—les Marchés de Noël have arrived in full force. Besides the onslaught of tourists and increasingly un- navigable department stores, Paris is utterly perfect right now. Now that I am breathing again, everything is ten times more fantastic then before –when I was catching glances of it all from inside libraries.
The cool thing about Paris is that even if you are stuck inside studying, you can do it inside an engineering masterpiece. I spent one whole day inside the Centre Pompidou last week. The building is built “inside-out” so that you can see all of its guts. When it was first built, a lot of people didn’t like it, it was an eye sore in the middle of the monotonous 18th Century buildings. I think it’s just cool. Th
e facility is the home to rotating exhibitions, an art gallery, a cinema….and one amazing library. It is so amazing that my French Revolution professor forbid us to go on Sunday when the line to get in can reach 2+ hours. Lucky for me, I only had to wait 1! It’s an open stacks library: meaning that you can’t check the books out but it has more then enough space to read and work while looking out over fountains and tourists down below. To think that so many people come to Paris—and even to the Centre Pompidou--without ever seeing it makes me appreciate the chance to be a student here. (Even if it means an over-abundance of work!)As if the lines at the Centre Pompidou weren’t enough, I got another test of my patience 2 weeks ago as I lined up outside the Billancourt-Boulogne prefecture to find out the status on my still non-existent Carte de Sejour. I arrived at 7am (it opened at 9) and was the first at the door—only to be followed 30 seconds later by 3 others…the line grew unceasingly until reaching about 200 when the doors finally opened. The wait wasn’t as bad as it sounds...knowing what to expect, I had brought homework and bundled up—but never could have predicted having to put up with the most annoying French man I have yet to meet—standing just behind me the entire time. I honestly didn’t know that someone could have so many criticisms of a place they have never been…I responded with a few “well, most Americans are not George Bush…” but avoided stating too much opinion. At least I got to practice my French. After 2 hours of waiting, I finally got up to the counter, proudly presented my temporary carte de sejour and demanded to know why—2.5 months after getting my temporary card and 0.5 months before it expires, I still had not had my medical exam to receive the real card. The woman smiled…yup…she smirked… “C’est normal! Vous avez besoin d’être patiente.” The expiration date of my temporary pass is on December 24th…and there is NO way I am going to go to the doctor on Christmas Eve… “Be patient”—I would like to know the definition of that word here!
I now have one more thing to add to my list of “Things that make me an official Paris resident—aka..NOT a tourist!” I had to get my boot fixed this week and hunted down a leather repair man online. When I got there I realized I didn’t know any French vocabulary about materials or shoes (“the leather on the toe is ripping at the seam”, etc…) So I pointed and used as much as I could…she took the boot, smiled, and told me to come back the next day…5 euro later, I have a perfect boot! (PS…that backpack of shoes is coming in handy…Paris has already eaten 2 of my shoes whole…the boots would make 3!!).
Carly’s sister, Emma, has arrived to stay with us for the next 2 months. Believe it or not, this now makes me the shorted one in a household of 3! They disappeared to Vienna last weekend—leaving me a perfectly silent study space and returned to help put up paper snowflakes. We hosted “Carly and Cassie’s Christmas Calamity”—clever I know! It included far too much sugar: hot cocoa and cookie-decorating. You never appreciate American super markets until you try to bake in France. After hunting down the closest things to US baking soda and flour we could find (the type in the stores here is meant for bread…the trick is to buy the Monoprix Bio one) …we cut out our own shapes with a knife before ruining a perfectly baked first batch---a side effect of the absence of (my now very-admired friend) Pam!! Greasing up the pan with enormous amounts of butter led to the production of some delicious and pretty creative cookies. After a few pans of the normal stuff—angels, trees, snowmen etc… we decided to make the most Christmassy items we could think of. This included among others…a penguin, an intricate gift-box, and, my favorite (if only because it was mine…) a Christmas ham! Who knew that a night with a few Australians, Americans, and Canadians-- a good month before the holiday season --could bring so much cheer?!
PS. My dad just e-mailed me to tell me about the package bomb in Paris today—I hadn’t heard about it yet! It was near the Champs d’Elysées and close to the homes of some of my friends…definitely a reality check in this Paris Wonderland.
