Gonna go out on a limb by being a typical Californian and writing a post on the weather ha.
I came to Paris prepared for the weather to come. After two years in Vermont, where the weather can go from 50 degrees and sunny to snowing 5 inches in a matter of hours, I figured that any rapidly changing Parisian weather would be a walk in the park. Ah, but we are so quick to forget the ease of a college campus. While one can quickly run or hustle back to one's Midd dorm in, at most, 15 minutes, that's not always an option in a big city like Paris. Soon, that five minute walk to the metro station can be a very long and wet walk when the heavens decide it's time to amp up the rain from a steady sprinkle to a straight out downpour. I'm sure you're wondering, "So why don't you just bring an umbrella?" Well, in fact I usually do carry my small umbrella around (thank god for large Longchamp bags), but it seems every time I bring it along in fear of rain, no rain appears. So I take it out of my bag the next morning - for example this morning. Lo and behold, it starts raining!
In other news, I had my first exposé this past Tuesday and my first group exposé this past Thursday (as well as 2 essays, a transcription and god knows how many pages of reading...). My individual one was on a question which roughly translates to "Should we worry about the growth of debt?". In 10 minutes, I had to argue that yes, we should worry about the growing debt, specifically focusing on public debt. It was super general, all in French and super nerve-wracking. I'm not sure how I ended up doing, but I believe I botched some of my words so I wasn't super confident afterwards. I'm really coming to appreciate the ease which fluency in a language gives us - though I'm not a big fan of oral projects to begin with, at least in English I know that I am saying the words correctly. In French, there is so much room for mistakes, both linguistically and factually. I've always struggled with confidence when giving presentations, so it's even more difficult when I have to give them in a language that I'm still not totally comfortable with. I have another exposé this Wednesday - it's in my class where I am not only the sole American, but the sole foreigner. The professor quizzes every student after their exposé, which to me always seem really well formatted and succinct, and I can't help but feel way over my head. I'm not even sure I'm formatting mine correctly, let alone getting across the information, using the correct vocabulary or even pronouncing all the words right. I knew Sciences Po and studying abroad in French was going to be difficult, but I didn't think it was going to seem so impossible...
The end of this week will mark the half way point - I would love to think about it being the home stretch, but it certainly feels like things are only going to get more difficult ha.
A step away from the negative? This week I have a ticket to see three ballets by George Balanchine, at the Palais Garnier (http://www.operadeparis.fr/saison_2012_2013/Ballets/george-balanchine/decouvrir/presentation/video ) :) Oh, and Stacy and Tom Hipkins will be here in less than a month! I can't wait :)
Milles bisous xoxo
I came to Paris prepared for the weather to come. After two years in Vermont, where the weather can go from 50 degrees and sunny to snowing 5 inches in a matter of hours, I figured that any rapidly changing Parisian weather would be a walk in the park. Ah, but we are so quick to forget the ease of a college campus. While one can quickly run or hustle back to one's Midd dorm in, at most, 15 minutes, that's not always an option in a big city like Paris. Soon, that five minute walk to the metro station can be a very long and wet walk when the heavens decide it's time to amp up the rain from a steady sprinkle to a straight out downpour. I'm sure you're wondering, "So why don't you just bring an umbrella?" Well, in fact I usually do carry my small umbrella around (thank god for large Longchamp bags), but it seems every time I bring it along in fear of rain, no rain appears. So I take it out of my bag the next morning - for example this morning. Lo and behold, it starts raining!
In other news, I had my first exposé this past Tuesday and my first group exposé this past Thursday (as well as 2 essays, a transcription and god knows how many pages of reading...). My individual one was on a question which roughly translates to "Should we worry about the growth of debt?". In 10 minutes, I had to argue that yes, we should worry about the growing debt, specifically focusing on public debt. It was super general, all in French and super nerve-wracking. I'm not sure how I ended up doing, but I believe I botched some of my words so I wasn't super confident afterwards. I'm really coming to appreciate the ease which fluency in a language gives us - though I'm not a big fan of oral projects to begin with, at least in English I know that I am saying the words correctly. In French, there is so much room for mistakes, both linguistically and factually. I've always struggled with confidence when giving presentations, so it's even more difficult when I have to give them in a language that I'm still not totally comfortable with. I have another exposé this Wednesday - it's in my class where I am not only the sole American, but the sole foreigner. The professor quizzes every student after their exposé, which to me always seem really well formatted and succinct, and I can't help but feel way over my head. I'm not even sure I'm formatting mine correctly, let alone getting across the information, using the correct vocabulary or even pronouncing all the words right. I knew Sciences Po and studying abroad in French was going to be difficult, but I didn't think it was going to seem so impossible...
The end of this week will mark the half way point - I would love to think about it being the home stretch, but it certainly feels like things are only going to get more difficult ha.
A step away from the negative? This week I have a ticket to see three ballets by George Balanchine, at the Palais Garnier (http://www.operadeparis.fr/saison_2012_2013/Ballets/george-balanchine/decouvrir/presentation/video ) :) Oh, and Stacy and Tom Hipkins will be here in less than a month! I can't wait :)
Milles bisous xoxo
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