On Monday, I had my first two exams, and they were in each my French conversation and French grammar class. The way that assignments and exams are graded in France is different than the United States, with a scale of 0-20 where a 9 is passing and a 15 is an A (that is, for conversion purposes). Grammar went well (16) and conversation... well, the good news is, Devan and I both passed (by a point, but minor details). The great thing about attending our particular program is that our actual grades don't transfer back to Fairfield, only the credit does, and so all we need to do is pass and we'll be fine. And actually, I don't technically even need the credit either because I'll have extra when I graduate so I've really got nothing to worry about. ;)
And of course, I'm (mostly) kidding (ahem, Mom); I've always been extremely conscious about my schoolwork and even a little paranoid, so it has really actually been a challenge for me to try not to get too stressed with schoolwork to be able to allow myself to enjoy simply living here.
Today after class, Devan and I went with our friend Jamie to book train tickets to Belgium for a giant concert/ rave five of us are going to in March. It's so exciting to have all of our trips booked, and we finally get to start traveling in just a few days.
We also went back to Notre Dame again today. I have been to Notre Dame so many times it is infiltrating my subconscious. Last night I dreamt about it; specifically, I dreamed that they were deconstructing the right tower because they wanted to make it less Gothic and return it closer to its original state (that's where my architecture classes came into play) and everyone thought I was crazy for thinking they were all crazy for tearing it apart. Some random friends from Fairfield made appearances. It was bizarre.
We climbed to the top of the towers (in real life, not my dream), which involved the narrowest and windy-est stairs I've encountered yet, and that's saying a lot. It was fun though, served as a workout (ha), and it ended with perhaps the most breathtaking view I have had of Paris yet. (See the pictures in the next post - you may have to scroll a while, I have many pictures to catch up on.) We're going back to Notre Dame on Friday for mass and mainly to see the crown of thorns. It is typically only brought out on the first Friday of every month, and because we have almost every weekend booked until the end of the program, we were so disappointed we weren't going to be able to see it, but we realized today that on the sign it says they bring it out for veneration for the first Friday of Lent. Works for us!
At 7:00, we went to mass to get ashes at the church Devan's family goes to. After some bus difficulties (I tried it rather than the metro because it is a more direct route between us) we ended up being 15 minutes late but luckily nothing too bizarre happened to us this time other than the usual chaotic communion time. I still don't get it. My mother asked me what I'm giving up for Lent and I worked past my usual difficulty in thinking of something to decide that I'm going to give up exercising for Lent. I'm hoping to get bonus points for starting almost two months ahead of schedule.
Tomorrow I have two classes all afternoon but at night we are supposed to hang out with Olivier & Co. We don't know what the plan is yet but I hope we do something. I love having French friends.
Au matin!
No comments:
Post a Comment