Huitieme semaine

Hello Everyone!!!
I heard about the wildfires in San Diego!!! It was in our LOCAL newspaper here in Bordeaux!! Insane! Also, everyone’s facebook status was like…. “I’m running away from the fire”….so, yeah, I got the news alright. I hope everyone is safe and doing okay!!! I can’t believe it! That’s ridiculous!! Please take care and watch out! I feel even more sad because I can’t be there to support you guys through it…I’m there in spirit…!

This past week wasn’t so bad. Classes were long and semi-interesting, but I have found that almost every other lecture I get. That is, I didn’t understand the first week’s lecture, and then the second week it was better, and then back to confusion, and then not so bad…and now this week…yeah, confusion again. I don’t know why it has taken this pattern. We are doing exposés in my art history class and I have the hardest time trying to understand all the students who are presenting. Number one, sometimes they are just not good speakers in general and so they either pause a lot, speak really fast, drop their voices at the end of the sentence or a bunch of other common speaking malfunctions. Number two, it’s in French. Duh, problem. And number three, some have weird accents as well, which makes it more complicated. So in other words, my art history TDs have been a frustrating experience where I keep saying over and over again in my head, “what are you saying??? Speak FRENCH!!”

My geography class is going okay since we are now getting into the economy part and are departing from the climatology part of the course (where I was and continue to be totally lost). Music theory is hard still, but I am learning and trying to build my confidence. My harmonie écrite class is plus compliqué and the teacher speaks extremely fast. Fortunately, I have a friend in that class who is a real sweetheart and is helping me learn all the rules by explaining them to me. We spent nearly 2 hours in front of the Gare St. Jean, drinking coffee, and got through about 3 pages in our packet of harmonie écrite. It was tough. But I like it…it’s good for me.

I had my first exam in my Histoire du Théâtre class on Tuesday. The teacher wrote a question on the board and we just answered it on these packets of paper she gave us. I was a little confused because I saw people writing on regular sheets of their own paper and wasn’t sure if I was supposed to write on my own paper or THAT paper the prof gave us. So, I followed the other students…but then, 15 minutes later they all switched to the test paper. I can’t believe they actually do rough drafts here! So…I wasted 15 minutes rewriting the same stuff. The prof is new and so she doesn’t know exactly what to do with international students, so she is just making them take the tests with the rest of the students. I wrote ETUDIANTE ETRANGERE in huge letters on the top of my page (foreign student)…so, I hope all went well. I knew limited information about the question (only from what I read)…and tried to make a comprehensive essay…but I don’t think it showed very much critical thinking. But I don’t think it matters because there were 3 girls in front of me who were using their notes throughout the entire test! And I asked the guy sitting next to me if we were allowed to use notes and he said, “jamais” (never) and then I asked WHY those girls were using their notes then…and he said something about them being cheaters. So, that was stupid. I can’t believe the professor didn’t do anything…I’m sure she saw it! But nevermind that, I can’t believe the students would openly cheat like that! It wasn’t like they were hiding their notes…they had them up on the table and were searching through them openly…incroyable! Today, during class, too, everyone was talking and pissing me off. I can’t believe the behavior of these students! And the teacher was up there APOLOGIZING…saying that she was sorry the material was so boring but to bear with her…and I was thinking…WHY should the teacher be apologizing at all?? That’s ridiculous!! It isn’t hard to pay attention…it really isn’t. You either want to be here or you don’t…it’s not like she takes role. So, anyway, I was mad at the class today because the students were being ridiculously loud and rude (even in the first 3 rows…it didn’t matter, they talked the entire time and didn’t even look sorry when she confronted the class). The universities here have a much different expectation from their students I think.

I have booked a lot of trips for coming up and I just went to SNCF (the train station here) yesterday and got a bunch of train tickets for upcoming travel plans. I can’t believe vacation starts next week!! I am leaving for Switzerland Friday! Imagine that! I need to get warm clothes!!! I think I’m going to die! Ahh…coldness here. It is SOOOOO cold here! In the morning, it is normally around 40 degrees when I leave for school and stays in the 50s throughout the day. In the very early hours of the morning when I wake up, its in the high 30s…I am very scared of what December will feel like….I need to buy more warm clothes but I just don’t have time to go shopping! So much homework and reading! And planning!!

My family’s oldest son came to visit this past week. He was sooo cute!!! He is 22 and goes to a University in Holland which is pretty cool. His British friend came to visit too and spent half the week with us. It was a lot of people living in one house, but it was nice having some younger people around to talk to…even if they didn’t talk that much (the son was extremely shy!!). There was a lot crying this weekend too because the older brother and the little brother kept rough-housing and therefore, the little one would keep getting hurt. So crying, rough-housing, shouting…along with a lot of blood (bloody noses too….dang). I tried to get work done this weekend and only went out once to a friend’s house to watch the final Rugby game…boooo England lost. Oh well I guess. Good for Afrique de Sud I guess. I talked with my friend’s host mom for a long time too while at there house and she was soo funny! She had the best conversation topics...and her oldest daughter (13) was looking through a Toys ‘R US catalogue and making her Christmas list…I am so tempted by the Spiderman toys and Harry Potter ones…hmm…

I think I am pretty set for next week’s vacation and almost for winter vacation. I am going to wrap up plans before I leave for Suisse. I have to finish my art history paper before I leave this week so I need to get cracking! I have two to write, a geography exposé, harmonie écrite music to fill in (we’re filling in 4 part harmony…it’s hard stuff…too many rules!), memorize songs for solfége, and study for my midterm for histoire du théâtre which I have to take when I come back from vaçances (vacation). Ridicule! Examens après les vaçances…je ne peux pas le supporter!

Bisous !
Hope everyone survives the fires !! And your houses too!! And our BEAUTIFUL university…I would CRY so hard if it burned down…

Sherilyn