I'm sorry I haven't been able to update. I have been so busy with school it's insane. Nothing too exciting has happened this week. Monday's history class wasn't really that interesting. There's this guy in the class that always says hi to me, but I have no idea what his name is. The only thing I know about him is he isn't American (I really don't even know where he is from) and he must have a motorcycle/scooter because he always brings his helmet with him to class.
Tuesday it was pretty nice outside but of course I had a ton of homework to do. I try to get all my homework done on the weekends when I'm not out so I can do stuff on my day off but I always end up having so much there's no way I can get it all done during the weekend. So instead of going to a park and reading Ferragus for Dr. Costello's class, I read out on the balcony for a while. However, it was around 2:30 and the school kids were still on their lunch break so it was really loud out which made it hard to concentrate.
Wednesday I had theatre and translation. We are going to see Fantasio on Thursday for class (I think I might have mentioned this before). I finished L'illusion Comique over the weekend and really liked it. In translation Katie and I decided that our professor talks like a rooster, if roosters could talk. She just balks at everything and is so loud and annoying. That class is so long but I am learning a lot, however it is a lot of work. Some how I managed to finish Ferragus during my 2 hour break between classes, so for the first time that week I had nothing to do for homework. That's actually a lie, I had homework to do, but it wasn't due until Friday. Katie invited me to the movies but I was so exhausted. I seriously went to the apartment, made my NCAA bracket and crashed until dinner. I went to bed pretty early that night.
For Dr. Costello's class on Thursday we met at this tower called la tour Saint Jacques. I'm really not sure what it was during the 18th/19th century, but it's really cool looking. We then wandered around the 4th and 5th arrondisments looking at all the things Georges Haussmann did to improve the city. It was really interesting and I really enjoyed it. We finished our tour around 12:30 and I just assumed that we would end class there for the day. I was wrong. Dr. Costello made us go back to the classroom so we could talk about Ferragus, which we were supposed to have finished for class that day. Needless to say, not everyone was done reading. He started asking these really detailed oriented questions and no one was answering them. I read the entire thing and had no idea what he was talking about. Finally I raised my hand and told him that while I did read the entire book, it was difficult because of the vocabulary and Balzac's style of writing which consists of too much detail and run on sentances. I then said that I understood the story but I did not understand all the little details he was asking. We went over the general story line and some of the things he talked about still surprised me because I didn't pick up on them. For example, in the story there is this woman who is introduced as Mme. Jules. Then, Balzac starts refering to her as Clemence. I didn't understand that Mme. Jules and Clemence were the same person. I also didn't understand that Ferragus and Clemence were not having an affair (which is what I thought originally) Ferragus is actually Clemence's father....oops! they obviously weren't having an affair. We have to read Les Miserables (not the entire thing, just excerpts...which is still over 200 pages) by Thursday. We also have a quiz that day. That should be fun.
In lit we finished watching and reading Ruy Blas. I really liked that. The ending was so funny. The queen in the story is lead to believe by Ruy Blas that his name is really Don Cesar (who is another character in the story that left in the beginning and no one has seen him). The queen and Ruy Blas (Don Cesar) end up falling in love. After Ruy Blas kills this guy named Don Salluste because he's a jerk, Ruy Blas feels guilty for betraying the queen and murdering Don Salluste and drinks poison. The queen then finds out that his name isn't Don Cesar. Ruy Blas asks if she will forgive him and she says never. He's slowly dying and the queen shouts, "Don Cesar, I love you!!" to which Ruy Blas replies, "I told you my name was Ruy Blas." Just as Ruy Blas is about to die, the queen shouts his real name and Ruy Blas gasps and says, "merci!" and dies. So tragic. I thought it was so funny. Who ends their play with the main character dying and saying thank you? Only Victor Hugo.
On Friday I had theatre class which was fine. I signed up for my oral presentation on April 9th. I'm the first one going. I really just want to get it over with so I don't have to worry about it near the end of the semester. After class I went to find the Odeon Theatre which is near the foyer. I wasn't sure what street it was on, but I knew what general area it was in. Of course I got a little lost trying to find it and ended up walking past the theatre 3 times. I'm such an idiot. When I finally found it I went inside and asked about tickets for this show that I need to see for theatre class. The woman and the ticket counter said, "C'est complet" which means sold out. I wasn't sure if she thought I was asking for tickets for tonight or if she meant that all of the showings were sold out through April. I find it a little hard to believe that it would be completely sold out. There's no way it could be. So maybe she just meant for that night because she then told me to go to the theatre 2 hours early to get on the waiting list for the night. I really don't know what was going on. I left and ate lunch at the apartment.
That night I went to dinner at the cafeteria with Katie and her friend Rachel, who we've been to dinner with before. I had the chicken pizza and it wasn't very good. I don't think it agreed with my stomach. We left and decided to go back to Katie's dorm. We went to the Monoprix to buy some stuff to drink. Rachel got a small bottle of wine, Katie got a bottle of champagne, and I ended up getting a bottle of the hard apple cider that I really like. I was going to buy a bottle of wine but my stomach already hurt enough as it was and there really isnt that much alcohol in the cider (only like 5% ish) so I figured that was a better choice than the wine. However, I ended up drinking the entire bottle....probably not one of the smartest things I've ever done. My stomach ache did end up going away...then again it could've been that entire bottle of cider talking. Katie's friend who goes to some school in some town in France by the Alps was visiting with this hot British guy who she also goes to school with. I don't remember either of their names. We left at 11 and Katie and Rachel decided to go to this bar and I decided to go home. I ran into one of those stupid mini poles that stops the scooters from driving on the sidewalk in front of a group of people because I'm an idiot. Then, as I was waiting for the metro to come at Montparnasse, that was this bum doing pushups on the other side of the platfrom shirtless trying to impress his other bum friends. One of his friends stands over the top of him and smacks his butt every time he comes up. I guess they are kinky bums. Then, the bum stands up and since a bunch of people were staring at him he deicded to put on a show and started to remove his pants. I saw the bum's ass....it wasn't very pretty. The train came before he had a chance to turn around, thank God.
Today I woke up pretty late. I decided that I would try to work on homework during the day and then maybe do something at night. I texted this girl named Chaniece from the program to see what she was up to and we decided to meet later for dinner. I did a fabulous job avoiding my homework figuring that watching the newest episode of Project Runway was more important. I didn't start reading Les Mis until 3ish. It's been pretty easy to read so far. I found the translation online but it is the complete novel which is really like 4 novels and is huge. I decided that I wasn't going to waste time looking through the website to find the excerpts that I needed incase I didn't understand what it said in French. I met Chaniece and this girl named Jackie, who is also in IPP for dinner at the cafeteria again. I had pizza of course because the main dish didn't look that great. However, I avoided the chicken pizza and got mushroom instead. It was pretty good. I had a blueberry tarte for dessert which was awesome. We stayed talking until they basically kicked us out. We all road back on the metro together and then Chaniece and I walked home together because we live close together. I finished my Les Mis reading for the night. 50 more pages to read tomorrow....plus like a million other things to do.
I've gotten to catch a few of the NCAA tournement games on the intertnet. I'd like to give a big THANKS to Marquette and Villanova for losing. You've completely messed up my bracket. Also, Northern Iowa is beating the overall number 1 seed Kansas as we speak. Kansas had better turn it around quick. I did pretty well in the first round but with all the underdogs losing lately my bracket looks horrible. I have Syracuse winning it all. I've done pretty well in the Midwest and West brackets, except for Murry State beating Vandy which screwed up a few things for me. My South region is horrible because Villanova had to be losers and lose horribly to St. Mary's. Oh well, I'm just happy that I get to catch a few games here and there.
Tomorrow will be full of laundry and homework...the typical Sunday, so I won't be updating. I will try to update more often this week but it's going to be a very busy week. I have a meeting and a play to see, plus tons to read and other homework to do, and Madame Wilds, one of the French teachers from high school will be in town sometime next weekend so we are hopefully getting together for dinner, which will be a lot of fun.
A bientot!
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