Indecision 2008 - Nancy changes courses

I may as well have called this post "Indecision - story of Nancy's academic career", but I really think I am improving and this course change was not entirely my fault. The school I am attending in Paris has an insane course selection process which I shall not get into. What I will note is that they do not let you change your courses once you sign up for them. Furthermore, as soon as courses start you cannot drop courses and therefore will receieve an incomplete on your transcript if you do not attend. 

While they supposedly have these strict rules for students, when it comes to themselves, the rules do not apply. Therefore, as I was checking my email last night in preperation for courses starting on Monday I noticed an email stating that one of my courses (which was full) had been cancelled and that I had to choose a new one from a list of about 15 choices. Seeing that suddenly supposedly full courses had room in them, I had to take the opportunity to full advantage. 

Ever since signing up for courses in the mad process they have, I was a bit unsatisfied with them. I technically got what i wanted, but what I wanted was super vague so that was not hard to achieve. I therefore signed up for a course to replace "le medical et le politique" (which I was kind of looking forward to), and I switched out of "le societe civile et ses medias" since I felt it was very similar to a Communications course I took in Canada. 

I am now taking in lieu of these courses:

• Le prix Nobel de litterature et ses laureats. 
• Sociologie des entreprise -les grands debats à l'heure de la mondalisation

They both excite me more than the other 2 courses. This is a good opportunity to try out new things and step outside my (already large) box. I think the litterature course will be challenging but rewarding, and the sociology course should be very interesting. I hope the courses meet the expectations I have, based off their descriptions. 

Enough of France!

A list of things that suck in Paris:

• The Administration - you get sent in circles!
• The smell
• The dog shit that is everywhere
• Frequent strikes
• The cost of housing and food
• The cockyness and pride of the people
• The lines when things are free -people waited up to 7 hours to see government houses on the weekend of Patrimoine.

After spending 3 weeks in Paris, I needed a break. So, I came to Switzerland! It is my cousins wedding this weekend so I am staying at their house on the countryside  and helping them prepare. The train ride here did not take that long, and I feel lucky that I was close enough to come over. The difference, looking through the window on the train ride here, was obvious. Ridding the train in Switzerland is much more beautiful! 

I feel naked without my baguette

Walking home today I noticed nearly everyone holding a baguette. I have not bought one in 2 days and felt a bit left out. It is pretty much a fashion accessory here, and if you don't have one, you totally stand out. I think I'll go buy a baguette now.

La nourriture

Now that I settled into my sweet new pad, I decided to go grocery shopping. Starting with nothing I tried to pick necessary items. These included, a baguette, cheese, pasta, NUTELLA(what french people live off of), honey, more cheese, yougurt, apple sauce, cereal, eggs, 2 apples, 2 carrots, a tomato, and milk. I really don't know how to cook yet, but this all looks yummy to me and I am learning. A friend of my aunts has had me over for dinner a few times and she has kindly explained to me how to prepare what she makes.

The french people are proud of their reputation as a skinny nation, and insist their food is just healthier in general. Their wine, cheese, and chocolate are not like ours in North America, which is why they can eat it as they wish to.

What I have noticed is the way in which people is really what makes them healthier. They seem to take more time for every meal. Dinner time here is 8, not 6. Their relationship to food is not simply a means to an ends, or for instant gratification, it is more about enjoying the food. Smaller portions of quality dishes.

Maybe I'll return healthier after picking up their culinary habits.... if I can only stop devouring an entire baguette every afternoon!

The Pad

The OLD

bedroom

fridges

kitchen

The NEW

kitchen (bathroom behind the screen (toilet not in room))

bed

desk

VIEW (Eiffle tower!)

Me: Desperate You: Accommodating

Where are you? I have been looking for you for days now. I thought I found you once, but it wasn't you, you are bigger than him. I thought I found you again, but I wasn't enough for you, he wanted to have another on the side, and I know you wouldn't ask that of me. It is not that I wouldn't share you, but I want it to be with someone I know well; and I also want the option of privacy. And then yesterday, I swear it was you! It looked just like you, big, spacious, private, quiet, light. But i should have known you are a tease. You seduced me, and then shut me down finding excuses of why I couldn't have you. You said I need to sign my soul to you that night, and that wasn't possible because I needed to read over the contract. Well screw you! I didn't want you anyhow! I am moving on. I realize I only have 9 days, but Mr. Right is out there. I responded to 13 ads today, and I just need one bite. The next one is it. I know it. Wish me luck.

Courses!

I registered in my courses yesterday. What an ordeal that was! Their inscription method is keeping the exact list of available courses a secret, not telling you the time of the courses until it is time to register, and letting everyone register at exactly the same time. It was mad chaos to say the least. The lucky few got all the courses they wanted, but many people ended up with only half the number of courses they needed since everything by about 10:15 (it started at 10) was full! The staff onsite was also very limited so people had to wait to be helped as the spots filled up. To make it worse, there was a fire bell in one of the buildings which made a number of students screwed over for their registration as well.

My courses:

1. Les grands risques de la planete, un perspective politique et scientifique
2. Le medical et le politique
3. La societe civile et les medias
4. Social Policies in Europe
5. Asian Cinema(!)
6. Langue Francais

That is right, a full course load and more than half in French! The first course counts as 9 credits, the second as 5, and the rest as 4. This equals 30 ECTS credits which is the equivalent to 15 credits back home. I didn't get all the courses I wanted, but I am excited enough for the ones I have :)

Free concerts in Paris!

Being a starving (luckily not literally) student here in Paris, one must find all possibly ways to cut down costs. For the mere price of a bus ticket, you have access to many great concerts all around the underbelly of the city! In Vancouver we have buskers on the street, which is great, but you only listen for a second or two as you pass by. Paris' system of public entertainment is much more intelligent. Not only are there buskers at the metro stations, there are often buskers on the metro itself! You may here the soulful vocals of an old gypsy woman, or be blessed with musical merits of the accordion and tambourine. You are trapped with these melodies your entire ride if you are lucky.

Another randomly musical venue in Paris is public underground parking where they play classical music.

Little random things

What to say...

I saw Babylon AD the other night at a Cinema on the Champs Elysee. It was 10 Euro, which is their premium weekend night price. A bit price, but oh well.

I went to Sciences-Po today for the first time! It is a hidden little building the 6th. It is nice. We had a 4 hour meeting with the hundreds of exchange students where we were just pumped with information. Most people had little breakfast before it started and we didn't get a break until 1:30! At 1:30 I went with some friends to find a restaurant CROUS which has discounted meals for students. For 2.85 Euro you can have a full meal. The meals are edible but people often sit down and try to deduce what type of meat they received.

I finally got an internet cable! This makes me sooo happy. Now I can use t he internet for a decent amount of time instead of always having to borrow cables from others. It also allows me to look up courses which is awesome since my course registration is on Wednesday.

Speaking of registration, I am slightly scared of it since it is supposedly a mad free for all. We were told to pick 2 back up courses for EACH course we want to take. So, since we take 6-7 courses here per semested, we need to pic about 18-21 courses we are interested in! I'm very interested to see what courses I get in the end.

More random tid bits... I locked myself out of my room today. I'll post a picture when I get a chance, but this means I had to cross the 10 lane highway which is right outside my room 6 times this afternoon to sort it out since the administration for my residence is on the other side. The over pass has about 30 stairs so it sucks having to go up and down constantly.

There is a lot of talk about shit here. Literally. Our bathrooms and showers are always nasty but I won't go into details. To add to the nastyness there are cockroaches in the kitchen. So, although the stairs to the 5th floor suck, they are at least a bit helpful at controling that problem on my floor.

Final thought: It is neat meeting people here and learning they know people you know even though they are from the other side of the world.

PS. Although this week has been stressful and shall be for a bit longer, I am very excited to spend the year here. So far, so good!

Where to live?

I have 3 weeks to find somewhere to live so I am starting my hunt today. I have a paper with the listings of many available places to rent. I will try to find a place in the 5th or 6th since that is supposedly where a lot of students live and it is close to my school. This morning I spoke to a person at the Canadian House at Cité Universitaire, and that is another option for me. A room there would cost about 410€ per month. The advantages of that place being there are a number of students who live there and the facities around it (tennis court, place to run, soccer feild, gym, library,ect) are really good. The disadvantage beng that it is at the very bottom of Paris in the 14th and therefore it is a bit inconvenient. (Also being in the Canadian house there may be a lot of English speakers (ewww), which is something I want to get away from. I feel a bit bad for the English speakers here as they are definatly shunned a bit.) However due to Paris' good transportation system it wouldnt be thattttt bad. It is annoying that a bus pass in Vancouver can cost you 100 dollars and it sucks, while here in Paris a monthy pass is about 75 canadian dollars and it rocks. Paris 1, Vancouver 0.

Meat and Monaco

Meat: I tried it.
Monaco: You should try it.

They run and are fun!

Everyone here is active, it is amazing. This, not diet, in my opinion is what is keeping them all thin! I went to the park yesterday morning and there were so many runners and people in running clubs that past by me. Later in the day I was taken to a tennis/country club to watch a tennis match. It is the biggest club in all of Europe and consisted of about 50 courts, a large swimming pool, a gym, track, 2 volleyball courts, 2 restaurants, 3 ping pong tables, and a basketball court. It was very cool.

Yesterday night we went to a club called "les planches" where we receievd VIP treatment. No line, no cover, and a bucket full of drinks with a value of around 400€. It was definatly a fabulous first night out in Paris.

Arrived in Paris

Hey everyone,

So I finally arrived in Paris today, but have yet to see the city. For september I am staying at Cite University which is at the Bottom of Paris. It was really hard lugging my stuff around and once I got to the place I had to carry my stuff over an overpass only to then be redirected to go back over it the other way. Luckily friendly Luca from Brazil came along to help me out and then let me use his internet connection. I then had dinner with 3 random guys from Algeria who were at the dinning hall, and am now in the room of a girl down the hall using internet while she mqkes herself dinner. I have found a number of nice people here, including the random lady who gave me tips on Paris for 45 minutes while on the train. All my interactions have so far been only in french and I am happy to note that I am surviving the, quite well. More updates to come when I am no longer borrowing internet.