On a slightly lighter note and definitely less whiny, I have decided to apply to the Paris campus of Science Po, a highly respected political science and business school, for a Masters in European Affairs. I am also applying to Swansea University for an MBA and to University of Sydney for a Masters in International Business.
With each degree I have found a way to tie it back into my undergrad, I know mom and dad are thankful about this, with an emphasis in film and the international production, distribution and marketing of media and cultural goods. Hopefully I get in and hopefully everything goes smoothly with the visa application processes.
Friday, February 13, 2009
The French University System
Unlike the US where most teachers give out syllabi, the French university professors give you a list of books that they feel will be advantageous for you to read throughout the semester. And again unlike the US they do not give you specific sections to look over but simply give the author and title and leave it at that. When pressed for what will be covered in the semester they respond with a "show up and see" sort of response. Not that this is all bad but it is a bit of shock coming from the States where the professors make sure you know what will be covered and when, so that you can follow along, aka "hold your hand". However, being given 5 books to read and no direction as to what will correlate to the class is a little daunting to say the least, then take into account that it is in a foreign language and you can see how I am a little stressed. Additionally class time is spent with the professor talking at not to you without power points or other electronic visual aids and you have to hope that in each class the professor remembers chaulk or a dry erase marker so that they can attempt to draw simple illustrations. Also there is no formal structure to the lectures and tangents and asides are common as are repetition, which makes it all the more difficult to follow along and nearly impossible to take notes!
And the French final exam systems... they are comprehensive, no shock there, of the entire semester but the approach to the final is much different; 1) they tell you it will be during the week of finals, no date 2) that it will cover what is talked about in class, again not shocking 3) you will be given 1 maybe 2 questions to answer and usually you are given 15 lines to give a precise and detailed answer. Its that last bit that I am having issues understanding, how am I supposed to answer a complex question in detail while pulling from an entire semester of convoluted information and fit it all into 15 lines? And one question, that doesnt give much room for error and 15 lines definitely doesnt give room to talk your way around a subject that you are trying to describe in detail.
While reading this, it doesnt sound that difficult and if in the States I might not have a problem but as I face the thought of having to 1) comprehend the questions 2) think in French about how to best respond and 3) then write precise responses, it is more than a little unnerving. However knowing that this system makes it very difficult for one to pass the French University system has built-in re-take periods about 3 weeks after the first exam to give you a second chance, seeing as how you will most likely fail the first go around. To me if your setup is so difficult that you have to allot a week for re-takes I would thing they would add a little more direction to the students and only give them one chance to pass (refer to French bureaucracy, for explication of the French thought process). Yet I understand, different country, different history, different culture and a different outlook on education.
I think the biggest issue Im having with all of this, and Im going to be really honest here, is that Im actually going to have to study and prepare for finals. That being said I believe I just annuled all of the previous concerns and you now understand why Im complaining!
And the French final exam systems... they are comprehensive, no shock there, of the entire semester but the approach to the final is much different; 1) they tell you it will be during the week of finals, no date 2) that it will cover what is talked about in class, again not shocking 3) you will be given 1 maybe 2 questions to answer and usually you are given 15 lines to give a precise and detailed answer. Its that last bit that I am having issues understanding, how am I supposed to answer a complex question in detail while pulling from an entire semester of convoluted information and fit it all into 15 lines? And one question, that doesnt give much room for error and 15 lines definitely doesnt give room to talk your way around a subject that you are trying to describe in detail.
While reading this, it doesnt sound that difficult and if in the States I might not have a problem but as I face the thought of having to 1) comprehend the questions 2) think in French about how to best respond and 3) then write precise responses, it is more than a little unnerving. However knowing that this system makes it very difficult for one to pass the French University system has built-in re-take periods about 3 weeks after the first exam to give you a second chance, seeing as how you will most likely fail the first go around. To me if your setup is so difficult that you have to allot a week for re-takes I would thing they would add a little more direction to the students and only give them one chance to pass (refer to French bureaucracy, for explication of the French thought process). Yet I understand, different country, different history, different culture and a different outlook on education.
I think the biggest issue Im having with all of this, and Im going to be really honest here, is that Im actually going to have to study and prepare for finals. That being said I believe I just annuled all of the previous concerns and you now understand why Im complaining!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Les Alpes
This last weekend I spent a little time snowboarding and skiing in the Alps. I stayed at a friend's Chalet in Samoens and skied le Grand Massif. It was amazing and just as beautiful as I expected! The runs (called pistes here) in Europe (or at least where I skied) were a lot thinner than in the states, just like everything over here I guess. At home the runs are as wide as 4 lane highways which was not the case at le Grande Massif, there were a lot of runs that were really small connector runs and some were just straight up tiny where you had about 6 ft between a cliff and a snow wall!
Anyway I started off my adventure in the Alps by snowboarding which was going really well the first day until I was on the last run and literally about 3 min from the bottom when I caught an edge and biffed it HARD and straight onto my left cheek. I remember the sensation of falling and the impact of hitting, upon which I saw a mesh of green and blue which quickly turned to all white. I also remember the feeling of my body moving but not a clear sensation much more like falling in a dream. Luckily, Griff and two of the girls who were in the group with us were behind me and they all stopped to make sure I was all right. Apparently Griff was the first to stop but I dont really remember him being there until after one of the girls skied up, which I was told a good 5-10 seconds later. Griff had to hold up my head because it was wobbling about and I remember trying to talk but not really being able to make coherent sentences. Griff also told me that I landed straight on my face without any hands blocking the fall and then my body just stopped moving other than the flip I did because my board went over my head and drug my body with it. Other than that tho the first day was amazing and sunny and really great. But because of the fall being on the last run of the day I was a proper scarredy-pants the next day and decided to just do a half day as well. So Laura, the friend who's chalet we stayed at, and I drove to Geneve to pick up her friend who was flying in to meet us. I also decided that I was going to ski for the rest of the trip because I was not feeling the whole boarding idea.
I surprised myself at how good I still was at skiing seeing as how I haven't done it for over 5 years! I was able to keep up with everyone else a lot easier and I was a lot more confident than I ever was on a board. And on the last day I was doing jumps, not huge ones but a couple seconds of airtime.
Oh and I also bought a helmet after the fall as did one of the girls who saw me fall. I guess if youre going to fall you should be proud of the fact that you can take a beating so hard that you inspire others to buy helmets to protect themselves from a similar fate. haha
Hope you enjoy the pictures, it was amazingly beautiful! It also snowed while we were there which was fantastic and surprisingly not that cold! There was also an inversion layer of fog that made the mountains look that much cooler.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Water Polo
So today was my first day with the water polo team but because it was the first practice of the semester there weren't a lot of people there which was fine with me because I sucked! Ill sum up the practice in one short sentence.
Playing water polo takes more energy than conquering the world!
Enough said but Ill explain why...
First off the rules of water polo mandate that you can only touch the ball with one hand at a time, how lame is that, if I have the capability to tread water and hold the ball above my head with both of my hands I see no reason why I shouldn't be rewarded for my outstanding capabilities! Second no one wears goggles in water polo so by the end of the match all of the lights have amazing halos and you look like you have been smoking weed for the past few hours because your eyes are so blood shot. And finally swimming back and forth across the pool (we played the width of the pool not the length, THANK GOD!) while trying to see where everyone else is and keep your head above the water is exhausting. And that doesnt even include the constant changing of directions, I mean you think just swimming back and forth would be enough but trying to maneuver your body quickly in the water in an upright position is not as easy as the Olympians make it look!
Nevertheless I had a great time and plan on continuing my weekly masochistic ritual of water polo.
Playing water polo takes more energy than conquering the world!
Enough said but Ill explain why...
First off the rules of water polo mandate that you can only touch the ball with one hand at a time, how lame is that, if I have the capability to tread water and hold the ball above my head with both of my hands I see no reason why I shouldn't be rewarded for my outstanding capabilities! Second no one wears goggles in water polo so by the end of the match all of the lights have amazing halos and you look like you have been smoking weed for the past few hours because your eyes are so blood shot. And finally swimming back and forth across the pool (we played the width of the pool not the length, THANK GOD!) while trying to see where everyone else is and keep your head above the water is exhausting. And that doesnt even include the constant changing of directions, I mean you think just swimming back and forth would be enough but trying to maneuver your body quickly in the water in an upright position is not as easy as the Olympians make it look!
Nevertheless I had a great time and plan on continuing my weekly masochistic ritual of water polo.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Classes and French Bureaucracy
As most of you know I was supposed to take 2 psychology classes at Lyon 2 (I am enrolled at Lyon 3 but through an agreement between the universities Im allowed to take 2 classes at other Lyon universities) and I will be able to but to get to this point was a mess. I started off in Arizona making sure that it would all be ok, which I got the ok from the schools in France weeks after several emails. I arrived and looked at maps seeing where the two universities are located and such which is really confusing because each university has 2 campuses but they are not titled as main or primary campus or anything that would be helpful to someone who doesnt know that city or universities. But anyway I talked to the adviser for the international students at Lyon 3 and was told to go to the closer Lyon 2 campus (on the Rhone and right next to Lyon 3 other campus) which I thought was great because its only about 10 min on the But when I got there and asked where the international office was NO ONE knew so instead of telling me they didnt know they sent me all over the campus and finally to the wrong room, which I didnt find out was the wrong room because it was closed that day. So I went back the next day to that room and spoke with the woman there who sent me to the correct place. I arrived at the guys office (who I for sure thought was going to be a girl from his name Emmanuel) and he told me that the classes were offered at the other Lyon 2 campus and that I would have to go there to get the livret du cours (book of classes) from some lady who I for sure thought was going to be a man (francoise). So I spoke with her (after an hour and a half journey from my house!!) and she told me that she was not the right person to speak with about this but that she would be able to give us the livret du cours. So we (me and the other psych student from UA) spoke with her and she told us some of the most useless information ever but I did find out that classes at Lyon 2 are taught from the Freudian perspective which has been discredited in a way in the states and is taught as history and not the contemporary way of thinking. Woo! And this is where the story gets good, the two classes together only come to 4 ECT (european credit system) credits which means that I will receive 2 credits for the classes back at UA so I will have to go BEG the professors to both give me an extra credit point for their class so I can at least get 1 class taken care of over here. So I now have to take a correspondence course from home which is going to be expensive and I dont even know if I will get enough credits from the two classes here to cover the other class. So Im really hoping that everything will work out and I wont be 1 credit shy of graduating in May which would really really piss me off!
Anyway enough minging! Im still really happy to be here and my French is getting so much better and I can pretty much understand the gist of what people say to me! Which is a huge step forward now I just need to work on speaking which is really difficult. As I am constantly thinking about the correct grammar and pronunciation as well as the fact that even if I do get it all right the French still wont understand me because they hear the accent first and then what Im trying to say!
Anyway enough minging! Im still really happy to be here and my French is getting so much better and I can pretty much understand the gist of what people say to me! Which is a huge step forward now I just need to work on speaking which is really difficult. As I am constantly thinking about the correct grammar and pronunciation as well as the fact that even if I do get it all right the French still wont understand me because they hear the accent first and then what Im trying to say!
Food
Well I have decided/have kind of been forced to give up all of my hesitations to food. Its literally impossible not to ham or pork products here so that one went out the door, pretty much the first week because hunger took over and well lets just say it won. But it did make me really sick the first time I ate pork and the second time I had a stomach as well, and not just because of the psychological stresses of eating something I have avoided for so long. I still dont really like the taste of lunch meat ham but they have smoked ham here that looks like bacon and tastes like salt which I really like haha.
Im really proud of myself because I have only not eaten one thing that was put in front of me! It was this hors d'oeuvre (which in France is served at the table and an appetizer is passed) it was an egg that was soft boiled for two minutes so it looked like it hadnt been cooked at all but apparently it was enough. Then on top of that there was this creamy stuff that had a sort of caviar in it and it was refrigerated all together in a wine glass. It looked really cool in the glass but the overwhelming taste of the ocean was a little too much for me and after 2 bites I couldnt do it anymore and had to stop eating. I felt really bad because Im thinking that it was pretty expensive to make but I just couldnt find it in myself to eat it.
Oh and last night I had gizzards!!! I was really really concerned about this because I have this image of the sac that dad would pull out of the chicken or turkey and eat when they are all slimy and nasty looking. So apparently the concern was apparent on my face because my the mom asked what the problem was and I said that I didnt think I would like them but that I would try them. So anyway she made half of what she was planning because I didnt know if I was going to eat them...not my most brilliant moment. But I tried them and they are actually really good! She made them a lot differently than I remember dad eating, she pan seared them so they were cripsy and you have them in a salad with tomotoes, dijon vinaigrette and walnuts. And then we had pasta with butter so it was a really nice dinner.
As I ramble about food, last Sunday it was the mom's birthday so she had her neice, nephew and their two children over as well as one other nephew who is my age. I made salse and guacamole which were a big hit, esp the guac. Then we had boeuf bourguignon with rice which was amazing and two types of French cakes, it was great! But we started the lunch off at 11:30 (a little early I thought) but we didnt eat until 1 because we were drinking Scotch and Pineau (some French wine-ish stuff that is really sweet and really strong) not together though. But we were just drinking with mostly Scotch and a splash of coke, it was an adventure and this was before lunch and I hadnt eaten so I got tipsy pretty quickly. But with lunch we had two more bottles of wine between a bunch of us which wasnt that much but there was also wine in the food. And then after lunch we went and had coffee in the salon and had more dessert! All of this took about 5-6 hours because the guests didnt leave until 5:30 but that was with a lot of chatting afterward. It was amazingly long but really nice because we got to chat so much but I was SO tired afterward.
Im really proud of myself because I have only not eaten one thing that was put in front of me! It was this hors d'oeuvre (which in France is served at the table and an appetizer is passed) it was an egg that was soft boiled for two minutes so it looked like it hadnt been cooked at all but apparently it was enough. Then on top of that there was this creamy stuff that had a sort of caviar in it and it was refrigerated all together in a wine glass. It looked really cool in the glass but the overwhelming taste of the ocean was a little too much for me and after 2 bites I couldnt do it anymore and had to stop eating. I felt really bad because Im thinking that it was pretty expensive to make but I just couldnt find it in myself to eat it.
Oh and last night I had gizzards!!! I was really really concerned about this because I have this image of the sac that dad would pull out of the chicken or turkey and eat when they are all slimy and nasty looking. So apparently the concern was apparent on my face because my the mom asked what the problem was and I said that I didnt think I would like them but that I would try them. So anyway she made half of what she was planning because I didnt know if I was going to eat them...not my most brilliant moment. But I tried them and they are actually really good! She made them a lot differently than I remember dad eating, she pan seared them so they were cripsy and you have them in a salad with tomotoes, dijon vinaigrette and walnuts. And then we had pasta with butter so it was a really nice dinner.
As I ramble about food, last Sunday it was the mom's birthday so she had her neice, nephew and their two children over as well as one other nephew who is my age. I made salse and guacamole which were a big hit, esp the guac. Then we had boeuf bourguignon with rice which was amazing and two types of French cakes, it was great! But we started the lunch off at 11:30 (a little early I thought) but we didnt eat until 1 because we were drinking Scotch and Pineau (some French wine-ish stuff that is really sweet and really strong) not together though. But we were just drinking with mostly Scotch and a splash of coke, it was an adventure and this was before lunch and I hadnt eaten so I got tipsy pretty quickly. But with lunch we had two more bottles of wine between a bunch of us which wasnt that much but there was also wine in the food. And then after lunch we went and had coffee in the salon and had more dessert! All of this took about 5-6 hours because the guests didnt leave until 5:30 but that was with a lot of chatting afterward. It was amazingly long but really nice because we got to chat so much but I was SO tired afterward.
Friday, January 16, 2009
French house
Oh here are pictures of the outside of my house in France and my room/bathroom. The bathroom is in a door that looks like a closet and I think it used to be one because there is an identical set of doors on the other side of the wall and I believe its about the same size. Either way its big enough and really nice to have my own shower because the rest of the family shares a bathroom! Such luxury I have. The circular thing in front of the house is a pool but now its more like an ice skating rink.
The building to the left is the house and the building straight ahead are the garages. Its hard to see the separation in the buildings and Ill try to post a better picture soon but its the best I have right now. For the garages, the one on the far right used to be used to dye clothes and there is a huge concrete tub and chimney for heating the water and everything. The middle garage used to be the horse stable and I believe the one on the far left used to be for all the saddles and riding equipment. Then above the garages are apartments that are connected to the house by a walkway that goes through Gregoire's room, which I know means nothing to you but oh well, and Im assuming used to be the servants quarters. The house was built in the late 1800's and the garage was built in the 1600's and served a massive mansion that was torn down.
Oh just an aside, a toilet (a modern one) froze the other night in the garage and caused a water line to burst upstairs so Wednesday we spent the afternoon hauling everything out of the garage and assessing the damage. Florence (the mom) has some amazing old furniture in the garages and luckily nothing was damaged so that was good but it was so cold! Fortunately we just had to throw out some old toys that the boys dont play with anymore and some boxes but everything else was spared.
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