The evil that is midterms.

the beautiful view from my picnic lunch this past weekend
(what I did instead of study...)

Midterms this week.
And rain.
And cold.
Can I just fast forward to Dana, London and Barcelona?!

It's been such a rewarding experience that I almost forgot I'm in school and have an evil thing called midterms. We have to attend every class (so don't worry Mommy, I'm not slacking) and I've never been one to miss much class anyway... but it's nothing stressful. It's fun learning about the the culture, history, politics and language of the city that you live in... especially in a place that is or was, at some point so entirely 'foreign.' Still- there exists the evil that is midterms. The thing about midterms is that in my experience, they're not much less important or much less difficult in content than final exams are... but they're much more difficult because while trying to exert the same amount of energy that one would for a final exam, I still have to attend class and maintain all other normal responsibilities. During final exams, life stops for the week and one's only concern is finals.
So I still have to wake up at 6:30 am and attend class every day and be home for dinner (which, if there is a cheese course included, is like.. a two hour affair).. but in the midst of all that, I have to study... study, study, study with no fun or exploring at all :(

Okay so it isn't SO bad. I have three midterms- two in class essays tomorrow for Histories of Paris and French Cinema. For Histories of Paris we had the choice of two questions - I picked the one about the "use of power" particularly in terms of the changes and additions of buildings and infrastructure during three different regimes. Things could change but as of right now, I'm pretty set on using Henri IV (Place des Vosages, Pont Neuf), Louis XIV (Versailles, Invalides) and Napoleon III (worked with Haussmann to 'redesign' the streets of Paris). Sounds rather dry, but I assure you it's quite interesting. For French Cinema we have an essay about Jean-Luc Godard with emphasis on his movie Le Mépris ("Contempt") staring Brigitte Bardot (the French Madonna) and Michael Piccoli. It's a good movie - part of the Nouvelle Vague ("French New Wave") and entertaining to say the least. Thursday I have my French midterm which will probably prove to be the most difficult for me. For whatever reason I can write coherently but language is just not my thing! The past and present are complete opposites that I can differentiate between quite clearly, yet in French, I can't seem to get either tense straight.

Aside from that, all is going well. I continue to receive much more snail mail than I could ever hope to and once midterms are over I will be sending out mail to alll you family :).

Recent accomplishments:
*I found chicken soup! It's amazing... I stocked up.

*I learned how to do all of the accent marks (é, î, à, etc) using my keyboard rather than copying/pasting/inserting it into the document. This is HUGE. Trust me.

*With a bit of Danielle's help, I asked Madame in French if Dana could stay with me when she visits! (Mon soeur me rende une visite pour la vacance, est-ce qu'elle peut dormir ici dans ma chambre juste pour un nuit? Ce samedi? Parce que nous allons partir pour londres dimanche.)

*I found chicken soup.

*Found a new coffee shop close to school... it's adorable and the owner is the cutest little French lady ever. They are super polite and smile when they make eye contact with you. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but it is uncommon, even for store clerks, to smile when you make eye contact with them at any time other than upon entering the store. Strange, isn't it? Eye contact is just avoided unless you WANT to make contact ... if you catch my drift...

*Did I mention that I found chicken soup??

L'opéra / Théatre de l'Académie Royale

(Napoleon III commissioned this new opera house to be built during his regime. The foundations took a year and the entire budget planned to spend on it. After Napoleon III, a grass roots movement protested the Opera House and wanted to turn it into a temple. Fortunately (and unfortunately), the old opera house burned down so they had to build a new one, especially given the recent recognition of Paris as the city of arts and fashion. At the time, it had an eclectic feel to it and has a fancy schmancy hall inside of it that is modeled after the Hall of Mirrors at Versaille).

Beaucoup bisous,
Michele :)