Well, an awful lot can happen in one day, and I hate how it usually turns a good week just a little sour. Maybe I'll have a better perspective on it in the morning.
History class was not quite as bad as I thought it would be. The professor, unlike others I've met, seems kind and helpful, and she said that the exchange students in the past have made better grades on the exam than the French students. (That's promising.) However, listening to a history lecture in French that lasts an hour and a half is quite draining. You don't realize how much energy it takes to be that meticulously attentive until you are trying to listen, comprehend, and take notes when you don't know all of the words being used.
Langue Pratique was a joke, because it's an English grammar and comprehension class. The professor looks like the type who eats raw lemons for breakfast, so it makes it all the more entertaining for me. (It wouldn't be so amusing if I was concerned about the subject matter, but as it is, I don't care if she likes me or not. I think she'd still talk down to me even if she secretly did.)
Over lunch Kendra and I discussed our dilemma when it came to the homework for Didactics. Should we try to do the spreadsheet by hand, or wait to ask the professor to clarify the assignment? She didn't seem to be taking into account our special situation. Fortunately, we decided to wait, and it turned out for the best. The professor is probably the most willing to work with us to make our experience in her class interesting and beneficial.
French Expression - boring. Ugh, learning how to make an outline. I'm an exchange student from a college, for goodness sake. I'm just trying to learn a language. I'm not in remedial school. :P
Then came the two big trials of the day. Of course, they would come *after* I was already exhausted. Evidently, it pays to eavesdrop on others' conversations here, because that's how you find out about everything important to the life of a student. So, there are these things called "contrôles" here. No one talks about them in class, the professors are curiously silent on the subject, and no one tells you when or where to look for any kind of notice that warns you of their coming. But, everyone has to take these "tests" or "quizzes" or whatever they are, some of which count and some of which don't; others make up part of what's called "continuous assessment." This all means that, yes, there was another tangled mess of spreadsheets to hack my way through, figuring out which classes and which teachers have contrôles, and most importantly, if I have any. My eavesdropping was very timely, given that the first ones begin this Friday. Yes, 3 weeks into the semester...2 for the exchange students. I don't even know what there is to test over yet. We haven't been in class long enough. It's especially odd, but mostly frustrating, because we've been told that we still have time to change our schedules and find the right classes - but at the same time, we're now being told that we can't miss these "exams." There are a few classes that I'm attending for the first time this week! *sigh* Every time I think I'm getting my footing, the system throws me another curveball. I'm learning to just let them whiz past and wait for the next one. It's not worth worrying about. The French students don't seem bothered at all.
Anyway, the second trial of the day was the discovery that there is a family nearby who is looking for a student to fill their empty room. There are already other students there (the one I met seemed extremely nice), and the family has teenage children. Meals are included in the rent, and it's half the distance from the university as my house now. I'm praying that God would show me clearly and quickly what I should do. Should I stay here because He has ministry for me to do, or should I go because He has somewhere else for me to be? It seems safer there, and I would have more access to the university and to activities with my friends. I don't know. If God brings me to mind, please pray with me.
Oh, and I found out why I'm always freezing in my room. The thermometer says it's 17 or 18 degrees Celsius. Yeah, that's 62-64 degrees. What to do about that.........
Time for bed, though. A bientot!
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