Classes commence...reality sets in (at least a little)

First week of classes = done. Normally, I will have 8 hours of classes straight on Fridays. However today, thanks to a visit by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to Sciences Po, one of my afternoon classes was canceled. Unfortunately, it was a class I am looking quite forward to, Covert Operations of the US, but I must wait in anticipation for it to begin next week :)

I think I am in for a good semester! All of my professors have been very engaging and interesting. I particularly enjoyed a course today on the Ideology and Theory of American Conservatism--the course I was actually looking least forward too (I only ended up in it because my other choices filled up). The professor seems super awesome--grew up in NY and studied at Columbia and believes that grades are a joke. I'm especially looking forward to the final exam which will consist of an hour 1 on 1 meeting the prof in a cafe to talk about the course--I've always said this is how I think finals should be!

I'm also excited to report that I finally have a native French speaker teaching me French--makes a world of difference! I already had to prepare a 5 minute presentation on someone from my country to deliver to the class. I didn't end up going today, but I'm sure I will sometime next week. It is definitely intimidating because she corrects ALL your mispronunciation and grammar errors, but that is the only way I will actually improve. (On a side note, I wrote my presentation on Geoffrey Canada, the founder of Harlem Children's Zone. There are a bunch of American's in the class, and I figured I should choose something non-mainstream, ie: not Obama. Turns out I was write since the first American to go had chosen Obama haha.)

What else? Had a delicious dinner with my housemates today. A friend of the house, who is crashing with us for a couple weeks, wanted to treat us to dinner as a thank you. Definitely was nice to get a big delicious meal in after a semi-stressful week of beginning classes!

Being dinner in Paris, we didn't make it back to the apartment until nearly 11. Stuffed with good food, wine, and dessert I think the next plan of action is pjs and a movie :)