La rentrée

Hi everybody!

So the past week has seen the end of the Welcome Programme, more parties, more sightseeing, a visit from Dane, and the beginning of the school year! Here is my schedule:

lundi
10h00 - 12h00  Globalisation, etats, et marches financiers (basically globalization and finance)

mardi
10h00 - 12h00 Tennis
12h30 - 14h30 Sociology of Immigration, Race and Ethnicity (very interesting!)
14h45 - 16h45 La construction europeenne (the construction of the EU/EU law)

mercredi
8h00 - 10h00 European Integration/Economics of the EU (like the economic integration of nations into the EU)
12h30 - 14h30 Globalisation, etats, et marches financiers - the recitation I guess

jeudi
12h30 - 14h30 Clivages socio-politiques en Europe

So it's nice! Thus far I've really enjoyed my classes. The ones in French are quite difficult - I can understand it's just the biggest headache to really follow the whole time. And all of them are borderline over my head but oh well, it just means I will learn a lot this semester. As I mentioned with the Welcome Program, we have these main things called "exposes" which are just oral presentations but in this specific format and typically from 10-30 minutes and besides that the other things are papers, 'fiches techniques' which are basically essays and 'fiches de la lecture' which is probably the easiest I imagine, a 3-page document outlining and developing a reading. It's all a lot different from assignments at home and so far at each intro lecture, it is when we schedule who presents which expose when (or which day my paper is due etc) depending on the subject. So I've been intentionally making them all as early in the semester as possible while still being spread and balanced so that I can get them out of the way so I have more freedom in the rest of the semester and don't have any stress come exams! Well...it's a great idea to me now but I will kicking myself in a matter of days since my first oral presentation will be next Thursday and it's in a French class so...well...I will learn fast.

Other than that has been nothing but fun! Dane came for the last weekend and we did lots. Went shopping for some room stuff (like big pillows for my futon that you can't sit up straight on), picnicking in the Jardin du Luxembourg and all over town really, climbing up and strolling around Montmartre and visiting the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur, and more. The highlight was the picnic in the Jardin du Luxembourg...I've spent a lot of time there already, meeting up with friends, picnic with the Welcome Program, and even laid there with other students in my group discussing French immigration policy and its conflict with the National Identity of France to prepare our expose (another surreal French experience). But the day we went it was just SO nice out it was unbelievable and we had great food and it was just packed and 'gezellig.' Sacre Coeur was also spectacular. The view from atop the hill is more beautiful than one could imagine (I could even see the Notre Dame and Pantheon so tried to pick out which house was mine in between), but inside the church is what really took my breath away. It really must be one of the most beautiful churches I've ever seen and I just found it really unsettling and kind of scary with all the imagery and the style of the design so I really liked it. The dome in it is also amazing with its windows and the way the sun shines through them onto these stone angels. I never knew what the inside of the Sacre-Coeur looked like but wow it was amazing. I will make sure to upload photos when I get them from Dane!

There have also been several "Integration" events the past few days. On Sunday was the Journee d'integration with the Buddy Program. It was in the Bois de Vincennes for all the exchange students. It was amazingly fun though in typical French fashion was completely unorganized and didn't begin till an hour later than scheduled. We were basically assigned to groups (Dane just went along with me which was luckily perfectly fine) and in those groups we went around to different activities and yeah met a bunch of other international students and French students. Dane and I both had fun with the games and meeting people, we were particularly champions with this "Bike Binouze" organization that had a station with things like monocycle races and other strange bike contraption races. Bike Binouze is a student organization at ScPo that I guess once a week or so they are told a bar somewhere in Paris but are only given the name of the bar and the arrondissement, then they hop on their bikes and race to find it. He who gets there first gets free drinks all night and other than that just really cheap beer for everyone (2,50 euro pint which is ridiculously cheap here as it's typically 5,50 6,50). What a great student organization right?! By winning our little races too we kept winning free beer. Great great. Then we did different icebreaker style games at other stations and played soccer at one but more like human foosball so holding hands in lines and having to stay in that straight line etc. Fun. I ended up meeting quite a few nice people though, one girl from Philly too! After the Journee was a bar crawl through the Bastille area which was even nicer. Just more meeting people etc. Since Dane's obsessed with meeting new people especially international students we really had a blast! So no worries, my boyfriend visiting doesn't cramp my social life ;)
Then Monday night was the Soiree d'Integration for the whole school hosted by the Bureau des Eleves (main student board, basically student government). Unfortunately Dane was gone early early in the morning but I got tickets with friends for this party at this cabaret. I went to my friend's little studio apt in Montparnasse with friends for some drinks beforehand then headed out to the party. The venue was absolutely beautiful, all wood with dark red curtains and everything yeah I guess like an old-fashioned cabaret. The DJ was absolutely fantastic so we really had a nice time. It was just too bad it was on the outskirts of town so getting home after the metro closed (at 1230 on weeknights, crazy) was a nightmare. I didn't look up where it was and I figured I'd bike home but noooo nevermind, took a cab with others.

So anyway. Now I'm just doing classes and getting excited for this weekend and the next weekend! There's too much fun to be had here. But right now is business. Today I was productive, I finally got fully registered with Sciences Po by giving them all the documents needed and getting my student ID card and bought my social security. I also got all the needed documents to the bank so now I'm just waiting on an email confirmation with my RIB and I'm set to get my phone and everything. Of course it wasn't a fraction as easy as it sounds, especially with the bank. They kept sending me to different branches and whatnot and oh just awful I really hate the French I really do everything is SO overcomplicated. Now I will organize my schedule and do work because Friday I am meeting with this girl to prepare our expose for next week and I want to have the time to devote my entire Saturday day and night to this Inox Park Festival with some of the biggest and my favorite DJs in the world.

Wahoooooou Paris Paris Paris. Pictures and all coming soon. Love x