Franchement,

My apologies for the time lapse.  I haven't felt like there has been anything particularly interesting to write about but I've come to realize that probably isn't true.  I have been here for a month and a day, or thereabouts and while Paris is a completely different experience than everything else I've done this summer, I feel like I've been here all along. Instead of adjusting to speaking French, living with strangers, and other aspects of complete immersion, I've had to re-adjust from my farm life/vacation adventures that I had this summer.  It hasn't really hit me until now how many new and exciting experiences I had this summer.  Now being in Paris I find myself aching for the simplicity of farm life and the beaches of southern France.

To begin with my recent revelations I have just had two "full" weeks of classes and have been exposed to the French university education system "le Fac."  Le Fac is not Bryn Mawr, not in the least.  It has happened that some of my professors (of which I have 6, for 4 classes) will hand out minimal syllabi or relatively detailed reading lists (what I now refer to as "winning the jackpot) as most professors will give a bibliography with 20 or so books and that's it.  At Bryn Mawr that doesn't quite cut it, and I know from my inside view into a few departments at different american universities, that professors are required to give students certain amounts of information (in written form) at the beginning of a class.  (While all professors may not actually do this, it is generally the norm, especially for small liberal arts colleges.)  Apart from the lack of clearly noted information on the aspects/requirements/expectations of the courses the manner in which these professors teach is completely new to me.  In this sense, Bryn Mawr spoils its students.  I have never had a class with more than 40 students and 98.8% of my classes at Bryn Mawr/Haverford have less than 15 students.  During these classes we usually sit around a round table and discuss the readings for the week, yes occasionally tangents will occur, but with a decent professor, those tangents will come back around to something meaningful after an hour and a half or so.  This is not the case in Paris.  At the Sorbonne (Université Paris IV) I have two classes that are split into two sections, CM (cour magistral) and TD (travaux dirigés), a lecture and a seminar.  One will never find a course that is simply CM (at least not anymore) and often courses are turning into seminar style courses like in the US.  One of my geography classes and my Francophone literature class both represent the CM/TD models.  Each part of the class is taught by a different professor and the TD is a younger professor while the CM professor tends to be a "big wig" in the field.

To give an example of "big wig" I'll tell you a story.  Once upon a time (Il était un fois)... My geography class began two weeks ago.   The "salle" was labeled as an auditorium (amphithéâtre) so obviously the class would be large. I walked into the auditoirum and there were a few students sitting in the very last row of a very large room (that doesn't even exist at Bryn Mawr) rolling cigarettes on their way out.  Apparently the class had been cancelled and later I would learn that the class wouldn't start until two weeks after the TD started (this week).  This week I had the privilege to meet this professor of historical and political geography, a researcher in the field.  He arrived in front of about 100 students, Tuesday mid-day, attempted to work a USB with a technician (it didn't work) and then proceeded to speak for one hour, saying practically nothing and going in circles about the difference between géographie historique, géographie politique, and géopolitics, all of which we already learned.  While I do not want to berate the French education system (although there are many things horribly wrong) I just thought I'd point out that coming to the Sorbonne is not what i imagined coming to the Sorbonne would be like.  Besides for my geography professor who would most likely rather be researching, my French professors are good, interesting, relatively dynamic and well rounded in their fields.  Even my Francophone literature professor for the CM (held in a movie theatre because of construction) is interesting and funny, despite his statements that Vermont was Francophone and Montpellier and Montpelier were basically the same thing.  I knew what I signed up for would be different than Bryn Mawr.  I knew I would never get communist cupcakes in a class about gender and sexuality in the Middle East, but a girl can dream.  Frankly (franchement, my new favorite french word) being in Paris is wonderful and overwhelming.   I don't think I will be able to process until next summer, and depending on my schedule, maybe not even then.

What I do believe is this: Bryn Mawr is probably the best place I could have ended up.  And I believe I have reached a level in my French that a) I can have random conversations with women about the strike happening near Montparnasse or old men fishing off the islands near Mont Saint Michel and b) I can critique the quality at which my professors' teach.  Both of these things must mean that my time in France so far has been a success, in many ways.  This post may seem un-Lianna, but in a short time I'm sure Lianna will be back.  It doesn't help that it rains a lot here and that French people actually do smell and are quite rude, but I'm living the Parisian life and growing up by leaps and bounds.