Paris III vs. Centre Madeleine

I had class this morning at nine a.m. for the second day in a row. I'd be hesistant to sign up for a class at Midd at nine a.m. ... I'm not sure why I chose two of them here. It was so dreary getting up this morning...the sun doesn't rise in Paris until about 8:45, plus it was rainy. I did discover this morning however that I can make it from the front door of my building to school in 22-23 minutes, just in case. I arrived at school at 8:57 this morning, slightly later than I intended since I had to look up my room number and then find it, but I still made it to class several minutes before my professor. Timeliness is not really a virtue here. All of the classes are scheduled back-to-back so every one of my classes has started at least five minutes late b/c students are coming and going at the same time. Even my class at Centre Madeleine started ten minutes late today, though my professor insists that next week we're starting on time. Today at Paris III I had my discussion section type class (it appears to be more of an interactive lecture). I discovered that this course, like my translation one, is the second half of a yearlong course. The professor kept referencing things the class had learned during the first half and next week we're going to review the final. I went back and forth in my head for the two hours of the class deciding if I should drop it or stick with it. I think I'm going to stay. I spoke to the prof after class, and he showed me one method on the board and told me that was all I really needed to know. The thing he showed me was basically sentencing diagraming, like we did in Freshman year English (at Loomis), so I don't think the class will be terribly hard. He didn't mention evaluations at all - when I asked him after class, he said we'd have two exams, one in classes in about five or six weeks (hopefully we'll get a specific date for that soon) and one late in April (couldn't really understand if this is take-home or in-class or group or what). Everything academic seems so chill here. Students arrived in class beginning at nine but continued arrived until at least nine-thirty. A few fell asleep. Students at Paris III in all my classes have also talked through the entire class. They are constantly whispering to each other throughout the entire time. Sometimes the professors shush them and sometimes they just talk over them. I've talked to a few other Middkids and they said the same thing happens in their classes as well. Experiences like that remind me that we are in classes with first-year students, who perhaps are slightly less mature than ourselves (I've also been told this by several Midd professors - that Parisian students are less mature and less motivated). Attendance also appears optional, even in classes that take roll. The professor would often call a student's name, and a friend of theirs would reply that that student wouldn't be there this week but he/she would return next week. The prof would say OK and move on (this has happened with at least 5-6 students). Despite the disorganization and mild chaos that seems to define Paris III, I've really enjoyed my experience there so far. The professor have been nice, the students aren't super scary when they are not in huge packs or tight circles of friends. My linguistics class this morning had a bunch of students sitting alone - I think the whole group has changed sections since last semester - maybe I'll befriend one of them.

Particularly in comparison to my classes at Paris III, my French language class at the Center this afternoon was very enjoyable and very comfortable. The professor, a very chic, middle-aged, very French woman named Isabelle, handed out a SYLLABUS! Who would have thought I'd be so excited to get a packet with HW assignments on it. With the syllabus of course comes regular HW assignments, but it also means knowing what's expected and structure to the course (something more than a brief list of topics for the semester - a la Paris III). The class itself seems kind of unstructured...apparently we have a short reading assignment and exercises to do for each class. Today we started reading together and we did a super-close reading...practically word-by-word, and the professor digressed constantly to explain vocab and connotations and words that sound similar but mean different things or cognates that have different definitions in French. I'll definitely be learning a ton of vocab in this class. It was completely all over the place though, as we talked about history, vocab, law-related vocab, random words, etc. My prof is very dynamic and energetic and on top of things, so the class itself was a pleasant experience. It will be far far more work than any of my other classes, but I think I'll get a lot out of it and enjoy it. The professor is kind of like our advisor in Paris, she's open to questions about our experiences and cultural differences and word usage and vocab and whatnot, so it should be very helpful. We also have to report to her about our volunteer work/internships/interactions with the French and write diary entries about them for her.