It's (almost) the weekend!

The last few days have been really intense with projects. I have one last one to complete before I head off for a long weekend in Aix-en-Provence tomorrow where I'll have only two projects to work on for Monday. Ohh. Is it sad that I think a working weekend with only two projects is exciting? Hmm.

I'm sorry I haven't posted much recently. All I've had to talk about is microfinance remittance services for migrants, waste exchange evaluations, accounting, revision work for a consulting firm and CSR guidelines for cooperative banks. Exciting!

I'll have some excitement to report after this weekend, j'espère, and a few photos.

You know you've been in France too long when . . .

The story talks about how we conducted a UN security council simulation involving piracy in Somalia for high school students in Le Mans.

Elites Cosanguines

There was a bit of excitement at Sciences Po yesterday. Some students from the public university broke into Sciences Po in public demonstration of Sarkozy's university reforms. While I believe the movement's gripes are more legitimate than those of the student strike last year, the demonstration yesterday was nothing if not counterproductive.

The demonstrators' number one target was the Sciences Po student body. They interrupted classes, forcing the university to temporarily close all of the buildings, and called the students incestuous perpetuators of an elitist, bourgeois system. I guess I should blame my parents for raising me with two many privileges on the farm.

The thing that got me was that they were more interested in tearing down Sciences Po than building up their own university. I believe in equality, but not if it means holding people back. Sciences Po has been the most progressive of the "elitist" schools in terms of active recruting in depressed communities. There is certainly room to improve, but I think that has more to do with access to better schools at a younger age to prepare students for the selective admission process.

http://www.liberation.fr/societe/0101556055-reforme-des-universites-la-contestation-s-invite-a-sciences-po

Good news!

My speakers are working again on my laptop!

Ok, as exciting as that is, it's not my most exciting piece of information to share. I had my interview Wednesday evening by telephone, and I was offered an interview on the spot (on the line?) with the World Food Prize Foundation in Des Moines. I'm very excited!

With tests and papers I don't have much to write these days, and I can't even post pictures as I lost my camera before break. I hope to get back into the groove in February.

First soccer . . erm, football match?

I was invited to tag along to a soccer match between Paris St. Germain and le Mans by my French buddy Edouard at the beginning of December; it was . . . cold. I had fun, although I doubt I'll repeat the experience any time soon. Paris won 3-1.

The French buddy system was set up through the Center for the Americas, and I was assigned two buddies. Edouard is really great about inviting me to various events. The other gets nervous when he sees me in the hall (he's a bit younger), so we avoid contact as much as possible.

Here the guys are preparing for the match. I don't know if you can qualify McDonalds fare as sustenance, but they seemed to be re-energized by the experience.
Maxine, Alexandre, Samir & Hannah (David's American buddy)


Here I am bundled up for the match. Brrr!


David, Sylvain & Edouard (my French buddy)

Update on plagiarism:

My partner, Hassatou, informed me that she would retype her part of the paper and send in our work before the deadline. I covered myself and beefed up my section to be more of a paper by adding the into, conclusion, etc. (the parts Hassatou was supposed to be responsible for). I sent it to our instructor saying that I would be willing to present our work to the class together if she turned in the completed paper on time, but that in the case that she didn't, here was proof that I hadn't been slacking. I had already sent her documentation of what I had done saved at three different stages of the work process, which proved that what had been done up until then was all my own work. I also volunteered to do another paper on my own to prove that I could respect deadlines and was willing to work.

Hassatou sent a long e-mail at 12:30, 30 minutes after the deadline, acting like a martyr in the whole situation. She explained that she understood how her story sounded suspicious but that she wished I had been honest with her and told her about my accusations in advance. ME be honest with HER!!!!!!! To top it all off, after her long self-righteous e-mail, she declared that she didn't even want credit for the paper and that I should get the grade for the paper she was sending. There was NOTHING attached to the e-mail. I e-mailed her within 2 minutes saying she forgot the attachment. The professor e-mailed the same thing 30 minutes later; no response. Well OF COURSE I should get credit for what had been done because it was ALL MY WORK!!!!

My instructor (I won't even call her a professor because she's barely older than I am, has not gotten her PhD and doesn't know how to teach) did not reply to ANY of my e-mails. She simply sent an e-mail to the both of us saying that the situation was regrettable but that we should use this opportunity to learn to work as a team and turn in a paper by next Wednesday. I've sent e-mails to the girl twice now (I refuse to call because I want everything documented) and she has neither replied to me nor to my professor.

I've documented my work, the e-mails I've sent to Hassatou those I've sent to my miserable excuse for TA. The class delegate (never knew why we would need one until now) has been really helpful. I'm keeping him abreast of all new developments and he's ready to intervene with the TA and the administration if I don't get credit or receive a very poor grade.

These two girls are ruining my Sciences Po experience. I know I should just let it go, but I have to deal with them (not directly since they never reply) every day as I try to get this sorted out.

I've been plagiarized

I've never been so filled with rage. My partner tried to present my work as our group work and when I confronted her, she claimed to have lost the version with all of her work. She also failed to turn the paper in which she was supposed to do last Thursday, and which I couldn't do because she never sent me any of her work due to "technical problems". To top it all off, the teacher doesn't want to hear about my "personal problems" and wants us to finish the paper by tomorrow which makes it 9 days late.

Reason #3

The number 3 reason why I love Sciences Po: free popcorn.

PricewaterhouseCoopers came to Sciences Po today to woo hungry students into joining the "exciting" world of auditing (and consulting) with free popcorn, plush couches and big screen TVs. In the altered state of my popcorn buzz I almost fell for the syrupy promises of internships, but then I remembered a remark I heard the other day. Apparently some big firms are continuing with the appearance of heavy recruiting in order to save face in the business world and maintain brand confidence, even though hiring has been drastically cut back. That may not be the case for PricewaterhouseCoopers; if anything, we are more in need of auditing now than ever. However, the cutbacks in other industries are going to increase competition for available jobs.

I am not so naive to think companies will be drooling over me, but neither am I desperate enough to be won over by free popcorn. I'm going to explore my options, which means cocktails in 2 weeks with Boston Consulting Company, a consultancy I find much more appealing than PricewaterhouseCoopers. BCG is doing a special sustainable development event for Parisian Grande Ecole students. Sustainable development and cosmos . . . could life be any better?

Reason #2

This video makes me so insanely happy. I needed to share the joy. It got me so revved up I went running too soon after my breakfast and almost threw up my coffee. It was still worth it.

Reason #2 why I love Sciences Po: Diversity

Not only do my fellow students represent a wide variety of nationalities, they also have unique combinations of cultural backgrounds and foreign experience. It's so common to run across students with two or even three nationalities that I'm something of an anomaly having been born, raised and educated in the same country, not to mention the same state. Two examples: Audrey, born in France, raised in 9 countries. Ingunn: Norwegian, raised in Botswana, Norway and Malawi.

Why so many students with foreign experience at Sciences Po? When English is such a important part of the selection process, students that have lived abroad get an edge.

Fun fact of the day: Sarko (the French president) actually failed to get his diploma from Sciences Po because he couldn't pass the English requirement.

Reason #1

Have I said how much I love going to Sciences Po? I think about how I should write more about how lucky I feel every day on my way to class, but I haven't found the time so far. This school just makes me blissfully happy to a point where it's a bit sad that I get so excited about education. I fall asleep every night surrounded by papers and articles and in the morning, I barely have one eyelid pried open when I manage to turn on my computer to listen to the latest debate or watch the Colbert report during my morning "free time" (aka breakfast).

Reason #1 why I love Sciences Po: I am busy!!!

I spent first few hours of my morning scraping chocolate goo out of a pan and then scrambling to Monoprix to buy pre-made cookies for my collective project's bake sale. I somehow managed to mess up 2 box cakes. All you have to do is add eggs and butter, but Christine's oven is a Jetson's style fancy-pants oven and I think I used the wrong setting. It was not the intellectual highlight of my day. We'll leave it at that.

However, the day quickly improved. After two hours of selling cookies, I had two hours of my favorite class "Philosophy of technology." I know it sounds impractical, but trust me, it's not. It's actually more about how to think outside of the box, formulate arguments and critique the rationalization of common knowledge. Today we talked about the ethics of GMOs in terms of legal, economic and health concerns.

The professor really liked my idea for my paper. I am going to research the efficiency of profit-driven enterprises as opposed to philanthropic projects in sustainable development with a special focus on the $100 dollar computer program and the "Bottom of the pyramid" concept. My exposé topic isn't quite as developed, but it will deal with the precautionary principle and our conception of risks.

After that I had a meeting for all master students about the services Sciences Po offers for internships. They gave us packets with an initial list of offers to check out, and the World Food Prize in Des Moines was listed. I actually want to earn a living, so I won't be applying. It was still cool to see.

After the meeting I had an hour to finish watching the debate from last night (AMAZING! So much fun) start scouting internships and scan Le Monde (Multi-tasking is much harder when done bi-lingually) before heading to my second class of the day "Politics of Sustainable Development" where we had a surprise special guest: Olivier Godard, a well-known French economist. (I can tell my French is kicking in when my sentences begin to get rather lengthy) He gave a wonderful presentation (not terribly uplifting in light of the current circumstances but enthralling none the less).

My day ended early since my last class ended at 7pm and I have tomorrow morning to prepare for my Model UN project meeting tomorrow afternoon. So, I went out to dinner with a friend and her boyfriend.

Yesterday was insanity:

I went to the library to work in the morning, gave a 15 min speech about Sarah Palin in my 2-hour French class (I even made jokes, I'm so "forte"), went to my 2-hour discussion section for "Sociology of International Relations," managed to make lunch around 3pm, tried to bake the infamous cakes for the bake sale while reading for class, ran off to Asnieres (not paying much attention to the cakes I pulled out of the oven a bit prematurely) to tutor my favorite French kids, had dinner with the family (raclette and crepes: I have no idea how the French stay slim) made it back into Paris by 9 to meet a friend for a drink who I had to cancel on last week, home by 11 and typed up a document for my Model UN project.

I'm just in a state of bliss. I don't know if you all took me seriously when I complained about not having anything to do in Poitiers, but I really do prefer to be busy. (Not mindlessly busy, but busy in a purposeful way.) Well, I got my wish and I have no regrets!!

Poitiers

I took a quick jaunt down to Poitiers this weekend to see my pals and former colleagues Jeanette and Elaine, from Canada and Ireland respectively. Jeanette is still teaching at the university and Elaine now lives near Nantes. The weather was AMAZING, and we enjoyed the lazy day together catching up.

I also went for a coffee with Christele, the professor with whom I taught interpretation; the experience reconfirmed my suspicions that Christele is a spot-on replacement for "Debbie Downer" on SNL. (You know, the character that always brings down a conversation by mentioning a depressing topic). It was a lark.

The highlight of the day (besides the bone-cracking back massage Jeanette gave me) was dinner with the girls at our favorite French resto Les Bons Enfants (The good children). Kitchy décor and creepy photos of children abound in this hole in the wall restaurant where you can feast on a shockingly reasonably priced 4 course meal. We knew better than to plan anything after the 3 1/2 hour event besides rolling back to Jeanette's place to put on sweat pants. It was glorious!

I caught the Sunday train back to Paris and the reality of my mounting pile of homework. I'm really enjoying my classes and even my collective project seems like it will be a good experience. The "projet collectif" is mandatory for all master's students. There are all kinds of projects going on that are organized by students. I applied for one that involves running Model UN simulations for junior high and high school students. We take care of every aspect of the program from finding sponsors to writing position papers to organizing partnerships with schools where we run the simulations.

In the midst of my back to reality shock Sunday evening, Christine knocked on my door with a dinner tray. I had homemade organic vegetable soup and homemade apple compote (sort of like apple sauce). I also had some bread since I'm not on a liquid diet. :) I may never figure out her bourgeois ways, but there are many a day when I am thankful for Christine.

Yammering in French

I gave my first presentation yesterday on international public institutions in sustainable development. It went well. :)

no more afternoon naps

I know I haven't posted any pictures recently. They would only be of the inside of my room, the library and my classes if I had managed to take any. I knew the day would come when I would stop complaining about not having anything to do. That day is here!

Yoga rage

Classes are off to a running start. I already have a presentation to give on the role of public institutions in sustainable development on Tuesday. I am getting to know the people in my classes rather quickly because there are only 50 of us in the program. There is always a sprinkling of students from other programs, but many of the faces are already familiar. My program has a very high percentage of international students (maybe 1/3?), so that has helped calm my nerves about presenting in French.

My only disappointment has been my yoga class. The instructor was 15 minutes late, and she talks way to much. When we finally made it to our mats, we spent 20 minutes practicing our breathing. The teacher thinks we need to work on the fundamentals (this is supposed to be an advanced course), improve our concentration and clear our minds. When I'm lying on a mat breathing, all I can think about is how much time I'm wasting and how I could relax much better at home taking a nap. The only exercise I got was the 30 minute walk to get to class and return home. If it doesn't improve, I may need to go to class in order to relax after yoga.

Ups and downs

Today I attended a 3-hour debate on France's 5th Republic. The panel included some illustrious speakers including former Prime Minister Edouard Balladur and National Assembly member Jack Lang. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay focused for more than 5 minutes. As I am not terribly familiar with the French Constitution and its many reforms, I was lost from the start. It was frustrating to say the least.

On a brighter note, I went to see the film "Entre les murs" last night, and succeeded in understanding 95% of it. It's based on the experiences of a French junior high school teacher (who later wrote several books and stars as himself in the movie) in a poor Parisian school with primarily immigrant students. I liked how it isn't the story of an extraordinary teacher that manages to rally his students around him in admiration (this isn't the story of Susan Cramer), but more the story of the frustrations, small successes and setbacks this teacher had to go through. I could only find the trailer in French, but I think you can get an idea of what it's about.



Now if only I could understand elderly French people as well as I can understand teens from the streets. :(

the other side of the crêpe . . .

We learned that you can reference crêpes in academic settings when referring to two sides to an argument. I don't know if I'll ever use the expression, but it did succeed in whetting my appetite.

In honor of the end of our 3-week welcome program, our class went out to eat at a crêperie near my house (how convenient). The food was . . . ehh, but the company was delightful.

Below: Zoe (China) and Spencer (South Dakota) are excited to order their crêpes.

Spencer, Viola (Germany) and Anna (Denmark)

Viola, Anna and me (USA!)

Yes, there were more of us, but I only got pictures of our table. I failed to get a photo of our super attractive professor who was also in attendance; I am sorry to disappoint. :(

A beautiful day in the neighborhood

Today my French class went on walking tour of the neighborhood around our school. We all presented facts about different sites, and it was amazing how many historical sites I have passed dozens of times without noticing. We checked out one of the towers still standing from a wall that encircled Paris in the twelfth century. How crazy is that!?

Some other sites we stopped by include the following:

Musée National Eugène Delacroix : This painter would not have been successful in a post Janet Jackson USA. (Viola & Nadja, German)














l'Académie française - where the language police reside

La Sorbonne: famous alum include Sartre, Marie Curie and Philippe Guibal (our French professor pictured below with Zoe from China and Lieke from the Netherlands)















Just a touch of the 17th century (relatively new)

Jardin du Luxembourg: my jogging park












Café le Procope - founded in 1686, this café managed to get a thumbs-up from Benjamin Franklin (Anna - Denmark & Ingunn - Norway [my favorite from the class])

A sigh of relief

I presented my first Sciences Po exposé this morning, and it went fantastically well! My group was prepared, poised and engaging. The professor offered some constructive criticism, but overall our exposé was very well received. The group presenting the same topic after us, however, crashed and burned. One of the girls had a mini panic attack and stopped several times throughout the presentation. Speaking in public is rough enough, but doing so in another language can be murder. I felt bad for her, but at the same time, I was all the more proud of my group members and the work we did. It was a good start to the semester, and now I know where I should improve for future presentations.

I've signed up for a yoga class at Sciences Po. The teacher is a woman so I'm hoping she won't do the strange stomach wiggles of which the Yoga instructor at HEC was so fond. *shudder* I think it will be a good way to get to know other French students since that is how I found my French girlfriends at HEC.

Course Registration . . . EXCITING!

Check out my exciting new schedule (whoo!):

Innovation and Sustainable Development
Sociology of International Relations
Tools of Auditing
International Institutions of Sustainable Development
Science, expertise & regulation
French
Philosophy of Technology
The Politics of Sustainable Development

Each of the courses are two hours (except for Sociology of IR which has an extra 2 hour discussion section) and are conducted all in French. I have 3 classes on Monday and 2 classes on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Now that I've gotten all of that exciting information out of the way, I can move on to the more mundane update details. ;) I wish I were saying that sarcastically, but unfortunately I am so boring that the politics of sustainable development is all I have for excitement.

Featured above: The Magical Shoes and Guizmo (Christine's cat and my new buddy/shadow)

I wore these shoes out to meet some international students for an obnoxious bonding event. An unexpected 3 miles later, I was still standing and in no (physical) pain whatsoever. I have found my magical shoes!

As for my tolerance for the bonding event, it wore thin fairly quickly. I'm all about meeting new people, but I don't exactly enjoy stretching out the process of "and where are you from?" to last a month and include hundreds of other students. I gave it another try Saturday with a picnic event. After realizing there wasn't even one recognizable face from the evening before, I completely gave up. I don't mind the meet & greet with the people in my classes, and I will be happy to do it again when I get into actual classes. Until then, meet Guizmo, my new best friend.

Saturday I had a positive interaction with my non-feline friends. I went to a going-away/birthday party for my friend Mathilde from HEC. She's leaving for a year of abroad in Mexico. A bunch of my French girlfriends were able to make it, and it was just so nice to catch up after the summer. Most of them will be living in Jouy-en-Josas (Parisian suburb) this year, but a few are sticking it out in Paris and planning to commute.
Above: Prune, Nathalie, Mathilde's friend, Sophie's boyfriend Alexis, Mathilde & Sophie.

Tied my shoes on the first day of school

Well, I actually buckled them, but it sounds better if I say tied. It conjures up fuzzier memories of sack lunches, backpacks and apples for the teacher. I, however, strutted off in a pair of heels and dark sunglasses. It is Paris after all.

My first day of non-class class went well. I say non-class because it is ungraded. It is simply part of a 3-week prep for us foreigners so we don't go into shock come October.

The groups are organized by French level. Together we take a French course and a course on methodology. I will also have a course on the history of Paris which begins next week. My class is composed of a at least a dozen Germans, a couple Chinese girls, a Brazilian, a Cuban-American, a Dane, a Greek, an Ecuadorian, a few I forget, a South Dakotan and lil' ol' me. Iowa represent.

I began the day with two hours of French class with a wonderful middle-aged gentleman and father of 5 who kept cracking jokes about the Germans invading (in reference to the proportions of the class). I think he only got away with it because his wife is German and he speaks the language fluently.

After a brief break we had two hours of methodology with an extremely attractive Frenchman who completed Sciences Po in 2003 and now runs his own consulting company. I didn't even think French men could be this attractive. I'm just baffled . . .

. . . but I digress. Sciences Po has extremely strict rules concerning the structure of papers and time limits on presentations. In the methodology course we are supposed to prepare a practice presentation and go over other various structural guidelines.

Tomorrow we don't have class so we can register, except only the exchange students can register (grrr!). Normal students have to wait until Monday and figure out a way to get out of class and register before the good courses are taken.

This evening I went to my tutoring job. The 2 hours of class I gave went well and afterwards I had dinner with the family. They made me Mexican food since we talked about it on Sunday. I've never seen Mexican food served with a cheese course. Vive la France! We talked a bit too long so Dometille (the mother) drove me back home so I wouldn't have to take the train at 9:30. She's so sweet. I love my new part-time job!

Tomorrow I'm going to take advantage of the day off to work on getting my reimbursement back from my bank for the zoom airlines ticket and get cracking on my homework.