And the money kept rolling in.

Discover Andrew Lloyd Webber!

This is for all of my bank homies:

My hours of haggling, harassing and being a general pain have finally paid off! First of all, BNP (my French bank) is reimbursing me for half of my Zoom flight! For those of you that haven't read since the beginning, my flight to France was canceled in September when Zoom Airlines went bankrupt. BNP tried to make bogus claims that I hadn't followed procedure. The reimbursement will cover about 2/3 of the last minute flight I had to get from Toronto to Paris. Yay!

Secondly, my second French bank (Société Générale) is reimbursing me for the legal insurance they "accidentally" set up in my name as well as for the 43 euro overdraft charge that I just didn't want to pay.

I actually had a decent excuse. My BNP card becomes a credit card as soon as I go in the red. Société Générale cuts you off at 100 euros, and then they call to transfer money for you and charge you for the "intervention" even though I could just get online and transfer it.

What lesson have I learned from this? Be persistent, complain a lot, and keep a close eye on your bank. Not all banks are as trustworthy as Guthrie County State Bank!

All you need is "punkin" pie

We celebrated a belated Thanksgiving this Saturday at Stephanie & Elizabeth's apartment near Bastille. The whole event was just such a treat. I was especially fond of the pumpkin pie, stuffing and sweet potatoes. (I was in charge of the garlic mashed potatoes).

Sarah & Stephanie

Clement, Elizabeth, Stephanie & Khalid

Elizabeth, Stephanie & Clemens

Spencer, Matteo & Sebastian steal Stephanie's move

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.

Just one of those days . . .

Belated jubilation!

The German-American Alliance for Obama.


6am and the amphitheater is packed with Sciences Po students. Who would have thought we would be so interested in politics?
South Dakota, Represent!! Spence conducts an interview for French TV.
Floriane en Gaëlle stayed up all night for the festivities.

Life's mysteries can always be explained through reality TV analogies

On Monday I woke up wanting to be a consultant (at least for a 2-5 year time frame). I went to school, sat through a few classes, read a report on consulting . . . it all seemed to be going well. Then I checked out the Sciences Po career website and discovered a 1 1/2 day workshop/recruiting tool for a Capgemini Consulting. My gut reaction was "ughhhhh, no."

I think it can be easy sometimes to get swept up into something that may not really be the right fit. Think of people that go on dating shows like "The Bachelor." The need to be wanted, to not be rejected, and to win blinds contestants to the fact that they may not actually like the bachelor. I have turned into one of those pathetic women. Well, at least I figured it out before I made it to the ring ceremony.

Consulting is still an option, but I need to look into boutique consultancies that deal specifically with sustainable development. I can justify long hours if it is for a good cause. Making money and helping other people make money doesn't really do it for me.