Sarah finishes her first week of class and develops an addiction

Yes, it's true.  I have developed a very serious addiction to a substance that I think should be illegal but is widespread in France: chocolate mousse!  It's everywhere - in the cafeteria, in the grocery stores (sitting innocently beside the yogurt shelves) and now, most importantly, in my fridge.  I can't help it!  Chocolate mousse just happens to be the best thing to eat with tea as well, which means I'm doomed!

(I have inserted a paragraph break here just for Hugues Beaudoin-Dumouchel, because he complained last time.  So Hugues, here you go!)

On to more Parisian things, like the reason that I'm actually here - school!  I had almost forgotten about it, but last week it came creeping back up on me.  I survived the first week of my (SEVEN!) classes, and I like all of them.  The best class so far is US Foreign Policy, ironically taught by a French-Canadian prof from Montreal.  So our overview of American history involved a lot of talking about Samuel de Champlain, Quebec City, hockey, and the population of Canada.  He asked everyone except the Canadians in the class to guess the population of Canada, and most people guessed something around 160 million!  So I feel like our class is going to end up learning just as much about Canada as they are about the US. 

My other classes are also pretty neat.  I'm taking a course called Understanding Pakistan, one about Comparative Middle Eastern Studies (focus on Egypt and Turkey), Contemporary Strategic Studies in World Politics, European Integration, Gender and Politics and French.  So I have a lot of reading to get started on, which is why I'm blogging instead!  Most of the coursework is actually presented to the class - there's a real focus on speaking and communicating ideas well.  At the beginning of my time at Sciences Po, they presented methodology courses, to teach the "Sciences Po" method.  I wasn't a fan, because we were told that the professor is like a god, and therefore the subject he or she asks you to research and write about is divine.  We were told never to question the structure or the question asked, but always to respect the form of the assignment, whereas my normal reaction would be to look more critically at what the prof was asking and why.  Basically they really care less about what I have to say here, as long as I say it well!

So that's what I'm up to right now - my first assignment is in my french class, where I have to give a ten minute presentation.  We actually get to pick our topics, since the project is basically an assessment of our grammar and vocab skills.  I'm undecided - I've found two possible topics.  My first reaction was PARLIAMENT!  Because we all know how much I love the Parliament buildings.  But then, I thought about giving my presentation on joual and French-Canadian expressions.  Just because I want to see the look on my (very proper, very articulate, very French) French professor's face.

Soooo now I'm going to make a cup of tea and maybe (just maybe) have another chocolate mousse while working on my presentation!

P.S.  I forgot - I love posting pictures, so here are some of my apartment building and neighbourhood! (1. My apartment, 2/3 the view on my street, 4. the view from my kitchen window, 5. view from my living room window)