Un peu de reflection.

Well, being that today wasn't the most exciting day that I've had here...I thought that it would be appropriate to just mention some of the things that I've been thinking about or noticed since I've now officially been in Paris a month! Crazyyy.

1. Heavily decreased cell phone usage. This is something that I did somewhat expect to happen, and I'm so glad that it has. Being that each text message I send costs 10 centimes and a phone call costs 50 centimes a minute -- I don't text very much at all, and I haven't made a single phone call. When I'm home, I don't care where my phone is! Which is a wonderful wonderful feeling. It's been great to break the texting-an-entire-conversation habit and only text once in a while to ask someone a specific question. When you know how much each one costs, it makes it a lot easier to think about what you're going to say in each text you send....

2. Differences in Academic Systems. I've noticed that, in general, I have less work in France than I did at school in the states. I don't think this is to say that I'm learning any less, just learning differently. After all, everything, every class, every activity that I'm doing is in French. But as my France/Africa professor noted today, the French put much more emphasis on discussion in class rather than assigning tons of work to do at home. Which for obvious reasons is nice, but it actually allows me to finish each reading and be prepared for class rather than feel overwhelmed, skim the reading, and then spend the class with my eyes on my notes to avoid being called on. Instead of feeling constantly behind, they allow you to (mostly) be prepared.

This does come with a flip-side though -- that of lack of availability and organization. For example, I got an email today saying that one of my economics classes has two make up classes -- one this coming Thursday and then one later in the semester. Too bad that I have another class that meets during those times...

WELL, I got sidetracked (surprise!) and skyped with my darling brother, and I'm afraid that it is WAY past my bedtime! So I'll continue tomorrow -- and hopefully have something more exciting to report.

A demain!