May 24th Saturday

I got up at noon. My breakfast was peanut butter and honey toast. After eating, Adrienne and I cleaned the kitchen, bathroom, and floors. We were hosting Amanda’s birthday party tonight because her place is farther from the center of town and the clubs. I got pretty sweaty cleaning, so I took a shower afterward.

We ran to the grocery store to get some items for the party. We got chips, wine, champagne and cheese. We also got a baguette. We stopped by the apartment and then had some lunch. I had the vegetable soup with some of our old bread. Dipped in soup, the bread was softer.

I wanted to get some more casual shoes that I could wear without socks so I made my way toward H&M. It started raining as I walked. I stopped in Monoprix and looked at their shoes, but I couldn’t find any. I made it to H&M. I found some casual shoes that were simple black canvas. I also got some bobby pins and hair clips.

I walked home and realized that it was a longer walk than I’d thought. Adrienne and I finished getting ready for the party. At 9:30pm, Tobias arrived with a television antenna. Our party coincided unfortunately with Eurovision (the annual televised European singing contest). Some people sounded like they would pick the show over the party so we promised they could watch it at our place. Our TV didn’t have cable so Tobias brought the antenna to try to get the channel. It wasn’t working so I tried finding it online. I was able to find a live stream online so we set it up on my computer. My laptop screen is very small so I was wondering if it would work, but we had it at least.

Manu showed up around 10. He seemed surprised that only Tobias was there. Finally, Casey and Amanda showed up. People started arriving soon after that. Our guests included: Ludo, Milva, Marilena, Violetta, Luis, Jeannette and Anna. There was one group in our bedroom watching Eurovision. They all made comments about the political tensions underlying the contest. We heard occasional cheering as well. Another group of us hung out in the kitchen and talked.

Eventually, Eurovision ended and we had had sufficient amounts of wine and champagne. We headed out to the club where Amanda wanted to party around midnight. The whole group of us walked across the Seine together. Some people decided to break off and go home.

We arrived at Cabaret and waited in a short line to get in. We had signed up on an online list so we were able to get in free. The club was nice. We walked down some stairs into an underground club. The music wasn’t too bad. We danced a lot and it soon became very hot and humid. I thought about getting a drink but soon discovered that they were €13. Screw that! I would just be thirsty. We discovered Carlos at the club as well. He showed up after most of the others had gone.

Amanda and I danced together and had fun driving the boys wild. Carlos even went to his knees before us and mimed wiping drool off his face. Amanda went up next to Manu at one point and gave me a look. I knew what she was thinking and soon we were dancing on either side of him. He seemed to enjoy it and Carlos was driven even crazier.

As it got later, the people started clearing out of the club. It got much cooler and we had more space to dance. We’d offered to Amanda to stay at our place so we were in it for the long haul. We danced until rather late and left around 5:30am. We stepped outside into the morning light. It was beautiful. I was thinking about my bed and cursing the space between us.

Manu, Carlos, Amanda, Adrienne and I walked for a bit together. We walked past the Louvres and I’d never seen it so beautiful as it was in the morning light. It was the most deserted I’d seen it. Then Manu separated so he could go home. Carlos walked us to our apartment like a gentleman, but unlike a gentleman, he asked to stay with us. The rule of no men sleeping in the apartment was still in effect so we had to turn him away. I helped him find the nearest vélibres so he could take a bike home.

We went up to the apartment and the three of us went to bed close to 7:00am.

May 23rd Friday

I woke up to a call from Amanda at 9am telling me that our class with Howorth was cancelled. This was good news in a way because we could take more time to do our presentation that we were supposed to give in that class. On the other hand, I just wanted to get it over with. I got up and checked my email to make sure the class was actually cancelled and then called some classmates to make sure they knew too. Once I told them, I went back to bed. I was tired from going to bed late.

I got up again at 12. I noticed that the mosquito bites were worse. The day before, they’d been simple red spots on my skin. Today, they were angry red bumps that were beginning to itch terribly.

I had some of my fruit and granola cereal and then got ready for our afternoon class. We had a class with Schmidt today and I had to give a presentation in her class. I left a bit early to meet Anna before class. We finished up the powerpoint for the class and put it on my USB key.

We got to class and the room was very warm. My computer was not enjoying the heat and was running very slow. Eventually, it froze and I had to force it off. This was not a very good development because I had all of my notes for the presentation on my laptop. I’d been planning on reading off the screen. Thankfully, we had our powerpoint and were able to show that to the class. The way the teacher’s desk was set up was that there was a computer screen under the desk that was viewable through a glass pane in the middle of the desktop. The powerpoint refreshed my memory enough that I was able to give the presentation okay. I was nervous about giving a presentation in French but it worked out all right. Anna and I did a fairly good job. I was quite nervous but I explained that the heat had killed my computer so they had to bear with me.

After class, I walked home. I got a baguette at the corner boulangerie. At home I ate some of the légumes de soleil soup with the baguette. I put cheese and butter on it to complete the snack. I went into the bedroom and was on my computer. I was still sleepy and fell asleep.

Adrienne woke me up at 8:00pm. We were going to Amanda’s birthday dinner that night. We went to the metro and took it to the stop near the restaurant. Outside the stop we met up with Casey, Amanda, and Sara. We went to find the restaurant and had to walk up and down the street a while to find it. We eventually did find the street and we went in. The restaurant was called 10 Vins (or 10 wines). We were seated at a table that was kind of in the back. It was like having a private party in the back. The waiter was very nice and took very good care of us. They had a €24 menu that came with three courses that we ordered. For the first course, I had the foie gras with the cinnamon apple pastry. It was served on a white dish that was shaped like a duck. It made me a little sad to be reminded that this delicious treat came from such cute animals. The first course was amazing. There were even red peppercorns on the foie gras.

For the second course, I ordered the beef with camembert sauce and potatoes au gratin. The beef was already sliced when it was served and the sauce came in a little wedge-shaped dish. The sauce and the meat were amazing. It was so rich. The final course was dessert and I had the tarte au fraises “maison”. The tart was like our fruit pies with the glaze layer on top. The entire meal was delicious. We had a great time talking during the meal. We shared a bottle of Bordeaux wine. Our reservation had been for 8:30pm. We left the restaurant at midnight. We left and took the metro home.

When we got home, I talked to my parents on Skype for a little bit. I also got to talk to John online. After, Adrienne and I sat in the bedroom and talked for a long time. I didn’t go to bed until around 4am.

May 22nd Thursday

The night before, my sleep was interrupted by frequent mosquito attacks. I tried to kill them during the night but was unsuccessful. My day started officially at 9:00am. I got up and called the doctor’s office. I needed to make an appointment to talk about getting a prescription. I had an appointment for 12:45pm.

While I was getting dressed, I noticed the various remnants of the mosquito attacks. I was now covered in bites. They were in strange places since parts of my body not normally exposed during the day were vulnerable at night.

For breakfast, I had some chocolate muesli cereal while I worked on my upcoming presentations. I got ready and showered before leaving for my appointment. The doctor’s office was near the Franklin Roosevelt metro stop on line 1. I arrived at the stop and walked a few blocks to find the building with the office in it. The office was in one of the nicer apartment buildings. It’s very common for businesses and apartments to share the same building. I walked to the end of the courtyard and found the proper door to buzz the office. They buzzed me in and I went to the third floor. I arrived at the office and talked to the receptionist. She was also an English speaker. She showed me to the waiting room where I had very little paperwork to fill out. I think I only had to sign one form. I waited in the waiting room for an hour but I passed the time with some reading for class.

I got to go see Dr. Salzman in her office. She was a Canadian doctor so she spoke both English and French fluently. She had a desk on one side of the office and then had an examination table behind a screen in the corner. This seemed strange to me since I usually saw doctors who had examination rooms separate from their office. I was slightly nervous because some of my friends had already seen her and it sounded like she was a kind of gruff doctor. She was nice enough to me at least. We discussed the prescription I wanted to get and she gave me it. We also talked about the relatively recent HPV vaccination that can help prevent cervical cancer. The doctor was very pushy about getting it done. I was hesitating because things were complicated with my French health insurance. She acted like I was being a difficult idiot for not getting the prescription right away.

We finished the appointment and I headed back toward school. I had some extra time before class so I stopped by a Chinese restaurant to get some food to go. I got some riz cantonais with poulet aux champignons noirs (chicken with black mushrooms). I hopped on the metro with my food and headed toward Sciences Po. I didn’t have very much time before my class so I sat in the cafeteria and ate my lunch really fast. Once I’d scarfed it all down, I headed to my class with Schmidt. This was our third class with her. Today’s topic was the politicization of the EU and how the EU could possibly represent all of the people in it.

After class, some of us hung out for a while and then I left. I walked home and got a baguette on the way. When I arrived at the apartment, I did some of the readings. They apparently weren’t very interesting because I soon felt sleepy. I took a short nap.

When I woke up, I was quite hungry so Adrienne and I had the Poêle caribéen. It was one of the frozen mixtures with rice, Caribbean vegetables and fish.

Once I was fueled with dinner, I worked on my presentations. I had some messages from Irene and Christine. They were freaking out about our presentation for Howorth’s class. I wasn’t as worried, but their messages started to make me nervous.

I got to talk to my whole family on Skype. Tyler always cracks me up. He usually takes the webcam and focuses it on his beard.
I worked until fairly late. I think I went to bed some time after 3am.

May 21st Wednesday

I had my alarm set for 8:00am. I woke up at that time and felt dead so I decided to change it to 9:00am. The electricity guy came to check the meter. Adrienne showed it to him. I got up and got ready after that. I had some chocolate cereal for breakfast. Adrienne went back to bed while I went in the kitchen to talk to some friends on Skype. I got to talk to my friends Tom and Amanda. It was fun connecting Colorado, Paris, and Japan. I didn’t get to talk long because we had to head to class.

I was a little late so I ran to class. On the way, I got a text from Karuna asking me to tell Howorth that she would be 15 minutes to class. I didn’t see why Howorth would give a crap that she would arrive 15 minutes late. She’d show up or she wouldn’t. Our class was discussing international crisis management.

I had a tuna baguette sandwich, an apple, and orange juice for lunch in the cafeteria. I was joined by Amanda and David where we discussed our grades a bit. The both thought that the professors from last semester had been more generous with the grades than French profs usually are. Adrienne and Jeannette joined us for lunch a while later. I got a diet Coke to wake myself up for the next class. I read for a while on the bench in the main lobby.

I went to Schmidt’s class after that. We discussed Europeanization of policies and politics in Europe. After class, some of us stuck around to chat. We talked for a while and I headed home. On the way I bought a baguette. I arrived at the apartment and spent some time on my computer before doing some reading for class.

The reading wasn’t very gripping apparently because I fell asleep. I woke up when Amanda S. messaged me on my computer. She wanted to let me know that her birthday party would be on Saturday. I was feeling groggy and sleepy after my little nap. I felt so bad that I almost felt sick.

Adrienne heated up a frozen chicken and pasta dinner along with a salad topped with cucumber, carrot and green pepper. I drank some water to rehydrate because I had a feeling I was getting dehydrated.

I tried reading after dinner but I had trouble concentrating. I ended up watching videos instead. I got to talk to my dad on Skype and then read for class around 2:30am. I went to bed after that.

May 20th Tuesday

I got up right before my alarm at 8:54am. I got a text from Karuna asking which class was first. We’d had some schedule changes and we had two classes that day. I debated responding and eventually told her we had Howorth first. I got up and had bread with butter, orange jam and apricot jam. I got ready and packed up all my things for class. We headed toward the class building and had class with Howorth. Karuna didn’t show up. We were discussing the transatlantic relations of the ESDP.

After class we had a lunch break. I had a quiche Lorraine with a vanilla yogurt and bottle of water. The quiche was another delicious warm option. I had lunch with Amanda. After, I was in the péniche and ran into Milva. I sat down with her and we talked for a while. Eventually, we got up to go to Astrid’s office. We’d received an email saying that our grades were ready to pick up. I was nervous and excited to see the grades since we still didn’t know how the previous semester had gone. Milva and I walked over together. On the way, we passed David and John who had just come from Astrid’s with their grades. They’d both done amazingly well. They’d gotten 16s and 18s. I was hopeful I’d have similar grades but not really expecting them.

We arrived at Astrid’s and picked up our papers. I’d gotten much lower grades than David and John so I was a little sad. I had to tell myself later that my grades weren’t terrible. They just weren’t as amazing as the others’. The grades in France are out of 20. A 10 is the lowest passing grade. It’s impossible to get a 20 and very very hard to get a 19. 16 to 18 are very good grades. The papers showed us what our grade was and what the highest and lowest grades of the class were. My lowest grade was a 12 which is a low grade but not terrible. That was in Irondelle’s class (highest 18 and lowest 11). I wasn’t very surprised actually. My essay wasn’t that great for his class. I’d written it very quickly. He also said that my class participation was weak. That was definitely true since I never opened my mouth once in his class. I could never understand the question he was asking because he spoke so fast. His comment said “the essay is satisfactory but the participation is insufficient despite perfect attendance.” I had been hoping that the perfect attendance would have carried me more.

My next highest grade was in Grossman’s class. I got a 13. The highest grade was a 16 and the lowest was a 12. When I looked at the breakdown of the grades, I got a 14 on my paper and a 12 on my participation. So I’d actually gotten a 14 on my paper! That was a good grade and highly unexpected after the chaos I wrote it in. I couldn’t read his comment because his handwriting is hard to decipher.

My highest grade was a 14 in Padis’ class. His highest grade was 18 and the lowest was 11. I’d written my 9,000 word paper for Padis while I’d only written 3,000 word papers for Grossman and Irondelle. He had more comments on my paper than the other professors had. His overall comment was “bonne participation et un travail méritoire sur la langue.” (good participation and a commendable work on the language.) The comment helped lift my down spirits. I’d submitted a 9,000 word paper (27 pages) to a French editor of a French magazine and he said that I had done well in French. Even though the grade wasn’t that much higher than the others, I felt like it was worth a lot more. I was so happy to read that small sentence.

After getting the grades, we went to our first class with Vivien Schmidt. She is an American who has lived in Europe for parts of her life and now teaches in Boston. She is also married to Jolyon Howorth, our other professor. She has curly gray hair and seems very much like an American professor with a European flair to me. Her class was called L’européanisation des politiques publiques: ‘polity’ et policy’ dans les Etats-membres (The Europeanization of public policies: polity and policy in the member states.) We’d had to choose which class reading we wanted to present. Today, Matteo and Julia were presenting. Of course, Matteo presented another huge and complicated table to describe the readings.

After class, I went with Irene and Christine to Starbucks. We needed to work on our project for Howorth’s class. We were going to present on civil crisis management. I got a chocolat viennois signature to drink. I got a large one and it was delicious. The hot chocolate is better in the Starbucks in Europe. We found some soft chairs in the upper level and sat to discuss the readings. We decided we’d split the readings up and each of us would read and then summarize the readings for the others. We also discussed the structure of the presentation.

Once we’d finished, I walked home. When I got home, Adrienne told me she’d had an unexpected visitor. Apparently Karuna had just dropped by unannounced to say hi to Adrienne. Adrienne told her that she was actually heading to the store so she couldn’t talk long. It was strange that Karuna had not gotten the hint that we resented her taking advantage of us and didn’t want to see her. It was bothersome that she knew the code and could buzz us at any time.

I was feeling really tired. I ended up just having a snack. I had some couscous and some yogurt with apricot jam. After my snack I worked on my class readings and talked to my dad on the phone. I also chatted with Christine online about the project. We worked on it a bit. I even got to chat with Megan for a little while.
Bedtime finally came around 1:40am.

May 19th Monday

I got up at 8:50am and felt pretty good. I didn’t feel sick or tired. The nightmare before, though, I’d had a nightmare about a Tyrannosaurus Rex. It was pretty scary.

I had some fruit muesli cereal and got ready for class. We left early to try and find the classroom. We were in a different room for Dehousse’s class today. Once there, he told us about how the building was even older than the other parts and that it was part of the 1945 école. The room definitely had an older feel to it. It had large windows with old clasps on them. It also had much more decoration than our usual modern room. It was very interesting having class in this older room. Class went well until we left. I was talking to Amanda how I was a little worried about Adrienne. She gets very tired sometimes and when she’s tired she gets accident prone. To leave the classroom and head out of the building, we had to go down a large staircase made from a slick stone. As we were walking down, Adrienne slipped and fell down some of the steps. She even hit her head on the wall. I rushed back up to help her up. There were a few of the students and even the professor there to help her. Everyone was worried. She was able to stand up and besides the slight bump on the head she felt fine.

Adrienne usually goes home for lunch while I stay at school. This runs the risk of her taking a nap between classes. I told her that if she goes home she shouldn’t go to sleep just in case she’d hit her head harder than she thought. She promised she wouldn’t.

I stayed at school and had a chicken Panini. I loved the warm sandwiches which were a nice break from the cold and crispy baguettes sandwiches. I also had a bottle of water and a hot chocolate.

After lunch, Amanda and I headed to the library where we read for Howorth’s class. Well, we had the intention of reading for Howorth’s class. This quickly descended into taking pictures of Amanda on my computer’s webcam. We got a little reading done at least.

We went to Howorth’s class after that. The title for today was “vers une capacité militaire européenne?” (toward a European military capacity?). The class ended and I was hungry so I got a Twix from the vending machine. I walked home as I munched on it and bought two baguettes. Once I arrived home, I had a bit of a snack. I had some of the bread with the mousse de canard (smooth duck pâté), campagne (a rougher country pâté that includes other meats), goat cheese and capers. It was a very delicious snack.

After my snack I read for a little while. I got sleepy though and ended up falling asleep in bed. I woke up again around 9:30pm and was hungry again. We made some dinner of pasta with zucchini and a frozen vegetable mix. I read some more for class and tried to prepare for my group. I was going to have to present the reading in class for the 23rd and I wanted to get started on it.

I was in bed reading for class at 3:00am.

May 18th Sunday

I slept in until around 1:40pm. I had some of the red fruit cereal for breakfast. I was on my computer for a while. The internet was acting strange. I was able to upload some pictures onto Facebook though.

I called my mom and she got on Skype to talk to me. It was nice to get to talk to her since I’d missed talking to her last night. After our conversation, I made some hot chocolate. It was delicious and warm.

Then, Adrienne and I started making dinner. It was our second meal of the day but it was at dinner time. I had leftover taco meat with tortillas, lettuce, tomato and salsa. I also heated up one of our frozen vegetable mixtures on the stove. Meanwhile, Adrienne had salad with cucumber, tomato, and green pepper. For dessert I had a plain yogurt with a little fruit jam mixed in.

While I was cooking and eating dinner, I talked to my parents on Skype. This was slightly difficult since I had to be connected to my computer with my headphones.

I read a bit for class and ended up switching at some point to reading Nana. I finished volume 18.

After that, I talked to my parents again on Skype because we wanted to discuss hotels. My parents were planning a trip to Paris to see me and I was helping them look at hotels.

I had some tea after that. Then we got an email from M. Choupin telling us that someone from EDF was going to come and check the electricity meter in the apartment on the 21st. This was good to know because without notice, we wouldn’t let any strangers into the apartment. We responded and told him that we would be fine with them checking the electricity at that time.

Adrienne and I talked for a while after that. It was always nice to chat while we sat in bed. We can talk for quite a long time. I was in bed reading at almost 1:00am.