Doin' Big Things

I am feeling very pleased with myself after this week. I was successfully able to negotiate all of my classes without any trouble and they seem to be getting better as they go. I was particularly pleased with my Art History course this week because she had us start analyzing images in class. Up until this point she had mostly been doing it for us so it was nice to see if I was able to learn from her examples and implement them. My Education course at the university is still going well. It is interesting to see how French sociologists/psychologists compare to American schools of thought. Plus, it is still endlessly amusing to see just how many English words have been appropriated (e.g. "teacher-center learning" or "student-centered learning").

I saw my second piece of French theatre on Wednesday (definitely not another Sophocles play). It was a short play performed by one man and titled "Looking for Henry Kissinger." He had to play several characters so it was interesting watching him change his facial expression and posture for each character.

On Friday I was able to swim a real workout with one of the French swimmers in the same swimming class as me. For the first two weeks the coach was just doing technique that was aimed at a level far below me (I can already swim butterfly thank you very much.) so it was super nice to be able to just do a work out. I do still feel like it's a game of frogger because I have to dodge around the other swimmers who are doing technique stuff. It just makes it so much more enjoyable to swim when there is someone else doing to same thing!

Friday night Ryan and I ate in this awesome, kind of fancy restaurant. She had bought a coupon online which enabled us to get an appetizer, main dish and a dessert all for 15E. If we had been ordering off the menu at normal prices I would have been at 15E after the appetizer and a glass of wine! I had an amazing lamb dish and the cheese plate for dessert. I love me some stinky cheeses! I also got to try Ryan's fantastic choice of a chocolate cake with a melty inside.

Then on Saturday I bought a bunch of train tickets with my friends Ryan and Alexis. We are going to Paris November 11-13, Rouen (which is where Joan of Arc was burned) November 18-20, and Bordeaux December 2-4. We were even able to book a half-day wine tasting tour!