This semester is crazy. The French have an ape-designed registration system, so I spent the better part of 3 weeks just trying to figure out where classes are.
For International Organizations I finally just had to concede defeat! Even the department secretary didn't know where the class was. After going to the classroom where she said it would be and waiting for an hour and 45 minutes, some students started trickling in. 30 minutes later a FRENCH LAW PROFESSOR walks in and starts talking about the French Penal system. I was in Penology II! Quite miffed, I quietly crept out the back.
For my French Revolution class, I had high hopes. Finding the room was no problem and the class seemed sufficiently large until I went to my first Travaux Dirige class. This is basically the French equivalent of a "lab". I expected to get some further reinforcement from the professor, but instead he called a STUDENT up to give a 45 MINUTE presentation on the reasons for the French revolution. After this student finished he talked for maybe 5 minutes. He then proceeded to call ANOTHER student to talk about Robespierre for another 45 minutes. WHAT THE HELL? Let me remind you, these are UNDERGRADUATE students less than a month into the semester giving doctoral level presentations.
Needless to say, I dropped this class.
Speaking of how I dropped these two classes...I simply quit going. The French administration system is a crock of horse shit. All of the employees sit around urging the second hand to dance a little faster so they can go to lunch or go home.
Every time I have tried to get help, I have been referred to somebody else. Hell, even when I had a meeting with a professor the dude didn't even show up. In French they call these meetings permanences. Permanent my ass! I'm sick of waiting for these people every time they tell me they will be somewhere and show up late or not at all.
I have another meeting this Monday at 12 with my Roman History professor. By God, he better be there. I really refuse to put up with any more irresponsibility from adults.
My other class is History of Brittany, which I really like. My teacher is the only one who asked at the beginning if there were any exchange students. I can tell that he articulates more than usual sometimes to help me out.
Laura leaves March 12th for Wales.
Friday, February 8, 2008
February 9th
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1 comment:
Hi there, I guess it can really be disheartening to put up with the situations you describe. You're angry, and rightfully so, but I'd like to point out that, from personal experience, this is not the way things (usually) go in France. There are decent folks everywhere but there's always a few who spoil it for everyone else.
I see that you've asked for help on the university forums and some people have answered back, perhaps they can help you out. You could also try to ask a more specific question on the forum with regards to your International Organizations class.
Anyway, I hope that despite all this you manage to have some great time in France and make the most out of it.
(nice blog you have here)
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