Eleven days later

So I haven't blogged for eleven days, and I can tell you honestly that I personally haven't done anything of note in the last eleven days either.  Last week, on the whole, wasn't the most pleasant.

I had a test in FLE on Tuesday, and I did not get 100% on it, I can tell you that with certainty right now.  While I prepared my expressions for the test, I didn't remember to add the ones we did the week before to the pile and thus had no idea what the last 4 answers were on the sheet.  I also thought that we were taking an oral exam as well, so I prepared for that.  But in the end, we did a listening comprehension plus these expressions and I'm dubious.  Come to find out, this Tuesday was supposed to be the oral exam (which I had not prepared for because I thought I had just made it up) but then class was cancelled after I had already gone all the way down to Talence.

Wednesday was Armistice and Luisa and I worked on our Epistemology oral exam stuff.  It's next Tuesday, and I'm not really certain how/what to prepare for it.

Thursday morning I went to the library to return my library book that was actually due on Wednesday but I had forgotten about Armistice so I didn't turn it in earlier.  I asked how much I needed to pay and was informed that the book was not late.  "But it was due yesterday?"  "No, you have three days after that to turn it in, and you never have to pay, your card just gets blocked."  This explains why no one takes deadlines seriously here.  They must never have any ramifications if you don't get things done.  I was ready to dish out 25 cents.  I should have just kept the book the next three days, it was really interesting and I'd only read a couple relevant chapters.

Thursday night I found out that a classmate of ours from high school had committed suicide.  He was really good friends with Kammie and I didn't really know what to do (though I still don't now).

Friday I spent the whole day working on my film review for Visual Anthropology.  I was up until 11 or so finishing it when I got a message from Rachel asking if I was okay. I didn't know anything was going on yet so I told her about my backed-up shower.  At that point, she realized I didn't know about the terrorist attacks on Paris.  I stayed up quite a while after that and watched the news come in on the Guardian and CNN.

Saturday I think I took a slight break from paper writing after I finished my reference page and went to the other side of town exploring the backstreets of St. Catherine.  When I got home I facetimed with Kammie and Madison and it was getting pretty late when I got a message from TayTay asking if she could interview me for the Wartburg paper.  Because obvs I would do anything for any of my former stand partners (I sit really awkwardly far up and I imagine my hands are always blocking the music), I said that I would give her the interview.  We skyped for quite a while and I answered her questions about how the attacks affected me as well as I could.

There haven't been any major changes here in Bordeaux because we are three hours away by TGV.  I got an email from the president of the university telling us that our university wasn't going to be closed, we should limit all international travel, and that we need to carry around our student IDs or identity papers at all times.

Sunday I received an email from my secretary forwarded from the Minister of Education.  We are all supposed to come in for identity checks to make sure all the international students are accounted for.  However, since this is France, there is no deadline on when we have to do it, so I might go do it Friday or maybe next week.

I spent all of Sunday holed up writing my Biological Anthropology paper.  I believe I finished it on Monday.

Tuesday I went to class(es) and then I had a lay down as far as I can remember.  I may have started the tiniest amount of work on my Epistemology stuff, but as I'm not very much further today it couldn't have been very much.

Today I went to the post office and mailed Grandma a letter with a postcard.  You have to physically lick the stamps and the ones for the US are bigger and I felt like a fool just standing there licking stamps.  If you want to send a package (like an actual box of something) now, you have to show your identity papers.  It's all part of the VigiPirate's upped security.

I tried to get on the Epistemology train today, but it really wanted to leave without me.  I would say I'm about half way through the preparations for my oral exam for Monday, but I'd really like to finish it up tomorrow so I can get to work on my Cognition paper.  I know that one is going to take more than two days, and it would be a dream if that one were done before Tuesday so I can finish up my essays for Wartburg and still have a last couple of nothing days before I move out of this apartment.

For your viewing pleasure, I will include my two completed papers following this blog.