Pont Mirabeau
So I’ve now analysed the poem Le Pont Mirabeau twice in two different classes. Needless to say, I wanted to go see it! So one day I had a half hour to kill and I took the métro over o the western part of Paris. Now, I expected it to be just like any other bridge, and for the most part it was… but I did not expect the amazing view! From the Pont Mirabeau I got a great view of the statue of liberty (yes the French have a matching smaller one, in fact ours came from France) and the Eiffel Tower with lovely fall leaves! 🙂
Château D’eau
This is the métro stop for my psych discussion. This location was temporary, as they’re building a new building to move the psych department to. Anyway, this part of town is way out of my way and truly not my favorite. It’s not the best part of town and I usually just keep my head down and walk fast to avoid eye contact. Nonetheless this was my LAST week there, and I saw this lovely sign to embody my opinion of the area: Hate!
Professor’s Timeliness
Now my psych professor is notoriously late… it’s obnoxious. He usually is about 20 minutes late, but it’s been as much as 30. I find this super disrespectful to the class… and he never apologizes or anything… I guess I’m just not used this cultural difference. Anyway yesterday we waited and after 40 minutes we still hadn’t seen the prof. Then a student stands up in the front of the class and says something along the lines of : “I think we can all agree he’s obviously not going to come to class today, at 45 minutes past let’s all leave.” So it’s agreed and after 45 minutes after the start of the class (let me remind you this class is only 1.5 hours long) we all get up and leave. And then I find out later that he showed up 50 minutes late and still taught class. This type of thing sincerely frustrates me… and it would NEVER happen at Cornell. Luckily I have a friend in the class who happened to be in the minority 1/4 of the class who stayed in the amphitheater to eat her lunch when the prof arrived. She offered to send me her notes… which are probably better than any notes I could have taken anyway.
French Students
I’ve always heard the stereotype about French students and how they’re so polite and well behaved… However, from my personal experience I whole-heartedly disagree. Students at University of Paris can go to university for approximately 1000 euros a year… which is nothing when you compare that to the price of American universities. So, almost everyone goes to university because, well, it’s something to do… The students talk in class, and I mean small 20 people class… there’s always mumbling and conversations going on and it’s sincerely difficult for me to comprehend the professor speaking. Some students even got kicked out of my history class a week ago because they wouldn’t stop talking!!! It reminds me of high school stereotypes, there’s the teachers pet who sit in the front row and ask too many questions, then the international students trying to read the profs lips to better understand, then all the normal students, and the back rows are just students talking all day. Furthermore, the professor gave out a mid-term assignment (writing a short paper). I used the few weeks she gave us and typed up the assignment and got it editted by 3 different tutors… the French students hand wrote it and were finishing it as the professor walked in the day it was due.
Dance Music
I laugh at awkward moments duing the dance lessons and the class probably just thinks I’m weird. The professor makes weird and awkward coments in what English he knows and no one understands (except me), then he picks the most random songs in English. Yesterday we had sexy Christmas music for one of our jives. The craziest move we had yesterday was a section of choreography where the female does jive chicken walks.. and the man does Michael Jackson-esque chasse/slide to the side movements that look like Psy from Gangnam style… heh fun stuff 🙂