La vie d'un étudiant avancé...

I've finally got my schedule all fixed and I think, even though it will be fairly challenging, this semester will work out well. As a grad student you actually really don't have tests (life is a test enough). Instead, you have 15 page research paper in a foreign language at the end of your class and TONS of reading. I've got about 10 books to read and 10 films to watch this semester for classes. It should be interesting... I'm going to know so much (useless) information about French literature, cinema, and linguistics.

What am I doing? lol......

Literature, Television, and Java...

Mmm...French roast...

I had forgotten how much I enjoyed dark roasted coffee.

Also, I know people say that coffee makes you more alert, or whatever...but for some reason, caffeine seems to have the opposite effect on me and I end up wanting to take a nap. I'm not sleep deprived...I just want a nap after my three cups of coffee.

Teaching is going well. I'm enjoying it a lot. Their first test comes up on Friday. In a way I feel that it's not really just a test of their knowledge and understanding but also a test of my skills as a teacher and if they have learned anything from me this semester or not. I guess I'll find out this weekend while grading.

I've been watching a lot of random television on the internet. Northern Exposure is actually a cool show and makes me long for random conversations about physics and religion with Micah and Michael. It makes me want to live in a cabin in Washington or Montana (I think Alaska might be a bit much). Somewhere cool and green. I've also been watching a fair bit of this French TV show called "Un gars, une fille" (A guy, a girl)...it's basically short little snippets of this married couple's life together which are generally hilarious for various reasons.

I changed my schedule (again). After finding out that I had two intense literature classes requiring me to read fourteen novels this semester (that's one per week, on average) including handouts, and two research papers ON TOP OF my teaching and my other class on linguistics (the class that I actually find MORE interesting)...I couldn't do it. I'm not a literature person; I like reading, but required reading with analyses and in depth discussions on symbolism doesn't interest me. So I dropped one of them and am taking a class on cinema. Granted, it's a lot of work too, but it only has two books and I get to see some cool films. I guess I should get started reading Proust now....

Ma raison d'être

Wangaratta. Warrnambool. Traralgon. Euroa. Geelong. Werribee. Healesville. Castlemaine. Echuca. Essendon. Cranbourne.



These words may mean very little to you. But to me, they are words that remind me of a different world. A world that I once was a part of and that from time to time I am reminded of my life there over four years ago. Every once in a while I'll see a picture or hear something that sparks a nostalgic longing for my travels down under.



Villefranche-sur-Mer. Reims. Versailles. Quimper. Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. Bordeaux. Besançon. Argenteuil. Bagnolet.



These words provoke similar feelings that often are accompanied with souvenirs of certain smells and feelings stemming from my time in the land of wine and cheese. Those nights walking the streets of Paris and beautiful fall evenings along the Seine.



As different as those two experiences were, they remind me of one of my greatest desires in life: travelling.



I love to travel. I don't know what it is about it. Meeting new people. Seeing a world defined by a different language, culture, and mindset. A world that is full of amazing similarities and incredible differences. Realizing there are people in this world that have not grown up the same way I have, that have a different lifestyle based on different ideas of what is important. Examining these differences and realizing some of the core things that link us all together. Being in a new place and learning about what people are like there. It thrills me. It excites me. It is amazing.

assez

Putain de foutu MERDE!!!

Il n'y avait pas de problemes avant...alors pourquoi ca m'enerve maintenant? J'avais tout confiance en mes decisions...je continue d'en avoir cette confiance....mais, tout allait bien...alors pourquoi pas maintenant? je croyais que tout allait bien...

merde...j'en ai marre....j'en veux plus...ras le bol....

tu veux que je sois hors de ta vie alors que vos voeux soit excaucé

Damnit.

New Things

This week begins the new school year at a new school with new teachers and new students in a new home in a new city in a new state.

Talk about a change. I've already had two days of orientation and there are three more days of orientation before school starts on Thursday. I've got my courses picked out and I sometime in the next few days I'll be told what my courses are that I will be teaching. I'm excited.

This year I'll be taking a required course for all TAs on how to teach a foreign language as well as a course called "Le sacré dans la littérature française" (The role of "the sacred" and religion in French literature) as well as one on the Structure of the French language. I might take Italian or Spanish or German or something as well...we'll see, depends on my schedule.

I haven't met too many people yet, but once school starts and the 50,000 students are back on campus I'm sure I'll be meeting tons of people all the time. My roommate seems ok, haven't really gotten to know him very well, but yeah, we'll see.