I went to the Cathedral a few nights ago with some friends, Emeline, Schandra, Schandra's boyfriend (I can't remember how to spell his name at the moment), and one of Emeline's friends, Sibylle (and a side note, it was another characteristic Erika night, entailing hanging out with people from all 4 corners of the globe: Emeline was born in France but grew up in the US, Schandra's from Munich, her bf is from Romania, Sibylle is French, and I'm American. I love hanging in groups like that). Emeline off-handedly invited me, as we spent the afternoon chit-chatting over lunch. I had to study for a final (which...yeah...I'll explain that bit in a sec), but I was like hey what the hell. I need an excuse to dress up and have fun. I've been sequestered in my room for a while, and it was driving me nuts. So I studied for about an hour or so, got ready, and headed out to the cathedral.
The concert was great, however, well...Gothic cathedrals aren't known for being incredibly well insulated. We all froze, and as I was trying to conserve what food I had at the time, so I was also pretty hungry. Which then being me, leads to being antsy. So after about an hour we left (in the middle of a song, which annoyed the hell out of me...3 years out of being a classical musician, and some habits still stick. I even explained when you're supposed to clap to Emeline...hahaha gotta love concert etiquette classes), and headed back to Sibylle's place to hang out.
I had popcorn for the first time since getting to Europe! hahahaha! I was as excited about that as I was about seeing a Burger King in Stuttgart. XD The things you end up missing when you leave. hahaha! Anyway, we hung out munching on that, and having a few drinks, and in general having a good time. Schandra and her boyfriend left earlier than Emeline and I did, and she Sibylle and I spent the night talking, and having a good time. We talked books for a while, which well, if you know me you know I'm a book nerd, Emeline's a lit major, and Sibylle had quite an impressive collection of French and English books (British and American). She even lent me a book by Amelie Nothombe. I was going to read it after I re-read Gone With The Wind, but as it's a borrowed book I may wait and read it before I finish Gone With The Wind.
So I spent Sunday studying, and Monday was the exam. Dun, dun, dun!!!
It was Systèmes Politiques Comparés, aka my bitch class of the semester. I HATED that class with a passion. I mean, I stopped going and found the notes elsewhere hated it. I did study though, so it wasn't useless. I show up to my final, which they're running behind (best part was, I get there, everyone says this fact in French, no matter where they were from and I turn around and reply with "WHAT THE FUCK? Son of a bitch!" Hahaha! Cussing is the only thing I generally keep to English with). I go home, get my computer, come back, and study. I tried to go in 2-3 times to take the exam, and ended up waiting a bit longer. I didn't mind, but at the same time I was ready to go into the torture chamber, and be done with it.
Fortunately my question was over democracy. I was THRILLED as i can bullshit about democracy pretty well. I don't mean bullshit as in I think democracy is bullshit, I mean I can pull it out of thin air and make a decent point about it relatively easily. I did just that too. Well...the prof busted me on using the USA as an example more than Europe. Granted the question itself didn't specify (the question was basically: Is it fair to say that Modern Democracy was born with the acceptance of Universal Suffrage), but as the class was over Euro politics, the prof was like "Can you give me some info on Europe?" Hahahaha...FAIL! but she didn't argue with the points I made about democracy itself, so that was a 50/50. Then a few questions came after, about other things. I had one that was the classic "OH SHIT! I STUDIED THIS! I CAN SEE WHERE IT'S WRITTEN ON THE PAGE! Now...WHAT THE FUCK WAS IT?" moment. Then the other I answered, but I flip flopped it (I had to compare authoritarianism to totalitarianism, which was actually the last thing I read over before I had to go take the final). So I know I'll get docked, but at the same time, I think it was obvious I at least stood the differences.
I just hope I passed. I don't really need it at home, but with wanting the CEPE, I did. *sighs* Well the die have been cast...so we'll find out where they land.
So at this point I just have my finals in January to study for. I'm not too worried about them. I mean, I need to study, but as long as I do, I'll be ok. I'm having a shit time in this stupid history class I have, AGAIN (she changed the room once more, and while I believe her when she said she announced it several times, I STILL missed it, and guess who showed up to the wrong class AGAIN. UGH. Does she not realize I ONLY miss class when she does this?), but it'll get worked out. I'm kind of wishing I hadn't signed up for this certificate now, because frankly, I don't need most of the classes I'm taking for it. These "general history" classes--which I mean it's not that I don't like history, but I don't need them--sys po comp, and a few others. My classes next semester are all actually a bit more...shall we say necessary...for the CEPE, as well as back home. Only maybe one or 2 are a bit extraneous, though I'm thinking of retaking one when I get home. I dunno. It's not because I'm afraid of failing it here, I feel like it doesn't REALLY talk about what I thought it would. It's supposed to be History of International Relations. It really just ends up being a run through of the history of WW1-WW2. Not saying IR wasn't developed during that time, it was, but...well the only IR part is "Oh such and so signed such and such treaty." It doesn't feel like much is touched on about the implications of what that treaty was, or what the ramifications were on an International level. Maybe I'm just too American when it comes to school, I dunno. Then again, come final time in June, there's a possibility of a question being posed that DOES deal with IR, and then knowing the history explains it *shrugs* who knows? But the good thing is my classes are overlapping, so what I learn in one is pertinent in another, and that definitely helps retention.
Anyway I better get going. I may make a phone call, and I might have to go do some stuff before my evening class. *sighs* this week just needs to be OVER.
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