Bye bye vacations...hello, exams!

Hello! Anybody miss me? For any of you who follow, sorry for the extended absence! Got back from vacations Sunday of last week, spent the first couple days loafing around/recovering, then before I knew it, 'poof,' here comes exam time. Now, since I'm the motivated little one among the folks I know (I must enjoy pain), my exams are actually spread over a period of not one, not two, but three weeks, and that's if you exclude my physiology lab final the week before vacations. Here's the lowdown (some of which has already passed:

Week 1 (that was last week): Civilisation, Phonétique, Français des sciences, and Histoire de la langue française finals.
Week 2: Expression orale, compréhension orale, expression écrite, compréhension écrite, grammaire, and...wait no, I think that's it.
Week 3. (In freak out red because of the scariness): Histoire de la Terre, and Physiologie animale. The two monsters. They and their massive volumes of material are staring me in the face with that look schoolyard bullies get which might translate into words as "heh heh heh, we're gonna have some fun with you..." accompanied by menacingly rubbing their hands together or cracking their knuckles. You get the idea.

Okay, drama finished. I think if I apply myself, like I used to way back in the day when all my classes were science-based and therefore required intense studying, then I should do alright. It helps that it makes little difference whether I make an A plus, a B, C, or whatever unless my grad schools really care. And honestly, I think a geologic history of the earth and the physiology of the vertebrate/human system in a language you're still learning is enough to have them give me a little break, right?

Right. And now that I've had this experience - and really, despite the extra work it's given me, I'm intensely glad I did - I'd better be sure to keep an eye on any potential elitism that may emerge. I mean really, if I'm within earshot of anybody boo-hooing about how hard their political science course is (equivalently, insert just about any liberal arts course within reason here), or even about freshman bio, I'll...

...well, honestly, I'll probably not say anything, but walk away with a slightly smug, self-satisfied grin on my face. Let me elaborate - for starters, in addition to my car and good internet connection, I left multiple choice-type questions far behind in the good old US of A. If you come here for the hard sciences, don't get your hopes up. Instead, expect a few questions and a LOT of blank space. Not even a little blank space, either (though I did have to do some fossil species identification once)- no, on the exams I've seen there have mostly been the extended-answer type of question, which will involve not only being able to reproduce knowledge learned in the course but elaborate and expound upon it. And if you have a language handicap, what, you think you're special? The most you can get is to write something to the effect of how french is not your maternal language, and they'll be a little more forgiving on you for errors of grammar or expression (not of correctness - pity!). So though this has gotten easier as the semester has gone on, you may be able to imagine the fun I had. The flow chart goes something like this: understand what the professor is saying--> figure out what's important and write that down-->but don't forget to listen to and understand everything the professor is saying while you're writing-->develop your own bizarre french shorthand to speed up your writing and be able to keep up-->actually comprehend what the heck you wrote one week later-->study and research any terms or concepts you don't know (sometimes, no matter how good you are in the language, you'll just be out of luck here - though I will never again forget what the spleen is in French! The professor caught me dictionary hunting and stopped to ask if I needed help. I was slightly ashamed.)-->fully comprehend any and all processes and be able to reproduce them on exam day, in this language.

So, there you go. I have to say, I have definitely stretched my mind quite a bit while I've been here, and I can definitely feel good about where it's left me. I had a good laugh one day when I was reviewing "plaquettes" and couldn't remember what they were...in English. I actually had to look it up. I was slightly ashamed. (They're platelets, by the way!) And don't even get me started on the geology course; I doubt I could explain that to you properly in English since I've now only ever learned it in French.

I'm finished now. Sorry, I'd expect you would have preferred to hear about my vacations (which were absolutely astonishing and beyond anything I could have dreamed, for the record!), but all I gave you was this extended geek rant. Ah, well. Some things never change. If I don't have time to properly talk about my vacations soon, rest assured I will continue this blog when I come home at least for a month or two to recount all the stuff I didn't tell you about! (the rest of Barcelona, Germany, Paris, Lyon, Egypt, Sicily, Rome, Morocco, etc....) I will make one last note, before I go:

I have less than a month left in Montpellier. This thought almost continually torments me. Until next time, as I try to keep it together, here's a pretty picture!