LCL, Lingerie, and Leather Jackets

PUG IN THE BANK!!!

One of the 3 leather jackets I thought about buying

A beautiful fountain in a square in Aix. In France. In the world. Okay I'm done. :)

Ah....a French sunset. C'est belle, non?

:) My cathedral at night

Another street with the beautiful colors of the sunset in the background

Since I haven't blogged for a few days (I know, I know), things are a little fuzzy but we'll start with yesterday.  :)  Yesterday morning I woke up early around 7:30 in order to get ready and get to the bank by 9.  I talked to my wonderful girlfriend for about a half hour before I left my room to meet up with Megan and Jerrica.  Jerrica is the new ISEP student who arrived on Tuesday.  She's from Tennessee, is super nice, and managed to get the room right next to mine! :) Anyway we all headed to the bank and Jerrica and I got signed up for our French bank accounts at LCL.  The highlight of this process was the little pug (yes as in dog) wandering around the bank.  He/she was so cute and friendly.  Leashless this cute little pug was just checking everything out while his/her owner did their bank business.  Just one more reason why I love France! :)

Afer the bank I came back to my room for a short nap.  I took 3 classes on Wednesday starting at 2 in the afternoon and finishing around 8.  The first class was a class in english called the history of international relations.  The class seemed really easy and straightforward until a few of the students said that the exam was so hard, some of them didn't pass.  And since these people were (1) English-speaking and (2) really hard-working students, hearing this really freaked me out.  What if I give 200% in all of my classes here and still fail? I mean I think I'll live if I happen to get a B or C but failing is just not an option for me.  Yet apparently here it is definitely an ominous option. Which terrifies me.

The next class was La Civilisation de la France.  This class is mostly composed of student presentations. And guess what? Here in about a month, I, in a group with another girl, will have to give a 70-minute presentation in French.  Again, in case some of you might not have heard correctly, I and another girl will.give.a.70-minute.presentation.in.French.  On the French school system.  Which I literally know almost nothing about.  In about a month.  So needless to say, I'm freaking out about this a lot.  Everytime I think about it, I get really stressed.  Oh and also, this presentation will count for 70% of my grade.  Again, what if I give 200% and fail?

After this class ended at 6, I was supposed to have another class from 6-8 PM but the professor never showed.  Since the class was in English and about gender and politics, I will most likely attend it next week just to see how it is.  But I'm not sure if I'll be able to fit it into my schedule.  Only because I already have 2 courses taught in English and I don't think I should take a third.  But we'll see.  Since class was cancelled, I headed back to my room early and made a delicious dinner of pasta, tomato sauce, and bell peppers.  I checked some things on the internet and settled in to go to sleep pretty early, which I needed.

This morning I woke up around 9:30 or so because Megan and I wanted to check out the sales at the local boutiques.  We both really wanted to buy some French lingerie.  We went to a few stores but nothing was cheap enough for my taste.  I mean I really liked some of the lingerie but not enough to pay 30 euros (about $42) for it.

After searching until about 1:30, I headed over to the IEP for my class at 2.  Again I had class from 2-8 today.  I started with my Francais Langue Etrangere (French as a foreign language) class which is probably my most favorite class so far. It was mostly French grammar which I'm kind of good at but don't really remember.  The professor was so nice though and she spoke so slowly.  Everything I didn't understand, she wrote on the board so I could see it in writing.  And it didn't occur to me until then but I am truly a great deal better at reading French rather than hearing it or speaking it.  So this class is hopefully going to help me improve my grammar and overall French and I'm really looking forward to it.  :)

The next class I wanted to take was L'Analyse Politique de la France (Political Analysis of France).  When I got there however, something had been messed up with the scheduling so they had to reschedule it for a whole different time slot and I'm not entirely sure I want to take it still.  It will still work in my schedule but the woman spoke so fast that I don't even know if I'll understand most of what she's saying.  But I may go next week just to see what it's about at least.  Since I didn't have class, I met up with Jerrica, Megan, Michelle, and Rebekah to look for leather jackets.  Seriously everyone here wears them and I'd love to have one of my own.  We went to this store called Pimkie and I tried on at least 5 jackets. I found one that was only 30 euros and that was the very cheapest.  I almost bought it but I think I'm going to wait and see what prices are like in other stores in Aix and Marseille.  Instead I bought a green leather purse that I love. :)  However soon I will have to invest in a leather jacket and boots.  Heading back to the IEP, I took a few pictures that I have posted at the top of the blog entry.  They were beautiful things I saw as the sun was setting and I wanted everyone back home to see them. :)

Before I headed back to IEP for my class at 6, I went to my cathedral. I've decided to call it "my cathedral" because I love it so much and it seems fitting. I got to my cathedral about 10 minutes before it closed for the day and it was almost completely dark inside.  While I was there I wrote down and little of how I was feeling.  This is what I wrote:

"A cathedral cleanses my soul. I feel awe, purity, and peace here. The cold stone walls close in on me and purify every part of my body.  Beauty, grandeur, immensity, strength, quiet.  The cathedral will be the very same....with or without me. But it embraces me every time I visit. You know how when you lay down on a cold tile floor and it feels so refreshing, cool, and calming? I want to kneel down on the floor of my cathedral and feel the overwhelming power of its cold stone and strength. I would also feel the power of life and how insignificant my life truly is. But even as I feel insignificant, at the very same time I feel that my life and my activities matter. My life is worthy. As I come to this realization, this cool powerful wind rushes through me, around me, with me, cleansing and reenergizing my mind and body. Leaving my cathedral, I am new again."

My last class of the day was International Human Rights.  Another class in English that I really enjoyed. We discussed the levels of human rights, the effectiveness of human rights laws, where human rights cases can be heard, and how states are involved in the human rights arena.  It was all really interesting but by 6 PM at night, I'm pretty tired and hungry and kind of grumpy.  So we'll see how that class goes.  Rebekah and I headed back to Cuques after class and I made poached eggs with cheese and bell peppers. Now that I'm thoroughly exhausted, I think I'll head to bed.  :)