Mes Courses

So week one is up and I’ve officially had most of my classes. Sciences Po is definitely a tough school—probably up to par with Berkeley on difficulty, but oh wait, in French! Here’s the run-down of each of my classes:

Large Questions of the Construction of the European Union: This is my cours magistral in French, meaning that it is my large lecture course, for which I also have a 2 hour-long discussion section (similar to the States). It’s all about the European Union, and the large questions concerning its construction, the problems it’s going to address, etc. For the lecture portion, I can choose to either listen to my professor intently or take good notes, but I don’t think my brain works quickly enough in French yet to do both simultaneously. Furthermore, there are very few American international students in my Conférence du Méthode (discussion section) for this course, and so it seems as if all of these Europeans (whether they are French or something else) have a lot better of a handle on the EU than I do already. This class will definitely be a challenge, but I also think it will be a good opportunity to learn a lot and meet new people—I’m already signed up to do a presentation with a French girl!

History of Rock and Roll Music: This is an elective in English with a sassy young French professor who is also interested in the fashion industry. It seems really great so far and I LOVE the professor. From the first day, she’s been cursing a lot and explained to us that she is quite rude when she speaks English. She made fun of me for being from Berkeley (which is kind of a big deal/pretentious thing to say around here), and was teasing people for their tastes in music too. Our homework for this class on top of readings is to listen to playlists that she’s created for us, so I’m very excited. All in all, I think this will be a great class.

French: I’m still a little confused as to why I was put in French 4 (the highest level, there’s no French 5), but I’m just going to try to roll with it. In this class, 15 of the 18 students have been at Sciences Po for a semester already, and furthermore, there are very few Americans. It’s a little intimidating, but I think it’ll be better for me to be in a more challenging class and struggle a bit than in one where I am just the best and won’t learn that much. I’m not going to lie though; I think grade-wise this semester may not be my best.

Philosophy of Public Policy: This is my English lecture course and is probably the only one which I will be able to actually transfer for credit, which makes it all the more unfortunate that I ran around a building of Sciences Po for forty minutes trying to find it the first day and ended up being thirty minutes late. I was pretty mortified about this and apologized to my professor afterwards, explaining that I had been lost, and she seemed pretty understanding, BUT I’m still highly afraid that I will get some sort of black mark by my name thanks to my tardiness. Other than that, the class seemed really interesting and theoretical, which I absolutely love. I hope it ends up working out okay, but I guess que sera sera.

Introduction to Liberal Thinking: This is my French elective and it’s all about European liberalism (which is pretty much like American libertarianism). I’m actually really excited about this class, because I think it will be a nice departure from the Neoliberal doctrine that is preached at Berkeley, and although I tend to agree with that doctrine, I think part of my experience here is about expanding my mind and gaining new perspectives, so I’ll call it a victory. The professors seem pretty great too. They are two French men who work in government and are extremely hilarious, and they decided that me and the boy sitting next to me were a couple since we both happened to be from America, and kept making inappropriate references to us throughout class (which prompted us to introduce ourselves to each other after). I think this will be a good one as well.

Unfortunately I haven’t had wine class yet, but my first session is tomorrow and I’m excited to see how that goes.

Beyond that, I am enjoying the little free time I have left before school really kicks into gear. I think it’s definitely going to be tough here, so it’s nice to relax a little before I start with all my assignments. I’ve done a lot of fun stuff over the past week, including a boat ride, and multiple visits to a cool bar in the fifth called Piano Vache, which is very grungy and has a rock and roll feel. I’ve been hanging out with my Californian friends a lot, and one night Rafaella, Melissa, and I hung out with Melissa’s French cousin and his friends and we practiced our French a lot. Next week, I’m doing a “tandem” meet-up with a French student, for me to practice my French and for him to practice his English. Hopefully that will be fun too!