Academic Update...not as exciting, but it is my reason for being here

So... with all these posts, you are probably wondering, is she actually going to school? Is this a vacation? Well, techinically this is a requirement for my major. Technically I am in school, going to classes and getting grades and doing homework. But not really :) Let me explain.


In the "I really am going to school, I promise" sense, I have taken several small tests and done fairly well with them. They are on a completely different grading system, everything is out of 20. They consider... I think it is 16 and above is an A and doing quite well. My test have been mostly A-s, one B+ I think (in Grammer, stupid masculine and feminine articles...the bane of my existence). We took a small test today on the future tense, which Sarah and I thought wasn't too bad, until we turned our test in and looked up what was on it and discovered some ridiculous mistakes we made. Oops. But, lucky for me and my self-esteem, the next class I got another test back from a few days ago and I got a 16 on it with positive comments. Yea!

The first few days were quite frustrating, not even being able to understand the teachers, but less be able to respond to them. But it has slowly getting better. I can now understand the teachers, but I'm still having trouble forming a coherent response to them. It is quite frustrating to now be able to understand them and know what they're asking and know what the answer is in English but not know the words to say it in French like they would like. But it's progressive, I keep telling myself. So there is my small little update of yes, I have an academic life here as well. But... as you all know, there is also a social aspect. :)

The school has made it quite easy to have access to the social and cultural life of France. We have class from 8:00-12:40 at the most, usually 9:00-12:00. Rough, I know. And our homework is maybe about 30 minutes a night, and is never graded. :) So from 1:00 on, the day is completely ours to go to Geneva, Collonge, go hiking, or whatever else we please. It's a rough life I know. As difficult as that sounds, even that is not all fun and games. It is a frustrating process, I will not lie. But it is a good experience and is good for me and my growth. I will survive this and not only survive, but hopefully thrive. More academic updates to come.