So I'm still settling in to the French education system. This past week was midterms (where have the past two months gone?!) and I would have to say that it was onemore stressful than I anticipated, for several reasons. Even when I have taken 5 classes in the US, I have rarely had midterms scheduled for the same week. Even in finals week I've never had to take 5 exams. When I have big tests, I usually am not assigned research projects and given homework at the same time. I generally have very little free time. Last weekend was the sortie to Marseille, which left only Sunday to work. When we combine all of this, it translates to very little time to study, a lot to study for, and therefore a week that I am very glad to be done with.
I'm not sure how I feel about the French exam method. It generally requires you to know all the information from every course, book, and article you have read. Really, you have to know it all. This is frustrating, because the test only has three questions. Therefore, even though you presumably studied everything, you have to regurgitate all the information in great detail. There is little room for error, and no room for creativity or your own thought on the concept. This also makes studying a more difficult and longer process because being merely familiar with a topic does not help you when it is 1/3 of your exam.
But! I made it, and to celebrate the end of les partiels, Hannah, Ashlee, Emma, et moi planned our own sortie to Cassis. It was the perfect day for a day sur la plage. It is as if someone turned an on-switch for springtime this week. All of a sudden, it's starting to get warmer, and the trees have started blossoming! Yesterday was the first day where it actually smelled like spring. French spring doesn't smell the same as in the states, but there is no mistaking the freshness in the air. We arrived in Cassis around noon and had to walk 4km from the bus station to arrive en centre ville.
We had planned to have a picnic on the beach, but after exploring for a while and discovering that the supermarche is closed from 12-3.30 so we went instead to a restaurant for pizza. After, we went down to the beach to enjoy the sunshine, and finished off the afternoon with some gelatti! It was a very good way to wind down from this week.
You know, in my comparative politics class we actually discussed the rigidities in the French education system. It's this controversy about how French students are so much more knowledgeable about things than American students, but American students have more of a life. Also, the exams you take also pretty much dictate what you will end up doing with your life. Because if you don't make it past exams, tough cookies, you're not going to advance. I feel so lucky to be going to an American college for that reason. I would probably get more out of seeing Europe if I went to school in Italy, but I wouldn't have as much of a life.
ReplyDeleteBut anywho, glad your exams are over. Hopefully it didn't have you tearing hairs out. lol. Miss you tons, love.