Bienvenue a la Jungle

Welcome to the jungle, amen. Sorry for not posting since my return from Munich, honestly I needed a few days to catch up on sleep afterwards. Those efforts, however, were of little avail, as by the end of the week I was sick again, and had no choice but to spend my Saturday afternoon, evening, and night in bed. I'm back to full strength again, I think, though it's difficult to gauge with the odd weather we've been having in Paris. It's been colder than usual, though yesterday afternoon the temperature rose to 68 degrees fahrenheit.

And there's been a lot happening, too, though this sort of news is certainly not universally exciting. I've entered the hideous concrete jungle that is History at the Sorbonne. Wow, ugly and inefficient are just about the worst compliments possible.

So far I appreciate the French University system - the same way you appreciate a child's help in the kitchen. The effort is sweet, but in practice, much less efficient. And then there's the food, the goods, to worry about. Classes are just now underway (as of Sept. 29/Oct. 6), and though they're already under full steam, the unescapable administrative corrections have proven to be tedious. For example, this morning in the Travaux Dirige for my XVIII c. French history course, there were more than 40 students crammed in a classroom that would seat 20 comfortably. I still don't know whether I was the only one convinced they would die of asphyxiation or hyperthermia during one and a half hours of class.

Also, I had my first class at the Goethe Institute yesterday! There are five in my class, and I've never met a more grammatically demanding professor in my life! It's odd to feel relieved speaking French after class.

Anyways, my laptop is running low on batteries, so I'll conclude. Paris IV is hideous, this I will prove with photos in a future posting.

This weekend I'll be in Normandy, but I will make a strong effort to post before I depart.

Here's a picture of Paris III, which I toured today, surely prettier than Paris IV.