Only three classes to get through today, and I would be on my first long break. Our differential equations professor was nice enough to cancel our class today since it was the last class before the holiday.Little does he know I will also be skipping class the first Monday we get back. This wan’t my choice, but there were no buses that could get us back on time.
With the excitement of my trip, I woke up today in a great mood and wasn’t even bothered that I had class at 8 AM. On top of that, there was a brand new box of Frosties on the table. This was an excellent way to start the day.
This occasion was worth documenting in my opinion.
I grabbed an apple and half of my monstrous sandwich for lunch, and headed out the door.
Circuits went by pretty swimmingly today. We were only doing practice problems and I was able to clear up some confusing concepts with my professor. At BU, working on practice problems during our discussion classes is something I found extremely useful. While we technically have tutorials for all our classes here, circuits is the only class where the tutorials are similar to discussion classes in the US.
The French method of teaching is much more deductive than inductive. This means there is a much higher emphasis on theory than examples and applications. This is why we spend so much time working out proofs and derivations in my math, physics and circuits classes. US style classes are the opposite, and start with examples that lead to the theory. I much prefer the US style of teaching and find it much harder to pay attention in French lectures.
Here’s a chart I found on Google, replace rule with theory/law and its pretty accurate.
We learned a lot about this in culture class and its definitely interesting to compare US and French teaching styles now that I have experienced both.
French culture class felt very long today. Three hours in any subject starts to drag on after a while. Luckily, there was a bunch of student presentations so I utilized this time to “do research” on my phone. I still contributed to the discussion points, so I don’t feel bad.
I had a nice 45 minute break after French culture class before physics, so I went with Harry and Nick to the campus cafeteria. I had packed a lunch, but I had never been to the cafeteria before and wanted to see it. I was surprised to see a super nice building and decent sized meals for 3.5 euros. I don’t know why I haven’t eaten here yet and will definitely try it out when I come back from break. I will be sure to take some pictures for the blog next time.
My sandwich and apple were both contributed to my delicious lunch. I must have inspired Harry the other day, because he had also brought a chorizo and brie sandwich. I am a modern day influencer.
We had to choose our lab partners in physics class today. Our professor had told us earlier in the semester that French students would be paired with American students. This excited me since it would be a great opportunity to socialize more with the French kids. Despite being closest to Ahmad in the class, I seized this opportunity to pair up with the smartest kid in the class. There is a French student named Greg who somehow always knows the answers to everything and gets perfect scores on the quizzes. I knew he had to be my partner. He also seems pretty cool if that counts for anything.
Our professor gave our quizzes back and I did really well this time. This is a trend I would like to continue in the class. Hopefully with the help of Greg, this will be possible.
Before I knew it, class was over and we were on break. My intake of the lesson today was pretty minimal, but I planned to review the practice problems and slides when I got back.
After class I headed to Monoprix with Harry and had plans to meet Jonathon, Nick and Sebastian. But first, I made Ryan take a fit pic for me.
I can’t wait for my mom to read this and think my pants are too short.
I was meeting with the others because we all wanted to get some last minute items for our trip. I ended up buying a lock, empty toiletry containers, and a portable charger. All of these will be exceedingly helpful during my trip and I’m sure I will get my money’s worth out of them.
I said bye to my friends and looked forward to seeing them at 3 AM at the bus station. We had a 7 AM flight to Stockholm from Lyon, but had to take a bus to get to Lyon first.
When I got back, I began packing. After the nightmare of carrying a super heavy bag around Paris for a whole day, I planned to pack super light. I’m bringing about 3-4 days of outfits and am planning to use the washer and dryer at one of our hostels. I am also bringing one pair of shoes compared to the three I brought to Paris. I guess hindsight is 20/20. The heaviest items I’m bringing are my laptop and bluetooth speaker.
Typing up blogs on my phone is a a huge pain, so I think it will be worthwhile to have my laptop. The speaker proved super useful for Paris as well, and should be a great addition to the trip.
After packing, I ate my dinner which was just the usual pre-made salad. I am bringing the other half of my sandwich for an in-flight meal on the way to Sweden. I took one last shower, and spent the rest of the night writing this blog and watching some Sopranos.
I could stay up for the bus pretty easily, but I figured it would be better to get a few hours of sleep before hand.
I am really excited and it will be nice to write about something that isn’t school for once.
Foreign Tourist with No Grasp of the Local Language 
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