Classes here are weird because I take them at different places, but it's also good because I can ease into everything. As in, last week, one of my classes started, this week, two more started, and next week, the last one will start! So I'm like a cherry shrimp being slowly introduced into a new tank environment (I watched 2 of these really calming tank maintenance videos, highly recommend if you just want to be entranced for 10 min) Anyhow, the classes that have started are going ok I think! One of the classes is basically meant to help us find internships and spring semester... we're supposed to have these internships so basically we can get school credit for it, which isn't usually allowed at Smith. But alas, I have yet to find anything although I've been trying (admittedly not as hard as I probably could). I sent more emails today though, and I actually got a response a few hours ago so I'll meet with one lab next week! That's promising in my opinion :-). So fingers crossed! I get stressed thinking if we'll speak in French but that's a problem for myself 5 min before meeting them I think.
Last week when I was babysitting, I finally "learned" how to play chess which is pretty cool, from a 6 year old no less. It's interesting because chess (ou les échecs en français) was always one of those games I never got into because I was lowkey intimidated to. It's kind of the same way I feel about the entirety of the Star Wars and superhero universes. I feel like it definitely had to do with being being more of "boy" things (don't come for me, I know it doesn't matter, trust me). But anyways, chess is pretty fun but I don't have the rules down completely and I completely got beat by said 6 year old. Gotta study up.
Saturday and Sunday were fun days. Saturday, I went to this event at the Louvre. I don't know if you guys would know her, but there's this pretty well known director, Claire Denis. I watched one movie by her, J'ai pas sommeil (I can't sleep) in my French film class and I really loved that one! But she was at this event and spoke a bit. The main part of the event was that one of her short films played while one of the cofounders of the band Sonic Youth played the soundtrack. So it was like no audio on the short film and the guy did the audio. The short film, Keep it for yourself, was quite sad. It was set in New York City and about this French girl who comes because this American guy asked her to but then she gets there and he's not there at all but says he'll be back sometime soon. It must've been in the 80s or 90s but it's crazy to think about how things worked before texting and smart phones. Like he just wrote a letter with a metro card and she came and they didn't know exact times or anything.
After that, I went to my friends', Abbey and Katie, house. Their host parents were gone for the weekend so we had une petite soirée. It was a really nice evening and the food was amazing (I unsurprisingly wasn't involved in its preparation).
The next day (Sunday), Malika invited me to this music performance at her host mom's church. So she slept over and the next day we had pizza and boba before going there. As it turned out, however, the performance was choir... we thought it was going to be orchestral, but instead it was church choir. I've been to my fair share of choir performances, and they're never the most engaging performances for me.. But I thought it was cool to be in the church and everything.
This REMINDS me though.. I litcherally am being pursued by the Mormon church. That is, they want me to join I think. I don't know if I mentioned, but I was stopped in the street one afternoon and it was these two girls talking about a community center. I knew they were religiously affiliated but I thought they were just Christian. Me being in a weird mood, I stayed and listened and gave them my number and agreed to maybe meet them for a tour of the center. Well that actually happened this Saturday, and that's when the truth was revealed. They are part of the Church of Latter Day Saints. In Idaho, which is right next to Utah, there's quite a significant population of Mormon people. I have nothing against them, but I don't know much about their ideology. So when I went for the tour I asked a lot of questions and now I think they want me to come to service and stuff.... Who knows what I'll do though (like I'm confident I wouldn't convert, but I'm openminded to observe respectfully other religions. Also I learned that they are still Christian and believe in the old and new testament but just like an additional bit called the Book of Mormon). And Yes, they gave me that book because I was curious.
SO that's been my week :-)
@naoni don’t worry I would never fall for that And if I have questions I can just ask my new Mormon friends ;)
Those crêpes look SO good, it is making me hungry! But I hope you can intern at that lab, that would be so cool. Also, I use to watch this show when I was younger called escaping polygamy and it was about these girls who escaped these big Mormon cults (one of is the daughter of Warren Jeffs, the leader of FLDS) and are helping other people escape as well. I learned a lot about the Mormon church and Mormon cults, so maybe you should give it a watch to learn too (also, my mom told me to stay away from Mormons because she thinks I am gullible enough to join a Mormon cult so don’t be too gullible yourself…
I love those tank videos!!
My first thought when I read the title was: Pizzaterian
That sounds super cool that you might work in a French lab wowie. Honestly the fact that you can take these science classes in French blows my mind on the daily.
Dang I love chess! But I never have anyone to play with. Would love to play with you next year
And that Claire Denis event sounds like the actual coolest thing ever, I love Sonic Youth and I've always wanted to go to one of those silent movie screenings where an orchestra does the soundtrack live.
Mormons convert like nobody's business [100 emoji, huffing emoji, bicep emoji] my sister did a similar thing with…
And also watched a film by clair denis in french class as well this one called “35 rhums” it was very interesting and i watched an interview with her in it and she is also just an interesting person
Omg i watched that shrimp video it was so good!! Have you watched the beta fish one