Long Ride Home...

Well, well, well...

It's June 30th, and tomorrow, I'm going back to France! I guess I have to stop pretending the semester is not over and stop writing this blog... But I thought I would say good bye to you reader!


I just wanted to thank the whole SUK4 class and its teacher, for helping me make the most of my stay in Graz, I just loved my semester here, I learnt so much, and met so many great people!! I kept complaining all year through about the amount of work, and lack of inspiration, and stuff, but it was one of the most exciting tasks I ever have had to do for a university course. Maybe I'll keep it up, who knows...

My point is, I loved going to the English classes, I loved blogging, and it was both a pleasure and a chance to get to meet you guys.


My parents have come to get me, and we're hitting the road at 9, so I guess I'd better keep packing all my stuff! Well, stuffing everything into big Billa plastic bags is a more accurate description of what I am doing. (I knew there was a reason why I kept buying new ones instead of bringing the old ones with me!) I can't wait to be back in France and see my friends again, I've missed them so much, but leaving is going to be so sad! Well, all things must come to an end, I guess that's what they say!


I hate packing, it makes me feel so blue, and writing a good bye post is not helping much I have to say. Maybe I'll keep blogging. Maybe I'll feel too sad at home, not able to write about the latest TV show I discovered, or what I ate for lunch... I don't know! Que sera sera!


I also wanted to tell you, my door got unhinged again today! I think it (should I say she? she's so much like a real person to me now. I talk to her, I even gave her a pet name (Dorothy -get the joke? Door-othy!! Ha hahaha! No? Well. Ok.). Anyway, were was I? Oh, yeah. I think she would like to come with me back to France tomorrow! I'd take you Dottie, but I'd like my deposit back too...


Anyway, I guess that's all I have to say, I'll miss you a lot, I'll miss Graz a lot, and I just hope we'll meet again!!! Thanks for everything!! All the best ot all of you! And if ANY of you comes to Strasbourg EVER, please (really) contact me!!!

What's MY line??

Hey reader!

Well, my sister Marion just sent me this link to a little video, and I thought it fit in nicely with the presentations about cultural differences. I usually don't like to imply that Japanese people are all strange and weird, (would be against my philosophy of people are people are people), but I found this one really funny. So there you go! Do check it out! (It's in English (sometimes). And it stars Johnny Depp...)

Have a nice day!

While I'm alone and blue as can be...

Hey reader! You up for a self pitying post? No pictures for this one.

I'm back to my one-day-one-post habit, aren't you glad? Well, I just wanted to tell you that I'm happy, I got the results of my German class (the written part) and I pass!! I got a 4, but I pass!! That's great. Passing is great. Having a 4 is not very satisfying, I suppose, in general, but passing is more that I expected, so it's cool. I guess I should thank the whole SUK4 class, my friends, my family, God, my producer, and basically everybody I met on the street these past few month for their support, because I don't know if there is a living soul on this Earth to whom I haven't complained about my German course being too tough...

Apart from that, not much to tell, I'm having a lousy evening, once more, I can't seem to get any work done, I don't have enough credit on my phone to call anybody, I can't even check my voice mail, and I am on a noodly diet once again. Better than yesterday, as far as the meal is concerned, though, Gott sei Dank. (Yeah, I figured I would start speaking German every so often. I had my mum on the phone the other day, and I went "ach Ja!!!" without even thinking about it. Does that not mean my German has got incredibly better? Before I came, I had to think a lot, before managing to find the German word for "ah, oui!". Anyway.

I guess that's all I have to say for tonight! I'll get back to microwaving my noodles and stressing out about tomorrow evening!! I can do it, I can do it, yes I can!

Hope you're not too stressed out about YOUR exams reader! Whether you are passing them or marking them, or hearing me complain about them so much that you feel as if YOU were studying... Well, I'll just say good luck in any case, and also, it will soon be over!!

Big Rock Candy Mountains

Just checkin'...

Big Rock Candy Mountain

:) Wonder if it works...

Super trooper

Yeah. I'm quoting Abba now. Any problem with that reader?

Anyway. I'm not writing to tell you about something I've done lately to improve my level of English, but to ask you about one more of life's mysteries: Why oh why do I always watch CSI while I'm eating?? It makes me sick, and I just can't stop! I always think, come on, this time they'll find a regular corpse in a regular place, (which, per se, would already be pretty bad), but no!! They have to find a half decomposed body, which has "saponified". It means that all its bodily fluids have turned into... No. Actually I won't give you a nice description. Because I'm a nice person. Sometimes. Well, mostly, I don't want to think about it anymore. Maybe I could give you keywords like goo and stench. But that's all.

Add to that the interesting mixture I prepared tonight (I'm a good cook, usually, but I don't know, tonight I think I was possessed by some Spirit of the Puke), made of noodle, butter, garlic and soy sauce (Lord, I can't believe I actually thought it would be a good idea...), and you have a fair picture of how I feel tonight.

Besides, I have not finished my learning portfolio for the "Lese- und Schreibtraining" course, and I am writing the silliest post ever instead of getting any work done. Did you notice, by the way, that my post are getting worse and worse lately? I think my brain is dying! I'm going to go to Dr House's and get it checked. An EEG for me. Will look approximately like a topographic map of Belgium. Flat with a few bumps here and there.

Anyway. In order to make me feel better about this lame post, (yeah, I know I say lame all the time, it's just a new word I found to say silly, and I'm so happy!) I'd like to tell you about the great http://www.granddictionnaire.com/ website, which is the best bilingual dictionary ever, for those of you who study French. I know you're not many. But it's just incredible, they have the most amazing, detailed vocabs, like a translation for "Goliath Edison screw base", or "autologous blood".

I don't have a clue what either of them means, not in English and not in French, but if ever I need to translate some really particular text about science, medicine, or any particularly specialized topic, I will know where to go. I think they translate to Latin as well, but I'm not quite sure. My sister Françoise, who is a translator, has given me this link, and I just found it brilliant, so I though I'd tell you about it!!

Well, I'll get back to my portfolio now! Otherwise I'll never ever be finished...

See you soon reader! Oh, yeah! On Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. at The Propeller! Can't wait to be there! My German oral exam will be over by then! Hope I'll have made it alive :)

Have mercy on me!!

Well, I thought I'd save my 60th post for when I leave Graz, but I changed my mind. I should be writing some texts in German for a Portfolio right now, so I figured, "what else could I do instead", and writing a new post was my first idea, so here we go.

Even though my computer has been showing signs of weakness these last few days (blacking out every half hour, making very weird bleeps when I turn it on, and turning so hot you could fry eggs on it), I have managed to watch a new TV Links series! A Texan friend recommended it to me, and it's called "Mystery Science Theatre 3000". If you feel like training your oral comprehension abilities, and watching something really lame, go on to TV-links, and click on this title.

I would evaluate the budget for each 90 minutes episode at about $20, it's extremely ugly, but it's good fun. It's about a guy and three robots, who are trapped in a spaceship, kept prisoners by a mad scientist who forces them to watch really bad movies. So basically they just sit in a theatre, watching old horror movies (even when it's not horror movies, it's still horrible) and making stupid comments about the dialogues, the music, and the film in general. I sometimes have trouble knowing what they are talking about, because they make references to some stuff which I have never heard about, but it's still funny. Funnier than writing texts for my German portfolio in any case. So far I have watched "Night of the blood beast", (or something like that) and I found it really good.

Apart from that, I am afraid I haven't done much lately to improve my English. I have mostly been avoiding getting any work done, and trying to figure out ways of making money. I am now on a diet of noodles and water, and I am thinking about going down to the Jakomini and sing, so that people would pay me to stop. As Gene Kelly would say "Dignity, always Dignity"... :)

Anyway. I think I'd better get back to my Lese- und Schreibtraining... It's nearly finished, so it's not much incentive for me to get to work... But I have to. I'll do it. I'm a good girl. I can do it. I'll just watch one more episode of "Will and Grace", and then, I promise, I'll start doing something useful. By the way, "Will and Grace", in the last episodes I watched, they organised a marriage of convenience between a 35 years old gay man and a middle aged cleaning lady from El Salvador so that she could stay in the country, so I guess I could say that it's useful to watch, because it improves my cultural knowledge of America :). Does it actually qualify as English Skills improvement??

I believe I can flyyyyy

Hey reader! I don't have anything interesting to say, but I have this "I believe I can fly" song in mind, and I can't get it out of my head (I just can't get it out of my head, boy it's all that I think I think about), so I thought, let's plague my reader, it could be fun.

Also, I have a random question: Does anybody know why my blog suddenly decided it wanted to speak Portuguese? Or Spanish or Italian? The name of the months are all weird tonight... It reminds me of the time it spoke latin when I set it up. I think my blog wants to learn lots of foreign languages too. Sorry mate, I'm the one having all the fun!

Well, that's all for now. I need to get back to Michael Parenti. Hmmm... Cause I can't stoooop loving him. No I caaaaan't stop loving him... Why should aaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy???? (Sorry. No, I mean, really. Sorry. I won't ever do it again.)

I'm so tired...

Pfff reader... I'm exhausted and in a terrible mood, so I thought, "go on, Claire, write a post about what you've done today, maybe it'll make you feel better". So let's see... Today, I read some more English texts for my cultural studies course. Why do they get me so annoyed, it is a mystery, blacker than the blackest black. I'm not even American what do I care???

I don't know, but they drive me craaaazy. Maybe it's just because I have to read them, and summarize them, and I feel trapped. I'm trapped reader! Somebody get me out of here! Well, I'm being a little unfair, there, I'm actually kind of enjoying my read, because it's very interesting, though mightily annoying. The first text was about a guy who was writing about a guy who was making photographs of nude black men. Big deal. The text was actually more about learning how to see through the pictures and into what people really want to see, which is interesting. And I guess that's what the teacher is trying to get us to do, see through the text, and get the writer's point, and maybe forge our own opinion.

Well, frankly, I'd rather be seeing through some more episodes of Will & Grace. But I can't. Anyway. I also read a second text about the American society and political system written by a Marxist, Michael Parenti, who is a little crazy, in my personal and humble opinion. But once again, it's very interesting, provides quite a lot of interesting statistics, and gives the reader a point of view which he or she (see!! Judith Butler, I learnt my lesson!!! I'm joining the moooovement!!! I'll go burn down my bra in a second, just give me time to finish my post...) doesn't encounter that often. However, he, too, gets on my nerves. It's just that I have a problem with passionate people in such texts. I think passion is something that should be allowed when talking or when writing a novel, but not in scientific texts. When writing a scientific text, you should think with your head and not your heart. That's my highly scientific point of view. After all, I know what I'm talking about, I'm a very famous scientist, as you well know. I actually invented science, so to speak.

Anyway. What can I say, reader, I'm not going to tell you anymore about the imagery of Black's buttocks in white males' fantasies, because I'm not going to, and it's 1 a.m. and I think that might well be the lamest post I've ever written, so what can I do!? I guess I'll just say good bye, and go get some sleep. Tomorrow's a big day!! Two more feminists are already awaiting their summarizing!!

Number 1 punjabi...

Well, it's getting late, reader!! I came back from the In America movie today, and I thought I should write something about it here, because I liked it very very much, but I do'nt think it's such a good idea, not today, anyway, because I'd be sure to hate what I write, so I figured I might as well watch the other cultural movie I've been wanting to tell you about all year through, namely "Bend It Like Bekham". So I wrote a paper for Mr Newman to correct, but then I figured I might as well post it on my blog straight up! Here you go!

“Bend it like Beckham” is an English movie by Gurinder Chadha, an English director, starring Parminder Nagra, Keira Knightley, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. It came out in 2002, and met with a great public success both in England and in other European countries.

In spite of its very popular and entertaining character, the movie, which is designed for a teenager audience, does teach the viewer a lot about the Indian community in the UK, the difficulty of blending in a society, and other issues such as homophobia both in minorities and in the English population in general.

The movie is about a young Indian girl, Jesminder (Parminder Nagra, also seen in “ER”) whose unique passion is football. She enters a girls-only football team, thanks to her friend Jules (Keira Knightley, who more recently starred in “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Sense and Sensibility”). Of course, her decision to engage in an unladylike sport with people who do not belong to her community, and her falling in love with her coach, Joe (Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who played in “Match Point”) do not please her parents at all. She has to fight for her right to live her own life, and has to face prejudices, both from her family, who believes that she cannot be a good girl if she does not stay at home and cook typical Punjabi dishes, and from the outside world, who keep asking her if she is already “promised”. But even though it deals with stereotypes and prejudices, the movie does not oversimplify Jess’s situation: her parents do listen to her, and try to understand her, they do not correspond to the typical Indian cliché of abusive parents who would like to see her married off to someone rich, whether she likes it or not.

Besides, the filmmaker also deals with homosexuality, which is quite a rare fact in Indian movies, since being gay is still very taboo amongst the Indian population, both in and out of India. Jess’s best friend is gay, and tells her about how hard it is to talk about it to his parents. Her first reaction upon hearing it is to say “but you are Indian!”, as if homosexuality was such a big issue that an Indian man could not possibly be gay. But once more, the politically correct British family does not go untouched: Upon discovering (wrongly) that her daughter may be a lesbian, Jule’s mother (Juliet Stevenson, brilliant in this movie), gets very upset, but when her daughter tells her the truth, she pretends she has no problem at all with homosexuality.

Jess’s father (Anupham Kher, a legend of Indian Bollywood cinema, who has been seen as a supporting role in nearly all the classics), is also a very interesting character, and through his lines and his actions, the filmmaker tells us about how hard it was for the first generation of immigrants to blend in, and to be accepted in a society which considered them as second-class citizens, regardless of their talent or their ability. But by not bearing grudges, and by giving people a chance, he is, I think, the role-model of this movie: he always keeps an open mind. At one point he says that his giving up on his ambitions, though at the time it felt like he was punishing the country for not letting him succeed, has actually harmed no one but himself.

I think it is a very good way to see integration problems, because it tells people not to bear grudges, and never to lose hope, and despair and resentment against racism and rejection are probably the main cause of integration issues in our Western societies.

Anyway. There you go. I hope it made you feel like seeing the movie, because it's really good fun, and entertaining. I think I'll go and get some sleep now, reader, because it's past my bedtime!!! Lord, what will happen!!! I'll soon be turning into a pumpkin!!!! Quick quick!! Let's go brush my teeth!!!! :)

Rest in Peace

Hey reader!! Tonight is a big night!! Well, yesterday was, but I'm telling you now: MY FRIENDS GOT THEIR DIPLOMAS!!!! They are studying law, just so you know what an achievement it is, and I'm just so proud and happy for them, I could not resist telling you. Congrats girls!! You're the best!!!

Anyway, I just spent some time doing guess what?? Watching series on TV links. But not any series of course, tonight, I was feeling like going home and spending my Saturday night with my friends and my family, just like when I was in high school and did not have to bother with exams and real life, so I decided I'd watch some episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, just like I was doing on Saturday nights when I was in High School. And even though it's over now, the series as well as high school, I thought I'd tell you about it (the series, not my time in High School, don't worry...) because they are really really cool, and English speaking.

I don't know what would have become of me if I had had to write a blog about my learning Swedish in Strasbourg. After my post about Abba I would have run out of inspiration, but English-speaking cool stuff, you find that all around!

Anyway, let's get back to the subject of this post: Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I have seen quite a lot of series now, (especially in the last three months :) ) And I still haven't found anything as good as Buffy. Well, Dr House is really very good, I love ER, and Lost, and Firefly might have had a chance provided it had lasted long enough, but Buffy, it's something different. I mean, the dialogues are awesome, just like in all Joss Whedon series. (Well, just like in Firefly, that is), and the actors are good. But more than that, I think it is believable enough for it to make you interested even if you are not a student anymore.

I mean, contrary to Dawson and the like, it is not pretending that teenagers all have a PhD in cheap psychology. "Now now, Dawson, you get angry at me for cheating on you with your best friend, but it's actually just my having problems with my father, who is actually the uncle of your hidden step-brother's wife's ex-husband, it made me angry, and in order to release my passive-aggressiveness, and overcome my Oedipus complex, I HAD to sleep with him." None of that in Buffy.

She does have a sister who appears out of nowhere in the middle of a season, and who is extremely annoying, but that's all you're going to get, as far as strange family ties are concerned. She has believable relationships with 350-year-old vampires, how cool is that?? Well, that's her business, being a super hero and having to fight the forces of evil. That's what she does. And she does it well.

There have been 7 seasons in all, beginning in Buffy's first year in High school, and ending in some kind of massive nearly-apocalypse. Yeah, I know I just complained about how people in Hollywood tend to get all cosmic when they smell the end in the wind, but with Buffy, somehow, it's OK, because they always are so funny. I mean the characters are just brilliant, from Buffy, who's strong and funny and just a girl (whoa, would the feminists not just love her....), to Spike, a brilliant blond vampire, pathetic very often, but also sarcastic and bitter, with great lines. Though the actor has been known to betray the cause and play in ... yeah... Smallville... How could he.... Anyway.

If you are interested in seeing some episodes, in case you never have, which is a shame, you can go to the TV-links site, and well... what can I say... Watch any of them, more particularly "Once more with Feeling", the great musical episode. Well, maybe it's not such a good idea since maybe you need to be a fan already to appreciate it... Well, then, just watch any of them, they are all great.

I guess it's time for me to get back to some serious work now... I learnt that "aggressivity" was not an English word!! I haven't lost my time completely watching Buffy tonight! I am thinking about another "Major Problems in the US society" summary, but I think I would not survive it, so I'll just pass, and start on my German to French translation. That's going to be nice... Have a nice evening reader!

I'm just a girl...

I'm a little angry again, reader. I've spent quite a lot of time this week studying for my "major problems in the US society" course (yeah, well, it sounds a little more thrilling than it actually is) and I am kind of annoyed. I have read three texts by feminists from diverse nations, and I just wanted to say how much I disagree with them.

No! Women of the Western world, don't rise! At the beginning, I was actually very interested in getting to know more about feminist theories, because we hear about it so much, and yet know so little about them. Well I don't know much about them anyway. And then, I read about a woman whose encounter with these theories had been some kind of an epiphany: "Oh, that's why I've been so angry for so long! Because I was oppressed and hated by the alpha males of the world!" She said it had helped her become a better person, she had lost weight, and changed her body posture, and realised herself as a human being.

So I was excited about learning something about the meaning of life and how to achieve happiness (and lose weight, though I was kind of doubtful about that part). And then I read the texts and thought, what the hell??? I feel more insulted by what these authors say than by my so called "oppression" by the "patriarchal society". I mean, come on, we're not living in the 19th Century anymore!

First of all, things have changed, it's time to wake up: I might not get the same pay for doing the same job as a man, but that's going to change, and I can go and work, be a lawyer, a judge or have a political career if I want to, no one will stop me. It might be a little more difficult for me than it would be for a man, but Rome wasn't built in a day, and that will change as well.

Second, I am happy about some of the differences that exist between the way women and men are treated, and I feel privileged to be a woman: I can stay at home and take care of my children if I choose to, people won't call me weak or lazy. I can show my feelings, people won't call me a sissy. Well not at once. I can put make up on, and nice dresses and stuff, which I consider really fun, I don't have to wear the same old boring smoking. I can also choose to be a tomboy, it's not going to ba a big problem, people actually find it pretty cool sometimes. I can expect men to ask me out, and don't have to take so many risks as they do. I can blame my bad mood on my... let's not talk about this one actually...

I love being a girl, and I don't want anybody coming up to me and telling me I should be sorry, telling me I should be ashamed of being happy with my situation, that I should change it, because I am under pressure and submissive. I'm not! I just think there's nothing wrong with the way our society is going!

Then again, I guess maybe that's my opinion because I have never had to face difficult situations, I have never been penalised for being a woman, or been hurt, or had to face domestic violence. But domestic violence, or violence against women is not seen as normal today! People who do things like that have to face the law, and are considered criminals! I'm not saying it doesn't exist, and I'm not saying we can stop fighting domestic violence, but that's not a fight for feminism! It's a fight for human rights!

Besides, I think generalisation is OK, to some extent, but not in this area. I mean, three billion people on each side of the fence, can we really assume that they are all the same?? Poor women, boiling with hate against their oppressors on the one side, and spiteful, violent and stupid men on the other, obsessed by their "phallocentric narcissism" [sic!]?? Come on, reader, isn't that kind of crazed?

Anyway. I got irritated, as you might have noticed, because I read three of these texts in a row, and I just can't identify with them. Do you think the theories are wrong, or do you think there's something wrong with my being such a happy bunny that I can't understand them, because I don't have the proper background?

Yo ho, yo ho a Pirate's life for me...

Well, reader, I am a little sad today... I have been waiting to give this title to a post for AGES, and now that I can, I'm afraid the said post won't be as enthusiastic a I thought it would be. But well, what must be done must be done...

I went to the Royal English Cinema again on Sunday afternoon, and I saw "Pirates of the Caribbean, At World's End". As you might have noticed in my precedent posts, (or not) I am a HUGE fan of the first episode, mainly because of the incredible brilliancy of Johnny Depp, who is a wonderful actor, incredibly talented, funny and believable in all circumstances, Mr Depp, will you marry me?

Anyway, I am afraid I got carried away for a second... Yeah, so "At World's End"... What can I say... Why do all Hollywood directors always feel the need to make their plots go all cosmic at the end? Why do they always have to try to do more, why can't they just keep going the way they were going before, in "Pirates of the Caribbean"'s case just fun and original? In this last episode, you deal with sea gods, a pirate's court (oh, by the way, an unfrench Frenchman once more!!), and the East India Company's men (the latter you have to deal with waaaay too often in my opinion).

But where is the rum gone? I mean, apart from a few auto-quotes and stuff, this movie has hardly anything to do with the exciting and fun spirit of the first one. Well, of course, I had a good time, I laughed quite a lot, and I would not neglect any occasion given to me to see such good actors on a big screen, the casting was fantastic, and the music was great.

But I liked it better when the movie was about telling the story of the characters, and not about showing off the great special effects, overdo it so that the audience keeps coming in (wrong choice, as far as I am concerned), and as I mentioned before, make references to the previous movies incessantly. Come on, guys, you are legend as far as I am concerned, but have a little modesty! I feel a little bit the same way about Ocean's 12, by the way: we know you guys were great in the first one, where is the need to throw it in our faces all over again? Is that not kind of childish? I liked Oceans 12 very much, by the way, it's just the incessant auto-references which tend to get on my nerves a little.

Anyway. I think that's all I have to say about Pirates of the Caribbean 3, so I'll just stop there, and tell you to go and see it anyway, because it's good fun, and better than most Hollywood blockbusters, in my opinion. Besides, if you do, then you can tell me your opinion about it, in which I am very interested!!

Well I have to go back to translating a text about "le foie gras dans l'antiquité" for my German course... I swear!!!! French Foie Gras in ancient history... (yeah, it needed the capitals)... How could I say Foie Gras in English... It's made with duck liver, and it's delicious, but it's so French, I don't think there even is a word for it in English, let alone German. Some English-speaking people have been known to call it pâté, but that's not allowed. FORBIDDEN!! Not pâté!! Pâté is a no-no. Now I can't even hear the word without thinking of the Austrian add for the fish-thingy with the guy singing "voulez vous pâté avec moi ce soir..." burkh!!! Anyway, foie gras was apparently invented by the ancient Egyptians... If you're interested, you can ask me, I'll soon be a specialist! :)

Let's get it started...

Hi reader!

Well, as you might have noticed, I have not written in a little while, because I have been very busy finding things to do instead of learning for my exams... The good thing about this activity, is that it is very time consuming, and you are never quite bored, since you are too busy feeling guilty. Besides, if you have a lesson to learn, and you don't do it, you can't learn for another exam, which might be interesting, because that's not what you need to do first, so you might as well just look at another episode of whatever crap you see on TV-Links. SABOTAGE!!! SABOTAGE!!! How can I POSSIBLY WORK now???? Dr House needs me because I'm such a good doctor, Tru Calling needs me making sarcastic comments about her lines, Heroes need me analysing the Indian professor's smile -oooh, the Indian professor from Heroes... Ever seen Heroes reader? Well... hee hee hee... you should... ^_^ By the way, this picture doesn't do him justice, he looks better when you can't quite see that he has a flat head like the guys in the Mediamarkt ad... :D

I don't know if it goes the same for you reader, but somehow, when I have something to do, something necessary and important, generally, even if it is interesting, I have an terrible impulse to do somthing else. For example, instead of reading my notes on a very interesting course called "defining Britishness" (I'm not being ironic there, reader, it really is very interesting), I decide to play solitaire for three hours, thinking about what a bad girl I am, lazy and... well, lazy, until I get a terrible panick attack, and learn. But sometimes, I wonder if it would actually be better to start learning early in the year, because thanks to this -wonderful- technique, when I come and sit my exam, I remember little details, which make it look like I learnt my lesson extremely well... Which, of course, doesn't work for language learning, since there is no lesson to learn, all you need is a zen-master like discipline, year in, year out :D... Just like me.

But for my Erasmus year, I have been choosing courses in which I learn more about history and stuff, courses with which you end up, at the end of the year, with a thick pile of paper, which you need to cram into your head inside of three days... I actually don't know if I like it better than language courses or not, but it definitely tells you a lot about your teacher. For example, somtimes, you discover with amazed eyes, that the course was actually incredibly interesting, fact that you had failed to notice until now. I honestly think this is the most frequent case, although, of course, sometimes, it's the opposite, and you realise that even though the teacher said passionnating things in class, it is terrible to read your notes, and you don't understand anything anymore. I guess maybe it's because when I'm bored, I have more time to take notes and do it more carefully than when I am listening keenly to the teacher. I just hope what I have heard is enough to compensate!

Anyway, here was my post about learning for my exam, a very subtely... very subteltyfully... (what's the word? Sublty actually, never heard it before...) Anyway, a very subtly concealed attempt to ask for your forgiveness if I don't write as often as usual these coming weeks. :D I know you can't live without my posts, reader, that's what I do to people....