Week 16: An international finals week

This is it. Finals week. (Or at least the start of it, anyway.) I have lots of studying to be done still, and so this week has been relatively low-key…except for a few international dinners with friends from so many different countries! What a week it has been.

On Monday, as I mentioned last week, I had Teaching French as a Foreign Language class in the morning for three hours, and then I had the exam for the class in the afternoon, which ended up being an oral exam with 15 minutes of preparation for 5 different questions and then 15 minutes of talking. I did just about how I thought I would, if a little better…we’ll see how my grade turns out when I get that back. After the exam was over, the only plan I had for the evening was to make a cake for the lovely Yuli, who would soon be leaving to travel Europe with her family. A few friends and Yuli and I all got together and reminisced about all the good times we had had during the semester, and we ended up having a great night.

On Tuesday, I had my two intercultural studies classes, which were both reviews for the exams, and those were both pretty information-heavy and therefore pretty boring on the whole… but I did have a nice break in between the two classes, so at least I didn’t have four straight hours of statistics and theories and facts about intercultural communication. Dina and Ellen then came over to study for one of the intercultural studies classes, which I really appreciated because I always retain information better when I get a chance to talk it through with others. After that, there was the German dinner, made by Anna, Dina, and Nele, which was absolutely marvelous! It was all so delicious, and we shared an interesting discussion during the meal about differences in German and Austrian culture, and different cultures in general. And lots of laughs of course (but that was mainly just me :)). It was also a really cool event because there were so many people! A lot of people came from my residence, and also others were invited, and we all had a great time with great food. A cultural experience with interesting and wonderful people – what more could you ask for from a Tuesday night? (Facebook users, for more photos, click here!)

A bunch of friends around a German table for the night. Such fun!

The beautiful meal: Schnitzel, dumplings, red cabbage, and sauerkraut.

The chefs hard at work!

And to finish the meal, some lovely chocolate and hot cocoa.

I had basically nothing to do on Wednesday, and so I spent a lot of the day holed up in my room trying to catch up on my blog. It kind of worked – I got two or three entries written that had been holding me up (amongst getting distracted by Facebook). It was nice to feel like I was doing something at least semi-productive. The one thing I had had planned for Wednesday was another international dinner, this time Japanese, and then a Secret Santa exchange afterward! This time the chefs were the wonderful Ayano, Kana, and Willy, and they made us a wonderful meal of sticky rice, eggplant with ginger, and other Japanese delicacies. It was another event with lots of people, and it was another fun night! It is so cool learning about other cultures through food, and it’s just the best when your friends are the amazing people willing to teach you about their culture. What a great night. (For more photos, click here!)

We all got to help make rice balls!

The chefs plating their wonderful food :)

All of us together.

Secret Santa gifts!

Speaking of cultural experiences, the most interesting part of my Thursday this week was going to a LOSC football game! LOSC stands for Lille Olympique Sporting Club, and it’s the soccer team of the city. Apart from an exam in French to English Translation class that afternoon that I feel I did pretty well on, this soccer game was the best part of my day! Even though LOSC ended up losing, it was my first European soccer game, and so I enjoyed cheering with the fans and watching the opposing team try to get their cheers in as well. It was all good fun, and my friends and I had a great night!

The stadium - or, in French, Le Stade Pierre Mauroy

The field (pitch?)

LOSC fans waving their spirit flags

The main event of my Friday was a grueling four-hour final exam on 17^th century French literature, which went alright. I don’t think I was as coherent as I was on the midterm, but we’ll see how it pans out. Saturday was similarly bland, with the high point being a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup for dinner (and my low point was actually sitting down and trying to study… oops). So my weekend got off to a vanilla start, but Sunday was a little more interesting. I headed to the market with Rob in the morning to grab some supplies for the upcoming Farewell Dinner for our friends that I’ve just started planning (thanks to the idea from Manon and Amandine!). After a long walk all the way to the Wazemmes market and back and a lovely chat, I headed to mass at the Cathedral, which I really enjoyed. When mass finished, I headed to a nice brunch with Manon at Paul right in the Grand’Place, where we talked about our friends’ impending departures and her imminent trip to America, and in fact she will be going to my school for the next semester! And so finished my weekend, along with some studying sprinkled in along the way.

So, finals “week” has gotten off to an okay start. Christmas break is almost all set as far as travel plans go, and I’m very excited! I can’t wait to see what Christmas in Europe brings – hopefully all the best and then some. With finals officially started, it’s difficult to think about anything else, and so I’m off to go study (and make some more travel plans). Have a great week everyone, and à bientôt!