Oh Wouldn't it Be Nice

I'm on my way to Nice!! Please forgive the title. I'm never above a good pun. 

Last night I couldn't sleep. I'm going to attribute it to my new habit of sleeping with the kitchen light on, but it was probably because I couldn't stop dreaming of French pop songs and the superlative. I first woke up at 6:30 am, and decided that was unacceptable. I stuck it out until 7:22 when I decided to get up. I'm still wifiless so I did my morning routine in silence. Today's power outfit for midterms included my cute brown boots, my heart socks that mommy sent me, fishnets, my black and white skirt, my tight fitting black sweater, and my new white scarf. Oh course I couldn't forget the red lipstick. I left the house a few minutes early in order to get in some quality time with the wifi at the Accent center. 

I got to school and quickly checked my email and Facebook messages. I responded to my mom's email and fielded a few Facebook messages from friends. I had to make it quick because my midterm was supposed to start in four minutes. I rant to the bathroom, and when I came out I started to head into Marianne for class….along with other students from another class. My professor was sitting right there so we asked her what the problem was. She talked to one of the office managers, Julian, and he told us to go to Joan of Arc. The second we started to walk in students from another class went in too! We all sat outside and watched our professor tear pages off of our midterm. It was past 8:30 when she told us to go into Joan of Arc. We hadn't seen any other students leave the room, but when we entered it was empty. Magic. 

We settled into the midterm and got rolling. Dictation. Semi fine. Was there a qui or was I mistaken? Oral questions. Fine. It all went downhill from there. I had no idea how to do the passé composé of mettre! What was I to do?! What was the correct answer in the next section. Does he never do the shopping or does he no longer do it?! Then came the 30 point section of horror. We had to write 15 sentences about housework using passé composé. I forgot what the word "nettoyer" means, and it was one of the required words. My chances of doing well were quickly slipping through my fingers. I finished the midterm, including six points of extra credit, with about fifteen minutes to spare. I had seen Irene drop off her exam and go outside. I was still drawing dark black boxes over my mistakes. Next I saw Raven go up. Our professor read her 30 point section, gave her some corrections, and sent her back to her seat. I saw Anna go up and do the same. I followed Anna. I was given some corrections, not as many as I thought, and sent back to my seat. I was finished within a minute. I gave my professor my test and settled back into my seat to read the Poe that I had put in my purse. The Ourang-Outang commits the murder. 

After the time was up for the exam we had a "five" minute break. Five minutes always turns into ten minutes so I took my time outside reading on the couch. I was sitting on the sofa for a minute before some girls sat on the back of the sofa. One of the girls, Eunice, is from my French class. She was telling her friends that she had gotten a very angry call from her mother. It turns out that Eunice has charged $4,000 to her mother's credit card--including a $1,000 coat. There was also an expensive sweater involved. $4,000?!!!! That's enough to almost pay for a quarter of school, and she has blown through it in less than four months. The worst part is that you know she'll never pay a penny of that money. 

We went back inside after "five" minutes to find our professor had left the room as always. We always take forever on break and then, and when we finally decide to go back she has disappeared!! We watched Entre le Mur for about ten minutes before the class was over. My professor hadn't out homework before the movie started. She had taken the time to write a long paragraph to me about the subject of one of the homework exercises. I think she likes me. 

I left Accent, and went to Monoprix to pick of some razors before my trip. I found men's razors for about two euros and decided on those. I found the women's section next, but the razors were more expensive. My legs won't know if the razor is pink or not, but my wallet will always remember how much they cost. At least they were less than $4,000. I went home to do some tasks before my midterm at one. I made the bed, washed the dishes, packed and repacked my suitcase, and some other things to get ready for my holiday. I ate a white sauce and spinach lasagna, and still had 45 minutes to spare before my doom. I went downstairs to use the internet before coming back upstairs to get ready. For some reason I started singing "Les Nouveaux Partisans" in my head as I left the room. 

I got to school and something made me check the mail. I finally got my postcard from Alice!!! Just the thing to cheer me up before my midterm. I nearly cried when I saw the picture of a Californian beach. I'll be back soon, my love. I put the postcard in my purse and went inside. The other students were playing music and studying before the test. I'm still a firm believer that learning five seconds before the exam is passed out really doesn't do anything. The other students' talking was starting to freak me out so I chose to dig the gum wrappers out of my purse and tune them out. Mindy came and the exam begun. It was extra credit (or whatever the word "bonus" means) if we could identify the artist or title of a song. She played the first song, tous les garçons et les filles" by Françoise Hardy, and the race was on. She played the whole song, and that was really all the time we got to write our answers. I learned to write quicker and come back to things when I had time. All but one of the songs was a song that she had played in class. I'm pretty sure that the song I couldn't recognize was Johnny Hallyday. I know his annoying style from anywhere. Next up was the essay portion. We were given 39 minutes to write an essay about Panne d'essence and how the song confirms and rebuts Briggs' argument about yé-yé reinforcing gender stereotypes. I left with about 3 minutes to spare. 

Freedom!! Now it was just the waiting game. I got my laptop and headphones and went downstairs to the rec room. I surfed the internet for a bit until I decided that it was snack time. I had a piece of bread, cake, and potato chips to finish off so I had them as my snack. I went back downstairs to continue wasting time. Mom called me on Skype at a little after four, and we talked for about an hour. She's going to send me a package of Thanksgiving foods so that I can celebrate with her. I'm looking forward to some American mashed potatoes and gravy. Oooo and stuffing! I watched some more tv after mom and I finished talking. At 6:45 I went downstairs for my final preparations. I took a shower, did some last minute things around the apartment, ate another lasagna, and then took out the trash. I didn't know what time it was, but I had a feeling like I was going to be early for my train. 

I walked to Gare d'Austerlitz because I figured that the streets of Paris would be more baggage friendly than the métro. People cart bags around on the street all the time, and I really didn't get any weird looks. There were a lot of people out so I didn't' feel worried even though it was pitch black outside. I was almost to the gare when I saw a group of men and knew that I'd have trouble. One guy split off from his friends and leaned against the bridge. As I walked past he said something about mademoiselle. I kept walking. I was pretty sure that they yelled obscenities after me. I would have made a clean escape if the wheels of my bag didn't get getting stuck in the cobbled stoned street. I resorted to picking up both my bags and carrying them across the street. 

I got to the gare and didn't have any trouble finding the long distance trains. My train was on the board, but there was no track number yet considering that it was only a few minutes past eight and my train didn't leave until 9:23. I pulled out Poe and started reading. Before 8:45 hit there was a track number posted for my train and I got on the move. There was a booth set up before you could get on the train so that your ticket could be scanned. I'm in car 28, seat 27. I'm writing this from there now. I realize that I have a lot of French to learn. People asked me questions, and all I could do was tell them that I don't speak French. Uggh daily life is such a struggle when you're practically illiterate. The kid next to me is grumbling over his English homework. I corrected one of his sentences before I started writing to you; "he is hitchhiking". It's only 10, but I can barely keep my eyes open. I'll see you in a few hours. This train doesn't arrive in Nice until 8:45am.