Que sera sera

Today is the second day of being wifiless. There might be a casualty if this issue isn't resolved soon. 

I woke up today and said a prayer that the wifi would be working. No such luck. I knew that I had no other option but to go to the Accent center and do my homework there. I then had another thought. I don't need wifi to do my French studying, all I needed was the menu for the test. I knew that I could find some free wifi on the 7th floor so I went upstairs with my laptop. I found an unlocked user with just enough signal to get my emails to load. I must have looked like a crazy person sitting on the floor trying to steal internet. My professor had sent the menu last night at six. I'm glad that I didn't see it yesterday. I was too overwhelmed. 

I tried to google translate the menu, but the wifi wasn't strong enough for the translation. I settled on trying to comprehend it myself. I went back downstairs and started working. Studying for French is becoming easier and easier. There are always a few things I stumble over, but I always do well in the end. I worked on French for an hour before taking a break. I knew that I needed a break from studying when I started getting things wrong that I'm sure that I knew before; "sera" is only spelled with one "r", and "fera" is the same. 

My histories midterm wasn't until 3:30 today, and I had a lot of wifi-free time to kill. I wasn't going to do my hair or makeup today considering that I only had to be out of the house for an hour and a half. With all of the time to kill I decided that I'd do my makeup and straighten my hair. I even experimented with my new dry shampoo and washed some clothes. I got back to studying for French, and then moved on to the dreaded pop. I'm so sick of that class there aren't even words to express it anymore. I went over my notes, but it was frustrating me to see all of the tiny details that I keep missing and forgetting. I kept having to take breaks to calm my nerves. It didn't help much. 

I fought my way through pop, and finished at about one. I was still madly on the hunt for wifi. First I tried Francisco's room to see if I could steal from them. They gave me their password, but I guess their signal is too far from my room. I was becoming more and more desperate like a woman in the desert. I finally got the idea to go down to the lobby. There has to be wifi there! There was. I looked like a crazy person in my pjs hunched over my computer checking Facebook. The French residents of the building kept saying bonjour to me as they passed by. I didn't care. I needed the sweet sensation of internet access.

I sent an email to my mom to alert her of the situation before coming back upstairs. Last night I had read some of my Poe book because I had nothing else to do with my non-wifi life. It turns out that there are two murder mysteries in the book that are set in Paris! I started reading one today as I waited for an appropriate time for lunch (I can't eat too early or else I will be hungry during my midterm) and then to go to class. I hate having late classes because it's the waiting game. Just waiting for something to happen. While I was waiting and reading I got the idea to start packing. I crammed everything I could into my small suitcase, including textbooks, and then double checked my small flower print bag. I always feel like I'm missing something when I travel. I have to double check that I've put my tickets and hotel confirmations in my bag as well as my money and money pouch; I already know they're in there, but I just have to look again. 

By this time it was lunch time. I heated up my last meal Picard: fish with some kind of cream sauce, rice, and vegetable mix. It was cold in the center, but I ate it anyway. Why does Picard always think that fish dishes must have lemon? I didn't taste the lemon in this one until the very end, but it was surprisingly strong. Oh Picard….After lunch I still had a few minutes to spare before I had to get dressed. I had remembered Nico saying something about a rec room with an oven on the first floor. I thought he meant the first European floor, and spent some of my time downstairs pulling on doors. I finally figured that I'd go to the first floor and see if there was a rec room. There is one, and it has wifi!! I took my computer downstairs and indulged in some internet. Can you feel the desperation? 

I finally had to come back upstairs to get dressed, but not after I loaded a page to read before my midterm. I always wear sexy outfits/things I feel good in and red lipstick on midterms and finals days as an extra boost of confidence. Today I choice my black sweater dress (even though it makes me look like the bag lady), a black cropped sweater (it didn't really go with the outfit, but it's always cold in Chanel), shimmery sparkle tights, and my brown boots. I wore the long socks with hearts on them as an extra special touch. I put on my red lipstick, and put my customary rosary on for good luck. I sat around waiting for it to be time to leave. 

When I got to Accent I noticed that my entire class was outside. I didn't think anything of it, and went inside to read the Poe that I had stashed in my purse. I should always remember to have a book in my purse. I read for a few minutes, and then went upstairs to Chanel with Raven. We got inside the building, and saw people sitting on the stairs. We looked up and saw the outside door that leads to the classrooms closed. We sat down on the steps and chatted until we saw Christina smoking outside. She came inside the building followed by the rest of our class. We told her that the door was closed. She put her back down near me and went to check the door. It was locked. She then went to Accent to get Coraline to open the door. They climbed the stairs, and were followed by all of us. 

The midterm started five minutes late. We got our blue books, and were told to skip one line while we were writing; the lines were tiny, and my handwriting barely fit. From the very beginning I was writing at the speed of light. Christina had put a post it note on the clock to tell us when half the time was up. She pulled it off the clock just as I was finishing my first essay. I began on my second essay, and quickly realized that I was out of space. I finished the blue book and went to ask Christina if she had another book. She didn't, and instead grabbed Sierra's notebook off the floor and told me to take what I needed. After the theft I went back to writing like the wind. I hadn't even gotten to my section on hospitals when I saw five minutes left. I raced through my section on green space, and was at the very end of the paragraph when Christina called time. I had no conclusion paragraph!! I wrote two summary sentences and turned it in before she could literally rip the book out of my hands. Que sera sera…..

I went to Monoprix to get three frozen meals to keep me fed today and tomorrow. I saw Lucinda while I was there and we chatted on the way home. I left her in front of the boulangerie on the corner, and I headed to Franrprix for potato chips for my journey. Two bags of chips and 1,24 euro later, and I was on my way home. I still needed to finish a bit of French studying, but I had over five hours before I had to be in bed. I studied for French, and then packed up my blanket, a pillow, my laptop, and headphones and went to the rec room. I was alone for no time at all before someone came in. She was then followed by Nico and her roommate Alexandra. I listened to the music for pop, and but didn't really get anything out of it. I spent most of my time downstairs chatting with Jimmy on Facebook and reading scary articles on Cracked. 

While I was downstairs I got an email from my French professor. Our conversation goes as follows: 

Bonsoir Michaela,

Vous n'avez pas de question sur la préparation de l'examen ?

C'est que peut-être je deviens une professeure parfaite  ?

Ce n'est pourtant pas possible....

Bon courage avec les révisions et à demain !

Bonsoir Professeure,

I don't have any questions this time! I think I'm fairly prepared. Please make the test extra easy just for me :) 

You are already the perfect professor. 

Merci beaucoup! 

à demain!

Vous êtes trop gentille !

Mes tests sont déjà trop faciles pour vous...

A demain matin,

PS : je ne suis pas sûre que le professeur parfait vous montrerait 

des publicité sur la sexualité ou des photos de chanteur des années

70 qui montrent leur derrière !!!

Ce sont plutôt les étudiants californiens qui sont extra extra ouverts

d'esprit !

Yep, my French professor was teasing me. 

I came upstairs at 8pm to eat dinner and take a shower. I got sidetracked from my shower with figuring out if I should keep the "s" in the imperative form of "apprendre" or if it's dropped. You keep the "s" in -ir and -re endings, but drop it in -er endings. Good to know. 

I took my shower, and realized that I forgot to buy razors. Zut. After my shower I heated up the salmon and spinach lasagna that I bought at Monoprix. It wasn't as delicious today. I ate some caramels to make up for it. I'm almost out of the caramel filled caramels, and I don't know what I'm going to do. Life is looking rough. 

I'm so sleepy. I'm going to write the French dictation one more time, and then go find some internet to upload this post. I just have to keep thinking about the light at the end of the tunnel: I will be in the sunshine in Nice soon enough. I can't wait to see the ocean…and get some internet.