it's not enough to survive, one has to be worthy of surviving

It costs 4 euro to do one load of laundry here at the college. Which is expensive.

I'm sitting in the courtyard waiting for my laundry to be washed and hoping I don't have to kick some girl's butt if she dumps my clothes out of the machine as soon as the clock has run out. I have nails and it cost me 4 euro to wash all that.

Ah, well.

I gave my presentation today on BSG. My teacher was pretty much confused about the whole concept, although apparently I spoke the French correctly. She wasn't impressed that I chose to talk about the TV show instead of Ancient Egypt, but the girl who went before me talked about Italy, and it was incredibly boring. Not because Italy itself is boring, but because a 30 minute speech on it is unless the speaker is eloquent and captivating, which she was not, and I don't think myself to be. Particularly when it's in another language, and most people speak haltingly.

Besides, I had much more fun and was much more willing to prepare for the presentation when it was BSG and not Ancient Egypt, which is so complicated to translate into French because they have entirely different names and ways of divding time and things like that I'd have to relearn before I could possibly talk about it. And apparently the question I asked of the class at the end of my speech was too difficult for their brains to comprehend, because the teacher was like, "Oooh, that's too hard." I just asked what defines a human/humanity? What makes us human versus something like the cylons, who can also die, feel emotions, cry, bleed, etc. Where or what is the line?

And here I thought the French liked philosophical questions. Pardon me for expecting actual thought from people (other questions posed after various other presentations: What's your favourite type of car? Where would you like to visit in Italy? etc.).

I'd like to just head on to Paris, now. Not that I don't like Cannes, but the people are driving me bonkers. (Once I'm in Paris, I won't have to see them for the most part unless I want to.) And the meals are just plain bad, not to mention how sick I am of having cereal every morning. We had salmon pasta this afternoon, and while I don't like salmon, it was at least fresh (as it should be––the ocean is right there). But the pasta itself was just . . . ugh. Bland and sitting heavy in my stomach. I'm getting a panini for dinner. Back to the Paris thing, though, I'd like to just get settled and not have to worry about having to repack in a week or so. And taking a shower in my own shower (not communal––I've survived so far, but we'll see how much longer).

Although they're using a trucking service to take our luggage up there, and it gets picked up Friday afternoon. We're allowed one bag on the train (so in my case, my backpack) and the rest have to be sent. The trucks don't arrive with our stuff until Monday or Tuesday. You do the math and figure out how many outfits and essential toilettries I need to be able to shove in my backpack (including a computer and all its various accessories). Too many.

Our teacher has said we likely won't have another test in this class, that we'll just get a grade for our performance in-class, which sucks. I was hoping for another test (on the conditionel verb tense) because I know it really well. Instead, we're going to study the subjonctif (ugh––I requested that. It makes very little sense. A whole other verb tense for no reason other than to be difficult. It sounds pretty much the exact same as the present tense) and les pronoms relatifs (que, qui, dont, laquelle, lequel, lesquelles/lesquels, etc.), which I already know. Only three classes left.

It's hard to grasp sometimes that while my day is halfway over, the day over there is just beginning. Bizarre.

PS. The laundry room here smells like the inside of a barn.