highly uneventful

with the possible exception of going to class this morning

i really don't get the system here at all. there is sooo much translation even for first years. translation is for people who KNOW WORDS ALREADY

altho they seem to be pretty smart

the same people in the translation course i went to were also in the grammar course i went to which...was just starting aspect which is something i know a fair bit about. altho they are eons ahead in terms of verb conjugation cuz i'm really bad at that. they teach it very different here as well o_o

you know there are also tons of russians in the classes

which makes it even more difficult

actually tho both of my teachers were really nice. the first one seemed very confused as to why i was there (uhm...to study russian? 6_6) the translation class lady was reallllly nice and understanding. she said if i wanted to translate in english i could start out doing that and she kept saying how i wandered in on a really difficult day and that it usually isn't so hard. it's so crazy tho. they just sit there and read this article and somehow everyone knows all the words even when they are things like "suspension" and "delays" and stuff. they were reading about something about recruitment of students in the army...i dunno. but no one uses a dictionary or anything they all just go to it and i just kinda sat there. she said to work on it at home and see how it goes...i wonder if i really have to take this class. technically i could probably just do the first part and the lab and not do the translation course. but i guess i will go back and see how it goes.

i seemed to find some lit courses today but i didn't go because they weren't labelled as to what they are. i dunno how anyone studies abroad here...at least at the sorbonne. the other schools seem a lot more compatible with our system...they have class with TITLES and things. it's just hard because you only do your major here and so there are courses you take if you are that and that is all you do and other people don't do it. iiiii dunno...it kinda just bites. maybe it's not too late to change schools but i really need the russian...i dunno...chris is taking like three film courses including one on hitchcock and emanuel has a really awesome french as a foreign language phonetiques course which i would LOVE to do. i dunno i haven't even really started school and i already hate it.

i'm trying to find a french language exchange partner since i had good luck with russian and even japanese. tomorrow SHOULD be japanese night...

what can i do tonite...technically i should study like sixteen different things but...hmmm...i think i will also go out for ice cream because expensive ice cream (when worth it) is a joy that should be available to all.