An Apology and Wait....I'm Here to STUDY???

Ok, yes, I know. I didn't write an update last week and I'm late this week by a day. I have had midterms for the past two weeks and I wanted to focus on them...

Yeah, you're right, that's a pretty lame excuse...I'll level with you: I got lazy and I apologize to those of you who wait on the edges of your seats to hear about ma vie en France.

But in all seriousness, I did have 4 midterms over the past two weeks and studying for them did take up a significant amount of my time, much to my chagrin.

BUT FALL BREAK IS NEXT WEEK!!!!!!

No, I'm not excited. At all.

As I finished my final midterm today, I realized that I haven't filled you in on the part of my life in Aix that just so happens to be the reason I'm here: school.

So without further ado...here's what many of you might be curious about! I promise that I am indeed going to class everyday. I've only missed two classes total...for Amsterdam, so it was worth it.

First, school is going really well. I love all of my classes and professors. Yes, my grades are up where they should be and I'm learning a lot in all of them.

I think I'm beginning to regain a love for learning that I had kind of lost a few years ago. Sure, I loved getting good grades and seeing the effort (well the little bit of effort I put into my classes), but I didn't enjoy the act of gaining new knowledge.

To you intellectual types (AKA Dad) reading this, I promise you that it's changing as I'm typing this.

Now, I'll give a nice, in-depth rundown of all four of my classes that I am taking this semester.

French

I'll start with my French class. It's called French 102 --> 201. If that sounds pretty basic to you, that's because it is quite basic. I hadn't taken French in over a year before I came here, so I figured that I would take an easier French class....That turned out to be somewhat a mistake.

This class is probably too easy for my level of French, but hey, who doesn't love an easy A?

So far, we've just reviewed a lot of the stuff I learned Junior and Senior year of high school. I will say that it has helped me navigate around Aix, though. And that is what matters most about my French class, as far as I'm concerned.

Philosophy

This one is definitely my most reading-intensive class. Philosophy a reading intensive class? SHOCKER.

The class is called Ethics: From the Ancients to the Moderns. So far, we have analyzed the Gospel of John and read "An Apology for Raymond Sebond" from The Complete Essays by Michel de Montaigne.

This class has proven to be extremely interesting. We haven't really gotten into the ethics part of things yet, but analyzing such classic literature on a high level with an extremely intelligent professor and a very interested group of students has almost made me dread going back to certain classes at DU.

Of course the material in this class has been absolutely amazing and extremely interesting, but beyond that, my critical thinking skills are getting a major work out. Entirely too many of the classes that I have taken at DU do not require much critical thinking or analysis (that's the nature of the beast with a lot of business classes, I suppose).

In many ways, I have desperately missed classes that required critical thinking and high-level analysis. At the beginning of the semester, this class was a major struggle. I was getting lost in a lot of the conversations and the rhetoric my professor was throwing at us.

After a couple of weeks, I started to gain a foothold in the class and started engaging in the conversations and in-class debates.

The one part of this class that sucks is the fact that it's my third class of the day on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 3:30. Most days, to keep myself awake and alert, I have to do things like this:

Yeah, yeah, yeah...I know...I'm in class, I should be focused and all that jazz, but honestly, if it wasn't for my sharpies and empty notebook, I wouldn't be able to stay awake in class.

Plus, I've actually been able to pay full attention while creating such amazing masterpieces (HA, right. I create artistic masterpieces...).

International Intercultural Management

I'll admit, I signed up for this class just to keep the business part of my brain up-to-date. But the amazing part of that is this has turned out to be an AWESOME class.

First, there are five students in this class. Yes, FIVE. And that's only where the awesomeness begins.

My professor is literally one of the coolest people I've ever met. He is of Middle Eastern descent, but he has somewhat of an Irish accent combined with a Middle Eastern accent. Until I got here, I didn't even know that was possible.

But the class itself is amazing too. Professor Mobed realizes that we are here for study abroad and that we do have pretty active lives outside of the classroom, so he tries to keep the work in this class in the classroom.

The only homework we have is a case study every couple of weeks. In fact, for the midterm last week, he let all five of us work together on it. In fact, he was very enthusiastic about us coming up with that idea.

On top of that, the course itself has some great material. Of course, it is rooted in your basic management class. You know, stuff like MGMT 2000 (DU Business Students will know exactly what I'm talking about).

But there is a very international slant to it. So far, we have discussed issues such as how can a multi-national corporation make as little splash as possible in a country while maintaining profitability and how a given multi-national company should operate in a third-world country.

This isn't stuff they teach you in a basic management class. And that's why I love it. This class is teaching me things that I would not have learned without going abroad. Classes like this one make this whole experience very much worth it.

Muslim Presence in Europe

Now, here is my favorite class by far. Yes, just looking at the title, I know you're interested in this class. And I could talk for DAYS about how awesome this class is and about how much I'm learning in it. But I'll try to keep this section as short as possible.

To start, my professor is my favorite professor here. She is from the Middle East and speaks almost perfect English. On top of that, she knows more about Islam than many of us Americans knows about any given popular religion.

I have learned more in this class than I have in any other one since being here. Coming into this class, I knew next to nothing about Islam except that it is the fastest-growing religion in the world.

I promise I won't go into a lesson about Islam here. But I will say this: Islam is a religion VERY much worth researching. Its history and the turbulence Muslims have experienced throughout history is absolutely fascinating.

I am so glad that I'm taking this class in France though because this issue is so prevalent even now. There are about 15 million Muslims living in the EU currently and about 5 million of them live in France. That's 1/3 of the ENTIRE European Muslim population.

It is no secret that I didn't come here to earn any Accounting credits or any business credits at all. If anything, I came here to get a 4 month break from business classes before I get back and my life becomes 100% Accounting.

Classes like this one are why I am so incredibly glad I came here. There is no way I would have taken this class even if it was offered at DU. Essentially, after freshman year, if the class wasn't part of PLP or if it didn't take place in DCB (Daniels College of Business), I wasn't going to take it.

So there you have it! This adds up to 15 credits here and 22.5 at DU. Because I'm here for a semester instead of a quarter, I receive credit-and-a-half for the courses I take here.

I am really pleased with how my academic part of Study Abroad has turned out. I enjoy every single one of my classes and professors immensely. I can't say that I've experienced something like this since junior and senior years of high school.

Not that DU doesn't have the capability of that, it's just that I haven't liked ALL of my classes AND professors during any given quarter at DU.

Now, I guess since I haven't written a post in two weeks, I should let you know what I've been up to the past two weeks.

Well outside of midterms, I didn't do a lot. Though, last weekend I did travel up to Roanne to visit a couple of family friends who live on a barge and travel throughout France via canals, Debby and Randy Komisarek.

Debby worked with my mom at KPMG when she worked there before moving to Colorado Springs and before I was born. So when I found out that they were one short hour and a half TGV train ride away from Aix, I knew I had to go visit them.

It was actually a fairly relaxed weekend and we didn't do a lot except sit, talk, drink wine, and eat. But that is why it was one of the most amazing weekends since I've been here. Yes, it was on the same level as Amsterdam. Not quite life-changing, but definitely as far as fun goes, it was equal.

It was really nice to be able to have true intellectual conversations with people who have some life experience under their belts. I have my own conceptions about the world and I love hearing what other people think about certain things.

That was what this weekend was. Every conversation we had was on a level that I could not really have with any of my peers. And that's the way it is supposed to be. My peers and I have a very idealistic and perhaps unrealistic way of seeing the world.

I think that is why I found this weekend to be so refreshing and so much fun. Talking to Debby and Randy about things that I really can't talk to my peers about on such a high level was absolutely amazing.

But beyond that, it was an awesome change of pace from what I've been doing in France. I was finally able to slow down and really enjoy the company of other people instead of always asking what we're doing next.

To be honest, I really wish I could have been able to have more than just one weekend in Roanne. But I was definitely happy with what I was able to have!

Thanks again, Debby and Randy for such an amazing weekend!!

Before I say au revoir, I must give you a quick disclaimer about next week: it's Fall Break. I'll be in Spain all week. Barcelona and then Madrid.

What does this mean for you? This means there won't be a post again next week. I'm not going to bring my computer with me and I won't be near a computer at all next week.

But I promise to give you a nice long update in two weeks about how amazing break was (err will be).

So until then, have an awesome two weeks! And I'm off to Spain!!!