Day 67: Exposing the United States

6 novembre 2009 (Day 67)
I presented my exposee this morning in my oral French class. I gave a 15 minute presentation concerning the views that the United States is a leader in environmentalism and super polluters. I think it went really well; everyone told me that they enjoyed it and that they could understand what I was saying (yay!). Marion said that I’ll get a 15 or 16 out of 20 on my argumentative presentation. I am so glad that I took debate because all we do in class (at least oral and writing…10/21 hours of class) is work on arguments. Thank you Miss Hyer for teaching me everything I know, and all my English teachers as well. I actually found out that we have to give a presentation during finals week, but you only have 20 minutes to prepare a 15 or 20 minute presentation. I find this rather unjust, you get more time to prepare in debate (and speak less)! Oh well, it is France and I have come to terms with the fact that my grades are going to be below Mari average (insert Chris Mitchell laughing here). The heat wasn’t on in the building today, so I began to freeze in theatre and continued to freeze. I had some pizza at the RU Terte (the first time I’ve eaten there all week) and talked to some other IRFLEE kids until our next class, history! History was interesting as usual, but I was really tired and cold so I was starting to doze in the middle (but not quite). We finished talking about the possible causes of the revolution: the philosophy of the Lumiers, the bourgeoisie, the financial situation of France, the taxes, the expense of the court, and the war in America. An interesting side note: France helped us only because they hate England and they wanted to shove it in their face. We learned about the National Assembly and the French Revolution. We talked about poor Louis XVII (he was actually a really nice guy) and a little bit about Marie A. My favorite thing I learned was that when Louis XVI was fleeing to Varennes, he did so being disguised as a Boulanger, or bread maker. Sadly, his fleeing led to a divorce between him and the nation so the vengeful lover (France) killed him.
I cleaned my room today. I wiped everything down (for a little room it gets terribly dusty). I also did my monthly floor washing. I’m not motivated to wash it more than once a month, although I do sweep the floor quite often because I create a lot of crumbs…which is pretty crumby. Har har, I’m so funny. And sleep deprived. I actually took a little “break” I guess you could call it before I cleaned and listened to a relaxation tape. I finally got some drinkable yogurt to try (and it came with a Scooby Doo sticker!) and it is pretty good. I really do love the yogurt here (although I miss the yogurt in the boxes in Sweden).
I had some pasta for dinner and then headed into town to watch a fencing match. I got there late, but it was there soon enough to see the champion of the world, an Italian fence. It was pretty fun because there were a lot of people there and they were all cheering. It was kind of like a football or basketball game. It was really neat to see how GOOD they were at fencing; I’ve got a long way to go!
The internet isn’t working, so I’ve done some homework, but I think I have resolved to go to bed now and see if I can sleep in tomorrow before going to the market! I almost forgot the highlight of my day. I’ve been trying to make an effort to smile at people and say, “Bonjour!” I was walking down the hallway to theatre and I saw a boy who is in the IRFLEE program, but not in my level & I don’t know his name. I recognized his face from the IRFLEE soiree so I said, “Bonjour.” In response he said, “Salut” (an informal hello for people you know well, aka your friends) and then he winked at me! What is that?!?! Winking at random people in the hallway, that is not allowed, Eric Ripplinger told me so. I actually saw Eric’s France twin the other day. His twin is a brunette, but otherwise looks the same.