OHMYGOD. SO. Class yesterday. Didn't exist. I walked from here to kingdom come in 100 inch heels and got blisters on my feet because I decided yesterday that I AM GOING TO LOOK GOOD FOR MY FIRST DAY. So I went to the Smith Center (and wrote my post to you all) and then ate lunch and went to spend five trillion dollars on notebooks. I walked all the way to get those notebooks. Do you know how far that was? No. You don't. It was far. FAAAAAAAR. I had to stop and take a break and lean against the building because I thought my feet were going to fall off. But I made it. And then I walked ALL the way to Uni Bastion (which is in Bastion Park) which is about another half mile away. I actually thought my feet were going to explode. But anyway, then I got there, and made a B-Line for a table and chairs and situated myself to get mentally prepared for the fact that I was about to take a French Lit class with a bunch of French-speaking people. As I was sitting there, a girl came up to me and both of us were speaking broken french to each other, and she was asking me if I was going to the big seminar for people taking French. And I was like no, I have my french lit course, but have fun. ANd she kept saying it, and I had no idea why she didn't understand that NO I, in fact, have a class DURING WHATEVER YOURE TALKING ABOUT. Boy was I wrong. Apparently that (and other ones like it) were the info sessions for the different schools at the University. We Smithies didn't have to go to them because we have a unique deal with the University, and can take interdisciplinary classes, so what they were saying didn't really apply to us (espcially not me because I have the weirdest program on the face of the earth). So I made all of that efforst, all of that stress about finding my class, was for nothing. Classes in the faculté de lettres doesn't start until tomorrow, so mercifully I will DEFINITELY be having my class tomorrow! I also found out that all of the classes start 15 minutes later than what is online, so as opposed to starting at 2 it will start at 2:15, which gives me more time to get from one to the other. PHEW!
But TODAY. Today class happene at the Grad Institute. And it was amazing. It's a political science/ international relations (IR) class that sweeps the last century in IR theory (from realism to other "faddish" theories such as constructivism). The professor is so incredibly accomplished and he's SO FUNNY. He's from the U.S. and it's hilarious because he can be cynical towards the US and their IR and IR belifes, not offending anyone because I've so far only met me and one other girl from the States out of the 70 people in the class. It seeks to situate different IR theories in their contexts, and therefore seems very reminiscent to me of how one of my lit professors at Smith taught literature for the two semesters I was with him. This, then, should be good, because I'm semi-decent at doing that (even though I am wayyyyyyy underqualified compared to the other brilliant people in the class that worked so hard to get in there, and their MAIN focus is IR.... the passion towards the subject is really astounding). We are going in chronological order up to present day theories, and we are only graded on a midterm and a final. I am so thankful. I'm really good at taking [not standardized] tests. This course is going to be amazing. Also, I know someone in it. ONe of my friend's flatmates is in the class with me, and I met up with him before class started and we went and found it together. He's so social and nice that I was able to meet a handful of people from the class before going in because he's either had a class with them, wants to start some sort of reading group about Koffi Annan (the seventh Secretary General to the UN... who I'm signed up for to hear speak), or just introduced himself. It was great. I met a girl from the Netherlands, a guy from Switzerland, another guy from Brazil, a girl from Brazil, a girl from Germany and a girl from Japan. It was SO cool to see all of these great international minds coming together at one of the best institutions in the world. Again, I hope that I can do my PhD there one day.............
Anyway, alas, I must now sign off and go be productive (or take a nap, not sure which yet).
xx Edie