les deux jours passés

Life in Paris in the past two days has been, well... anything but calm.  Not complaining, just stating.  The jet-lag did not hit me until today, and I have been getting up at 7:30 and going to bed at 12 or so.  Not bad in theory, but when you have class from 9-12, 1:30-4 and then a field trip form 4-6 and dinner at 9, it does not leave much time for relaxing.  And yes there is homework... that reading I mentioned, never finished. I did read the analysis though and about 60 pages of the 170 assigned. Before you sigh in disappointment, remember that it is written in 19th century french and I am running on little sleep.  I would not be a lemming and follow someone else off a bridge but it does make me feel a bit better than few others read it in french and finished AND understood it.  Key word, UNDERSTOOD.  Though I will say, now that I have read the summary, and know what is going on, and now that we have discussed the passions and vices of the time, I am eager once again to get reading and be apart of that world.  Other than the Balzac-ian universe, I am a part of a language class with the Alliance Francaise, which is exactly what I need.  I do not remember the last time I was so stimulated in a language class... in any class.  Maybe sophomore year.  I ended up not having to take an oral exam on my first morning because of the grade I scored on my online test... which I thought was bizarre considering that I felt that test to be one the the most challenging I have ever taken, but alas, no test.  My professor is incredibly enthusiastic and loves conversation.  We have had class for 2 days, and already she acts as though she had known me for 2 weeks.  I love it; I feel that I am one of very few in our group that do not feel jipped when it comes to class level.  I suppose I am lucky.  I know I am lucky.  We have so far discussed the differences between women and men in positions of authority and whether or not women make better bosses (day 1).  Day 2 was all about government surveillance and its uses/abuses.  Fascinating really. It is very provocative indeed, and I am being forced to really evaluate my position on issues, no matter the language.  For those of you that comment, what do you think? I would love to hear different arguments/initial responses/ideas...  when I mentioned surveillance to my host mom, she said "securité" as in trying to understand my meaning... interesting what we associate first with the word "surveillance"....