mixed bag

it's rainy, cold, gray.

but I talked to my darling Felicia today, and that is the equivalent of making this accursed gray veil of a sky into a mass of blue blue and more blue!

Oh comme je suis "silly". Yesterday, I went to a bar and had a kir, which is kir (a type of fruit alcohol) mixed with white wine. Just a kir, in a regular sized wineglass. In fact, I drank just over 1/2 the kir in 1.5 hours...and promptly turned red as a beet. I started feeling giggly and funny, and oh gosh it was slightly embarrassing.

Classes started on Monday and I've been getting up at 6 or 7am every morning, because I need about 2 hours to get ready, go to the Sorbonne and find the enchanted rooms that have magical staircases a la Harry Potter...

So here's a crash course on the French education system, at least at the very traditional Sorbonne:

Courses are divided into two parts, the Cours Magistral (CM) and the Travaux Dirigés (TD). The CM is the equivalent of lecture and the TD, section. But not exactly.

The CM lasts for an hour or two every week and the TD, 2 hours. The CM is a fully fledged professor who usually reads directly from his/her notes in a rather dry voice (although I had one who used Powerpoint--this is a HUGE deal, because it's very daringly modern) for the entire time. Students rarely speak--everyone is busy taking pages and pages of notes. Questions not encouraged. The TD is on a different day, and a lecturer teaches it.

The first TD, the lecturer assigns oral exposés/commentaire composé to all the students. An oral exposé is a written critical analysis (chronological or thematic) of the article in question, lasting about 20 minutes. It is the core of the TD. Afterwards, the TD lecturer criticizes you in front of the class and goes on further about the article.


This little one signed up for an oral exposé in her Louis XIV TD in a fit of courageousness. Oh goodness.

Anyway, so I've met a few very nice students in my classes. What is strange is that of all the students I've made acquaintances with, none are Parisian. They're from Lyon, Bordeaux, Rouen, but no, not Paris. I even met a student named Juan from Valencia in Spain. I told him how I adore the Spanish accent and how I wanted to practice my Spanish! It's so rusty, alas!!!! Tengo que practicar mi espanol!!!!

Kate's Critical Decision

All right. I decided that I'll casually date men who smoke. BUT. Yes, there is always a BUT. They must wear delicious cologne/smell good.

It's so strange...but I pass strange men on the street, I do not know who they are, and at times, I do not even see their faces as they brush past me, hidden beneath their collars....and I catch a scent, a knee-wobbling, sense-tickling scent...and I feel the most delicious weakness swimming in my body...as though I might melt any second. It is so sensual, almost sexual, the attraction of scent.

In addition to the basics of intelligence, kindness, decent height, gentlemanliness, etc etc, here is my revised list of the qualities of the perfect bachelor:

Likes rambling walks in cemeteries (or at least isn't creeped out my penchant for cemeteries)
Does not smoke (may be replaced by the following quality)
Smells good
Enjoys long, meandering strolls
Likes people-watching (in a non stalker-ish manner)
Charmingly crooked smile
An enchanting pinch of boyishness mixed with a healthy dose of emotional maturity


Oh and I am so happy because I got an email from YAYA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PBHA has finally regurgitated my beloved roommate, if only temporarily!

And today has been such a happy day, for many reasons ; )