Not a whole lot of particularly special things has happened of late. I’ve been going to class mainly and have been busy with that a lot of things. I have mainly travaux dirigés, which means tutorials. And as with most tutorials, there is homework to be done. I find the homework for Histoire du Droit the most difficult, I have to read and analyse texts for this class. Which itself doesn’t sound that hard yet there’s more to it and when we discuss them in class I find their sidetracking very farfetched. Yet, I guess I’m managing..
The TD for Droit Civil is actually very interesting and I think I’ve made quite a good choice here since I’m doing the work with a smile and find myself intrigued by French sentences. Next to the facts that law interests me and knowing more about the French jurisdiction being handy for my sworn translation work, I also wondered whether or not I’d be cut out for studying law after I’m done in Maastricht (in 1,5 year)..and I must say I’ve not yet been put off. Yet, these seminars are so intensely long and demanding. The professor explains and tells, yet to understand and write it down at the same time (in French) is just so hard. Then again I’m doing my best and what else can you expect? The style of teaching here is so different from that what I’m used to… But let us be cheerful!
Last Saturday there was a Halloween party on campus…for which everyone at the last minute decided to dress up. The theme colours were orange and black and of course you were expected to wear some kind of costume. I happened to have clothes in those colours, so no harm...yet felt kind of lame in the end for not having a proper outfit. Halloween is after all THE excuse for dressing up and having nobody else say anything bad about it. The night was really funny and they served this really cheap punch, which of course was 80% alcohol and got you in a party kind of mood. The nice thing about campus life is that a lot of people know each other and it sort of becomes an intimate trusted party when you’re all together. Thus was the case with the soirée d’Halloween. See pictures!
Last Monday I had two presentations for my Dutch teachings. I have to admit, I’m not the most fond of presentations and public speaking in general. I don’t really know why, I remember vividly loving the attention in elementary school when doing small innocent “show and tells”…Yet the bullying in the first years of high school must have assailed my confidence or something. I don’t have any problems with my confidence these last years, but presentations still invoke death scenarios in my mind. So naturally I was nervous the first one. With the second one however something inside of me changed. I just didn’t care at that point and went on with the presentation. A moment of clarity?
The first weeks of studying have come to an end for the time being because the holidays (Toussaint) have begun! Since I’m not going home nor going to Paris to visit my friends (the original plan) I found myself without a plan..but not for long. “Hey Daniel, fancy coming with us to live in a chalet near Lyon?!,” asked a friend of mine. And hey, why not grace them with my presence? Yes! We’re going to Nantua (between Lyon and Geneva) for a week! :D As said it’s a chalet which is supposed to look like a small castle and we’re renting it with 9 people! These are all very nice people and it’s going to be good fun. Today we went for food shopping..I think I got a hernia from it. We’re leaving tomorrow afternoon with the train. Stories and photos will follow…
Bisou,
Daniel
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