Thoughts of the Day: Second Day of Class

I only had one class today, ASIA 180: Introduction to Islamic Civilizations. What we talked about in class today, and actually today's reading, made me feel bad about the way I interacted with my last date in Montpellier. It made me question the validity of the information and opinions I discussed in the presentation I gave as one of my final exams last semester. I already love this class and I think the material we are going to cover is fascinating. I saw Kayla in that class, talking to Neel (who, having stopped to talk to her before leaving, had been in the biology class before that took place in the same room). I have known people in all but one of my classes so far. Weird. Such a large university, yet a small community.

On my way into the gym today, I opened the door for an international student. He was taller than me, had blond dreadlocks and a tan, and a thin braid hanging down from his forehead past his chin. "Are you exercise and sports science?"
"Sorry?" (It was a little noisy.)
"Are you exercise and sports science?" He asked again.
"No, but I work here."
"In the gym here?"
"Yeah, in the basketball courts."
We walked down the hall to where I was going to clock in and he was going to find his classroom.
"Where are you from?" He asked.
"Me? I'm from here,"  I said nonchalantly.
"I would have guessed you were from New Zealand or something, from your accent."
"Nope, I just sound weird," I replied.
He went to class and I clocked in. That's that.

Today is the first day of Marathon Club practices! Oh la la la la...

Once again, I am conflicted by my choice of majors. French and Communications are the ones officially declared, but... Asian Studies is calling my name again. I'm conflicted because I am enjoying learning the techniques of film production, the media theory behind it, and getting more involved with UNC STV. At the same time, I also want to pick up Arabic again, maybe learn Hindi as well, travel more, go back to France, other places in Europe, go to Senegal, go to Asia (India, now Japan and South Korea too, Taiwan, Hong Kong, The People's Republic of China, Singapore, maybe Pakistan), develop a skill...But Communications teaches a skill and is highly project-based...gaah how do I choose? Do I want to go to all these places by becoming an English teacher? There have to be other ways that involve getting paid, too...

ADDENDUM: On Sunday I ran into Camille in the Undergraduate Library! It was great to see her again!

Thoughts of the Day: First Day of Class, 3rd Year at UNC

First Day of Class Reflections:

Most of my classes let out early.

I wore my reversible shorts inside-out on purpose, but I didn't mean to put my underwear on that way, too...

Coffee and tea with Renata and Lucas after French class was wonderful! It was nice to catch up. Lucas is hoping to study abroad in Cairo, Egypt in the spring (I am jealous, why did I not continue with Arabic???). Renata had a great time in Poland and Wednesday is her birthday woot woot! She is having an ambiguous party of some sort on Friday.

A person my friends know is in my women's studies class, and I was surprised to meet her there. Also a person from a group I was in last year is in that class.


Today in my political science class on the analysis of public opinion, I learned that the class counts as a QI (Quantitative Intensive course)... I accidentally signed myself up for an applied statistics class...I had no idea. It wasn't listed on the course description, was it??? Oops. I hope it's still interesting and doable...
I could tell immediately from all the enthusiasm and the project descriptions but lack of real content in the syllabus that the teacher was a graduate student and not a professor. I picked up on that immediately because I myself was like that as a camp counselor. During political science class, we went around the room and said who we were, where we were from, why we were in the class and what our favorite book was. There was a very well dressed male French (?) student who likes Fahrenheit 451, a book by Ray Bradbury for which I wrote an essay that won me $75 in an essay contest when I was 14. I am a fan of Ray Bradbury's writing, it's so beautiful. Anyway, going around and hearing people's book choices, I had a strong urge to snap every time I liked what one of them said and a sudden wave of nostalgia came over me. My eyes nearly teared up as I thought about how much I missed that, sitting in a circle at Lac du Bois, cabin council or réunions de staff where we did snapped our fingers whenever we agreed with or liked what someone said. Good times.

STV Open House is tonight and I am so pumped!!!

Marathon Club starts tomorrow and I am also so pumped!!!

I am so bad at getting homework done, here I am on the computer not doing it...

Ce que j'ai fait pendant mon travail comme boulangère

Second half summer totals:
791 loaves of bread (including dinner rolls, just to be clear)
107 cakes (including cupcakes)
1094 cookies
30 mille feuilles
186 custardy things (île flottante and other items)
781 muffins
56 pizza crusts
1 cool new burn
1 smashed rainbow
I can't even count how many times Luna said "goddammit"
3 movies and most of a tv show
2 knitted...rectangles
2 instances of eating Korean food
2 I-Days
Innumerable friends made
4 (?) game nights
1 night under the stars
1.5 weeks of waking up in the middle of the night
1 skunk
1 porcupine
2 trivia night outings
0 tears
lots and lots of laughs

Jour 26 dans la boulangerie du Lac du Bois, deuxième moitié 2015

Des câlins
Mon déjeuner
De bons souvenirs

Highlights from second half of the summer (wow look English!):
Stargazing and shooting stars
Cool lightning storms
The Aurora Borealis
A really fat porcupine
Game nights
Piñata-busting
Anpan
Korean food
Senegalese Day
All this week's meals
Making new breads and desserts
Mille feuilles
Sourdough
Pirate cake
Movie nights and knitting
The exchange day with Arabic camp
Trivia nights (yay we didn't lose!)
Spending time with a villager from first half
Conversations about female empowerment
Getting to work and become friends with some really amazing and talented people
There's so much more I want to say but I don't think a Facebook post will be enough.

The Concordia Language Villages in Minnesota are a great place to work if you like foreign languages, teaching foreign languages in a fun way, kids, food, international cuisine, making friends, lakes, woods, lakes in woods, the Mississippi River, and line dancing. I highly recommend it for anyone looking for work or an internship next summer! There are counseling, kitchen, and other positions available.

Jour 25 dans la boulangerie du Lac du Bois, deuxième moitié 2015

Jour 24 dans la boulangerie:
12 sourdough artisanaux, mon dernier cadeau en quittant le Lac du Bois cet été
12 pains "eh"
3 thaikry sans gluten
9 thaikry sans produits laitiers
12 biscuits au Nutella, sans gluten
16 miches au boulgour et à l'avoine

Hier soir on a vu les étoiles filantes et des coups de foudre en même temps. C'était incroyable.
Aujourd'hui j'ai eu l'occasion de voir Elisabeth avant de partir, ce qui m'a rendue contente.
J'ai adoré la nourriture que la cuisine du Lac du Bois a faite cette semaine et je suis heureuse que la Journée Sénégalaise soit ma dernière ici cet été. La "glace" à la banane, le mafé au poulet, les snips ;-)
  J'ai du pain et des biscuits pour mon voyage, aussi du mjadarah, du poulet, des anpan...
Pour fêter mon dernier jour au Lac du Bois, ce soir nous avons frappé le piñata arc en ciel avec la moitié d'une vieille baguette, quelques unes d'entre nous sommes sorties à Sup Sogi HoSu (écriture?...) pour chercher à manger, finalement Becca, Audra, Leandria, 'Ryn, Anaïs et moi avons regardé les étoiles filantes spectaculaires.
Enfin, c'est l'heure de chanter une chanson de Francis:
"Je dis bonne nuit au Lac du Bois
Lac du Bois
Même si j'ai pas envie
Lac du Bois
Mais il faut dormir, le Lac du Bois
Lac du Bois
C'est la belle vie au Lac du Bois"

Sourdough boules

I tried to carve Becca's French name, Luna, into a loaf of brioche...again...

Jour 24 dans la boulangerie du Lac du Bois, deuxième moitié 2015

10 miches et 3 petits pains au Nutella déconstruit
10 boules de sourdough d'une pas trop bonne recette
12 pâtes de sourdough d'une très bonne recette

Aujourd'hui j'ai fait du pain pour le congélateur, vu qu'il soit possible qu'il n'y ait personne à faire le pain pour la semaine de familles... Je suis sortie à Mi Rancho avec mes amies et on a eu de discussions sérieuses et intimes, puis on est rentré et quelques unes entre nous avons décidé de regarder "Endeavour!" ensemble pendant que l'on tricotait et peignait. Mes amis au Lac du Bois et aux Concordia Language Villages me manqueront énormément! Aieeeee o là là j'ai pas envie de rentrer vendredi matin!

Jour 23 dans la boulangerie du Lac du Bois, deuxième moitié 2015

55 baguettes pour le dîner d'échange avec Al-WaHa
18 miches de pain de campagne pour le déjeuner demain
120 muffins pour le petit déjeuner aujourd'hui, puis encore 95
Waouh quelle journée! J'ai démarré sur le travail à 7H après 4-5 heures de sommeil en raison d'avoir longtemps passé du temps avec mes amis de Concordia. Aujourd'hui j'ai beaucoup cuisiné, même sans assez d'espace et assez de places pour tout le pain.

Jour 22 dans la boulangerie:
120 muffins à l'avoine
La pâte d'une pizza, sans gluten
J'ai roulé beaucoup de pâtes de pizza et je suis sortie à quiz night à Brigid's avec mes amis de Concordia Language Villages. The Lollipop Guild n'a pas perdu, mais on n'a jamais été sur le point de gagner...