Breathing a sigh of relief

Well, I'm DONE with one of two presentations for my Constitutional Law class, and it went a lot better than I expected. Having spent an hour or two yesterday freaking out and crying and trying to come up with some excuse not to do it at the last minute, I took a deep breath, sat down, and got to work. And managed to throw together a pretty decent little presentation. And then this morning in class, I decided to offer to go first just to get it over with. I was crazy nervous, so my voice was all kinds of shaky, but I managed to work my way through it and I only stumbled over my french a couple of times. When it was finally over, the teacher seemed content with what I had done and even complemented parts of my presentation. I'm not sure if he was just being nice because he felt bad for me being, not only the foreign kid, but also all by myself, or if he was really sincere, but either way, it made me feel a little bit better. I really hope that it's more of the second one because, while it's nice to get pity points every once in a while, I'm the type of person who likes to get by based on my own talents, not on handicaps. But at this point I'll take what I can get.

I also got my paper back from last week, which I was also really nervous about. This is my first graded thing since I've been here, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Also, it's kind of hard to get used to the french grading system. Basically, everything is graded out of 20 points but, unlike in the states, it is pretty rare for french students to get above a 16 or a 17. Since we are already disadvantaged, the way the grades correspond to grades back in the states is very generous. Any thing above a 12 is an A and 9-11 is a B. I got a 10 on the paper, so I am contenting myself with that. Also, most of his comments were things that made sense for the most part. Some of them I was even expecting...I really hate turning in a paper and at that very moment realizing what I did wrong. He said that if people want to do another one to get a better grade, we can, and I might, but I'm not sure if I want to stress myself out that much. I mean, a B is fully acceptable, and it's only 1/4 of my grade (God, I am SUCH an overachiever!). I guess I'll make than decision after I get my grade from my presentation today.

Anyway, I came home from my presentation and Wei was making curry and she let me have some, so I didn't have to make lunch, which was kind of nice. And the curry was pretty bomb.

There's more to say about social life and stuff, but I have to go to class, so you will just have to wait. Maybe, if I'm feeling ambitious tonight, I will make a record and have three blog posts in one day, but that seems like it might be overdoing it a bit.

Bisous.