We don't need no (French) education

Peur du jour- 24 Avril 2012: Final exam at the French University at la journée americaine

So today I took my first (and only) exam for my history/geography course at Paul Val. Gross.

Let's not even talk about how this exam was at 8:15 (INSANELY early by French standards) the Tuesday after a two week break. Thankfully, I had already planned to be back by last Friday to recuperate, so I did have time to study hard for three days. But, as I am the type of student that usually starts studying a week in advance for regular tests and TWO weeks for finals (yeah, go ahead and tape the "kick me" sign to my back, I'm a nerd), I was still really stressed.

Not to mention that I wasn't really sure what I was supposed to be studying. I had asked the professor, but he said that it wouldn't be fair to give me any sort of direction. Really, France? In the end I ended up going through my notes and trying to organize it into outline form so I could catch the big themes and memorize some small details/examples.

So the morning rolled around. I left super early to avoid being late due to any tram delays and breezed past the students enjoying a pre-exam cigarette outside the classroom. The prof passed out some scratch paper and the French equivalent of blue books (at least I didn't have to pay for it like at UNC! Silver lining.) and then began to explain the exam.

Because this class was taught by two professors, they thought it necessary to have two different essay prompts (normal). They had both professors develop a subject (also normal), but did not feel that there would be enough time for each student to answer both questions (okay). So, they divided the class up into two groups by last name (getting wonky) and then proceeded to have one student from the first group draw a subject from a hat (seriously?). As the French student deciding my fate walked to the front of the room, Jason was muttering "this would never happen in America," and I was singing the Price is Right theme (COME ON DOWN!).

I ended up getting the subject for the professor that I've been whining about all semester. On top of that, we recieved the prompt via dictation (here's to hoping I didn't mishear a word!). In a fortunate turn of events, however, it was the prompt I felt more comfortable with. In fact, it was the last section of notes I had read before getting off the tram to walk to campus. Not that I know how I'm going to be graded, but I didn't feel that the exam itself was that hard. I had an hour and a half to answer one essay question--kid's stuff compared to my poli and history exams at UNC.

I only need a 9 (maybe I'll talk about the French grading scale in a cultural lesson) to get credit at UNC. And if not, at least I got some great stories out of this class and a deep appreciation for my home institution.