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I spent this last week in Berlin, visiting my (third) cousin and her parents for the first time! It was such a fantastic week; their family was exceedingly generous, so friendly and accommodating, and I had the chance to learn some German while exploring all over the city with my cousin, Vero.

By the end of the week though, I was happy to come back to Menton. I kept feeling overwhelmed by the sensation that I have less than two months left, and it feels like it's just now that places and people are beginning to feel more familiar and comfortable. (Isn't that always the way?) But really, all one can do is treasure the remaining time, and give up looking to the end of things, other than for how it serves as a reminder to make the best use of the present.

Today, we fêted a friend with a picnic lunch on the beach. Some third years were visiting for a couple of weeks (at Sciences Po, all of the students spend their third year abroad, usually in the Middle East or somewhere else in Europe, and some come back occasionally to visit), and we started talking about the things they miss, and the things I know I'll miss, about studying in Menton. I don't write this to be pre-emptively nostalgic, but rather to share some of the unique parts of this experience:

- Everyone is like a family. As an exchange student here for just a semester, I experience this to a lesser extent, but, given how nice it's been, even for me, I can imagine how tightly bonded the students become who are together, in mostly the same classes, for two years. You see your friends basically every day! Kind of like high school, I suppose.

- The town, based on my impression, is like a university campus. There are some parts of the town, and specific buildings even, where many students have apartments, making it feel like student residences are scattered throughout. I said it in the last post, but again, rare is the occasion when I walk more than ten minutes to get somewhere.

- Everyone's home is an extension of yours - at least, that's what one of my friends said today. And it really is kind of true. Because of how relatively close together everyone lives, it's easy to pop over for quick hellos or to borrow something, and you're not worried about staying late, because a five-minute walk home at the end isn't all that daunting, compared to the typical 30-45 minute trek (at least) with multiple transit transfers in Montréal.

- I love the conversations. To have the chance to study with students coming from everywhere from Brazil to Palestine to Morocco to Germany to Lithuania to Lebanon is an amazing experience. McGill is very international as well, yes, but Sciences Po Menton is so... densely international. At McGill, you can have your various small groups of friends, and a few of them may be from outside Canada or the US, but it's much more unlikely that everyone in a group of five will represent a different home-country, whereas here, that would be the norm. On top of this, being Middle Eastern studies/Poli Sci/International Relations/whatever the heck the label is, students, they're all generally well-versed (at least compared to me and most people I know back home) in Middle Eastern history and politics, plus, everyone is learning Arabic! It makes for a fascinating confluence of backgrounds and thus world-views, and I'm really going to miss this. I like being one of the more ignorant ones in a conversation about politics, because you learn so much more that way, and I definitely get to experience a lot of that here ;)

- I'm made inordinately happy by how many languages everyone speaks, and uses in regular conversation. It's not perceived as weird or pretentious or "trying too hard" to throw random French/Arabic/Italian/German/Spanish/etc. words into conversation, because chances are, some of the people you're speaking with have one, or more, of these as their native language. So, just for the record, if any of you back home are reading this, you're probably going to be referred to lovingly as habibi or habibti, because, at this point, I can't not :D

- The atmosphere is, generally, more relaxed. I know I'm biased, being an exchange student, but even though the "regular" students do have a crazy full course-load, the library still closes at 8pm every night, is also closed on weekends (which I actually won't miss), and it seems that a lot of people aren't overly hung up on a paper being turned in a day or two late. ... Rethinking this, I probably am not fully representing regular students' sentiments on this front... But, when you wake up to this:

And this is your view from the library/where one of your sailing/kayaking courses (which you can apparently get credit for if you're an actual Sciences Po student!) ...

And this is what a study session can often look like...

Then yes, I do stand by my statement that, on the whole, things are more relaxed.

So voilà, there are a few little pieces of what makes being here special! I'm leaving the people out of it for now, because that'll get me too worked up for the time being.

Weird, and ever so slightly disconcerting.

That's the only way I can think to describe it. That feeling I got after the empty library had filled up and we'd all been there for eight hours or so, the sense that something about this all was so odd:
the brilliant young people sitting and sitting and sitting for hours on end, maybe eating, maybe studying instead, just poring over books. No social interactions, except for the guilty pleasure visit to Facebook. Cramming their heads... Us cramming our heads, actually, with knowledge until we'd lost all sense of excitement at the intake of new information.
What was the point? Does this even help? Well, um, yes. Yes I suppose it does. Good marks and all that. But it was just so strange to see rows upon rows of students filling themselves up with book-knowledge - it was as if they were all lined up just so, positioned so the feeder tubes could pour in information, and they all hoped it would stay in there long enough to allow them to succeed in life, even if they forgot everything right after the exam.
I know this all sounds normal - this is university Christina. That's what we do with ourselves.

Yes yes, okay. I'll do it too.

It's just that, at the end of the day, I get the sense that a little bit of the interestingness and will to do something with myself has been sucked out of me. But that's okay right? Exams will be over soon.

All I can say is that I hope there's a very good motivation behind all of this.... A very good point to it indeed.

It was empty at the start. Kind of pretty and hopeful actually!

Knowledge regurgitation FTW.

The Good

Time for a list of positivity:

• The leaves here are turning very beautiful colours.

• I realized Korean food can be verrry tasty. Thank you Sunny and Sivakami :)

• Friends friends friends friends... they are what make everything bearable. I love you all so very much. As A1 has said, Dsquared is the best medicine! Little does she know that she is pretty darn good medicine herself. ... Actually, I think she does know. I told her.

• Speaking of friends, a couple of mine discovered a most excellent study nook, which I now like to frequent. Here's a photo of the space in the library bookshelves, and a view from the window beside it:

• Physics - discussing black holes. And anti-matter. YES. I also am thoroughly enjoying the playing out of Big Bang Theory-esque physics nerd stereotypes... My TAs for the course are the bomb, as some might say... So incredibly adorable! The theoretical physics department is seriously awesome. Here's a picture of Erwin Schrödinger that hangs just outside the washroom:

• One good mark. Yay for logic. But that was before I took eight hours to complete a 1-2 hour take-home midterm... Oh right! Back to positivity. Looks fun, n'est-ce pas?

• Fantaisiste - it's a good word! Ça veut dire: odd. eccentric. far-fetched.

• MUSIC. J'adore Félix Leclerc. Il me fait sourire peu importe ce qui s'est passé pendant la journée ! - Voici "Moi, mes souliers":

Now tell me that didn't at least make you smile.

• Church. I feel so blessed to have found RBC. I don't think I've ever liked church this much. Which is probably because it becomes something a lot more meaningful when you're not in a Christian school with only Christian friends and chapel and youth every week. Plus there are so many amazing people there - truly welcoming.

• Maman et Papan m'ont visitée !

• Speaking French and noticing serious improvement - it really boosts my confidence whenever my Francophone friends tell me I'm actually pretty good... Just saying ;)

• Piano... I get to teach piano to the most adorable two younger girls. In French. Does it get much better?