Garlic: How much is too much?

Ok, here it is. A post about school.

Classes started on Feb 14^th, and what better way to celebrate the silliest holiday of the year?  Bring on the misery!  Kidding…sort of. Despite taking 19 credits, I think I’ll actually enjoy the semester. Classes here are completely different than they are back home. Most of them only meet once a week, so even though 3 straight hours of French literature would make any normal person want to poke their eyeballs out with a pencil, I’m confident that my trusty new friend (the hot beverage vending machine) will carry me through. 

The professors here are characters, too. A couple of them seem absolutely insane, but at least they’re keeping it interesting!

For the first fifteen minutes of my phonology class today I was cracking up because I thought my professor was wearing a cape. I was convinced that she was a vampire. A cape and short silver hair slicked down? What else was I supposed to think? Fortunately since I consume massive amounts of garlic and, according to my grandmother, it is “seeping out of my pores” I felt safe in her presence. (PLEASE tell me if garlic actually is seeping out of my pores. I really will cut back!) Turns out the professor was really wearing a button up shirt with a popped collar and a sweater draped over her shoulders. The whole ensemble was black and I was in the back of the classroom…or maybe I should be wearing my glasses. Either way, imagining her wearing a cape made the lesson far more interesting. 

My French lit professor is this crazy old woman who is about 5 feet tall and 95lbs. She wears really big black plastic rimmed glasses that magnify her eyeballs and her dark brown hair flies all over the place when she moves. One of her favorite things to do in class is to pace around while lecturing in a booming raspy voice, then suddenly stop, smack her hands down on your desk and lean down so her face is about 6 inches away from yours. Then she smiles, cocks her head to the side, blinks her magnified owl-eyes a few times, and asks *in French* “Do you understand?”

The professor for my oral expression class is also pretty interesting. She showed up Wednesday morning ten minutes late and looking awfully frazzled. Apparently she went to the wrong classroom first. None of these people are like any professors I’ve ever had. She was wearing a beige sweat suit with boots and a purple shawl. She had a short gray hair ponytail directly on top of her head, and the sides of her head were shaved. Everytime she talked or moved the ponytail bounced around and made me think of Pebbles on The Flintstones. She wore a giant hoop earring in one ear and a tiny stud in the other. Despite her odd appearance, she seems to know what she’s doing. The class is going to be divided into two parts. Since it’s 3 hours long, the first hour and a half is like a debate class. We talk about current events, issues, etc. The second half is listening comprehension. She plays a recording for us and we analyze it, answer questions, discuss the challenging aspects. She seems really approachable. I have a feeling that may end up being my favorite class, ponytail and all.