De-lurking to ask, for registration ends in a month: my university suggests scholarships for semester 2 of 2011 in Europe (late January or early February to late June). One of the universities which seems like A Really Tempting Idea is Sciences Po in Paris.

Anyone heard/knows something about it, or ever better, been there? Should I really go for it, considering I only have 4 classes to take next year to finish my degree?

I mean, they're French and all.

Shir, I know nothing about it, but I would say if you can afford it, and know decent French, go for it. Study abroad is worth a little extra time, IMHO.

However, I don't know what kind of program it is, but I have heard that French academic programs are pretty much sink-or-swim for non-native speakers; the rigor is high, and the coddling is very low to non-existent. I would definitely want to have a good grasp of French to study in France.

They say that you have to know English or French for it - I'm not counting on my French to be improved enough by then. Also, it's a scholarship - so I don't have to pay a single shekel.

It's part of the Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Window: [link]

Shir, I have not been to Sciences Po, but I did study abroad in Montpellier, France. Make sure you understand how the grading will be done - we took classes right along with the French students and were graded by the French teachers but our American program director took that grade, our written eval of the teacher, the teacher's eval of us, and the average grades of native speakers, and "translated" it into an American grade. French grading is designed to weed out weak students - 12/20 passing, 16/20 is pretty damn good, and God wouldn't get full marks. I don't know how grading works in Israel, but it's just something to make sure you understand.

All that said, HELL YES GO STUDY IN PARIS.

I really want to, I'm just not sure if that will be possible. It kindda sounds too good to be true. I need my braces to end till then and hey, to get fucking accepted and chosen in the first place.

12/20 passing

I don't mind getting 12-14 the whole term if I'll get to study there (the grading here is a lot more generous).

HELL YES GO STUDY IN PARIS

SO MUCH SHOPPING TO DO!

To me, humidity is like a slap in the face that's trying to drive me to the ground. But I have been in the desert for 25 years.

Yeah, when I lived in New England, these many...weeks ago, the humidity would drive me insane. But it's ALL THE TIME here so I have decided to embrace it otherwise I would be miserable all the time. Also, A/C is everywhere, wheras NSM up north.

And I found that once I accepted it and relaxed into it, it became somewhat of a joyful thing.

As Daisy's cousin is so fond of saying, people will spend lots of money to sit in a steam room, but not so much to sit in a freezing cold room.

smonster: BACCHANAL!!! Love.

There has been much work and discussion about the wide variations in west indies/carib accents, and making sure we get the Trinidad accents right.

You should send the whole cast and crew to visit me for a week - about half my neighborhood is Trinidadian, including the women who runs Dylan's daycare.

She then proceeded to say that only weak foreigners who couldn't get used to Chinese food "resorted" to eating McDonalds.

When my sister was living in Macau, she would eat McD's about once a week because, frankly, Macau is a tourist trap with shitty local food unless you can afford to eat at a 5-star hotel. (She lived mostly on Thai food and home cooking, but on days when she didn't have time to go back to her apartment for lunch, McD's was the least objectionable thing served in the staff cafeteria.)

I went to a McDonalds in Paris because it was the only place open where you could get coffee on a Sunday morning. (And the coffee was ridic good.) We also went into one in Versailles because it was the only place we could find where we could use the bathroom.

Third graders in Brooklyn make a documentary about gender stereotypes

AWESOMECAKES. Go Brooklyn kids!

I am onboard the Epic. It still has that New Ship Smell. I scored a balcony room which is great. I'm probably the first guest to ever stay in this stateroom. Weird.