Fac: a month after
It has been a month since I entered the Catholic University. It's a surprise how I've managed to go through that period and yet still keeping my sanity (well, at least I think I am).
They say à la fac (short for faculté, might sound offensive to English-speakers) I would only have at most 30 hours of classes per week, but now I'm currently at 45 (Saturdays included). They say lectures are given to an audience of 300 students at a time, but mine is only 38. They say lecturers wouldn't even bother to make sure if you're absent, but I have to sign my attendance for every class. And they say that à la fac you work on your own, but I'm facing tonnes and tonnes of homework and assignments.
Usually, I see myself as an above average student if not average, but certainly not an excellent one. The fact that I've been in the IUT for two years, surrounded by average and below average students (and some excellent ones of course), somewhat made me forget that. Now that I'm in la Catho it really hurts to actually accept the reality that there are a lot of excellent students out there. In a nutshell, I've realised now that not all French are stupid.
The first two weeks was for revision. I was scandalised (yes, to that extent) to see that everyone recalled everything from the previous two years. Heck, I couldn't even remember what are the account numbers for VAT. I was equally shocked to see the amount of concentration given during a class. In IUT we hid (apart from me of course, we means the students generally speaking) other students bags and pencil cases, or poked someone just to annoy him or her, or did crossword puzzles while the lecturers talked.
Although I see most of them as spoilt brats, I do admire some of them. There's a girl who works very hard, is excellent in most subjects, and actually managed to complete the crossword puzzles in 20 minutes (a free daily newspaper) almost everyday. There's a guy whom I know would make a great Expert-Comptable (chartered accountant), but he annoys the lecturers a lot since he likes to talk in class. Another guy is so knowledgeable in anything that has to do with finance and law, and he likes to ask brilliant questions. These are the people who made me realise that I should be learning not for the sake of passing the exams, but for the fact that I want to be an accountant, a chartered one for that matter.
Of course there are a few jerks in my class as well. There's Mr I-have-an-opinion-for-everything who also happens to be Mr I-ask-questions-just-to-show-how-much-I-know. Of course theres the Interrupter* who also happens to be Mr Buttsucker. And finally there's Mr I-always-have-funny-comments-to-say-under-my-breath-about-everything who may not be a jerk, but could be a pain in the ass sometimes, and somehow I always end up sitting a row in front of him so I could actually hear what he says.
And I'm - the weird-looking-quiet-Asian guy.
If previously I can't wait for 30/6/2008, now I'm dying to get to that date.
*For those who do not know who the Interrupter is
They say à la fac (short for faculté, might sound offensive to English-speakers) I would only have at most 30 hours of classes per week, but now I'm currently at 45 (Saturdays included). They say lectures are given to an audience of 300 students at a time, but mine is only 38. They say lecturers wouldn't even bother to make sure if you're absent, but I have to sign my attendance for every class. And they say that à la fac you work on your own, but I'm facing tonnes and tonnes of homework and assignments.
Usually, I see myself as an above average student if not average, but certainly not an excellent one. The fact that I've been in the IUT for two years, surrounded by average and below average students (and some excellent ones of course), somewhat made me forget that. Now that I'm in la Catho it really hurts to actually accept the reality that there are a lot of excellent students out there. In a nutshell, I've realised now that not all French are stupid.
The first two weeks was for revision. I was scandalised (yes, to that extent) to see that everyone recalled everything from the previous two years. Heck, I couldn't even remember what are the account numbers for VAT. I was equally shocked to see the amount of concentration given during a class. In IUT we hid (apart from me of course, we means the students generally speaking) other students bags and pencil cases, or poked someone just to annoy him or her, or did crossword puzzles while the lecturers talked.
Although I see most of them as spoilt brats, I do admire some of them. There's a girl who works very hard, is excellent in most subjects, and actually managed to complete the crossword puzzles in 20 minutes (a free daily newspaper) almost everyday. There's a guy whom I know would make a great Expert-Comptable (chartered accountant), but he annoys the lecturers a lot since he likes to talk in class. Another guy is so knowledgeable in anything that has to do with finance and law, and he likes to ask brilliant questions. These are the people who made me realise that I should be learning not for the sake of passing the exams, but for the fact that I want to be an accountant, a chartered one for that matter.
Of course there are a few jerks in my class as well. There's Mr I-have-an-opinion-for-everything who also happens to be Mr I-ask-questions-just-to-show-how-much-I-know. Of course theres the Interrupter* who also happens to be Mr Buttsucker. And finally there's Mr I-always-have-funny-comments-to-say-under-my-breath-about-everything who may not be a jerk, but could be a pain in the ass sometimes, and somehow I always end up sitting a row in front of him so I could actually hear what he says.
And I'm - the weird-looking-quiet-Asian guy.
If previously I can't wait for 30/6/2008, now I'm dying to get to that date.
*For those who do not know who the Interrupter is
2 Comments:
haaa...good2, i miss this blog! hehehe.
you sure do have interesting classmates dont you?
indeed i do.
i miss writing here too
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