FINALS

Finals. One thing is for sure, no matter what part of the world you are in, Finals are never fun and always dreaded.

But with such different university systems, finals here are definitely a bit different than finals back home.

Differences:

1. No Club Hagz. Literally, my school in France does not have a library. Instead, it has "media centers" which are just rooms with tables and not enough practical chairs. Just lounging chairs.

Are there even finals? 

Also, no one comes to the media center except study abroad students (only place we can get wifi) and French students maximum an hour before the exam. Club Hagz (the Drexel library's nickname) is ALWAYS crowded during finals week. If you can get a chair next to an outlet, you are golden. 

2. Exam Proctors: Usually, at Drexel, an exam is proctored by the professor, sometimes with a few TA's. Here, the exams are proctored by old French women who speak no English. So, even if the entire class is a study abroad class, there is a lot of "I think thats what she said" going on. 

3. Grades: Forget about A B C, finals here are out of 20 POINTS. 20. Every single grade here is given out of 20, or if they aren't, if you add a few grades together they end up being out of 20. Nevertheless, the teachers do some math, and the finals still are worth about 60% of your course grade. Also, no grades are given until ONE MONTH after exams. And we think one week is bad at Drexel.

4. Finals here are about two and a half weeks long. None of the Drexel cram into one week business. I had three this week, including Saturday, and one next week. 

5. They give you graph paper for finals.  No lined paper. Therefore, my handwriting looks something like hieroglyphics.

Similarities

1. Studying still sucks, and most of our days and nights are still spent studying, with the usual Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Buzzfeed, distractions. There are often "I should have paid attention in class" moments. 

2. Finals are about the same level of difficulty, with some finals being easier as others, which is the same back home. 

That is about it for similarities. 

Et maintenant, j’écris dans français un peu. Je n’utilise pas  « Google Translate ». Donc, j’ai mes examens dans cette semaine, mais je suis très heureux être dans Paris. Demain, j’ai mon examen de mon cours de français. Maintenant, il pleut beaucoup, mais il ne fait pas froid, il est onze degrés Celsius. Je n’ai pas vu le neige dans Paris, seul beaucoup du pleut. Lundi, mes examens sont arrêtent et j’ai une semaine liberté ! Lundi prochain, je retourne aux Etats-Unis. 

Bonne journée, 

Feldy