One should never forget about “study” part of the study abroad experience, well, I must say that when you are studying abroad at such prestigious school like Sciences Po, you certainly will have to remember to study. Most of my classes don’t have a continuous assessment system, not even a weekly essay or twice a semester essay. Most of the grades comprised of an oral presentation or two and a paper or an exam. It might not seem like a heavy workload but taking into account that Sciences Po semester amounts to 12 weeks total it hits you suddenly…and hard.
I certainly got very lucky with my bright and cozy Parisian apartment which I also share with you best friend, therefore, I do most of my work at home. When I have long breaks between classes I usually get some work done at Sciences Po library, but it is rather challenging to find a free spot there and it is usually quite hot inside the old building. As I said in one of my previous posts, working in cafes is not a trend in Paris, that is why your best bet usually is a public library. My personal favorite one is located in Centre Pampidou, it is, however, also a very very popular Parisian study spot so the best times to work there are mornings and early afternoons during the weekdays. Because most of my classes have a lot of reading assignments I am usually able to enjoy a wonderful weather at the Luxembourg garden while getting schoolwork done.
I must say that there is one class for which I absolutely enjoy studying, the title of the course is Legal Analysis Applied to International Affairs and it is taught by a practicing lawyer Paul von Mühlendahl…Who also wrote tons of articles in the area of public international law and speaks something around 8 languages, but this is just for your information. This class has taught me how to distinguish political from legal, prior to taking it I have never even thought of looking at developments in the world through such lens. This class once again sparked my interest in the area of international law and made me ask myself why I never considered pursuing a law degree after graduating from Northeastern. Another reason to love this class is the student body. People from the Americas, Europe and Asia all engaging in heated debates about world politics and international law starting at 7 pm on a Thursday night. Yes. It is correct. From 7 to 9 pm on Thursdays and I still love that class!
