Mon premier cours à Sciences Po

My first class at Sciences Po…and I want to die.  I wrote about it a little bit in the last entry, but for those of you who aren’t avid readers of my blog (shame on you!), the class is called “Les grands enjeux scientifiques.”  This translates roughly to “The Problems of Science.”  If you’re wondering what a international studies student like me is doing in a class like this…well, so am I.  I was a bit worried about the subject matter, but figured I could at least handle the level of French required to understand basic concepts.  Boy, was I wrong.  I knew I was in trouble right off the bat when my professor asked within the first five minutes  for the “étudiantes étrangères” (foreign students) to identify themselves by raising their hands.  There were only 4 of us in a lecture hall of about 50 people, and everyone turned to look at us poor suckers.  The professor then proceeded to ask…something?…along the lines of whether or not we were familiar with science and the French vocabulary required to fully grasp lectures and readings about detailed nanotechnologies and biotechnologies.  Big oops.  I know nothing about biotechnology and nanotechnology in English, let alone in French.

Moral of the story: tomorrow I will be going to see Bruno, the director for the “premier cycle,” which is the program I am enrolled in.  I will be asking him whether or not there are ANY English lectures open, and BEG him on hands and knees to let me into one of them, even if it’s about why paint dries at the rate it does.  I feel like I’m letting myself down by dropping my French lecture, but the class gave me heart palpitations already and I don’t even have a homework assignment yet.  Oh well, maybe there are some French electives that are less frightening…I have some research to do ASAP.

Also, I received an e-mail from Myriam, our program coordinator, who informed me of upcoming apartment visits.  Tomorrow, I will be visiting what appears to be a beautiful apartment in the 4th arrondisement on rue de Rivoli, which is the fancy shmancy road that the Louvre is located on.  It’s also pretty close to Notre Dame.  So far, so good…at least it’s in a good area, and there are two bedrooms with hopefully two beds each, which means I can have my own bed!  I’ll let you know how it goes, as I have that at the crack of dawn tomorrow morning (aka 10am).

I have also officially embarked upon my journey to become a Parisian chef!  I donned my beautiful Anthropologie apron (courtesy of Nadia…thanks, darlin’!), got out my chaacken (read: chicken) and veggies, and off I went.  I made a Zucchini and Tomato sauté with Chicken, and it was delicious!  I’m going to include the recipe for all of you who’re budding chefs:

Chicken with Squash and Tomato Sauté

Ingredients:

• 2 t olive oil
• 2 skinless boneless chicken breasts, 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced
• 1 small onion, halved and sliced
• ½ t salt
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• About 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
• ¼ t freshly ground black pepper
• 2 T grated fresh Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 C Ratatouille sauce, or some kind of tomato-based sauce

Instructions: Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add chicken, cook for 2 minutes until it starts to get white.  Add zucchini, onion, and salt; sauté 5 minutes or until crisp tender.  Add garlic, and cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly.  Add tomato, and cook 1 minute or until thoroughly heated, stirring frequently.  Stir in pepper, sprinkle with cheese, and serve immediately.  Serves 2.

It was absolutely delicious, super healthy, and really easy to make!  If you’re cooking for many people, you can thicken this up by cooking up some whole wheat pasta and serving the chicken and veggies on top.  I served it with a white wine; I’m no sommelier, but I think you could go either way…it’s a chicken vs. red sauce battle, I suppose.  Feel free to correct me/give me suggestions if I’m wrong, as I’m ready and willing to learn more about wine!  In fact, one of my goals while I’m over here is to become a wine connoisseur…