Hope you don't get stage fright

Sciences Po lecture hall

At Sciences Po it appears that even though the school year starts late, the curriculum progresses at lightening speed. I’ve just begun my third week of classes but my first major evaluation is taking place tomorrow morning. This evaluation is currently manifesting itself in the form of an oral presentation (or expose as they like to call them). Sciences Po is legendary for their orals that are precisely 10 minutes long. And they do mean 10 minutes exactly. Not 9 minutes and 52 seconds, and certainly not 10 minutes and 2 seconds. 10 minutes PRECISELY. That is exactly the amount of time I have to convince the professor that I am not a complete moron who ought to be selling crepes on the street instead of attending her class. Not wanting Sciences Po to deport me back to Canada sooner then expected, I’ve shocked myself into actually practicing my presentation. I haven’t prepared this thoroughly since my grade 4 speech competition.

ps. It has also not escaped my notice that the time I spent writing this blog post could have been better spent practicing my presentation. If I fail out of Sciences Po I will have only my addiction to blogging to blame. However, I rationalize that my general inability to remain silent will for once actually serve a purpose and procure me a decent mark.

Here's hoping