Update: Studying in Québec

Bonjour mes amis!

I've already made it quite known on my blog that I really want to go to Québec for college (here was me excitedly talking about it if you missed that post) so this is sort of a little update as to how things are going.

The more and more I think about it, the more and more I find myself wondering: If I want to study music so badly, why did I completely drop it this summer like every other academic activity I dislike, yet continue brushing up on my French? I'm still not 100% positive where I want to go with that, but I'm really leaning more towards French. Even though I've been ridiculously lazy with incorporating French into my posts this past month (and a half..) or so, I have been doing other things related. I love French music! And I've been chatting online with people in French, and I've even taught my parents quite a bit of French. We'll see where things go, I have plenty of time yet.

However, I'm not quite so open with my family about how excited I am to go to Québec because I got a pretty negative response from my mother when I brought it up one evening. She's kept it in mind though, and I think the longer she dwells on the matter, the more she's starting to come around. When my aunt was over, she mentioned right away that I was thinking about Canada. She also must have brought it up at work, because today she said one of her co-workers recommended looking into a Canadian college (in Ontario, but the thought was still appreciated!) and instead of just ignoring it, she passed the message along. And then we were talking about the ACT versus the SAT (as most students here just take the ACT, but she wanted me to take both) when she asked me to see about the colleges I had been looking at. Which she of course knows, are in Québec. Mind you, I haven't brought this up to my father yet. I'm nervous about that because it will either be really easy and he'll be great, or he'll be very upset and will disapprove.

As for actual colleges go, my first choice all around is McGill University in Montreal. It's world renowned for being a great international school and it's made it into the world's top 25 university lists multiple times (the only Canadian school to do so!) among Harvard and Yale. It also offers courses that are in French but designed for students who've only learned it as a second language, along with English courses and whatnot. Very versatile. My other two universities I've looked at would only be if I indeed decide to pursue French as my major, which are UQAM (Université du Québec à Montréal) and the University of Montréal. My concern with these two is that while they are excellent schools, the classes are only taught in French, with little no help for English speakers. You also have to pass a test to prove that you are proficient enough in French to go to these schools at all. It's a little daunting, but either way I'll probably try. After all, my French comprehension is very high- it's just lacking more when it comes to writing and especially speaking. But I could stumble through a conversation. Let us hope I get to take French at the local University next year, or I'll never make it.

À demain,

Mlle Delphine

Painting My Face

Bonjour mes amis!

Non, before you flip, I'm not literally painting my face. Or caking on makeup.

The first part of my day consisted of anxiously awaiting my friend's phone call to say he got the gift. I was so nervous that, no joke, my palms were sweating. I mean, what if the painting wasn't as good as I thought it was? Or it was damaged during shipping? Or it gets there whole and he just plain and simple doesn't like it?

Boy was I wrong. He LOVES it!! I was SO relieved. He was talking about how it's the "nicest gift anyone's ever given me" and how it'll be the only thing he has hanging on his walls and how talented I am. But I think the best thing he said, was later when I told him I had just one more question that was important.

"Did it make you smile?"

"More than smile, it's nearly brought a tear to my eye. You made my birthday."

I think I did good. :) And as promised, here's the painting from a low-quality phone camera:

As for the second part of my day, my aunt came over to give us some free samples of Mary Kay products and talk about them, etc. It was actually really fun! The lip .. gloss, I guess? It's not super shiny though, that she had me try on looked really nice, and it's still on two hours later after I've drank and eaten a little bit. Same with the hand moisturizer stuff, and she said it also works wonders on feet. I really liked the foundation, but wish she had cover-up/concealer to try since mine doesn't work as well as I'd like. She had a lot more stuff she left at home, so my mother and I will have to visit her to try eye shadow colors and the like.

I don't know, typing about it here it seems silly, but this stuff just makes you feel good! And that's what make up is for, right? I'm crossing my fingers we can order the lip gloss, once we try one of the cover-ups, concealer, and moisturizer for my face. I have just normal Neutrogena cleanser that works really well but I can tell it dries out my skin. I know we probably won't, but maybe at least the lip gloss. Realistically you could probably get a cheap moisturizer at a department store, and my mother doesn't understand the importance of cover-up and foundation.

Oh, as a side note, I've noticed she's not only bad with technology, she's not the best with reading things in general. A few days ago on Facebook I posted about a few books I wanted to buy from Barnes & Noble and one of them was Princeton's ACT Review (2010 edition) and today she asked me why I'm thinking about applying to schools on the east coast because it's "so far!" Yeah, so far.. *cough* .. and then my mother told her I was thinking Québec. That was fun.

All in all, I've discovered that despite her bluntness, I really do like my aunt. What I don't like is my aunt and mother together. My mom gets much more, how do you say, aggressive? Attacking me for not doing chores well enough, making fun of the hair on my arm, saying I only want to go to Canada because it's cheaper, so on and so forth. Sigh.

Still, the reaction from my friend about the painting totally made my day. Maybe my week!

À demain,

Mlle Delphine