Earthly Delights

When I was doing my undergrad study abroad program in France, we were encouraged to take classes within the Parisian university system. This was at first thrilling (real classes! with real French people!), then terrifying (I once snapped out of a daydream when I heard the professor say, "Well, let's ask the American. Are they?" I said, "Excuse me?" He elaborated, "Are executions public in the United States?"), then, oddly, a sign of just how much we were being coddled (our French grades were translated, and by that I mean inflated, into their American equivalents).

Funny how the same facial expression can convey excitement, horrified amusement and disbelief at how determined private colleges are to give everyone A's.