Thursdays

Today was a good day. Thursdays are generally good in my book, being as they are the day before Friday and , therefore, the day one can usually begin to relax a little (especially where school work is concerned). Thursdays have always been my favorite. This Thursday is no exception. I had what I believe one would call my first academic success today. The last hour of class (a general review of the European Union institutions and decision making processes) was set aside for group discussion of the question: how do we make the European Union more democratic? My group of about 20 people was asked to contemplate the direct election of the European Commission and the Commission president. Then we were told to assign an official rapporteur to present our group's ideas to the entire IRD department of 85 students. Everyone stared at one another in awkward silence for a few moments before, somehow, appointing ME (the only non-European in the group) as the rapporteur. I can't say I was thrilled, but neither was I surprised; because, as in the case of the smoking residence, these things have a tendency of falling onto me. After about thirty minutes of rather heated discussion, we had made zero headway, come to no conclusions, and were out of time. At that point Prof. Lord called the rapporteurs up to the front where we each gave our presentations. I presented first and did rather well (if I do say so myself) earning the comment "fantastic" from Prof. Lord and a sound round of applause from my fellow classmates. It was actually a thrilling experience. I earned the appreciation of my group and some general recognition from the rest of the department. Not a bad thing. Anyway, after weeks of stressing about failing in the classes and being behind everyone else as an American, I left class feeling a little more sure of myself. I then spent my free hour wandering the streets of Bruges, generally content with life and my place in it. That is, until the informational meeting on our required courses brought me back down to earth. But for today, that is neither here nor there.