Lists!

I have managed to come down with a cold--argh!--and thus today's entry will be in list form. Let's begin!

Interesting things I've learned about differing school systems internationally:
-The Chinese students are all starting their master's degrees at around 23 years old, but I'm not sure how that works since, according to Summer, they start school at about the same time and each level of education I asked about seemed roughly the same amount of years as the American system. Incidentally, they all look younger than me as well, which is a bit confusing. I'm still the youngin in my flat, apparently. The Nigerian system may be similar, as Yetande, my Nigerian flatmate, is also 23.
-I am, however, the correct age in comparison to the Brits, since their undergrad program is 3 years.
-The Italians don't believe in seminars, and so the two Italian girls I've befriended are freaking out about actually having to do work the whole year round, rather than just studying madly for exams and then being done.
-The Germans strongly believe in presentations, so they're all relaxed about leading discussions, while I am mildly concerned about having to do that for my Bronte seminar.

Speaking of my Bronte seminar:
-Another really good group of people! We had a good discussion about The Professor, a novel in which not a lot happens, but the characters are nonetheless extremely complex, and the issues at hand are gone into in real depth. It's not exactly a book that's easy to enjoy, even though it's got a lot to offer; the narrator is quite unlikeable, his adventures in Belgium aren't particularly engaging, but somehow he manages to marry an extremely capable and independent woman. Still, it's clear how this, Charlotte's earliest work, was a fantastic warm-up to her later novels.
-We're reading a novel a week, except at the end when we read poetry and then Elizabeth Gaskell's biography of Charlotte Bronte. I'm doing a presentation on poetry. At least I'm prepared for it after a summer of poetry analysis!

Other things:
-I'm reading Disraeli's Sybil for Tuesday, which will be entirely new and different, as I'm fairly sure I've only read his essays, and none of his creative work.
-Jane Eyre is up next week for The Brontes, which will be great Gothic fun.
-It is really bizarre to have a fairly intimate knowledge of NYC while abroad. I've forgotten, in my various trips to visit family and friends, just how iconic a city the place is. Every time I mention that I'm American, I get questions about New York, and am surprised by just how much draw the place has. It makes me feel bizarrely worldly, despite it being merely happenstance that I have knowledge of the city at all.
-It is very annoying to not be able to pick up Tylenol or some other equivalent drug from the local convenience store. Oh, over-medicated America, I miss your willingness to ply me with NyQuil when my head is congested.

And on that note, I'm off to bed.