Sleep? What sleep?

It is an unfortunate fact of my life that occasionally, the night before some important event ("important" here being defined relatively loosely), I get a horrible night of sleep. This happens whether or not I consciously feel nervous about it. So the night before a new job, a new project, a big interview, etc., I generally don't sleep well.

This unfortunately happened last night. To be clear: I'm not consciously nervous about this French class. In fact, I'm excited. It's a non-credit class that I'm taking for no other reason than personal development, and that I have every reason to think I'll enjoy very much. Why, oh why, was I up at least once an hour last night? I'll never know. Hell, I was spending more time obsessing over the karate class. By rights, it shouldn't have been last night that I couldn't sleep, but the night before. But, no, my body is its own creature, no matter what I think.

This means that I was exceptionally tired when I woke up at 6:40, before sunrise. Technically, it's still before sunrise. The sun will rise as I'm walking to class.

It's an inauspicious start. Here's hoping that I'll actually manage to fall asleep tonight.

Changing schools

The French class this morning was... overcrowded, in a word. There are 33 students registered in the class, a combined advanced (level 6) and written (level 7) group. Even with a few absences, we were still scrambling for chairs. Beyond that, I really did feel more advanced than most of the students, at least in terms of spoken French. (We didn't do any writing today.) A couple of the others students noted it, and even the teacher pointed it out when I was doing a little presentation.

The director of the school, who also owns two other schools near Place St. Henri metro, made the following offer: at one of his other schools, there's a pure written (level 7) group that's only got 14 students at the moment. Anyone in level 7 who wants to switch is welcome to do so.

Initially, I hesitated, even though I'm in level 7 and even though it would probably be the better class for me. This is mostly because the school I'm at now is about a 25-minute walk from my apartment, while the other one would require taking the bus and/or metro. On the other hand, as I have now seen the bus route I'd need to take, it's only about 25 minutes door-to-door in any case. (Assuming I catch my bus.)

So I called the secretary and switched schools. Starting tomorrow, I'll take the bus over to Centre St. Paul and we'll see how that goes. More news as it develops.