The past two weeks in Paris have truly been an extension of my winter vacation. I have not had class work or difficult problem sets to do, and for that reason I have been relaxing as much as possible. Every weekend I have made it my mission to visit a castle from this lovely little blog I found http://www.parisendeux.com/
However, this week my classes truly began with a dive into "Initiation à la cryptologie" at L'Ecole Normale Supérieure. I have nothing, but compliments for the professor of the class. I thought it was very well taught, and the material is something that I have always been interested in learning more about. Today I went to two more classes at l'ENS and even though I sat through six straight hours of classes I did not get bored or fall asleep (that might've just been my ridiculous caffeine intake this morning, but who knows).
So, as a note to advanced computer science students planning to study abroad: there is technology in Paris! In fact, the "grands écoles" are incredibly well-recognized in Europe and offer some interesting classes and very amiable students to work with. I couldn't stop smiling today; finally things are starting to look up!
I will also be starting a software engineering project with a group of 9 students at the ENS with Professor Vermorel (blog here: http://vermorel.com/).
Cheers to some interesting projects and knowledge!