An American in Provence

Being locked (figuratively) in my apartment for a week, studying for my Oral Exams is doing odd things to my brain.

On Tuesday, I took a break from studying and went up to Grenoble for my work. Met some brand new patent engineers, one of whom will be going to the school in Strasbourg in September.
Everyone asked how it was going, and when they heard I would get the results of the written exams that day, they all asked how I could stand not checking my email/voice mail every hour (email if you are accepted, phone call if not). Um, I don't want to break down crying in front of y'all if I don't get accepted?
Figured the results would be the same whether I found them out at noon, 4 pm, or 10 pm safe in the privacy of my own home.
On the way back, I finally broke down and called Alain- no messages on the machine. Checked email and there it was- a mass email sent to almost everyone in my class (the accelerated course) telling us that we were accepted. About 90% of the accelerated class was admitted, and about 75% of the regular class. I am not sure if that bodes well or not well. Alain said "It will all come down to the oral exams then" which is NOT what I wanted to hear.

Still don't know what I got on my written exams, so I don't know how much leeway I have.
Got the schedule yesterday, and I am scheduled for both exams on Thursday the 24th, Droit Français at 11 am and then Droit Européen at 4 pm. Then done!!!!

The results will be announced, in a typically brutal French fashion, in front of everyone in the auditorium on Friday afternoon. As in:
Albert, Non.
Basque, Oui.
Camembert Oui.

Sigh. This too shall pass.
The patent dreams have started again.

It's like my brain is one big ball of yarn, and I just keep plucking strings, unraveling one at a time, trying to straighten each one out, seeing where it leads me, getting tangled up and starting over...

Contrefaçon...
Saisie en douane...
Action en revendication...
Procédure de limitation ou de revocation...
Inventions de salariés...
Droit de priorité...
Convention de Paris...

Heading back up to Strasbourg on Sunday, even though my exams aren't until Thursday. It helps to cut myself off from other distractions. When I am here I tend to think "Oh, I should do the laundry, and the floor hasn't been cleaned in a month (yes, a month), and oh muffins would be nice right now, wouldn't they? Oh drat, it's father-in-law's birthday and I haven't bought him anything, I wish my neighbor would stop screaming at her children, oh yeah, back to infringement, um, Why do they keep ringing my doorbell!? dang it my elderly neighbor's TV is really loud, okay, back to, where was I?"