I took the GRE this morning, but it almost didn't happen.
My test was scheduled for 9:30 am this morning. They ask you to arrive half an hour early so I wanted to be there a little before 9:00 am. I got up at 7:45, ate breakfast, and left around 8:25. I had looked up the location of the testing center on google maps the night before, and it looked like it was right around the corner from the Louvre. Between my dorm and the Louvre there aren't any direct metro routes and it's only a half hour walk from my dorm, so I walked. At 5 minutes to 9:00 I turned the corner and found the address I was looking for. What I found there was a door- locked with a chain around the handles- and a sign that said "149 Rue St. Honoré." Below the sign was an arrow pointing to the right. The only thing on the right was a keypad for typing in a code. The correct code definitely wouldn't have unlocked the padlocked door, and there was no doorbell. I looked to the building on the right, and it was a fitness center. Then I thought, "uhm..maybe I'm at the wrong entrance..?" So I walked a bit farther on my left. The only thing in that direction was a big old church-like building. "Wait a minute!" There was a door in between these two buildings! This door was wide open... and it was full of dumpsters. I thought.."maybe I can sneak inside through this back entrance?" I peeked my head inside the garbage room but there weren't any doors. I pulled out my notebook and confirmed that I was at the right address. In my notebook I'd also written down the number of the test center, so I tried calling. I tried with a country code, I tried without a country code, I tried it with the area code, and I tried omitting one of the numbers in case I'd transcribed the number wrong, nothing worked.
I was starting to panic. I walked into the fitness center and, after asking the man there if he spoke english, asked if he knew of a testing center nearby. "Uh...Oh yes! Around the corner!" I walked around the corner (the way I'd come) and found two very big doors that led to a very fancy foyer. I found the right floor and was lead to the testing area. There was an office with lockers for bags and a computer screen with 12 videos monitoring each person at their computer. On the other side of the wall was a room full of computers. The GRE is a computerized test. There were already people in the room who were already taking various other tests (and maybe the GRE too). I sat down in front of the computer assigned to me completely ready to take the GRE. A screen popped up explaining that the GRE was a computerized test (just in case I hadn't figured that out already). First, it said, it would take me through a tutorial on how to use a mouse.
After explaining what a mouse was and where to find it on my desk, it taught me how to click. After clicking practice, I learned how to point and move my cursor. After that, it taught me how to scroll up and down. I also learned how to cut and paste, and how to type in a box. I learned how to delete, and how to highlight a row of text.
After the test I walked back to my dorm and stopped at Gap to buy a t-shirt. I also tried really hard to find a cute, loose, short dress to wear over tights. I stopped in 4 or 5 stores, but the only thing under 100 Euro was from Guess and A) I feel weird buying clothes over here from American companies (unless its a tee from Gap), and B) it didn't fit right. On my walk back I eyed an older couple who I pinned right away as being British. And by golly, they were! It was the blue blazer with the gold buttons on this older gentlemen that gave it away. If one is bored on the streets of a foreign country, I find it amusing to try to spot the Americans (or the Brits) and then walk near them to see if they're speaking english. The tricky part is spotting them from afar, because once you are anywhere close to them the combination of english being your first language, and the fact that Brits and especially Americans tend to be louder, means your ear will hear english from a mile away. Later I was wrong about an American girl who I thought was French, so I guess my score for today is back to zero.
Anyway that's been my day so far!
Catcha on the flip side! Love,
Hillary
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