School Daze: Wednesday Morning Musings

I'm sitting in the university computer lab, trying to edit a French presentation outline I've been working on for a few days now. One thing that strikes me is how Senegal has rendered me "weak sauce" in terms of sleep habits: back home, I could easily go from 8:00 am to 1:30 am with a quick half-hour nap squeezed in between classes, meals, working out, etc. But here, I go to sleep at 11:00 pm and wake up sleep-deprived at 7:00 am. But it has gotten better, considering that I couldn't make it through a day without reposing for at least an hour. Perhaps the weather change has something to do with it? The temperatures have been falling pretty drastically since we returned from rural visits - my Wolof professor had to cancel class on Monday since as he couldn't stop shivering! In any case, I've been experiencing the joys of the French school system, wherein one submits the majority of one's graded work during the last few weeks of class. My French professor bumped up our final exams by a week and changed our oral presentations from "evaluation" to "final" grades, adding just a bit more stress. Yesterday, my history prof announced that our final paper would not be due on December 11, but on November 30. Here's the ridiculous thing: these assignments AREN'T that hard. Yes, I had to read the novel and prepare a 15-minute presentation in my non-native language, but I've had to do harder assignments in the States. My history paper will be 10 pages in English and I've already done the majority of my research and have a strong thesis. But after coasting for so many weeks, my work ethic is being a bit sluggish. At least I can give the presentation today and get a wonderful night's sleep before diving into my next project: reading a collection of critical essays about African-American literature. But that one's just for fun...
PS My host family and I are still getting along quite well - they bought me bon-bons on Monday while I was finishing my society and culture paper!