the all-encompassing pencil case

i keep meaning to write up all these things about uni, but then i never get around to it. (mostly because i'm a slacker, but that is neither here nor there)

so today i'm posting about the pencil case, or in the french la trousse

ah, the ubiquitous pencil case. the constant companion of french students everywhere.

this is what is currently in mine:

school agenda
post-its
whiteout
paperclips
cough drops
2 red magical pens
1 black magical pen
series of little scented colored pens
chapstick
mini stapler
metal ruler
4 highlighters
scissors
paperclips
glue stick
2 pencils
pencil sharpener
mini moleskin
eraser/rubber

(i had a mini "scotch" (they don't call it scotch tape) but it's walked off somewhere.)

at first i thought things like say, the glue stick, seemed a bit weird to carry around in a pencil case after one was, say, out of elementary/primary school, but i must confess that i've used it, or shared it with others at school, no less than 5 times in the last 2 weeks. and the scissors too.

the scissors and glue lesson i learned the first week of registering for classes. you are supposed to have with you two photographs of yourself to attach to your "fiches", and woe be to you if you haven't already cut them out to the prescribed size.

(in fact, for ALL the classes, the teachers have a "fiche" on each student, with their name, address, studies, work conflicts, phone number, email, etc, etc., and photo. which i thought odd at first, i mean it makes sense, but i've just never had a professor ask for my photo before, so i wasn't prepared for it. i'm not saying it's WEIRD, i'm just saying it's DIFFERENT.)