The Beginning of the End

My last day of spring break, last day in Belfast, was spent staring at the river, wandering about the city and pretty much just relaxing. My flight was scheduled for six thirty, but delayed two hours so it was almost midnight by the time I got to the airport in Paris, and almost 1am when I got to the Gare de Lyon, where I would have a 6 am train back to Montpellier. What I unfortunately didn't know is that the station closes between 1:30 and 4:30, so I was left sitting on the benches outside, wandering the streets of Paris in the middle of the night, going to the police prefecture to use the toilet... Interesting night.

I got back to Montpellier a few hours before my one Monday class, so I dropped off my bags, changed into some cleaner clothes, and went to class more tired than I could imagine - luckily we were just going over our last test.

This week was finals and classes, from here out all I have left is a lit test and several more German classes. It's nearing the end!

Research

I actually got to campus early for once, so I sat down on the lawn outside my building. All of the sudden a lady comes up to me and asks if I'd like to participate in a research project. Well, I didn't really have anything else to do, so I agreed and went with her. It was some sort of cognittive research, I had to trace a line I couldn't see over and over with the same finger and then draw the line. Pretty easy.
Then I found out my teacher isn't there and I have no German this week. Awesome.

Luttons! Pour nos droits!

After several weeks of classes cancelled due to strike, a few weeks ago students blocked the campus. This basically meant the doors to all of the building except the library, cafeteria, and institute for foreign students were blocked by chairs, tables, and angry students. Every general assembly since then has voted to keep the blockage going. I can't claim to completely understand the situation, but it does seem like they're looking at things a bit out of proportion. However, I'm not French, these reforms aren't affecting my schooling beyond this semester.

This strike has, however, deeply affected my current semester. We haven't had classes except the ones run by our programme, so obviously there's not much to be graded on. To make up for this, they've gone through a couple of steps, first having us write 8-10 page papers for each integrated class we have (I have three) and then making us attend additional lectures arranged for American students so we have "something to do". Uh, what? Most of these have nothing to do with what we're not studying, and honestly the two I've been to so far have not been informative at all - one was basic stuff I learnt in linguistics and another similar to an intro journalism class I took. Neither are related to any classes I have here. And the papers? Well, my literature professor still expects us to do a dissertation, and luckily if I stretch it to eight pages it will count for that one. The fact that we still mostly have our translations class (the professors weren't ever on strike, only missed for the blockage) and that it's nearly impossible to write eight pages about beginning German means that it will be the only one I have to write, which is a relief. Even though I have fewer classes, I still feel overwhelmed with what I have to do. I know travelling so much probably doesn't help, but I made these arrangements before I knew there would be a strike of this magnitude and honestly I thought the classes as they were at the start would be pretty manageable. So I won't change any of my plans, but I just have to be more serious about using my time during the week for studying. I think I can handle it. In any case, we have to turn in the papers before spring break, so it won't be hanging over my head the whole time. Good.

There apparently will be another general strike on Thursday, which for me only means that bus and tram services will be severely disrupted, but seeing as I have a grammar class and the second half of the linguistics lecture to go to, I'm not really bothered. Just hope I don't get caught up in any protesting. As much as I like France, I'm starting to think I'll never really adjust to the French way of life. Oh well, just another experience to add to the backlog that defines this crazy, crazy person I call me.

My Old School

I think I've been here long enough now that I can tell you about the Université Montpellier III Paul Valéry, where I am supposedly studying this semester.

Now, I say "supposedly" for a few reasons. First, two of the five classes I'm taking this semester are through my exchange programme, so the University here has nothing to do with them. Then of the three remaining classes I have, one is designed specifically for foreign students whose native language is English, another is a beginning German class taught by a professor from Germany, and the last one has been cancelled so often due to the professor's illness or one of several strikes that I haven't had it more than I have. Still, now that I'm travelling every weekend I'm on the campus every day that I'm in Montpellier, and I'm starting to get used to the way things work here.

The campus itself isn't that big, although when it's closed and I have to go around it instead of through it to get back to my dorm it seems huge. And whilst the University system here dates back to the early 13th century, the Fac de Lettres that is the Paul Valéry campus was only established in the late 1970s, and that is definitely reflected in the architecture. It also seems as though nothing has been replaced since then... Desks and restrooms are defaced, and there is enough graffiti around that it could be the set of an early nineties sitcom. Then there's always posters and notices pasted over one another on every wall of every building... Most seem to advertise yet another general assembly or occupation of one of the amphitheatres, prefacing more unrest in the system and another strike or protest. It's a good thing that the class I'm missing is only graded on a final test... Otherwise I might feel bad that I'm not getting any work done! I guess this is simply a cultural lesson for me, so even without actual class I get to learn about French politics.

There are a few places to eat on campus, relatively cheap but as long as I live so close I prefer cooking for myself, which is even cheaper. There are lots of vending machines, including the amazing coffee ones that are 1/3 of the price and taste just as good as what you get in cafés here.

Everytime I walk to class I have to pass through one of the two main gates, and without fail there is some student group hassling people to take their pamphlets. I try not to because it's wasteful; I'd never read them and they probably wouldn't affect me anyway. The ones I have ended up inevitably are about organising together and marching for student's rights, which are clearly being violated. I don't want to get too deep into my opinions here, suffice it to say that it seems to me they overreact to every little move the government makes. But then I'm not usually one to stir up trouble.

Overall I'm enjoying the classes I have, and I do think this is a lovely campus. If only I had been here during a semester where there wasn't so much unrest!

University Strike

I mentioned the strike yesterday, but today I find it in full force. The professors are upset over changes being made by the French President to the public university system, so they've voted to strike. The campus was filled with signs declaring it "en grève", on strike. There were gatherings and demonstrations, including a large one I sort of ran into whilst heading toward the Comédie...

This large group managed to disrupt bus and tram service for a little while. Since I'm still exhausted from my ordeal in London, it was nice to have an extra day off - though for me it meant no classes this week at all!

Week one!

Well dear friends, still no internet in my room, I'm told that should appear in a few days. Luckily, though, I have finally received my wifi password for the dorm lobby, so I can at least sit here for a while and update on the busy week I've had in Montpellier!

I left off my last real post Friday the second, shortly after arriving in Montpellier. That evening I went with a few others from my group on a short walk around the downtown area, from the Place de la Comédie where our hotel was located to Montpellier's Arc de Triomphe, about 1km each way. The weather was beautiful already, and somehow I felt like I'd been here for months. We stopped at a café for sandwiches and tea and then headed back to the comédie.

Saturday we were given a brief tour of the centre-ville, and then we had our orientation at the Corum, which is Montpellier's convention centre. After taking a placement test for our grammar and phonetics classes we split up into groups; half picking their classes and the rest going in small groups around the city to get mobile phones and tram cards. I was part of the group running errands first, which turned out to be lucky for me as I got a nicer phone for the same price everyone else paid for theirs, because they had run out of the kind I had by the time most people had gotten there. Getting the tram card turned out to be more of an ordeal than we thought, since we had to bring our own photos for them to put on the card. My group ended up going to automatic photo machines in the mall and not getting our passes until later in the evening. I'm glad I at least got it that day though - it has been extremely useful as it works on both tram lines and the buses, and I can get just about anywhere I could want to go. After all our little errands we spent a few hours trying to choose classes - something that turned out to be much more complicated than back home, but still pretty flexible since nothing was set in stone.

Sunday was the day everyone moved into their permanent housing. I was one of three people who will be living in the Cité Universitaire Vert Bois, also known as the dormitories. I was quite impressed and surprised when I got there; the room is much larger than I expected, and I have both my own toilet/shower and kitchenette. That should making living/eating on the cheap much easier for me. I've already been experimenting... After shelling out the money for a frying pan and a few basic ingredients like eggs and butter, I've made quite a variety of tasty meals for myself. Good to know, I can cook somewhat! (Those who are interested can go here to see what my room looks like.)

Sundays will likely be problematic when I'm not travelling, since here in "provincial" France everything, and I really do mean everything, is closed on Sundays. No groceries, no pharmacies, nothing. Only a few restaurants are open, and unless I'm meeting someone I probably won't be frequenting those on Sundays - last Sunday I took the tram to the Comédie just to take a walk, and spent .75€ on a baguette since I didn't yet have a chance to buy groceries. I felt so French carrying my bread in it's little tissue paper all the way back to my dorm. Hilarious.

Monday was the first day of classes, and I only had one. Our programme group had a little room on campus for us to meet up and make sure we had a full and non-conflicting schedule, and also so we could hopefully find where our classes were. I went around in circles with one of the programme directors trying to find out where the schedules for Czech language were posted, only to find out it conflicted with one of those courses I had to take, so I'll be taking beginning German instead. Monday I had the first half of my translations class, this part being translating English to French. It's a class specifically for foreign students who are native english speakers, so it was all British and American students. It seems like it shouldn't be too difficult. After classes monday evening is when I took care of my grocery shopping, which was a bit of an adventure in itself. I bought far too much for my own good since I wanted it to last a while, and the walk back to my dorm from the tram stop (which is a good kilometre or more) was a bit trying, but I'm sure it was good exercise. Add to that that I live on the fourth floor and there's no elevator, and well... I'll probably be losing weight here.

Tuesdays I'll normally have two classes, but the German one doesn't start until next week, so I had just the French to English portion of my translations class. Again, I think this will be a good class for me. Wednesday I was supposed to have my lecture for 18th century lit, but the professor was sick and so that was cancelled. While waiting for my Phonetics class later that afternoon with some classmates, it began to snow. Now, that may not seem that interesting, but the next morning I heard tell that that hadn't happened here in over twenty years. So that was a little impressive, and quite interesting to see in a mediterranean city! Phonetics looks like it will be too easy since I already took pretty much the same class back home, but it's one of two required courses for the program, and I'll get elective credit for it anyway, so hopefully it'll just be an easy A.

Thursday is going to be my busiest day, I have three classes with only an hour between each. First is Grammar and Methodology, which again is very similar to a course I've already taken, but should still be somewhat helpful and is required. After that is my discussion section for 18th century lit, which have specific subjects related to the broad lecture module - mine is on Marivaux and Travesty; we'll be reading two of his plays and doing critiques and anylysing etc. This seems like it'll be my hard class, especially since I'm not especially a fan of literature, and it's an integrated class so the professor speaks really fast in French. Luckily the grading scale is really lenient for transferring these courses back. My last class of the day and the week was the second semester of Italian, which I'm taking to compensate for the fact that German is only 1.5 credits, as is this. I figured since I was taking Italian last semester I might as well continue it.

Fridays I have free, which will be excellent once I've settled in and start travelling. I used my free time yesterday to explore the city a bit more, and then went with one of the girls from my programme to the bookstore to pick up a few textbooks and dictionaries. I went back with her to see her homestay, and her host mother invited me to stay for dinner, which was quite lovely. I decided against a homestay for various reasons but French home cooking almost made me wish I had one!

Today our group was given a guided tour of some of the medieval areas of the city. Some of the buildings here are more than a millenium old, with "updated" façades from the 17th or 18th centuries. The tour ended with us being let on top of the Arc de Triomphe, which gave us a spectacular view of the city. I was thouroughly amazed.

All in all, I'm very glad to have come to Montpellier. I think I'll be adjusted to life here in no time at all. Lots of challenges ahead but I'm ready for whatever comes my way!