The Strikes.

To tell the story of the strikes, I must back up a little bit in history. France currently enjoys the most years spent in retirement. The retirement age has been 60 for a very long time. Their economy could collapse if they don't change things, but that part is not too important to the people. Anyways, in 1995 and in 2006, they tried to pass a reform to raise the retirement age 2 years to 62. It was met with so much opposition, and the strikes got so bad, it did not pass either time. Well they tried again this year. The country was in a panicked uproar.

The first major thing to go on strike was the oil companies. The fuel for planes was the first to run out. The major airport in Paris had enough reserves for about 2 weeks, but that ran out quick and there was no sign of an end to the strike. It got to the point where planes were stranded in Paris, and the airport authorities were telling airlines that if they were going to fly in, they must be loaded with enough fuel to get back out. All the petrol stations were closed, as no one had any gas left. The truck drivers could not do their jobs, as there were no open gas stations.

The trash collecting companies went on strike in several areas too. In Marseilles, the trash was not collected for weeks, and it was just piling in the streets. There were some riots in Paris, but it was not quite as bad as the news made it to be. I am in Le Mans, which is relatively quiet, but a school was burned down here. It was a junior high, and someone lit a trach can in protest which led to the building going up in flames. It wasn't really an accident.

Students got in on the movement nation-wide, including the campus I am on. Here are some pictures:

"Students Mobilize!
All on strike until retirement!"










To go on strike, they literally block classes from happening. They have a general assembly, and decided they will blockade campus. They will go out during the night, and chain and blockade all of the doors to every campus building (except administrative buildings).




The Science building: Apparently
they have decided as long as there
are chairs here, why not sit down.

You can actually see the chains

on the door in this photo.

There is a cement bench. No idea

how they managed to pull that off.

Just a normal day at university

in France.

All of the striking died down after the break. The reform was passed. Sorry, France.

I did not have 2 of my classes for a full month though, because of the strikes. The week before the fall break, the doors were blocked. Then it was break. They tried to strike again after break, so the doors were blockaded again. Then, after 4 weeks, I had my wednesday classes again. It is nothing short of ridiculous.

If the french know one thing, it is striking. A couple years ago, they tried to do a reform on the Graduate School Program. The university I am at went on strike for 5 weeks. Only then, they not only chained and blockaded the doors, they covered all the bases. To get into the buildings, you would have to take about the puzzle of desks and chairs to get to the doors. Then you would have to deal with the chains. Say you passed that, the halls would then be stacked full of an impossible mess of all the desks and chairs in that building. If you were eventually able to make your way through all of that, the doorknobs to the classrooms would have been unscrewed, so it would fall off in your hand, and the door would still be locked.

Its a different experience. That much is certain.

Revolutionary Concept!

I'M UPDATING MY BLOG!! ha.. I know. It is shocking.

Well, no one probably even reads this anymore, as I never update it. But I plan to be better now!

So it has been raining for a few days here. Its seriously no fun. And its not happy rain, or light rain, it is miserable-pouring-horizontally rain. On thursday, we were walking to the tram stop at about 10 at night, and it was just a straight hurricane. The wind was blwing soooo hard, and we were all stooped behind our umbrellas. I think at least one umbrella didn't survive. And we were soaked for the next hour or 2 after getting inside. Its lovely.

But what better thing to do on a rainy day than knit. Haha, I really have been though. I have made 2 scarves now. So if anyone wants a new scarf for Christmas, let me know :)

School is blah. The class I actually know what is going on in is my linguistics class. And for that reason alone, I'd say it is my favorite. I've got some other classes that I don't give much thought too, then there are the 2 I hate. The first: Grammaire Francaise. Horrible. Even the french kids don't understand what is going on as it is so super technical, so how in the world are we supposed to do well?!

Then there is Campus Soir. The only french class intended for the international kids. Well our teacher is crazy. First off, she cannot even dress herself. Last week, she wore a red turtlneck with a red tank top on top. Then she carried a red briefcase thing. They were all clashing bright reds. Ugh. I couldn't focus all of class because she looked so bad. Then this week. She wore the same red turtleneck, with 2 gold necklaces on it too, a jean sleeveless dress with a few large flowers on it and 2 giant buttons on the shoulders, with sheer navy tights, and beige shoes. She dresses like a four year old would. It's like usually the individual pieces of her outfits aren't too bad, but she just puts on whatever she feels like wearing that day.

Well second off, she has never learned a foreign language herself. So, when she is teaching french as a foreign language, she is horribly rude and confusing. She explains things in such a roundabout complicated way that no one ever knows what is going on. And she is really mean if people make mistakes. No one ever wants to say anything because she just pounces on their mistakes and makes everyone feel stupid.

And finally, she hates America. Awesome. Each week we do different listening comprehension activities. They tend to be on the most random possible subjects. A few weeks ago, it was pollution in the oceans, followed by the Airbus A380, and followed this week by Child's Rights Laws and the UN policies on them. Somehow though, she ties it into talking about the problems of America. Without fail. This week, we were discussing possible cases where children's rights are breached. The British girl mentioned countries where children are forced to be soldiers very young. Our teacher, lovely woman that she is, looked at her in all seriousness and said oh, you are thinking of the program in America. Then she moved on. So newsflash! We have a program that forces children into the army. Oh and then later she said our public schools aren't free because we must pay taxes to fund them. huh? Is that not what France does too, lady?!

Well enough about her. I've had midterm type tests in 3 of my classes, translation, grammar, and linguistics. I'll find out monday and tuesday if I am passing anything.

Hello!! Long Time, No Talk..

Wow it has been forever and a half since I updated this thingy. Sorry to all of you who told me that you were bummed I hadnt posted anything in awhile. I love you, my creepers.. facebook has some photos too, that everyone is welcome to creep on.

I FINALLY have internet. Its amazing how difficult it is to get anything done here in France. Its truly appalling. I'm not sure how you spell apalling, but close enough. I almost feel like I am starting to lose some of the english words. Occasionally I can only thing of how to say things in French, and not in English.

So much has happened in the last few weeks I don't even know where to start. I promise I will start updating this. And I will probably just randomly tell stories from the gap in updates, as I remember them.

I think the biggest thing I have to report is the boyfriend. He is amazing, and French. And adorable. And probably the sweetest thing in life. So yeah.. Lately, I pretty much just hang out with him when possible. He speaks English too, so we switch every other day, speaking French and English.

I also must shout out to my friends here.. I LOVE YOU GUYS!! I'm too lazy to name you all by name right now, but Corinne I can't wait to travel with you over break! And I'm so happy I have a fellow hopeless romantic that is also obsessed with romantic comedies, my darling Jordan.

All the girls (my friends are pretty much all anglophones, Americans and English) are off to Paris this weekend! We are leaving Friday evening and coming back Sunday evening, I can't wait! Then, in 2 weeks, we have fall break! Woo.. Corinne and I are off to Brussels, Amsterdam, London, and Leeds for 10 days. Its going to be FANTASTIC. Yay!

The university here is ish, but the town is great, and I adore the people so much. I will update this whenever I think about it. Right now I am seriously considering napping though. I'm knackered, as the British would say. Love you all and thanks for reading my super boring blog!! :)

Blah Internet!

The internet SUCKS here! I will update my blog eventually. I'm supposed to get internet in my room at some point, but knowing the French it could be awhile..

Those Funny French!

Ha! Look at this picture painted onto the sidewalk all over the place.. thinking it pointed to the gutters but we really weren't so sure on that one.







Its a car with a horse trailer!


And there was actually a horse in it too!








What a great old truck parked by the Sunday Market :)

The Tram is amazing! Big Fan.

Thats my room!!

The French Fireman were up early the other day running drills and things. Aren't they cute. They even have a ladder truck!

Fun Stuff

So I'm not sure why its being all weird about pictures. It'll be all good and all the words and pictures are lining up til I post them. Stupid thing.

Well! Life so far has been interesting for sure.

Day 0: Wednesday.
Our flight to Paris was delayed about an hour. The reason we taxied late.. they put too much blue stuff in the toilet, so if we took off, it would spill over into the cabin when we were in the air. Oops.

Day 1: Thursday.
Fly into Paris. Spectacular mess. Eventually got tickets and caught the train to Le Mans. Mom's hotel was nice and close, right next to the train station. So once we got checked in, we went up to campus. The tram is awesome. Super duper easy. Its great. Anyways, we get to campus and are able to find the International Relations Office just fine.
The girl was STUPID though. So apparently we were supposed to have a welcome package and such, but I got nothing. She basically handed me a very vague campus map and drew big arrows to nowhere in particular and told me to go there to register for classes, and go here to get my room... She was a cow. To put it nicely.

Day 2: Friday.
I have a friend! We have all these French Classes next week, and we had a test today to place us for them. Well I was lost and so was this other girl. She asked me for help and it turns out she is from Arkansas. Yay for another English speaker!
Also, I got my room. What an adventure. Nothing is easy in France. NOTHING. Well, this is also a very non-technological university. So getting my room was interesing to say the least. First, it was go to the main office. Go there, and they give me a few papers to fill out. Wander off, and come back with them completed. She asks my name then pulls out an envelope with papers in it. In this office, one of the walls was a sort of rack of slots that little papers slipped into. Each slot represented a room, and then there were slips of paper with names on each. There were no computers. None. So she pulls out a blank slip and put my name on it. She photocopied the little slip before putting it back in the slot, then added some papers to my envelope. Then she said to go down the hall to Accounts. I had been told they didn't accept credit cards before, but once we got there, I understood why. I got a hand written receipt for my payment, and she had a cash box. From there, I had to go to yet another office around the corner. There, she gave me my keys and a form about the rules and such. It was something else.

Day 3: Saturday.
We took some of my stuff over to the dorms from the hotel room this morning. When we were riding the tram it was about 9:30 in the morning. This man got on though, and he was quite possible homeless. He was talking very loud, and to no one in particular. He was quite possibly talking to himself. Anyways, out of nowhere he produces a full bottle of champagne. He held it up and said "Il fait beau!" (its a nice day!) and took a good swig. Then he stashed it in an inside pocked of his jacket, and resumed his talking. It was fantastic!
Also, after a lot of questionable french speaking, Katie (the new friend) and I were able to get cell phones! YAY! It is way different than our cell phone set up, but we got it figured out.
My room is all decorated now too! I'm a big fan. No internet yet though. Blah.

Day 4: Sunday. Today.
Lots of exploring. I actually had pictures to post today. Woo! The campus was built in the sixties so it is definitely ugly. But it works. The town is very cool though. Lots of shopping too. Always a good thing.

I will post more pictures and things soon. I'm tired though and I have class in the morning. So I'm off. Goodnight!

The Sunday Market!

The Sunday Market!! Its right at the foot of Old Town and the Cathedral looks down over the market. Lots of neat antiques and FOOD.
The fresh food looks and smells fantastic. At one point we walked past a women with a cat in a carrier and asked us if we were interested in the cat. She was quite possible trying to sell a cat at the open air market.




The Crown Jewel of Le Mans is the Cathedral and Old Town. The Cathedral was built over about 500 years, and the oldest part is from about 1000 AD.

They're working on restoring a lot of it actually. The last time it was restored around 1840.

The organ is huge and requires several people to play it.

The rose window is 15 metres tall and 7 metres wide.

Ma Chambre...

I bought pretty flowers and an antique mik jug at the sunday market so they brighten up my room :)

Yay for my own room!!

Europeans are nifty. I have soooo much storage in my little tiny room.. way more than I can even fill.

My little tiny bathroom!! Ha its great. So cute!! The sink is like the size of one in an airplane and the faucet is also how you turn on the shower. Pretty clever...

The bathroom is essentially the shower with a toilet of to one side and sink off to the other side. Its cute though. And my own! Woohoo!

Le Vieux Mans!

So part of Le Mans is called the "old town." A lot of the houses are from about the 14th century. The storm drain in the middle was kinda cute. I'm not sure what the rack thing was for though.

Below is my mama on one of the many cool streets.

And me! Ha, not that interesting, I know. But I took lots of pictures today of all the old town. You could spend forever just wandering around looking at all the old houses. Most of the

house are from about the 14th
century or so.

The old town is mainly residential now. A lot of the houses have funny little trap doors so I had to take a picture of one :)

The street are pretty narrow, for sure. You can drive on them though, and lots of the house have little tiny garages, or gated driveways. They also have some funny secret passageways!

Like this one! Isn't it cute?!

Up until about 25 years ago, old town was pretty run down and such, but then the French government decided it wanted to revive it all, so they started encouraging homeowners to restore their homes. Now its all pretty!

The house below is the smallest one in Le Vieux Mans, and it is supported by an old stone wall on the right side. The teddy in the window likes to watch people go by.

Just some old steps from the top down, and the bottom up.

Le Vieux Mans is also surrounded by an old Roman wall, a lot of which is still standing. Yay!

The old Roman wall again, and one of the doorways into the city it surrounded. Four of the doorways still stand.

And ME! Love you all!

Thanks for reading my boring blog!