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.