First of all I would like to thank my avid followers that keep up with my blog every week. I started keeping a blog and updating entries every week as a means to bring you all with me in even a small part. So that being said I hope you have enjoyed the journey thus far even half as much as I am.
This week wasn't as eventful as previous weeks, so sorry if this blog entry is lacking in a little sparkle and shine.
Well classes are still going well. We're nearing the midterm mark in the semester, so most of my classes will have a midterm exam. Our semester ends about a month before the spring semester will end in Bloomington so it's kind of bizarre to go to class for maybe 4 or 5 weeks and already have a midterm exam and a week long break, when at IU these precious little gifts wouldn't come for another 3 or 4 weeks. I'm not entirely sure what has been going on in my class so this midterm period shall be interesting. Luckily I am a foreign student so I get to use a dictionary with the test and maybe get some extra time. (One plus to being an American.) All my classes are 3 hours and the tests are administered during the regular class time so this while either be a good thing or a bad thing. I have 3 hours to concentrate and do my best on the exam, but at the same time to fill a time span of 3 hours means this could be a long test. Goin' back to the good ole days of ISTEP and SATS; taking tests that seem to never end... O boy!
So we were supposed to travel to Marseille this week for our medical exams. To live in France for longer than 3 months (that's all my visa I got from Chicago will allow me) I have to go to Marseille (why I couldn't have done this in the states I don't know) for a medical exam/check-up to make sure I am healthy and not bringing TB or Rabbis into France. Well, France this is just a thought but if I really did have a deadly disease that I could spread to others in your country, I probably would have done so already given the fact that you have let me live here for almost 2 months without checking into these concerns. Great thinking. So like I said we were supposed to go to this medical exam, but because we are in France of course it was postponed. And the reason why: the electricity wasn't working at the medical facility. Great I feel safe to go to this place in the future. The best part about this whole process is for those students who have already bought their plane /train/bus tickets to other countries for the first break (which is in a week) they need this medical visit to have clearance to get back into the country. Luckily if said students have brought their paper work they received from the French Consulate in Chicago they can present this information and be allowed back into the country upon their return. Also, this part I love. We all have to purchase a timbre fiscal, this little postage stamp that costs a whopping 55 euro that's $75, to present at the medical exam to pay for the visit. But wait, where do you go to purchase said postage stamp? A cigarette shop. Nice France, real nice. You want me to be healthy and check that I am not spreading diseases around the country, but yet I pay for this visit at a cigarette shop.
Speaking of cigarettes. No I have not picked up the habit thank God. My professor for methodology is a crazed chain smoker. His name is Michel Santacroce, but here in Aix amongst the program kids we like to call him Santa cause he gives us little presents every couple of weeks in the form of dissertations and papers that he grades rather harshly, double the presents! So this past week in class we had to attend both sessions of the class, so Thursday and Friday, because he had to cancel class last week due to being sick (hm, could that be from smoking?). So let's get this straight it is most convenient for him to skip one week cause he's too sick to teach class, which means we have to attend both class sessions, since normally I only have to attend the Thursday session. Sure Santa what ever is most convenient for you. At IU if a professor cancels class, there is not extra class to make up the work. It's the professor's fault/decision, in some respects, and that's that. Nope not in France. So for the Friday session it was nearing the end of the class time and since Santa is a avid chain smoker he couldn't make the last 15 minutes of class without lighting up. He stands at the back of the class room cracks a window and stands there smoking. Granted our classroom is on the 5th floor and those are a lot of steps for some who smokes a cigarette every 30 minutes to walk up and down, but come on seriously smoking in the classroom? Clearly I take offense to this so my roommate and I wrote an anonymous letter to our program directors informing them of this problem and in hopes that something will be said/done so this does not happen again. Yes, I want the cultural experience of a French classroom, but some how I don't think that is a part of it.
Thursday night I went with my roommate to this pretty cool light show in a museum in the heart of Aix. My favorite exhibit was this long shallow pool of water and lights were projected into the water in shades of blue to look like the water was flowing in a creek or something. At the far end of the pool was a mat that you jump on, which sends a light projected image of a person swimming to the other end of the pool. There were other exhibits that used music and water to alter the images created by the light. It was a pretty neat exhibit, and even better that it was free. The best part of it all was that I got to see my favorite homeless man. Yes already have a favorite homeless man, just like I already have a favorite bakery. I'm not for certain that he is homeless, but every once in a while when I'm walking the streets of the older part of town where I live he'll be sitting in someone's stoop singing for money. He has a really great voice and just seems to be so content with life even though he is clearly at a different standard of living from the rest of the residents of Aix. His spirit and joy are just infectious. He's approximately 30 and has long dark dreads and wears the same black hate with a white band around the brim. I will try to sneak a picture at some point to post for everyone. I'm sure his bonheure or joy for life could read through even a picture.
This week was valentine's day and in France they do celebrate the occasion but not like Americans. There are very few card shops that advertise like the extreme that Hallmark goes to, and yes the candy shops specialize in valentine's candies, but that's about it. It seems to be a much bigger holiday in the US than here, which I find interesting since France seems to strive off so much love and passion. Hm. Although the restaurants and cafes were pretty packed that night, so maybe it's more about the romancing than the price you paid for that card, flowers, candy, dinner, desert, drinks, limo... you get the point.
This past Saturday I went to an OM soccer game with some friends of mine that go to IU and are on my program. We bought tickets for a pretty good price, and came to find out why they were so cheap. We had perfectly fine seats and had a lot of fun. The OM (Olympiques de Marseille) team is a regional teams that is stationed in Marseille (duh) and has won several championships. Their colors are powder blue and white (and maybe orange but I couldn't tell, which team was wearing the orange). Luckily I had purchased a 3 euro jersey at the Saturday markets in Aix. No it's not an official jersey but it was long sleeved and cheap and worked perfectly. We bought face paint in Marseille and put a blue and white stripe under each eye. We were hoping this would be a trend with everyone, but when I got to the game I realized we were the only ones. Opps, well we're American so that's why. Right? The atmosphere in the stadium was similar to the excitement at IU's football games, but it was neat to see a regional team play on their home turf in France's most popular sport. Not that the US doesn't have the same concept of a regional sports team playing on their home turf in a nationally favorite sport, it was just cooler in France. OM won the game, but of course this couldn't have happened without a little drama. I think there were two occasion a stretcher had to be brought on the field with medical attention, multiple fights between players and the ref and a possible pile up of players the one lone ref had to break up. There were OM fanatics sitting at both end zones of the field and they would yell chants back and forth and had all kinds of flags to wave and confetti and so much fun to be had. At the stadium entrant everyone was handed a magazine that had all the stats of the teams and of course a ton of advertisements. About 30 minutes left in the game we decided to make paper airplanes with said magazines to throw into the crowds. There was a young boy sitting next to me, he was about 6. He kept staring at me for a while, and I finally realized it was because I was a weird American girl sitting at an OM soccer game wearing face paint that I thought was cool but was clearly not a trend. I offered to put some paint on his face and he gave me this look like he was way too cool for such things. So then we offered him a paper airplane to throw down into the crowd. This start a 20 minute session of paper airplane folding per the demands of our new little french buddy.
Observations: (these aren't necessarily observations about France just things that have hit me over the past week)
1. No one here knows of Ellen Page. Or if they do they don't think I look like her. Finally a reprieve from the Ellen Page comments.
2. I am the only Sarah on the program. This is a big first for me. I don't think I have been a part of a group or class of this size where there is not another Sara(h).
3. Last week I posted an observation about the French walking where ever they want and stopping dead in the their tracks where ever and when ever they want. Well what they want it what goes. This seems to be the mantra that is attached to most everything here. This is even more so when they realize you are foreign, especially American.
4. France does not have the same mass amounts of commercialism as the US has. It seems here that along the highways and within the cities there are minimal billboards and signs for advertisement, there as in the US this is a concept that is plastered everywhere. I kind of miss it. NOT!
5. The French have a different perception of the seasons from a midwesterner. I'm sure this is true for more than just the French, but I have been asking people when it will get warmer here. More like spring weather. Everyone's response is late March mid April. These past couple of days have been gorgeous and to a midweasterner who is used to blankets of snow and the bitter cold all the way up to Easter, this weather is spring time to me. This strikes me as interesting since the French continue to wear winter coats during a midwestern spring. What on earth will they wear in summer?
My mother will be here to visit me for a whole week in 5 days!!!! I'm so excited for her to visit and share France with her. It is her first trip across the pond so I hope I have prepared her well for the flight and the international airports and I have told her that once she gets off the plane to let me take care of everything, it'll just be easier that way. I'm so excited that the past 2 months of planning are finally coming to fruition. I will for sure post stories and photos from our trips around France, this is going to be hilarious. I will try my best to have her ordering in cafes and asking strangers where the bathrooms are in French, I may be pushing my luck with the second one. Travel itinerary: Day 1-3 she arrives and spending time in Aix. Day 4-6 Paris/Versailles Palace. Day 7-8 Nice and Monaco day 9/10 spending the last couple of days in Aix and she flies home. So if anyone is looking for a travel agent or tour guide of France my services are available. This all being said It may be a while before you get another posting. I know this may come as sad news to some of you, but don't worry I promise the next one will be 10 times better than this one with fabulous stories, photos, and observations.
With much love,
Your little French girl Sarah
