Day 31

Day 31:

Monday, April 20, 2009: Today started by sucking. We have class from 12:45-2:45 p.m. so I got up early so that I could go to the university library for some much needed internet time – I was having withdraws. I walk all the way there to find out that it is closed until further notice… great. Now what do I do? The sign said that one gate was open so I figured that I would walk all the way around the block and check it out. I just wanted to sit somewhere and use the network.

So I get to the gate and there are students that have closed it. Basically only teachers and administrators are getting in to prepare for a big meeting later that day to discuss further action for the strike. Excellent. So then I walk all the way back to the main gate where I know I will see other group members and we will decide what to do about classes. I sat there for probably half an hour before I saw someone. I did get asked twice what was going on and I had to explain the situation.

I sat with Lance until everyone else gradually started showing up. Apparently, Christophe sent out an email saying that classes at the university were cancelled all week because of the strike and they had reserved space for our classes somewhere else. We were to meet at the university gates at 12:15 rather than 12:45 and he would show us where we would be having class for the next two weeks (the week after is there spring break).

Thanks for letting me know. I’m so glad I have internet at my house and can check my email 24/7 like at OU… oh wait; I don’t! How was I supposed to know where/when to meet? So much for this phone tree for useful information.

It’s a good thing that the new building is on the street that I live on; otherwise I would be even more upset. So we finally get into a classroom and Christophe tells us what is up with the university. Apparently, some students were taking exams at McDonald’s this week so that they could finish classes and would no longer be affected by the strike.

On today’s agenda: watch the movie “Marius” in preparation for tomorrow’s test. The plan was to watch it on a huge screen at the university but now we were watching it on a TV no bigger than 27 inches. And it was in black and white and had subtitles. Okay, so the movie finally started and it was really good and then there wasn’t time to finish it. For homework on our schedule, we were supposed to write a comparison of the book and the movie. This was obviously not going to be possible. Christophe told us that we would finish it before the test tomorrow. Finally some good news.

So that was the end of my classes and Lance and I walked to the internet café to get our fixes. He doesn’t have internet at home either. We were there for almost two hours. I Skyped with my dad and grandma; Lance posted pics on his flickr. Afterwards, I went across the street and bought more minutes for my cell phone. International texting from my first days in Paris really sucked up my minutes. I got 45E worth of minutes for 35E.

Then we walked home; just before it started storming. Provence has afternoon storms like Ohio. I chilled before dinner. We had fries! (Not French Fries… just fries.) After dinner, John and I had to help Bernard and two of his friends push an old truck into our garage. Bernard is putting a new engine in it.

After the news, I watched the rest of the Marius movie with John and Bernard. John borrowed the movie from Christophe because he is in the class for fun and doesn’t receive credit for it. He didn’t go to class to watch it and doesn’t have to take the test. Bernard served us really good digestifs (like aperitifs after dinner). This drink was a specialty of Normandy and tasted like apples and fingernail polish remover. Marius is a comedy by Marcel Pagnol and is really famous and really well-known in French culture. Bernard had seen it like six times already and still loved it and watched it with us.

After that, I had to start studying. I get really bad test anxiety for French tests. I studied for about an hour and then Melissa sent me a text saying that she was going to Lance’s to study with him and Kelby and I went too. We studied together until 1 a.m. then we went home.


(Google Marius or Marcel Pagnol)