only in France...part 2,357,573,486

I've had some pretty bizarre things happen to me in the course of my schooling. There was the time in highschool that the whole school went into lockdown because of a turkey hunter...the time I saw my (male) math teacher wearing a dress...and then the time in college when the police were called just because we were playing in the snow...but I think my experience here in France might just top all of that.

I went to the fac today for my 8amclassfromhell a.k.a. La Princesse de Clèves after having nearly given myself a nervous breakdown yesterday trying to finish the paper for said class. I got to the fac, bought myself my 35centime tuesday morning cup of coffee (yes, I know - I don't like coffee, but it's the only thing that gets me through that class) and headed downstairs. I turn the corner and see...what looks like a REALLY bad senior prank. Every desk and chair has been removed from the classroom and piled up in the hallway, literally barracading the doors into the classrooms.

Why, you ask? Because France is a culture of grèves - strikes. Yes, the students are on strike. It sounds like a highschool freshman's dream come true...but in fact it's rather annoying. I stood around for a while, drinking my coffee and laughing at the sight in front of me. I was, of course, extremely irked that I had nearly killed myself to write that damn paper and I got up entirely too early for (apparently) no reason. That's right...class was cancelled! how often do you get to say class was cancelled because the students went on strike? The strike, by the way, is because the government is considering "privitizing" the university system...I put that in quotes only because I know that's not quite the right term for it, but it's the closest I could come. translation gets in the way. but at any rate...once again, I find myself shaking my head and saying...only in France!

in other news...Alex's visit this past weekend was fun! Granted, it made me realize that I don't know the tourist side of Nantes...I live here, after all, and it's not a "hotspot" on the tourist map. But we had a fun weekend...aside from the weird moment when the tram est tombé en panneau (had a breakdown) while we were halfway across the Loire...we decided that we shouldn't be allowed to be in Europe together - nothing goes right when we are! Oh and dinner on Saturday was absolutely hilarious...we went to a restaurant and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves with my Nantais girls...we were obnoxiously loud and completely American, laughing our heads off and enjoying life to the hilt. The snotty french boys at the next table over actually had the gall to shush us...and they were our age! so we ignored them and continued laughing and chatting as we had been - it was amazing, I haven't laughed like that in so long!

yesterday was a pretty rough day - a stage 2 day to the extreme where I just wanted to be at Wooster. Granted, it was all stupid facebook's fault - I was looking at Val's pictures of the Let's Dance! tango performance and I REALLY wanted to be there to participate. I still miss my dance group...the salsa and tango classes are fun here, but it's just not same. I just don't want to go back my senior year and find out that I don't fit in with Let's Dance! anymore...add to that my schoolwork stress and the stupid conference I had to go to on Vladimir Putin and it was a very very very bad day. but Alex made it better...she sent me the french translation for the word "angst" (we have a running joke about being angsty) and it was "angoisse existentialiste" - existential anguish! so while I was suffering yesterday from quite a bit of existential angst, I'm happy to report that it has since lessened.

à +!