#24 - Monday

I awoke this morning after going to bed needlessly late after doing nothing on my laptop. The air was cold, and as I got up from my bed to turn off the annoying sound that was my alarm, I saw through the window blankets of whiteness. It had snowed again.

I wasn't sure if I could be bothered to go into university today, because it was early, and also because I wasn't sure if I would have lessons yet, or if the strike would be partially over. But I decided to go in anyway. I also took my camera and during the day took a few photos of Strasborug in the snow.

I went to the first class I should have. The teacher and the rest of the class came too! It was a French Literature class. Because I hadn't been there in the first week I hadn't recieved the copies of extracts of various things. It didn't matter too much, as we basically had to write down what the teacher was saying.

This surprised me a little. It wasn't jsut writing down notes, it was a dictation. Suddenly, as if some unheard starting signal went off, everybody's heads went down to their paper and starting writing. I sat there thinking "what..?" and then "oh, I should be writing this down!" and then trying to recover the first half of the sentence that she said, and then forgetting what I was writing while trying to write the next parts. In all it did not go too well for my dictation skills.


At the end of the class, a few students came in to say some things about the strikes. From what I understood they mentioned a blog online where they were keeping up the latest information, and also various meetings and lunches to discuss action to be taken, and such other things. From this small talk and what I have tried to look up online, it all has to do with Sarkozy (President of France) and the economic crisis. There are reforms that are trying to be pushed through to change a lot of things in France. The latest (possibly) is to do with universities and research procedures, and uprooting the whole "disasterous" system (as Sarkozy put it) and going drastically against the way organisations are run in France. Then again, I don't have much of a head for politics so I could be completely wrong.


I decided to stop in the building at my department of Letters to check some class times and places and things. As I was walking around, there were lots of signs and posters saying "GREVE" (strike) and "OCCUPATION ACTIVE". At the time I was there around midday, they were jsut about to start a big meeting of the occupation activein one of the bigger rooms. I walked around, looked at the signs a bit, and took a few photos. I didn't join in because I am not French(!) and I don't really know what is going on so I don't want to brainlessly follow a certain standpoint.

In any case, although the strikes have been a bit inconvenient for me, I tink I now have the luxury of enjoying the time off of studying!