Packing for Italy

What's been going on in Aix lately? Not a great deal, if I'm honest. The university strike is still going on so I didn't have too many classes this week. Fortunately, I do have books to read and met with a tutor yesterday and today to help me get some direction in reading for my canceled classes. I also went to Aix's English bookstore, Book in Bar, because I'll be on the train for a looong time coming back from Italy. They have a student discount and so I got Atonement, because I know I couldn't stand to read my French school books for the whole trip.

Yes, tomorrow afternoon I leave for Milan. Sunday we're heading to Florence, and Wednesday I'm returning back to Aix, hopefully with plenty of pictures and adventures to blog about. I think we have everything—hostels, trains, etc—sorted, and given that the only Italian I speak is what I learned in a phrase book, I hope we are prepared!

Last night French president Sarkozy was on TV again, this time to unveil his latest plans to help the French people. He's setting aside €2.65 billion to cut taxes and improve benefits. If that doesn't satisfy the unions—which it probably won't—there's going to be another national strike March 19. Sarkozy started off his speech by noting that France wasn't the only country facing economic troubles; he bragged that France had been less affected than other countries and would recover sooner.

Yesterday, the Internet in my apartment wasn't working. I asked my host about it, and she said there was a simple fix. She called the Internet provider's support number, then hung up during the automated phone menu. Apparently, the tech support number is a pricey toll line, so the company makes plenty of money off support calls. And if you haven't called for a few months, your Internet connection stops working until, surprise surprise, you call the tech support line. Is it really a conspiracy? Mme says she's convinced, and her method seemed to work yesterday.

This week I also watched two French films that were on TV after we ate dinner in the evenings. One, Ma soeur et moi, was a Mrs Doubtfire-esque comedy about a man who has to pretend to be his sister, and last night was Astérix et Obélix : mission Cléopâtre. Aside from the snidest witticisms or thickest accents, I found I could understand them pretty easily. Listening to people speaking French all day, everyday has definitely improved my comprehension abilities.

For the rest of today I'm going to write my academic journal about what I read for my classes that were canceled and pack for the trip. See you all next week!