Marseille

As planned, I spent Saturday in Marseille, even though the weather forecast called for rain in the afternoon. In the end, it only rained lightly a few times during the day, but was gray and overcast the whole time.

From Aix, the direct bus to Marseille only took about 20 minutes and, with the Cartreize, only cost €1 each way. The bus drops you off fairly close to the Vieux Port, the port that's been Marseille's center for 2600 years. We walked around the port up to the Fort St-Jean and Cathedrale de la Major on one side before looking for lunch. People in Aix keep telling me that Marseille has better pizza than Italy, and while I don't know if I'd go that far, it was certainly good—and cheaper than pizza in Aix. A whole royale pizza was just €6.20 in a small restaurant in Marseille, but would be more like €9 here.

Anyway, the streets around the port are busy and bustling, with an eclectic mix of tiny markets and food stalls, expensive name-brand stores, and all sorts of oddities in between. La Canebiere is a big, wide street leading away from the port and it's filled with restaurants, banks, and so on.
On the other side of the port is Fort St-Nicholas, another centuries-old fort that used to protect Marseille. As with the other fort, not much is left, but from it you get great views of the port and the islands off the coast of Marseille. From the fort, we carried on south to the La Corniche, which runs right along the edge of the Mediterranean. From there, you can see even more clearly the islands near Marseille. One is home to the Château d'If, which was intended to serve as a fortress but became a prison. It's also the setting for Alexandre Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo.

From La Corniche we took a winding, narrow road uphill inland toward Notre Dame de la Garde, the cathedral that overlooks Marseille. As the Eiffel Tower is a symbol of Paris, Notre Dame is a sort of symbol for Marseille; pictures and articles about the town almost always include the church, due to its prominence.

The hill that the church sits atop is over 500 feet tall and made of limestone. And yes, climbing that hill is harder than it looks. At the top of the belfry is a giant, gold-plated statue of the Virgin Mary—it's giant, and somehow as shiny as if it was in a museum.

On the way down the hill from Notre Dame is an American tank left over from the liberation during World War II. Three French soldiers were using it to attack the Germans, who had occupied Notre Dame, when the tank was hit by grenades and the soldiers were killed. Now the tank is a monument to the 1944 battle to liberate Marseille from the Nazis.
From the top of the hill you also get great views of all of Marseille, which let me realize just how big a city it is. After walking around for almost the whole day, we barely saw any of the city, and I'll definitely need to return in order to see other parts of the town.

The Cartreize

Today, the Michigan Daily ran an article about the strikes in Aix. They interviewed two other students from Michigan who are here on my program. I can't help thinking that the writer and the other students made things sound more dramatic than they actually are...

Otherwise, the most exciting thing that happened today was getting a Cartreize, which gives students super-cheap bus fares. Tomorrow I'm going to use it to go to Marseille with some other students.

I went to the bus station with a friend and we went to different counters to get our cards. I had no problem. However, the woman who helped my friend caused a few problems. First, she gave him the wrong type of card. Next, she openly joked about his French accent with her coworkers. Finally, when she saw his driver's license, the woman asked if Wisconsin was in England. When we corrected her, she said, "Wow, Wisconsin. I only know it from movies!"

Later, she asked, "Uh, do you understand French?"

Snacks and slang

Food is a topic of great importance to the French people, as well as to college students like myself. That's why I've spent much time and too many Euros exploring Aix-en-Provence's culinary outlets. Two of them have names that piqued my interest, and I thought I'd share.

I haven't actually eaten here, but the name is interesting. As you can see, the logo for "Faceboof" looks remarkably like that of networking website Facebook.

La bouffe, however, is French slang for "food, grub", and bouffer means "to eat". So the café's name is a clever twisting of the word "Facebook" to mean "Face food", a meaning clarified by the little picture at the top right of the storefront.
I have eaten here, and it's fantastic. La Fringale offers fries, sandwiches, crêpes and more from their little sidewalk stand near La Rotunde. It's cheap, quick, and delicious. It's also open almost every time I pass, impressive for a French establishment.

As for the name? La fringale means "raging hunger", and J'ai la fringale is a slang expression for "to be hungry". This is, then, the location to go in order to satisfy your raging hunger.

New classes

My post about the wonderful weather truly jinxed things here in Aix... it's been chilly and windy ever since.

This is the second week and first full week of our new program courses. These courses replace the ones at the Université de Provence because, well, they're still on strike and it's the end of March. Our exchange program has thus found professors and graduate students to teach 13 "replacement" courses so that we can still learn and still earn transfer credit at our American universities.

There is, however, one slight problem: our new courses are held in our program office, a nice-enough office in an apartment building near the center of Aix.

The room used for our classes measures, perhaps, 15 feet by 20 feet. For most of the classes, which have ten or so students, that suffices, but not for larger groups. For example, today 29 students showed up for Histoire des réligions à l'époque moderne, and we absolutely did not fit

The other problem is that, as with many old French buildings, the office isn't air conditioned. Even on days like today, it's extremely hot inside, especially with students crammed close together. But opening the window is a mixed blessing: it faces a fairly busy street, so as well as cool breezes, lets noise from sirens and motorcycles enter.

But you know what? At this point it's just refreshing to actually have a fixed schedule, take classes, and have homework. And that's probably the only time I'll ever admit to enjoying homework.

Ruins both Roman and Modern

Saturday heralded another day trip with our exchange program. This time, our first stop was at Glanum, the site of a Roman town. It's of a similar age to the Oppidum d'Entremont I mentioned a few weeks ago, but far bigger and more intact.

The town was actually founded by the Ligurians, but was later occupied by the Gauls, ancient Greeks, and eventually Romans. Then the town was buried by soil and rock until it was uncovered early in the 20th century.

Glanum is a fairly sophisticated town, with an irrigation/sewage system, an underground heating system for some buildings, and all sorts of columns and monuments that are still standing today.
Our next stop was Arles, a city famous among many things for bullfighting. Fittingly, we saw the arena built during the first century A.D. that still hosts bullfights, as well as an odd competition with baby cows. Apparently, the organizers tie a length of string between the baby cow's horns, and competitors—including foolhardy tourists—try to grab the string from the enraged baby cow. It doesn't sound like the most cultured of Provencal pursuits, but the events are apparently quite popular.

On the whole, Arles wasn't my favorite town I've seen in France so far. There's nothing wrong with it, but Arles was perhaps not as quaint and Provencal as other places I've been. The Romans, however, certainly left their mark: not only did they build the arena, but they also constructed an ampitheater that's still used for plays and performances. It's obviously falling apart, as would most 2000-year-old buildings, so the city's planning to add on to and renovate the ampitheater. I feel it's a double-edged sword: it's a shame to repair ruins, but it's also better that they be used than completely crumble away.
Finally, we went to Pont du Gard, which is really a thing and not a place. The Pont is a Roman aqueduct that carried water 150 ft above a valley. It made up part of an irrigation system that carried water some 30 miles to a Roman town located where Nimes is today. Remarkably, the Pont du Gard is still intact—although it hasn't carried water for a long time. That the bridge survived so long is impressive given that there is nothing holding the stones together (it's built like a drystone wall) and that the area is prone to earthquakes, albeit extremely mild.

Speaking of ruins, how about one a little more modern? Remember my pictures of La Fac and comments about its state of disrepair? Last Thursday there was a report on TV about the state of university education for French students. Most of it was pretty depressing stuff, like interviews with French students who literally could not afford to eat, or who lived in university dorms with broken windows and unsafe utilities. Toward the end, the report came to Aix to take a tour around La Fac and see the state of problems: crumbling exterior walls, exposed wiring, blocked fire exits (!), and more.

Apparently a government comission looked for run-down universities that needed renovation around the country. They picked six, but Aix's was not included because it wasn't bad enough. How unnerving is that? Those of you who speak French can watch the report here (fast-forward to the 21st minute).

On a cheerier note, the weather in Aix continues to be beautiful; today's high is supposed to be 70ºF. Yesterday was much the same, and I did homework with another student at a café, La Belle Epoque, on the Cours Mirabeau. We got to sit outside in the warmth and sunshine, and were serenaded by a sidewalk jazz band who were actually very talented. Relaxing afternoons like that make me think it'll be hard to return to Michigan. Such is the beauty of living in Provence.

And France comes to a standstill...

Today is another national day of strikes in France; see here and here.

The French people are still unhappy with Sarkozy's economic plans, unemployment is still rising, and so they're not working today to, literally, stick it to the man.

In Aix, not all buses and trains are running, and banks, schools, and post offices are closed.

Unfortunately, because I've effectively been disenrolled from La Fac and am now taking classes exclusively at our program office, I still have class today despite the strike. And I say unfortunately because today's forecast is for clear skies and a high of almost 70ºF—the perfect weather for having school canceled!

Scheduling Madness

Want a taste of the madness that is our study abroad program?

When I went to Italy on break, it was also the University of Michigan's break week. The week before, my friends there had taken midterm exams; the week before, I didn't have classes due to the strike.

In five weeks, Michigan students will start final exams. I have just received an all-new class schedule that I'll start following today.

The cause, of course, is the ever-continuing strike of the enseignants-chercheurs (professors who also research) at the Université de Provence and others around the country. Last Wednesday, La Fac was closed all day "to echo the worker's reaction movement". Thursday, there were more demonstrations and a very novel move by university administrators: ninety enseignants-chercheurs handed in letters of resignation. As La Provence put it, "L'Université de Provence est donc menacée de paralysie" (The Univerity of Provence is now threatened by paralysis).

Monday, La Fac was closed again to allow for more assemblées générales and another demonstration. I was very wrong to predict that the strike was getting better!

None of this is that fault of our exchange program, of course, and they've been doing their best to rectify things. As of yesterday, they sent us a list of remplacement courses that will be taught at our program office by either professors from other schools or graduate students. Which is all well and good aside from the fact that I'm starting my classes in the second half of March! The worse news is that, according to our program director, "These courses will constitute your permanent schedule until June 27"—we'll be here in Aix until the very end of June.

On the bright side, Aix has been filled with blue skies and weather warm enough for shorts and t-shirts since Friday. Yesterday, as my classes were canceled, I spent the afternoon basking in the sun in Parc Jourdan along with other exchange students and seemingly all 25,000 Fac students.

And the best news of all? The schedule change meant I didn't have to get up early for my 9 a.m. history class this morning!

Sainte Victoire

Lest you think that the continuing university strike means I spend my days sunning myself and sipping French coffee, read on: yesterday, I climbed a mountain.

As you may have seen from other pictures, la Montagne Sainte-Victoire is a truly imposing mountain that towers above Aix. The peak is around 3300 feet high and the mountain's big claim to fame is that Paul Cezanne painted it scores of times from innumerable different vantage points.

Every year, students on our exchange program climb it, and yesterday, I and five others continued the tradition.

We took a bus from the center of Aix that drops you off by the Barrage de Bimont, a giant dam at the base of the mountain. From there, we followed a rocky path that twists through woods, up craggy faces, and along barren cliffs. That said, it wasn't too difficult for college students without hiking boots to climb.

There are plenty of stops along the way; from each successive lookout, the view down over Provence becomes progressively more breaktaking. You can see Aix-en-Provence, the nuclear power plant that illuminates it, and all the hills and mountains for miles.

Yesterday was a warm day, and it wasn't until we got close to the summit that the winds really started to pick up. Once they did, they were piercing, practically a full-force Mistral that had nothing between its cold northern origins and us, atop a mountain.

It took about an hour and a half to reach the summit. At the top stands a giant cross called the Croix de Provence as well as a small shelter in which we huddled against the wind and ate lunch. Despite the shocking cold of the wind, the view from the summit is incredible. We were lucky enough to have gorgeous blue skies for our visit, although it did get hazy in the distance.
Coming back down took less time, obviously, but still close to an hour and a half. Afterwards, we ate well-earned ice cream back in Aix. I was thoroughly worn out after the trip, but I also had a huge sense of accomplishment: I mean, we climbed a mountain!

It feels redundant to say that the strikes are continuing. It's really unclear how long they'll last; everytime people expect an end, the strikes seem to ramp up for even longer. The good news is that most of my classes have resumed, except for two. And those two classes should be replaced by equivalent classes from the exchange program. In other words, as much as the strike might continue at La Fac, it's essentially over for me. Which is great news!

Le Parking et l'Oppidum d'Entremont

Here are some pictures to help better explain the underground parking system in Aix. The biggest, with 1800 spots, is Parc Rotonde. As the name implies, it's buried beneath La Rotonde.
There are five—yes, five—levels buried beneath the center of town, and each one has a sign indicating where there are free spaces.
Finally, each aisle of parking spaces has lights to indicate whether the space is taken or not. I noticed later that, in the leftmost picture, the lights don't seem to work properly over every space, but you get the idea.
On Sunday I saw something thoroughly less modern. To the north of Aix is L'Oppidum d'Entremont, a pre-Roman settlement that dates from about 200 B.C. and was inhabited by the Salyes people, who were a mix of Celtic and Ligurians. The Romans settled Aix-en-Provence, known then as Aqaue Sextiae, and later invaded the Entremont. OK, other than that, I didn't learn a huge amount—the signage at the ruins is pretty lacking. I did, however, learn that the Salyes people loved beheading their enemies and would keep their enemies' heads as trophies.The ruins are perched atop a hill and form part of a fairly large park. It's pretty, quiet, and isolated from the noises of the city, which cannot be said for Aix's parks. Because it's on a hill, you can also see all of Aix and its environs. I hadn't realized, for example, that Aix is in a valley surrounded by hills and mountains. I only knew of Mont Sainte-Victoire, which was even more visible from the Entremont.

It was a gorgeous afternoon and after laying in the sun (reading Les Trompeuses Esperances for school, of course) I was even a tiny bit sunburned! All very enjoyable and relaxing except for one tiny problem: we'd taken a bus from Aix to the Entremont, but, as it was Sunday in France, the bus had stopped by the time we walked back. Fortunately, the walk back is a gentle slope that passes gorgeous—and doubtlessly expensive—Provençal houses. Later, I checked on Google Maps and the walk back to my apartment was "only" about 3 miles. Still, it was a great and somewhat educational afternoon.

Manifestation!

Of all days to leave my camera at home, Thursday was not the day. It was the day when students and professors from La Fac paraded through the streets beating drums, chanting, and generally causing ruckus. The police formed a sort of rolling roadblock, driving ahead of the crowd to close off roads and let the protesters through. Fortunately, someone else from our exchange program got pictures, and they're the ones I'm using here.

The manifestation in Aix was one of many all round the country; between 24,000 and 50,000 people are thought to have demonstration throughout France. The students, professors, and unions still aren't happy with the education reforms, and it looks like the strike could carry on for a while longer. We'll know more Tuesday.

Yesterday some students and I went to Carrefour again and bought cheese, fromage-flavored Lays chips, sandwich meat, and other snacks for a picnic this afternoon in Parc Jourdan. The wind is still fairly cold, but it's been pretty warm if you can stay in the sun. Today's high was supposed to be 16ºC/61ºF.

This morning I went to the markets with Mme G. She suggested we drive, and though at first I thought that was a waste because we live close centre ville, I'm glad that we did. All throughout Aix I'd noticed that the parking structures are underground, with signs next to the ramps down that show how many spaces are free. What I didn't realize is that the parking lots go five levels under the city! It's logical, of course: it doesn't use up valuable real estate and keeps the city prettier.

Once you get your ticket and enter each level, displays tell you how many spaces are free in each direction (ie. 11 free to the left, or 124 free to the right). All fairly straightforward. What really impressed me was the lighting in each aisle. Above each parking space is a little LED that turns red if the space below is taken, green if it's free, and blue if it's a handicapped space. That saves you driving all the way down an aisle that's full. It was all very cool and, once again, I didn't have my camera. I'm surprised more parking lots don't implement a system like that; Mme G said she hasn't seen that outside Aix, and it's obviously a pricey system: parking for two hours cost €4!

At the markets I got to taste more types of cheeses, dips, pastes, and even honeys. As today was a beautiful day, the markets were packed. People say that French people buy the majority of their food at markets, and Saturday is typically the busiest day. It's a fantastic atmosphere, because all the vendors are willing to chat and offer free samples. Like I said before, you can truly buy anything: meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, spices, honey, clothes, soap, jewelry, plates and cups, all sorts.

Sur le Pont d’Avignon, the strikes go on

Last Saturday I went to Avignon with my grandparents, which is an hour’s bus ride from Aix. What the town is famous for, of course, is the Pont St Bénézet, the bridge immortalized by the song, “Sur le pont d’Avignon, l’on y danse, l’on y danse”. We walked out on the bridge, although it’s only partly there because floods in th 17th century washed part of it down the Rhône. Apparently, historians believe people actually danced sous (under) the bridge on an island, not sur (on) it as the song says.

Avignon is surrounded by ramparts that are surprisingly intact. They’re not huge and, I read, aren’t very well-built ramparts; they were more meant to intimidate than truly keep intruders out. At the center of town is the Palais des Papes, an impressive, imposing building left over from when the papacy was in Avignon and not Rome. Overall, Avignon is a charming little town and I’m really glad we went.

On Monday, the unions at La Fac decided to continue their strike until Friday, when they’ll reconvene and see if they’ve changed their mind. I did think it was fruitless to continue striking when the government was obviously ignoring the enseignants-chercheurs, but then I saw on the news last night that the education ministers are meeting today to discuss the issue. Another interesting tidbit from last night’s news: numerous government officials, including President Sarkozy, received death threats in the mail the other day. The envelopes contained 9-mm bullets and letters threatening to kill the officials and their families. Given how many ministers received letters and that they contained bullets, the police are taking it quite seriously.

This morning our program had brought in a graduate student to give us advice on studying for history classes so that, if and when they recommence, we’ll be ready. The session was useful and it’ll be hugely helpful, but it was also a little terrifying. The grad student told us we could expect tests to consist of a single question for which we had four hours to write a response; he said he typically takes an hour and a half on the draft alone. Ugh.

For lunch I had a crêpe at Crêpes à GoGo which had melted goat’s cheese and ham. It was absolutely delicious. Yet even with all the cheeses, crêpes, and Italian food I’ve been eating lately, I have still lost six pounds since arriving in Aix. Without a doubt, it’s due to walking. For example, to get my hair cut I walked 1.2 miles each way, according to Google Maps. And that’s not including going to classes, the program office, and so on.

This afternoon I took a big plunge and had my hair cut in France. I went to a place called Sarl Hair Discount Coiffure, which had been suggested by another exchange student. In hindsight, I should have called and made a reservation, because they made me wait for about half an hour, but it was worth the wait. I struggle to explain how I’d like my hair cut even in English, so I took pictures from last time I had my hair cut in the U.S. With those and my explanation (I learned all sorts of new haircut-specific vocabulary!) I ended up with exactly the haircut I’d hoped for. And for just €13, I was happy.

As with France en Perspective, my Friday Expression Ecrite class is canceled because that school’s winter break is this week. Sometimes I struggle to see the “study” part of study abroad…

Trip to Italy: Part 2

Read the first part of my Italian adventure here.

After Milan, we took the train to Florence. Because this train trip was during the day, we got to see the Italian countryside, and it's perhaps even more dramatic than that of Provence. Tiny villages peek out from between rolling mountain ranges and steep valleys all along the railway between Milan and Florence, and it's really pretty.

As soon as you leave the train station in Florence, people try to sell you all sorts of junk: "Rolex" watches, "Gucci" bags, "Dolce & Gabana" sunglasses; there are big signs throughout the city warning tourists against buying counterfeit stuff. Finding our hostel was a little tricky because it was on the tiny Volta dei Tintori, yet we could only see the larger and adjacent Corso dei Tintori on the map. But it was much closer to the center of Florence than the Milan hostel, which was convenient.

Every building in Florence is beautiful, old, and exhibits stereotypically Mediterranean architecture. It's a really gorgeous city to walk through. Unfortunately, Florence is closed on Mondays. We first tried to visit the Palazzo Pitti, but found it was open every day other than Monday. We also found that the Uffizi Gallery was shut; a nearby restaurant owner told me that Monday was a "free day" in Italy and everything is closed. Which I wish we'd known ahead of time.

Anyway, the Opera di Santa Marie del Fiore—a big cathedral in the center of Florence—was open so we looked around. It, like the Duomo du Milano, is an enormous building and looks spectacular on the inside. This time, we were allowed to take pictures, although they don't really convey the sense of scale. The Opera was far smaller than the Duomo, but still ornately finished with an elaborate painting on the ceiling of its dome. Of course, the most intriguing aspect of the Opera was that you can climb its tower, called Giotto's Campanile. Now, the sign at the bottom warned that there were 414 steps to the top, but that didn't deter us. Note to self: climbing 414 concrete steps takes a serious toll on your knees and thighs.

There are two landings partway up the tower, yet the view from them doesn't compare to the spectacular panorama from the top, some 278 feet above Florence. As far as the eye can see are the tiled roofs, until they give way to the mountains that surround Florence. It's also notable from the top how the long, straight streets fan out from the center of the city. Click the image below for a larger view.



Given that so much was closed, we spent a lot of time wandering around Florence, which is a great town and looks very much how you'd expect an old Italian town to look. We did manage to get to the Uffizi Gallery when it was open, although they were performing renovations and had closed big portions of the museum. What was still open seemed really poorly organized: some large rooms would hold a few, uninteresting works, whilst small rooms held numerous, famous works. Hence you always had to push through crowds to see things.

Because the two towns are so close and Europe has a good understanding of public transport, we took a train to Pisa for the afternoon. Even though it's about 60 miles from Florence, return tickets were only €10 each! Once again, we were offered all sorts of knockoff watches and sunglasses. Pisa is actually a pretty town, although I hadn't realized that the leaning tower is part of the town. For some reason, I had visions of it being set in a large, empty field. Instead, the tower has buildings all around; it's hard to stand far enough back to get a picture of it, and you don't really see the effect of the 4º lean without the horizon as a point of reference. Still, I'm glad I went to see it. I'll admit, though, that I left feeling like when I saw Niagara Falls: it's the sort of thing you see once, but don't really need to visit again. Having seen the tower and how much it leans, I probably wouldn't rush back.

Updates coming... tomorrow

This weekend, my grandparents came to visit and I got thrown off providing a full update about Italy. Tomorrow, however, I'll have plenty of time to upload pictures as both of my classes tomorrow are canceled. The morning history class is, of course, canceled due to the strike, while my afternoon one is canceled due to a scheduling mix-up. France en Perspective is taught at the IEFEE, whose winter break is this week while La Fac's was last week. The results is a day without class which should finally allow me to catch up on things like blogging, schoolwork, and showering... just kidding about that last one.