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!