Bonjour à tous!
It’s been a pretty relaxed week and weekend in Dijon, for me at least. The rest of France is all worked up about the potential increase of the retirement age, and there was a grève (strike) starting last Tuesday that continued to Saturday. Mainly the bus drivers and train operators were striking which posed some problems for getting to and from the university campus. It was also a huge headache for my friends leaving the country this weekend. They all made it to their respective destinations, but they had to change trains and leave earlier and were all stressed. Let’s hope they make it back tonight.
I’m mad at myself for not having my camera, but I saw a huge demonstration in Centre Ville, and then somehow involved myself in the parade of protestors as I walked home. It was a little frightening, but I eventually made a turn to get away from it. As I was walking along, I saw a couple of French guys sitting and watching the parade of strikers, drinking wine and eating cheese. SO stereotypical. All they were missing was berets.
For some reason, high school students are the most worked up about this retirement age thing, so I happened to be in Centre Ville another afternoon when a massive group of students was parading through the streets and protesting. Apparently they don’t actually go to school? I’m still so confused as to what the big deal is. Most French people work 35 hour weeks anyway, and the current retirement age is 60, even 55 for some. Cry me a river.
Friday night, a couple of girls on my program and I went to an Australian themed bar in Dijon. It was fun to go out, and we ended up meeting some other Americans who are here studying from Colby College. The majority of them are freshmen who got deferred and were given the option to either go abroad or start school in January. It’s a little weird because these kids have never actually been to college, so they’re newbies at the whole going out thing. We met a few of the juniors on their program, and they basically have to babysit the freshmen. I’m glad I’m with a self-sufficient group.
A few in kids in my program who are in a different section of classes at the university met a girl from UNC (small world), who is living in Dijon for the year, taking classes and doing research. She’s way cool, and she invited some of us to her apartment for dinner last night. Her friend was visiting from London, and they cooked us a feast of roasted duck (named Gaspard) stuffed with sausage and pears and brussel sprouts. I was super impressed by her cooking skills (since mine are severely lacking), and I felt so sophisticated going to a little dinner party at this amazing apartment in France.
After a fun weekend, my Sunday will be spent doing homework…not fun.
À la prochaine!
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