Quelle week-end! (What a weekend!)

1. Gares and Taxis

I thought I had my Friday lined up perfectly. I had planned the whole day hour by hour, perhaps even minute by minute. But I didn't count on a certain fact - there were two train stations, not one, in Aix. One for the normal local trains, another for the TGV (fast intercity trains). Good thing I arrived 45 minutes beforehand at the normal train station; unfortunately the only way I could get to the TGV station in time was by taxi...

NEVER EVER EVER TAKE A TAXI IN FRANCE. EVER. I MEAN IT.

For a 12 minute journey, it cost me 35 euros. It was more expensive than my one way train trip to Paris. I would have killed the taxi driver, were I not late for my train.

A lesson learnt...but at least I made my train.

2. Arrival in Paris

The TGV is insanely fast. It got to Paris in 3 hours...or maybe I am just used to massive distances in Australia. When I arrived in Paris there was ice covering the top half of the train...not sure if that was due to the cold, or the speed, or a combination of the two.

Anne-Laure was waiting for me at the platform; I stayed at her place that evening. She has a nice little apartment not too far out from Paris city. We spoke about random AIESEC stuff for many hours; unfortunately in English but I think I was still too stressed from only just catching the train to be able to speak in French.

3. AIESEC Culture shock

I started the day working with the AIESEC France Member Committee with a good deal of excitement; I ended the day in a state of despair and shock.

I met the French MC team, everyone except the MCP (President). I am not sure why, but he couldn't be there this weekend. Anne-Laure who I had already met was the VP Finance, Karim was the VP External Relations, Nelyenka (or Nely) their VP ICX, Daniela (or Dani) their VP PD, and Jany their VP OGX. The last three were internationals, a curious fact. Apparently at the moment AIESEC in France lacks the existing talent to produce a complete, or near complete, MC team - or at any rate, the talent never stays around long enough. Nely is from Slovakia, Dani from Germany, Jany from Romania. Everyone was extremely friendly. For the next two days, we were joined by Julie from Bordeaux (a fellow ground level member selected into the steering team), François from the NTT and an MCP candidate in the upcoming conference, and Marc, LCP of one of the Parisian LCs (ESIEA I think). I knew Marc well, as he had done a CEED in Queensland last July and had attended the National Conference.

For those of you not familiar with AIESEC, I apologise for the excessive number of acronyms in the previous paragraph. Count how many there are, and post it in the comments!!

We started off with a breakfast of fresh baguettes and jam and/or cheese...I enjoyed it as it is still something very exotic for me, but I could see for the rest it was just a cheap breakfast on an MC salary.

We started the day with a bit of a get to know you, why we joined the organisation and why we were here sort of thing...Marc seemed rather cynical actually, and was not sure wure why he was here. I thought he was going through a down phase, but it seemed to be consistent across the weekend.

There is no need to bore you with the details of everything we went through, but I must point out what happened in the measurement survey section. All the 15 LCs had been asked to fill out a survey resembling an audit, so we could do some data analysis and find out the current state of the organisation. Of the 15 LCs, only 9 filled them in, and after some number crunching, I realised the results were atrocious. Most of the LCs were doing no exchanges at all, had no members, and in general had no clue. Some LCs were spending their time and money running massive parties, whereas others existed in name only - for example, in one LC, the ENTIRE Executive Board had left the country for half a year, and only just returned. After the upcoming conference, there would be no LCs with full membership status...Bordeaux (Aurelie's LC) would be the only LC that qualified, but they were only founded recently so were yet to obtain membership status. There is some hope - Marseilles and Bordeaux seemed to be heading the right way, but with such a weight of national problems I don't know how long such hope could last.

Why had this situation come about? The problem for me lay in the MC activities. They are certainly well-intentioned, but their priorities are quite stuffed. They have been bogged down in managing the partnership with Alcatel - matching, delivering and receiving 40 trainees per year, amongst 6 people. This clearly leaves little time to assist the LCs, who are deeply in need of assistance (and who had called for it in the survey). The Parisian LCs are completely insane - one of them has a 15 person reception team, but they refuse to help receive the MC interns (even if the LCs are paid for it), instead spending their time running huge parties and welcoming exchange students (???). They are loaded with money given to them by their universities, so the excuse of bullying by the uni adminstration existed. Bullying into what the university wanted, that is.

On that note...excuses. This deeply, deeply frustrated me. I noticed this particularly in the French in the room (with the exception of Julie), and even to an extent in the internationals. Everyone seemed to be saying why things couldn't work, but nobody was keen on proposing solutions - at least at first anyway. I found myself pushing everyone in the room along to think about the organisational vision, and why all their excuses and saying 'no' would not lead to the vision. We have no choice but to hit the vision no matter what, and unless they committed to that, then we should just give up now and go home. Most people were moved into a more creative mode after this, and became more solutions focused, and we started to produce some tangible and useful output. I think the only thing separating me from them was that I had only just arrived, and I had not time to slip into this organisational depression...

I have heard that this kind of misery is an element of French culture. It is only in AIESEC I have run across it, but then again, it is the only place I have had to work with French people on non-academic work; i.e. somewhere where morale is an absolute must. At any rate, AIESEC France needs to move out of this state of misery and problems-focused thinking if they want to go anywhere.

By the end of the weekend, we had chosen a series of steps to be taken to fix up the country. Some were the 'hard line' - a kind of self-selection process to take place at the national conference and with the assistance of the MC on their LC visits. Then there was the middle line, which the strategic task force would be responsible for: we would be finding one key person in as many LCs as possible, and getting them to help us drive discussion on aiesec.net and on a local level too. This discussion would concern things like the state of AIESEC France, the global direction, how AIESEC France can be made relevant to the issues faced by the country, etc. Then there was the 'soft' line, which involves national recognition and encouragement of those LCs which are headed the right way.

We seemed to end with a kind of excitement in the air, which was energising for me. I know that the moment this country flings off its state of despair, it can achieve utterly extraordinary things. I say that because as a nation France faces massive issues in society right now, has a strong need for new leadership, and above all, has people who care. AIESEC France simply needs to look inside itself and revolutionise itself to draw in these people, and it will become extraordinary.

4. Les rues de Paris

I should describe the night activity that took place as well, as the steering team was over the weekend and I had 3 nights in Paris. The first night I just slept. The second night, I went to a trainee party at an AIESEC pub - there were 30 trainees there; incredible! Most of them were Alcatel trainees. Most incredible of all was the fact that I ran into my old friend Subash!!!! He had spent a year on the Australian MC as the Australia - India Young Leaders Program Coordinator, and was now on an internship in Alcatel Paris. It was certainly a surprise, as I expected him to be in India, and he expected me to be in Australia. We talked for many hours catching up...he seems to be having a blast here in Paris, and his French is non-existent. I am glad now that I chose Aix, because in Paris I know I would not have been able to learn French with everyone speaking English at me continually. Subash will be here for another 5 months or so, definitely will catch up with him again when I am in Paris.

I met some other fun trainees...a bizarre and hilarious guy from India called Manu, and a fun guy from Estonia called Marius.

The next night I wandered through the streets of Paris with Julie, Neli and Dani for about 4 hours. Got all the obligatory Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe photos...but there seems to be much more to Paris than these two icons. Under the Arc de Triomphe is the worst traffic I have ever seen. There were simply no rules. It kind of looked like dodgem cars...and yes, there probably that many bumps. Even driving in India was nothing compared to this!!! There cars nearly doing head on collisions, side-on collisions, any kind of collision. There were no lanes, no lights, nothing...i expected better from France, but drivers in this whole country seem to be quite bad. Or worse than Sydney anyway.

I had many long conversations with the 3 of them during our long walk. Dani was particularly interesting...she has been in AIESEC for 6 years, and had considered running for AIESEC International, but finally decided against it. We traded opinions and understandings on AIESEC and the world at large, and most of all on French culture. Especially the 'desperation' element of it...it was something quite extraordinary for us to comprehend. Having been in France for 6 months she had a much stronger understanding than me, but tells me that every time she looks a little further into AIESEC France or French culture, she gets a massive surprise. I enjoyed the chats of the evening even more than walking around Paris. It was during this walk a bizarre feeling came over me...homesickness, not for Sydney, but for Aix-en-Provence! It seems Aix has truly become a home for me. I tried to cast my thoughts back to Sydney...yes I remember it well, but the attachment seems to be dying...certain rooms in my house seem to have the feeling of being long-distant memories. While I still have a long way to go before I understand French culture and even the language (which I must say I have improved in considerably), on some basic level, France has become my home.

Extrémités (Extremities)

Sorry it has been 10 days since I last posted. Wait, who am I apologising to? Anyway, this blog has been a means of coping with culture shock, so since I have settled in well, I haven't felt the need to post on the blog. I will post at least once a week from now on though.

1. AIESEC France

I went to Marseilles two weekends ago to meet the AIESEC people there. They seem exceptionally motivated, mature and intelligent individuals, which makes me wonder why they were not performing. The reason seems to be their strategies, which are archaic and business-focused. They need to be more creative in their approach; it will help them considerably.

AIESEC France is currently underperforming - certainly the national ICX strategies are a problem, but I believe the membership is generally not very motivated too (Marseille seems to be a notable exception). After writing an 11 page application I was selected to the AIESEC France long-term strategy team; I'm going to recommend they really look at their membership and see if they are up to scratch. After that, they need to completely change their recruitment methods and brand awareness...bla bla bla. I won't go on, because you are probably already asleep.

One interesting thing though is that AIESEC France is paying 75% of my return trip to Paris for the meeting. Unfortunately I will be working all day there, but at nights I will definitely explore the city. Don't worry Vinita, I am sure I will have company, so I won't get set alight by a French mob hurling Molotov cocktails.

I have been charged with the responsibility of putting together a team in Aix as an adjoint to Marseilles; this seems ridiculous as with not much extra work I can setup a Local Branch here. I am going to persuade the national branch of the organisation to let me do that. I have been working hard on this recently, but not at the expense of my studies, which I am also working hard on.

2. The obligatory 'meaning of life' chat

I had a long chat with Rob the other day about the purpose we individually have attached to our lives. The contrast was interesting - he said life was too short to take seriously, and I responded by saying that life was too short to NOT take seriously. He argued that we can leave the world a better place simply by living good lives centred around the self and our local friends/community, to which I responded that the only way to truly change the world is by macro effect - i.e. by devoting our lives to positive change, and real policy change at that. Yet I looked at myself, in the midst of stress and mental decay, and then at Rob, totally calm, playing his guitar. Are devoting ourselves to a world we will never see really worth it?

There are no easy answers to these questions. But all I know is this - all human beings are gifted creatures, and they can do pretty much anything they want to. The key phrase is 'want to'. Once we've hit the basics of shelter, food and clothing, what do we want? Happiness according to 90% of people. How do we reach happiness? The Dalai Lama says through compassion. But should that compassion go so far as to destroy our own sense of wellbeing? Did people like Mandela and Gandhi get it right by sacrificing their own happiness for a cause? Or did they not actually sacrifice any happiness at all, and they in fact attained it simply by the act of sacrifice?

I have no idea.

3. Nicole departs

Nicole had warned me that she might be leaving due to the fact that the subjects available here would not let her graduate. Then one day, she was gone. She left a lot of stuff in front of Leah's door, and that was how we knew she had departed. I heard something also about how she had seen some person follow her through the street for an unusally long distance, and that she felt the accommodation was not secure. I don't know if she actually said all this, this is only hearsay.

I find it hard to believe - Aix is much more safe than Sydney, probably the safest city I have ever spent time in.

A somewhat expensive holiday, given that she would have paid for 3 months accommodation by then already!!

4. TERRORIST ATTACK???? No, just a terrorist attack.

There was an attemped terrorist attack the other day in Marseilles. Apparently some Corsican separatist tried to carry a bomb into the post office, but it exploded in his hands beforehand. I was quite surprised to hear this to say the least, but apparently terrorist acts by Corsican seperatists are quite common in the south of France. When it was mentioned in my class that there was a attempted terrorist attack in Marseille, people were shocked, until it was added that this person was a Corsican separatist, at which everyone said something like 'Oh ok that's alright then' !!!!

How bizarre...


For 10 days that's not much is it? I guess I've learnt the art of concision. :)

La Révélation (The Revelation)

1. A message for AIESEC Australia

A HUGE Congratulations to Ralph Panebianco, MCP-elect of AIESEC in Australia. When it comes to any AIESEC elections I am a lot tougher than I used to be, and am much less likely to throw my support someone mindlessly than I would in the past. Having said that, and having scrutinised his platform very carefully, I have complete faith in Ralph to be an excellent national President. I think he really has got the national priorities straight. In particular, I like his committment to the 'Culture of Excellence' strategy - AIESEC is not going anywhere until we get that minimum correct. I'm glad to see it is high up in his priority list.

I wish best of luck to all the MC candidates too - it is a tough election, I think there are roughly double the number of candidates than there are positions. Even if you aren't elected this time, treat it as a learning experience and move on to the next challenge. My Local Committee collapsed just as my LCP term was about to finish - not exactly the greatest morale booster in the world! However having reflected on the year, and done my best to rectify the situation, I have learnt an unbelievable amount and am so much the stronger as a result. No more how devestating the situation is, you can always get something incredible out of it by treating it as an educational experience.

On a much lighter note, and nothing to do with anything, today I saw a street called 'Rue Craponne'. Make what you will of that.

2. Bureaucrastan

France is well and truly Bureaucrastan. Everything requires pages and pages and pages of paperwork to complete, not to mention the obligatory passport photos. When paying for my accommodation, I had to give in 3 passport photos. When getting my student card, another passport photo. When apply for a residency card, another 4 passport photos! The application for the residency card is particularly frustrating...it contains about 4 forms, most of which ask the same questions as each other. We have to supply along with the forms a whole series of documents (I believe there is about 10 or so), almost all of which we needed to use before when applying for a visa. Why do we need to send them all again, if they know they exist due to the fact that we have a visa????

Another feature of Bureaucrastan is extreme disorganisation. I have been to far too many classes where nobody, including the professors, has any idea which room we were supposed to be in for the class. We will spend the first 10-15 minutes hunting around for the correct room, and will sometimes just crash in some place that looks empty. If the other students don't know where we are, their problem.

There are also many, many occasions where the professors simply don't turn up. Apparently something else more important has grabbed their attention, like calling their mistresses, so they decide not to come into 'teach' that day. Given the way most of the lectures seem to run in FRance, they should seriously just tape it and send that in to the IEP, and hire another bureaucrat to press play and stop when necessary. To give an example of this frequency of cancellation, in one day I walked in twice to the IEP from my residence ( a good half hour walk), and BOTH TIMES the classes were cancelled. They even have a week called 'Rattrapage', where the professors run make up lessons for all the canceled classes. Tom Bowes tells me this is by far the busiest week of the year.

It is worth noting that IEP is actually run by a branch of the French government, and is thus subject to the same management style (or lack thereof) governing the French public sector.

This has been a good experience for me. I used to be a fan of big government, but seeing the shocking levels of bureaucracy in this country has convinced me beyond all doubt for the need for mass privativisation. In a bizarre twist for quasi-socialist me, I can imagine myself joining a protest by a group of economists, with bad slogans like 'Outsource everything!' and 'Efficiency, not bureaucracy!' I used to think that big government ensured protection of the little people from the big people, but that is the role of the judicial branch, not the executive (as represented by administrators and bureaucrats). Furthermore, an economy which is dominated by an inefficient publiuc sector and which drowns people in a flood of paperwork is definitely to the detriment of all, big and little alike.

3. More interesting characters along the way...

Obviously I have not been sticking completely with the 'group' I mentioned earlier; it turns out there are a lot more IEP international students at my Residence, and I have also befriended a good deal of other people at my residence who don't go to IEP. There are too many to talk about now, so I will talk about a few of them in different places throughout the blog.

Marc-André: A really tall guy from Quebec, he is possibly double my height (or close). He has a very strong Quebecois French accent, so strong in fact that when he speaks in French to the locals, they respond to him in English! I had problems understanding his French as well, but speaking to him a lot has helped me decode what he and other Quebecois are saying. Thankfully he speaks very good English too, if we are in need of clarifying anything that I don't understand. Marc-André is unintentionally extremely funny - he says things which are so utterly blunt and politically incorrect without realising it, that we can't help but burst out into laughter. Or I can't help it anyway. Marc-André also happens to the be the biggest Lord of the Rings fan I have ever met. There are bigger ones, but I am in no hurry to meet them. He's read The Hobbit 4 times, Lord of the Rings 6 times and The Silmarillion 5 times. At one point he was able to read Elvish, but he decided it was probably a better idea to pursue a living language like Spanish.

The Dutch: Jos and Adinda. Jos is a big, friendly, wine-tasting, good-cooking, intellectual sort of guy from the Netherlands. Whenever there is a social event of some sort, Jos is there. He is one of those people who, even though I don't know him REALLY well, will come to define my exchange experience by his continual presence. Jos has recently completed a minor in European Union Studies, so we often listen to him talk about the EU, which is alwys quite interesting. Adinda is fairly quiet so I don't know her too well, but she is definitely a friendly individual.

The Norwegians: Marie and Christiana. Marie is like Jos, in that she is alwys present at some sort of event, and will be one of those people who define my memories of this part of the year. An avid smoker, she says she had once quit but restarted because it was 'the French Way'. She knows how stupid a reason that is, thankfully, but that hasn't slowed down the cigarettes. She is quite a good cook, and has always shown a lot of concern for me as a vegetarian and ensured that there is food for me to eat. Definitely a very friendly, warm individual. Christiana looks like a typical Norwegian - she has blond hair, a sort of 'Scandinavian look', and of course her voice oscillates up and down when she speaks in her accented (but very good) English. Character-wise I have difficulty separating her out from Marie, but I guess I need to get to know them better.

Emelie: She lives on my floor, and is completely insane - in a good way. When someone introduced me to her and said I was Australian, she immediately said she had only met one other Australian before, and that Australian was not capable of speaking in non-swear words. Wonderful introduction. Whenever I see her, she always has something bizarre and random to say, usually accentuated by her dramatic delivery. And for some reason she is always carrying toilet paper. I don't know if I only see her when she is off to the toilet, or if she just enjoys running down the halls with rolls of toilet paper in her hand. From Tahiti, French is her native tongue but her English is not so great - we have committed to teaching each other our respective native languages. Today she taught me the word for toilet paper.

Bernard: Rob's neighbour, and possibly even more insane than Emelie. When I first met him I thought he was drunk, but he actually speaks like that all the time, or is always drunk. Of an enormous stature and with a great orange beard and hair that covers most of his face, he looks a good deal like Frederick Barbarossa. He is German, but speaks exceptionally eloquent French. The story of when I first conversed with him is an interesting - I was walking up the stairs, and he was in front of the coffee machine buying something, when he randomly asked me if I thought a 'prejudice' and a 'cliché' were the same thing - I had never even spoken to the guy before! I discussed the question with him for 30 minutes, completely in French, and we reached some sort of agreement. I could tell by his expression and seriousness that he felt very profound in asking that question and in asking it as randomly as he did, but in retrospect I think it was quite pointless. He is a litterature student, and the profound silliness of the question did nothing to improve my opinion of philosophy, especially of the student / café variety. Nonetheless he is still an interesting person, because I am able to describe him in terms other than 'friendly' and 'nice'! Perhaps 'random' is the way to go with this one.

That is all the characters for now...stay tuned for more in future blogs...

4. The Revelation

If you know me, you know that I am a super stressed-out person. I can sometimes get so stressed that I am incapacitated for 2 days at a time. This is not healthy, and naturally has been taking its toll on my health. The other day I felt my stress levels reach new highs, with the combination of culture shock and administrative nightmares and all sorts of imaginary problems. I was no longer able to think clearly. I hopped on the internet and starting searching for ways of de-stressing myself. I found some Buddhist literature on calm, and a quotation by the Dalai Lama which I will never forget as long as I live:

"If your problem has a solution, then there's no need to worry. If your problem doesn't have a solution, then there's nothing you can do, so there's no point worrying anyway."

This probably seems like simple common sense for many of you. But for someone in a state of super stress, this little quotation was like a God-send. I really thought about the phrase and what it means - it means that no matter what, we NEVER need to worry about anything! Worry is a completely useless state of mind!! This was a grand revelation for me, and its consequences have been extraordinary. Since I stopped worrying, I feel like I've woken up after years of being asleep. It's amazing. My ability to think clearly and creatively has increased enormously. My feeling of self-disclipine (e.g. doing things like daily back stretches, getting up at 6:30am, etc.) has increased exponentially too. For the first time in a long time, it really feels good to get up every morning, and to use every moment of the day to its fullest!

L'Adaptation (The Adjustment)

Last few days have been a cooling off phase of sorts. I was meant to join the other international students for a trip to Marseille, but I was too exhausted and braindead from a day of concentrating on 2 and a half hour classes in French followed by a late night.

I slept pretty much half the day, then woke with up with a sudden urge to learn French grammar. It seems the good old days of high school when I had a real desire to learn have returned to me. I spent much of the rest of the weekend looking over French grammar and memorising massive conjugation tables - just like Latin and Sanskrit, all over again.

The trip to Marseille had apparently been uneventful; Rob had bought himself a secondhand guitar and was playing it Sunday - he is definitely a talented musician. The first thing he saw when he got off the bus in Marseille was a drunk woman swearing at a moving car, then spitting on it. Talk about a wonderful welcome to the city. There was a party that evening at the apartment of one of the Swedes living in Marseille; he met a mad homeless man there who spoke 10 languages. This seemed rather odd, if he spoke 10 languages one would imagine he would be able to seek stable employment and housing. It was probably the mad part of him that stopped him from doing so.

A bunch of us had lunch in Rob's room on Sunday, which he has renamed the 'Teahouse' and setup to look a bit like a caféteria. I met a cool guy there called Youssef from Madagascar who spoke fluent English and French and a lot of Spanish too. He wants to be a professional translator, and I think he'll do a good job. I was shocked to hear he was 27; he was the liveliest 27 year old I had ever met. I know 27 isn't that old, but I really thought he was like 20, 21. He was definitely much more lively than me, but for those of you who know me, that isn't exactly difficult.

I had a couple of classes today which sort of made sense, and then a horrifying class in European Law...I have to read court judgments in French!!! But its actually not that bad; they seem to write in language much more simplified than Australian judges...or less pretentious is probably the best phrase. The hard part is listening to the teacher as he is not easily comprehensible. It does not matter; I am doing plenty of side research on the structure of the EU and the nature of its legal system.

That's all for now. à bientôt!

La courbe de cloche (The Bell Curve)

A number of you have asked for my mailing address, so here it is: Chambre 2228, Pavillion 2, Cité Universitaire de Cuques, Rue de Cuques, Aix-en-Provence, France, Postcode 13621. I don't have a telephone number as yet, but will post it when I do.

1. The Laundry (more interesting than it sounds!)

The laundry bag seemed to be filling up, possibly because I am a little paranoid about cleanliness (this is a sudden thing; as I said I never cared too much about being a neat-freak in Sydney). It was a bit of a trek with a big laundry bag, and using the machines was a bit confusing. Luckily I ran into a German girl called Melissa who spoke fluent English and had been here for 4 months; she told me how to buy the washing powder, use the washing machine and use the drier. While I sat there waiting I spoke to her for a while, and she told me how her French was still quite bad after 4 months. She had pretty much spoken English non-stop while here, because enough of her fellow students living near her spoke it as well. This rang warning bells for me, because I had assumed that a sojourn in another country for just a couple of months is sufficient to come out speaking fluently in that country's language. It's possible these days to surround yourself by English speakers in nearly any country, and get by speaking minimally in the local language. This is particularly true if surrounded by students. I knew from speaking to her that I had to make a stronger effort to surround myself by French speakers, but I was not sure how much of an effort was needed at that point.

2. The First Class, or, The steep decent phase of the bell curve

Whenever people educate on culture shock, the first thing they whip out is the bell curve diagram. This diagram charts the expected emotional peaks and (mostly) troughs that one endures when living in another country. It starts off with a slight peak, as you are excited and busy with the settling in. However quite rapidly you start to go into decline, with feelings of resentment and homesickness swamping you.

My first class at IEP led to a very sharp emotional decline. It seemed like an easy enough class - it was for second year students, and it was called 'The History of Political Ideas'. Didn't seem too bad. Then I entered the room where the lecture took place. Despite being in the IEP itself and not in the cathedral across the road, it is DEFINITELY a former church. It was a huge amphitheatre type room, but unlike normal amphitheatres where the lecturers are below the audience, the lecturer here was raised up by an enormous pew at the end of the room, and the area where the students' tables are is completely flat. Essentially, all the students needed to look up and at some distance to see the lecturer. If we were in any doubt about the religious origins of this room, it was dispelled by the presence of 2 large crosses, one on either side of where the lecturer sits. It was as if God himself was speaking down to us, and from what I had heard about the French education system, I wasn't too far off.

The lesson itself was devestating to morale. In 2 and a half hours of the lecturer talking at us, I perhaps understood 15 words. Ok maybe a bit more, but not much. He seemed to be talking about Rousseau and the social contract, but I only worked that out because the person sitting next to me saw how lost I was and showed me the syllabus they had received last semester. The lecturer, a professor Ricci, looked like a cross between Richard Nixon and Tintin's Thomson and Thompson. Like Richard Nixon, about 60% of the words were swallowed within his flabby cheeks, and to make things his worse, he seemed to have some sort of lisp. Oh, and of course he spoke in very fast French using political terminology, and I had only been in France for a couple of days. If I had a gun, I think I definitely would have shot him, out of frustration. I began to panic, and say to myself what a mistake it had been for me to come to France, and how I just wanted to go back to Sydney where all things familiar and in English were. With the panic came pain, and my brain responded to the pain by trying to shut itself down. Darkness and tiredness came, and somewhere on the border between sleep and the real world I began to hallucinate, and like the famous surrealist clock, I imagined his flabby cheeks beginning to droop and melt and mix with typed words, spilling out all over the pew.

At some point I woke up, and Ricci Nixon was still talking, and the French students were still scribbling away at their notes as if they were receiving the 10,000 commandments. At some point a giant black dog had entered the room, and was sleeping on the floor - not sure what the deal with that was. Some of the Scandinavian exchange students who I had befriended the previous day had taken the same class; their seats were empty. I followed their cue and left.

3. French class

I had some relief when I went outside; the Scandinavian students were outside complaining that this man was impossible to understand. As terrible as it sounds, it was good to hear the others were having as many problems as me (perhaps not AS many, but they weren't understanding at any rate). I was not alone.

We all headed off to the class in 'French as a foreign language' (hereafter simply 'French Class'), and the difference was incredible. I could understand the teacher's French almost completely! It took about 20 minutes to get to this stage of course, as I had to recover from the extreme shock of the previous class. After some point I was able to relax slightly, but there was still a heavy weight on my mind. It helped that the teacher spoke very clearly and slowly, and ran a very interactive class. We covered some basic grammar, and I think I was able to learn something.

After the class, we went out to a fairly trendy bar called Bar Sextius; Sextius seems to be quite a common name for streets and clubs and bars in Aix - I think it was the name of the Roman General who founded the city in something or other BC. There were lots of other international students from IEP there that night, but I remember having problems being able to think clearly and engage in small talk. I began to feel quite insecure even in this social situation, and confided this insecurity in Nicole. She too seemed to be undergoing some sort of emotional decline, and telling each other of this fact only made us feel worse. It was a long, cold walk back to the accommodation.

4. Plateau

Despite having set my phone alarm, I didn't get up on time. Either I slept through it, or it didn't go off. I had an 8am class called 'Geopolitics of the Major Religions'. It took me forever to get ready; I think subconsciously I didn't want to go to uni again. I trudged along, buying a crèpe along the way for breakfast, and walked into the class 30 minutes late. The professor seemed annoyed at my lateness, asking me where I was. I resisted the temptation to say 'none of your business' (possibly aided by the fact that I didn't know how to say that in French), and said my alarm didn't work. He said, in a most sarcastic tone, that it was a good argument, then said something else for a bit which I didn't understand. I just nodded and smiled. He started talking and didn't stop for an hour. Never once talking about the structure of the course or anything like that, he launched into a speech about the effect of religion on mid-east politics, sporadically mentioning India-Pakistan and Jihad vs Mcworld type things. It seemed interesting, and thankfully we had a break. After the break he kept going for a further 1.5 hours and my attention failed me. He was simply too random, and without knowing even what I was supposed to be understanding, my brain simply gave up. I was still plagued by a strong sense of insecurity, so it was difficult for me to want to concentrate also.

The Scandinavians were also in that class; they were meant to join me for my next class too, one called 'Globalisation and Regionalisation'. However they went and had something to eat instead, given they were braindead after the morning class. It was probably a good in retrospect; I went and sat in that class tired and completely unable to concentrate. However the professor seemed to be kindly with a good sense of humour; he spoke quite slowly and on occassion lapsed into English phrases. Unfortunately I picked up little of what he said due to my own state of mind.

After the class I went and sat outside the room for next class, even though it was an hour and a half away. Excuses for going back to Sydney seemed to be flooding through my head; perhaps I could 'have' a nervous breakdown and get my insurance to cover my return flight. I remembered how a news item about a Chinese student at Monash University who lost his mind from frustration with the language barrier, and ended up shooting a couple of people. I wondered if I would ever go that crazy, and if that would also be covered by my insurance. At any rate, I was definitely ready to go home.

5. The King of the Cake

As I sat there feeling terrible, one of the American exchange students I had befriended two days ago, a guy called Lynn, saw me and came over. He reminded me that a function specifically for international students, Les Galettes du Roi (the cakes of the king), was about to start. Was certainly good timing.

Eglantine had organised the affair; apparently it was a Catholic tradition very common in France. The cake was essentially just pastry with a sweet centre, and with one figurine included in each cake. The idea is that whoever gets the piece with the figurine in it, having presumably not choked on it, wears a crown and pays for the champagne. There was no champagne there, so nobody needed to pay for that, but they were lucky enough to be able keep the figurines and wear the paper crowns provided. With several cakes but many students we only had a slight chance of becoming the king of the cake; I was lucky enough to be one of those kings.

My luck continued to improve, as I felt a tap on the shoulder and a distinctly Australian (but polished) accent say "hello stranger!" It was Tom Bowes, a fellow New Southerner! He was with two other New Southerners, both of whom I knew quite well from UNSW: Stefanie Andrews and Sophie Klineberg. All three seemed very relaxed, and they were quite surprised by my stressed-out state. I actually found it hard to speak in English too, for a few minutes! It was definitely good to see them again, and my mood lifted. They are all based in the other university accommodation, and having taken down their details I promised them I would visit when I could.

6. Ascent

Although somewhat late, I headed for a class entitled 'Environment and Society'. It turned out it was in the same room as the 'Globalisation and Regionalisation' class, and with the same professor. When I walked into the room everyone looked at me and started laughing, and the professor addressed me as your majesty; I realised I was still wearing the crown...

A few minutes in this class made me realise that I had made an excellent choice. The professor, a Mr Michel Duquette, had a good sense of humour and spoke an easily comprehensible French. The topic, concerned with questions of sustainable development, was really interesting too. I was able to understand some 70% of what he said, which was very encouraging. For the first time in what felt like forever, I found something engaging my interest and was able to focus on it. After the class, I found myself able to speak better French! Was definitely a happy moment for me. I now had 2 classes secured with this professor. Unfortunately he did not teach anymore, but I am sure there would be others just as good.

7. Madman van Sloun and a long social occassion

I had my first French class with the teacher who will be taking me for the rest of the semester, a Monsieur van Sloun. I think he is German. I know he is slightly insane, but in a good way, to be sure. A really nice guy, with a bizarre and utterly random sense of humour, he seems to have mastered the art of interactive teaching. To help people remember names, everyone had to come up with a word to go with their name, the only condition being that the word had to start with the same letter as your name. I didn't have to think twice to come up with 'Vinay le vegeterien' - in fact I didn't have to think at all, because Christian suggested it to the class, and it seems to have stuck.

A large bunch of us headed out for dinner afterwards at a Thai restaraunt. Was a slightly weird experience ordering food in French at a Thai restaraunt. Food was good, and as seems to becoming increasingly the norm amongst we international students, we spoke about languages and the joys of being multilingual. Ironically, the whole conversation took place in English, even though out of the whole group of about 10 people only 2 of us were from countries whose official language actually was English (Australia and US respectively). At about 9pm we finished up and headed out to an Irish Pub (O'Malleys) and stayed there until about 1am. Although I was the only teetotaller in the group, I am happy to report that everyone there drinks responsibly.

The conversation at the pub was very interesting. I found out a lot more about Leah - a patriotic American, yet simultaneously a staunch Democrat and a dedicated enemy of George W Bush, she seemed to be feeling the heat of being an American in France. After telling people she is from the US, she has felt snubbed...this is unfortunate, because there are a good number of liberal Americans like her who are just as open-minded and intelligent as their friends over the border, the Canadians. The trouble is, I think they still are in the minority. It's tough for those who study and work overseas, because they are the ones who probably have the most open mind yet cop most of the heat of being American. I myself realised I had my own stereotypes of the country and its people, which is unfortunate, especially because I remember having much more favourable views of the country before George W was 'elected'. It just goes to show the effect that the leadership can have on people's perceptions. I myself am glad to have had the opportunity to change my opinion about the US - in part, anyway.

We stayed in the pub until 1am, and when we left it was COLD. Definitely below zero, because the puddles were frozen over!!!

Mon jour première à l'université (My first day at university)

Despite the title of the posting, I'll actually be covering 2 days here - Jan 2nd and Jan 3rd.

1. The 'Group': Nicole, Leah, Christian

At various points during the 2nd January, Rob and I met three other exchange students who will also be studying at IEP (Institute of Political Studies). They are the only students arriving at this time who live in our accommodation and are studying at IEP, so given the amount we seem to have in common, we have become fast friends. I'll put a little description of each of them. The description for Nicole is longer because she was the first one we met, and we have gotten to know her a bit better.

Nicole, who will be in France for one semester, is originally from Michigan, but has been living and studying (Int Relations) in the capital of Lousinia, Baton Rouge. Apparently the media attack on the US government for their response to Katrina was actually an underestimate of how bad things really were. All her friends from New Orleans lost their homes...its quite sad to hear about the situation from someone who actually saw it. Quite naturally she is not particularly fond of George W Bush, although the Hurricane Response only exacerbated her dislike of the man, as she voted for someone else in the last election.

Nicole is quite a strong Catholic, and she has said she wants to make a visit specially to the Vatican. I asked her opinion on Pope Benedict, and she said that even though she didn't know much about him, she thought he was awesome simply because he was The Pope! Nicole is very friendly, yet is prone to moments of vicious sarcasm. She tells me this is a 'Michigan thing' and to make nothing of it. I guess her sarcasm should be appreciated, because I know its not a very American thing, but a very Australian thing - although our sarcasm seems to be a bit more light-hearted in nature. Nicole also has a tendency to disappear into her own world for periods of time, which is fine by me, because I know do exactly the same thing.

Leah, who will be in France for one semester, is also from Michigan originally, but has been living and studying (also Int Relations) somewhere in Florida. At 19 she is the youngest of us, but seems more mature than her age. Her family is Irish in origin. I guess I don't know her well enough yet to note anything particular, but she is definitely friendly too. I think she is quite a straightforward individual, with no secret, bizarre and unexpected traits, which I know I have often been accused of having in Australia.

Christian is from Cordoba, Argentina. He is extremely valuable to have around, because his English is somewhere close to zero, so we are forced to speak in French with him. He has only been studying French for one year, but he is extremely good considering this - he is at about our level, and we have all studied it longer than him. He also speaks Italian (his mother is Italian) and of course Spanish. He is extremely friendly, and is here for one year, so he is great to have around. I am thinking of picking up Spanish in the second semester, and he has promised to help me if I do :)

2. Walking, fitness and my busted ankle

I must have been really unfit in Sydney. Well actually I already knew that, but I didnt know I was THAT unfit. I've been doing a lot more walking in Aix; its about 20 minute walk to the main Street, and a further 10 minutes to IEP. Since I've gotten here, I've done the round trip to the main St once or sometimes twice a day, which is between 40-80 minutes of walking per day. This isn't much, but I was pretty unfit...not only have I lost a large amount of weight, but also I woke up one morning with a strained ankle, and that was possibly from the 'excessive' walking. Its still busted as I type this, but I've been hobbling along as best as I can. Unfortunately I had to miss an informal social gathering of the international students at IEP because my leg was in too much pain.

Thankfully there is a solution. There is a student organisation called 'Bikes on Campus' which has been around since 1901, and they rent out bicycles to students for either 5 euros per month, or 40 euros for the whole year. While it has been a while since I have ridden a bike, I think it is definitely the best option I have.

3. Random logistics

I had my meeting with the cleaning lady to mark down the state of the room. Even though she spoke extremely quickly, we managed to get some sort of communication going. She gave me some cleaning products and a broom, and promised to send someone to fix the tap (who came quite soon and did fix that tap, thankfully).

I also managed to pay for my accommodation and my fridge, however for some reason I still don't have a fridge. I have to take the proof of payment somewhere else, then bring it back, etc. This kind of inefficient to-ing anf fro-ing seems to be quite common in French bureaucracy. Just another argument for mass privatisation, I guess.

We found an even cheaper supermarket called ED. It seems to work on the basis of mass production, so while the quality suffers somewhat, it is definitely good for students to shop there. Having bought all my food the other day at a slightly more expensive shopping centre called 'Casino', I did not buy anything there. But definitely will in future.

3. The first day at IEP

On the crisp, cold morning of 3rd January, my freedom came to an end. Although thankfully it didn't feel like it, as everyone was really friendly. We were met at the gate of our accommodation by Madeline Neoux, one of the IEP administrators responsible for students, and the person for whom Johanna works. She was extremely friendly, speaking French very slowly, and with a wonderful sense of humour. She took us to the IEP, answering questions along the way.

IEP is a beautiful old building; perhaps once it was a mansion for some fat feudal lord of the Middle Ages. Opposite is a medieval cathedral which looks amazing; apparently some of the classes at IEP take place there. I wish I could say the same about the inside of IEP. It was definitely put together in the 70s, and I don't think it has undergone renovation since then. The general colour of the inside is an off-yellow, perhaps yellow with a smidgen of brown in it. I thought UNSW was ugly, but this really lowers the bar considerably. I guess its just a matter of acclimitisation.

At IEP we were shepherded into a roomwith about 20-30 international students, many of whom spoke much better French than me. There seemed to be a large number of Americans, a good number of Canadians, and a few people from assorted European countries (Czech Republic, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands). A man with a very calm expression and an even calmer voice addressed the room, with a welcome address about subjects and logistics. I felt the at,osphere of the room relax as he spoke - he would be an amazing hypnotist! His name is David Coates, and he is the head of international relations at IEP. From what I picked up from other students who have known him, this man is legendary for his kindness and calm. As someone who stresses myself and as a consequence stresses others, I have much to learn from him. I had a conversation with David Coates later in the day; he is English, and despite having lived in France for 26 years, he still has a very strong English accent!

We were given some drinks and some good quality pizza (at least by Australian standards), and it was random networking time (clearly I've been in AIESEC for far too long). I found out I can do the Certificate of Political Studies and finish off with a diploma, which is good. Eglantine took us on a tour of the IEP, but it was quite hard to follow what she was saying. I kept asking about internet, and there seems to be a number of places thre which have it. Unfortunately, the ugliness of the inside was uniform throughout the building.

Afterwards we enroled in our subjects. Its quite a different system - there are tutorial type subjects on the one hand, and lecture type subjects on the other: no combination as we usually Australia. While you need to enrol in the tute subjects immediately, you just rock up to the lecture and see if you like it, if not then don't do it. The test for the lecture type one is an oral exam, where you just talk your way through the subject matter to your professor, and are given a mark for your understanding. I had one compulsory tute called 'France in the World' which I enroled in; I also enroled in two other tutes: 'Law of the European Community' (i.e. European Union Law) and 'Political Analysis of Latin America'. I'm not sure which of the lectures I will attend; I've got some in mind.

I have no classes on Wednesday, so I'll spend the time cleaning and doing other random logistics, not to mention filling in the massive forms.

Bonne Année (Happy New Year)

Bonne Année!!

Hopefully 2006 turns out to be a better year for the world than 2005, which was natural disasters all the way. And of course Bush's re-inauguration, a completely man-made disaster.

My Dec 31 started off with a bit of exploration of the old part of Aix. Most of it was built in Medieval times, and is filled with beautiful old architecture - often combined with newer additions. One example is 'Librairie de Provence', a massive bookstore whose top two levels are new, but whose underground floor was clearly a medieval construction. It seemed to be some sort of dungeon, and in what I guess was probably a torture room, is now a room filled with dictionaries. I'm making a lot of guesses as to what the place was once used for, but dungeons and torture seem to fit the mood of the place, and its fun to imagine it that way too.

The bookstore was awesome - they had EVERYTHING. While not as big and with less books, it seemed to have more diversity in the type of books than Dymocks on George St, Sydney. Some things never change, and I found myself browsing the bookstore for 2 hours (but not buying anything). In particular I enjoyed the comics section - I have never seen so many types of comics, nor even knew that so many comics existed! Most of them were French-made, although your traditional Marvel and DC comics did make a slight appearance. Of course, there was plenty of Tintin and Asterix on display :)

After eating a meal at a sandhich stand, I decided I won't ever come back to Australia. Eating out is simply too good here. If I can feel like I am eating gourmet food from eating a €2 crèpe at a sandwich stand, imagine what actual french gourmet is like!! That was my breakfast; my lunch was a foccacia containing 4 types of cheese. The latter, while delicious, gave me a bad stomach and I was sick in the late afternoon. I don't know if it had been prepared unhygienically, or, more likely, i couldn't handle all those cheeses just yet. It hasn't stopped me from enjoying food - I think this year is going to spoil me senseless with all the gourmet foods, breads and cheeses.

During my explorations of the old part of Aix, I came across many, many clothes shops. A stupidly high number of them. I may seen about 25 so far, and I am sure there are many more. There are more clothes shops here than there are food outlets. I have since discovered that the people of Aix (the Aixois, pronounced 'Ex-wa') are unusually trendy and fashion-obsessed, even for France, which is a pretty trendy and fashion-obsessed country as a whole. I know that if my sister Kavita is reading this, she'll be happy, because she quite rightly thinks I am a dag, and her years of effort at de-dagification have thus far been quite unsuccessful. Unfortunately the Aixois only care about looking fashionable themselves and don't bother exerting peer pressure on others to also be fashionable - international students are proudly sloppy. However I do have an element of self-awareness and some minimal desire to fit in, so I've decided to shave every day. Ooh, that sounds like a good New Year's Resolution! I'm going to add it to my list.

There was a certain irony underriding all this fashion. No matter how many shops I entered, not one of them had a pair of gloves. I found this utterly stupid, that they would be willing to sell trendy clothing but not bother to stock the essentials (and a pair of gloves is definitely an essential in this freezing climate). In the end, I managed to get my gloves, but from the most unexpected place possible: The Gap. I had come to the clothing capital of the world, only to be forced to buy clothes from a stereotypically American shop. I felt a bit weird entering The Gap, not being white and all, but the guy who helped me pick out the (overpriced) gloves was Vietnamese. I guess globalised companies can change to meet local conditions. The shop attendants at The Gap were also extremely fashionably dressed, which is another big change from other Gap stores I have seen around the world.

Speaking of Americans, I ran into Shannon and Jeremy on the street (the helpful American exchange student and her visiting friend). I had a good chat with them while we walked to the pharmacy. Their friend Jason had gotten the flu from the cold weather. I am not sure it was a good idea given that it was even colder up north, but they were headed up to Paris that evening for New Year's and to spend a couple of days there. Shannon was helpful to me yet again, as she was the one who pointed out The Gap as a place where they should have gloves, even if overpriced ( I ended up paying €18, but they are very good and will last for 5-10 years).

After getting back home, I ran into Rob Watson on the stairs (he is a fellow UNSW student who will also be studying at IEP, and starts at the same time as me). He came back to my room, and we ate some bread with roquefort cheese and caught up about our various adventures over the previous days. He had had some bizarre experiences, from being woken up by snoring from another room in a youth hostel, to being thrown up on the plane by the person in the seat next to him (apparently the guy drunk 4 ot the white wine bottles - they are smaller bottles on the plane, but that is still excessive). Perhaps more bizarre still was that he met an Australian in his youth hostel in Nice, and this Australian knew me! Her name is Carmen, and she is a member of AIESEC University of Queensland. Once again, it seems its a small world after all...

Rob and I headed out for the New Year's Party which had been organised by Eglatine, the liason officer between the International Dept. at IEP and the international students. She was extremely friendly; she had made plenty of food and desert, and the party was held in her home. Talk about commitment to the job! She lived in the apartment with Mark, her husband who was originally from Louisiana in the US. The party was much smaller than I had expected, but it was good that way as it had allowed everyone to have a proper chat with one another. There were a couple of students who were already there or arrived at the same time as us: Bei and Helena from Canton, China, both of whom had been in Aix for 4 months. There was a Canadian girl called Rianna (sp?), from Ottawa, and she had arrived a few days ago. Finally there was a French girl who lived in Aix, and had recently completed a year of exchange at UNSW. Despite some good conversation with her, I unfortunately have forgotten her name.

The students there were quite accomplished, especiqlly linguistically, and this made me feel a tad jealous. Rianna spoke fluent English, Spanish and French (although her mother is Guatemalan, and she did live in Canada, so all 3 languages were kind of second-nature from birth); both Bei and Helena spoke fluent Mandarin, Cantonese, English and near-fluent French. I told them about my envy, and they reassured me that I could learn these languages. After all, I speak English and will have French under wraps within the year, so just a few more years of study and some exchanges/internships to those countries will get me to a similar level. I think I will pick up Spanish as a subject this year, as I will have a chance to use it as Spain is just over the border.

I had a very interesting conversation with Bei, who is a law student in China, about the Chinese legal system. Apparently legal argument is a bit of a farce there, and judges pretty much make decisions before the case has even begun. Particularly interesting was the fact that judges could be directly appointed without any experience as a legal practioner - Bei said he knew a 23 year old judge!!!! I definitely would like to read more about the Chinese legal system, because it seems very different to Western ones, where the focus is less on the judge and more on the lawyers.

Just when we were about to leave, at 11:30pm, about 6 French students arrived. They left with us, which was right away, and we headed down to a bar meet one of Rianna's Guatemalan friends who had been studying in Aix for 3 years, doing law. His whole family (mother, sister and father) was visiting from Guatemala, and they were all lawyers, or law students in the case of him and his sister. It was quite bizarre, spending New Years Eve with a family of Guatemalan lawyers, but they certainly were interesting conversationalists. The father in particular was very interesting - he had been practising criminal law for 25 years and had been exposed to the extraordinary corruption in the Guatemalan legal system, yet maintained an amazing level of idealism in spite of this. He was quite an inspirational character.

With Rianna voluntarily acting as Spanish-English interpreter, we conversed with him long into the hours of the morning, on issues ranging from sustainable development to comparative law to human rights abuses to interplanetary colonisation. He posed some very general questions to us (Rob, Rianna and myself) and as a result got some very general conversations resulting from it. For example, he opened up the conversation with "What do you, as the youth of today, think of the world of the past, present and future?" There's a phrase often associated with calculators: garbage in, garbage out. While our conversation was far from garbage, I think the same principles apply, with respect to the generality of his question anyway. During our discussion, I argued why the environment is the biggest priority for humanity at the moment, while the other 3 seemed to favour a a more social justice/human rights oriented argument. Ultimately the arguments over prioritisation are irrelevant - you need people working towards both environmental sustainability and human rights; if you focus on human rights exclusively then human society would no longer exist, and if you focus on environment exclusively then human society would be intolerable to live in. The important thing is that we actually do work towards them, as opposed to limiting our influence on world affairs to random chats in bars.

The New Year's Eve 'countdown' was sort of a non-event, we kind of realised it was 2006 after the fact. I began to think that New Year's was itself a non-event in France, until everyone started running around hugging one another and kissing each other on the cheek, the way that French people do when saying hello. I found myself being hugged and kissed on the cheek by complete strangers, which was a little bizarre at first to say the least, but it seems to be normal here so I just went along. I actually found the ritual quite repetitive and tiring after a few minutes, so I just sat down and continued my interesting, if very generic, conversation with the Guatemalan legal family.

We went out afterwards to some dance club - but I was too tired, and headed home. I fell asleep; was about 4am, and didn't wake up until 6pm that evening on the 1st January. Afterwards I woke up and had a pasta dinner with Rob, and we chatted about everything from music to the legalisation of drugs. Apparently pot smoking is quite common and is tolerated here, but if you're reading this mum, don't worry i have no desire to rot my brain or make myself schizophrenic.