Il commence

As some of you may have heard, last Thursday the entire country went on strike. My host dad had briefly warned me about this the night before, but I just assumed it would be like strikes were in Italy; that is to say, disorganized, short, no protests, and no one ever knew exactly why (or when) they were striking. But of course, France is not Italy. I was wandering back towards town when I noticed a huge crowd gathering around Place Stanislas, which is the big square in the middle of town. I later heard that there were over 30,000 people protesting in Nancy, and over 300,000 in Paris. Everyone was decked out in matching colors for their unions, and holding picket signs, and milling around everywhere. And it was PEACEFUL, it almost seemed like I was at a festival or something. I was completely enthralled. I can't imagine something like this ever happening on a national level in the States, and the ethos of a country who organizes like this is totally impressive to me.
Of course, there are two sides to every story. Neither of my host parents protested, and they both rolled their eyes about it, saying that the French protest too much. One of the main points of contention was Sarkozy, and his handling of the economic crisis, which isn't really his fault (Thanks Wallstreet). In reference to this, my host dad asked why the French didn't protest the huge storm that ravaged the South last week, it would have been about as effective. ha.



Friday and Saturday all of the LC students in France converged on Strasbourg. Strasbourg is a really interesting city because it is the home of the European Parliment. It's also cool because it is the "capital" of the Alsace region (Nancy is in Lorraine... like quiche Lorraine). Alsace has been a highly contested region over the years, changing nationality several times in the wars between French and Germany. It just became French again in 1945 after WWII, so it still has a lot of German influence, and the people tend to speak their own alsacian slang language which is a mix of German and French. No one has been able to tell me properly about how the logistics of land changing territory like that works, are people issued new passports and automatically told to speak a new language? But I suppose that's because no one else is interested in such geeky subjects. I did find out that as part of an effort to reduce "culture shock" when Alsace became french again, they got a bunch of tax breaks, and that there is no official separation of Church and State in Alsace (!). The popular highlight of the trip was definitely our visit to the museum of "the water of life" aka a liquor museum. Many were pleased to find out that real Absinthe has been legalized again, Hemingway would be so proud. The best part about the trip however was probably getting to see the students in Strasbourg, as several of my good friends are studying here, and it was definitely a refreshing bit of home to see them.
This picture is of Strasbourg, and you can see its famous cathedral peaking out above the buildings.