Happy December –
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| The Hague, The Netherlands |
The semester has essentially ended, it’s now the exam period on
campus and I’ve given most of my exams so I’m just hanging out. I’ve done my
best to go out and explore in and around France this month, which has been
really cool, but I’ve also had a lot of time to read, draw, and practice some
Spanish which has all been decent. I’ve met and hung out with lots of cool
people in Rennes, and it’s been really nice to expand groups but also to get
some depth in the activities I’ve been doing here. I’ve been pretty consistent
with rock climbing lately which has led to some really great results, I’ve been
consistently getting black routes (V6s, perhaps?), which has been really
satisfying. I’ve also kept up with the dancing thing so while I’m definitely
not great I’m at least able to keep up now which has also been satisfying.
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| Quimper, France |
Since coming back from fall break, I’ve been in and out of Paris to
visit friends and celebrate birthdays (happy belated 25th to Jérémie
and Mélanie!), so I’ve gotten to know the French train system and its quirks
really well. I got myself this bullet-train pass that lets me hop on most
high-speed trains in France if I reserve it far enough in advance, so it’s made
it really convenient to see the cities on the high-speed rail lines at least. I
was particularly thrilled to finally make it to Quimper, which is in the west
of Brittany – I’d been wanting to go there for ages and it did not disappoint, it’s
a very pleasant town with beautifully-preserved medieval fortifications.
I had an exciting little trip up north to The Netherlands to have an
amazing third international meet-up with Carley, and we were extremely successful
again this time, meeting up in Rotterdam and spending the following day
exploring The Hague. I’d never actually been to this part of the Netherlands before
so it was exciting for me, especially considering that Rotterdam is not exactly
a typical old European city. The best part of the trip (aside from the company
of course!) was definitely the poffertjes, impossible to resist in that kind of
cold!
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| The Hague, The Netherlands |
Thanksgiving was a great time in Rennes, I met up with the TAPIFers
and we did a very classic American thanksgiving complete with a solid selection
of veg food, cranberry sauce (which Anna somehow managed to find in France!), no
less than eight bottles of cider, and mac-and-cheese and a tarte aux pommes, so
everything that we really needed. It’s funny that I seem to be able to have much
more festive Thanksgivings while not in the US than when I am in the US.
Anyway, quickly following Thanksgiving this year was Hanukkah, and I made it
all the way out to Metz (in the Lorraine region in eastern France) to hang out
with Sarah and her friends and to have a great Hanukkah party there. I made a
quick stop by Paris and went to a famous little doughnut shop owned and run by
some Americans, and while I’m all in favor of French food I think that proper doughnuts
are best made by Americans so I was pleased with myself. I also made a little
foray out to Strasbourg to see the cathedral and the Christmas markets, which
was really satisfying since I’d wanted to visit there for a long time. I was
there about one week before the terrorist attack, so I was really pretty
unaffected by it, but it was really awful to hear about, I don’t have words to
really express it.
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| Metz, France |
The gilet jaunes (“yellow vests”) have been the main preoccupation around
here at least as far as disorder goes. They’ve gone pretty crazy in Paris with
protests, but around Rennes they’ve been much calmer, mainly just blocking
highways and roundabouts to disrupt traffic and publicize their message. The
origin of all of this was an unpopular fuel tax instituted by Macron (the
French president) which is fundamentally aimed at reducing greenhouse
emissions. While I agree with the end purpose, I’m generally in agreement with the protesters that it targets the rural and poorer populations unfairly, and that
as noble as it might seem, there are better ways to reduce greenhouse gases
such as funding and subsidizing electric vehicles, and slowly levying a tax on
gas rather than just a harsh tax now. I absolutely don’t agree with their
methods though, and the protests are certainly out of control and arguably at
this point directly mostly by agitators who are just interested in causing
destruction and disorder.
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| Strasbourg, France |
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| Chartres, France |
The other main protest movement has been a blockade of many schools
in France (mostly high schools and universities), at the hands of the students.
At the university level, they are protesting against increasing fees and
admissions reform, among other things, which I can understand, but again I am
fervently against their methods. Things have gotten somewhat out of hand at
Rennes-2, with students vandalizing and setting things on fire, and some
skirmishes with the riot police. The blockades during the exam period have been
especially hard on the teaching staff and on the students who are studying for
and taking their exams, and it’s thrown the entire system and semester into
disorder. I was passionate enough about it that I went to the last “general assembly”
of students, which had maybe 1000 people, and after presenting arguments and
speeches about the situation (which apparently took four hours – I purposely
only came at the very end), we voted and in a massive turning point we ended
the blockade democratically, at least for two days, which is at least enough to
bring back some level of normality for the students that need it most. It’s a
bit of a mess of a situation, but it was interesting for me at least to be a
part of the democratic process here.
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| Le Mans, France |
15 December, 2018; Rennes, France.
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