I didn't know it would be 3 hours long....every day!
Whatever, it'll be done in three weeks. University classes have various start times, one of which is also next week so I need to get on that. Apparently the French university system is really different from the American, in that lecture classes really have no discussion whatsoever, and even though the grade scale is out of 20, no one gets 20; "Vingt c'est pour Dieu, dix-neuf c'est pour le roi." Even 16 is reserved for the brainiacs. Also, the first year of classes is intended to weed out and discourage those students that just won't cut it, so we will all be taking 2nd and 3rd year courses. We'll see how they turn out.
So out of the various sites visited in our 'vie politique' group, the best one was by far l'Hôtel de Ville which is really where the mayor of Paris works out of. It's one of the most beautiful buildings in Paris and it even sparkles at night. I'll eventually get around to posting some pictures of it. Paris is broken up into 20 districts called arrondissements, each with its own mayor, but this was the site of the mayor of all of Paris. We also went to check out the honorable French deceased at le Panthéon, it was cold. That day we had a great lunch paid for by Columbia in a small brasserie somewhere in the left bank. It was really a great time and even though at times I felt like our group was a typical group of loud Americans, it was okay because we are. I feel the French tend to be too soft spoken, but maybe that's just because I haven't been here for too long.The next day we went to l'Assemblé Nationale which is equivalent to the House of Representatives. We got to witness a rather pointless (traditional) ceremony for the entrance of the presiding deputée, la Vice-Presidente, that consisted of her walking into the chamber flanked by two lines of military guardsmen holding their swords over her, all to the drumming of two soldiers. It was so odd that just before that she had come out and made a beeline straight to where I was standing to introduce herself. I of course had no idea she was what all the fanfare was for. That day l'Assemblé was discussing some pretty funny stuff, a new law on amendments. Similarly to how the good ol' Senate likes to filibuster, les deputés in France block bills by proposing thousands of amendments to them, each of which must be debated and voted upon. Of course the day we visited (which I believe was the 4th day of debate) l'Assemblé had only reached the end of the amendments to Article I of the proposed law, somewhere around the 1,040s. They then started reviewing the amendments for Article II of the bill. I don't know how many articles there are to the bill, but they are expected to be on this bill for the next couple of weeks, working as late as 2 a.m.
The chamber itself is a lot smaller than the House of Representatives', although the process to get in is a lot faster and less traumatic. Still no photos were allowed. One thing that struck me is that les deputés are free to order coffee and cokes while in session. That and they also speak directly to each other and not to the Speaker, which should allow for great arguments but they were understandably less animated.
As for other doings, my home stay is going very well. I found a porcelain angel in the galette we've been having for dessert, which supposedly means I'll become king. We'll see about that too. It's a little weird being in somebody else's house, especially when it's only a 2o year old college student and a 60 year old lady in the house, but I'm getting used to it. I've heard bad stories form other students in the program--no hot water, no heat, outside of Paris, etc.--so I guess I'm not too bad off.
Throughout the week I went to see a few more sites with other kids on the program. Sacré Couer has the best view of the city and there's a great little village just behind it with shops and cafés. At the Eiffel Tower it was interesting to see how local street vendors would all run away (something like 20+ in all) when cops would be near. They usually ran well before any cops were in sight, which made me think they must have lookouts. They did and Mike (a dude from Tufts also at Reid Hall) pointed out that the look outs were little old ladies stationed around the Eiffel Tower. The street vendors sell little Eiffel Towers and keychains and most of them are Muslim. We saw this system work about 3 times, but when we were leaving one of the guys, a young Muslim, got caught by police on bikes. Soon after that a parade of police vans drove around the area à la NYPD style. I guess a good power-showing seems effective to the French also, but I'm still not convinced.
Anyways, the weekend is upon us and I hope to be checking out night life a little more closely. There's a bunch more I've seen but too tired to talk about it now. I won't party too hardy...mostly because of the damn Euro!! No worries though, I'm keeping it all safe.
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