Negative much?

So I've just realized that my blog has been way too much of a downer lately. What can I say, I'VE been way too much of a downer lately! I go from having these moments of extreme happiness to suddenly I'm walking down the street to class, bawling my eyes out. Those people handing out the newspapers every morning by the fac de droit must think I'm just some basket case emo-child. Headphones in, head down, eyes red and puffy. Like I've been through some sort of break up or something. More like I've just been through a break up with the US. Or should I say, we're in a long-distance relationship right now...

It's funny how little things here can sometimes just set you off. For example, I almost cried over trying to read my phone bill the other day! OMG, come on man, get yourself together! But seriously though, I can't imagine what it must be like for people who move to a foreign country and don't speak a word of the language. Crazy.

Last weekend I went to Montpellier with 2 of my good friends. I LOVED Montpellier. It was a very cool city! Although getting there was quite a hassle...

As some of you may know, strikes/protests are going on all over France right now because of a retirement reform the government is going through with. Riots have broken out in some cities, only about 1/3 of the country's trains are running, and all of the oil refineries have been shut down, causing massive-panic buying of gasoline which has already caused many gas stations to run out of gas. And then of course, I receive another wonderful email from the American Embassy telling me not to participate in any of their protests since some have turned violent and also advising me to be careful about renting a car since, you know, the country is running out of gas right now. As if I care about protesting over an issue that has absolutely nothing to do with me. Gay rights, bring it on. French retirements, no thanks.

So anyways, Friday afternoon I left with my friends to Montpellier. We took the train from Aix to Marseille, no problemo. But when we get to Marseille, we quickly realize that our train from Marseille to Montpellier is not up on the screens. So we find some SNCF workers and ask what's going on. Well, the protests are what's going on, duh. So this first worker lady tells us that, uh, yeah, there's actually no trains going to Montpellier... Excuse me? Yeah, no trains. Then she turns to her coworker and he goes "ahh, but yes! you need to take this train headed towards Lille and then get off at this stop and then from there NORMALEMENT (there's my favorite French word again) there should be a train going to Montpellier." This, of course, all happened in rapid French in a train station filled with hundreds of stranded travelers aka, I CAN'T HEAR YOU MISTER, PLEASE SPEAK SLOWLY AND ENUNCIATE! So finally we find the right train which, of course, is about to head 5 hours in the complete opposite direction. So we get on with hundreds of other French people who are also looking for different ways to get to their destinations. The train is so packed that people are standing everywhere, sitting on stairs, even laying down on the luggage racks. About 5 minutes we make friends with some French students sitting around us who were also told to get off at this one stop to catch their other trains and when the announcer comes on to announce the stops, ours, of course, isn't one of them. We literally RUN off the train, along with all the other French students around us, and we stand outside confused until some random dude tells us that no, this IS the right train. So we all run back on, doors close literally right behind us, and we are officially on some train headed way to the north, even though we are trying to go south-west. In the end though, we made it to Montpellier (hours later than we were supposed to) and had a good weekend. I shall be posting pictures on my Facebook soon!

In other aspects of my life, things are going ok. School is, well, school. I still have done literally NOTHING for any of my classes. In fact, I just went to the creole library yesterday and got books for my creole class. Speaking of, found out on Monday that my creole professor is friends with one of the French professors I had at Tulane. She cited him in class on Monday and, like she always does everytime she cites some American professor, she looks towards her American students to see if we know who the heck she is talking about. Well this time, I actually DID know the person and so I very excitedly raised my hand and explained that he was one of my professors at Tulane. Small world!

Yesterday and today, the students who were joining in the strikes tried (very unsuccessfully) to barricade the entrances at the school by piling chairs and tables against the doors. Of course, those of us who still had to go to class, simply moved a couple tables so we could walk in the door. Smooth guys. Then of course today they were marching around with their megaphones and signs yelling "1, 2, 3, 4, something in French I couldn't understand." Hilarious. I just can't get over it.

In other news, life is starting to get a routine. Bitch upstairs is still vacuuming and waking us up in the mornings, my students STILL aren't participating that much in my English class so it's come down to me making each person talk and read through directions (really guys? come on!), and, of course, it's getting really cold out which means one thing: I'm getting sick, again! ayaya!

This weekend I am going to Avignon and Les Baux de Provence on another one of our group outings and then the weekend after is our Toussaint holiday! I am going to Toulouse with my good friend Emma. We will be there for 4 days so we are hoping to do some awesome exploring.

Keep a look out for pictures on my facebook this weekend. I'll probably just post Montpellier in the same album with the pictures I take in Avignon and Les Baux de Provence.

Paix!

-Doog, the Basket Case