I apologize for the title of this post. Couldn’t resist.

Lyon

This past Saturday was an AUCP outing to the Luberon region. Since I’d already done the same trip, I decided to take the train to Lyon and spend the day there. Very happy I made that choice. Depending on how one counts, Lyon is either the 2nd or 3rd largest French city, after Paris and after/before Marseille. It felt much more like Paris than Marseille, and the more of France that I see, the more I recognize that the Marseillais aren’t just being brash when they talk about the city’s uniqueness. But back to Lyon.

I picked two excellent museums. The first was the Lumiere brothers’ estate, which has been turned into a museum of film and film history in honor of their most notable invention, the motion picture camera. It was a pilgrimage of sorts for me as a huge movie fan, and while seeing the old cameras and footage was cool, I really enjoyed just walking around the neighborhood and picturing them inventing and filming there. One of my favorite exhibits was a film of about 40 modern filmmakers (including Spike Lee) talking about why the cinema is important to them and what the 100 year anniversary of the Lumiere invention means to them. Then each modern director used one of the original Lumiere cameras to film a 50 short film in honor of the anniversary. Very cool.

(Speaking of movies, I’m very excited that Oscar nominations came out. If you haven’t seen “The Hurt Locker” yet, go see it. It’s my pick and preference for ‘Best Picture’)

The next museum was called the Center of the History of the Resistance and Deportation, and it highlighted those who were deported by the Nazis and those who fought against them as part of the French underground movement. Obviously a very different tone from the other museum, but very interesting, educational and moving. Lyon was the unofficial HQ of the Resistance and the exhibit was teeming with great relics.

I spent the rest of the day exploring the city by foot and by metro. There was an area called ‘Old Lyon’ very reminiscent of Aix in its architecture and feel. Overall I liked the city, but nowhere near as much as Marseille or Paris.

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Classes

French Linguistic Strategies – Basically a French language course focusing on tricky grammar topics and advanced writing skills. The professor is French-Canadian and I like her a lot. A largely uninteresting, highly useful class.

Understanding Islam – The professor is very knowledgable, but often hard to follow. I will be doing an individual research project on Islamic law. Should be an interesting class, highlighted by a trip to a Muslim community center to meet with people there.

Middle Eastern Political Developments – Topics include natural resources (gas, water, petrol), Iran v. Saudi Arabia as dominant regional power and relations with the EU and USA.

Arabic – Hard. Very hard. Amplified by the fact that it’s being taught in French. But we’re using the ‘American system’ of learning the lanuage, so that will be convenient should I choose to continue with it in the states. We’re still on the alphabet, and I’m often brought back to my days at Hebrew school (shudder).

France and North Africa – An examination of the history between France and Morocco/Algeria/Tunisia, focusing on the history and politics of the past 200 years.
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Super Bowl

The Super Bowl started at 12:30 Monday morning here, and I watched through the halftime show at a friend’s house. The French commentators were pretty impressive. They knew American football well and would spend timeouts (no commercials here) explaining the rules and nuances of the game to the French TV audience. Even their pronounciation of American names was impressive. Myself and my viewing buddies were all pro-Saints, so it ended up very well for us. Less good for me, however, was the fact that I slept through my alarm and missed my first Monday class. Oh well, who knows when I’ll get to watch the SB abroad again.

Italy in 4 days…

My first days as a resident of Marseille have been absolutely wonderful. Some highlights:

The neighborhood I’m living in is quite spectacular. 10 minute walk from the sea, house on one of the many, many, many steep hills that make up the area. From one of my bedroom windows I can see Notre Dame de la Garde, Marseille’s highest point and most iconic image. From another window I can see the Chateau d’If on its island in the Mediterranean. The house also has nice roof access that I’m looking forward to enjoy once it gets a little warmer and le mistral calms down.

One of the many advantages Marseille has over Aix is cost of living. Whereas a good piece of pizza cost me 2euro in Aix, here I can get half a pizza for 0.85euro. I also found a wonderful Tunisian restaurant where bread, water, olives and a spicy dipping sauce, a generous plate of couscous, a vegetable and potato sauce and half of an herb roasted chicken cost 5euro. On the food subject, I’m once again enjoying my host family’s taste. Foie gras appetizers, roasted rabbit Sunday lunches and the promise of seafood forays to come. Isabelle is very excited to introduce me to an urchin dish. Apparently I will be cutting the urchin open with a knife then dig out the meat with a spoon. Can’t wait

I’m planning on traveling a lot more this semester.
Here’s what’s confirmed:
- a day in Lyon, France (this coming Saturday)
- 3 days in Florence, then 4 in Rome
- a week in Fez, Morocco (part of the AUCP program)

Here’s what I’m working on:
- a week in Ireland/UK
- a weekend in northern France/Belgium
- a weekend in Paris

Academic info coming soon, I’ll end this post with some pictures…

Bedroom View 1 – Chateau d’If and the Mediterranean

Bedroom View 2 – Notre Dame de la Garde

So much to say, I know I’ll be forgetting things.

Travel between Chicago and Marseille was…fine. Even with no one sitting next to me on the plane, it was hard to sleep. Probably excitement. Taking the train from Paris to Marseille was a good move. Even though it’s a 3-hour train ride (vs. a 1 hour flight), this allowed me to get out of the airport and walk around Paris a bit before travelling again. I was met at the train station in Marseille by my 25 year old host brother Nicolas and my 28 year old host sister, both of whom were incredibly friendly. She lives in another part of the city and is a nurse. He lives at home, but in February he will move to San Francisco for a 3-month English program that he hopes to parlay into a job offer in the States. He’s a computer programmer and is very excited to be near Silicon Valley but also a little nervous about his English. I’m going to be helping him with some review/practice before he leaves.

The reason neither Hervé nor Isabelle (my host parents) were there to pick me up was because he was in the French Alps doing some work on the house he designed and is building himself and she was wrapping up a vacation with friends in Ethiopia. He got in late Saturday night, so we only chatted for a little before I went to bed.

Sunday I woke up late, had lunch with Hervé, Nicolas and his girlfriend, and then took a long walking tour of the neighborhood with Hervé. It is beautiful. A crazy mish-mash of narrow winding streets and Mediterranean-style houses, it is VERY hilly. I was getting winded walking around (haven’t really exercised regularly in a few months). The whole family is very active, though, and I want to get back in shape, so I fully expect the hills to get easier. I I’m going to save the description of the house and home life for a few more days.

Hervé is a high school statistics professor and researcher who specializes in improving teaching methods. Isabelle is a nurse in a Marseille hospital. I am the 5th student they’ve hosted. They said they decided to start hosting after 9/11, to better get to know Americans. Funny, because 9/11 is in many ways the reason why I’m here now, studying Islam, Arabic and the Middle East.

Off to my first day of orientation, very excited.

Hello everyone,

After almost three weeks of really enjoying the USA, it’s time to head back to the Old Continent. I fly from O’Hare to Paris Friday afternoon, then take the train down to Marseille.

I found out my host family’s address:

7 rue Thérésa
13007 Marseille
France

I’m very happy with the neighborhood. 20-25 minute walk to my classes, 15 minute walk to the beach.

More details on the travel, host family and city to follow within the next week. Can’t wait to be back parmi les francais!

Hello everyone,

Since classes have ended I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on semester #1 abroad. It wasn’t smooth sailing every day, but I am so glad I’ll get another 4 months to explore Europe. Some other reflections:

Music

Before leaving in September I had heard a lot about the pervasiveness of American pop culture throughout the world, especially in Europe. But even though I was expecting to encounter some examples, I was still surprised at the frequency – especially when it came to music. Whether it was hearing the Red Hot Chili Peppers on my bus from Switzerland to Germany, hearing Sheryl Crow’s “The First Cut is the Deepest” in a café in Barcelona, or hearing “I Gotta Feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas literally every time I went out in Aix, it always struck me as somewhat odd. Especially odd was having one of my French friends confirm that most people in the club who were singing along with the Jay-Z song had no idea what the lyrics meant.

Cities

I’ve thought about the various cities that I’ve seen this semester, and I think this is the order in which I enjoyed them, starting with my clear-cut favorite, Paris.

1. Paris
2. Barcelona
3. Marseille
4. Amsterdam
5. Aix-en-Provence
6. Frieburg

Laziness of Translations

Perhaps my translation class has made me more aware of translations found in public, but I’ve noticed many…clumsy translations into English. I can readily understand when a small business has a less-than-perfect translation (on a sign or menu, for example). It’s even endearing at times and I often just appreciate the effort. I’m more disappointed/amused when the sub par translations are found in more official places, like a safety warning on the Barcelona metro. If it’s going to be written in English as well as Castilian and Catalan, why not get it perfect? I doubt it would have been too hard to find a native English speaker who also spoke Castilian or Catalan to help with the sign.

The truth (and limitations) of the Vincent Vega Theory

In “Pulp Fiction,” John Travolta’s character spends much of the film riffing on life with his partner, played by Samuel Jackson. Among their many topics of discussion, Vega shares his theory on the essence of the difference between the States and the Old Continent:

“But you know what the funniest thing about Europe is?…It’s the little differences. I mean, they got the same s*** over there that we got here, but it’s just – it’s just there it’s a little different.”

On the one hand, he’s right. If you look at the surface of French society, it’s not that different from America: the ads, the businesses, the transportation, even the fashion. It’s all roughly similar. But when you start considering the details, you notice little things like the way every junk food TV ad in France has a prominent health warning on the bottom of the screen for the duration of the commercial. Or how my little Toyota Corolla would be a medium-to-large sized car in France. Or how most French people buy their food for the day each day (or at least some of it, like the bread and the meat), rather than going to a supermarket once a week. So the “little differences” theory holds up, but only to a point.

And his idea is valid only to a certain point because at the same time, there are fundamental differences between Europe and the United States that aren’t as readily visible. They deal with cultural values and the structuring of society. While the United States is clearly more similar in these respects to Europe than it is to, say, Lesotho or Saudi Arabia, fundamental differences of priorities exist. As one of my Dutch roommates in the Barcelona hostel said to me, “In Europe it’s more about the community and the common good and in America it’s more about the individual and individual rights and opportunities.” Americans obviously care about the common good and Europeans definitely value individual rights, but I think my roommate was right: the two sides of the Atlantic have a different order for those two priorities, generally speaking.

Happy New Year, everyone.

Here are some pictures from my week in Barcelona. Despite the weather, it was a really great time.

Sagrada Familia Cathedral

The 5-year-old in me framed this shot

National Art Museum

Saw this written all over the city

Camp Nou – Stadium of FC Barcelona

Alley leading to the beach

A little courtyard

Me and my Dutch hostel roommates

view from my room

Very artsy city

Arc de Triomf

View form Montjuic Park

Hey everyone,

I’m working on a playlist for the plane ride back to the states. I want it filled with a bunch of really awesome songs about America (the country as a whole, specific cities, regions etc.)

Suggestions?

Happy Holidays!

In less than a week I will be on a bus to Barcelona, starting what will probably be the most interesting winter vacation of my life. Aix -> Barcelona -> Marseille -> Aix -> Paris -> Chicago -> DC -> Chicago -> Paris -> Marseille, all in the course of 5 weeks.

Unfortunately, between me and that odyssey are 6 test in the next 4 days. So although I don’t have a lot of time to catch you up on the last two weeks, I can put up some pictures. These are from last weekend, when Heather was visiting.

Vieux Port, Marseille

Cathédrale de la Majeure, Marseille

Mussels and veggies, Marseille

Fresh seafood market, Marseille

Marseille

Vieux Port from above

Ruins of a Roman theater, Arles

Heather and the Roman Colosseum, Arles

Arles and the Rhone River

Hello everyone,

My life has become incredibly busy of late, as it usually does this time of year (end of semester, that is). Therefore, don’t expect many updates for the next few weeks. I’m doing well and miss you all.

- Adam

Last Saturday was my last AUCP-organized excursion of the semester, which had us in Arles and St. Remy de Provence. The theme of the day was “Van Gogh,” meaning we saw a lot of sites that inspired his paintings and that were important in his life.

We started with a visit to a Roman cemetery, which was used as a meeting place during Van Gogh’s time in Provence. The tombs (all empty) were strewn about and the overall ambience hovered somewhere between ‘enchanted’ and ‘quite creepy.’ Weird to think that it was a place of courtship during Van Gogh’s time.

Throughout the day our tour guide – an AUCP art professor – did a great job of informing us while keeping us attentive. Even if we’re all practically adults now, it’s amazing how being in a field trip setting can make 19 – 22 year olds revert to some junior high habits

We got to see the cafe that inspired Van Gogh’s “Cafe Terrace at Night.” Now it is an overpriced tourist trap. C’est la vie…We then saw a few other places that he painted as well. After that, it was on to the main event: lunch.

Arles has a huge food market on Saturdays, and we took advantage. Rotisserie chickens, fresh bread, cheese, olives, spices, salads, sausages and much more. But I knew what I was holding out for: paella. Even though it’s a Spanish dish, it’s very popular here in Provence, probably because of the shared Mediterranean culture.

I made a good choice. Even if my serving was a little cold, the flavor and quality of the mussels, prawns and chicken was awesome. The merchant even gave me a metal fork to use since she had run out of plastic ones. Very nice.

After that we saw more of the Van Gogh sites, including the building where he famously cut off his own ear and the asylum where he spent a year as a patient…for cutting off his own ear.

The other thing that really puts Arles on the map is its Roman vestiges and ruins. Outside of the cemetery we didn’t get to explore many of them, so hopefully I’ll be back again. We did walk past the Roman Arena, which is still in use today for…wait for it…bullfighting. Capacity of 20,000, unfortunately summer is bullfighting season.

Great day, comme d’habitude.

Spices in Aix’s Saturday Market

Paella

Roman cemetery in Arles

Autumn in Arles

Cafe Van Gogh – Arles

And the painting it inspired

Olives in the Arles market

My paella lunch in Arles

Van Gogh statue at the asylum where he spent a year

Arles’ Roman Arena

Courtyard of Van Gogh’s asylum

Provence garden, autumn dusk

Kaki tree in font of Van Gogh’s asylum