One Week to go! May 15, 2009

Just one week left! This time next week I will be well on my way to Cornwall. I’m sure it will seem like less than a week though as I have several things lined up to do; tomorrow I’m going to town and meeting up with Sonia, we’ll go for a walk round the hortillonages and then in the evening there’s a “night of the museum” event going on which involves a light show in the gardens of the Musée de Picardie and an evening tour around Jules Verne’s house. Sunday will be a day of chilling and then on Monday the packing and cleaning begins, with a short break in the evening to have a farewell dinner with the Cardiff crowd, who I haven’t actually seen since February. Tuesday to Friday will zip by because of mum and Alan being here.

I now know I won’t have any more assessments or classes between now and leaving as well, since the blockades have been voted through again until Monday, and I wouldn’t go to classes even if we had them from Tuesday-Friday for obvious reasons. One of my lecturers emailed me on Wednesday about coming in for an assessment on the 19th, which I replied to saying I couldn’t do but that I could do Thursday, Friday or Monday. I also explained that I was leaving on the 22nd. Well he didn’t reply until today, and suggested an alternative date – the 26th! I honestly don’t know if he just didn’t read my email properly or what, but now we have established that there is no time both of us are available, so there’ll be no assessment for that. I haven’t heard from any of my other lecturers and I doubt very much I will now. Even if I do find an email in my inbox on Monday the reply will be “sorry, too late.” I don’t intend to rush work and I need time to prepare for leaving.

So at this point, I think I can officially call time on my academic year abroad! Next week will just be socialising and packing.

One Week Down… May 8, 2009

… and two to go! Time does feel like it’s creeping by although I suppose this week hasn’t gone too slowly. Next week is likely to be a bit worse as I have now truly finished all my work. I wrote two short commentarys on plays for one of my literature modules and got them emailed off, and although I emailed my sociolinguistique lecturer at the beginning of the week she hasn’t got back to me yet. So, for the time being I have officially finished all my work! It remains to be seen if I get sent anything else in the next week. In my emails I’ve made it clear that although I’m leaving on the 22nd, my deadline for finishing work is the 19th as that’s when mum and Alan arrive, so any work arriving later than Friday next week will get refused I’m afraid! I don’t expect to be sent anything much anyway; perhaps one piece of work for sociolinguistique but the rest have either been signed off already or the lecturers don’t appear to use email, so I’m unlikely to get anything from them as we can’t get in touch.

I am hoping the weather will clear up a bit for this weekend; Sunday has been forecast sunny, no clouds one minute and then raining the next, but if we get a nice day I shall go laze in the park with a book. All this week it’s been breezy, sunny and cloudy at the same time and just now we had a little downpour, so it obviously can’t decide what it’s doing.

I didn’t go to the AG yesterday in the end, and it seems not many other people did either as the report posted on the Comité de Mobilisation website said that attendance was low due to today being a jour férié (i.e everyone’s gone home for a long weekend). Still, there were enough people to continue to vote through the blockades; by 231 votes to 145 apparently. No doubt Monday’s attendance will be up again; it’s always busier as people want to know what’s going to happen for the week. I also noted the results of Monday’s AG at the science faculty; they actually voted out the blockades this week. However this doesn’t affect me since my only science class should have been today, which as it’s jour férié wouldn’t have taken place in any case. It remains to be seen what happens next week; if they still have no blockades then technically I might have a class next Friday, but I’m rather disinclined to go since it’s only one class – what’s the point?  As for assessments, it seems everyone is voting not to schedule exams at all and directing the blame at the government if it messes up people’s education. I also noticed a report of one or two lecturers on hunger strike (in Caen and Reims) until the government repeals the acts it pushed through during the easter break.

Haven’t got a whole lot of plans for next week; basically I wake up and see what I feel like doing for the day. Today I sent off my shortlist for final year Forensics projects to Keele (I recieved the list earlier this week), but I won’t hear which one of my list I’ve been allocated until September. I still haven’t had a list for French. I’ll probably go into town tomorrow just for a change of scenery; I haven’t left campus since I got back last week. Next week I’m going to go to Paris for at least one day; there’s a few bits I want to see and do, markets, food shops, out of the ordinary sightseeing and the Catacombs. If I don’t get it all done in one day I’ll just go back for a second round! I really have little else to do.

La Rentrée May 4, 2009

Time is ticking by oh so slowly it seems! I am trying to take my time over the things I do and only do one or two things per day to keep myself entertained but already I’m bored. Life is so much more interesting back home! I will go out and socialise a bit this week but for now I’ve got a few bits of work to tat about with. Yesterday I had a lovely long lie in and then spent the afternoon tidying up some loose ends; namely finishing another Spanish grammar test I was sent over the holidays and emailing that off along with the written version of my Pais Vasco presentation. I also emailed my sociolinguistique lecturer to let her know when I’ll be leaving and asked for a final assessment, and I emailed the Forensics department at Keele to chase up the final year project list, which it transpires is being released this week.

Today I let my accommodation staff know the date I’m leaving, and rather handily before I got there I had a note under my door (as did everyone) letting us know what we have to do before we leave, so I didn’t have to ask that. I need to give them back a form with my bank details on so they can transfer me back the remainder of my deposit; when I went to pay this month’s rent they said they would reduce the amount (since I’m leaving before the end of the month) and that rather than pay again they’ll just take it out of my deposit. Other than that I haven’t done much today, just tatted about and went to the AG.

That really wasn’t any different than before the holidays, just perhaps a bit more lively. Numbers were trailing off as people got bored and couldn’t be bothered to come and vote but today it was very busy as it seemed everyone wanted to know what might have changed and what would happen about exams. Some people have done an about turn and are now voting against the blockades because they don’t want exams to be put back to September, but as many people pointed out it’s already too late really, and it won’t change the fact many lecturers are still on strike and several administrative staff have “resigned” so organisation of exams is very unlikely to happen no matter what the result of the blockade votes are. Anyway, today there weren’t enough “no” votes to make a difference. Here’s the motions:

1) Motion to ask lecturers that, in the hypothetical case of exams being scheduled, they only be on material covered in lectures or other notes and that they not take place in July or August – passed by visible majority.

2) Motion put forward by the CNU; to refuse any evaluations of this semester and that no exams of any kind be organised – passed by visible majority.

3) Continuation of strike – passed by visible majority (now entering week 14)

4) Continuation of occupation – passed by visible majority

5) Continuation of blockades – passed by 442 votes to 291 (bringing the total number of teaching days that the campus buildings have been blockaded to 26)

The next AG is on Thursday at 11am but I’m not sure I’ll go to that. I was getting a little bored before Easter of sitting through 2 hours of speeches and debate just to get the results of the voting, although there were a few interesting moments. I can’t see the point in Thursday’s meeting though as Friday is férié and there will be another meeting on Monday if the AG pattern continues.

So there you have it; a rentrée with no lectures! Vive l’université française!

The Finish Line In Sight May 2, 2009

Just as Obama is at the end of the beginning having just finished his first 100 days in office, I’m finding myself at the beginning of the end with just 20 days left of my year abroad! I will be officially checking out of France on Friday 22nd, barring any travel restrictions due to H1N1 flu or port barricades due to strikes! It feels strange to come back to Amiens and not immediately book my next flights home, but the tunnel and hotel are already booked for mum to come over with the car for moving out. Today’s journey back from Exeter went normally with no hitches. I felt more alert than usual this morning but it was still satisfying to know that there will be no more 3am starts for that 6.30am departure from Exeter!

I’m not sure what I’m going to be doing over the next three weeks – well two weeks really since Mum and Alan arrive on Tuesday 19th so for most of that week we will be doing stuff out and about before I have to pack. We may go to Rouen for a day as it’s not far and I stayed there briefly last summer as part of tour with Concert Band, but I’d like to see more of the city. Other than that I will probably just be finishing off my work, skating, maybe take a day or weekend trip to Paris and if Sonia has any money and/or energy left after her mammoth easter holiday travelling we might take another short break to somewhere.

I’m a bit out of touch with the strike situation but as far as I can tell from reports posted online nothing’s changed. I expect there will be an AG on Monday as usual so I can get up to speed. For simplicity’s sake now it would be better for me for the blocades to continue, as otherwise I expect some of my classes would resume although I doubt very much there would be any assessments this month, let alone before I leave. One of my modules was signed off before the Easter holidays, and after I turn in another assignment that’s sat in my email I will get a grade for Spanish grammar. I’m going to write two commentary pieces on plays for my French Literature module and email them off, although I haven’t heard from the lecturer in months. Once I let my Sociolinguistique lecturer know when I’m leaving I expect she’ll send me something to complete by way of assessment, and I’m going to try to get my Spanish presentation emailed to the lecturer for that class. That will only leave Spanish translation, Medieval French, Approche Litteraire du Picard and History of Scientific Ideas with no grades, although for the first two I have grades from last semester.

Here’s to hoping everything runs smoothly over the next few weeks! I have enjoyed this semester more than the first but I’m still excited to have made it and be finishing the year, and I can’t wait to be home for summer proper!

Nothing much to add… April 14, 2009

Not much to write about really, things are winding up for the Easter break. There was another AG today, and the results were predictable. There were two interesting moments during the debate however. The first was from a regular speaker; his name is Alex and he’s always very animated, hopping about and never using the microphone, he just bellows! He always gets people going as well and leaves to massive applause. Today was no exception and I wish I’d had my camera with me today to film his little speech. He came to the floor carrying a huge piece of masonry, which he proceeded to brandish above his head as he made his speech, using it as a prop. He said that it represented the foundations of a new and better university that they are building through fighting the government’s reforms. At one point it dropped it onto the floor (purposefully) and it made such a thud! He also stood on it and used it as a soapbox, in effect. Thereafter it remained on the committee’s desk. The second memorable moment was the president George Fauré’s entrance into the hall. This was about halfway through the debate, and someone else was speaking at the time and didn’t see the president enter (with a suited entourage of about 8), until gradually the audience noticed and began to applaud and shout. They finished their speech and one other person took their turn before Monsieur Fauré was invited to the microphone. He had nothing relevant to say whatsoever, merely reiterating his concerns about the “semestre blanc”, asking once again for classes to resume and barely hinting at the idea that he might also be opposed to the reforms. He was politely applauded as he stepped off to the side. The next person up to the microphone began to speak in reply to what he had said but he and his cohort were already quietly slipping out of the auditorium! This was noticed and people began to shout and boo until he was called back, and told to stay and listen to the student’s responses. He did, until halfway through the next person’s speech when he again began to walk out; this time he was let go but not without an accompanying chant of what I believe was “March to the Scaffold”, a movement from the Symphonie Fantastique by Berlioz. It is meant to represent the scene of a man who is “convinced that his love is spurned, the artist poisons himself with opium. The dose of narcotic, while too weak to cause his death, plunges him into a heavy sleep accompanied by the strangest of visions. He dreams that he has killed his beloved, that he is condemned, led to the scaffold and is witnessing his own execution.”

Here are the votes for today’s motions:

1) Motion to send a delegation to a meeting of educational sector unions from across Europe: passed by visible majority.

2) Motion to send an open letter to the citizens of the Somme region asking for their support and a sympathy strike: passed by visible majority.

3) Continuation of the strike: passed by visible majority (1 against, 24 abstentions)

4) Continuation of occupation: passed by visible majority (45 against, 32 abstentions)

5) Continuation of blocages: passed with 335 votes, 159 against, 27 abstentions.

I have had a response from Keele on the idea of leaving early and their answer is no; but I am not happy with the small amount of reasoning behind their answer and so I’m still debating with them. One thing is now abundantly clear and that is that there will be no assessments in May, and I will have nothing to do that has anything to do with my year here; I can amuse myself, learn a new language, write, start research for my final year dissertations; but all of this I could be doing at home. I am not so desperate to leave as I once was but if I can avoid being cooped up here I will.

Another AG and Stars sur Glace April 9, 2009

This week has tumbled by fairly quickly it seems, which doesn’t surprise me because there’s been a fair amount to fill it. Today I went to pick up some of my marked literature work from a lecturer who’d organised a rendez-vous at a café in town, and we sat with some of the other students and chatted about the strike and the experience of studying abroad for a while before I left to go to today’s AG back at campus. The results were predictable, and nothing unusual happened. Here’s the summary:

1) Motion to invite Georges Fauré to the next AG to debate the electronic vote: 40 abstentions, 4 against, passed by visible majority.

2) Motion to increase the number of principles/reforms the movement is against (I didn’t entirely catch the details of this motion but it matters little because…): 108 abstentions, 142 against, 25 for, therefore motion refused.

3) Motion to continue the strike: 16 abstentions, 4 against, passed by visible majority.

4) Motion to continue occupation: 35 abstentions, 53 against, passed by visible majority.

5) Motion to continue blocages until next vote Tuesday 14th: 30 abstentions, 141 against, 272 for.

So, there we have it; the movement continues in all its glory for another few days, and the next AG on Tuesday will likely determine the fate of the final days before the Easter break. I am still waiting to hear from Keele but I am definitely moving towards leaving end of this month.

Last night I went to Stars sur Glace; a showcase from members of the French ice skating team that has been touring the country over the last few months; last night it came to Amiens. The headliner was due to be Brian Joubert, a world champion, but unfortunately he sustained an injury over the last week and has decided to cancel his performances in the hopes of recovering in time for the championships he’s due to compete at soon. It was a disappointment not to see him but injury is a hazard of course with a sport like skating, and competing is his priority! As compensation they told us our tickets are valid for any one of next year’s shows, anywhere in France, so I’ll have to keep an eye out to see if I can get to one.  As is tradition with the show, it was kicked off by the local skating club who had three solo performers currently competing at national level; two young girls and a teenage boy who were all excellent – and then the rest of the club came on for a group number. I filmed most of the professional performances and I’ve organised them into video compilations for youtube. Make sure you select the high quality version by clicking the HQ button so it goes red – the standard youtube version really doesn’t do this justice! Oh, and the rink is the same one I’ve been skating on each week.

Tomorrow I’m off to Brussels so I’ll be back with an update on Sunday or Monday!

UPJV falling apart – I’m wrapping up the semester! April 6, 2009

The action surrounding the strike is increasing and having deeper repercussions within the university community than ever. There are demonstrations in Amiens and Paris every week; sometimes evening demonstrations through the town. As in most parts of the country where similar things are happening, the peaceful demonstrations are met with violence from police forces; last Wednesday night there were apparently several arrests of students taking part in the demonstration through Amiens; in other parts of the country the CRS (riot police) are effectively barricading universities to stop students taking control, and anti-riot gear such as tear gas is regularly used on peaceful walking demonstrations. This week 75 lecturers and faculty staff at UPJV “symbolically resigned” from their positions, effectively paralysing any administrative work that would still have continued. All Georges Fauré had to say about it was “I hope they change their minds”, or words to that effect. At today’s student AG a motion was passed to no longer recognise him as president of the university and to petition for his dismissal. Here are the tally’s:

1) Continuation of the strike: 34 abstentions, 11 against, passed by visible majority.

2) Continuation of occupation: 70 abstentions, 85 against, passed by visible majority.

3) Continuation of blocages until Thursday 9th: 50 abstentions, 216 against, 465 for.

4) Motion to petition for dismissal of Georges Fauré: 196 abstentions (it seems a lot of people were uneasy about being seen to vote on this!), 57 against, 295 for.

Things are clearly far from improving, and in fact are just getting more and more radical, so I am firmly wrapping up my semester now. I went to the DAI today to give them my list of courses and explain the differences in how much they’d been affected, and they said they had now accepted the situation and were trying to work with lecturers to obtain some form of assessment for us exchange students. I am also emailing the lecturers I was already in contact with to sort out final assessments of whatever kind, and I’ve finally emailed Keele today as I felt the right moment had come. I haven’t recieved a reply yet but no doubt they will take a day or two to mull it over. I really don’t know what the outcome of the strike will be for UPJV but whatever it is, this semester can already be confidently called a write-off.

EDIT: Having picked up my UPJV email this evening I find that the electronic vote has been made available (despite the fact that those present at last week’s AG voted to boycott it) and it seems some people are using it, assuming that the presidence has not entirely fabricated the results. According to the electronic vote, in which the only question asked was “Independantly of your opinion on the opposition movement, are you in favour of the lifting of blocades?”, of the 4,465 registered students at campus, only 772 voted, of which 8 refused to vote, 51 abstained, 479 voted yes and 234 voted no. So from that the blocages would be lifted – however as I wrote earlier, at today’s AG the figures for yes and no were almost reversed! The comité de mobilisation is firmly entrenched in the university now though, and if they consider that the electronic vote is not valid I can’t see how the presidence can get the blocage lifted.

I think you know the drill… April 1, 2009

Yes so this morning brought another AG and I think you know the drill by now. I took my camera but didn’t bother filming since there were nowhere near as many people as on Monday. It was rather more subdued; the debate didn’t go on that long and this time mainly revolved around the possibility of an electronic vote that the presidence is pushing for. The main objections to this are issues of verification, democracy and the fact that the current set up of open debate followed by the vote would be unavailable. However, an electronic vote would potentially open up the vote to everyone, not just those who can make it to the AG. Although as one debater pointed out, if they really care enough about the mobilisation to vote meaningfully they will come to the AG. The motions voted on today were as follows:

1) Motion to boycott any electronic vote:  passed by visible majority

2) Motion to put in place anonymous or secret voting: blocked by visible majority.

3) Motion to send a delegation to a) the CNU (Conseil Nationale des Universités) b) the CNE (Conseil Nationale des Etudiants),  c) both, d) neither: visible majority voted for c) both – but it seemed there were problems getting volunteers to make up the delegation!

4) Continuation of the strike: passed by visible majority

5) Continuation of occupation: passed by visible majority

6) Continuation of the blocage until the next AG Monday 6th: passed by counted majority; 29 abstentions, 170 against, 277 for.

There was also a summary following the seige of la presidence on Monday; I didn’t realise this but for a while there have been “guards” on the door of the presidence building. Other administrative people are in there, such as the International Office who I went to see the other week; and I was asked by a man on the door who I was going to see and then escorted to the office, but since they were doing refurbishing works in the main hall I assumed it was to prevent me straying into that and had no idea it was connected with “protecting” the president from unwanted callers. Anyway, this article from Le Courrier Picard sums it up pretty well; Le president sommé de s’expliquer but since it’s in French I’ll recap.

Georges Fauré speaking to students, image from Courrier Picard

A couple of hundred students went up to the presidence after Monday’s AG to demand that the president Georges Fauré finally explains clearly his position with regard to the strike. They had to wait an hour and a half before he made an appearance and agreed to speak with them. One of the members of the mobilisation committee is quoted as saying “he’s been fleeing us for weeks; in the press he claims to support the movement but in reality he’s trying to undermine it.” Fauré’s main objection to the blocages seems to be that it is the biggest threat to the validation of everyone’s degree – how can you award a degree when it is supposed to be for 6 semesters and you’ve only done 5? One student spoke out and said that he was willing to sacrifice his semester and therefore the year in order to preserve the university for future generations; this was greeted with enormous applause. Fauré didn’t really seem to give a definitive stance one way or the other; obviously he doesn’t want to see his university “marred” by setting all the students back a semester as a result of this strike, however he does not declare himself in support of the reforms and therefore one might conclude he is against them and supports some form of resistance. He said that it was not his place as president to declare himself on strike. And he still seems unable to accept that this is a steam-train of a movement that shows no signs of slowing down; this week he sent an email about the assessments merely asking that classes be resumed from this week. Well, that just isn’t going to happen, so I think it would be better if he took his head out of the sand and made an executive decision, such as putting the exams back until September. That way, those students who are currently in crisis, unsure whether to support the movement and risk their semester or support their degree and go against the movement would perhaps regain a clearer sense of direction, and the movement would be the stronger for it.

I really didn’t intend to write just about the strike for yet another post, but to be honest not much else is going on and it takes up so much space! I had a really great skating session yesterday, tonight I’m going for drinks and jazz at Retroviseur with Sonia et al (expect another video), tomorrow I might go down to Paris for the demonstrations but more likely to leave that til next week. Apart from that just chilling and enjoying the sunshine!

Quick update March 30, 2009

Just a quick update following the strike meeting today; it was packed again, more like last Monday and much more people than on Thursday. The debate veered back towards the underlying principles of the strike and was less about blocage/no blocage. Four motions were voted on;

1) motion to go en masse after the AG to the presidence and petition them for action; i.e to fully support the movement, to stop using threatening emails about a semestre blanc to try and dissuade some students from voting for the strike, and to make a clear decision about what will happen with assessments. This was voted through with a visible majority.

2) motion to continue the strike – voted through with visible majority

3) motion to continue occupation of campus buildings by mobilisation committee members (this is not the blocage but a separate physical demonstration i.e camping out overnight) – voted through with visible majority.

4) motion to continue blocages until Wednesday 1st April and the next AG – this was also voted through but by a majority which had to be counted. The eventual tally was 40 abstentions, 392 for, 230 against.

The video below shows the vote for the blocages; the first section is voting against, the second voting for and the final section the reaction when the result was written up. I had to cut parts out because it took a while to count the votes up.

Another week, another vote March 26, 2009

First of all I’ll tell you what happened at today’s AG; there were less people than on Monday, and the tone was altogether different. The debate went on and on with people speaking for and against the blocages, rather than about the positives and negatives of the reforms that they are fighting in the first place. It was like everyone’s got tunnel vision on the radicalisation of the movement and why that should continue, and they’ve forgotten about the reasons why they’re on strike. Nothing more was said about the “semestre blanc” possibility, except a tantalising half-comment about “exams in september”. At the moment I’m waiting for a follow-up email from the presidence on what their schedule is for catching up, but until then things seem muddier than ever – I can’t get straight answers from the few lecturers I’m in touch with via email, and the blocage vote seems to be weakening. At least, at today’s AG the margin between for and against was much narrower than Monday’s, and although for won it (meaning blocages will continue until the next vote on Monday), it looks like it is becoming increasingly unpopular, although why this could be when on Monday it was wholeheartedly supported I don’t know. Anyway I have two short video clips; the first one shows the size of the auditorium and the number of people there, the second is the moment when the blocage was voted through. The reaction was much much quieter than Monday’s, I might add.

Anyway, in other news…. Well not much really, which is to be expected. I have read The Tempest this week and am currently writing a mini-essay on it for one of my literature modules. This is part of the work options that some lecturers have  been sending us via email; now many people are thinking about what alternative forms assessment could take in order to validate the semester. Over the weekend I need to write my Spanish presentation on the basis that theoretically there may be class time in which I can present it; if the AG on Monday votes to end the blocages then according to the schedule I could present it when it was originally planned for on Thursday. However because we’ve missed so many weeks I don’t know if she will want to do the people who’ve already missed theirs first, or leave them til the end. I briefly went skating yesterday but it was crap, too many kids messing about so I gave up after a short time and I’ll try again tomorrow. This is one advantage of having no lectures – I can do whatever, whenever instead of planning it round lecture time. On Saturday I’m meeting up with Sonia so we can organise our weekend trip to Belgium in a couple of weeks’ time, so I should have some more details about that by next week. Hopefully the weather will be a bit better next week as well; after our long spell of sunshine this past week has seen a return to grey, dreary drizzle and lower temperatures. Only reasonable to expect variation from springtime, but I do like my sunshine!