I'm in the middle of a revolution.

Take a look at what the lovely lycéens have done to the entrance of my school. The students are on strike. That so would have been me at that age. lol. They barricaded the main entrance of the school. What is usually under all that trash is steps. 

 Because of the strike, public workers such as trash collectors haven't picked up the trash in over a week. That's just in front of my school. Believe me there are hundreds of piles like this and worse all over the city.

Vive La France! I'm so psyched to be here! I was unable to go into work today because there was no way for me to get there. Wow. Gas stations are running dry, buses and tramways are blocked by strikes. The worst part is, I can't even get to the manifestation!! The subway is pretty much the only thing in service, and I'm a reallllllly far walk from the nearest station. UGH. Anyway, I plan on hiking and taking a day of repose I guess. Not what I really feel like doing right now, but something good has to come from it. Tonight, I'm going to the Fiesta Des Suds (Fiesta of the South). It's this amazing musical event that happens every year and my uncles are performing! Tomorrow night I hope to return to see more musical events.

In the next few days, I have two appointments to see some flats. Judging by their photos, I'm not really excited. I have two great options that are mine if I want them, but the thing that is the most important to me right now is non-existent at these places. Proximity to the center. Last week I had an appointment to see a flat and my lovely friends offered to come see it with me. It was really close to both of them, check. It was really close to everything, check. It was huge, check. View of the port, check. It was in a sketchy ass neighborhood, check. Ghetto, check. I wouldn't get to meet my flat mates until after- um no thanks. Eerie feeling, check. I had to say no to this unfortunately. But as my friend told me, something perfect will come at the perfect time. Alrighty, I'm off to explore this neighborhood I know so well. A town I've been visiting since I was 6 years old.

Le grève! (Strike!)

Ever since I've arrived in the South of France, there has been a lot of talk about le grève (grev). The public transportation workers were on strike, then they were on strike again. Then some of the professors told me they weren't going to be in class because they were striking on Tuesday (today). At first I thought they were striking for teacher reasons, boy was I wrong. After my third class, I was walking thru a hall with an open window. The professor I was walking with mentioned the chanting of the strike, again I'm thinking "teachers... wow that's loud." I get out of the building to grab lunch since I have 3 hours before my next class in the afternoon. Here is what I come out to. 

There is no way to describe how many people were striking except that they filled the major streets. It was insane. They were striking because the French government is raising the age for retirement. Not only were teachers striking, transportation workers were striking, also lycéens (highschool students) were striking. The French love their strikes and they do it joyfully. They strike as much as there are national holidays ;-)

I'm learning more about the french education system and it's more complicated than any school system in the States. In a nutshell, the students until age 15 are in "General" education then they choose a tract. Science or Literature (broadly defined) which they will study until they are 18, then at the end of school they take the BAC, either Sci. or Lit. Students taking the science route will have more job options. If they pass the BAC Science, they move on to University where they will have many more options for "majors." And at that age how many people really know what they want to do? Ok, at this point you may be wondering, "and how does this relate to the strike?" Well, the students who are moving on to higher education will end up working a little later in life, and therefore retiring later. You need a certain number of trimesters of work and be at least a certain age to retire (or something like that). The more highly educated students, with this new law, won't be eligible for reitrement until age 70. So, the lycéens participated in the strike as well. Bravo for the youngins for participating in this big event.  Anyway, thanks for reading thru my stream of consciousness.

Again, my camera battery died so I only got these few photos. Either way it's good to have a handy dandy point and shoot in my purse at all times.