Wow! It’s almost been a month since I last blogged! Time flies… but that’s nothing new.

Here’s my news!

School has started and I’ve picked classes that I’m relatively happy with. I went to a lot of them to begin with, to actually see what they were like, if the teachers were incomprehensible eccentrics (of which there was quite a number, I would say!) and if I could in general relate to the subject and understand anything. So now I’m taking a course on the politics of Europe, mostly about the EU, of course… one on culture and civilization, which may just prove to be the most interesting course I’ve ever taken (having studied political science for roughly two years now, I’ve come to see that what I really, really want to be studying is actually culture and civilisation… but more on that later!)… one called the sociology of international relations, and is basically about international relations, its history and themes and stuff like that – rather interesting… and then one on development economics, but I still haven’t been to a single one of those classes, so I will see about that one! Then I’m doing two courses in English (to lighten the burden of listening to French all day! and because I don’t have them at home and they’re interesting): ‘The Aftermath of the American Civil War’ and ‘Kennedy and his times’.

Last weekend I went on a little trip with three of my friends here to the South of France. We rented a car and drove down to the the beach… on the way we took a detour of the highway and slalomed through the beautiful countryside of Ardèche. We got to the beach when it was already dark so there wasn’t much bathing (it was also kind of cold!), so we pulled out our blankets and sleeping bags and watched the clouds cover and discover the moon until we fell asleep. The day after we went to Beauvoisin, where I was working as a volunteer a few years ago (time flies, remember), but there wasn’t much to see. My organization there had moved houses and there wasn’t anybody around to talk to, let alone somebody that was there at the same time as me in 2002-3. We then headed to Avignon, checked out the Pope’s Palace, had pizza and spent the night there. Lyon was beautiful in the sun on the way back.

Next weekend we’re planning on going hiking in the region around the city, and maybe even camping for a night as well.

I still don’t have the internet in my place… right now I’m upstairs in the appartment of a gracious neighbour of mine, that already has it! We do have the router already though, and we’ve only been troubled by set-up in the computers… should be sorted out this week.

It is a funny thought though, that everything happens a lot slower down here, than in Iceland. What would be “It’ll be up in two days” in Iceland is “It’ll be up in two weeks” here. No joke, everything is measured in weeks, not days. Nothing happens in less then a week! Hehe, French bureaucracy…

Two things in Strasbourg that I’ve fallen in love with so far: Gallia. A student restaurant where you can eat (if you’re a student), lunch and dinner, choosing from a variety of hot meals, for only 2.80€! I don’t think it’s any better than that…

La Carte Culture. A card (that you get also only if you’re a student) that grants you a special price to just about any cultural event in the city for only 5.50€. I went to a jazz concert last week that would have cost me something like 15€ or 18€ but cost me only 5.50€, and last night the theatre that would have cost 25€! Being a student in this city is sweeeet! I’m in love….

Okay, that’ll be it for now. I hope next time I’m blogging I’ll be in my own room…