The Bells

I love many aspects of this place, but the hearing the bells of the old churches holds a special place. I don't know why, I'm not very religious, but there is something soothing and haunting at the same time to think that men and women for hundreds of years have heard these bells ring, their sounds carried across the rooftops of the old city. What did those people think of the bells? Were they a symbol of a church that dominated their lives? Did they represent their connection to the divine? Or do they hear them as I hear them now, bells that count the hours of our lives and mark our journey day-to-day through this life?

France: Day 1

02/12/2013- 9:42am Paris, Charles de Gaulle Airport

I made it, I'm really here in France! It's almost surreal, but my horrid smell (a mix of body odor, stale air, and rotting food) reminds me it's all real. Although the stench may be weird, the flight wasn't bad: sat next to a nice, older Italian couple, watched "Argo" and "House", and got a couple of hours of sleep. Charles de Gaulle Airport is pretty standard, except it was a somewhat of a pain to find the baggage claim area. Now I'm waiting for my TGV (highspeed train running through France) to Strasbourg. 

02/12/2013-1:55pm Strasbourg, Vosges Apartment

Dr. Manheim got me at the train station. The TGV was great: smooth, comfortable, and I decided to get my first (mini) bottle of wine on the dining car: a nice Merlot-Cabernet. 

Getting the Voltaire Project ready

Another aspect of the Europe-trip I am preparing for is a project for Centre College's French department I was selected to do. With the Voltaire Fund I will be provided with a stipend to do a project that involves some aspect of French culture or society, thus making it a very open-ended experience. I have decided to make my project a political one, I will interview at least three groups or organizations among the French Left to learn their histories, ideologies, tactics, successes/failures, and their plans for the future. To be diverse I am planning on interviewing members of three different parts of the French Left: social democrats/centre-left; communists; and libertarian Leftists/anarchists. I have already found groups for the first two, the Jean-Jaures Fondation is a centre-left group tied to the ruling Socialist Party and the Association Nationale des Elus Communistes & Republicains is tied to the Communist Party/Left Front. I'm still looking for a group to represent the libertarian/anarchist Left, but I still have time, plus there is no guarantee I will be able to interview the other two organizations but we shall see what happens. 

Almost a month left...

...and the anticipation of Strasbourg is killing me. It didn't help having to drive to Chicago twice to get visa information complete (with the latter trip seeing my first-ever speeding-ticket on the Chicago Skyway and an unpleasant near-accident with a semi-truck outside of Louisville), but it looks as though everything is coming together. I contacted my host family today, they seem like excellent people, and they even invited me to stay at their mountain home after the semester is over! Further, I'm getting to know a few of the other Strasbourg-students that are going this semester, and they all seem like a good group. Packing will not be fun, but because I feel it almost self-indulgent to even write this blog I'll spare the details.


And I'll be the first to admit: submitting this photo to the consulate for my visa may not have been the brightest idea ever, but they took a different one anyway.