Eating Like a Normal Person.

In light of the knowledge that France doesn't mistreat their animals the way the American meat industry does, I have decided to try to "eat like a normal person." Further, I've been feeling really weak and out of it lately, and I think it has something to do with my protein intake. Buying eggs directly from the farmer does alleviate the majority of the adverse feelings I've indoctrinated myself into feeling over the past few years.

This does, in some ways, makes me feel like I am giving up. For the first few months after I moved out of my host parents house I refrained from eating bread and cheese, even avoided most alcohol until fairly recently. But once Ja, after becoming really sick from eating too much gluten, said something I may never forget. "We do this to ourselves." He then went on to talk about how before he became vegan he could eat almost anything he wanted, but now can hardly stomach fries that've been cooked in the same oil that's cooked meat.

Lately I've been enjoying going to markets and buying small bits of nice cheeses, then sitting in the springtime sunshine to enjoy them. I even had a glass of Haute-Poitou Chardonnay with dinner the other night, something I've never really done before. I think it's my relationship with alcohol that I am most willing to develop, moreso than my relationship with food. Last weekend and the weekend before, with Jess and Andrea, we just drank a glass, or a bottle between the three of us, with our meals. Alcohol has always been such a "contraband!" Now that I am old enough to drink in every country where it is legal, I still feel that irritating obligation to feel "ashamed", and the odd relationship with myself for not feeling guilty. Blah.

Anyways. On to the cool thing I found out about the French university system.

As I have explained numerous times, to numerous people, the French university system is very different than the American one. Here, if you are a biology major, you ONLY take biology classes, and they are all with every other biology major in your year. The university gives you your "emploi du temps", and you follow it. You have a few choices in "elective" type classes, but for the most part, it's set for you.

This was, of course, quite a stark contrast when comparing it with the American system. In the states, each department offers a certain number of courses, at the 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, and 600 level. You're faced with a certain number of requirements, both general education and major/minor specific, which you have to fulfill. There's a lot of freedom in our system. Don't feel like taking that 8am class? No problem, wait until next semester, something else will be offered at a different time! Not interested in biology? No problem, you can take psychology classes to fulfill science requirements! Additionally, it's incredibly rare that two people graduating will have taken exactly the same courses, even if they're in the same major.

So. Here's what I found out this past week. While the university student government here has almost no power, in comparison to the American system, their students do elect candidates to a very, very important council of a different type. [Granted, at the UO, the ASUO is mostly in charge of spending "student dollars", while French students don't have to pay any sort of "incidental fee".]

These councils are "le conseil d'administration", "le conseil des études" and "le conseil de la université". The latter two essentially function on the premise that the students elected to the council work with the professors in a given department. The elected student officials operate as liaison between the students and their professors. If the students want more hours of German, fewer hours of English, philosophy students have a particular interest in Bergson and really don't want to take another class on Descartes, they express this to the members of the "conseil des études" and "conseil de la université." The council members then pass this on to professors, who work to meet these requests.

The super cool part comes in with "le conseil d'administration." Once the professors have proposed their classes to the admin, the students on this council work with the admin to choose which classes will actually be offered. The students actually have the power to override decisions made by the admin [within reason, I'd suppose].

So, chew on that difference.

[Granted, at least in the philosophy department at the UO, if a student can gather enough other students for a reading group and find a faculty sponsor, they can creat a "class" and get credit for it.]

Alright. Time for a shower and some sleep.