Amusing H20 Story and Pictures from the Region of Cornouaille

So I was recently informed of the « not so good » water in the Brittany region (where I’m residing for the semester…) by my Civilization teacher the other day in class. The whole class is about the civilization of the Brittany region from past to present to better orientate ourselves while we’re here, and to also understand what’s going on currently in Rennes, Brittany, France, etc. This last week our professor was teaching us about some of the current-day problems the region of Brittany is facing, and one of the biggest problems is actually pollution of the water(!). Agriculture is a big industry here, as well as HUGE animal farms that literally grow thousands and thousands of pigs (especially) and some cows too, I believe… anyways, I don’t want to go too into detail and gross you all out big time, but basically the pigs produce so much waste that the farmers don’t really know what to do with it, and end up using it as fertilizer. Well, normally this works if you don’t use too much, but they use A LOT, and what has happened is that it has seeped down through the soil and into the natural water ducts far below the ground. Thus, the water is you know… “slightly” contaminated by some of the chemicals in their waste. This has other repercussions for Brittany, as this water eventually feeds out into the ocean. Well, tourism is one of the biggest industries here in Brittany because there’s a lot of coastline, and thus beautiful coastal cities, etc. Well, the algae that grows in the oceans loves the chemical in the pigs waste, and it grows like crazy in the shallow waters, practically covering the shorelines and thus blocking out the beautiful views and grossing people out to the extent that they don’t want to swim in the ocean (because it’s everywhere (only in certain areas, of course)! Trust me, I saw a video… it’s everywhere and pretty nasty). I haven’t even included how bad all this alga supposedly smells… yeah, I think you get the point. So basically, bad for the people (if you drink the tap water), bad for the economy, and bad for the environment. Also, Europe has certain pollution standards, and if any country exceeds those standards, they must pay a fine. Each year, France consistently has to pay a fine because of Brittany’s water pollution. And it’s sad because it’s extremely expensive to clear the algae away/clean the water, and sometimes once-beautiful coastal towns lose all their business because of the algae. Also, even if no more fertilizer (pig waste) was used in Brittany, it would still take 40-50 years for the aqueducts to clean themselves out naturally. Not so cool Shows you that every area has its own problems specific to its region/area of industry, etc. No where’s perfect. Soooo… this all relates because my professor was telling us how, after living here for about 4 months, he started to become really sick and have problems with his stomach. He went to the doctor to figure out what was going on, and his doctor couldn’t figure out what was happening. Finally, his doctor asked him, “I know this is a stupid question, but,…(hesitating)… you don’t drink the tap water here, do you?” (Quizzical look) My professor replied (realization starting to hit him) “well… actually, I do…” And his doctor said “There you have it!” My professor had been used to being able to drink tap water because he’s from Paris, and the tap water there is fine. Anyways, this whole story and explanation shocked me because I drink tap water daily chez moi (at my house!)! I raised my hand and told my professor that I drink the tap water everyday at my house (admitting it and thus what I was drinking was a difficult thing to do… but that’s always step 1, no? ;)), and so did my family, but no one ever got sick (at least I never had), and to my knowledge, my family had been drinking the tap water here for years! He didn’t really understand how my family continued drinking it without getting sick (maybe they have Brittany stomachs of steel? or maybe their stomachs are just used to it), but told me it would take about 4 months to really start to feel the affects of it (it has to build up in your stomach over a long period of time- pretty picture, eh?). SOOO, BASICALLY, I’m finishing my study abroad program and leaving Rennes at the perfect time, because it will have been officially… 3.5 months (almost four!) since I will have been drinking the region’s tap water… *sigh of relief*. Haha, thought you’d find the whole story interesting!

Also, my CIEE group recently went on a trip to the region of Cornouaille (map below), and I wanted to show you all some pictures of this absolutely beautiful region to give you more of a taste of « La Bretagne » where I’ve been residing this semester.

The city of Pont-Aven, where, during the late 19th century, many artists such as Gauguin came to paint and find tranquility in the beautiful landscapes, and where the Pont-Aven School of Art was founded in 1888 by a group of artists.

Charming house along a river in Pont-Aven

Me standing next to a (fill-in-the-blank) in the city of Quimper. Quimper was a very cute, charming city.

Picture of the inside of “La Cathedral Saint-Corentine” at Quimper that took 3 centuries(!) to completely construct.

The coastline of Concarneau at sunset.

(From left to right) Christine (Richmond student), Amy (University of Indiana Bloomington student), Staci (one of the CIEE Rennes directors), and me in Concarneau at nighttime after taking a walk around the city.

Picture of some houses in Concarneau in the morning that overlook the sea. I took this picture because I think it’s the same one that is on the Richmond study abroad website for the CIEE Rennes program!

Picture of the ancient city of Concarneau that is enclosed by walls.

Picture of me at “La Pointe du Raz”, one of the most western points/the most western point in all of France.

Picture of me and Christine at “La Pointe du Raz”.

Some buildings in the medieval city of Locronan.

Good luck in studying for finals everyone! Can’t deny that I’m not missing that…

Some More News on the Strikes in France

Bonjour !

So I told you I’d give you an update on the strike sitch, so voilà !: the blockage is over! Well… at least no one’s tried to block the campus since last Tuesday, and that makes almost one week since there’s been no blocking happening… soooo… I would say we’re in the clear Still, I thought I would add a few more pictures of “blockage” related happenings on campus to wrap up the story on that. Also, as my last post had lots and lots of writing in it, I’ll make up for it with this post by keeping it short and sweet with lots of pictures

Me and some other American students on the morning of the 3rd Tuesday that we arrived to school at 8am in the morning only to have the campus blocked again. We were pretty frustrated even though we don’t really seem mad in this picture, but it’s supposed to be a “what the heck?!?!” kind of picture, as it was déjà vu for the third Tuesday in a row!

A picture of the infamous “Bâtiment B” with the phrase “VIVE LA COMMUNE!” written on it during the blockage.

I took a picture of this because I had originally approached this door hoping to get into the building, having forgotten that it was completely blocked. Pretty hilarious…

And now I must at least briefly touch upon some of the other strikes that have been going on in France. Well, let’s see… SNCF, which is the company that operates the railroad throughout France, has several times now gone on strike, which for them basically means not running the majority of the trains throughout France or at least between certain destinations. This is a huge inconvenience, and they know it well, because many French people rely on the railroad to get them back and forth between cities either for work, for travel- who knows what else! Anyways, they are doing this because the government has taken away their special retirement-type-plan-thing where now, instead of only having to work for the company for 37.5 years before being able to retire, they must work 40 years. The bus company in Rennes, STAR, has also gone one strike at one point, causing major inconveniences for the Rennais as well. Let’s see, who else? Oh! I can’t forget the “general strike” that happened all throughout France one day. Tons of people- even high schoolers!!!!- went on strike (pictures below), protesting against the government and their policy changes, which I find pretty cool. Governments definitely aren’t perfect, and I think it’s great for people to exercise their right to protest against what the government is doing, but not to the point of hurting the economy of the country (though that’s probably what they are trying to do to get the attention of the government…).

Inside “Bâtiment L” during a sit in of the students who were against the blockage. Basically, the blockers arrived back on campus after a manifestation so the security was going to close down all the buildings again, but the students against the blockage protested and did a sit in in the building so it would impossible to close the building. Unfortunately, we were eventually told we had to leave, but this did make an impression on the strikers- it showed them just how many students were against the blockage.

Two American friends and one Russian friend sitting down during the sit in.

Downtown during the “General Strike” day.

Need I explain? Baby on a stick... I don't really know what this represents. Your guess is as good as mine.

Strikers protesting throughout the streets- a very peaceful manifestation, mind you.

Special military police blocking the entrance to the railroad station against the approaching strikers. They were doing this because before the strikers would come and literally protest on the railways, thus preventing the trains to continue on a normal schedule.

Closer shot.

Strikers in the distance… I think they had been planning on entering the railroad station, but after seeing the special military police, thought better of doing that… I mean, wouldn’t you?

And to finish this post, I’ll add another of my “slang” English conversations that the French students in my class are learning since I didn’t add it in the last post like I said I would (it was already too long, wouldn’t you say?) and to give you all another good laugh:

Conversation n°2

- Arthur is in a jam. You remember he wanted to buy a TV set?

- So what? It fell apart?

- Exactly. He bought a lemon. It’s been on the blink ever since he took it home. The shop set him up, no doubt. I had always thought those guys were not on the level.

- Fly-by-night, eh? Could he get an agreement with them?

- Not a snowball’s chance in hell! They say it’s his fault. They want him to cough up a hundred more euros for the repairs.

- That’s nothing to sneeze at. He should have double-checked, shouldn’t he? Unfortunately I can’t bail him out. I’m hard up these days.

- So am I. Maybe we could fix the set for him?

- Not me, good God! I’m all thumbs when it comes to electronics.

- Peter’s always handy. Let’s ask him.

…. Bizarre, huh?

Happy December!

Au revoir!