jazz and an arrest that rocked France

It is a profoundly strange feeling knowing that I am nearly done with my semester in France. At the moment I am currently in my last week of classes, will be taking one exam this week and the rest on Monday and Tuesday. Some of our group - those who have been taking classes at the university - are already done. It seems so strange knowing that June is just around the corner and that my five months in France is nearly up. I can remember quite clearly passing through security in Logan airport: scared and exhilarated for France. It's very weird to think that in a month I'll be in Charles de Gaulle going back.

Amy and Kayla, who posed for my first picture taken with Rory II.

I am; however, still in France and the next month and the past few weeks have not been just waiting for the entire semester to be done. Classes are still the same, though harder simply because the weather is so beautiful, my host family is still very friendly and welcoming (I've continued to have many conversations in which I try to explain things that are already hard to explain in English such as aperture, depth of field, and Jacobinism in Scotland) and I once again have a working camera.

Does this look familiar to anyone? It might, I took a picture of the same
place but in January when the statue was missing. For a comparison,
here's the first: finalement le soleil.

I unfortunately had to pay 66 EUR to pick it up from La Poste because of taxes but did not care at the time and don't particularly care now because it's here and I'm much happier because of it. In the past week or so we've celebrated someone's 21st birthday (American style because it is only significant in America), had a pizza party at the Place Wilson fountain and went to the Dijon Jazz Festival.

A saxaphonist in a jazz line by Les Halles (the markets).

Another shot of the jazz line.

The Jazz Festival itself was pretty cool. None of us had any idea of what to expect because the only information we had on it was where it would be and at what times. As for what the Jazz Festival was: there was a jazz line walking around the market which was very good and also very cool to see (and follow), a gospel choir by the carousel (every French city has one) and performances at Place de la Liberation. I'm not much of an expert in jazz so I can't quite attest to the quality of the performances but I can say that we thoroughly enjoyed everything and that the last and main act, apart from being German, looked and sounded quite professional.

The first performance at Place de la Liberation.

Another fixture in Dijon this past week or so has been news surrounding Dominique Strauss-Kahn (or DSK as he's called in France), former head of the IMF and possible candidate for the Socialist Party in the upcoming 2012 election who was arrested on the 15th in New York City for sexually harassing a maid in his New York City hotel. The French reaction in general has been one of embarrassment and I've heard and seen much critique in the way in which the "American justice system" has treated DSK. A Professor expressed shock at the pictures of DSK's perp walk as it showed such the humiliation of a public figure. The New York Times has a very good article discussing French reaction that I find to be very accurate here. I can also attest to the fact that DSK's reputation with women was widely known as two months ago we discussed several potential candidates for the 2012 elections and his multiple affairs were made well known.

Friday night, the night of Jazz Fest, was one with some very forboding
clouds and it actually started raining which resulted in my view of the
stage consisting of umbrellas.

Much of the discussion surrounding the scandal has in fact been not over the charges but the fact that he was stopped in the United States and the resulting differences in treatment and the subsequent ruin of his political career. In fact, in the past few weeks I've come to realize just how different the French treat their public figures who are awarded an incredible amount of privacy. There is some sort of journalistic code where private lives of politicians are not discussed publicly regardless of scandals. I think it will be very interesting to follow the way in which French journalists cover politicians now and if they'll continue to keep quiet about affairs to "protect privacy" or if they'll begin digging and publishing articles that could be quite condemning.

The last and final jazz performance by an amazing German group.

All in all it's been very interesting to actually be in France in the aftermath of the outbreak. I personally found the news to be interesting for both the differences in the way in which the crime was treated but also in the impact it will have on the 2012 election. Nicolas Sarkozy is not a very popular President but with the threat of the Front National and without DSK in the race (he was previously the front-runner for the Socialist Party) it will be very interesting to see the results and lead up to the 1st tour (where the many political parties put forth a candidate) and the 2nd tour (where the two candidates with the highest percentage of votes run against one another).