First day of classes

As I have already told some of you, yesterday was my first day of classes. I was quite excited to have something to do with all my free time but that excitement wore off quickly shortly into my three hour lecture (Cognitive Psychology of Perception). I'm not sure why I expected lectures to be different in France but they are not. A three hour lecture at uOttawa is equally as boring as a three hour here. My professor also doesn't quite know how to use powerpoint and crammed as much information as possible into his powerpoints ( entire paragraphs appeared), which made it quite difficult for me to know what exactly was important. The good news is that he showed film clips to illustrate some of the stuff he was talking about.

I understood everything my prof was saying (well not every word but all the main concepts for sure) and I even knew the answers to some of his questions, though I did not raise my hand. I'm also pretty sure my prof did not assign any readings or textbook chapters or other material to learn outside of class time. He told us where we could look online if we didn't understand what went on in class but didn't seem compelled to assign readings. If that is the case I'm sure I will really like him despite his lack of talent for creating powerpoints.

So far I have only listed similarities between my lectures here and the ones at uOttawa (which I assume are representative of lectures in Canada), there were also some major differences.

1. In every morning lecture I have ever been to there has always been an incredibly long line at the nearest coffee shop and most students seem to have some type of caffeinated beverage with them. I have not seen a single coffee shop ( or Tim Hortons/Starbucks/Second Cup equivalent) on campus. Instead all over campus there are machines that dispense what I believe to be espresso. It's quite funny for me to see students walking around carrying tiny cups of espresso (about the size of a kiwi fruit) when at home is seems that the bigger the cup of coffee the better. I have also not seen a single place on campus devoted to selling lattes/cappuccinos or even tea. I guess the French just appreciate strong coffee in tiny cups.

2. A huge amount of students smoke, the prof gave us a 15min break halfway into the lecture and students had jumped up and many already had cigarettes in their mouths.

3. The seating in the lecture hall I was in was incredibly impractical. Initially, the room appeared much like any other lecture hall, a large rectangle with rows of desks (ie long tables) in the center and a podium at the front. However, instead of having chairs spaced along the desks they had benches. Not a bad idea you might say to yourself. I would agree except that there was no room in between the benches. This means that if someone is sitting at the end of the bench and someone else wants to sit in the middle they either have to walk on the bench behind the row they want to get into, or ask the person at the end to shuffle down. Furthermore, it's also not easy to get to the middle of the row should you arrive early and want to be courteous. You end up half squatting, doing a crab like scuttle all the way down the bench. At first I thought it was just me who ended up crab scuttling but after observing all the other students it became clear that it was just how you have to move.

I also had a French class (ie to help me improve my French) at one of the other universities and the seating setup was much the same. Also to my shock and amazement, the toilets at this other university were also of the squat variety (my university is one step up with toilet basins that have no seat). I wonder what happens to visiting researchers from North-America? They must believe themselves transported into an alternate universe, with no coffee shops or toilets.