My home university and city in France

Before my Erasmus year in Graz, I was a student (and I think I still am…) at the University of Strasburg, France. This city is located in the north east of France, 3 km away from the German border, in the region Alsace.

It is approximately the size of Graz (300,000 inhabitants), but it’s only the 7^th largest city in France.

Although its name in the ancient times was Argentoratum, the current name speaks for itself: Straßburg, the city of roads.

Strasburg is known for its majestic cathedral, its Christmas market, its old town and its European capital status, among other things.

The Cathedral

The construction of the cathedral lasted from 1176 to 1439. It is a 142-meter Roman Catholic building and was the world’s tallest building from 1647 to 1874. You can even see it from the Black Forest in Germany, across the Rhine!

I think you will like this video of the cathedral…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvIU3NcXpqA

The Christmas market

The Christmas market of Strasburg is considered as one of the most beautiful in France, even in Europe! The city claims its role of “Christmas capital”. In fact, the oldest mention of a Christmas tree is found in Alsace.

The old town

The old town of Strasbourg is called “la petite France”, which means “the little France”. It is quite pleasant to stroll in the narrow and paved streets, whilst bordering and gazing at the half-timbered houses. If you feel like it, you can have a break in a typical wine bar. Yeah, in France we are kind of wine-lovers, and the concept of “Spritzer” (white wine with water) is hardly understandable for some of us…

The core of Europe

During its history, Strasburg has been sometimes German, sometimes French. Building the European Parliament there was a strong symbol of the French-German friendship.

I once visited the Parliament with my 5^th grade class. I think this tour amazed me so much, that it is one of the reasons why I decided to study languages, in order to maybe work there one day …

The TV-channel Arte also has its headquarters in Strasburg.

I hope I gave you a nice overview of this wonderful city, and for the last time, Strasburg is in France! No offense, but one day I met guys from another region in France, and once they had found out that I was from Strasburg, they offered me to speak German if it was easier for me…

Introducing the author

That’s right, I’m an author!! Of a blog, admittedly, but still! This post aims at introducing me to my fellow students. So, who is “Yellow Submarine” when it is not a song from the Beatles?

My name is Louis, I’m 20, French, and I’m studying in Graz, Austria, as an Erasmus student. My second language is German, and I’m also attending a Spanish class. I love languages and I want to be an interpreter. Since September 2012 I have been living in Graz, because I don’t see how I could study languages and not being part of an exchange program.

That’s why I also wanted to live in a flat share with German-speaking students, or at least no French students. And I think I made it, since I’m living with a Croatian trombonist, a Ukrainian flutist, a Slovakian flutist, a Slovakian violinist, an other Slovakian, a Italian guitarist, a Peruvian cellist, a Turkish conductor, and there used to be a Bulgarian guy too. This is where I live! At the beginning, I thought of another song from the Beatles, called “Back in the USSR”…

As I said, I really enjoy everything that is related to languages, even my mother tongue. One of the good things about my roommates is that I can speak German with those who can, English with those who can’t, and Spanish with the Peruvian guy. I have the opportunity to speak all the foreign languages I study. Isn’t that great?

Outside the language world, I love watching movies, listening to music, travelling, editing videos myself... All these hobbies are actually related to languages!

Concerning the movies, I noticed that I usually really like movies in which several languages are spoken, like The Spanish Apartment, Inglourious Basterds…

Anyway, I hope you will have a good time reading my upcoming posts!

The trailers of course!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsvJFtUDfl0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOMKloOEKcU

And for the Beatles fans:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxyISsA0Oh0

A bientôt!

Why I am not into blogging…

Before this year, I had never blogged. On one hand, I think that what I have to tell is not worth posting on a blog. I prefer to discuss those topics in real life, instead of sporting my opinion on the Internet. Blogging is for me not so different than if I would hang a poster in the street with my personal opinion, and wait for people to express their feeling about what I think is important. What bothers me a little bit here, is the lack of modesty…

And the comments made by the readers don’t always raise up the debate. Talking about comments, I would only write one if the person who’s blogging is asking for advice, but I wouldn’t, or I would seldom comment in order to say “I (dis)agree”. As would Blaise Pascal say: “Everything that is written merely to please the author is worthless”.

When I want to share a website, an artist, whatever I have discovered, I rather share the link to it, so that whoever is interested can make his own experience. What’s more, I am not a big blog reader myself, nor am I crazy about people who tell their life on the net. Knowing that, why would I do something that doesn’t even appeal my own interest? At school and at home, we have always been told to give as few information as possible on the Internet; blogging is kind of the opposite. Finally, I don’t have time (or don’t want to have time, matter of opinion) to read posts, that sometimes might not be as serious as one could wish (inaccurate data, offensive posts).

But on the other hand, I think that travel blogs for instance are something great, because these are online travel logs, and are of a greater utility for me. I know that one can always learn something from a post, and that a lot of smart people also keep a blog. Without blogs, I wouldn’t know many things that I know today. I encourage and approve (good) bloggers. One has to remain discreet for somebody else to shine. I accept to be one of the discreet ones on the blogging ground. Just one thing was unexpected: this year, let us face it, I’m evaluated on my blogging skills. So expect to hear from me!