Merci Pour Votre Attention

French students are RUDE. Maybe I should widen the playing field and say that all university students are rude, worldwide, but the 20-somethings in France really seem to top the list.

Of course, you have half the class playing on their cell phones or their laptops while the professor is lecturing--scrolling through Facebook, sending oh-so important texts, or, like the girl sitting next to me the other day, playing Candy Crush for two hours straight. That's pretty normal student behavior (although it is harder to get away with at Holy Cross, owing to the fact that there is often only 12 other students in the class).

No, the rudeness of the French goes beyond that. Students walk in late all the time--ten, twenty, thirty minutes late. Not just one student, either, but often a group of five or so who just stroll in casually. And they all leave early: seriously, I counted one lesson where over 40 of my fellow classmates just packed up and left with 20-30 minutes left of class. More than 40 students. That was nearly half the class! Even if the professor is in the middle of a lecture, they just throw on their jackets and leave. Also, it seems like classrooms are the perfect places for full-blown conversations, because people will not stop talking! And they're not speaking softly, either. Additionally, I've seen kids put their heads down on their desks and sleep--literally fall asleep--for the entire lesson.

While this is annoying to me in the first place--honestly, is it so difficult for you guys to focus for two hours?--it is made even worse by the fact that each professor ends each lesson by the words," On va terminer là pour aujourd'hui. Merci pour votre attention."

Merci pour votre attention = Thank you for your attention.

Normally, it doesn't phase me when professors say that phrase. Two days ago, however, my entire sociology class was being even ruder than normal, and when I heard my professor say those words, he sounded horribly disheartened. And I know that feeling. I know exactly that feeling. I feel the same thing after every EPITECH lesson that goes wrong: the sour disappointment of having no one care even after you poured your time and effort into planning and pulling off a very informational lesson.

On a slightly more cheerful--if completely unrelated--topic, it snowed here on Monday! Just a few vicious minutes of flurries that amounted to nothing, of course, but I managed to snap a picture of the mini snowstorm while Kat and I were on our way to lunch at Flam's. It's flurried here in Strasbourg two or three times before, but nothing like the snowstorms that are sweeping the U.S. right now! I do love the snow, so I wish it would actually snow here (Strasbourg is already a beautiful place, but in the snow, this city would be absolutely gorgeous! ). Fingers are crossed!