Day 6: European Union Lessons

As I'm getting settled into my new living arrangements, I'm slowly, but surely, getting into the swing of things around Angers. I woke up and experienced my first bus ride to school, which was an experience in itself. I found the bus stop without any problems and got on the correct line that would take me to ESA. Upon my first stop, in which I would switch buses, I walked to the exit door on the bus. As the bus came to the stop, I waited for the door to open, but it wouldn't. I looked around, and everyone was staring at me as if they were waiting for me to open it myself. I looked, and I looked, and I looked, but could not find any button that would open the door. Finally, the bus driver opened the door for me and I stepped out and waited for the next bus to arrive. After entering the next bus, I realized that there is a specific button on a pole directly in front of the exit door on the buses that one must push in order for it to open and exit. I guess there's a first time for everything! Today, at ESA, we had three different lectures. We began the day with French, which was quite interesting. It's similar to Spanish in many ways, so it seemed relatively easy to pick up. We learned phrases like "Bien, Tres Bien, Je m'appelle, Je suis American, Et toi, J'Habite a Houston" which mean "good, very good, my name is, I'm american, and you, I live in Houston" respectively. After this, we heard a three hour lecture about European Political history and the formation of the European Union. I'm not quite sure if I agree on everything that the European Union stands for, mainly for the simple fact that these nations give up their sovereignty to the hands of elected officials in the parliament of the European Union. For instance, if a nation is experiencing macro-economic difficulties, it is the responsibility of the EU to correct these problems. However, legislation passed within the EU applies to all nations in the EU, not just one. Thus, IF a nation specifically needs to address a problem within a certain area (i.e. Italy), the entire EU will passed legislation that is applicable to all of Europe. After this lecture, we headed to lunch and returned for a lecture on Agronomy, which was quite interesting. The lecturer discussed the theory of planting multiple crop varieties in crop fields in order to create sustainability. For instance, planting legumes next to cereal grains (i.e. beans next to corn) will allow farmers, theoretically, to use less fertilizer. This is because the nitrogen that is created by the legumes, naturally, will be placed into the soil next to the cereal grains, which extract nitrogen from the soil.  It's still under research, but it seems quite interesting and efficient. After this last lecture, our group headed to the city hall where we met various city officials who welcomed us to the city of Angers. We watched a brief video over the city and then came to learn that the city has plans in joining the city of Austin, in Texas, to be its sister city in the United States. The culture here is different and wonderful. Everyone seems to be laid back, relaxed, yet efficient and eclectic in everything they do. I went on a run this evening down the Loire river, saw the various views of the city, the cathedral in the skyline, and had a wonderful ending to a great day.